Egypt’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector grew by 15.2 percent in 2020, becoming the most growing among other sectors, despite the COVID-19 repercussions, the cabinet’s media centre revealed in a report.
The report showed that the sector’s share in Egypt’s GDP rose to EGP 108 billion in FY 2019/2020 (4.4 percent), up from EGP 93.5 billion (3.8 percent) in FY 2018/2019.
The ICT sector’s exports increased in 2020 to $4.1 billion, up from $3.6 billion in 2019 (growing by 13 percent). Investments in the sector rose by 35 percent to EGP 48.1 billion, up from EGP 35.4 billion in FY 2018/2019, stated the report.
The report said that 1,336 ICT companies have been founded with a total capital of EGP 1.34 billion.
The report demonstrated that Internet users to population ratio increased to 57.3 percent in FY 2019/2020, up from 47.6 percent in FY 2018/2019.
It also noted that the sector’s infrastructure development cost recorded $400 million in the second half of 2020, which helped in increasing the Internet speed to 33.2MB per second by the end of November.
Concerning digital transformation efforts, the report said that 34 digital governmental services have been provided through Egypt’s Digital Platform, which was established in July.
The report showed that 544,400 Egyptians have subscribed to the platform thus far. The platform helped them to obtain the governmental services they need via mobile phone applications, postal offices, communication centres and service centres. It added that 472 requests have been submitted on the platform to receive governmental services.
On artificial intelligence and ICT industry development, the report noted that five innovation centres were established at Egyptian universities, 22 ICT companies have been prepared to start working in the domestic market, and 29 start-ups have been incubated through the entrepreneurship and technology centre.
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The report also highlighted international institutions’ commendations to Egypt’s ICT sector.