Page 74 - SAMENA Trends - July-August 2022

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Telecom Egypt and Orange Jordan Sign Collaboration
Agreement to Serve Iraq

Telecom Egypt, Egypt’s first integrated telecom operator and one
of the largest subsea cables operators in the region, announces
the signature of a strategic collaboration agreement with Orange
Jordan, the leading operator of integrated communications
services and one of Orange Group’s subsidiaries, to create a
highly reliable terrestrial system connecting Iraq to Europe
through Jordanian and Egyptian territories. The new system will
commercially be named “Cairo Amman Baghdad System” or “CAB
System”. It falls in line with both operators' strategies to extend
their footprints to the Middle East market generally, and to the Iraqi
market specifically, for the purpose of providing state-of-the-art
telecommunications and connectivity solutions. The system will
capitalize on Telecom Egypt’s position, international assets, and by serving it through a new, highly resilient and completely diverse
facilities as well as Orange Jordan’s fully diversified infrastructure route. Telecom Egypt and Orange Group are strategic partners and
in Jordan. Integrating the companies’ distinguished and robust we’re very proud of the special relationship with Orange Jordan
networks will offer reliable, low latency internet connectivity that is reflected in this collaboration agreement between the two
services through highly resilient, diverse routes to meet Iraq’s companies.” Thierry Marigny, Orange Jordan CEO, said: “The CAB
growing market demand. CAB System will be ready for service in the System is a true game changer for creating new routes reaching
third quarter of 2022. Once launched, it will be the most advanced, the Iraqi market. This strategic partnership with Telecom Egypt
scalable gateway and express route connecting Iraq to Europe will enable us to serve this rapidly growing market with new, highly
using the companies’ networks. Adel Hamed, Telecom Egypt’s reliable terrestrial routes that connect Iraq to Europe seamlessly.
Managing Director and CEO, commented: “We are pleased to be Orange Jordan is proud to be part of the CAB System, which will
part of this new solution in collaboration with Orange Jordan. The contribute to an enhanced, high-speed highway between Europe
new CAB System will enrich user experience for the Iraqi market and Iraq, affirming its position as a responsible digital leader.”

Telecom Egypt Records 17% Increase in Revenue in 1H22

for H1 2022, up 20% from the EGP6.7 billion it recorded in the
corresponding period of 2021, with the increase ‘due to an
improved revenue mix. Meanwhile, the company reported a net
profit of EGP3.8 billion for the first half of 2022, representing a 2%
decline from H1 2021, though Telecom Egypt said that excluding
non-operational items, net profit reached EGP4.1 billion, translating
to 16% y-o-y growth, which it said was ‘thanks to the robust
operational performance, higher Vodafone investment income,
and lower interest expense, which all together overshadowed the
27% increase in D&A costs’. Operationally, Telecom Egypt reported
a fixed broadband subscription base of 8.435 million as of 30 June
2022, up 13% from 7.475 million a year earlier, of which the lion’s
share – 8.148 million, up from 7.221 million – were residential.
Fixed voice subscriptions also continued to rise, standing at
11.277 million at mid-2022, compared to 10.297 million a year
earlier. Meanwhile, in the mobile sector Telecom Egypt reported a
total of 11.740 million subscriptions as of 30 June 2022, with this
representing a significant increase from the 8.141 million it had
Telecom Egypt has reported consolidated revenues of EGP20.4 in 1H21. Commenting on the company’s performance, Telecom
billion (USD1.08 billion) for six months ended 30 June 2022, Egypt’s managing director and CEO, Adel Hamed, said: ‘I am
representing annual growth of 17%, which the company said pleased with our excellent interim results year-to-date despite the
was ‘mainly attributed to an 18% spike in retail revenue and 16% myriad of global challenges, which include devaluation, inflation,
increase in wholesale revenue due to higher data, infrastructure, and supply chain pressures. We’ve clearly demonstrated our
and capacity sales’. EBITDA, meanwhile, stood at EGP8.1 billion resilience, as revenue grew organically across all business units.’

74 JULY-AUGUST 2022