Tunisiana launches new mobile banking service titled ‘mobiflouss’ (Tunisia)
Mobile phone operator Tunisiana has launched a new mobile banking service, mobiflouss, in partnership with the Tunisian Mail (La Poste Tunisienne). The new payment method allows users to access mobility access to a range of payment services and transfer money from their mobile.
To qualify, a person must be a Tunisiana subscriber, carrying a prepaid card, e-DINAR SMART. Once the user registers with mobiflouss, he can perform various financial functions via his mobile phone. The service will enable users to transfer money and pay for goods and services from their mobile phone.
According to reports, Tunisia boasts of a mobile penetration rate of 110.3 percent, while less than 50 percent of the population has a bank account, thus highlighting the huge opportunity for success.
Tunisiana Telecom receives 3G and fixed-line licences (Tunisia)
Telecom operator Tunisiana Telecom has received the required licences to operate fixed line and 3G mobile services in the North African country. According to reports, the Ministry for Information Technologies and Communications said that the operator will pay $132 million for these rights.
The minister claims that this bid will enhance considerably the competitiveness of the Tunisian communication market and ensure easy access to the fast speed Internet countrywide.
The operator is expected to launch its 3G network in July 2012, while it will offer its fixed-line services in early 2013.
Tunisiana’s 3G bid declined (Tunisia)
Telecom operator Tunisiana’s bid for the 3G and fixed licence has been declined by Tunisia’s ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Ministry, according to a report by Biztech Africa.
As per the report the Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Mongi Marzouk, said Tunisiana had offered to purchase the landline license for $ 23.38 million and the 3G license for $ 81.2 million. The Ministry earlier accepted the company’s proposed terms for network quality.
The report reveals that while the Ministry declined to specify what bid it would accept, it pointed out that Orange Tunisia had paid $ 179 million in June 2009 for a similar package with the option of an exclusive 3G licence for one year.
Tunisie Telecom acquired its 3G licence in 2010, for $ 75.3 million. Tunisiana has indicated that it may revise its bid.
Orange Tunisia offers its customers free mobile access to Wikipedia (Tunisia)
All customers who own an Orange SIM card and a phone can access the Internet using their phone’s browser to the largest online encyclopedia in the world, as often as they want at no extra cost as long as they remain on the pages of the Wikipedia mobile site.
They have the opportunity to navigate freely among millions of items available in the languages ??most used in Tunisia 1 (including Arabic, French and English).By supporting the connection fees for its customers, Orange Tunisia supports the initiative of the Wikimedia Foundation to disseminate knowledge to billions of people around the world where Internet access is mainly from their mobile phones.
This approach is part of a major and unprecedented partnership signed last January between the Orange Group and the Wikimedia Foundation. This partnership will eventually enable over 70 million Orange customers in Africa and the Middle East (AMEA) easier access to knowledge. According to Marc Rennard, Executive Director of the Africa, Middle East and Asia Orange, in countries where it is not easy to access knowledge, they offer access to all their customers from the mobile to Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopedia in the world with no connection fee. This is the first partnership of its kind and demonstrates again the ability to innovate Orange in Africa and the Middle East, and provide real value to their customers.
Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia reference with nearly 500 million unique monthly visitors and more complete with over 20 million articles in 280 languages, from the contribution of a community of volunteers.
Orange Tunisia chooses Volubill for new ‘Happy Hour’ feature (Tunisia)
Volubill, a leading supplier of policy management solutions to service providers around the world, announced that customer and prominent African service provider Orange Tunisia will be discussing the importance of its real-time charging capabilities in offering customers unique and differentiating services, at the upcoming second annual Policy Control & Real-Time Conference.
Orange Tunisia will be speaking on Volubill’s behalf about the ‘Happy Hour’ feature, which allows for high-quality service coupled with mitigated data charges to customers between certain hours of the day. The conference is being held April 24th and 25th at the Krasnapolsky Hotel in Amsterdam.
The presentation, entitled “Assessing the challenges of data capacity management,” will take place on day two of the conference and will be delivered by Orange Tunisia’s Senior Manager of Data Charging, Afef Belhadj. It will detail how Volubill’s solutions are being used within the Orange Tunisia architecture, the advent of the Happy Hour policy, and the service provider’s rapid gain in customer base since its commercial launch in May of 2010.
In order to implement the policy successfully, Orange Tunisia needed software that would be able to manage both customer differentiation and bandwidth capacity constraints. Volubill’s solution capabilities, such as off-peak charging capabilities and quota management, have become essential in enabling these types of time-based policies.
The Happy Hour feature is just one of many sophisticated and innovative charging packages that makes Orange Tunisia such a successful service provider in terms of subscriber gains and retention, said John Aalbers, CEO, Volubill. He added that they are proud to have them as one of their customers, as they consistently use their solutions in order to provide their subscribers with a quality of service unmatched by many of their competitors. Doing so, however, means they are confronted with many hurdles, both from a technical and policy standpoint.
Tunisiana’s 3G and fixed line bid rejeceted (Tunisia)
Mobile operator Tunisiana’s bid to acquire third 3G and landline licence has been rejected by the ICT Minister, as reported by Tunisia Live. According to the report, Minister of Information and Communication Technologies Mongi Marzouk, said that once they grant the licences, they will officially announce the minimum amount that they are willing to accept in order to guarantee that no operator offers them the absolute minimum.
As per the report, Tunisiana offered to purchase the landline licence for $23.5 million and the 3G licence for $81.7 million.According to Marzouk, the private telecommunications company has also presented an appropriate plan to develop the landline network and 3G coverage in the whole country, especially in the interior regions.
The report reveals that in an official response to the rejection, Director-General of Tunisiana Kenneth Campbell said that his company will carefully adjust their offer and renew it in the coming days. The next time will be the final opportunity for Tunisiana to present its financial terms.
Tunisiana wins tender for 3G licence (Tunisia)
Telecom operator Tunisiana has won a for a new telecommunications license enabling it to offer fixed telecommunications (landlines) as well as high-speed 3rd-generation wireless network, as reported by Tunisialive. Previously, only Tunisie Telecom and Orange had licenses for 3G.
Mongi Marzoug, Minister of Communication Technologies, said it is important to boost competition in the telecommunications sector in Tunisia. He recalled the results of a study by the National Institute of Telecommunications, which highlighted the opportunities and positive outcomes related to the licensing of fixed telecommunications and 3G mobile telecommunications services.
He said that the granting of this license will reduce the digital divide, by improving coverage of telecommunication services and access to these services.
