Tunisie Telecom has unveiled a new 535 sqm Services Operations Centre (SOC) as part of its Hached Telecommunications Complex to support technicians and engineers in their efforts to maintain and upgrade its network.

Mohamed Kraiem, President and CEO of Tunisie Telecom said the SOC includes multiple large format screens that provide an instant and broad visibility of the status of the company's network at any given time.

"It will be able to detect any malfunction observed on the network throughout the Tunisian territory with the required speed," said Kraiem.

The company has not specified the cost of the SOC and reiterated that it is the first phase of a major project to enhance the Hached Telecommunications Complex, central to its business network.

Jamel Sakka, Central Network Director at Tunisie Telecom explained the project is part of the company's ongoing network supervision and migration strategy.

The SOC was opened a few weeks after the company recruited 45 customer services managers to reinforce its national presence and strengthen service levels.

The focus on its network and support for technicians in order to ensure reliable connectivity is also in preparation for the company's interest in 4T4R network deployment to eventually support 5G.

In May 2018 Tunisie Telecom and multinational ICT firm Huawei conducted a test of all Business Connected@LTE technologies, including 4T4R, Carrier Aggregation, and 256QAM.

According to a media statement posted by Huawei, the test saw a single user peak throughput of 706.14 Mbps achieved on a commercial network.

Huawei stated that the performance reinforces Tunisie Telecom's resolution to build a large-scale 4T4R network with Huawei in 2018 to deliver an optimal LTE experience for all of their subscribers "as well as create the fastest network in the country."

Kraiem said: "Tunisie Telecom is keen to invest in more innovative technologies to offer the best user experience. I am glad that this test is a huge success, achieving all expected results. Spectrum resources are fully utilised to ensure that our network is more efficient. In addition, large-scale 4T4R network deployment allows us to be fully prepared for an evolution towards a new 5G era. We will continue to partner with Huawei in pursuing innovation to provide subscribers with a superb experience in Tunisia."