A look at the progress Egypt's making on the tech + digital infrastructure front: Egypt has spent over EGP 100 bn to expand its tech and digital infrastructure over the past five years, including expanding fiber optic cable networks, boosting internet connectivity and offering digital government services. A recent report published during the Story of a Homeland conference gives a snapshot of our tech infrastructure upgrades over the past years, and some targets for our digital services, exports and infrastructure for the next three years.

REMEMBER- ICT is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Egypt: Information and communication technology (ICT) is an exploding industry in Egypt. The sector outpaced all other state’s economic sectors in FY 2021/2022 with a growth rate of 16.7%, according to ITIDA, the executive IT arm of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The sector made up 5% of the country’s GDP last year, the statement reads, while digital exports registered USD 4.9 bn.

Our internet infrastructure got a big shot in the arm from the state over the past years: The government has spent some USD 2 bn into boosting internet speeds since 2019, taking it to 42.5 megabytes per second in 2022, up from just 6.4 mbps in 2019. We also climbed eight spots in Speedtest’s January Monthly Global Index of mobile internet speed in February this year, making us the country with the fastest internet in Africa at the time, with median download speeds of 19.34 megabits per second (Mbps) putting us 88th out of 140 countries.

A big part of that has been the expansion of our fiber optic network: Some 18k governmental buildings have been fitted with fiber optics cables, with plans to connect 31.5k buildings in total to the network, according to the report. Meanwhile,some 2563 high schools have been connected to fiber optic cables in every governorate across the country, according to the report.

Fiber optics are getting a big chunk of state spending during the current FY: The FY 2023-24 telecommunications investment budget for the initiative has earmarked EGP 5.6 bn to extend the fiber optics cable network to cover 1,468 villages.

Subsea cables are also helping improve connectivity: Some 17 submarine communication cables currently pass through Egypt, connecting it to 60 countries, according to the report. These are supported by 10 landing stations across the country, including three established recently in Ras Ghareb, the report said.

On the governmental side, Digital Egypt has helped digitize bureaucratic procedures: Launched in 2022, the “Digital Egypt Platform” — which has received at least some EGP 10 bn in investments so far — offers 170 online services like e-payment, car license renewals, and booking appointments for civil services. Some 7.6 mn people are currently registered on the platform, according to the report. The platform is set to include all government-related services and procedures by the end of the year, the report noted, adding that this will bring the number of e-signatures from digital transactions to 375 mn a year, compared to just 3 mn in 2020.

And it’s working: The developments we’ve made have boosted our rankings on the UN’s e-government development index to 103 in 2022, up from 111 in 2020.

There’s also been improvements on the digital service exports front: Exports of digital services — which refers to a range of exports of digital services that can be provided online, such as ins., business processes, outsourcing and financial services — have risen to USD 4.9 bn in FY 2021-22, up from USD 4.1 bnin FY 2019-20.

And we have big targets for the next three years: The government wants to see digital outsourcing services bring USD 9 bn into the economy as of 2026, according to the report.

Large global players are helping make that happen: The big four accounting firm PWC kicked off their USD 10 mn Egypt Technology and Innovation Center (ETIC) with ITIDA in May. The new technology hub will hire up to 5k tech experts and raise its digital exports to USD 300 mn by 2025. ITIDA also welcomed South African outsourcing agency SoluGrowth which opened its new office earlier in May, becoming the first South African company in its sector to invest in Egypt.

And the government is lending a hand to the sector: The government has been offering incentives to companies in the industry to help boost the local market. The incentives included tax reductions, subsidies, and export rebates. ITIDA also invested some EGP 1.1 bn to train 200k Egyptians to become qualified IT professionals and outsourcers, another ITIDA report (pdf) said. It plans to brings total investments to EGP 1.7 bn to train 400k Egyptians by the end of this year, a source at ITIDA told us. 

Your top infrastructure stories for the week:

  • Alstom is set to ink a EUR 300 mn contract with the Transport ministry next month to establish two factories in Borg El Arab to produce metro and monorail rolling stock, along with related electrical systems.
  • Egypt and Jordan are mulling the inclusion of a 1.1 GW subsea power cable in their 2 GW electricity link plan – currently under study – in effort to cut down costs, as opposed to relying entirely on on-land cables.
  • Egypt’s power grid could receive up to EUR 165 mn for upgrades from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
  • USD 2.1 bn could be pumped into the Sixth October-Abu Simbel high-speed rail line as the government has embarked on talks with international lenders for a soft loan to fund the second phase of the 2k-km line.
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