Mobinil Negotiates Over International Gateway License

Mobinil Inc. negotiates currently with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on reducing the licensing price of the International calls gate, in preparation of presenting international communications services without depending on Telecom Egypt.

Alex Shalaby – Mobinil CEO- said that the company has acquired the initial agreement of the international license, and he mentioned that Mobinil conducts more negotiations currently to reduce the license and minutes prices that will be presented by the company, and he expected that the final agreement on the launch of the license will happen before the end of this fiscal year.

Shalaby told Amwal Al Ghad that the existing problems between Mobinil and Telecom Egypt – related to massaging prices and service quality- still in abeyance, and he mentioned that he expected these problems to be solved by the appointment of engineer Tarek Abu Allam as a CEO of Telecom company, but unfortunately problems still there.

Shalaby denied the probability of changing or modifying of Mobinil strategies, as the acquisition deal of France Telecom on Mobinil shares became very soon, and he assured that France Telecom owns the governing percentage of shares now, so it currently owns the right of assigning of the board, beside the right of strategies modifying, as its direction indicates focusing on the developing countries, especially Egypt.

Mobinil CEO assured also that Mobinil will ask the National Telecom Regulatory Authority “NTRA” for the license of providing the fixed lines “Land Lines” services, in case of having the virtual operator license by Telecom Egypt, as Shalaby confirmed that competency guarantees providing land line services for all mobile companies, in order to achieve the principal of equal opportunities, on the market level as whole.

Alex sees granting Telecom Egypt with that license is just an establishment of monopoly idea, and it also opens the door for conflicts regarding the limits of relations between Telecom Egypt and mobile services provider, as he added that the market can’t endure any new operator currently, as it witnesses a customer saturation status, which reached 104%, beside the investment market deflation, after the revolution.

He said that the customers will not face any problems after the operation of the “11 numbers” system, as he added that the percentage of customer complaints will not exceed 2%, and Mobinil is working on attracting the mostnumber of customers in 2012 through improving services, and presenting tailored offers to various categories of its users.

He mentioned that Mobinil has not received any complaints regarding the 51 Pts tax imposed on customers, which was collected by the company in the beginning of March.