Telecom Egypt readies for country’s first 5G services

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Initial 5G deployments will take place in Alexandria, Aswan, Cairo, Giza, and Luxor

This week, Telecom Egypt has announced a 5G equipment deal with Nokia, which will see 5G RAN equipment deployed in a number of major Egyptian cities.

The deal covers Nokia’s AirScale portfolio, which include baseband units and its latest generation of Massive MIMO radios.

The deployment will begin later this year in Alexandria, Aswan, Cairo, Giza, and Luxor, with more widespread deployments expected to take place in the near future.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

“This new agreement with Nokia further strengthens our strong partnership, reaffirms our commitment to providing cutting-edge digital services, and positions us at the forefront of the 5G revolution. Both our consumer and enterprise customers can look forward to enhanced mobile broadband and exciting new applications that leverage the speed and low latency of 5G technology,” said Mohamed Al Fowey, Vice President, and Chief Technology Officer at Telecom Egypt,

Telecom Egypt is currently the only Egyptian mobile network operator able to offer 5G services, having been the sole recipient of a 5G spectrum licence from the national regulator at the start of this year. Since then, it has been conducting 5G tests with numerous vendors, including both Nokia and Ericsson.

The regulator’s decision not to auction multiple licences, as has been the norm in most countries, came as a surprise to analysts, who had predicted a competitive auction featuring all four of the nation’s operators.

As of today, it is unclear what the regulator’s plans are with regards to 5G licences for Telecom Egypt’s rivals, Orange Egypt, Vodafone Egypt, and Etisalat Egypt.

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