Telecom Egypt has announced the approval by its Board of Directors of a budget for the 2018 financial year which anticipates growth in revenue amongst other positive developments.

Ahmed El Beheiry, Group CEO at Telecom Egypt said, "Our investment in our network over the past four years is the key pillar that will drive growth in 2018. In spite of the start-up nature of our mobile business, growth stemming from the very promising and young data market (as well as the optimisation initiatives that we are undertaking across the organisation) is expected to help us to continue posting strong operational margins, while we are still investing in our mobile infrastructure."

Among the key highlights of the 2018 Telecom budget is a forecast of total revenue growth in the range of "high single digit to low double digit" as well as EBITDA margin in the mid-to-high twenties and CAPEX to sales ratio of 30%.

The positive outlook from Telecom Egypt's budget comes weeks after the release if the company's Q3 2017 earnings which show that its total consolidated revenue for the nine months to September grew 34% year-on-year to EGP 4,433m and normalised revenue grew 9% year-on-year on the continuation of data services growth.

The company has signed an agreement for national roaming on Etisalat's 2G, 3G and 4G network as part of its mobile launch, as well as an international voice services agreement with Etisalat Misr, which will enable Etisalat to use its international gateway (IGW).

Both agreements are for a period of five years.

Settlement with Orange

Telecom Egypt expects the final settlement agreement reached with Orange Egypt (regarding a legal dispute between the two companies) to have a positive impact on its results for the final quarter of 2017.

The two companies reached an agreement in November last year related to a dispute over figures for interconnection, leased lines and international services between 2008 and October 2017.

"In terms of financial impact for Telecom Egypt, based on the agreement Telecom Egypt will book in Q4 2017 on its P&L additional revenue of EGP 49m and impairment to receivables of EGP 225m. The latter however is a non-cash charge and the settlement agreement in fact will lead to a net positive cash flow to Telecom Egypt of EGP 74m," reads an excerpt from a statement issued by Telecom Egypt.

El Beheiry says their decision to make peace with Orange Egypt will result in partnerships between the companies in the near future.

Telecom Egypt owns a 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt in addition to its own mobile operations in the country.