Little Progress on 5G in Egypt

 

Egypt’s mature mobile market has one of the highest penetration rates in Africa. Progress in the adoption of mobile data services has been hampered by the lack of sufficient spectrum. To address this, the regulator in September 2020 made available 60MHz in the 2.6GHz band, though the spectrum was not allocated until late 2021. The additional spectrum will go far to enabling the MNOs to improve the quality of mobile broadband services offered. Further 5G trials are to be held later in 2022, focused on the New Administrative Capital.

The international cable infrastructure remains an important asset for Egypt, which benefits from its geographical position. Telecom Egypt has become one of the largest concerns in this segment, being a participating member in numerous cable systems. In mid-2021 the telco announced plans to build the Hybrid African Ring Path system, connecting a number of landlocked countries in Africa with Italy, France, and Portugal. The system will partly use the company’s existing terrestrial and subsea cable networks.

Egypt also has the biggest mobile phone market in Africa with 4 network providers: Vodafone Egypt, Orange (formerly: Mobinil), Etisalat and WE (by Telecom Egypt).

Telecom Egypt rebranded its retail business to WE in 2017 with the launch of its mobile offering. Since 2017, this operator has expanded nicely, and users have more than doubled since the end of 2019. Market research company Omdia estimates that at the end of June 2022, the operator had about a 10% share of the Egyptian mobile market.

Telecom Egypt owns a 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt, which is the country's biggest mobile operator with almost 42% market share. Orange Egypt has about 26% market share and Etisalat almost 22%.

According to the most recent Open Signal report on Egypt, it's evident that WE is the dominant operator when it comes to national mobile network experience in Egypt. The operator wins five out of the 10 awards outright — Video Experience, Games Experience, Download Speed Experience, Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality. In addition, WE also shares the top spot alongside Etisalat in Upload Speed Experience, as well as Availability, there is a three-way split between Etisalat, Vodafone and WE. Meanwhile, Vodafone is the only other operator to achieve outright wins; it leads in Voice App Experience, 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience.

However, our results also reveal that there is a lot of room for improvement across all national operators.

Vodafone Egypt is the largest mobile network operator in the North African nation and holds a 43% revenue market share, and has 43 million consumer and enterprise customers. The operator is also Egypt’s largest mobile wallet provider through Vodafone Cash, according to the national telecoms regulatory authority.

Vodacom’s acquisition of a 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt was concluded in December 2022 on the basis of a €577m ($622m) cash offer and the issuance of more than two million shares. The deal, worth R43.6bn, the largest in the South African network operator’s history, has resulted in parent Vodafone increasing its shareholding in Vodacom to 65.1% from 60.5%.

The transaction means Vodacom’s population reach in the African market now exceeds 500 million. Egypt is Africa’s third most populous nation, with a population exceeding 110 million.

Orange was previously the biggest mobile provider in Egypt back in the days when it was still called Mobinil. In 2016 they were rebranded to the Orange label. They offer a good coverage in the country and 4G/LTE has started in 2017 on 1800 MHz (B3) in major towns and resorts.

The National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has allocated new frequencies to Orange Egypt, offering 30MHz in the frequency space of 2,600MHz with a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system.

The new frequencies were allocated in return for USD 440 million, to be used for providing mobile phone services in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The frequencies can be used for both 4G and 5G deployments.

Etisalat Misr is the third operator in terms of market share. 

Etisalat Misr has selected Ericsson to modernise its Business Support Systems (BSS), with it claimed that the transformation will see the upgrade and modernisation of the former’s BSS platform to support data and VoLTE traffic growth, 5G readiness and IoT.

It was noted that the agreement will equip Etisalat Misr with a range of upgraded capabilities across all its business operations in the customer, product, and service management domains and for customers, enterprises, partners, network technologies and events. Ericsson BSS will reportedly enable Etisalat Misr to further spur innovation and enhance customer satisfaction with more flexibility. A press release regarding the agreement also noted that it will secure capacity expansion for VoLTE using Ericsson Cloud VoLTE technology, with this expected to enable a superior customer experience for ‘several millions of users’.

Telecom Egypt is the state-owned landline monopolist. In 2016 it acquired a LTE license and the network has been started in autumn 2017. They provide 4G/LTE at first "experimentally" on Bands 1 and 8 (900, 2100 MHz). 2G and 3G coverage is done through roaming agreements with Orange and Etisalat. The country’s long-awaited 4th mobile network is branded as WE.

