Algeria’s government has reportedly passed a new telecoms law, the Code of Posts and Electronic Communications, which includes an obligation for fixed line incumbent Algerie Telecom (AT) to open its unbundled local loops to alternative operators, in addition to granting extra powers to the telco to undertake widespread monitoring of all international phone calls. Domestic news source ALG24 writes that the Council of Ministers also voted to ‘strengthen the authority of the post and electronic communications regulator’ via the establishment of a new Radio Frequency Management Agency, which will monitor communications.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in October last year Algeria’s ICT minister Iman Houda Feraoun disclosed that the draft legislation would be submitted to the country’s Cabinet for discussion. The legislation, which was previously named Code of Posts and Telecommunications, will replace Telecom Law 03-2000 of 5 August 2000, which provided for the establishment of AT as the country’s sole fixed line operator.