2010 Egypt - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts

Egypt became one of the first countries in Africa to launch third generation (3G) mobile services, following the award of the country’s third mobile licence in 2006. The record price that was paid for the licence indicates the enormous potential in the Egyptian mobile market, and the penetration rate has more than tripled since then to around 80% in mid-2010. The network operators – Mobinil (backed by Orascom and France Telecom), Vodafone Egypt (VFE) and Etisalat – have launched a wide range of advanced services and are set to become dominant players in the Internet and broadband market as well, following the launch of 3.5G HSPA mobile broadband services and the acquisition of controlling stakes in leading data and Internet service providers.

Supported by forward-looking government programs, Egypt has become one of the leading Internet markets in Africa in terms of users, international bandwidth and services offered. The country is well connected by several international submarine fibre optic cables in combination with a national fibre-backbone infrastructure, and the international bandwidth market has been liberalised. The entire sector is highly competitive with more than 200 Internet and data service providers, which has led to some of the lowest broadband prices on the continent and ADSL2+ services with up to 24Mb/s being widely available. VoIP Internet telephony has been partly liberalised, and several companies are rolling out next-generation networks (NGN) to provide converged IP-based voice, data and entertainment services. The country’s first Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH) network has been launched in Cairo.

Egypt’s telecoms regulator, NTRA has announced it may consider offering a fourth mobile operator licence. Telecom Egypt (TE), the country’s incumbent telco and minority shareholder in VFE, has expressed an interest in the licence. TE operates the largest fixed-line network in Africa, is highly profitable and was partially privatised through an IPO in 2005. The sale of a second tranche of TE shares and a second national fixed-line licence both received strong interest from investors but were postponed in the wake of the global financial crisis. Instead, two regionally limited triple play licences for fixed-line voice, high-speed broadband and pay TV services were tendered in 2010.

Market highlights:

• Forecasts for fixed-line, mobile, Internet and broadband market to 2012 and 2015;
• Mobile penetration has broken the 75% barrier;
• Fixed-line subscriptions declined in 2009;
• Mobile ARPU continues to fall, but fixed-line ARPU is pointing up;
• Some of the lowest broadband and mobile tariffs in Africa;
• Two triple play licences for fixed-line voice, high-speed broadband and pay TV services tendered;
• Fourth mobile licence and second tranche of Telecom Egypt IPO expected in the near future.

Market penetration rates in Egypt’s telecoms sector – Q1 2010

(Source: BuddeComm based on various sources)

For those needing high level strategic information and objective analysis on the telecommunications sector in Egypt, this report is essential reading and gives further information on:

• Government policies affecting the telecoms industry;
• Market liberalisation and regulatory issues;
• Telecoms operators – privatisation, acquisitions, new licences and competition;
• The largest fixed-line and mobile market in the region;
• Internet and broadband development and growth;
• Broadband pricing, fixed and wireless;
• Average Revenue per User (ARPU);
• Mobile application and content developments.

 Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.