NTRA Issues a Final Decision Regadring the Virtual License Next Teusday

The National Telecommunication Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) will hold a meeting next Tuesday to define the specification and requirements for launching New Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) license. Such specifications and requirements will be included in the brochure which will be offered by the end of this August.

Eng. Hany Mahmoud, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, stated that this meeting will determine if the license will be launched or not and the method for that. He also pointed out that the virtual license will help Telecom Egypt to resolve the crisis which it currently witnesses due the decline in its fixed revenues.

A number of companies inquired about the requirements for obtaining the license, he added, reassuring that Telecom Egypt will definitely join the competition given that it is the only company that officially applied for the license.

Companies such as  Saudi Telecom Company and  Orascom Telecom will face off for getting the license after the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority issues the brochure to specify the terms, within seven weeks.

Although mobile operators are against launching this license due to the general decline in the profits of all sectors, 12 of the members who attended the meeting held by NTRA approved the launching while only 2 refused.

The monthly bulletin issued by the Information and Decision Support Center, which is affiliated to the Egyptian Council of Ministers, revealed that the number of mobile phone subscribers in Egypt reaches EGP 91.92 million.

It also stated that the number of subscribers amounted to 91.32 million subscribers during March 2012, recording an increase of 18.05 million subscribers, compared to 73.87 million in March 2011, with an increase of 24.43%. In February 2012, the number of subscribers was 91.83 million, with a monthly increase of 0.10%