Last week, Faisal Gergab, chairman of the Libyan Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology Holding Company (LPTIC) to which was transferred all Libyan assets in Africa, met, in Cote d’Ivoire, with the Ivorian ICT minister, Bruno Nabagne Koné. During the audience granted him, the Libyan representative presented the Ivorian minister a plan for str ategic development of mobile operator Oricel, Telecom Paper reveals.

Oricel, sixth operator in terms of market shares is being forced by government to merge with its rivals Comium and Café Mobile. Truly, the three are considered as small operators because of their small number of customers (less than 3 million) and their weak financial power. Government through its plan for restructuring its ICT sector and get a more competitive market thus intends to force a merger of these companies, that owe him billions of FCFA, into a fourth operator behind Orange, MTN and Moov. However, determined to preserve the identity and interests of the Libyan Oricel through a recovery plan, LPTIC rejects the solution.

After meeting with Bruno Nabagné Koné, Faisal Gergab cited by Developing Telecom said that Oricel’s plan to develop in Cote d’Ivoire would come through new investments, the introduction of new products and services to improve its competitiveness.

Last August, when LPTIC acquired Oricel’s assets, a source internal to the operator spoke of an upcoming injection of about $150 million to restart the firm’s activities.