CAIRO: A recent report issued by the Ministry of Communications revealed that Egyptians spent 8.71 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.5 billion) on communications during the period from April to June. The report indicated that the revenues of the main telecommunication companies in the country, including Telecom Egypt, Mobinil and Vodafone has risen by nearly one billion Egyptian pounds, compared to LE 7.90 billion accrued during the same period in 2008. The total expenses of the main communications companies in Egypt during the same period also increased slightly to LE 6.28 billion compared to LE 5.89 billion for the same period the previous year. The ministry's report for the first half of 2009 confirmed that Egyptians spent LE 8.5 billion on communications. With respect to total expenditure of Egyptians on communications and information technology together, the total amount during the period from April to June 2009 reached LE 10.37 billion, compared to LE 9.40 billion in the same period last year, an annual increase of 10.32 percent. However, the total expenses of the companies operating the sector of communications and information technology during the same period reached LE 7.48 billion compared to LE 7.01 billion in the same period last year, meaning an annual growth rate of 6.7 percent, the ministry stated. The report comes at a time when Communications Minister Tarek Kamel confirmed that the number of mobile subscribers exceeded 50 million subscribers last month, while fixed-line phone subscribers fell by one and a half million, meaning Egyptians are moving toward an increased presence in mobile technology. The new report explained that the total Internet users reached 13.5 million users by the end of June, with an annual increase by nearly 20 percent, while the number of Internet subscribers through mobile phones reached 4.05 million subscribers, in addition to the 152 thousand and 595 users who employ the “USB modem” that can quickly and easily connect to a computer. BM
