The CEO of Lebanese cellco Alfa, Jad Nassif, has outlined a ‘network availability action plan’ to be implemented in coordination with the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoT), stating that currently ‘60% of Alfa sites enjoy a high service availability that ranges between 90%-96% in regions such as Jbeil, Keserwan and West Bekaa’, dropping to ‘less than 80% in other areas such as Beirut and Mrajeyoun’ giving an average network availability of around 87%. The CEO said that the issue would be tackled on a region-by-region basis to achieve a target network availability figure of ‘95% on average across Lebanon’. To assist this plan, he added that ‘237 sites have been equipped so far with solar energy and work is underway to equip 50 additional sites.’ The MoT is working with both Alfa and its fellow state-owned mobile operator Touch on network improvement plans, with the cellcos currently citing electricity outages and site thefts – including backhaul cable theft – as the two largest factors negatively affecting their services.
Furthermore, the Alfa CEO claimed that his company will launch VoLTE services ‘to 350,000 eligible [smartphone owners] in the first quarter of 2023’. Mr Nassif also claimed that Alfa has full ‘technical readiness’ and ‘preparedness’ to launch 5G, disclosing that the operator has conducted 5G tests on eleven ‘live’ 5G sites in Greater Beirut with 1.8Gbps data speeds.
On another issue, Nassif commented on customer behaviour following Lebanon’s recent state-ordered telecoms service price increases. From 1 July Alfa and Touch effectively raised rates fivefold in local currency, despite locally-denominated wages having lost most of their value during the country’s economic crisis, in a move which the operators and the MoT deemed vital to return the sector to profitability and prevent networks from shutting down. Nassif stated that Alfa ‘witnessed a drop in data and voice services consumption in the first two months after the new tariffs came into effect … within our expectations’ but added: ‘Today, this consumption is stabilising, especially in terms of data, which indicates that the Lebanese are adapting to the adjustments in the sector which were inevitable to ensure continuity.’
Source: https://www.commsupdate.com/articles/2022/09/27/lebanons-alfa-sets-network-improvement-targets/
