French telecommunications giant Alcatel has signed a five-year agreement with Telecom Egypt (TE), the state fixed-line telephone monopoly, for the modernization of the country’s telecommunication infrastructure.
The agreement foresees the extension and the upgrade of the network enabling the connection of an additional 1.5 million lines in 10 governorates of the Delta and Alexandria region. The total investment in this project is expected to amount to €300 million ($282 million) over the next five years.
Alcatel will be in charge of the overall project management including demand forecast analysis, network planning, design, deployment, integration and network operation support. The contract, which also includes the provision of training services, follows the Nile Vision project awarded to Alcatel in 1997. A first firm order has been placed this week under the agreement to provide and install 340,000 lines in urban and rural Delta region.
Alcatel intends to invest another €128 million in the Egyptian market by 2008, under a second agreement, which aims at enhancing the transfer of technology and increasing the value-added investments in Egypt through the establishment of regional centers for software development, technical support and 3G mobile communications.
Company officials also disclosed that Alcatel’s regional office are to transferred from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to Cairo, in anticipation of further expansion in Egypt.
Egyptian telecommunications company TE was the sole public authority entrusted by law to provide all public telecommunications services in Egypt, since 1918. TE plans to double the number of annually installed lines to meet the customer demands of residential business areas to improve the country’s investment environment. Telecom Egypt operates more than eight million fixed lines, and is in the process of launching its mobile network.
Alcatel designs, develops and builds communications networks, enabling carriers, service providers and enterprises to deliver content, such as voice, data and multimedia, to consumers throughout the world. Alcatel’s product portfolio includes end-to-end optical infrastructures, fixed and mobile networks and broadband access. With sales of €25 billion in 2001 and 99,000 employees, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
