Telecom Egypt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Telecom Egypt
legal form Corporation
ISIN EGS48031C016
founding 1854
Seat Cairo , Egypt
Branch telecommunications
Website Official website of Telecom Egypt

Telecom Egypt or Telecom Egypt SAE is Egypt's largest telephone company . It began operating the country's first telegraph line in 1854 . In 1998 it replaced the Arab Republic of Egypt National Telecommunication Organization (ARENTO) . The company has a base of over 12 million landline subscribers , making it the largest landline operator in Africa and the second largest (after the telecommunications company of Iran ) in the Middle East . On August 31, 2016, Telecom Egypt became a fully-fledged mobile operator after acquiring a G4 license for 7.08 billion Egyptian pounds (= 713.14 million euros).

history

A government initiative that later developed into Telecom Egypt began in 1854 with the operation of a telegraph line that had been built by the British Eastern Telegraph Company and linked the governorates of Cairo and Alexandria . Egypt's first telephone line was installed, also between Cairo and Alexandria, in 1881. In the same year, the Egyptian government acquired the Eastern Telephone Company and created the Telephone and Telegraph Authority from it . Under Act No. 107 of 1957, all assets of the Eastern Telephone Company and other telecommunications providers have been transferred to the Department of Telecommunications. That same year, Presidential Decree No. 709 placed all wired and wireless communications in the country under the jurisdiction of the Wire and Wireless Communications Authority , which was subordinate to the Department of Transportation. In 1980 the Arab Republic of Egypt National Telecommunications Organization (ARENTO) was established as an autonomous authority of the Ministry of Transport. With Act No. 19 of 1998, ARENTO was renamed Telecom Egypt and converted into a public limited company. The only shareholder was the Egyptian government.

In 2001 founded Telecom Egypt with TE Data , a data and communications subsidiary. In the same year, Telecom Egypt was offered a cellular license, but the company rejected it. Instead, Telecom Egypt acquired a stake of 8.6% in Vodafone Egypt in 2003 and increased its stake continuously over the next few years until the end of 2008 a stake of 44.95% was reached. Today Vodafone Egypt is an important source of income for Telecom Egypt . In November 2005 the Egyptian government started an IPO with 20% of the existing share capital of Telecom Egypt . In 2006 the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) deregulated the monopoly for national and international telephone service and announced opportunities for other fixed network operators. However, this initiative was put on hold due to economic pressures and Telecom Egypt remains Egypt's only landline operator in the country. Due to the government's 80% stake in the company, Telecom Egypt relies on the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) for all major financial, tariff and employment decisions. The MCIT is therefore partially suspected of exercising indirect control over the National Telecom Regulatory Authority , which could lead to potential conflicts of interest.

During the Arab Spring in 2011, Telecon Egypt made repeated headlines for its involvement in the Egyptian government's repressive measures against the free internet (see below).

In an interview published May-June 2014, the CEO of Telecom Egypt said that the company received a unified telecommunications license in April 2014 and that this would lead to a change in the relationship with Vodafone Egypt . Telecom Egypt would be able to offer mobile services under the terms of the new license and work with the new 4G spectrum from 2015. This would lead to a separation from Vodafone, whereby Telecom Egypt could either buy the rest of Vodafone Egypt or sell business areas to the Vodafone group.

Products and services

Telecom Egypt is Egypt's only fixed network operator and one of the largest in the MENA region with over nine million subscribers in 2009. The company offers services in the retail and wholesale categories. On the retail side, Telecom Egypt offers access and voice services, as well as data services for private households and businesses via TE Data. TE Data had a market share of 61% in Egypt in 2009 and is also active in Jordan . TE Data offers additional services through collaboration with the Microsoft Live platform. Telecom Egypt is Egypt's only provider of wholesale services. The company rents broadband capacities as well as national and international network services in the areas of data and telephone. Telecom Egypt also offers infrastructure and transport services, voice and data services and web hosting . Total services accounted for 42% of sales in 2009. Mobile communications services are also offered through the participation in Vodafone Egypt. Overall, Telecom Egypt has the monopoly over the fixed network, controls 70% of the Internet service in Egypt, is the only provider of international telephone services there and offers connectivity for all mobile network operators.

retail trade

Telecom Egypt offers landline voice services and mobile voice services through partnership with Vodafone Egypt; also broadband Internet and IPTV services as well as "enterprise-managed" Internet access, managed network services and outsourcing of information and communication technologies ".

Wholesale

Telecom Egypt provides wholesale services to domestic and international customers. Cellular operators in Egypt rely on Telecom Egypt's network and infrastructure capabilities. Internationally, Telecom Egypt is being expanded into a telecommunications and data hub between Asia, Africa and Western Europe. The TE Nord cable, built in partnership with Alcatel-Lucent , is a 40G subsea cable connecting Abu Talat , Egypt, to Marseille , France, with offices in Jordan and Cyprus, as well as branching units for further expansion.

