Mobinil Delays 3G Launch Due to Radio Spectrum Delays

Egypt's Mobinil has announced plans to delay the launch of its 3G network due to delays in allocating the necessary radio spectrum by the regulator. The company is also delaying the paying of its EGP750 million installment for the license by ten weeks due to the regulatory delay.

The company says that it had expected to receive access to the radio spectrum on 17th January, but the radio frequencies were not released until March 27th. The delay prevented the company from testing its network prior to the planned launch which had been expected at the beginning of of May. The service will now launch around the middle of July.

The regulator has not commented on Mobinil's allegations.

Mobinil is listed on the Cairo stock exchange (29%) - and has two main shareholders, Orascom Telecom (33.1%) and France Telecom (36.3%). The company is the largest operator in the market, and according to figures from the Mobile World database, ended last year with some 15.1 million subscribers and a market share of 51%.

Posted to the site on 3rd April 2008