arabia.com delivers free Internet access in Egypt

By downloading the arabia.com Internet dialer, Egyptian Internet users can now just pay the price of the telephone call to gain access to the Internet.

"With over 100,000 registered arabia.com users in Egypt we felt it was important to offer our customers in the region the option of this free service", said Ramzi Zeine, Chief Executive Officer of arabia.com. "Egypt continues to be a rapidly growing market for us and we are constantly looking at new ways to develop in this country".

To initiate this free access from arabia.com, users need to log onto www.arabia.com and click the 'Free Internet Access' icon under the Egyptian section. The site will then prompt them through the four quick steps to connect them to the dialer and designated 0777 7778 arabia.com number.

In 2006, Internet users in Egypt are projected to exceed 2.6 million, up from an estimated 540,000 in 2001, according to the Arab Advisors Group.

Abdel Rahman El Sawy, Chairman of EgyNet said "The Internet is now an essential daily service to a large proportion of people and the easier we can make it to gain access the better". "arabia.com offers a lot of variety to Internet users in the Arab world and we are pleased to help them offer yet another value added service" El Sawy continued.

The free Internet model commenced in Egypt in January 2002. It is believed that the free model will eventually increase the number of Internet users in the country. Under the new model, users no longer pay a subscription fee to their ISP. Instead, they simply pay for their phone calls.