CAIRO: Egypt's two mobile operators inked a deal on Wednesday with their competitor Etisalat Egypt to provide the new operator with national roaming services for three years. National roaming allows Etisalat Egypt to use the networks of its competitors until it builds an elaborate network of its own. Etisalat will use Vodafone networks in the southern provinces of Egypt and MobiNil ones in the Delta and northern provinces. "Selection of such a division of zones was based on each operator's network capacity and the number of subscribers in these provinces, said Amr Badawy, executive chairman of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NRTA). Etisalat has so far deployed its own networks in five provinces: Cairo, Alexandria, Hurghada, Luxor and Aswan. "Starting June 7, Etisalat's subscribers will be able to make and receive calls anywhere across the country, Badawy added. There are 12 different scenarios that govern prices of the service. On average, prices range between 30-60 piasters per minute. "The contract defines unit price over the next two years. Prices depend on how much traffic Etisalat expects in the next few years, said Omar El-Sheikh, corporate affairs director at Vodafone. Etisalat Egypt managed to attract over 300,000 subscribers three weeks after its launch on May 1. "From a subscriber's perspective, prices remain the same no matter which operator they select. However, it is costly for the operator that hasn't installed an elaborate network of its own yet, Badway explained. Number portability, which allows subscribers to keep their numbers while changing networks, is still in the making. "There are different stages that the operator has to go through before operating number portability services, said Tarek Kamel, minister of communications and information technology. "We have to make sure that its service is stable and running, then deploy roaming services, and later comes number portability. The NTRA obligates MobiNil and Vodafone to provide Etisalat with number portability services within the next couple of months. Prices of the service are estimated to reach 75 piasters per minute. "We are currently busy finalizing two main issues: interconnection and national roaming agreements. Afterwards, comes number portability, El-Sheikh stated. On May 7, Etisalat Egypt signed an interconnection agreement with both MobiNil and Vodafone Egypt which mainly seeks to set the basis for the technical, regulatory and commercial connections among the three operators. The agreement also marks a tangible success for the NTRA, as it intervened to settle the dispute between the operators and managed to persuade them to sign the agreement.
