Telecom Egypt to pay US$360 million for interim unified licence

Telecom Egypt will be asked to pay EGP2.5 billion (US$359 million) for the unified licence that will permit it to offer mobile services, the country’s telecom minister Atef Helmy has announced.

Telecom Egypt’s licence will last just two years, as an MVNO. After that, it will be able to bid for a full mobile licence when the government plans to auction 4G spectrum to all telcos.

Telecom Egypt will also have to negotiate a sale, or some sort of resolution, as to what to do with its 45 per cent stake in Vodafone Egypt.

The telecom minister also added that the country’s three mobile networks will also be asked to pay EGP100 million each if they want the limited licence to resell landline services over the Telecom Egypt network.

There are concerns that the landline reseller licence is too restricted though. The main issue is that the landline access will be limited to just the older landline network, which cannot carry reliable broadband Internet services. Access to the fibre network is not included.

The issue of an international gateway was resolved though, with Vodafone and Mobinil being asked to pay EGP1.3 billion and EGP1.5 billion each respectively. The newest mobile network, Etisalat Misr already has an international gateway licence, but will be asked to pay EGP8 per subscriber instead.