Telecom Egypt: “Telecom market in Egypt is young, growing and very attractive”

Interview with Mohammed Elnawawy, Managing Director, CEO and Head of Customer Care of Telecom Egypt

Could you begin by giving us a general introduction to the telecoms sector in Egypt?

The Egyptian telecoms market is very large and very young. It is a growing market. We have a population of about 90 million Egyptians, two thirds of whom are below the age of 25 and a third of whom are below the age of 15. There are about 18 million homes and we are adding 500,000 new homes every year. Therefore the market is growing and the fact that we are living on just about 5% of our land means that there is plenty of opportunities for expansion. This is the canvas on which we weave. We have a great opportunity to grow alongside this very young and large market.

A few days ago, the school year started once more and the Egyptian schools registered 18 million students. People mean wealth and we certainly have a lot of people in Egypt which is a big part of our opportunity.

This market generated more than 35 billion Egyptian pounds last year; 85% of which is in mobile and 15% is in fixed telecoms. Telecom Egypt aspires to lead the way in mobile broadband and higher speed fixed and mobile data services in this growing, fledgling market.

What challenges does the market in general face?

Our main challenge is that we have to remember that this is ultimately about customer care and empowering our customers. Telecom Egypt changed its slogan a year ago to “A New Beginning” and what we are referring to is the new beginning for our customers who are young people that have undergone revolutions to try to make a fairer and more predictable tomorrow, to be able to achieve prosperity and happiness. As these people venture into the unknown they are starting their own new beginning and Telecom Egypt wants to be part of their success. Thus our slogan represents our customers´ new beginning.

Our challenge is to be more customer focused. We have revised our operations into customer centric groups so for example personal communications and home enterprise etc. and we try to address each different customer group and their needs. We know that we are only as good as tomorrow´s service and we really need to excel in customer care. The name of the game is customer care and information technology has to be used widely in order for this customer care to scale up.

Telecom Egypt is one of the largest companies in the country and it is considered one of the mother companies of the telecoms sector. What would you say is your role in the market here?

We have been around for 160 years. We certainly have been around for longer than others. However, I really think that now we work as partners with our competitors. Some operators are even now larger in terms of revenue than Telecom Egypt. I don’t see us as anything but competitive partners in a very young and proud market.

Is Egypt currently trying to attract any new mobile or telecom operators?

I am not going to speak on behalf of Egypt because the government can do that; I’ll just talk on behalf of Telecom Egypt. Certainly this young, growing market is very attractive. There are already four operators that are working in this market. The invisible handle on the market decides the right number of competitors whether it be three, four, five or more etc. I am not going to try to say what the right number is. The market is young, growing and it is moving in an all-data format.

What is your personal vision for the company? Where would you like to see it in a few years?

I see us as being a total telecoms operator offering services as a fundamentally customer orientated company that empowers its customers, providing them with mobile and fixed voice and data services. I want us to be providing data services that offer our customers predictability and allow them to take control of their costs and budgets. I want this to be a real customer company in terms of ideal customer care, aiming to delight the customer at every moment.

You mention that you want to be a true customer company; you must also therefore have a focus on corporate social responsibility. What can you tell us about this aspect?

Telecom Egypt is involved in several programs; the most important is related to hepatitis C. Telecom Egypt is contributing to the prevention of hepatitis C, which is epidemic in Egypt. There are a large number of people living with this disease here. Telecom Egypt is trying to be active in the prevention of this disease. We believe that this disease should be largely overcome by enhancing prevention measures.

Is there anything else that you would like to add? What is your vision for the country?

This is a great market; we are at an extraordinary point where everything is moving towards all-data and mobile broadband so that users can be connected all the time. This is also a great moment in terms of our country´s history because of the wealth of young people and the opportunities that they represent. Telecoms is a utility and so in fact we are as successful as our customers; the more successful our customers are, the more we are able to serve and be part of this success.

There are about 40 to 45 million individual internet users in Egypt, some use mobile broadband, some use fixed broadband. This shows that there is plenty of room to grow.

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