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Zeinal Bava guarantees the PR and East Timorese Prime Minister more investment in the country
Tuesday, 14 December 2010 02:31

The Portugal Telecom´s CEO, Zeinal Bava, met on 29 November with the President and Prime Minister of Timor-Leste to ensure that Timor Telecom (TT) will invest to provide the country with reference to telecommunications area in the region.

"I came mainly to reaffirm the commitment of Timor Telecom and Portugal Telecom as a strategic shareholder, that we will continue to invest, to enable East Timor with the most competitive infrastructure in the region concerning to telecommunications" said Zeinal Bava to Lusa agency, at the end of audience with the President.

According to the CEO, the one day trip that brought him to Timor-Leste has also "confirmed the development and progress that Timor Telecom has done. TT has invested heavily in this market," about 29 percent of revenues.

"We have increased significantly 2G mobile coverage and 86 percent of the Timorese population has access to mobile phone, with a multiplicity of rates." said.

Considering Timor Telecom "a strategic asset", Zeinal recalled that, despite East Timor's economy improvement, " when Timor had a lack of investment, PT and a group of local partners took the initiative and risks, when, at that time, other companies did not consider the interesting and attractive market. "

Timor Telecom “is an excellent example of a partnership with local investors. PT has a significant stake in this partnership, which brings management in telecommunications field, but this management is based on a clear commitment that we made on Timorese resources. Most of our staff is local and we are committed in their training and to be led by people of Timor, "he said.

According to the press release, by the end of this year, 7.5 percent of the Timorese population will have Internet access (about 80 000 users), and aim to double this figure for 2011.

"At the end of 2011 we estimate that in 15 percent of the population, East Timor will be one of the countries of greatest penetration in the region, compared with 13.5 of the Fiji Islands or 8.7 percent of Indonesia, which is very important because the Internet opens the doors of knowledge and will increase the level of education and training of people, "he said.

In September www.sapo.tl portal was launched for the first time in a bilingual version (Tetum and Portuguese), "to promote the use of Internet and broadband boost with multimedia content sites, while also helping to promote the consolidation of Portuguese , as a national language in East Timor. "

In the mobile area, 40 percent of the population uses the services provided by Timor Telecom (33 percent in 2009), and the company is expecting to reach 470,000 customers at the end of the year and coverage in all 13 district capitals, it means 86 percent of the population.