Mobile bonanza
As the mobile phone craze takes on a new national form, Yasmine El-Rashidi checks out the latest in GSM chatter
The history of mobile phones is much like that of television sets. They started off bulky, in black and white, with few options and fewer owners. Then came the sleek ones with cool exteriors, options and gadgets and, with them, came a surge in their popularity.
"I can't even remember now how I survived without a mobile phone," says Nadia Hammad, an IT consultant attending Egypt's 4th Annual GSM in North Africa Conference and Exhibition, held in Cairo last week. "It's like e-mail. Most people can't remember what it was like before that."
The growth has been tremendous. The number of mobile phone users in Egypt soared from 3.39 million in December 2001, to 4.39 million just 12 months later. By March 2003, the number had jumped to 4.65 million. Figures for North Africa as a whole promise even more future growth. In December 2001, North African cellular subscribers numbered 9.29 million, climbing to 12.11 million one year later, and up again to 13.01 million in March 2003, according to the EMC World Cellular Database.
"Egypt is seen as the leading North African country for GSM development and innovation," GSM in Northern Africa Conference Producer Carolyn Davies told the press. "So, many operators will experience first-hand the services available to consumers."
Within the spectrum of growth, Egypt stands at the forefront of a race that industry players say is not slowing down.
"The region grew by 30 per cent in 2002 and is expected to grow by as much again in 2003," said John Everington, Africa & Middle East analyst for EMC. "The number of subscribers for North Africa reached 12.11 million at the end of 2002, with 99 per cent of these being GSM."
EMC's penetration statistics for the first quarter of 2003 show that Morocco enjoys 20 per cent cellular penetration, four times its fixed line penetration. Cellular penetration for Egypt and Tunisia stand at 6.5 and seven per cent respectively, with both countries poised for cellular lines to outnumber fixed ones in 2004.
While continued market growth forces providers to expand the provision of consumer services, in Egypt, there is even more reason for providers to whip themselves into better shape.
"Increased competition has led to the introduction of exciting new services and pricing in the region and operators are now considering their customer needs more carefully in order to gain the maximum revenue possible from each subscriber," Davies said. "With mobile users fast overtaking fixed lines in many of the countries in the region, coupled with the entry of second and third operators in Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, as well as new sources of investment to expand new and existing networks, the North African market provides feasible investment opportunities."
Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether a third mobile operator will be setting up shop in Egypt. The prospect of even more competition in an already tense market, participants at the GSM conference revealed, has catalysed a growth in the creation of services for the local market.
Egypt-related services span a spectrum of arenas. One area spotlighted at the conference was that of Smart Card technologies and security solutions providers.
"Smart Cards offer unlimited opportunities for the telecom industry to increase their turnover and profitability through enhanced value-added services over the single SIM card," said Moustafa Samaha, Egypt managing director for Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), one of the world's leading smart card technology and security solutions providers. "This comes at a time when the MENA region is among the world's fastest growing markets due to steady growth in the telecommunications, banking and financial services sectors. Our solutions help GSM operators ensure ultimate customer satisfaction and achieve direct revenue increases through customised, interesting and convenient mobile value-added services and the highest average revenue per user."
The "solutions" include smart card-based mobile banking, payments, stock trading, foreign exchange, ticketing, shopping, advertising, entertainment, gaming, horoscopes and information. Other regional mobile service gimmicks include G&D's new SIM card-based application, developed jointly with Euronet, which enables prepaid GSM subscribers to recharge their accounts wirelessly by credit card.
Samaha also spoke about "Fly High" -- a service that allows mobile subscribers to purchase airline tickets and "check-in" wirelessly. This service is operated through partnership with individual telecom networks and airlines and comes with application options to store flyer miles, tickets and electronic boarding passes on a special SIM card.
While this option has not found its way yet to Egypt, the SIMsave service has. Mobile users can now have a secured phone book backup, and through a SIM resident application, also receive synchronisation.
The market is growing, the options are growing and population penetration is most definitely on the rise. From top-level businessmen to the men selling bread on the street, the nation as a whole is thanking God for having sent mobiles. If experts are right, it will be some time before mobile phones too become things of the past.
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 10 - 16 July 2003 (Issue No. 646)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/646/ec5.htm