The winding year saw the rise of figures and phenomena that promise to be of crucial importance this year. Al-Ahram Weekly keeps track of a changing vista Now that it supports more mobile than land phone lines, the Egyptian communications industry is set to cross unprecedented thresholds. "When, at seminars abroad, we tell people that Egyptian employees pay their mobile phone bills," says Vodafone Sales Manager Ziad Ali, "they tend to be amazed." Together with MobiNil, Vodaphone's only competitor, the company has been doing all it can to retain its market share -- now that a third competitor awaits the licence to begin operating. Connection fees were reduced by four to five per cent during the first quarter of 2005 -- part of the reason behind astounding growth rates of 85 and 108 per cent, for Vodaphone and MobiNil respectively, by 30 September. "Our aim now is greater mobility," Ali elaborates -- "mobile ATM machines, Internet installations on Nile cruises, even petroleum driller connectivity." Most relevant perhaps is the ability to surf the Net by simply popping a mobile phone card into your laptop. Ali agrees with most industry experts that the greater barrier to market expansion is the cost of the phone, an impediment that doesn't exist in advanced markets like Japan, where phones are provided free of charge: "To help solve the problem, we brought in the Seimens model, which costs about LE200." And with lines costing as little as LE30-40 a month, the mobile phone is no longer a high-end utility. Access to e-mail and real-time stock viewing are intended to lure in corporate customers. Anticipating a third operator, however, Ali explains, and with a market penetration rate seldom higher than 17 per cent, number portability -- a costly option allowing clients to switch operators without changing their numbers -- may prove a necessary evil. This is as close to a nightmare as the two titans can reasonably get in the foreseeable future, since it compromises their market shares. "Number portability is good for everyone," Ali says diplomatically, "but it may prevent the customer from distinguishing the quality of the network he or she is using, because numbers will now be interchangeable." Corporate customers seem satisfied enough -- though by the testimony of Ichiro Ohira, bureau chief of a Japanese TV station Cairo-based regional office, land line services are lagging far behind: "In Japan it takes about three days to a get a mobile phone line. In Egypt we were able to obtain one on the same day. But when I wanted to get my home line transferred to the office, it took a month or longer." Ohira also complains that services like bill collection through bank accounts are unavailable. And since it is a cheaper alternative to international calls, he says, "our company will begin to use the Internet a lot more, the quality is better and you also have the option of sending video." Yet ADSL high-speed connections are not as fast as he expected. "I was surprised to find ADSL much quicker in a small market like Jordan," he says. Indeed it seems that, where it intersects with other aspects of the economy, the mobile phone industry will remain somewhat hampered -- until economic growth catches up. By Pierre Loza
