Decline in lines’ sales affects revenues of state telecommunications sector: Hegazy

Mohamed Alaa El-Din
3 Min Read

The Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Etisalat Misr Khaled Hegazy, said that the decline in lines’ sales and in mobile consumption will affect the revenues generated by the country from the telecommunications market.

The company pays about 40% of its revenues to the state and its various departments, which are distributed between the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority with 6%, the Information Technology Industry Development Agency with 1%, the comprehensive fund service with 0.50%, the development fee with 0.50%, and 23% for value-added tax, he said.

The sector witnessed positive changes in the last period, notably the launch of the 4G, which offers new broadband cellular network technology for companies, which were highly needed, in addition to providing a default fixed phone license, and the entry of a fourth cellular mobile operator.

According to Etisalat’s data, the number of its customers currently stands at 32 million, while the number of mobile internet users is 9.5 million.

Hegazy said that Etisalat has achieved solid revenues amounting to EGP 6.6bn in the first half of the year, as a result of the introduction of systems and packages suitable for diversified customers and their uses, exceeding the company’s expected decline in consumption patterns, due to the reduced value of prepaid scratch cards.

He added that Etisalat Misr is a vital entity of the parent company, Emirates Telecom, due to the essential and paramount Egyptian market, and looks forward to a significant outlook, indicating that the company has increased the capital of Etisalat Misr, which represents investor confidence in the Egyptian market.

Previously, in February 2018, Etisalat Misr opened an initial public offering for its shareholders to increase its capital by EGP 4.5bn, bringing the total capital paid up to EGP 19.432bn.

The ownership structure of Etisalat Misr is divided into seven entities: Etisalat International Egypt Limited – UAE with 66% of the capital; Egypt Post at 20%; Das Investment at 5%; DIFC LLC UAE at 5%; Saudi Technology Development and Investment Company at 1.5%; Al Naboodah Real Estate Investment at 1.5%, and Mawarid Finance at 1%.

Etisalat’s investments in Egypt since its inception in 2007 and until 2017 exceed EGP 42bn, of which EGP 5.5bn represent the cost of obtaining licenses for the 4G broadband network.

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