Telecom Egypt (TE) explores ways to secure the necessary funds for its upcoming expansions, including securitization bonds, according to Adel Hamed, CEO and Managing Director of Telecom Egypt.
Hamed said in an interview with Daily News Egypt that the company was able to achieve $2bn worth of revenues during the past five years at an average of $400m annually, which contributed to covering a large part of the company’s investment expenses.
How did the high price of the dollar affect the operating costs of TE? What is the company’s vision to overcome this challenge?
Telecom Egypt was not negatively affected by the rise in the dollar price. The company is studying several ways to obtain the funds necessary for its expansions and investments, on top of which is the issuance of future rights securitization bonds.
The company also achieved dollar revenues during the past five years, with a value exceeding $2bn, with an average of $400m annually.
Revenues in foreign currency contributed to covering a large part of the company’s investment expenses, and it seeks further growth in international communication services.
After rebranding, what message does the company want to send to its customers?
The rebranding and slogan change to “Like No Other” comes in line with the company’s plan and strategy during the next stage and its transformation from the first integrated telecom operator to the first digital telecom operator and the provision of innovative and different digital solutions and services that contribute to the promotion of the digital economy, and the acceleration of the pace of transformation towards the digital society.
Telecom Egypt’s strategy was based on the concept of the digital pyramid, which is based on 5 structural levels, its base is the infrastructure, both locally and internationally. Indeed, the company has 2,000 mobile booster stations, which helped us provide services to our customers with advanced technology.
The company’s slogan has been changed to suit the company’s entry into a new phase of services, and we promise our customers to provide new services for the first time in the market, such as unified bill services, smart mobile packages that allocate to each customer’s needs, and packages suitable for young people for electronic games.
The company continued to rebrand with a new logo, WE MIX; to suit the company’s provision of services that combine mobile and fixed internet services. The company has 12 million mobile customers in just 5 years of operation.
How did the company improve the quality of its services in 2022?
Telecom Egypt managed to launch 2,700 cellular towers for mobile services within 4 years, and it aims to build 2,000 new cellular towers during the next phase.
Technical and practical analyzes were presented on identifying the latest solutions to technical support problems in order to improve the level of service, and it aims to make a huge technical leap in all technical support disciplines.
Telecom Egypt also intends to appoint 2,000 technicians in various governorates with a high degree of skills and competencies to enable the company to change the form and concept of technical support in Egypt.
Telecom Egypt is negotiating with major companies providing entertainment and e-commerce services. The company recently signed an agreement with Amazon to host it inside Telecom Egypt’s data centres, and there are discussions to host other major companies inside the company’s data centres.
Does the company have a vision to provide mobile services in new markets outside Egypt?
Telecom Egypt has signed an agreement to host a local focal point for Cloud4C to provide RISE with SAP services from Telecom Egypt’s RDH regional data centre, which is the largest data centre in Egypt and holds a Tier III Uptime certificate. It also gives SAP the opportunity to support and enhance the Egyptian government’s transformation strategy as well as small and medium-sized companies in Egypt, and the expansion of serving a larger number of customers locally and regionally depending on the distinguished international and regional infrastructure of Telecom Egypt.
Telecom Egypt signed an agreement with the American company “Lumen” to establish its first regional focal point in Egypt to provide Internet services to telecom companies in Egypt, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
What opportunities does the company see under the current circumstances?
Telecom Egypt developed a distinguished plan a year ago, to expand international services and increase the spread and diversity of services, and it included the recent signing of an agreement to expand in Greece, in addition to its presence in Italy, France, Jordan, Sudan and Libya through direct contact.
The plan also includes the expansion of submarine cables, and Telecom Egypt owns cable systems surrounding the African continent to Europe, which enables the company to provide services in the African depth, and also has investments in submarine cables to the Far East, to become a global marine cable operator, and one of the largest Undersea cable operators in the world.
What services does the company intend to focus on in 2023?
Telecom Egypt has announced the start of providing documentation and real estate notarization services to citizens within some of the company’s branches spread across all governorates of the Republic. The efforts made by Telecom Egypt to provide added value to its customers, contribute to a development boom in digital transformation projects, and work to develop and improve the level of services provided to citizens in various sectors.
