Telecom Egypt,Telecom Italia To Bid For Mobile License

CAIRO -(Dow Jones)- State-controlled Telecom Egypt, Tuesday said it would join forces with Telecom Italia to bid for Egypt's third mobile telecommunications license.

A Telecom Egypt statement said the parties agreed Telecom Egypt would own a majority stake in the consortium.

The government sale of a third mobile license will allow a new entrant into an Egyptian market dominated by MobiNil - owned by Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding and France Telecom - and Vodafone Group.

The deadline for bids is Thursday.

Egypt's telecom regulator last month said it expected a minimum of 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($433.8 million) to be offered in the tender.

Telecom Italia previously cooperated with Telecom Egypt in 2004 when it agreed a deal that enabled the Egyptian company to offer Internet protocol services to its clients.

I hope Egypt had the forsight set aside some 900 MHz spectrum for the third operator. Without 900 MHz it will be very hard to make a go if it in Egypt. There's a lot of rural areas that still need coverage.

If 1800 MHz spectrum is available as well, then they should take that into account as well. Surely Egypt won't remain a GSM 900-only country as their networks grow.

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_eg.shtml

I also wonder how quickly TIM Egypt could be up and running since they would have also to cover some areas in the deserts which surely isn't a task completed overnight.

I'm sure that 1800 MHz spectrum is available but I'd hate to run an 1800-only network in Egypt.

Ideally, it's best to invest in a dual-band network even if it's more costly due to the expense of getting the license/adding more sites. T-Mobile and Vodafone started out as GSM 900 providers and then moved on to add GSM 1800 backup sites here in Germany.

Looks like Egypt is catching Telenor's attention as well:

http://press.telenor.com/PR/200604/1043177_5.html

Telenor, 04 april, 2006

Telenor and NTC to cooperate in Egypt

(Fornebu, Norway/Cairo, Egypt: 04.04.2006) Telenor announced Tuesday a partnership with National Telecommunications Holding Corporation (NTC) in connection with the third mobile license in Egypt.

Telenor and NTC will jointly deliver an application to qualify for participation in the auction for the Egyptian mobile license. The application is to be handed in before May 4th.

"Telenor has extensive experience in running mobile operations in different countries, but it is nevertheless vital to have a proper local partner. NTC and Telenor supplement each other very well, and we are confident that this partnership provides us with an excellent basis for the process ahead", said Jan Edvard Thygesen, Executive Vice President and head of Telenor Central and Eastern Europe.

National Telecommunications Holding Corporation was established in 1995 as one of the first private Egyptian technology-based holding company operating in the telecommunications and information technology fields in Egypt and the Middle East. NTC has grown since then to become a conglomerate encompassing 16 subsidiaries in telecommunications, information technology and financial services as well as manufacturing of telecommunications equipment and products.

More information about NTC: www.ntcegypt.com

Source: http://press.telenor.com/PR/200604/1043177_5.html