Tunisie Télécom, Ooredoo Tunisie and Orange Tunisie have fulfilled all the technical and administrative requirements and will start marketing around Valentine’s day
Toward the end of last month, Tunisia’s Ministry of Communication Technologies approved 5G licences for Tunisie Télécom, Ooredoo Tunisie and Orange Tunisie and the operators are not sitting about waiting to launch given the potential demand in the country. Tunisia enjoys one of the highest mobile phone subscriber rates in Africa with around 16.2 million lines and according to one of the few websites the US government has not yet ripped down, more than 80% of internet subscribers in the country do so using mobile – equating to 11.14 million mobile data subscribers.
The publication of the agreements follows the allocation of 5G licences and the signing of the agreement documents between the ministry and the representatives of telecommunications operators in Tunisia, in the presence of the head of government, Kamel Madouri, on 30 November 2024.
A roadmap for the launch of 5G was validated during a restricted ministerial council in June 2024, accompanied by the creation of a committee to prepare the granting of licences. Tunisian telecom operators will receive 5MHz of Time Division Duplex (TDD) spectrum in the 700MHz band and 100MHz (TDD) in the 3.5GHz band. Additionally, the ministry said operators can request three blocks of 20MHz spectrum. Further 5G frequency bands will be announced in later deployment phases, and licenses will be valid for 15 years.
Higher speed
Tunisia is now one-up on neighbours Algeria and Morocco, which have not officially announced their 5G deployment plans. To support this 5G development, the ministry is implementing several projects, including connecting 4,000 schools to high-speed fibre optics, thereby facilitating access to online educational platforms and scientific applications. The country also has aspirations to boost its undersea cable connectivity.
According to Ookla, Tunisia’s current median download and upload speeds are 27.12 Mbps and 14.09 Mbps respectively. While Orange has not yet released its commercial plans, one media outlet went out and did its own tests, demonstrating that 5G will make a big difference. Tunisie Haut Debit’s test on a smartphone in Ariana (Greater Tunis), showed a download speed of 500Mbps and an upload speed of 100Mbps on Orange’s network.
On its website, Orange is offering preorders for the Samsung Galaxy S25 range, the Galaxy A35 and A25, two Oppo Reno models, the Vivo V40 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus as its 5G enabled devices. Samsung and Xiaomi also feature in the list of 5G enabled tablets. Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa visited Tunisia ahead of the launch to inaugurate the Orange 5G lab in Tunis.
Ooredoo Tunisia said it is preparing to launch its 5G network across the entire country “in the coming days, marking a new milestone in connectivity”. CEO Mansoor Rashid Al-Khater said “Our preparation for the launch of 5G reflects Ooredoo’s unwavering commitment to delivering unparalleled connectivity and innovation in Tunisia. We are proud to lead this transformation, ensuring a world-class network experience for our customers while driving economic and technological growth in our beloved Tunisia.”