Alcatel NV, L M Ericsson Telefon AB and Siemens AG are all are setting up production units in Tunisia in the hope that investment will ease access to the expanding North African market, according to Reuter. Alcatel inaugurated its new factory in the industrial zone of the Tunisian capital Tunis, earlier this month. It is to manufacture office telephone systems for the Tunisian market and develop software for the parent company. Ericsson plans to open a similar factory in January, and, in a separate joint venture with the Tunisian state company Sotetel, will assemble PABXs. Siemens is also to open a factory in January, making cables and electronic cards for use in equipment for which it has contracts that it has with the Tunisian government. The three companies have recently signed contracts with the Tunisian government worth a total of $93m and they are confident that more will follow. Tunisia plans to invest UKP1,000m in telecommunications over the next 10 years. According to company officials the requirement of the Tunisian government that the companies invest in the country to do business with it was an important factor in the decision to set up factories there, but the prospect of gaining a foothold in North Africa is an added attraction: it is estimated that the North African market will be worth around $10,000m over the next 10 years. Tunisia is in the process of privatising its telecommunications industry and communications minister Sadok Rabah has said that private companies, foreign and local will find new opportunities in the market.
