By Tom Arnold and David French
DUBAI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Egypt will issue landline telecomlicences to participating mobile operators within weeks, thecountry's communications minister said on Wednesday, in a movethat will end state-owned Telecom Egypt's fixed-linemonopoly.
In September, the government approved issuing new unifiedlicences that would allow Telecom Egypt to launch mobileservices in return for the three mobile operators -- VodafoneEgypt, Mobinil and Etisalat -- entering the landline market.
The reforms have caused some disquiet among mobile firms,with Mobinil -- majority-owned by France's Orange --warning in November it might opt out of the landline optionunless it was permitted to build its own fixed networks, ratherthan just using Telecom Egypt's infrastructure.
But Atef Helmy, Egypt's Minister of Communications andInformation Technology, told reporters all three mobileoperators were keen on expanding into fixed-lines and that thenecessary licences would be issued soon.
"We're talking about weeks, not more, and the fee has beendecided and communicated to them -- we are asking for fixed-linelicence for 100 million Egyptian pounds ($13.1 million)," saidHelmy, when asked when the fixed-line licences would be awarded.
Egypt's mobile sector is saturated, with a penetration rateof 115 percent at the end of 2012, or 1.15 subscriptions perperson, according to the International Telecommunication Union.
Telecom Egypt has agreed to pay 2.5 billion Egyptian poundsfor a mobile licence, but does not plan to build its own networkuntil it can obtain permission to provide high-speed 4G -- orlong-term evolution (LTE) -- broadband services.
Telecom Egypt, 80-percent government owned, must sell its 45percent stake in Vodafone Egypt by the end of 2015, Helmyreiterated, but declined to provide further details.
Telecom Egypt has relied on its data business to boostrevenue while it waits to launch mobile services.
Vodafone Egypt's profit for the 2014 financial year fell 9.8percent to 165 million pounds ($252 million), according toparent firm Vodafone's annual report.
Etisalat Misr, majority-owned by Abu Dhabi-listed Etisalat, reported a 7.4 percent rise in third-quarter revenueto 1.2 billion dirhams, the most recently available reportingperiod.
($1 = 7.6300 Egyptian pounds)
($1 = 0.6538 pounds) (Additional reporting and writing by Matt Smith; Editing byMark Potter)