GPS devices and services have finally been legalised in Egypt, reports Niveen Wahish Have you ever been invited to a party but couldn't figure out how to get there? You just won't have an excuse not to go any more. Now you can just refer to the global positioning system (GPS) feature in your car or on your mobile phone. Input your location and destination and it will draw out the route for you. Devices with this feature were not legally allowed in Egypt until this week when the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) surprised the market by deciding to allow the use of GPS gadgets. The decision includes cars equipped with GPS and navigation programmes as well as GPS- enabled mobile phones, computers and other gadgets. GPS devices are commonly used in desert safaris. GPS works when satellites orbiting the Earth broadcast signals that are picked up and identified by GPS receivers. Each GPS receiver then provides the location specifying the latitude, longitude and altitude as well as the time. According to Amr Badawi, NTRA executive director, it was never the NTRA's decision to ban GPS usage as such in the first place. In reality, GPS had previously been banned on security grounds. Anyone wishing to use a GPS device in Egypt was obliged to apply for a licence. Detailed measures of the decision have yet to be announced, according to an NTRA statement. The statement also said that Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) services remain subject to NTRA authorisation, "according to specific regulations and in coordination with the concerned security authorities. AVL systems are currently being tested in trains and ambulances." Communications consultant Hossam Saleh explained to Al-Ahram Weekly that GPS is an application which has a map of the world built in. "What it does is specify where the subject carrying the device is located via satellite," he said. And it can set a route for the subject to move from one point to another specified depending on the information it is fed. The ban on GPS was the topic of constant negotiation between the government and mobile phone makers. In fact Apple's iPhone was only allowed into the Egyptian market after Apple disabled its GPS feature. Effectively NTRA's decision overrules Egypt's Telecoms Law 10/2003 which outlaws the import of GPS-equipped mobile phones. It is not clear why the NTRA has changed its mind. Hussein Hassan, an iPhone owner, guesses that the NTRA might have taken that decision because there was no way it could block off the market anyway. Many mobiles with GPS were smuggled into the Egyptian market or sold clandestinely. And, as Saleh explained, once the device was available, so was the service. As a result, those who managed to smuggle in devices that had the feature, could already use it. Others, like Hassan, succeeded in jail-breaking their phone and enabling their iPhone back into its full features, including GPS, even before the NTRA decision. Before this latest decision, Egypt was among only three countries, including Syria and North Korea, which still banned the service. As far as the market is concerned, Saleh believes that being a technology-loving population, the sales of mobile phones with GPS will rise considerably. The price of devices not possessing this feature will drop while those with GPS will become the high-end products. But for the cars, he does not expect GPS to make a difference in sales, at least in the short term. "Most expensive cars already come with GPS anyway," he said. Nokia, the mobile phone manufacturer, could not be happier with the NTRA decision. Dana Adnani, Nokia's communications director for North Africa, said that her company believed that the decision was expected to be implemented, sooner or later. "It is the logical evolution of the technology scene in Egypt, particularly since Egypt had been one of the first countries to offer other services such as 3G." Adnani would not offer numbers as to how this move will affect their sales in Egypt saying that although GPS had been an obstacle, the company could compensate by offering a range of other devices. However, she said that this will mean that they can now offer their full range of products and related services. But those who stand to benefit the most, she believes, are the consumers. "Consumers were buying the mobile phone sets on the grey market because they were not available legally. This deprived them of warranty and after sale services and risked paying a lot of money for an inauthentic device." NTRA's decision made the day not only for manufacturers of the GPS devices or mobile phones, but also for Egyptian companies offering mapping and geographical services. Mahmoud Mursi is the chairman of one of those companies, Protrack. Mursi, who has been making electronic maps of Egypt, is happy that his investment will finally pay off. For the past five years, since he has started his company, Mursi has been using the map for something other than what they were created for. He began to use the maps to offer geo-marketing services. In fact, as Saleh pointed out, the success of GPS depends on the availability of a detailed and precise map of the country. Currently, he said, there is an "excellent geographical information system for 80 per cent of Egypt." Saleh explained that once these companies make the maps, they have to get them formatted and certified by one of only two global companies that can provide that certification. The maps are sold to mobile handset and car manufacturers, who in turn install them as applications on their products.
