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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Pay phones proliferate
ALTHOUGH its booths have been installed in many of Cairo's main squares for some time now, Menatel, one of only two private companies which provide public pay phones, officially launched its service last week.Aimé Brial, managing director of Menatel, announced that his company has already installed 1,000 telephone booths, 900 of them in Cairo and 100 in Alexandria. He said the target was to install 6,000 phones around the country by the end of this year.
An Egyptian-French joint stock company, Menatel received its licence in May 1998. It will install up to 20,000 pay phones during the next three years involving investments estimated at LE200 million. The phones do not work with coins but with prepaid smart cards. This was seen as the best way to avoid vandalism. "Coins were the major reason why the units were damaged," said Brial, adding that "the challenge is to keep them clean and working properly."
With an authorised capital of LE350 million and an issued capital of LE70 million, the owners of the bank include the National Bank of Egypt, France Telecom, Orascom Technologies, Egypt Telecom and Escom Monitel, a French company specialised in manufacturing public pay phones.
The pay phone is the second service privatised by Egypt Telecom (Egypt's Telecommunications Authority), following the mobile phone service. Menatel's competitors include coin phones operated by Egypt Telecom and Nile Telecom, a private company which is establishing its own public phone service. Nile Telecom received its licence at the same time and under the same conditions as Menatel.
Egypt Telecom did not charge the two pay phone companies a lump sum. However, it is taking a percentage from both companies at various stages of their operations. Brial said his company expects to pay a lot initially. "Over the next 10 years Egypt Telecom will receive 50 per cent of our revenues."
Partnership with EU finally at hand
EGYPTIAN officials are optimistic that the partnership agreement with the EU will be signed in April during the Barcelona III meeting to be held in Stuttgart.Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, chief negotiator in the Egypt-EU partnership talks said, "We think we have a good deal for both sides." He added that 99.9 per cent of the agreement has been concluded. The thorny issue of agricultural exports has been resolved. Egypt was demanding that these exports be given the same free access as industrial exports. However, due to its strict Common Agricultural Policy, the EU could not comply with Egyptian demands and instead put forward a compromise solution. "Europe made offers that are suitable for Egypt's needs," said Bayoumi. "Egypt has come to understand that some products are highly sensitive and oversupplied and that even if our quotas were to be raised, we would not be able to sell." He added that "in return we were offered higher quotas for other products."
Egypt's Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali was also quoted as saying that agricultural exports to the EU have been granted quotas and exemptions of levels unprecedented for a Mediterranean country. He also said that processed agri-products will be given customs reductions ranging from 2.5 to 7.5 per cent without any ceiling on quantities exported.
Bayoumi pointed out that negotiations on the agreement have recently intensified. "Since late January, we have been meeting almost every week," he said. The latest meetings came during a visit to Egypt by Germany's minister for foreign affairs. "At this pace, it is likely that we will sign in April," Bayoumi said.
He says that the Stuttgart conference, which will be attended by 16 foreign ministers, will provide a good opportunity to finalise the agreement.
Gitex exhibition
THE LATEST computer products will be available at the Gitex Cairo Information Technology (IT) exhibition to be held in Cairo next April. The exhibition will feature desktop publishing, office automation, multi-media, networking and business communication products as well as general hardware, software packages, on-line information services, mobile computing products, power systems and storage technology.The event is expected to be an opportunity for Egyptian companies as well as other Arab IT companies to promote their products. Adel Al-Buaijan, international marketing manager of one of the exhibiting firms, the Harf Information Technology Company (ITC), said, "We want to create greater awareness and penetrate new markets, especially in Egypt, since this is the largest market in the region for our products."
Innovations, the sole agents for Atlas products in Egypt, will display a selection of Atlas dictionaries and data banks at the exhibition. As part of its expansion plan, Innovations will use the event to introduce its latest product lines to the Middle Eastern market.
Another participating company is Microfilm Egypt which provides image management services to the Arab world.
