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CAIRO, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Vodafone Egypt andEtisalat Misr have signed licence deals allowing them to operatefourth-generation (4G) mobile services in Egypt, the country'stelecoms regulator said on Sunday.
Egypt is selling four 4G licences as part of a long-awaitedplan to reform the telecoms sector and to raise money forstretched government finances.
The country's three existing mobile phone operators -Orange, Vodafone and Etisalat - initially all turned down the 4Glicences saying the amount of spectrum on offer was notsufficient to allow them to offer the service efficiently.
The regulator then announced that operators that paid for alicence entirely in dollars would be given priority in buyingadditional spectrum. U.S. dollars are scarce in Egypt due to along-running economic crisis.
Orange was first to sign the deal last week,paying $484 million for the licence. Vodafone Egypt agreed topay $335 million in a deal signed late on Saturday, theregulator said.
Etisalat Misr, the Egyptian unit of Etisalat, alsosigned a deal late on Saturday, and will pay $535.5 million. Anofficial from Etisalat Misr said his firm would also receive 10Megahertz of additional spectrum after the deal.
Both Etisalat Misr and Vodafone also agreed on fixed linephone service licences for $11.26 million each, the regulatorsaid.
Telecom Egypt, the state's fixed-line monopoly,was the only company to take up the original offer, buying a 4Glicence in August for 7.08 billion Egyptian pounds ($797million) to enter the mobile market directly for the first time. (Reporting by Ora Noureldin; Writing by Asma Alsharif; Editingby Mark Potter)
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