LONDON—Algeria’s second GSM license holder, Orascom Telecom, announced it will begin operating Algeria’s second mobile-phone network in January, two months ahead of schedule.
Orascom, which won the license in July with a US$737 million bid, was originally scheduled to begin operating in March 2002.
According to Orascom Chief Commercial Officer Michael Herbert, the network will have capacity for 500,000 mobile-phone users in the initial stages. The firm has awarded France’s Alcatel and Germany’s Siemens contracts totaling US$533 million to deliver and install its GSM network in Algeria.
Algerie Telecom, the state operator, has less than 100,000 subscribers.
Orascom said it would invest US$200 million in its Algerian operations by 2003 and expects the country’s mobile-phone market to grow to 8 million users during the next five years.
