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Telecom Egypt at the core of the Golden Pyramid
01 April 1999
Telecoms in Egypt remained fairly stagnant until 1997, when the government took steps to liberalize the cellular sector and corporatize the incumbent operator, Telecom Egypt. A modernization programme is also under way, which involves the installation of millions of new telephone lines. Telecom Egypt's chairman, Abdel Fattah Abou Serie, talks about the goals behind this programme.
The Egyptian government initiated partial deregulation of the
telecoms sector in November 1997, announcing plans to open up the
mobile sector to competition. It also indicated that the incumbent,
Telecom Egypt, would be corporatized as a first step before
privatization. At the same time the government has launched a
modernization programme in the telecoms sector, with a number of
projects involving foreign manufacturers, geared at improving
teledensity and network quality. The government realizes that,
owing to its unique geographic location, Egypt could be a regional
hub for telecoms traffic for Africa and the Middle East.
In an interview with Global Telecoms Business, the chairman of
Telecom Egypt, Abdel Fattah Abou Serie, talks about the
modernization programme, restructuring and the operator's role as a
potential regional hub.
Despite plans to transform Telecom Egypt into a profitable joint
stock company, so far there have been no staff reductions, as Abou
Serie explains: "A...
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