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By Ehab Farouk
CAIRO, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat haverequested fourth-generation mobile phone service licences inEgypt, an official at the telecom regulator said on Saturday.
Egypt is selling four 4G licences as part of a long-awaitedplan to reform the telecoms sector and raise money for stretchedgovernment finances.
"Meetings are ongoing between the two companies and theregulator," the official said.
The country's three existing mobile phone operators -Orange, Vodafone and Etisalat - initially all turneddown the 4G licences saying the amount of spectrum on offer wasnot sufficient to allow them to offer the service efficiently.
The regulator then announced that operators that paid forthe licence entirely in dollars would be given priority in salesof additional spectrum. U.S. dollars are scarce in Egypt due toa long-running economic crisis.
Orange Egypt, a subsidiary of French telecoms group Orange,on Thursday signed a licence deal, paying $484 million andreceiving 10 megahertz of spectrum instead of the 7.5 initiallyon offer.
Telecom Egypt, the state's fixed-line monopoly, was the onlycompany to take up the original offer, buying a 4G licence inAugust for 7.08 billion Egyptian pounds ($797 million) to enterthe mobile market directly for the first time. The company lateroffered to buy additional spectrum not acquired by otheroperators.
The regulator said it would reconvene on Oct. 23 to discussadditional options for rolling out 4G services that includeholding an international auction for the remaining licence andselling additional frequency to Telecom Egypt.
Kuwait's Zain, China Telecom, Saudi Telecom and Lebara KSAhave all expressed interest in acquiring Egyptian 4G licences ifthe established companies bow out.
Egypt needs hard currency after burning through its foreignexchange reserves as political turmoil hit foreign investmentand tourism since the 2011 popular uprising that ousted formerautocrat Hosni Mubarak from power. (Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing byHugh Lawson)
