Egypt's telecoms watchdog has said it would begin taking tenders to open up space a fourth mobile phone operator in that country.
The National Telecoms Regulatory Authority (NTRA) will form a committee and define the regulatory framework for the services within three months, the details of which will then be presented to telecom companies interested in the tender, the regulator said.
The authority plans to offer up a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) licence. MVNOs lease network capacity from existing mobile operators rather than build their own networks.
Vodafone Egypt, Etisalat or MobiNil are the country’s current mobile companies.
“Given that the Egyptian mobile market has three existing operators and has achieved a certain level of maturity, introducing MVNOs seems a better plan than having a new operator that would incur the cost of building its own network,” says Matthew Reed, a principal analyst with Informa Telecoms & Media and head of mobile research for the Middle East and Africa.
“Telecom Egypt has made it clear that it is keen to get into the mobile market as an MVNO,” Reed adds.
“Though Telecom Egypt does have a substantial stake in Vodafone Egypt. It's not clear if that might present a regulatory barrier,” Reed says.
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