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* Egypt introducing high-speed mobile service
* Licenses offered to mobile operators, landline monopoly
* 4G part of plan to reform telecoms sector, end monopoly
* Telecom Egypt will not have to sell Vodafone stake (Recasts with minister's comments)
By Ehab Farouk
CAIRO, June 23 (Reuters) - Egypt said on Thursday it willoffer fourth-generation mobile licences in an internationalauction if they are not taken up by carriers already operatingin the country.
The sale of 4G licences is part of a long-awaited plan toreform Egyptian telecoms and the regulator has approached thethree companies currently offering mobile services - OrangeEgypt, Vodafone Egypt, and Etisalat about buying them.
Egypt's government will finalise technical negotiations withtelecoms groups over the licences next week and start financialnegotiations the week after, Communications and InformationTechnology Minister Yasser al-Kadi told Reuters.
"If any of the companies say they don't want the 4G licencewe will offer it in an international auction," he said.
The reforms will enable landline monopoly Telecom Egypt to enter the mobile phone market directly, whileallowing the mobile operators to offer fixed line services,ending Telecom Egypt's domination of the sector.
Telecom Egypt will not be required to sell its stake inVodafone Egypt but will eventually dispose of it when it gets agood offer, telecommunication sources told Reuters.
The state-owned company owns a 45 percent stake in VodafoneEgypt but hopes to offer mobile phone services itself followingthe introduction of high-speed 4G technology.
Telecom Egypt said earlier this week it was studying theterms in detail ahead of applying for the 4G licence.
Egypt said in 2014 when it laid out the 4G plan that TelecomEgypt would be allowed to offer mobile services if it paid 2.5billion Egyptian pounds ($282 million) and sold its Vodafonestake within a year of offering the services.
The government says a unified licence will put all fourtelecoms companies on an equal footing and end a monopoly, italso hopes to collect a total of 22.3 billion Egyptian poundsfrom licence fees, which will be collected in a lump sum and notover instalments, Kadi said.
All four companies have to submit applications for thelicence by the first week of August. The mobile operators willalso be able to apply for landline and international gatewaylicences. ($1 = 8.8799 Egyptian pounds) (Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Mark Potter andAlexander Smith)
