Today morning Eng. Atef Helmy, Egypt's Information and Communication Technology Minister, has inaugurated the second preparatory conference for Cairo ICT exhibition which will be held under ‘Broadband ‘ name in Egypt. The Minister has asserted the steady growth rate in the number of Broadband uses in Egypt, and reviewed broadband strategy in Egypt, which will be implemented in the coming September, asserting that every 10% prevalent in broadband services is reflected in Gross national product (GNP) rate ranging between 1.2%-1.5%. The Minister has called fixed mobile phone and internet operators to exploit the opportunity and invest in this promising field as it will attract a large foreign investments to the country. Khaled Rabea, Vice Chairman of Ericsson Egypt Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), said Ericsson believes in the power of broadband with all its benefits to society, therefore we are keen to participate in today's event. Egypt is able to contribute with $ 1.377 billion additional GDP for the country, and this highlights the strong role for ICT for growth development in all various sectors, as well as we are excited to work with all our shareholders and the key partners to achieve this. Microsoft Egypt General Manager Khaled Abd El-Kader,has emphasized that the most goals which Microsoft focuses on are providing technology for users everywhere and with low-cost, and these goals the government is working to achieve them, asserting that using white spaces in the spectrum as a new technique so as to provide high-speed internet in remote regions with low cost of much lower than traditional methods. Osama Kamal, CEO of Trade Fairs, the General Organization for International Exhibitions and Fairs Cairo ICT ,has explained that the conference comes after the matchless success which achieved by the first preparatory conference for the exhibition that held in the last week, saying those who attach specific importance to the Ministry in broadband strategy which aims to activate the digital social development in addition to attracting large foreign investments to the country. It is worth mentioning that Cairo ICT which will be held from 29 September-2 October in its seventeeth session is the largest exhibition specializing in ICT in Africa, the international companies are keen to participate in it since its first session in 1996.
