etisalat consortium pays full license value of EGP 16.7 billion to Egyptian Government

This license will be the first to operate 2G & 3G services at the same time in Egypt. The license contract was signed between the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) and etisalat consortium that recently won the NTRA bid against nine strongly competing European, African, Arab and Asian consortiums.

The consortium is led by "Emirates Telecommunications Corporation", the leading region-wide telecom pioneer in fixed, mobile and international telecommunications and internet services. The consortium includes three of the Egyptian economy leaders and long-standing postal and banking institutions whom are rich in human and financial resources with the highest levels of professionalism and wide access to all Egyptian community sectors and strata; Egypt Post (EP), The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and the Commercial International Bank (CIB).

UAE's etisalat share in the consortium is 66%, while the three Egyptian partners shares make up the remaining 34%.

Dr. Amr Badawi, NTRA Director, and Eng. Mohamed Hassan Omran, "Emirates Telecommunications Corporation" Chairman, signed for their respective organizations. The signature was witnessed by Eng. Alaa Fahmy, Egypt Post Chairman; Eng. Hussein AbdulAziz, NBE President; and Mr. Hisham Ezz El Arab, CIB Chairman and Managing Director.

"etisalat consortium intends to compete strongly in the Egyptian mobile market and to translate its current success in many other markets such as UAE and KSA into work patterns and innovative services for the benefit of all Egyptian community sectors and groups," commented Eng. Mohamed Hassan Omran.

He also pointed out that etisalat has achieved highest record rates of mobile phone penetration in the UAE exceeding 100%, which is one of the highest internationally. "Mobily" Company in Saudi Arabia in which etisalat owns a majority share is also the fastest growing mobile company worldwide according to the International Telecom Union (ITU) classification.

"Eng. Saleh El Abdooli, former Network Development Manager in etisalat, has been selected as CEO of the third mobile network. Eng. Abdooli will be responsible for steering and managing daily company business and reflecting the directions of the company's board of directors that is bound to be established soon. The CEO shall undertake the formulation of the main policies, develop plans and sign contracts and agreements," he also added.

Engineer Omran also pointed out that, "etisalat has sufficient financial liquidity for financing all its projects in the Egyptian as well as other regional markets. It has also signed an agreement a few weeks ago with 22 of the largest UAE and international banks to receive $3 billion in credit facilities."

He also added that etisalat shall benefit from such funding in meeting future partnership requirements, investment opportunities and regional expansion plans including the establishment and operation of the third mobile network in Egypt, which reflects the high level of confidence that these banks have in etisalat.

With respect to the offers that etisalat received from some parties to buy some of etisalat's shares in the third mobile license, Eng. Mohamed Omran emphasized that the company has indeed received several offers but has no intention of selling any of its shares. Etisalat's main objective in this stage is to build one of the strongest and most advanced networks in the region in cooperation with its current three partners.

As for the steps that will follow the signing of the license contract with the NTRA, Eng. Omran explained that it will include the establishment of the company as a first step, followed by identifying an appropriate location, selecting the board members, as well as appointing managerial staff for the technical, financial, marketing, customer service and other major departments.

Selection of these leadership positions will be very meticulous and based on strong experience and qualifications. Candidates for the different departmental functions shall also be appointed from among those having the best Egyptian market expertise and Egyptian university graduates.

This comes as part of etisalat's belief that Egypt has a wealth of expert professionals and candidates. He also emphasized that positions in the new company shall be announced through official channels as part of the transparent recruitment policies set by and followed by etisalat. He also denied that the consortium has outsourced this task to any external specialized recruitment agency.

"Establishing the network infrastructure will start once the consortium receives the license. These will being by setting up exchange centers, base stations, control centers and connection points with land line network and other operators. Once the NTRA sets network operation frequencies, network equipment and devices commissioning, which is expected to take up to maximum 4-8 weeks, etisalat will start immediately all preparations for actual public operation and service launch,"

said Eng. Omran.

"The existence of a third operator in the Egyptian market will have many benefits for individuals, companies, commercial and industrial businesses in Egypt, and for the labor market. With no doubt, Egyptian citizens will be the main beneficiary of such strong competition amongst the three operators to gain unique, high-quality and competitive price services. etisalat and its Egyptian Consortium partners promise to provide the latest state-of-the-art services, enabling a large number of the Egyptian community to benefit from diverse mobile services at suitable prices," he emphasized.

Assistance will be partially sought of with highly experienced Egyptian companies with a capacity in establishing infrastructure projects and associated components, technical and marketing support and customer service systems and in distributing devices, lines, cards and services. With regards to the labor market, the new company will provide Egyptian youth with many job opportunities making use of the diverse expertise available in Egypt.

etisalat has a vast experience in qualifying and training candidates and has a specialized academy for training and qualifying these candidates from different countries in many fields. Such candidates are trained by an elite group of the most prominent professors and specialists in Telecommunications, IT, Business Administration and other related fields.

Eng. Saleh El Abdooli, third Mobile Operator CEO, explained that the launch of the 2G services will take place during the first stage of operations providing both post-paid and prepaid customers nationwide with mobile telecommunication and SMS services.

He also stated that any subscriber with a mobile line starting with the code (011) will be able to make phone calls and use all services available on the network upon launching the services during the first quarter of next year.

Eng. Abdooli stressed that this will be followed by expanding coverage to other governorates respectively whilst working on launching 3G services in a number of areas nationwide. He mentioned that such services shall include high speed internet access, TV broadcasting on mobile phones, video phone calls, multimedia services and other advanced services that meet Egyptian market needs and requirements.