CAIRO: Egyptian mobile phone subscriber growth continued unabated in September, with 1.95 million new accounts added to bring the total number to 53.428 million, a government website said on Sunday.
Egypt is the Arab world s most populous country, with some 77 million inhabitants. Analysts and executives see room for growth up to some 65 million accounts, or 85 percent of the population, although estimates assume 20 to 25 percent of the market involves second phones.
The mobile landscape is underdeveloped compared with Egypt s regional peers but fiercely competitive, with three operators offering on-network discounts to garner customers.
More than a million accounts have been created every month since late last year. A year ago, there were 37.626 million subscribers, the government-run Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre said on its website (www.eip.gov.eg).