TE could be getting “unfair privileges”

There are some concerns that state-owned Telecom Egypt (TE) is experiencing a pattern of “unfair privileges” with its entry in the mobile operator market, according to a piece by AFP. The privileges include a potential conflict of interest given its stake in Vodafone Egypt as well as an exemption from an NTRA-imposed price hike. “It is a big responsibility for the government to ensure that competition regulations are implemented in an equitable manner … [such rules] have not always been respected in the field of telecoms,” says Orange Egypt CEO Jean-Marc Harion. Although TE continues to deny having any unfair advantages, Beltone Financial analyst Ahmed Adel says its landline monopoly constitutes “a big challenge because of the number of complaints over the quality of these fixed services.”