Telecom Egypt has allocated 700 million EGP to develop its network in three years through providing new telecommunication capacities for mobile networks and transforming the infrastructure of the company from copper cables to fiber-optic cables, beside the expansion of communicating networks, and providing new paths to face the interruptions in communications.
An official source said that the company will allocate 225 million EGP to provide new paths for the cables that spread around the cities, without penetrating the public roads, and this investment will cost of about 110 million EGP in Cairo and 115 million in the governorates of Alexandria and the Delta.
The source also added that this project is scheduled to be completed within three years on two stages, as Delta phase will be executed on the first stage and Cairo on the second stage.
He also said that the company will allocate about 200 million EGP in 2012 to continue the expansion of the second generation of fixed-line, which depends on the light adapters, indicating that the company is no longer aiming at the expansion of grand telephone centrals, considering the rising prices of land, and the difficulty of construction procedures, that what lead the company’s strategies to build small central units small depending on the wireless centrals.
He added that the company has prepared a detailed map of the focal points of its network to determine its expansion policy during the coming period in some areas, which will cost about 300 million EGP, adding that laying of cables will depend on the extent of demand for Internet services to seize the expected opportunities in this area and also because of its increasing yield.
He noted that the company will offer an alternative solutions for its transition into an integrated communications operator, through issuing the virtual licenses to face the objections of mobile companies by buying minutes from the mobile companies and resell them again or issuing a SIM card on behalf of Telecom Egypt in agreement with one of mobile companies to obtain the frequency and leasing its infrastructure.
He explained that the liquidity available in the company reached about 4 billion EGP, mentioning that the loans owed by the company represent only a small percentage of the capital of the company, and in this time the company pays its due premiums.