CAIRO: As the race for subscribers between Egypt's mobile service providers intensifies, the country's mobile phone usage is expected to reach 100 percent penetration by the first half of 2012, sooner than some predicted. “I can tell you that the penetration right now, by the end of June 2011, exceeded 94 percent,” said Ahmed Adel, Egyptian telecom analyst at Naeem Holding. A recent report published by Egypt state newspaper Al-Ahram, quoting a study by Business Monitor International, said mobile usage in the country will actually exceed 100 percent by 2013. The report also noted that the high growth in mobile use will be pushed by the appearance of new operators and services in the market, which will cater to rural areas. According to Adel, however, Egypt's mobile usage is expected to exceed the 100 percent mark well before 2013. “We expect the market to exceed 100 percent penetration by the end of 2011 or the first half of 2012,” he said. Every year, especially during Ramadan as well as summer, which fell on the same time this year, the country sees aggressive advertisement campaigns from the three mobile operators: Etisalat, Vodafone, and Mobinil. Adel attributes these “aggressive” marketing campaigns to the fact that service providers are not only competing to increase their market share, but to also increase their subscriber base before it becomes harder to do so later on. “This [increase] is also because of the aggressive exposure coming by the mobile operators in Egypt, competing with each other to increase subscriber base and attract more customers,” he added. “We are seeing this more and more aggressive form of advertising now because after reaching the 100 percent penetration rate it will be hard for carriers to get new subscribers.” Not only are mobile phone carriers upping the game when it comes to marketing campaigns, they are also adding new services, participating in joint campaigns with other international companies, and bringing new corporate social responsibility plans to the surface. Mobinil for example has launched what they call the “100,000 hands initiative,” where they will help 100,000 Egyptians acquire the proper skills and training they need to find jobs in today's competitive market. Vodafone has partnered in several advertising campaigns with Pepsi, while Etisalat has previously signed on several prominent Egyptian artists like Mohamed Mounir, Yousra, and Ahmed Ezz to be a part of their vigorous ad campaigns. Moreover, Adel pointed out that while the voice revenues for the operators currently constitute 90 to 95 percent of their profits, they are slowly declining. “Because of this hard and intense competition, the voice revenues are getting hurt so they are starting to focus on other services, he added.” Therefore, by adding new data packages, enhanced services, and mobile banking features, the companies are not only aiming to acquire more subscribers but they also want to ensure customer loyalty. While enhancing their 3G data packages in order to provide faster internet and data services for users is a top priority, Adel noted that Egyptian service providers are not going beyond that. According to Adel, several countries are currently looking into bringing the 4G features to their data, in Egypt, however, this will not be happening any time soon. In March of 2010, the ministry of communications approved the idea of mobile banking but left it up to the providers to work out the details of partnerships as well as getting licensing from the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA). Vodafone and Mobinil were the first to get on deck with the plan, as both carriers have already partnered with local banks. Mobinil is currently partnered with BNP Paribas for their mobile banking services, while Vodafone is with the Housing Development Bank. Etisalat has yet to announce its partnership, but has been discussing the idea internally, the company told Daily News Egypt. According to Adel, when it comes to marketing techniques and trying to acquire market share, Etisalat, has been the most aggressive operator. However, this was not apparent in the numbers. Vodafone had 42 percent of the market by the end of the first half of 2011, Mobinil was at 39 percent market share, while Etisalat had the remaining market, of 19 percent. “Etisalat was the most aggressive at the expense of Mobinil, when they started their operations in 2007, their target was having a decent market share, that's why they've been aggressive since 2007 till now,” Adel pointed out. “The competition is getting harder and harder in this third quarter because Ramadan and summer seasons are falling in the same quarter, which means the results in this coming quarter will not be greater than before.”
