04:27 PM Thursday 04 January 2024
Books – Nashaat Ali:
Dr. Maha Abdel Nasser, a member of the House of Representatives from the Egyptian Democratic Party, submitted a briefing request addressed to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Communications regarding the decision of the Egyptian Telecom Company to increase the prices of Internet services in Egypt.
Maha Abdel Nasser said, at the beginning of the briefing request: Over the past few days, we have followed the decision issued by the Egyptian Telecom Company to increase the prices of landline internet packages, starting from January 5, 2024, by approximately 30% of the old prices, which sparked a state of anger and tension among users. The Internet is not only due to the increases imposed by Telecom Egypt, but also due to the absence of convincing reasons for that increase and its timing.
The member of the House of Representatives added that this decision has no justification, at least in this difficult period in the life of the Egyptian economy. According to a number of statistics and technical studies, there is a state of very significant growth from 2013 to 2023 in the rates of Internet service users in Egypt at a rate exceeding 52%, which contributes to introducing very large and increasing financial returns to the state treasury, whether directly through Telecom Egypt, or through taxes and fees that the state collects from other telecommunications companies located within the Egyptian territory.
The member of the House of Representatives continued: All of this confirms that there is absolutely no need for these increases at the present time, as the input curve for Internet services in Egypt is constantly rising and growing. Also, if there was a demand from companies about two years ago for this increase, then why this particular timing? Why was a community dialogue not held that brought together all stakeholders so that practical solutions could be reached that did not harm companies or harm citizens?
She explained that by looking at most countries in the world and even a number of countries on the African continent and Arab countries in terms of the average price of a gigabyte of Internet, we will find that we have become more expensive than most of those countries.
In light of the government’s statements, represented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, that Egypt enjoys a highly advanced international and local infrastructure in terms of Internet services and data transfer, as Egypt is a major data corridor in the world, as more than 90% of the data passing between the continents of Asia and Europe passes through Through Egyptian waters and lands, the representative asked: What benefit do citizens have from this distinguished status of Egypt?
Maha Abdel Nasser indicated that the government dealt with this service in a purely commercial manner, which suggests that it sees Internet services as merely “entertainment” services, which was clearly evident from the dimensions of the decision that allowed students to browse educational websites for free, which is something that is incomprehensible. What is the definition of educational sites? Will research and learning be from specific sites and how will this service be calculated?
The Egyptian Member of Parliament explained that in light of the digitization strategies that the state has been seeking to implement for years, and with the increase in the rates of self-employed entrepreneurs, and the expansion of e-commerce in various fields due to the lack of jobs in the public business sector or the state’s administrative apparatus and the scarcity of suitable jobs in the private sector, Internet services have become a primary source of income for hundreds of thousands of Egyptians.
The representative concluded the briefing request, calling on the government to quickly review that decision, address it, and develop an appropriate long-term strategy, in which the prices of those services are partially increased, step by step, if necessary or the public interest requires that measure, while providing the Council with a detailed report on the dimensions of that decision and studies. Which the government did before issuing it.
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2024-01-04 14:27:00
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