Reuters reports that the Tunisian government has awarded a 3G licence to state controlled telco Tunisie Telecom (TT) for TND116 million (USD 80 million), putting it in competition with France Telecom’s local unit, Orange Tunisia, which launched a joint 2G/3G network in May this year. TT is 65% owned by the state, while Emirates International Telecommunications (EIT) owns the remainder.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database Tunisia was home to 11.42 million wireless subscribers at the end of June. TT and Tunisiana, the local arm of Orascom Telecom, each control 48.7% of the market, while Orange had a 2.6% market share with 297,000 customers after two months of operation.