Egypt’s telecoms authority has announced a
$2.4 billion plan to provide countrywide broadband starting mid-next year.

The plan, called eMisr, will start in the
second quarter of 2012, according to a recent statement from the National
Telecom Regulatory Authority (NRTA).

It will require $2.4 billion in public and
private investment over the three years until 2015, according to a report.

eMisr aims to provide 22 percent of
Egyptian household with broadband by 2015, and 40 percent by 2021. Mobile
broadband users are expected to reach 10 and 14 percent of the population,
respectively.

Egypt is becoming an emerging telecom
market.

Recently, Telecom Egypt announced its plans
to expand broadband and mobile-phone services. The company will start operating
a new undersea cable by the end of this year to increase capacity for data
services and is negotiating to acquire a virtual mobile-network operator
license in the first quarter of 2012.

Telecom Egypt is also in talks with the
country’s telecommunications regulator to acquire a license that would allow it
to use the networks of other mobile-phone companies to provide services. The
company owns 45 percent of Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications Co., the biggest
mobile- network operator by users in the North African nation.

Net income dropped 21 percent to 622.3
million Egyptian pounds ($104 million) from a year earlier. Fixed-line
subscribers reached 8.6 million as of Sept. 30, according to the statement. The
company said in September last year it had 9.4 million subscribers, according
to a report in Bloomberg.

According to a report in Global Arab Network,
large investments are being made in the Egyptian telecom industry as the
private and public sectors look to boost capacity and increase the availability
of new technologies, Global Arab Network reports according to OBG.

The Egyptian Ministry of Planning expects to see LE11.3 billion in investment
in the telecoms sector in the 2011-12 fiscal year, which started on July 1. In
the wider telecoms and IT industry, the ministry forecasts LE13.9 billion in
investment, with 85 percent of that coming from the private sector. 

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]