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Egypt plans five tech parks worth $2.8bn

By , IT in government editor
Egypt , 11 Sep 2014

Egypt plans five tech parks worth $2.8bn

North African nation Egypt plans to build five technology parks valued at $2.8 billion across the country.

According to reports, Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) plans to tender the five projects.

The technology parks are expected to be located in Assiut, Bani Suef in Upper Egypt, and Alexandria and Menoufiya in the North Delta.

MCIT minister Atef Helmy told newspapers that the projects are expected to be completed by 2020.

"The five projects will be offered to investors before the end of this year," Helmy said.

Helmy explained, "South Korean and Japanese companies and investors have expressed interest in investing in new technology complexes, and they are interested in the locations for which the ministry is issuing tenders."

According to Helmy, investment in the country's telecoms sector is expected to reach EGP 14 billion during the fiscal year 2015/2016.

"Three mobile phone companies are planning to spend EGP 8 billion to upgrade their services, while the ministry will bear the remaining expenditure to provide landline telephone services and upgrade internet services," he stated.

Research firm BuddeComm noted that subscriber growth in Egypt slowed briefly at the beginning of the country’s political crisis in 2011.

However, Egypt was ranked fourth among African countries in the ‘Networked Readiness Index’ of the Davos World Economic Forum’s 2013 Global Information Technology Report, BuddeComm has indicated.

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