Telecom Egypt (TE) now owns a full 100% of Internet provider TE Data after buying the last five percent of minority shares still not in its possession. According to TE CEO Tareq Tantawi, the company took the step in anticipation of increased demand for broadband Internet services over the course of the next five years. Within the last five years, TE Data revenues increased by 27 percent due to an expanding subscriber base for the company's ADSL services. With 572,000 current subscribers, TE Data now enjoys 61 percent of the local ADSL market. Communications expert Abdel Aziz el-Bassiouni said that, although mobile phones now provide easy access to the Internet, demand for land lines--which are both faster and less expensive--are set to remain the premier means of Internet use. According to communications consultant Walid el-Shami, some 50 percent of current ADSL subscribers are corporations, the needs of which cannot be met by relatively limited mobile-phone Internet services. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
