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Vodafone Egypt negotiates with Russian operators for offers to Egyptian fans at World Cup Company expects 10% increase in its investments over next 3 years
Vodafone Egypt has launched negotiations with mobile operators in Russia to provide special offers to its customers during their attendance of the World Cup in the summer of 2018. The company expects a 10% increase in its investments over the next three years, as well as an increase in profits after offering 4G services. The company has requested more frequencies to widen its network in 2018-2019. According to Ayman Essam, head of government relations at Vodafone Egypt, the company is currently coordinating with the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) to provide its services in the New Administrative Capital, and a number of new roads, notably Al-Galala and Dabaa. How much investment has Vodafone Egypt injected and how much are the targetted investments in the coming period? The company has injected EGP 9.5bn investments since 2015 until the end of the fiscal year 2017-2018. The company aims to increase its investments by 10% over the next three years, as part of its plan to develop infrastructure, networks, towers, and outsourcing services. How do you evaluate the impact of 4G services on the company's revenues? The launch of 4G increased internet speeds and provided new applications that enrich our services to customers. 4G also improved the company's frequencies, estimated at 45 MHz. We expect that Vodafone Egypt's revenues from data transfer and internet services will increase by 10% after launching 4G services. What about local roaming negotiations with Telecom Egypt? Our negotiations with Telecom Egypt have been stopped since July, however, the company is ready to revive the local roaming talks if Telecom Egypt still wants to use its networks to provide mobile services. What about the company's negotiations to provide landline services? We started the initial discussions with Telecom Egypt on the provision of landline telephone services via Telecom Egypt's infrastructure. Our main goal through offering landline services is not achieving more profits, but marketing our products and offers as an integrated operator of all telecommunications services in the local market. Landline services would allow a single billing system for customers, where the company can present comprehensive offers on all services, which will contribute to developing the company's marketing plans. How do you prepare for that phase? We have formed internal teams to develop new applications for landline services, to encourage customers to use our network. Does Vodafone Egypt have plans to provide offers for Egyptian fans at the World Cup? We started negotiations with a number of mobile operators in Russia to provide offers on roaming and international calls to our customers who will travel to attend the World Cup in June 2018. What is the situation of the governance plan regarding Telecom Egypt's share in Vodafone? Vodafone was promised by the NTRA to change its existing representatives in Vodafone's board with other people who are not working for, or associated with, Telecom Egypt or other mobile operators in the market. The NTRA has already assigned a new board member, Iskandar Ta'ma, who was seen as one of the best additions to the company's board of directors. We hope that the NTRA complete changing the rest of its representatives as soon as possible. We do not require approving or rejecting the NTRA's representatives. What will you offer at Cairo ICT? The Cairo ICT Fair will provide a group of technological applications benefiting from the new 4G services, related to education, technology, and the disabled. What about some customers' complaints about the company's network quality? The company is always affected by the construction of new towers and residential buildings which requires the continuous relocation of cell towers from one building to another. This process requires obtaining approvals from security authorities, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the Ministry of Environment, and the NTRA. Vodafone has a special team to counter fraud and data breaches. It works continuously to prevent these type of violations. It is accompanied by a second team tasked with periodically securing all data and reviewing work steps. The company allocates millions of dollars annually to combat these violations, as well as following up of cases of penetration or hacking of data and takes all legal action against them. Has the company required new frequencies? Vodafone Egypt has demanded the NTRA to provide additional frequencies for 2018-2019, according to the company's plan for this period. He said that the company does not have any plans to obtain funds from foreign entities during the coming period, and it currently aims to provide its mobile calls and internet services with high quality, especially after the launch of a fourth mobile operator in the local market. We currently negotiate with the NTRA to provide our services in a number of recently opened roads, including Dabaa, Al-Galala and other roads, as well as the New Administrative Capital.
