Reports have surfaced of a multi-million Egyptian pound financial dispute between Telecom Egypt and a number of mobile phone companies. Financial indicators for Telecom Egypt detailing disputes with Egypt's three largest mobile service providers (Vodafone, Etisalat and Mobinil) since September 2008, when prices for the company's interdependence agreement were amended, place the total amount up for discussion at EGP 813.5m. Mobinil and Vodafone at the time opposed these price amendments. Telecom Egypt claims that the dispute has to do with past arrears accrued by Mobinil and Vodafone, which total EGP 939.4m, in addition to that of Etisalat, which total EGP 125.8m. Disputes between the two parties also extend to the price of services over the last nine years, with a total value of EGP 8.8bn which Telecom Egypt was able to obtain from Vodafone and Mobinil through legal intervention. According to data from mobile phone companies the number of mobile phone subscribers in Egypt jumped to 94.4 million by the end of February, with Mobinil boasting 33 million users, Vodafone Egypt with 38.5 million and Etisalat claiming 22.8 million, while the number of those registered with Telecom Egypt reached 8.6 million users. The National Telecom Regulatory Authority has recently challenged a ruling released by the Administrative Judiciary Court halting the implementation of the authority's recent decision to determine the price of interdependence and end outgoing calls made on mobile networks and landlines. The Dispute Resolution Committee within the regulatory authority ruled in September 2008 to amend interdependence tariffs and reign in the price per minute of calls to EGP .18. The initial contract signed between the two sides placed this rate at EGP .4 per minute, of which mobile companies would receive 60%, with Telecom Egypt receiving the remaining 40%.
