The number of mobile subscribers in the Egyptian market declined in September to 99.39 million subscribers, compared to 99.5 million in August of the same year, thus the market lost about 109,000 customers in only one month. Although Vodafone Egypt was able to add new customers, according to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology's report, the company did so at the expense of its competitors, from 42.3 million in August to 42.7 million in September, an addition of 400,000 new customers, ranking first in market in terms of number of subscribers. Orange lost about 200,000 subscribers in September, with the number of mobile subscribers dropping from 33.1 million to 32.8 million in August. Etisalat Egypt also lost about 130,000 customers, as its subscribers declined from 24.1 million subscribers to 23.8 million subscribers in September. The four telecom operators have received 4G licenses, for a total of EGP 10bn and $1.1bn paid to the government. The 4G technology offers speeds ten times faster than 3G. The number of 3G users, when the service launched in Egypt in 2007, was only a few thousand during its first months, according to an official at the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA). The number of mobile customers in the local market is 99 million subscribers, according to official data released by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Vodafone Egypt having 42 million subscribers, 33 million subscribers to Orange Egypt, and 24 million subscribers to Etisalat Egypt.
