Egypt has nearly 100 million mobile phone users according to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), but for what purpose do the Egyptians use their mobile phones? A recent report by the MCIT showed that about 87% of the Egyptians use their mobile phones to conduct and receive calls. The report relied on the results of a periodic survey carried out by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on the Egyptian families' usage of mobile phones. The report revealed that 38% of Egyptians used mobile phones to send and receive SMS messages, while 7% of Egyptians used their mobile phones to enjoy 3G services, such as surfing social networks or playing online games. It also showed that 14% of Egyptians sent and received photos via their mobile phones, 18% of Egyptians accessed mobile internet, and 10% used mobile for entertainment. The report of the MCIT disclosed a decline in the number of mobile phones users during August to reach 99.5 million compared to 99.86 million users in July. According to the report, the mobile phone market lost about 360,000 users in August compared to July. Amid the drop in the number of mobile phone users, Vodafone was the most attractive for new subscribers among the other local mobile operators. Vodafone attracted 103,000 new customers, increasing the number of its subscribers base from 42.2 million in July to 42.3 million in August. Orange incurred the biggest loss in the number of subscribers among other mobile operators, as the company lost about 400,000 customers in August, bringing the number of its subscribers to 33 million down from 33.4 million in July. Etisalat Egypt also lost 100,000 subscribers, recording 24 million in August, compared to 24.1 million in July.
