• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Libya, Ericsson Sign 58m-Euro Deal for Mobile Phone Network

Posted on: Saturday, 3 December 2005, 12:00 CST

Excerpt from report by Libyan TV on 3 December

The Libyan Company for Posts and Telecommunications and Information Technology and the Swedish company Ericsson signed an agreement in Tripoli two days ago for the setting up of a mobile phone network in the Great Jamahiriyah.

[Unidentified reporter - recording] The agreement was signed by Eng Muhammad Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, secretary of the People's Committee for the General Board of Information and Telecommunications, and the president and chief executive officer of Ericsson, Carl-Henric Svanberg. According to the terms of this agreement, Ericsson will provide and create a mobile phone network at a total cost of 58m euros. The system will include 3G distributors with a capacity of 5.2 million lines offering all services and features, in addition to a GSM exchange system with a capacity of 1 million subscribers which will cover over 21 towns and over 4,000 km of road, by providing voice communication, SMS, voice mail, internet, and multimedia message services. This system will also offer all the equipment and software necessary for a swift transition to the 3G phone services. The agreement also stipulates that Ericsson will offer technical assistance, maintenance and training.

Eng Muhammad announced that the mobile phone networks in the Great Jamahiriyah had over 1 million subscribers last month and work was under way to provide a mobile phone for every Libyan citizen, adding that this objective would be met in the short term. He also said that the overall telecommunications strategy included huge projects for fixed lines and the internet and building national networks capable of offering telecommunication services to every village and town in our vast beloved Jamahiriyah. He said in this respect: We have decided to work in this important area to stimulate our local expertise and potential and to benefit from world expertise in order to develop this important service for the sake of development and progress. He added: We have big aims and our ambitions are bigger and our slogan is to work with dedication in an orderly and scientific manner in order to reach the desired goal by implementing all the plans and programmes we draw up with a view to developing the sector of telecommunications and information. This, he said, is to help provide a suitable environment for achieving development in all areas of life and a comprehensive economic revival.

The aim is also to turn the sector into a profitable sector which will be the second source of revenue after oil, he further said, adding that the General Company for Posts and Telecommunications was weighed down by debts which, at one stage, exceeded 250m dollars but all these debts have been paid back now and the company has in fact accumulated a huge surplus which will be used to develop the telecommunications and information in the Great Jamahiriyah.

[Passage omitted: Ericsson's CEO praising progress achieved in Libya]

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

More News in this Category