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Egypt bans mobile internet voice calls
17 March 2010
NTRA, the Egyptian regulator, is enforcing a ban on Skype and other IP calls over mobile internet connections
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Egypt
Skype
NTRA
VoIP
Telecom Egypt
Mobinil
Etisalat
Vodafone
Egypt’s National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority has placed a ban on international calls made through mobile internet connections.
The regulator has banned Skype in particular, which is available on mobile internet, as it bypasses the legal channel, said Amr Badawy, executive president of the NTRA.
According to Egyptian law, all international calls are required to go through a network controlled by majority state-owned Telecom Egypt. The telco has seen a drop in international call volumes over recent months. The NTRA is chaired by Tarek Kamel, the Egyptian minister for communications.
Badawy said he could not say whether the ban would be extended to international voice calls made over fixed-line internet.
Egyptian mobile operators, Mobinil, Etisalat Egypt and Vodafone Egypt, which offer internet access for computers via USB and other mobile modems, as well as via mobile phone, will be affected by the move. As of now, Vodafone is the only mobile provider to enforce the regulator’s decision. GTB