Telecom Sector in Libya: History and Recent Developments

Abdulla A. Abouda, General Manager of ALMADAR Libya, discusses the telecom sector and the background. According to Abouda, Libyan telecom sector is still — to large extent — controlled by the government through the holding company.

He agrees that the government tone bodes for larger liberalization in the sector: “After the revolution the Ministry of Communications has started to give licenses for internet service providers although this is still quite limited. There are about 15 internet service providers. There is still very little privatisation in Libya so we can say that this sector almost entirely belongs to the government.”

When asked about the recent history of the Libyan telecom industry, Abouda talks about corruption, inefficiencies and limited competition among the players. “Previously the communications sector was dominated by Gaddafi’s son Mohammed; he was running all the companies and these companies were putting money in his pockets and nowhere else. So I don’t think there was anything good in the telecommunications sector before the revolution.”

The telecom sector is comming from years of negligence. The first step towards modernization of the industry is to set up a regulator, an intitiatives that is being framed into law by the ministry of communication.

“At this stage we are not trying to make huge changes, firstly we are trying to formulate a regulator, and then we will be able to have some competition between the companies.”

“I think we need time to make big changes in the sector,” concludes Abouda.