Telecom Egypt (TE) (ETEL.CA), the country's landline phone monopoly, confirmed on Thursday that it has not received any notifications from competent authorities about the obligation to exit its outstanding investment in Vodafone Egypt after the acquisition of the fully integrated telecom operator license. The company said in a filing that there is no legal basis for such an obligation. Minister of Communications & Information Technology Atef Helmy stated on Wednesday that TE would sell its 45% shareholding in mobile company Vodafone once it is awarded a mobile operator license, as per global competitiveness rules. The Minister has informed Amwal Al Ghad that the exit of TE from Vodafone is necessary, asserting that the Ministry is reviewing with TE and Vodafone the best scenarios to exit from Vodafone which owns 45% of its shares. He also added that a global think tank will be hired to evaluate the stocks of TE and Vodafone. The company will disclose how and when it will take such a move after the issuance of the Mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). TE is seeking to foray into the mobile phone market after it suffered loss in the fixed phone services and a slump in the number of subscribers, despite the strong earnings it recorded from its Internet arm TEData and its Vodafone stake. The Egyptian Ministry is currently considering all the choices which including the exit of TE from Vodafone's management, or selling its shares to any other body, or the capture Vodafone global to the entire shares of the company.
