Egypt spends $1.6B to increase internet speed

CAIRO – 16 June 2020: "The government's plan for information infrastructure to develop the internet in Egypt is proceeding according to the plan, as about $1.6 billion was spent to increase the speed of the internet," stated Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat.

During a meeting with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo, a number of the chamber's leaders in Washington and members of the Egyptian-American Joint Business Council, the minister added that the government is targeting to connect the internet to 2 million homes at a cost of $400 million.

Talaat stated that the average internet speed in Egypt increased from 5.7 Mbps in June 2018 to 15.5 Mbps.

“We are trying to reach 20 Mbps at the end of 2020, and 40 Mbps in 2021,” he explained, stressing that all internet companies in Egypt provide the service with these speeds.

The minister pointed out that the government also seeks to continue development and capacity building, and to provide many services through mobile applications and other services that have developed significantly in Egypt.

Talaat explained that the ministry will launch an initiative in cooperation with ITIDA and other institutions to train workers in small and medium companies in the communications and information technology sector to sharpen their skills.

He noted that small and medium companies can participate in the implementation of digital transformation projects in a way that ensures the achievement of governance and transparency through three tributaries.

The tributaries include participation in implementing projects no less than 10 percent of the projects assigned to the main operators' companies, or participating in a package of projects through contracting with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology directly, or participating in competitions between workers in small and medium companies to obtain training opportunities in the field of data science and artificial intelligence at the expense of the ministry. The training opportunity is set to end with a contract with the winning companies.

The minister pointed out that the implementation mechanism will be through the platform "Our Opportunity ... Digital", which is set to provide upon its launch dozens of opportunities in digital transformation projects with an estimated value of the volume of businesses offered to small and medium-sized companies by about LE 100 million.