Subsidiaries and holdings

Subsidiaries

  • TE France - 100% participation
  • TE Data - 100% participation.
    TE Data was founded in 2001 by Telecom Egypt to act as a subsidiary for data communications and the Internet. The company is the market leader in Internet services in Egypt.
  • Xceed IT Consultancy and Call Center Operator - 97.66% stake.
    Xceed acts as the IT subsidiary for Telecom Egypt. Xceed began with call center businesses in late 2003, offering a wide range of inbound and outbound services tailored to customer needs.
  • Centra Technologies - 58.76% stake.
    Centra is a stock corporation founded in 2002. She is an IT systems integrator with hardware manufacturing and distribution. Its core business is to offer complete IT solutions and to produce various models of a local brand platform of PCs, servers and notebooks of international quality.

Holdings

  • MERC (Middle East Radio Communication Company) - 49% stake.
    MERC is a stock corporation founded in 2001. It is a leader in the manufacture, operation and management of wireless communication stations.
  • Technology Development Fund - 46.15% stake
  • Vodafone Egypt - 44.95% stake
  • Egypt Trust - 35.71% stake
  • Ideavelopers - 18.75% stake
  • Nokia Siemens Networks - 10% stake
  • CITC (Civil Information Technology Company) - 10% stake
  • Arab Company for PC Manufacturing - 10% stake
  • Quicktel - 5.71% stake

Controversy

Grid shutdown during the Arab Spring in January 2011

On January 28, shortly after midnight, the international data connections in Egypt were closed within 25 minutes. Telecom Egypt, as one of the five largest network operators in Egypt and the owner of practically all fiberglass cables in the country, played a key role in this shutdown by the government. The government also used access to Telecom Egypt's infrastructure to persuade providers like Vodafone Egypt to also end their services. In April 2011, a lawsuit was brought before the High Administrative Court seeking damages from three telecommunications companies (including Telecom Egypt) and current and former officials. During the process, it was found that Internet shutdowns had already been carried out in cooperation with telecommunications companies and ISPs during the Mahalla Al Kubra protests in April 2008 and again in October 2010. Beyond the mere shutdown, mobile operator networks, including Vodafone Egypt, were hijacked by the Egyptian government in order to send text messages directly to customers.

Labor dispute in October 2011

On October 12, 2011, five Telecom Egypt employees were arrested by the police and charged with the attempted murder of the company's CEO at the time, Mohamed Abdel Rahim. According to employee representatives, however, the CEO had visited the offices and employees to present new requirements for the working conditions of Telecom Egypt. After he refused to listen to the workers' demands, the workers sat in front of his office for a sit-in that could only be ended when the military police in an adjacent room intervened. The demonstrators organized a strike and protests and demanded the release of their colleagues. Telephone book services and the Telecom Egypt service hotline were also on strike. The strikers claimed that Abdel Rahim and the board were responsible for corruption and called for their resignation and the revision of the high salaries of officials. On October 23, 2011, the head of Telecom Egypt's independent workers' association, Mohamed Abu Karish, demanded that the prisoners be released and threatened that otherwise the Internet and communications services would be shut down to intensify the strike. Abdel Rahim then withdrew his murder charges and the prisoners were released on October 25th.

Web links

  • Official website of Telecom Egypt (Arabic), accessed on June 23, 2017

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Telecom Egypt becomes the country's first operator to secure 4G license on the website english.ahram.org.eg, published on August 31, 2016, accessed on June 23, 2017.
  2. ↑ Global Information Society Watch 2007 , accessed June 23, 2017.
  3. ↑ Mohamed Hashish: The Egyptian Legislation Governing the Information and Communication Technology Sector ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arablegalportal.org archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), on the website arablegalportal.org, accessed on June 23, 2017.
  4. ↑ Samiha Fawzy and Ahmed Gala (eds.): Welfare Impact of Telecom Reform in Egypt. An Ex Ante Analysis . World Bank, 1999.
  5. ^ Competitiveness and Private Sector Development: Egypt . OECD, 2010.
  6. ↑ New unified license means Telecom Egypt likely to break relationship with Vodafone, says CEO . Global Telecoms Business. 2014.
  7. ^ The Report: Egypt 2010 . Oxford Business Group, 2010, pp. 91-92.
  8. ^ Marwa Hussein: Telecom Egypt employees escalate their protest, demanding release of 5 colleagues . In: Al Ahram Online . Accessed June 24, 2017. 
  9. ↑ a b c Telecom Egypt: Day by Day Tactics . Archived from the original on December 20, 2010. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 23, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nbkcapital.com
  10. ↑ a b c Middel East Rating and Investors Service ( MERIS )
  11. ↑ James Glanz: Egypt Leaders Found 'Off' Switch for Internet . In: New York Times , February 15, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2017. 
  12. ↑ Salma El-Wardani: Outrage over exoneration of Egypt telecom giants in communications shutdowns . In: Al-Ahram Online , June 1, 2011. Accessed June 24, 2017. 
  13. ↑ Paul Sun: Egypt intrudes On Mobile Operators . February 4, 2011. Accessed June 24, 2017. 
  14. ^ Marwa Hussein: Telecom Egypt employees escalate their protest, demanding release of 5 colleagues . In: Al Ahram Online , October 18, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2017. 
  15. ↑ Adel Al-Lakani: Telecom Egypt workers shoulderstand lake colleagues released soon . In: Al Ahram Online , October 23, 2011. Accessed June 24, 2017. 
  16. ^ Mohamed Megahed: Telecom Egypt CEO withdraws attempted murder accusation . In: Al Masry Al Youm English Online , October 25, 2011. Accessed June 24, 2017.