Egypt to send out revised terms for 4G licences

 Egypt’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) is making moves to bring to an end a long-running saga involving the issue of 4G licences.

 

The authority has now approved amended 4G licence terms and is preparing to send final 4G licence forms to Egypt’s fixed and mobile operators on Sunday 21 August, Reuters reported, citing a source in the country’s Telecommunications Ministry.

 

The news agency added that only Telecom Egypt had accepted the original terms after the government offered 4G licences to the fixed-line incumbent and Orange Egypt, Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat in June.

 

A related report by AhramOnline stated that operators must accept the revised terms by midday on 22 September, indicating that the country is keen to put past delays in issuing 4G licences behind it and quickly move towards deploying infrastructure.

 

The telecoms ministry source told Reuters that the NTRA has decided that the winning applicants will gain additional frequencies with their 4G licence.

 

That move could help ease GSMA concerns that the country was not lining up sufficient spectrum for operators to offer effective 4G services. The association in July said that previous experience shows that the total amount of spectrum assigned to individual operators must fall within the range of 2x30MHz to 2x60MHz over a range of coverage and capacity bands.

 

While the authority has proven flexible in terms of frequencies, it is standing firm on the cost of the licences, the telecoms ministry source told Reuters.

 

Payment terms were sent to operators in June. According to a previous Reuters report, incumbent operator Telecom Egypt faces the highest charge of EGP7.08 billion (€707 million/$797 million) to cover the cost of its 4G licence and also licences for 2G and 3G technology, which the operator must pay as it moves into the mobile market for the first time having previously been a fixed-line only operator.

 

Orange Egypt said in June that it has been asked to pay EGP3.54 billion for its 4G licence in the country. The operator faces additional fees of EGP100 million for a fixed-line licence, and of EGP1.8 billion to enable it to offer international calling services.

 

Egypt’s government originally approved plans to issue 4G licences in 2014, but the process has been delayed by disagreements between operators: in particular regarding the interconnection fees levied by Telecom Egypt.