Alfa, Ericsson project for modernizing mobile network

This achievement was celebrated at a dinner organized by Ericsson in the Metropolitan Palace Hotel on Thursday 23rd April, 2009, as Alfa has chosen Ericsson as its strategic supplier for its network for the coming years.

The new infrastructure affects in a positive way all end users, by providing many updates and upgrades. Hence, completion of this first phase will enhance many of the services provided by Alfa, such as improved voice quality during phone calls, and the enhanced ability of the network to handle additional subscribers.

Further, this project will guarantee a high degree of flexibility in the provision of various Multimedia services, such as High Speed Internet, TV, video and games services.

On this milestone occasion, Ericsson's customer responsible, Mr. Tony Abboud, declared, "Ericsson is pleased to be chosen by Alfa to be its strategic network supplier for the coming years. Ericsson intends putting continuous effort into upgrading Alfa's systems with the latest technology and mobile innovations, and will supply a wide variety of telecom services, so that Alfa has all the characteristics and most high level techniques that are essential for operators in today's market."

Alfa also announced that it is continuing its efforts to enhance and develop its network through equipment modernization, including the launching of a new mobile pre-paid billing system on7th April, 2009, in order to be able to provide the best quality of services to its subscribers.

As a result of Alfa's latest investments, Lebanon is classed as being one of the first countries in the World to adopt the new Charging System known as CS4.0, a considerable, and leading, step forward in the telecom sector world-wide.

This new Charging System provides an easier way to recharge the prepaid line, through any voucher card, without the need to call the voice number 1456. Moreover, the user, when finished the grace period, is now able to reactivate his line within a maximum period of 12 days, through purchasing any new recharge card, without the need to access Alfa's website or pay any additional fee.

The new system also expands the company's capability to absorb a higher number of prepaid lines, and allows the company to provide new services such as SMS Roaming, and GPRS Roaming, in addition to various other exceptional offers.

"We are aiming to make the latest technology available to our subscribers, as well as secure the best coverage. We are confident that, with these new technologies, Alfa will be able to provide unprecedented data services to its subscribers wherever they may be,"

explained Mr. Samer Salameh, Alfa's CEO, in these regards.