Egypt postpones deadline for cable licences

Egypt’s telecom regulator today postponed the bid deadline for two cable, voice and Internet licences from yesterday, January 12, to a new date of March 15.

"The authority’s decision on this matter came in response to the request of more than 50 per cent of the companies that bought the bid documents for the two licences," Amr Badawi, head of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority told Egyptian press.

Analysts believe the licences’ limitation in geographical scope and range of services does not pose much of a competitive threat to state-dominated Telecom Egypt’s fixed-line monopoly.