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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 28 January 1999 Issue No. 413 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 28 January 1999 Issue No. 413
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Focus Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Upwardly mobile
By Niveen Wahish
Egyptians are avid phone users -- or abusers, if you prefer. Already they were chattering endlessly in their homes before the advent of wireless telephony. Now, price competition from different providers means more and more of them will soon be able to babble away to their heart's content on their very own mobile.Cellular phones are the latest rage. An increasing number of people are to be seen in public with a handset -- men and women, young and old, walking or, especially, driving (Egypt has no regulations on the use of mobile phones while driving).
The country's two competing mobile phone operators now share around 200,000 individual subscribers. At the beginning of last year there were only 80,000, which shows the enormous potential for growth in this service and the hunger of customers. MobiNil, the first private company to operate mobile service in Egypt, started out around seven months ago, taking over the 80,000 customers who subscribed to the state-owned mobile phone company which it had bought. Today, MobiNil alone boasts some 160,000 subscribers. The second private company, Click GSM, began offering its services on 30 November 1998, and within a couple of weeks had managed to round up some 40,000 subscribers.
Customers were attracted to Click GSM because it introduced the first prepaid card service in Egypt. This service, customers believe, will enable them to own a mobile phone, yet control their expenses.
Early this week, the Egyptian Company for Mobile Service, MobiNil, retaliated by launching its own prepaid card service. The new service is expected to add tens of thousands more new subscribers to their books. Named "ALO", the card will be available for LE50, LE100, LE200 and LE300.
The validity period during which the card can be used both for sending and receiving calls, and the grace period during which a subscriber will only be able to receive calls until he/she can recharge their card, vary according to the denomination of the card. The LE50 card has a validity of 20 days and a grace period of 10 days. The LE100 card has a validity of two months and a grace period of 30 days. The LE200 card has a validity of three months and a grace period of two months. And the LE300 card has a validity of four months and a grace period of two months. If a customer does not recharge the card before the grace period expires, they will not be able to receive incoming calls and their ALO service will be suspended for seven months. Within the seven-month period, customers may recover the service by paying a reactivation fee of LE175. Calls made through the card are charged at LE1.75 per minute.
Before becoming a card user, the customer must first pay a LE1,200 activation fee. However, to encourage people to try the new product, MobiNil is offering a two-week promotion period, starting 16 January, during which new users will receive LE300 worth of free airtime. Existing MobiNil subscribers will not be able to switch to the card system before March.
MobiNil is also offering another product, known as "ALO Duetto". This offer includes a handset and activation fee as well as the card. Customers have the choice between a package with a Motorola phone at LE1,700 and another with an Ericsson phone at LE2,100.
This week's offer is just the latest in a series of packages, discounts and new services from MobiNil in an attempt to build up its subscriber base. However, some users claim that the network is already overloaded and ridden with problems.
Osman Sultan, Chief Executive Officer of MobiNil, denied that these complaints are founded. He says that the company has been working hard to expand its network, more than doubling the number of stations from 140 to 300 last year. The number is set to double again by the end of 1999. Sultan added that the company would not sacrifice the quality of service for the sake of attracting more subscribers.
Meanwhile, amid all MobiNil's offers, Click GSM has kept its cool. After an initial discount, which cut its activation fee from LE1,500 to LE900, there is no sign of any new attempt to lower prices. Nor, so far, have there been any complaints from Click GSM customers about the quality of voice on their network.
