Algeria is issuing its three mobile operators with additional spectrum holdings in a bid to restore connectivity after extensive network outages.
Agence Ecofin reported that telecoms minister Brahim Boumzar met with senior executives from Algerie Telecom Mobile (Mobilis), Djezzy and Ooredoo after a week of nationwide connectivity problems.
Boumzar confirmed that the ministry would work with regulator ARPCE (Authority for Regulation of Post & Electronic Communications) to issue extra spectrum to the operators, although he did not specify the frequencies that would be provided.
The meeting was arranged on the order of Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who called for a “definitive solution to the problem of low internet speed.” Data speeds in Algeria have plummeted since 19th August, although TeleGeography reported that this was due to problems with international connections rather than local spectrum availability.
Algerie Telecom bore the brunt of the public backlash against the issues, as the operator is largely responsible for the country’s terrestrial cross-border and submarine fibre cable connections.
The operator issued a statement about the connectivity issues, saying: “This disruption has nothing to do with Algeria’s national telecommunications network or its basic facilities; it is rather a fluctuation of the international network.”