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For
some time now, it has been said that we are living in the information age. With
technological advances in the area of communications and the astronomical growth
of the Internet, the 21st century may be known as the Communication
Century. Everyone wants to be
“connected.” Recognition by the
Egyptian government that
sustainable economic growth will depend, in part,
on a healthy and competitive communications infrastructure has led to the
following watershed events:
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The
establishment of a Ministry for Communications and Information Technology;
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The
issue of a Communications Law (Law 19 of 1998), which established the
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority;
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The
transformation of the Arab Republic of Egypt National Telephone Organization
(ARENTO) into Telecom Egypt, a joint stock company, and the separation of
regulation from operations;
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Privatization
of the mobile telephone market;
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Establishing
of a licensing mechanism to allow competition in the Internet market;
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And
recently, the issue of Law 10 of 2003 to establish a new regulatory
authority -The National Authority for Regulation of Telecommunications
(NART).
However,
the down turn in the global and Egyptian economies, the burst of the
“technology bubble” and the
fall in share prices of telecommunications companies worldwide, have prevented
those bold steps from having all of the desired effects.
In addition, the privatization of Telecom Egypt has been delayed.
Internet
service providers and Internet infrastructure companies have been hard hit by
the slowing economy and the new free Internet fees structure.
In
general terms, the strategy for these industries may now be growth through
consolidation in order to achieve economies of scale.
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