Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yasser El-Qady told Daily News Egypt that mobile operators were given the chance to study the terms of the fourth generation (4G) licenses until the first week of August. By then, they have to have decided on their positions and submit their inquiries. The number of mobile subscribers in Egypt amounted to 94.6m by the end of March. 39m were subscribed to Vodafone Egypt, 33.5m to Orange, and 22.3m were subscribers of Etisalat Misr. 4G services enable data transfer at a speed tenfold to the speed of third generation (3G), which is currently used in Egypt. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology offered 4G licenses to the four telecommunication operators Vodafone Egypt, Orange, Etisalat Egypt, and Telecom Egypt in early June, enabling the needed frequencies for the service. The 4G license costs EGP 3.5bn for Orange and Vodafone Egypt, EGP 4.6bn for Etisalat Egypt, and EGP 7bn for Telecom Egypt. 50% of the cost is to be paid in US dollars. On the other hand, the cost of the international communications licenses of Orange and Vodafone Egypt reached EGP 1.8bn each.
