Lebanon’s government will take back the management of the country’s two state-owned mobile phone networks after the latest contracts expired, and plans to prepare a new tender within three months.
Lebanon has only two service providers, Alfa and Touch, which bring in a huge chunk of revenues for the heavily-indebted state. The networks have been run respectively by Egypt’s OTMT since 2009 and Kuwait’s Zain Group since 2004, with the contracts repeatedly renewed.
A tender for new contracts to manage the mobile and data operators will be ready within three months, Telecom Minister Talal Hawat said in a tweet on Tuesday after a cabinet session. The ministry will run the networks in the meantime.