France Telecom, partner win Tunisia licence

TUNIS, June 26 (Reuters) - France Telecom (FTE.PA) and Tunisian partner Divona have won a licence for mobile and fixed-line phone services in the north African country with a winning bid of 257 million dinars ($189.7 million).

"This was an excellent offer given the current crisis," Tunisian Communication Minister Haj Klai told reporters.

He said France Telecom and Divona planned to invest 1 billion dinars to roll out their network in the country of 10.5 million and would create 1,000 to 2,000 direct jobs.

The licence will involve the installation of network infrastructure and the provision of second- and third-generation mobile services.

Around 83 percent of Tunisia's population owned a mobile phone in the first quarter of 2009.

The France Telecom consortium beat a competing bid from Turkish mobile phone company Turkcell (TCELL.IS).

"The consortium will begin its services on Jan. 1, 2010," Klai said. ($1=1.356 Tunisian Dinar) (Reporting by Tarek Amara; editing by Tom Pfeiffer and Karen Foster)