Mohamed Abdullah, CEO of Vodafone Egypt, has said that his company has been in negotiations with the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) regarding the possibility of undertaking 5G trials in the New Administrative Capital. In an interview with Daily News Egypt the executive confirmed Vodafone Egypt had been ‘conducting many meetings and discussions with NTRA regarding the launch of 5G’, the cellco aims to begin trials in the New Administrative Capital, with it said that its proposals in this area ‘are currently being studied technically with NTRA regulators’, though it was stressed the two parties were ‘still in the process of studying and exchanging ideas’.
Meanwhile, as part of the same interview Abdullah said that development of its infrastructure one of his company’s key priorities, noting that the Vodafone Egypt had recently built 590 portable communication towers, while having obtained an initial approval for the construction of a further 250 towers, with another 100 towers pending approval.
In addition, the executive confirmed that, with Vodafone Egypt having invested nearly EGP8 billion (USD509 million) to obtain spectrum in the 2.6GHz band (a development announced in late-2020), it was ‘working on developing an optimal preparedness strategy for these frequencies’. Further, it was confirmed that the operator has now paid 50% of the cost of this spectrum, with the second payment instalment understood to be due in January 2022.