Amr Badawi, former President of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority, stated that the telecommunications sector has been a driving force for all aspects of the economy in Egypt, witnessing significant development over the past years and leading to an improvement in Egypt’s economic performance.
He added that the sector is the foundation of the infrastructure that various economic sectors rely on, including communication services, data centres, and applications, all of which are tools that contribute to economic growth in any country.
Badawi explained that the telecommunications sector’s infrastructure has improved with the support of a network of fibre cables, which have increased the internet speeds provided in Egypt.
He said that Egypt is also distinguished in the data centre industry and will be one of the leading countries that companies are racing towards, but this depends on developing the legislative environment to attract foreign companies to invest in this field.
Badawi believes that issuing the executive regulations of the Information Security Law quickly will stimulate the growth of the data centre industry.
He clarified that the potential of benefiting from 5G technology will not be realized without allocating a spectrum package.
Hossam Osman, Advisor to the Minister of Communications for Technological Innovation and Electronics Industry, stated that there is strong competition in the semiconductor industry, and Egypt has a solid foundation to build on thanks to several Egyptian universities that have focused on designing semiconductors.
He explained that the Ministry of Communications targets increasing the human resources in the semiconductor industry as well as providing incentives for workers in this industry such as export duty exemptions.
Osman said that several neighbouring countries are offering significant incentives to attract the semiconductor industry, so Egypt should offer similar incentives to compete with them.
He clarified that the ministry aims to transform Egypt into a regional hub for electronic systems including mobiles, routers, and communication devices.
Currently, there are about 80 production lines for electronic systems in Egypt.
He explained that the ministry focuses on developing integrated systems related to the automotive industry, where more than 3,000 people are trained annually on integrated systems, leading to the emergence of 15 to 20 companies in the integrated systems field during the second half of 2023.
Amr Mahfouz, CEO of Delta Systems Company, revealed the company’s readiness to launch a major cloud computing project in cooperation with the Egyptian Telecommunications Company, and the service will be provided in Egyptian pounds with data stored in Egypt.
Cloud computing services are witnessing significant growth due to the financial savings they achieve for companies by hosting their data through leasing storage spaces in data centres, as well as providing insurance services and other value-added services, saving companies the effort of establishing data centers for themselves.
He explained that the company plays a strong role in achieving digital transformation for government services, starting from smart facility meters to prepaid cards for electricity and water.
