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Official Launch of 3 9G
mtc touch officially launches 3.9G HSPA+ services in Lebanon
Service to cover all Lebanese territories by beginning of 2012

Beirut, 2 November 2011: The minister of telecommunications Nicolas Sehnaoui has underlined its commitment “to development and growth moved by the strong will to score achievements and reflected in the uplifting of the telecommunication network in Lebanon to meet the highest international standards through the launching of the 3.9G and the fiber optics”. Minister Sehnaoui statement came during a press conference held by mtc touch, the leading mobile telecommunications operator in Lebanon and Zain affiliate, to officially unveil its 3.9G HSPA+ services at the Phoencia Intercontinental Hotel. 
 
The conference started by a welcome note given by Mr. Claude Bassil, General Manager of mtc touch, who said: “we will all remember 2011 as a key milestone in the mobile telecommunications sector in Lebanon, having witnessed several crucial preparatory phases to launch the 3G services in the country. We are here to celebrate the official launch of the 3.9G HSPA+ technologies in Lebanon, already in use by 98,000 of our customers and to which 7,000 customers have subscribed in just one day. In the launching phase, mtc touch will provide coverage to the biggest number of its customers and web users who will be able to start using 3G services. The areas covered will include Beirut, Saida, Zahle and several parts of Greater Beirut through the upgrade of 420 out of 850 sites in total. We have an aggressive roll out plan to cover all Lebanon by beginning of 2012”.
Bassil stated that mtc touch network will equip 50 sites with Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology - known as 4G technology – with a speed of 173 MB/second; thus, positioning Lebanon as one of the very few countries to enjoy this advanced technology.
 
Bassil thanked the Ministry of Telecommunications for its cooperation on this vital project, as well as the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. He also expressed gratitude to the mtc touch team for its dedication, concluding: “I also thank our colleagues at Zain for helping us build a state of the art network, with many advanced features and a future proof capability, in addition to providing us with their expertise in broadband field.”
 
Before revealing the 5 commercial 3.9G packages, Mr Nadim Khater, Chief Commercial Officer at mtc touch uncovered the company’s brand new “Pay as you go” service for postpaid lines, allowing customers to choose the internet consumption they need outside the existing offers by paying 0.5 $/MB. As for the actual commercial offers, Khater said that they are already “available to all customers holding postpaid and prepaid lines in addition to every new customer who would like to benefit from the 3.9G services via mtc touch network. The user can choose a monthly offer that better suits his/her consumption level according to the following:
 
• First offer: 10$ for 100 MB
• Second offer: 19$ for 500 MB
• Third offer: 32$ for 1 GB
• Fourth offer: 79$ for 3 GB
• Fifth offer: 99$ for 5 GB”.
 
Khater added: “postpaid customers can also make video calls for 0.4 $ per minute, provided that their mobiles are equipped with the supporting functions.”
 
Khater forecasts that there will be substantial growth in the number of customers using data on their mobile phones with the launch of 3G. He said: “93% of the 2,000 customers who were part of the pilot test expressed their interest in having immediate subscription to 3Gservices, while 80% of them were satisfied from the quality of service”. 
 
About the impact of the 3G launch on the economy, Khater said: “Broadband penetration increases the national GDP and creates jobs. A 2010 study showed that for every 10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration, GDP increases by 1 percent, and a new study this September showed that Doubling the broadband speed for an economy increases GDP by 0.3%.”
 
Minister Sehnaoui
 
During a talk with the media, Minister Sehnaoui has underlined its commitment “to development and growth moved by the strong will to score achievements and reflected in the uplifting of the telecommunication network in Lebanon to meet the highest international standards through the launching of the 3.9G and the fiber optics”. 
 
Answering a question about the Ministry’s plans regarding the reduction of mobile tariffs, Sehnaoui explained that he aims at decreasing the indirect taxes on the Lebanese citizens and thus reduce the mobile tariffs gradually. He said: “it is our duty to lower the tariffs but the matter is not easy in light of the inherited public debt. This is why we are closely working with the Ministry of Finance to discuss a transition plan that will take us to a phase where our indirect fiscal burdens to the treasury are lightened; thus allowing us to look into the possibility of reducing telecom tariffs. However, this requires more time, and we shall start soon looking into this issue”.
 
The Minister also announced the near reveal of the TRA study results. The latter examines the five 3.9G offers set by the ministry and compares them to the prices adopted in other countries. He said: “we trust the credibility of the in-depth studies and workshops we have conducted to get to these offers and better serve the Lebanese citizens. In the meantime, we should avoid comparing Lebanon to other countries in terms of telecom performance and prices because the surrounding countries, especially the oil producing ones, have taken the lead over Lebanon in launching the 3G services years ago, which means they have reached advanced levels to offer reduced costs on different services”.
 
Sehnaoui concluded that the Ministry “has thoroughly examined the 3G bundles in a way not to affect or compete with the current landline DSL services”.