Monrovia – President George Weah is set to launch the rebranded Libtelco which will now be known as Liberia Telecommunications Corporation Mobile (LTC Mobile).
The launch will include the introduction of mobile GSM services by the Corporation and President Weah will on Tuesday make the first voice call on the new network (022).
According to the management, LTC Mobile which is owned by the Government, it is not the government’s intention to take the existing service providers out of business but rather fill in the gaps and meet the needs of the Liberian people.
However, the management said it is a vision of President Weah to make LTC a viable telecommunications company in the sub-region that can be compared to MTN which is owned by the South African government or Orange which is owned by the French government and Vodacom which is owned by the UK government.
The LTC management dispelled the misconception that the LTC mobile will be playing the role of a regulator and the same time a player since it’s government owned.
The management noted that the regulation of the sector solely lies with the Liberia Telecommunications Authority while LTC is a service provider like other state-owned enterprises.
The Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LTC) was established in 1973 as the sole fixed line telephone operator in Liberia. With the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 2007, the Corporation was re-organized as LIBTELCO and designated as Liberia’s national telecommunications operator. It has been operating a CDMA 2000 1X-EVDO network that provides affordable voice and data services in Liberia.
However, with its ascendancy, the Weah-led administration has set an ambitious plan to expand the scope and operations of the Corporation. In 2020, the 2007 Act was amended to ensure that the LTC provide full scale mobile network operations in Liberia.