At a Glance
The Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS)
The Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS), launched in May 1998, provides a wide range of telecommunications services.
ECMS operates under the brand name "Mobinil". ECMS is owned by France Telecom Group,
Orascom Telecom Holding and public market equity investors. France Telecom Group
and OTH have respectively 36.34% and 34.66% economic interest in ECMS. The remaining
29% shares are publicly traded on the Egyptian Exchange. Mobinil offers its customers
3G services and EDGE technology for high speed download, Internet communication,
and high capability browsing. It is also working on the deployment of HSPA+ technology.
Telecommunications Market in Egypt
The Egyptian telecommunications sector is one of the most developed markets in the
Middle East and North Africa region. In 1997, the Egyptian government began liberalizing
the telecommunications market and ever since, the telecom market has been demonstrating
significant increase in terms of diversity and number of players. Telecom Egypt
(TE) acted as the sole provider for decades. Over the last ten years, Egypt's telecommunications
infrastructure improved dramatically and its telecommunications sector became
one of the fastest-growing sectors in economy.
By the end of 1998, two private mobile operators (Mobinil and Vodafone) were serving
a few million mobile users. By 2007, a third mobile operator (Etisalat Egypt) entered
the market and the total number of mobile users reached 31 million at the end of
the year. Fixed telephone lines showed a slow increase from 2000 to 2007.
Mobinil, Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat Egypt were serving by December 31, 2010 over 78 million
mobile users. Even though voice is currently the largest contributor to total revenue, mobile
data services account for, according to Pyramid Research, to approximately 9% of total
mobile service revenue; a share that is likely to rise in the years to come, spurred
by mobile internet adoption. However, and according to the same source, Egypt's
broadband market is still significantly underpenetrated with a 5% penetration rate
in 2010.
- Established in 1999
- Promotes a broad liberalization agenda, de-regulation and privatization.
- Regulator - Regulates market development and protects public interest
- Reports directly to the Minister of CIT.
- Issues licenses and product apporvals.
- Implements MCIT's technology roadmap.
- Management of frequency spectrum.
- Influences pricing and services.
- Controls dial range allocation.
- Resolves oprator disputes.
- Fixed line incumbent.
- 80% government owned – 20% publicly listed shares.
- Owns 45% of Vodafone Egypt.
- Owns 100% of TE data.
- Mobinil, Vodafone, Etisalat.
- Each represents strong international and regional telecommunication players.
- Each owns an ISP competing in the fixed broadband arena.
- All profitable despite competitive pressures and maturing market.
- LINKdotNET, TE Data, Raya, NileOnline and EGYNet are Egypt's internet infrasturcture providers.
- There are over 220 ISPs providing internet dial up, ISDN, and broadband.
Mobinil
Mobinil is Egypt's first mobile operator, founded in 1998. Since its inception,
it has strived to maintain a strong market position. Honoring the trust of more
than 30 million customers, Mobinil is recognized as one of the leading mobile service
providers in the region due to the quality of its services and its contributions
towards the development of the country. Throughout the years, Mobinil has been honored
to receive numerous awards
presented by both national and international institutions.
Mobinil was recognized for the quality of its operations, the development of its
human resources, the transparency of its disclosure practices and investors' relations,
and for the reliability of its health and safety systems.