Telecom Egypt joined the mobile market a few days ago as a mobile operator under the trade name of “We.” This will be followed by changes in the market, but what will these changes be like? And which competitor will be most affected?
A government source in TE said that the most recent mobile operators in Egypt, “We,” will mainly depend on competitive prices during the initial phases to attract customers, noting that the company has put an offer for six months whose price is competitive as compared to the other companies.
Regarding the saturation of the market, the source believes that the capital market still has growth potential, especially in the field of data transfer, which is witnessing a rapid growth and is expected to grow even more with the launching of 4G services.
For his part, Hamdi El Laithy, the CEO of Linatel Telecommunications Company, said that the entrance of a new player into the market will create mobility in the market, especially if the player is as large as Telecom Egypt.
He believes the competition will eventually be for the best interest of both users and companies, where this will encourage them to improve their services and improve quality.
As an answer to the question regarding market saturation, El Laithy believes that the spreading of mobile services reaching 122% does not mean that there is saturation in the market, where there are great growth opportunities in the field of data transfer which has witnessed great growth so far and will witness more as Egypt enters the era of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Regarding the changes which may occur in the market, El Laithy believes the competition between the four companies will be focused on which SIM card would be used by customers, which means competition will not really be focused on attracting more customers.
Prices and quality will determine the competition, according to El Laithy. He believes that TE has a great chance to grow depending on the bundle offered to customers based on their integrated services.
According to Linatel’s CEO, in the initial phases, TE will mainly depend on attracting mobile customers from current customers with landline services. It is expected for the company to attract at least four million of the total landline users who are at least six million customers.
TE has launched mobile calls systems and internet bundles for attractive prices. The mobile systems include a unified system for all networks at a price of 12 piastres per minute, in addition to control systems whose subscription price is from EGP 20-40. The former provides 1,600 units, the latter provides customers with 4,000 units.
Internet bundles start at the price of EGP 10, providing customers with 1 GB. The EGP 200 bundle provides 40 GB.
TE has launched its systems and bundles in the form of offers continuing for six months before a change of prices takes place.
