Etisalat reaches for 10m new mobile subscribers

The new telco started servicing customers on May 1 and enters a market with a population that exceeds 70 million people.

"We welcome our colleagues in Egypt and congratulate them in their successful launch," said Mohammad Hassan Omran, chairman of Etisalat. "Each of the operators in the Etisalat family pursue the same mission, to extend the reach of our customers. Etisalat Misr addresses a large and expanding market, and we have set strong targets to significantly grow our subscriber base. We commit the support of our combined experience, resources and technical knowledge developed in our 31 years of operations and through our successful operations in Saudi Arabia, Africa and Pakistan to support Jamal Al Sadat, Saleh Abdouli, their team and the people and government of Egypt."

Etisalat has set a target of reaching 10m subscribers in Egypt by 2010, a market share of 30%. The company launches with the country's first 3.5G network bringing rich multimedia content and enabling mobile business across Egypt. Etisalat Misr also brings mobile television, high-speed Internet access and video calling to the Egyptian market for the first time.

"Egypt is a huge market with a population of 70 million, but mobile penetration is still below 20 per cent. This presents tremendous potential and we expect mobile penetration to go up to 50 per cent over three to five years," Mohammad Hassan Omran continued. "The Egyptian economy is growing strongly. So the low penetration and strong economic growth will help us to achieve our aim of winning at least 30 per cent market share in three to five years."

Etisalat Misr is one of 14 service providers managed by Etisalat in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Etisalat currently has access to a potential market of over 400m subscribers and today Etisalat services over 32m subscribers including the total number of fixed-line, Internet, mobile and television from each of its subsidiaries.