Libya's LAP Green Network has struck a deal with the Republic of Niger to gain a 10-year majority share of the African nation's Sonitel telecom firm and its mobile subsidiary, Sahel Com, according to Reuters (News - Alert), citing a government statement.

The Green Network will pay the state more than $65 million for a 51 percent share in the two companies, which are to be merged under the terms of the deal. The Green Network's license for controlling interest in the firm will expire after 10 years.

The central telecommunications union in Niger has objected to the deal, based primarily on the Green Network's Libyan origin. A spokesman for the union said that the current deal is just as unacceptable as a similar one that was nixed in 2009, when Niger's government cut ties with Dataport, a Chinese-Libyan consortium that once controlled Sonitel. That deal was put together by China's ZTE (News - Alert) and the Libyan Arab African Investment Company (LAAICO), according to Reuters.

"Whether it is LAAICO or the Green Network, it is the same thing - it is Libya," Adam Amoumoum, spokesman for a collection of unions covering the telecommunications sector, told the news source.

"As before, they will not respect their promises and Sonitel will not be made profitable. We call for an international tender (for the contract)," he added.

In other international news, citizens in Turkey erupted in protest last week to object to a new Internet filtering initiative that the government is set to impose at the end of the summer.

The Information and Communications Technologies Authority, known as BTK, will force Turkish citizens to choose from four Web filtering options meant to make the Web safer for minors and families.

Protesters have called the initiative an assault on their freedoms, even though one of the filtering options is said to enable users to access all of the content that they do now. Turkish residents apparently remain skeptical of the BTK's claim that the "standard" filter will not regulate the Web browsing experience.

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Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Carrie Schmelkin