Orange Egypt, the second biggest mobile operator in Egypt, has said that it is willing to re-negotiate the acquiring of the 4G mobile licence with the Egyptian National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) under new terms, the company stated on the bourse website on Thursday.
After the company’s release, the stock exchange resumed trading on the company’s shares which jumped by more than eight percent, registering a closure price of EGP 99.45.
Telecom Egypt (TE), the country’s only landline operator, already signed a deal with the NTRA in August to be the first operator to buy a 15-year 4G mobile licence.
In September, the NTRA said it might offer the 4G service licences in international tender after the three local mobile operators—Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, and Etisalat—declined to apply under the regulator’s current conditions.
So far Kuwait's leading mobile operator Zain, Saudi Telecom and Lebara KSA have all expressed interest in obtaining the new licence.
According to the global mobile association, GSMA, the total amount of spectrum assigned to each operator for 4G needs to be in the range of 2x30MHz to 2x60MHz, across a range of coverage and capacity bands, with a minimum contiguous bandwidth of 2x10MHz in each band.
By contrast Egypt has offered only 2×2.5MHz to 2x5MHz to mobile operators in the recent 4G licence offering, driving the three domestic mobile operators to decline to apply.
