Tunisian Internet Agency
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The Tunisian Internet Agency, known by its acronym ATI (short for Agence tunisienne d'Internet) and created on 12 March 1996, is the principal Tunisian ISP. It is run by the Ministry of Communications and has an equal mission to promote Internet usage in that country.
The ATI also has the task of contributing to the installation of networks in various fields (health, education and agriculture), to manage the national network and domain name (.tn) to launch websites and organize trainings and workshops.
Its customers are other ISPs, government agencies, state-run firms, research centres, etc. The ATI can thus regulate the entire national network because, except for public ISPs such as Tunisia Telecom, the 5 private suppliers Planet Tunisie, 3S Global Net, HexaByte, Tunet and Topnet depend on it for the network's management.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Internet censorship is common in Tunisia. In the 27 June 2004 issue of Jeune Afrique, a French-language newsmagazine, the ATI president, Faryel Beji, replies to the censure charges that "certain voices caluminate Tunisia by saying that the Internet would be censured there. The truth is that we wish to correct the use of the network, so that this tool better serves the people."
