Rising market competition in Egypt is apparently taking its toll on Egyptian Mobile Services Company (MobiNil), a consortium of France Telecom, Motorola and Orascom Technologies, established in May 1998. According to Al-Quds daily, Mobinil's profits for the first half of 2000 fell 10 million Egyptian pounds (E£) short of forecasts, standing at E£60.4 million alone.
MobiNil and Misrfone’s “Click GSM”, Egypt’s two mobile phone operators, face the problem of achieving substantial user volume. Together, the two companies report roughly 1.35 million subscribers, a mere two percent of the overall 66 million Egyptian population. By comparison, the United States has a 30 percent user ratio, while some European countries have already reached a 60 percent user ratio.
MobiNil alone currently holds a subscriber base of 850,000, showing a 26 percent growth over the previous quarter, and a 56 percent rise since the beginning of 2000. According to Al-Quds, the company is striving to expand its base up to 1 million subscribers within the next three months.
MobiNil is also working to expand its range of services. Last May it launched the "Porta Bank," as part of a joint project with National Societe General Banke (NSGB). "Porta Bank" allows easy access to banking accounts using mobile phones, and, by way of an Intelligent Short Message Service (ISMS), supplies the customers with personalized banking services 24 hours a day. “Porta Bank" is accessible to MobiNil line users only and requires a personal password. – (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
