Egypt's NTRA imposes LE25B fine on telecom companies due to poor services

CAIRO – 1 November 2021: The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) announced Monday a fine of LE 25 million on telecom companies, due to exceeding the standards of indicators of the quality of telecom services.

This came within the framework of the NTRA’s keenness to improve the quality of telecommunication services provided to users, according to a report issued by the National Communications Services Quality Control Center for the results of the third quarter 2021 measurements from July to September 2021.

Indicators of monitoring service for 3 months

The report presents indicators of the quality of voice and Internet services provided by telecom companies operating in the Egyptian market; Where tests were conducted to measure the quality of mobile phone services for 81 areas (city and district) of each operator, and the technical capabilities to conduct field measurements were increased to reach the third administrative limit in roads, cities and neighborhoods, using measuring cars for distances of up to more than 100,000 km over the course of the three months.

The quality of service improvement was monitored in 3 regions at the end of September 2021, compared to the end of June 2021, and the improvement comes as a result of the measures taken by the device in coordination with operators regarding the quality of voice and data services.

Approving 641 new stations during the third quarter of 2021

The NTRA approved 641 new stations during the third quarter of 2021, an increase of 62 percent compared to the second quarter of 2021, as part of the new system to speed up the procedures for establishing mobile stations, which positively affects the quality of telecommunication services provided in the Egyptian market.

The Authority has started the procedures for covering 500 villages with fourth generation services within the national project for the development of Egyptian rural villages, "Hayah Karima", at an estimated cost of LE 1.5 billion, funded by the Universal Service Fund, and it is expected to be completed before mid-2022.