Hany Mahmoud: $45 mln Cooperation Agreement Between Niger, Egyptian Co.

Eng. Hany Mahmoud, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, asserted that there is an agreement between Niger and an Egyptian company with $ 45 million in information technology sector.

On the sidelines of Euromoney Conference 2012, the minister said this agreement comes to enhance the Egyptian presence in Africa and Nile Basin countries.

He said further that the volume of investments in the sector amounted to EGP 40 billion; referring that it is a service sector rather than industrial one. The sector’s exports volume reaches $1.2 billion from outsourcing industry.

The minister said the communications sector is witnessing a transitional period, and the Egyptian market has three cell phones operators and one for land telephone, Telecom Egypt. So getting a new license goes back to National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA), which studies the market’s current states; referring that the prices of cell phones calls are the cheapest, compared to other countries.

The NTRA has a proposal for studying the best state of Egyptian market and which comprehensive operator suits it. The authority will finish the study in Q1 of next fiscal year.