Related Posts: 

• Operator Watch Blog: Egypt Mobile Network Operators Overview 

Egypt Mobile Network Operators Overview

Egypt has one of the largest mobile telecom markets in Africa, with effective competition and a penetration rate of about 94%. Although the country was among the first countries in the region to launch 3G mobile services, the development of LTE services was delayed by the late issuing of licenses. Telecom Egypt (operating under the brand WE) in August 2016 received the country’s first unified services licence, which allowed it to offer LTE services, while the remaining three MNOs (Orange Egypt, Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat Misr) followed after having disputed the terms associated with the LTE licences offered. Commercial LTE services were launched in late 2017 under unified licences which also enabled the three network operators to offer fixed-line services using the infrastructure of Telecom Egypt. It has been speculated the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) will start selling 5G spectra to Egypt’s four mobile network operators in 2020.

The three first providers have a similar footprint and 2G and 3G in the populated areas. Orange, once called Mobinil used to be market leader, but lost this position in recent years to Vodafone. Etisalat is the newest arrival, but almost on par in coverage now. So speed and coverage depend heavily on your local position to the closest antenna. 2G is on 900 MHz (and 1800 Mhz on Etisalat only), 3G up to HSPA+ speed on 2100 MHz.

In 2016 landline operator Telecom Egypt became the first operator to acquire a 4G/LTE concession. They've launched in September 2017 offering 2G, 3G and 4G services via Orange Egypt with whom they inked a roaming deal in 2017 for the next years. The other providers also received licenses for 4G/LTE.

For 4G/LTE licences are given out on 700 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz (Bands 1, 3, 8, 28) with 1800 MHz (B 3) as primary band. Some of these bands are used for 2G and 3G too, what has affected the 2G/3G service. After some delays 4G/LTE services have been finally starting on all providers in 2017.

According to OpenSignal report of March 2019 4G/LTE availability is around 60% through all networks with Vodafone topping the list at 67%. Download 4G speed is on average 8-9 Mbit/s with Orange topping at 10 Mbit/s.






Vodafone Egypt, half owned by Telecom Egypt, has become the biggest provider in Egypt with a 44% share of the market. It overtook Mobinil (now branded Orange) in 2011 and offers a good coverage at pretty high rates. For 4G/LTE Vodafone started in 2017 on 1800 MHz (B3) in major towns and resorts.

Saudi Telecom Company (STC)  has signed an initial agreement to acquire Vodafone’s 55 per cent stake in Vodafone Egypt for $2.4bn in the latest step to unravel the British group’s global empire.The prospective deal, which values Vodafone Egypt at $4.4bn, comes as Riyadh-listed STC seeks to expand regionally.

Vodafone has in recent years sold out of or merged with rivals in a number of countries, including India and New Zealand, to focus on expanding its European footprint.  Vodafone Egypt is the largest telecoms operator in Egypt by market share and the British telecoms company was the country’s largest foreign investor.

Egypt has been a growth engine for Vodafone in the past but they were criticised by activist groups during the Arab Spring in 2011 after their network was used to send text messages telling Egyptians to “confront the traitors and criminals” on behalf of the government, before it was turned off. The company later defended its actions saying that three of its engineers were being held hostage and that it had no choice but to comply with the law.

Orange were the biggest mobile provider in Egypt back in the days when it was still called Mobinil. In 2016 they were rebranded to the Orange label. They compete with Vodafone and Etisalat and are at no.2 position with 33% of customers They offer a good coverage in the country and 4G/LTE has started in 2017 on 1800 MHz (B3) in major towns and resorts.

It has been announced Orange Egypt will build and operate a data center and cloud computing platform for New Cairo, Egypt’s next capital city. The Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) is a state-backed company contracting the telco's regional subsidiary. Daily News Egypt reported on the signing of the contract between Orange and ACUD on January 12 2020.

According to the deal, Orange Egypt will provide the main infrastructure to help the city provide various services in conjunction with IoT solutions, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

Etisalat is the smallest of the three providers with a market share of 22%. It gives good coverage in some places, but has gaps and slow speeds in others. They combine their own hotspots in their products. Etisalat is said to have the lowest coverage, but are the only provider that publish+es a 2G/3G coverage map. 4G/LTE was launched in 2017 on 1800 MHz (B3) in major towns and resorts.

 Etisalat Misr has teamed up with Honeywell  to support Egypt’s smart city vision and deliver world-class services for citizens at Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, which is one of the world’s largest smart city projects.



Telecom Egypt (its brand name WE) is the state-owned landline monopolist with more than 6 million customers. In 2016 it acquired a LTE license and the network has been started in autumn 2017. They provide 4G/LTE at first "experiminentally" on Bands 1 and 8 (900, 2100 MHz). 2G and 3G coverage is done through roaming agreements with Orange and Etisalat.

Telecom Egypt also has a 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt which they have stated they have no intention of selling.