Telecom Egypt S Regulatory News (TEEG)

23 Oct 2006 07:01

Telecom Egypt S.A.E23 October 2006 Telecom Egypt Enters Into an MOU with Several Leading TelecommunicationsOperators to Work Jointly to Construct a New Submarine Cable System LinkingIndia, Middle East and Western Europe Cairo, 22nd October, 2006: Telecom Egypt (TE) (Ticker: ETEL.CA; TEEG.LN)announced today that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)with leading international telecom service providers, Etisalat, Saudi Telecom,Telecom Italia Sparkle and VSNL to work jointly on the construction of a newsubmarine cable (I-ME-WE) linking India, the Middle East and Western Europe. The signing of the MoU marks the first major milestone in the commissioning ofthe IMEWE cable project. The rapid progress made by the five leading telecomcarriers in moving from conceptualization to signing of MoU reflects the strongalignment and commitment amongst the parties towards the IMEWE project. The cable project will connect the major countries in the region includingIndia, UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy and France. The cable willleverage the strength of these major carriers and provide interconnectionfacilities with several existing and emerging systems in the regions. All the IMEWE parties are committed to continue the scorching pace of progresstowards the Ready for Service (RFS) date targeted for mid 2008, with anexpectation of construction contracts being awarded by the end of 2006. IMEWE cable system will be built using DWDM (Dense Wavelength DivisionMultiplexing) technology, with a proposed design capacity of at least 2.56Terabits per second (Tbps). The network, upon its commissioning, will providehigh-speed connectivity to the Asian, Middle East, and Western Europe regions,to meet their exponentially growing bandwidth requirements. - Ends - For further information: Investor Relations Contacts Tarek Tantawy, CFA Director of Investment, Treasury & Investor Relations Telephone: +202 5788111 Fax: +202 5789314 Eman Anis Investor Relations Manager Telephone: +202 5788787 Fax: +202 5789314 E-mail: investor.relations@telecomegypt.com.eg Notes to Editors: About Telecom Egypt Telecom Egypt (TE), Egypt's incumbent telecommunications operator, started itsoperations in 1854 with the first telegraph line in Egypt. Then it wascorporatized in 1998 to replace the former Arab Republic of Egypt NationalTelecommunication Organization (ARENTO). The Company is the largest provider offixed-line services in the Middle East and Africa with 10.6 million subscribersas at the end of June 2006 representing a teledensity of 14.8 percent. TEprovides retail telecommunication services including access, local, longdistance and international voice, Internet and data, and other services. Thecompany also provides wholesale services including bandwidth capacity leasing toISPs, and national and international interconnection services. Telecom Egypt'sservices also include the provision of narrowband and broadband internet accessthrough its subsidiary TE Data. TE Data has current operations in Egypt, Jordan,and Dubai and has ambitious plans in other parts of the MENA region. TE currently participates in the mobile segment in Egypt by providing mobileinterconnectivity and though its current 48.97% holding in Vodafone Egypt, oneof the two Egyptian mobile operators. TE's shares and GDRs (Ticker: ETEL.CA; TEEG.LN) are traded on the Cairo andAlexandria Stock Exchanges and the London Stock Exchange. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange