2007 is set to be a watershed year for Egypt's massive communications markets

The Arab Advisors Group expects the total number of cellular subscribes in Egypt to reach 34.8 million subscribers by 2010, with a penetration rate of 44%.

Egypt's telecom market is fairly liberalized. By December 2006, the regulator (NTRA) had issued more than 200 telecom licenses. The regulator issued three cellular licenses, two payphone licenses, two prepaid calling card licenses, four VSAT licenses and four international GMPCS operators. The regulator had also issued four carrier Internet licenses (Class A) and 8 data service providers licenses (Class B), in addition to more than 200 service-based ISPs' licenses (Class C), as well as other licenses.

On December 31, 2005, Telecom Egypt's monopoly over international voice and data services ended. Until then, the whole PSTN market in Egypt was a monopoly market served by the government-owned Telecom Egypt. The incumbent operator was also the monopoly operator for international connectivity. Egypt's regulator, the NTRA, is slated to grant two new International services licenses in 2007.

A new report, "Egypt Communications Projections Report" was released to the Arab Advisors Group's Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers on December 20, 2006. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group. The 105-page report, which has 91 detailed exhibits, provides a detailed analysis of the Egyptian fixed and cellular markets and profiles the major players in the country. The report includes 5-year historical and 5-year projections on fixed and cellular uptake, revenues and CAPEX. The report provides, moreover, a detailed and comprehensive picture on the fixed and cellular markets' strategies and regulations.

"Egypt's total cellular subscribers reached 15.9 million in September 2006, growing by 12% over yearend 2005. On September 30, 2006, the cellular penetration rate reached 19.6%." Mr. Ahmad Al-Assad, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst wrote in the report. "The mobile market grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 36% in the period between 2001 and 2005. The Arab Advisors Group expects the market to grow at a CAGR of 20% between the 2006 and 2010. The Arab Advisors Group expects the total number of cellular subscribes to reach 34.8 million subscribers by 2010, a penetration rate of 44%." Mr. Al-Assad added.