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NTRA to offer international call licenses

National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) executive president Amr Badrawi announced that two international calling licenses will be offered for sale at the end of November. State-owned Telecom Egypt (TE) currently monopolizes the international calling market, from which it earned LE 2.5 billion in 2005. The government hopes to attract private investment in communications infrastructure by breaking TE’s monopoly.

TE recently increased its stake in Vodafone Egypt to 49 percent, a move it hopes will offset revenue lost due to the issuance of the new licenses as well as new technologies such as voice over Internet protocal (VoIP), which can bypass local telecom infrastructure entirely.

The sale of the international call licenses has been postponed several times this year. The NTRA has vehemently denied rumors it would be pushed back until the first quarter of 2007.

Trade with Russia revived

Following an official visit to Moscow last month, Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid announced his goal of increasing trade between Egypt and Russia to $3 billion per year within the coming five years. Bilateral trade currently stands at $1.3 billion. Egypt’s key imports are wheat and fuel, while its key exports include fruit, vegetables and textiles.

Russia, as part of the Soviet Union, was one of Egypt’s biggest trade partners from the 1950s until the mid-1970s. Rachid aims to revive trade with the hope of eventually negotiating a free trade agreement, should both parties find benefits in it.

EgyptAir upgrades fleet

EgyptAir received its first six Boeing 737-800s on October 1, and has announced its decision to use its call options to purchase six more of the airplanes. In total, EgyptAir has 12 new 737-800s on order valued at $850 million. The purchases are intended to develop Cairo International Airport as a regional hub.

The 737-800, one of Boeing’s “next generation” aircraft, features a longer fuselage that accommodates around 150 passengers in a typical two-class arrangement. The new planes will be used for short and medium-range flights to the Middle East and Europe.

Cement companies comply with cap

Cement prices have dropped, on average, by 15 percent to LE 340 from LE 380 per ton before the government announced a price cap in August. The cap was set at LE 290 for wholesale and LE 330 for sale to consumers. According to a Ministry of Trade & Industry source, six cement companies representing 67.7 percent of the market have complied with the cap. Four other companies that account for the remaining share – Alexandria Cement, Assiut Cement, Ameriya Cement and Misr Beni Suef Cement – have not yet complied.

Sadat on trial for conspiracy theory

Outspoken MP Talaat Sadat has been stripped of parliamentary immunity and charged with defaming the army for accusing commanders of being complicit in the 1981 assassination of his uncle, President Anwar Sadat. He made the statements in question during a television interview regarding the 25th anniversary of the death of Sadat, as well as in subsequent interviews with the foreign press.

Sadat is to appear before a military tribunal, which is highly unusual for a civilian. He protests that he is innocent and claims that he is victim of a scheme intended to reduce his influence in national politics. His brazen accusations regarding his uncle’s assassination, including a claim that nations such as Iran, Syria and even the US and Israel were behind the attacks, have been ignored in the past. Criticizing the Egyptian military, however, is rarely allowed to go unpunished.

The assassination of Anwar Sadat was carried out by Islamist extremists in response to the late president’s signing of a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

Stranded ship released from US port

An Egyptian freighter – and its 29 crew members – was allowed to continue on its journey after being stranded in Charleston port, South Carolina, for over three months by order of the US Coast Guard for legal and safety reasons. On October 15, the Edco was allowed to leave its berth after its parent company put up $270,000 towards its impoundment fees.

The vessel had been held as collateral pending the outcome of a lawsuit involving the cargo of its sister ship, the Edco Star, and over concerns about its seaworthiness. American Steamship Owners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association Inc. sued Misr Edco for $238,000 in back premiums. A US court had ordered that the ship be prohibited from leaving the port until the case was resolved. During this time, the Egyptian crew was barred from leaving the ship as they did not have American visas.

The total bill for the three-month impoundment of the ship is expected to cost Misr Edco $400,000 in docking and security fees.

Orascom eyes Spanish cement market

Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) has purchased a 50-percent stake in Group GLA, Spain’s largest ready-mix concrete and aggregates producer, for LE 51.3 million. Group GLA has an annual production capacity of 5 million tons of aggregates and reserves of 240 million tons. It operates 11 quarries in Spain.

OCI is optimistic about the investment as Spain is among Europe’s largest importers of cement and is currently running a 10 million ton deficit. The joint venture is set to increase Egyptian clinker exports as Group GLA plants will grind 1.5 million tons of the hard preburned coal annually.

Indian tea gets boost

Indian tea imports have skyrocketed since Egypt reduced duties on tea imports from non-African nations to 5 percent, from 30 percent. Last year, imports of Indian tea were just 70,000 kilograms, but this has risen to 1 million kilograms for the first six months of 2006. The decision to reduce the tariff allowed India to be more competitive with Kenya, the main tea exporter to Egypt, which pays only a 3-percent duty.

Basudeb Banerjee, chairman of the Indian Tea Board, expects tea exports to Egypt to increase to 10 million kilograms annually in the coming years. He recently visited Cairo where he reached an agreement with Egyptian officials to increase annual tea exports to 3 million kilograms by the end of 2006.

Monorail plan mulled over

The Ministry of Transportation has proposed a monorail line to connect Sixth of October City to the Pyramids district in Giza and onwards to the Faisal metro stop. The 35-kilometer line would cost about $1.23 billion to build. According to the Ministry of Transport, the estimated passenger load of 15,000 to 20,000 per hour does not justify a full-fledged metro line, which can carry up to 90,000 per hour. A tender for the project has yet to be announced.

Aussie cattle set to return

The Australian government has agreed to allow the resumption of cattle exports to Egypt after a seven-month ban triggered by animal cruelty concerns. A televison exposé allegedly showed cattle at Cairo’s Basateen slaughterhouse being stabbed in the eye and having the tendons in their legs cut instead of using the more humane Australian-supplied steel restraint box, which was shown sitting unused.

Australian minister of agriculture Peter McGauran has signed two memorandums of understanding with Egypt to ensure that treatment of cattle meets international standards. The agreements establish a system for monitoring compliance and improving conditions at three major Egyptian abattoirs, including Basateen. Cattle are to be unloaded quickly, be fed and housed appropriately, and receive veterinary care before they are slaughtered.

Radio channels go off the air

Nile FM and Nogoum FM, Egypt’s sole privately-owned radio stations, as well as two state-owned radio channels, went off the air in late September due to undisclosed “technical difficulties.” The problem cropped up at the worst possible time for the two private stations as it coincided with the first four days of Ramadan, one of the peak advertising seasons. As the government-owned stations do not have advertising, they were spared this dilemma.

Within 24 hours, the four stations had found a temporary home sharing the airwaves with The Music Program, a government-owned station. While listeners were perplexed as to why their favorite stations were alternating time slots on one channel for four days, the stations managed to remedy their technical problem and were back on their regular wavelengths in a matter of days.

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