Total mobile-phone subscriber numbers in Egypt hit 53.4 million at the end of this year’s third quarter, according to statistics recently released by the Ministry of Telecommunications. There were 15.4 million new subscribers for the period, according to the ministry, with 2 million in the month of September alone.
In light of these figures, however, experts warn that the local mobile-phone market could be nearing saturation. They are therefore urging mobile-phone service providers to come up with novel ideas and promotions so as to maintain current levels of subscriber growth.
"If current growth rates are maintained, the market may soon hit 65 million subscribers, which — at 85 percent of the population — is the projected saturation point," said telecommunications expert Abdel Aziz el-Bassiouni. "This means that the main criterion now for providers will be quality-of-service rather than price discounts."
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
