CAIRO: The third mobile phone operator in Egypt Etisalat will start business in the domestic market by the end of March, according to Hassan Samy, sales officer at Etisalat Egypt. Samy said on Wednesday that the company has officially informed the National Telecom Regulatory Authority that it will operate under the brand name of Etisalat. The company has also elected four distributors for its products and services in Egypt, including i2 Egypt, Modern, Sky and Hits companies. For his part, communication industry expert and advisor of Teletech Company Abdul Aziz Al-Bassiuni expected Etisalat Egypt to engage in a fierce competition with the existing operators in the Egyptian market. Teletech was one of the Egyptian companies which lost the competition for the third mobile phone operation license. He pointed to the recent series of offers launched by Mobinil and Vodafone Egypt to pull the rug from under the third operation, forcing it to develop innovative strategies to find a foothold in the market. Etisalat Egypt is the offspring of an alliance led by Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates which won the third operation license last July for LE 16.7 billion.
