INTERVIEW - Mobinil may reject Egypt's landline licence - CEO

Tuesday 25-11-2014 07:21 PM
INTERVIEW - Mobinil may reject Egypt's landline licence - CEO

A man passing in front of a branch of Mobinil in Cairo - Reuters

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By Shadi Bushra

CAIRO, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Egyptian mobile telecoms firm Mobinil said on Tuesday it might reject the government's offer of a landline services licence, aimed at boosting competition in the telecoms market, unless it is allowed to build its own fixed-line infrastructure.

The government approved in September a new unified licensing which would allow the state fixed-lined monopoly Telecom Egypt (TE) to enter the mobile market while in return allowing the three mobile network operators to enter the landline market.

Mobinil, which is 93.92 percent-owned by France's Orange and 5 percent by Vimpelcom, has already said it might opt out of the fixed-line licence, because of the price and uncertain terms.

"The current terms of the fixed licence are not satisfactory," Mobinil's chief executive Yves Gauthier told Reuters on Tuesday.

"We are not saying we want to build a fixed network but we need to have the choice, because if TE has the right to build their mobile network we should have the possibility to build, or not build, our own network."

TE wants to launch a mobile service to rival Vodafone Egypt , Mobinil and Etisalat Egypt.

It has already agreed to pay 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($350 million) for a licence to enter the mobile market, while mobile providers are expected to pay 100 million pounds to access TE's fixed-line network.

However, TE told Reuters earlier this month it had no interest in building its own mobile infrastructure until Egypt introduces licensing for a 4G mobile broadband service in several years time.

Egypt's minister for telecoms said last month he did not expect any of the firms to build new networks as part of the changes.

But Gauthier said this was not clear and he had presented Mobinil's concerns to the regulator last week, adding that the company might take legal action over the new licences if it decides that the terms are unfair.

Gauthier said Mobinil would, however, take a stake in a new company dedicated to upgrading Egypt's ageing infrastructure, describing the opportunity as the most attractive part of the "a la carte" menu of proposed industry reforms.

TE is currently responsible for developing the national infrastructure but all the existing mobile operators plus TE and others will be invited to take stakes in the new firm.

"We are participating in this," Gauthier said.

(Editing by Lin Noueihed and Greg Mahlich)

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