CAIRO: The National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has announced the procedures, conditions and rules governing the licenses of international telecommunications gateway liberalization. The NTRA's board of directors had approved the framework of international telecom gateways liberalization in reference to the Telecommunications Regulation Law no.10/2003 that stipulates the end of Telecom Egypt's monopoly of providing international call services by the end of 2005. "This decision will allow mobile operators to be awarded international gateways licenses to provide international call services to their subscribers, an NTRA source told Daily News Egypt. Other international licenses will be awarded to new companies in the future in the context of the fixed operator auction that will be held next year. This decision, however, will not affect Telecom Egypt's authority to provide these services to mobile operators, who wish to continue using their services. Etisalat Egypt, Egypt's third mobile operator, was the first company to apply for the international telecommunications license. "NTRA has granted Etisalat Egypt the license, as it complied with the rules and regulations, the source said. Both Mobinil and Vodafone Egypt have been informed of the licensing procedures and of Etisalat Egypt's new authority to provide international telecommunications services. The two operators asked for a grace period till the end of 2007 to decide whether or not they are interested in obtaining the license. "Mobinil and Vodafone need the time to look at their budgets and engage in talks with Telecom Egypt to try to reach a more attractive deal, the source said. True enough, obtaining the license comes with a hefty price tag. Each operator has to pay LE 100 for each subscriber who will be using the international telecom service, with a minimum payment of LE 100 million to be paid in full at the granting of the license. The operator granted the license can only provide the service to its own subscribers, not those of other mobile operators. The mobile operator will also pay a LE 20 one-time fee for every additional subscriber that joins the company, by the start of every year. This would provide the NTRA with LE 60 million annually in revenues from each mobile operator. NTRA still reserves the right to grant an international telecom license to the second fixed line operator, which will be put up for tender early next year to start operating early 2009. According to press reports, Etisalat Egypt and Orascom Telecom are both interested in the second fixed line tender.
