Egypt's NUCA, SHMFF sign New Cairo land allocation for integrated urban project    CIB named Egypt's Bank of the Year 2025 as factoring portfolio hits EGP 4bn    Egypt declares Red Sea's Great Coral Reef a new marine protected area    Oil prices edge higher on Thursday    Gold prices fall on Thursday    Egypt, Volkswagen discuss multi-stage plan to localise car manufacturing    Egypt denies coordination with Israel over Rafah crossing    Egypt to swap capital gains for stamp duty to boost stock market investment    Egypt tackles waste sector funding gaps, local governance reforms    Egypt, Switzerland explore expanded health cooperation, joint pharmaceutical ventures    Egypt recovers two ancient artefacts from Belgium    Private Egyptian firm Tornex target drones and logistics UAVs at EDEX 2025    Egypt opens COP24 Mediterranean, urges faster transition to sustainable blue economy    Egypt's Abdelatty urges deployment of international stabilisation force in Gaza during Berlin talks    Egypt, Saudi nuclear authorities sign MoU to boost cooperation on nuclear safety    Giza master plan targets major hotel expansion to match Grand Egyptian Museum launch    Australia returns 17 rare ancient Egyptian artefacts    China invites Egypt to join African duty-free export scheme    Egypt calls for stronger Africa-Europe partnership at Luanda summit    Egypt begins 2nd round of parliamentary elections with 34.6m eligible voters    Egypt warns of erratic Ethiopian dam operations after sharp swings in Blue Nile flows    Egypt scraps parliamentary election results in 19 districts over violations    Egypt extends Ramses II Tokyo Exhibition as it draws 350k visitors to date    Egypt signs host agreement for Barcelona Convention COP24 in December    Al-Sisi urges probe into election events, says vote could be cancelled if necessary    Filmmakers, experts to discuss teen mental health at Cairo festival panel    Cairo International Film Festival to premiere 'Malaga Alley,' honour Khaled El Nabawy    Egypt golf team reclaims Arab standing with silver; Omar Hisham Talaat congratulates team    Egypt launches National Strategy for Rare Diseases at PHDC'25    Egypt launches Red Sea Open to boost tourism, international profile    Omar Hisham Talaat: Media partnership with 'On Sports' key to promoting Egyptian golf tourism    Sisi expands national support fund to include diplomats who died on duty    Egypt's PM reviews efforts to remove Nile River encroachments    Egypt resolves dispute between top African sports bodies ahead of 2027 African Games    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Egypt's unified license details announced in the absence of mobile operators
Details are announced of a new unified license that will allow Telecom Egypt to use mobile networks, despite the absence of mobile network heads from the press conference
Waad Ahmed Published in Ahram Online on 02 - 04 - 2014

Egypt's government announced the approval and details of a controversial unified license for the telecommunications sector Wednesday despite the absence of the country's three mobile operators.
The unified license will give mostly state-owned Telecom Egypt (TE) the right to provide its own mobile services in exchange for a LE2.5 billion fee.
In return, the unified license will allow Egypt's three privately-owned mobile operators, the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (Mobinil), Vodafone Egypt, and Etisalat Misr, to build a virtual network to provide landline services, using Telecom Egypt's existing fixed network, for a fee of LE100 million for each company.
In addition, the license offers building and renting infrastructure for a fee of LE300 million.
Unresolved disputes?
In a press conference presentation, Minister of Communications Atef Helmy said that disputes have been resolved and that the final form of the license responds to mobile operators' demands, which he did not elaborate.
However, the absence of mobile operator chairmen from the press conference, that was already postponed once to insure their attendance, raised doubts — something Helmy responded to by assuring their attendance later on in a celebratory ceremony for the license approval.
“The issuance of the license does not end mobile operators' reservations on it,” Mostafa Farag, telecommunications analyst at Mubasher Financial Services, told Ahram Online in a phone interview.
Limited frequency
The final form of the license does not give Telecom Egypt the right to use its own frequency, confirmed Helmy.
“This means that TE will be able to offer call services along with 2G and 3G service by renting frequency from existing mobile operators. Those operators will be obliged to offer their frequency to TE so long as they have the extra capacity for it,” said Farag.
“The frequency spectrum is a limited national resource that we have to make the best use of,” explained Hisham Al-Alayeli, chairman of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA).
Under Telecom Law No 10/2003, NTRA oversees the planning and management of all affairs related to radio spectrum resources on the national level.
NTRA allocates 25 services over frequency bands ranging from 8.3 kHz to 300 GHz, revised every four years to be aligned to the latest international regulations.
Infrastructure concerns
Mobile operators have been concerned to build their own infrastructure, as well as secure the right to acquire international gateway licenses, said Farag.
The government's plan includes the establishment of a new entity responsible for updating the current infrastructure. Mobile operators will be allowed to contribute to the new entity.
“A maximum limit for mobile services companies has not been specified, but the state will be in control of the entity,” Al-Alayeli told Ahram Online on the side of the press conference.
Al-Alayeli also said that mobile operators will be allowed to build infrastructure using copper wires.
However, in a previous interview with Ahram Online, Omar Maher, a telecommunications analyst at the Cairo-based investment bank EFG Hermes, said that what mobile operators are interested in is to build their own fibre infrastructure.
International gateways
Currently, TE and Etisalat Misr are the only two telecommunications companies with an international gateway license.
Mobinil and Vodafone rely on TE for their international traffic.
“Both companies will now be able to pay a fee in exchange for acquiring the international gateway license,” said Al-Alayeli.
TE has been offering wholesale discount prices to Mobinil and Vodafone to use its international gateway, to the extent that it has lowered its own profitability margins, Maher said.
Conflict of interest
Vodafone Egypt is a joint venture between TE, which has a 45 percent stake in the company, and Vodafone Group which owns the majority of its shares.
Hence, a license for TE to offer mobile services, while having a considerable stake in a competitor, would result in a conflict of interests.
In response to these reservations, NTRA required TE to exit from Vodafone Egypt within a year.
However, Helmy said in the press conference that TE can either exit or acquire Vodafone Egypt, as long as it is a fair commercial transaction.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/98160.aspx

Clic here to read the story from its source.