Telecom Egypt's first-quarter net profit rose 9.9 percent to 604 million Egyptian pounds ($79.16 million) on strong retail growth, it said on Wednesday. The landline monopoly, in which the government owns an 80 percent stake, posted consolidated revenue of 2.76 billion pounds, up from 2.56 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share for the period was 0.35 Egyptian pounds. Chief executive Mohamed Elnawawy said the most important element was the growth in retail customers. He said the firm had added 220,000 new retail customers in the first quarter of this year, versus 60,000 in the fourth quarter of 2014. "We are (projecting) that we'll be able to grow this customer base," Elnawawy said. Telecom Egypt's landline market has come under pressure as more Egyptians use services provided by the country's three mobile phone companies, Vodafone Egypt, Etisalat and Mobinil. The government has opened the way for Telecom Egypt to offer mobile services and for the mobile companies to enter the landline market, but implementation has been repeatedly delayed. Elnawawy said he hoped to acquire the new 4G licence this year. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/130135.aspx
