GSMA Honours Egypt with Government Leadership Award

The GSMA, the global trade body for the mobile industry, has awarded its prestigious Government Leadership Award 2008 to Egypt. The award exists to recognise exceptional work by governments in the fields of mobile communications policy and regulation.

Egypt was chosen because of the impressive progress it has made in establishing a thriving mobile communication sector. In the 12 months to March 31st, ten million more Egyptians began using mobile services, lifting the country’s mobile penetration rate to 43% from 29% a year earlier and providing a substantial boost to the broader economy.*

Over the last two years, the Egyptian government has introduced greater competition into the mobile market, undertaken a process of liberalisation of international voice and data services and is now introducing greater competition into the fixed-line market. These steps are enabling Egypt to attract new investment from the private sector and is lowering the cost of providing mobile communications services. As a result, the average time spent on mobile calls in Egypt is among the highest in Africa.

Following the award of 3G licenses in 2007, Egypt now has more 3GSM** connections than any other country in Africa with the exception of South Africa. In the past 12 months, more than 200,000 Egyptians have adopted 3G enabling them to access the Internet and other multimedia services via their handsets or laptops.

At a gala dinner today in Cairo, Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA, presented the award to His Excellency Minister Dr. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

“The growth and development in Egypt’s mobile market is phenomenal. This is due to the collaborative effort exerted by all players in the industry; from regulation to infrastructure to operation to service provision,” said Minister Kamel. “The government of Egypt was keen to facilitate the progress of the mobile industry over the past few years. There is great room for further growth of this industry on the local scene. More importantly, I see innovation out of Egypt especially in mobile-related applications and technologies.”

“I congratulate the Egyptian Government on the way it has enabled mobile communications to flourish to the benefit of its people and its economy,” said Mr. Conway. “Not only has the Government had the foresight to issue 3G licenses ahead of many other developing countries, it has take an economically-sound and pragmatic approach to regulating connections between the country’s mobile and fixed networks to the ultimate benefit of Egypt’s people and its economy.”

Notes to Editors:

*In a developing country, an increase of 10 percentage points in mobile penetration will lift that country’s annual economic growth rate by 1.2 percentage points, according to a 2007 study by Deloitte for the GSM Association.

**3GSM technology, which uses the W-CDMA air interface, is compatible with the GSM ecosystem

About the GSMA:

The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing more than 750 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries and territories of the world. The Association’s members represent more than 3 billion GSM and 3GSM connections – over 86% of the world’s mobile phone connections. In addition, more than 200 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association’s initiatives as key partners.

The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers.

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Mark Smith or David Pringle
GSMA
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