Egypt plans to release new 4G frequencies in May: sources

Egyptian Cabinet will be discussing this week a licensing mechanism to issue new 4G frequencies, sources with knowledge of the matter told Amwal Al Ghad Tuesday.

Sources added that the Cabinet would tackle in its meeting the legal framework and licences needed to issue the 4G frequencies. The discussions are expected to complete within days so that the licences will be issued within next May, the sources said.

Yasser El-Kady, Egyptian Minister of Communication and Information Technology, revealed that all four mobile phone operators Orange, Vodafone Egypt, Etisalat Egypt, and Telecom Egypt would benefit from releasing the 4G frequencies. This was a long overdue step for Egypt to take, at a time when about 157 countries around the world have already included 4G services for their clients which will pump investments worth of billions into the country.

Meanwhile, the three mobile operators showed 80 percent readiness to receive 4G services and demanded finalising all required settings in terms of infrastructure including frequencies, cables needed to link services and cell signal booster towers.