Egypt has nabbed the award for Africa’s fastest fixed internet — landing a 66.2 speed score, according to Ookla’s Africa Fastest Fixed Country report (pdf) for the second half of 2024. Over the past seven years, internet speeds have increased nearly 1400%, growing from 5.4 MB/s in 2017 to 80.3 MB/s as of January 2025 — backed in no small part by nearly USD 3.5 bn in digital infrastructure investment, according to a statement from the CIT Ministry.

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And within Egypt, Cairo ranked as the governorate with the fastest internet, followed by

Giza and Gharbia.

The country’s internet isn’t only fast for the continent — it’s cheap too. Egypt lays claim to having Africa’s second cheapest internet service and the fifth lowest in the world too, CIT Minister Amr Talaat said.

Pushing efforts forward was “growing demand for bandwidth-intensive applications such as video streaming, remote work, and cloud services,” a company representative from the state-owned Telecom Egypt told EnterpriseAM Egypt. As the way we live undertook a dramatic change, in response came “strategic investments, infrastructure modernization, and a supportive regulatory environment” to develop the country’s internet services.

But fast internet isn’t just important for Netflix, it’s an increasingly important part of any modern economy. With plenty of countries to choose from, investors often see internet speed and reliability as a key deciding factor, a representative from private telecoms operator Vodafone Egypt told EnterpriseAM, who explained that “It boosts productivity, reduces operational costs, and enables smarter, data-driven decisions.” Better internet “strengthens Egypt’s national competitiveness, reinforces its position as a regional technology hub, and enhances the country’s appeal to both businesses and investors,” Telecom Egypt told us separately. Alongside this, better digital access and literacy creates a “more skilled and digitally fluent workforce ultimately driving innovation, productivity, and sustainable economic growth,” they added.

“For businesses to scale, innovate, and compete globally, high-speed internet has become a fundamental necessity, not a luxury,” the state telecom operator told us. Our improved internet services are a big reason why there’s been a 180% jump in the number of outsourcing companies — an increasingly prominent source of FX — operating in Egypt since 2021 and an 80% rise in exports of outsourcing services over the past three years, CIT Minister Amr Talaat said at last week’s US-Egypt Policy Leaders Forum.

So what has Egypt been doing right? On the technical side, the country moved from ADSL to VDSL and towards the adoption of fiber networks, with fiber-to-the-cabinet connections increasing from 85% coverage in 2019 to complete coverage now, Telecom Egypt told us. This is also in addition to upgrades to its international, core, transmission, and backbone networks, and the deployment of fiber-to-the-home technology, which together with everything else increased the baseline internet speed offered by service providers from 5 Mbps to 30 Mbps.

Government policy was also important in bringing faster internet to less privileged and more rural areas, with the country’s Digital Egypt and Decent Life initiatives helping prioritize infrastructure development in these areas.

The private sector has also played a vital role in the push for better internet services, often in partnership with the public sector. Vodafone Egypt pointed to “robust collaboration between the public and private sectors, underpinned by strategic investments, infrastructure sharing, and technological innovation” as a driver of improved internet speeds, in comments to EnterpriseAM.

Investment from the private sector has been sizable and impactful. Take Vodafone Egypt’s capital expenditure between 2017 and January 2025, which will total around USD 3.0 bn, helping to push the country’s overall internet speeds to the highest on the continent, the company told us. This includes network infrastructure upgrades, spectrum acquisitions, its acquisition of a 5G license, and also tapping in foreign tech leaders like China’s Huawei, who have deployed advanced tech to keep our internet competitive.

Private sector players are also fully behind the introduction of 5G — touted as the next big thing for internet speeds that will enable Web 3.0. All of the country’s four telecoms operators have secured 5G licenses for USD 150 mn a pop, with rollout expected to come very soon, with Vodafone Egypt CEO Mohamed Abdallah telling Cairo Weekend’s Zeina Soufan last month that it will launch the service in the next “coming weeks.” (watch, runtime: 14:51).

But despite Egypt leading in Africa, we’re still a long way away from our neighbors in the Gulf, with UAE ranked as having the world’s second fastest fixed internet, according to Ookla’s latest Speedtest Global Index for April. In contrast to the UAE’s 318.6 Mbps average download speed, Egypt is placed in 71st place globally with an average download speed of 85.6 Mbps — putting it a notch behind the global average of 101.4 Mbps.

It’s a similar story when it comes to mobile internet speeds, with Qatar in first place globally, followed by the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain as the world’s top four in Ookla’s April ranking. Egypt places 86th on the list with an average download speed of 39.9 Mbps, behind the global average of 92.3 Mbps and miles from Qatar’s astonishingly quick 521.5 Mbps.

Although, comparing vast countries like Egypt with tiny nation states in the Gulf is an unfair comparison. When it comes to the internet, most Gulf states with “compact, highly urbanized geographies and the availability of greater financial resources derived from higher national income,” the official at Telecom Egypt told us. This meant that these countries could quickly and cost-effectively lay down the needed fiber-optic infrastructure to enable the world-leading internet speeds it can boast about.

Egypt’s geography in comparison presents a much more difficult and costly infrastructure challenge, with its dispersed population — many of which in very out of the way areas — and very different types of terrain.

Looking ahead, we’re going to need to increase speeds even further — and that presents some big challenges. Next-generation internet technologies require a lot of money, especially if we want to develop the country’s internet infrastructure in an equitable way. But “prevailing economic constraints and the affordability gap for lower-income users” presents a problem with no easy fix, Telecom Egypt told us.

Although many remote areas in difficult terrain have seen improvements, there’s still a long way to go to expand and improve coverage. But it is these areas that are most costly and time-consuming, while also covering much smaller populations than in urbanized areas — which should be met with “innovative, scalable solutions,” Telecom Egypt told us.

But if Egypt is going to keep up the momentum, it’s going to need even more investment. The representative at Telecom Egypt suggested “elevating digital transformation to a national priority supported by dedicated funding frameworks and comprehensive long-term strategies for broadband development” to carry on the right track. Another part of the funding puzzle can be found in public-private partnerships, which “can play a vital role in easing the financial burden while enabling broad, cost-effective network expansion.”

Over the next two years, the government is aiming to attract USD 3 bn in network investments, a senior government source told EnterpriseAM. This will go towards network modernization and maintenance, its medium-term strategy, and to completing its targets under the Decent Life initiative, we were told.

But even though it can be expensive, “investing in internet infrastructure pays off in the long run,” Vodafone Egypt told us. The private sector operator explained that high-speed internet access improves productivity — and with it, growth — makes possible new types of businesses, and helps expand access to essential services like education and healthcare.

Your top infrastructure stories for the week:

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