04 Oct 04

Yemen's president Wednesday inaugurated a new mobile-phone network, the country's third, making a call to the governor of a northern province.

The government-owned Yemen Mobile presented a challenge to the two other private companies, Sabafon and Sebestel, by slashing call rates by almost 50%.

The project's cost exceeds $71 million, the official Saba news agency reported.

The new network will use the CDMA system, or code division multiple access, which is widely used in North America, Japan, South Korea and China. GSM, or global system for mobile communications, covers 70% of the world's wireless phone users.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh made the first Yemen Mobile call, ringing Yehia al-Amry, the governor of Sa'dah, 200 kilometers northwest of San`a.