A report by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has shown that the number of mobile internet users declined by 0.17% in August, scoring 96.2 million users, compared to 96.4 million users in July. The penetration of mobile internet services reached 108.6% of the total population. The number of internet users increased by 200,000 customers in August. Internet users in Egypt increased from 36.28 million in July to 36.48 million in August. The number of users of fixed internet service ADSL increased strongly by 2.11% in August, recording a total number of 4.35 million users up from 4.26 million in July. Mobile phone internet penetration achieved a growth rate of 0.42%, according to the report. The number of subscribers increased from 28.65 million customers in July to 28.77 million in August. Subscribers to USB modems have declined from 3.37 million in July to 3.36 million users in August—a drop of 0.41%. The fixed phone line market witnessed a slight growth in August, where the number of subscribers increased from 6.12 million in July to 6.33 million subscribers in August, achieving a growth rate of 3.3%. The cost of telecommunications services fell during the second quarter (Q2) of 2016, as mobile phone services prices fell from $2.77 in Q2 of 2015 to $2.3 in Q2 of 2016. The fixed internet service ADSL prices fell from $9.83 in Q2 of 2015 to $5.6 in Q2 of 2016. The usage of fixed telephone lines costs dropped from $2.12 in Q2 of 2015 to $1.8 in Q2 of 2016. The prices of mobile phone services are calculated based on the prepaid amount of every 30 phone calls and 100 text messages every month across mobile phone and landline services companies. ADSL services prices are calculated according to the lowest price of the internet services company with the most subscribers.
