RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Hits Africa, a subsidiary of Hits Telecom, the new opportunity communications company, today announced that it has been selected by the government of Equatorial Guinea as the second national telecommunications operator.

Hits Africa is to implement the first converged network which consists of mobile, fixed and data networks that will offer country-wide coverage by the end of 2008. The move will end the current telecommunications monopoly in Equatorial Guinea and comes as a result of the evaluation of over ten applications from international operators by Equatorial Guinea's Ministry of Transport and Communications.

'Hits is dedicated to launching and operating a sophisticated network that will open up new services and categories of telecommunications to Equatorial Guinea,' said Hits Vice Chairman Dr. Mohammed Bahabri. 'We believe this move will open up the market, create new growth and dynamism in that market and build significant opportunities for the people of the country to gain effective access to today's powerful communication tools and deliver more efficient services to our customer in Africa through converged network.'

Equatorial Guinea is an economically vibrant West African nation which consists of two main regions: a mainland region and the island of Bioko where the capital, Malabo, is situated. With a population of some 1.2 million, the country has a recent record of dynamic GDP growth which marked an increase of 12.7%, over two times the growth among GCC countries, and GDP per capita of $44,100- in part based on the development of the country's large oil reserves. Meeting the consequent demand for the development of advanced telecommunications capabilities, Hits Africa will roll out a national mobile network by the end of 2008 which will be underpinned by the development of national fixed wireless and broadband data networks by 2009.

'Our clear aim is to enhance the communication infrastructure by investing in a state of the art technology, to increase access to communication to the people of Equatorial Guinea and to create hundreds of jobs' said Talaat El Lahham, CEO of Hits Africa. El Lahham added 'our plan is to go to market quickly and to offer a wide range of services to the consumer.' We are totally committed to this plan in Equatorial Guinea, we're now working on bringing the benefits of having a new major player in the market to customers as quickly as we can.'

Hits Africa will implement a GSM 2.5 / 3G capable mobile network in Equatorial Guinea covering both the mainland and Bioko Island. An international gateway will open competitive global telecommunications access for the country, while a national WiMax network will also be implemented to provide fixed-wireless services including voice and broadband data access.

HiTs Telecom