Egypt Telecom’s Shares in Vodafone is More Feasible than Running for Fourth License
Minister of Communications and Information Technology highlighted the possibility of offering Telecom Egypt fourth mobile-phone license. Telecom Egypt is supposed to fund the purchasing of new license by selling its share in Vodafone-Egypt, which represents 45% of total shares.
Eng. Tala’at Omar, expert in the field of communications, stated that rewarding Telecom Egypt with a fourth mobile license is commendable despite the state of saturation that dominates the mobile market in Egypt.
But meanwhile,Telecom Egypt – that owns 45% of Vodafone shares representing 60% of its profits – must keep these shares to avoid insolvency and that it must give up the fourth mobile license in case that the Egyptian government asked it not to have shares in Vodafone.
He added that Telecom Egypt must activate its shares in Vodafone and cooperate with Vodafone to provide integrated mobile services along with land line, in addition to developing second-generation services, including audio, image, and information services. This would, in turn, significantly increase the profits of Telecom Egypt.
He also called upon carrying out a radical change in the management of Telecom Egypt and thinking carefully about the license before launching it, given that the time is not appropriate and that the economic situation is unstable.
The virtual network is not the optimum solution for developing Telecom Egypt again, as the company does have the infrastructure required providing mobile services and attracting a number of users up to 105% of the population in Egypt, he said.
Dr. Abdelrahman Al-Sawy, expert in the field of communications, stated that the Ministry should offer Telecom Egypt the fourth mobile license for free, pointing out that Telecom Egypt has made many discounts and provided support to the sector as a whole in the previous period. He also believed that Egypt Telecom is unlikely to sell its shares in Vodafone, which represents 45%.
He called for forming a new administration, independent of Telecom Egypt, selecting a number of the company’s employees, and qualifying them again so as to choose the best. He also suggested that TE Data be responsible for the services of the fourth license.
On the other hand, Eng. Ahmed El Atify, expert in the field of communications, emphasized that launching the virtual license is the best solution for Telecom Egypt to adopt at the current stage, hinting that this license may not make profits and that Telecom Egypt does not have the experience required for competing with the three mobile operators, given that such competition is fierce.
He added that the current economic situation in Egypt is not suitable for launching a fourth mobile license and that this license will replace the company’s secured investment in Vodafone with an investment of unknown revenue.
