Telecompaper

Orange Tunisia made the first call over its 3G network on 4 February at an event attended by government ministers and journalists, writes Tekiano. The official technical inauguration of the network meets the new operator's obligation to have the network up and running within six months of obtaining its licence last August. The commercial launch of the mobile network is expected in April. The company told attendees that a pilot service will begin with employees of ISP Planet on 18 March, followed by a commercial launch a few weeks later. Orange's numbers will start with 5. The operator announced that its network would offer video telephony, mobile TV via WAP and video surveillance services. Customers with UMTS dongles will have a guaranteed minimum bandwidth of 1 Mbps. The operator aims for its 3G network to cover 98 percent of the population by the end of 2011. Discussions are underway for Orange Tunisie to secure the distribution licence for the Apple iPhone in Tunisia. On the broadband front, Orange Tunisie expects to start providing services by unbundling 61 Tunisie Telecom exchanges at the start of 2011, rising to 93 two years later. It will also operate an over 400 km fibre backbone. Orange Tunisie plans to invest TND 1 billion by 2015 and to have over 1,500 employees by the end of 2010.