Khabar Khair (Only Good News) – Abdul Jalil Al-Salami

Reliable sources in the telecom sector said: The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is preparing to launch a new Yemeni mobile phone company “Wi Telecom” ran by the private sector, with 4G technology, to be available in four Yemeni governorates as a first phase.

   The sources confirmed to ” Khabar Khair (Only Good News) “Wi Telecom will officially launch its services in the next few coming days, in Aden, Seiyun, Shabwa, and Marib, with a package of quality services operating on the CDMA system, enabling it to compete with mobile phone companies that occupies the market.

    The sources added that Aden Net Company will also witness a big breakthrough that will enable it to implement its plans and overcome all the obstacles it encountered during the past period, driven by additional new capabilities provided by the Ministry of Communications, with the activation of the Wi Telecom service.

    In addition to the new Wi-Telecom, there are 5 mobile phone companies in Yemen, with a total capital of about 2.5 billion dollars.

    The two new companies, I-Telecom and Saba-Phone, have their headquarters in Aden, while the old Saba-Phone companies, M. T. N, Y Telecom, and Yemen Mobile, which is a mixed sector, have their head office in Sana’a, and their services are available in all Yemeni governorates.

 Yemen is provided with internet service by two state companies, Tele Yemen in Sana’a, and Aden Net in Aden.

     Observers confirm that if the new mobile phone company enters the market with sophisticated technologies at reasonable prices, it will push other companies to develop their technology, reduce prices, and push the Yemeni telecom market towards competing in technological advancement, which will benefit the citizen.

     The telecom sector in Yemen has been growing increasingly over the past two decades, bringing the number of mobile phone users in Yemen to about 18.37 million users by the end of 2018, according to the “We are Social Media” report, by more than 64% of the population.

      The telecom sector has significant effects on public finances in Yemen, as this sector ranked pre-conflict second after the oil and gas sector as a source of hard currency and revenue generation for public finances.