In an interview with African Manager, Nizar Bouguila, CEO of Tunisie Telecom, said Watani, a new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), would soon enter Tunisia’s telecom market. The new operator, who has no frequency spectrum licence or network infrastructure, will sign an agreement with Tunisie Telecom to rent its radio network and market its services under its own brand.

Watani which will be Tunisian will help further diversify telecom services in the country. It will join English virtual operator, Lycamobile, who arrived in Tunisia in Q3 2015 and provides local calls starting at 35 millimes per minute to all other networks as well to landline an SMS at 30 millimes.

For international calls, tariff ranges between 95 millimes, for mobile calls to Lycamobile and 540 millimes to all other networks. Per minute tariff to landline is 210 millimes and SMS costs 30 millimes, to Lycamobile, and 150 millimes to other networks.

Though Lycamobile’s rates are slightly higher than those of traditional networks that fluctuate due to the various promotions, fact is that for most Tunisians abroad, this is a good bargain. Watani will have to target a specific segment of the market (local, international, Internet, etc.) in order to grow its business.