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SUMMARY
Market Intelligence Reports provide an invaluable mix of vital market data and
background information, including telecommunications regulation.
Egypt's telecommunications sector is one of the fastest-developing markets in
the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, despite the fact that the fixed-line
market is effectively monopolised by the state-owned incumbent operator,
Telecom Egypt. The same company has a stake in Egypt's second-largest mobile
telephone company - Vodafone Egypt - and also has stakes of varying sizes in
the country's many value-added and Internet service providers (ISPs).
As the result of sustained network development and expansion, as well as the
adoption of a free national Internet service, Egypt's fixed-line subscriber
base has risen from just 3.9 million lines at the end of 1998 to around 10.4
million lines at the end of 2005. In the meantime, the waiting list for the
installation of fixed lines has fallen from 1.4 million at the end of 1998 to
a little over 66,000 by the end of 2005. At the same time, the Internet market
has grown from around 150,000 users at the end of 1998 to around 5.0 million
users by the end of 2005. The Egyptian authorities now expect to see the
Internet user base soar to around seven million by mid-2007, representing just
10% of the population. In June 2004, the Egyptian government launched a
public-private initiative to boost broadband access; the government also plans
to raise awareness among small and medium-sized businesses about the
advantages offered by broadband services. The Egyptian Ministry of
Communications & Information Technology (MCIT) is actively supporting the use
of computers at home, in schools and universities, as well as in businesses of
all sizes. To further this end, the government is guiding Telecom Egypt to
establish low-cost and transparent network interconnection and equipment
co-location agreements with ISPs and application service providers throughout
Egypt.
Egypt's mobile communications market has also witnessed strong growth in
recent years, starting with 194,000 subscribers at the end of 1998, rising to
5.8 million customers at the end of 2003, 7.6 million customers by the end of
2004, and 12.8 million by the end of 2005. While cellular operators MobiNil
and Vodafone Egypt initially were not able to acquire GSM 1800 frequencies to
boost their existing GSM 900 offerings, a deal was done in late-2003 that
split Telecom Egypt's GSM 1800 frequencies between the two companies, with
MobiNil paying cash for its spectrum and Vodafone Egypt granting the incumbent
a small, indirect stake in its business in return for its share of the
spectrum. In the meantime, MobiNil and Vodafone Egypt are offering 2.5G
services, such as WAP, GPRS, and SMS. A third GSM operator is to be licensed
in 2006; an auction for this licence should close in May/June, with the new
operator able to launch its services from 2007.
Egypt's telecommunications market was first opened to competition in 1997,
when concessions to operate public payphone services were awarded to Menatel
and Nile Telecom. Menatel has proved to be rather more successful than Nile
Telecom, operating 30,810 payphones at the end of 2005, compared to Nile's
18,687; Telecom Egypt also operates a small-scale public telephone network,
with 6,213 units in service at the end of 2005.
Public data networking services were liberalised in 1999, and the first wave
of Internet service providers were able to enter the market in this way;
however, it was not until the following year that the market for Internet
infrastructure was opened to competition. The market for high-speed access
services was liberalised in 2001, while the first virtual operators - mostly
ISPs - were licensed in 2003. There were more than 200 ISPs in Egypt at the
end of 2005. A revised version of the country's Telecommunications Act was
adopted in February 2003, giving greater powers to the regulator, the National
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), and broadening its remit to
cover all aspects of the information and communications technology (ICT)
market. The new law also protected Telecom Egypt's monopoly on fixed-line
telephony services until the end of 2005; new international and local
fixed-line carriers were expected to be licensed in 2006, but these plans now
appear to have been put on hold until 2008. A public offering of shares in
Telecom Egypt was completed in late-2005.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- COUNTRY BACKGROUND
- General Information
- Economic and Social Data
- Telecommunications Data
- TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- REGULATION
- Egypt: Regulatory Bodies and their Responsibilities
- LEGISLATION
- Public Telecommunications Licensees, March 2006
- Third GSM Licence Auction
- PRIVATISATION
- COMMUNICATIONS MARKET INDICATORS
- Comparison of Telecom Egypt Operating Results with CMA Averages, 2004
- FIXED-LINE MARKET
- MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS MARKET
- INTERNET/BROADBAND MARKET
- ICT MARKET DATA
- Investment in ICT Sector in Egypt, 1998-2005
- MAJOR OPERATORS
- MAJOR MANUFACTURERS
- INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
INDEX OF TABLES
- General Information
- Economic and Social Data
- Telecommunications Data
- Egypt: Regulatory Bodies and their Responsibilities
- Public Telecommunications Licensees, March 2006
- Comparison of Telecom Egypt Operating Results with CMA Averages, 2004
- Investment in ICT Sector in Egypt, 1998-2005
- Major Operators
- Major Manufacturers
- Industry Associations
INDEX OF CHARTS
- Growth of Fixed-line Subscribers and Penetration, 1999-2005
- Growth of Cellular Telephone Subscribers and Penetration, 1998-2005
- Market Shares of Cellular Operators, December 2004
- Market Shares of Cellular Operators, December 2005
- Growth of Internet User Base, 1999-2005
- Growth of Internet Bandwidth, 1999-2005
- Growth of ICT Companies in Egypt
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