2015 Egypt - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Digital Media - Statistics and Analyses

Egypt’s newly lit MENA subsea cable adds to bandwidth capacity

Egypt’s political crisis in recent years has adversely affected the telecom sector. Although revenue has remained stable, profit margins and capital expenditure have fallen due to a weaker local currency, while international investors have shown caution. This has prompted the government in recent months to secure billions of dollars in funding to develop technology parks and to extend broadband availability, and in the process to create jobs in ICT and rekindle international investor interest.

Previously abandoned plans for a second fixed-line licence and a fourth mobile licence have been revived, taking the form of unified licences which will give Telecom Egypt the right to operate mobile services, while mobile network operators will gain access to the former’s fixed-line infrastructure. Though these licenses were agreed to in April 2014, numerous delays have ensued though further progress was made in September 2015.

Efforts are underway to roll out next-generation networks, offering converged IP-based voice, data and entertainment services. Egypt is well connected by several international submarine fibre optic cables, while it also has an extensive national fibre backbone and vibrant FttP deployments.

In the mobile sector there is effective competition between Etisalat Misr, Vodafone Egypt and Mobinil. SIM card penetration has increased rapidly since the third mobile licence was issued in 2006, and approached 118% by the end of 2015. The strongest growth is currently in mobile broadband. Licences to provide services based on LTE technologies are expected to be awarded in 2016, and this will go far in improving mobile broadband services in regional areas.

Egypt also has one of the most developed internet markets in Africa in terms of the number of users and the availability of services. The country’s geographical position has enabled it to capitalise on the myriad of cables which cross through it, interconnecting various parts of Europe with the Middle East and Asia. The MENA subsea cable came into commercial use in late 2015, augmenting the country’s considerable international bandwidth.

This report outlines the major developments in Egypt’s telecom market, providing statistics and profiles of the major operators, as well as data on national and international infrastructure. The report also outlines trends in the broadband, mobile and digital media sectors, including recent developments with licensing and regulatory matters.

Key developments:

• Orascom Telecom’s MENA submarine cable becomes operational;
• Mobinil, Vodafone, Telecom Egypt sign $2 billion infrastructure sharing deal;
• Telecom Egypt approved for Unified Telecom Licence;
• Consortium signs contract to build the EA-ME-WE 5 cable;
• Mobinil begins to rebrand as Orange;
• LTE spectrum auction planned for 2016;
• Telecom Egypt extends the reach of its fibre networks;
• Continuing strong growth of DSL and mobile broadband;
• Economic recovery shown in e-commerce market growth;
• Report updates include the regulator’s market data updates to July 2015, telcos’ operational and financial data to Q3 2015, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Telecom Egypt, Orascom Telecom, Menatel, NilePhone, Raya Telecom, Zhone Technologies, Ericsson, NEC, Nortel Networks, Qualcomm, ZTE, Huawei Technologies, Mobinil (ECMS, Orascom Global Telecom Holding), Vodafone Egypt, Etisalat Misr, Thuraya, Iridium, Inmarsat, Alkan Communications, EgyptSat, MobiServe, EgyNet, LINKdotNET, Nile Online, Yalla, Equant, Noor, Vodafone Data (Raya Telecom,; Menanet, Batelco, Soficom, Egypt Network, Internet Egypt, MenaNet, MenaSat, iSkySat, StormSat Egypt, PLC International, JumpTV.