Following Telecom Egypt's (TE) decision to replace the copper Internet cables with high speed fibre optic cables, competing companies have been losing internet services, forcing customers to switch to TE Data, as it is the only company providing services in the meantime. "We cannot discuss enhancing prices and Internet speed service, while Internet providers lose clients on a daily basis because of the process of replacing copper cables with fibre cables," said Khaled Hegazy, External Affairs and Legal Director of Vodafone Egypt. Last Sunday, the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) met with Internet providers in Egypt to reach solutions between TE and competitors in order to connect their clients through MSAN cabinets. The state-owned company is executing 80% of the plan of connecting four million clients to ADSL through replacing copper cables with fibre optic cables. This has caused difficulty in installing lines for Internet providers in MSAN cabinets that are for TE Data clients, causing internet providers lose many clients daily. Hegazy added that if the upgrading process continues this way, all ADSL clients will move to TE Data in the period of one year, and the other private Internet providers would not find clients to offer services to. Fadi Jundi, President and COO of Noor Data Network, said that a meeting was held with NTRA previously in order to execute the suggestions of Minister of Communications for the new Internet prices and speeds. However, no deal has yet been agreed upon. Jundi assured that in the next period there will be more meetings with the NTRA in order to agree on the prices and speeds that suit customers. He also stressed on the necessity of reducing prices of renting infrastructure by TE, so the companies would be able to reduce their profit margin in order to deliver services to clients at suitable prices. Meanwhile, an official in TE said that the company already presented a plan for low Internet prices, as well as higher speeds. However, the NTRA has not yet decided upon it. TE is the only company that provides land line services in Egypt; it is also the one responsible for building and developing infrastructure for the communications and IT sector in Egypt. Furthermore it owns the biggest company that provides ADSL service in terms of number of users: TE Data.
