CAIRO: Sources at Etisalat Egypt, the third mobile phone operation in Egypt, refuted allegations that the company had approached the National Telecom Regulatory Authority to postpone indefinitely its commencement of business in the Egyptian market. Press reports in Egypt this week had allegedly quoted the Managing Director of Etisalat Egypt, Saleh Al-Abdouli, as saying that he had approached NTRA regarding a delay in the launch of service. Hassan Samy, sales official at Etisalat Egypt, denied that the company would retreat from launching the services within the previously defined period (the first week of April 2007). Etisalat Egypt has already refined its marketing and sales policies to start operation in time, he added. In the meantime, Samy said that Etisalat Egypt has appointed agents for the distribution and sale of the company s products in the domestic market. Etisalat Egypt last week sealed agreements with two agents - Modern Distribution and Sky Distribution - to provide an integrated package of services to the company s clients and to support the mobile phone operator s plans to secure a market share in Egypt. Etisalat Egypt won the license for a third mobile phone operator in the middle of last year. A consortium led by Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates beat other competitors for the deal with a bid of LE 16.7 billion.
