Libya plans to rebuild its economy one broadband cable at a time, according to the chairman of its state-owned telecoms company.
As talks continue between United Nations peacekeepers and rival factions battling for power, the country is already paving the way for the estimated $3bn sector to thrive.
Last month, a deal was completed to transfer more than a billion dollars’ worth of telecoms assets from the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), to the Libyan Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Company (LPTIC).
Under the restructuring, the country’s shareholdings in mobile and fixed-line network operators across Libya and Sub-Saharan Africa — most held within LAP Green, the LIA’s $1bn-plus telecoms subsidiary — will be consolidated into a portfolio of three companies from their current eight, growing LPTIC’s holdings to in excess of $10bn.
LPTIC intends to develop the portfolio by expanding existing operations, opening up the domestic sector to foreign investment and acquiring new operations as time goes on.
LPTIC’s portfolio includes the two state-owned mobile operators, Libyana and Al Madar; four fixed-line operators, Hatif Libya, Al Jeel, Libya International Telecoms Company and Libya Telecoms & Technology Company; a real estate operator called Al Bouniya, and the Libyan Post company. Libyan assets generate around $2bn a year of revenue, says Gergab.
Beyond this, LPTIC has shareholdings in two of the region’s biggest subterranean cable companies — EIG, which delivers services across the Mediterranean between Europe and Africa, and WIOCC, which delivers capacity around Africa.
There is also a portfolio of investments, mainly in private equity, across Canada, the UK, the Middle East and Europe. They include shares in Dubai-based satellite communications firm Thuraya, Borsa Italiana-listed Retelit, Measat in the UK and a majority share in a telematics company in Canada. Investments outside Libya represent around 5 percent of the total portfolio.
The first plank of the strategy is to improve service provision in Libya. Projects that have already commenced are work to upgrade the two mobile operators to 4G — “Contracts have been signed and we are in the final stages of mobilising vendors,” says Gergab — and a partnership with UAE telecoms giant Etisalat to build an ‘iCity academy’ in Libya for up to 10,000 people. It will be similar to Etisalat’s facility in Dubai that provides training across a range of telecoms-related business, technical and consultancy services to build expertise.
The company is also rolling out a fibre to the home (FTTH) network. It envisages connecting up every home, office and other building in Libya with the country’s extensive subterranean broadband network. This is a key part of LPTIC’s strategy to shift mobile penetration from being 95 percent voice and 5 percent data, to 70 percent voice and 30 percent data, Gergab says, and increase internet speeds. According to a report by Akamai last July, Libya had one of the slowest average internet speeds in the world, at 0.5 Mbps.
“The [broadband] fibre infrastructure of Libya covers the entire country — around 20,000km of fibres connecting all the main cities. We have huge capacity through these underground cables, more than we can absorb in Libya, so we would look to sell surplus to the rest of the Africa at a later stage,” he says.
There are also plans to resurrect the tender for a management services contract related to Libya’s two main mobile operators. This was something Etisalat had been involved in until the process was halted in 2013 amid escalating political instability.
Source: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/crossed-wires-in-libyan-telco-sector-605806.html