Tunisia to sell telephone licence in 2009 -paper

TUNIS, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Tunisia will launch an international tender next year to award a fixed-line telephone licence, part of a drive to boost foreign investment and accelerate growth, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

"The tender is scheduled for the beginning of next year and expected to be completed at the end of 2009," the daily Le Quotidien said.

Government officials are not immediately available for comment.

The country awarded a mobile phone licence in 2002 to Tunisiana, a joint venture of Kuwait's National Mobile Telecom (NMTC.KW) and Egypt's Orascom Telecom (ORTE.CA).

State-controlled Tunisie Telecom still holds a monopoly in fixed-line services and controls more than 70 percent of the mobile market.

It has 6 million mobile and fixed-line customers in the North African country's of 10 million. Dubai's Tecom holds a 35 percent stake in Tunisie Telecom. (Reporting by Sonia Ounissi, editing by Will Waterman)