Title: ICT Sector in Egypt:
1ICT Sector in Egypt
A Model For Reform
Amr HASHEM Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology Arab Republic of
Egypt AHashem_at_mcit.gov.eg
2Agenda
- Outlook of Egypt
- ICT Reform Process
- Timeline
- Major Policies
- Success Stories
- Way Forward
3Egypt Potential
- Geography
- Cross Connection between Europe, Africa and the
Middle East. - Resources
- 80 billion invested in modernization of
infrastructure in 21 years - 72 Million inhabitants with 50 under the age of
20 - Ranking 17th worldwide in no. of yearly graduates
4Reform Process
- Empowerment of the Democratic Process
- Multi-Candidate Presidential Elections
- Parliamentary Elections under full supervision of
the judiciary - Transition into a Market Economy
- Building the institutional and regulatory
framework - Multitude of opportunities for private investment
5ICT Reform Process
6Policy Principles
- Involvement of partnerships throughout the
process - Empowerment of the role of the civil society
- Free flow of information to all stakeholders
- Good Governance
- Decentralization of decision making
- Critical Role of Regulatory Institutions
Commitment of Political Leadership to support ICT
development
7Information Society Initiative
- Inclusion of the stakeholders in the analysis and
policy development process - Government
- Technology Providers
- Service Providers
- Formulation of a master plan for ICT sector
development in a deregulated environment - E-Readiness
- E-Learning
- E-Government
- Execution of the plan in a Public-Private
Partnership approach
- Network operators
- Academia
- Financial institution
- E-Health
- E-Culture
- ICT-Exports
8Integration in Regional and Global Economy
- Bi-lateral Trade Agreements
- Multilateral Trade Agreements
- Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
- Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement
- Common Market for East and South Africa
- World Trade Organization
9World Trade Organization
- Undertook commitments for Basic Telecom
Liberalization under the BTA in June 2002 - Full commitment to Reference Paper
- Technology-neutral approach to licensing of
services - Full Market Liberalization by the end of 2005
- No limitations on Foreign Capital participation
10World Trade Organization
- Egypt joined the Information Technology Agreement
in April 2003 - Progressive Approach to Tariff reductions over 4
years - Drop of tariffs by 2005
- Extension for nascent industries till 2007
- Accelerated the execution as part of the customs
reform package in September 2004 - Dropped the cost of deploying new ICT
infrastructure by more than 33 - Instrumental in various initiatives for
PC-ownership and broadband deployment
Weighted Tariffs on ICT products
11Further Liberalization under WTO
- An offer for commitments on Computer Related
Services for improving Egypts positioning as an
IT hub for MENA - No limitation on foreign staffing for the first 4
years of operations - No restrictions on foreign ownership or national
treatment - Permitting cross-border supply of services
whenever required - Restructuring of the postal sector in Egypt
inline with international best practices - Licensing several companies for provision of
Courier services in Egypt - No limitations on National Treatment or foreign
participation in courier companies
12Professional Training
- Developing highly qualified experts through
Internationally certified programs - Decision Support E-Commerce
- System Analysis Design
- Software Development
- Communication Networks Management Security
- Call Centers Operations and Management
- Executed in cooperation with Multinationals in a
win-win approach
Graduates in Thousands
13ICT Skills Development
- Aiming towards improving ICT literacy
- Office Applications
- Internet
- Web Development
- Executed in cooperation with universities and
NGOs - Qualifying trainees for International Computer
Driving License
Graduates in Thousands
14ICT Growth
- Private sector is leading the growth in ICT
sector - Investments of private-owned ICT Companies
exceeded EGP 10 billions - Number of private owned ICT companies exceeded
1500 companies employing 35,000 employees - Supporting the ICT Associations formation
- Egyptian Information Telecommunication
Electronics Software Alliance (EITESAL)
15Smart Village
- A business park over 300 Acres of land
- Multinationals (Microsoft, Alcatel, Vodafone, HP
and Ericsson) - Call Centers
- Technological incubators
- MCIT and NTRA
- A financial district in Phase III (2005-2006)
16Regional Leadership in Converged Services
- Emergence of Egyptian Companies as regional
operators - Egypt is becoming a regional center for mobile
network deployment and services - ISC Alcatel
- RNSC- Ericsson
- An E-Content initiative for the digitization of
Arabic Content
Privatization of Mobile Telephony has resulted in
a wealth generation of almost EGP 35 billion
17A service-oriented Growth
- Encouragement of further Public-Private
Partnerships for infrastructure, services and
industry development - Provision of Converged Services
- Postal Sector restructuring
- Launch of MVNOs
- Further regional role in coordination and
harmonization of policies and regulations as part
of the global Information Society - Promotion of ventures serving regional markets
- Call centers
- Internet exchange
- regional service centers
18Useful websites
- www.mcit.gov.eg
- www.citegypt.com
- www.ntra.gov.eg