Ivory Coast to grant telecoms license to Libyan firm

Ivory Coast will offer a telecoms license to the Libyan Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Company (LPTIC), making the company the West African nation’s fourth mobile phone network operator, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Ivory Coast announced the withdrawal of four mobile operators’ licenses in April over bad service quality and unpaid taxes. Only Orange, MTN and Moov remain.

“The council approved the choice of this fourth operator and authorised the government to finalise the attribution process of a fourth mobile telephone license,” Bruno Kone told reporters after a cabinet meeting in the commercial capital, Abidjan.

Ivory Coast, French-speaking West Africa’s largest economy, has a population of about 25 million and an equal number of mobile phone subscribers.

LPTIC owns several telecommunications companies including mobile operators Libyana and Al-Madar, Libya Telecom and Technology (LTT), Aljeel, the International Telecommunications Company and Hatef Libya.