Egypt’s fixed-line monopoly Telecom Egypt will need to provide mobile services to compensate for declining landline subscriptions, a company executive was quoted on Monday as saying.
“The company must obtain a mobile service in order to continue,” Vice President Mohammed Abdel Rehim told Egypt’s al-Alam al-Youm newspaper.
The number of fixed-line phones was declining due to competition from mobile telephones, he added.
The state-owned company, contacted by Reuters, said it had no comment and declined to confirm whether it would seek a mobile licence.
Telecom Egypt’s fixed-line subscribers fell 15 percent to 9.6 million in the year to Sept. 30 as mobile telephones lured away its voice and data clients, the company said last month. Third-quarter net profit fell 13 percent.
The firm said in November it would roll out fibre networks in at least four big compounds next year.
The number of mobile subscribers in Egypt surged to 53 million in October from 39.1 million a year earlier.
