An official source in the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) said the three mobile operators have demanded the authority to review the pricing of their services. According to the official, the NTRA asked the three companies to justify their request to rise their prices to decide whether to approve their request or not. The official stressed that the NTRA did not approve any increase in prices and the three companies are still obliged to provide their services at the agreed prices. The NTRA is scheduled to convene within the next few days to discuss the mobile operators' request to increase prices. Some officials from Vodafone Egypt had met with the NTRA this week to discuss the regulatory agency's request to reprice mobile services in Egypt. On the other hand, the government decided to increase the price of fuel at the end of June, where the price of a litre of gasoline 92 rose to EGP 5 up from EGP 3.5. The price of gasoline 80 and diesel fuel both increased from EGP 2.35 to EGP 3.65. The government also raised electricity bills for all commercial segments, where the price of first segment (100 KW) reached 45 piastres/KW rather than 35 and the second segment (250 KW) up to 84 piastres/KW rather than 69. The third segment (600 KW) increased to 96 piastres/KW instead of 69, the fourth segment (1000 KW) reached 135 piastres/KW instead of 96, and the fifth segment—which consumes more than 1000 KW—will cost 140 piastres/KW instead of 96. An earlier NTRA report showed a decline in voice call quality on all three networks—Vodafone, Etisalat, and Orange—in May. The NTRA tested more than 18,516 mobile calls via the three networks in the last month in Greater Cairo, during which 21 calls were cut and 44 calls were blocked.
