Dowidar: Plurality Of Laws, Authorities Controls Communications Sect. Hinder Its Growth

Eng. Hatem Dowidar, CEO of Vodafone Egypt, disclosed that during the current period the sector is witnessing steady growth; elucidating that the problems that face the sector concern the criteria and the laws of the sector, due to the numerous authorities; which controls the sector such as the security authorities, Egyptian Survey Authority, and General Authority for Roads and Bridges.

During a workshop entitled “Communications and Information Technology”, Dowidar added that the data centers and cloud computing sector is one of the most important sectors which is witnessing growth during the current time; focusing on Egypt’s location and the human resources capabilities. This allows the companies make use of the geographical location of Egypt.

On his part, Ahmed El Alfi, Founder & Chairman Sawari Ventures, said the government should provide opportunities for the sector of communications and information technology; particularly the laws necessary for boosting the investment in the sector. He referred to the necessity of focusing on the entrepreneurs and the youth.

He pointed out that restoring investment in the sector of information technology amounted to 1% of the domestic product in the USA; despite technology represents 22% of the domestic product.

. Mohamed Amin El-Nawawy; CEO of Telecom Egypt, stated that the communications market in Egypt reached EGP 30 billion last year. Telecom Egypt acquires 13.3% of the combined market for communications and internet services in the local market, to barely get EGP 40billion out of the volume of spending on communications.

Khaled Rabea, vice chairman of Ericsson Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), affirmed that the Egyptian market is one of the most important markets for communications investment; mentioning that the company has a survey last month showed that Cairo ranked third in reacting through the social networks.