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For almost a decade, Egypt has been conscientiously working on
staying abreast in the ICT. The Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology (MCIT) was established in 1999 at a time
when the government of Egypt made it a priority in its agenda
to focus on the growth of information technology and its applications
in Egypt. Egypt has managed to leapfrog into the information age
and create a comfortable climate for investment and development.
Egypt is one of the most densely populated countries in the area
and the Egyptian ICT market is a young and growing market with
great potential. The number of ICT companies in Egypt has increased
from 185 companies in 1998 to 1625 companies in 2005, an incredible
increase over seven years. However, the market is still growing
and has the potential to grow even further. The Egyptian ICT market
contains enormous untapped opportunities just waiting for investors
to capitalize on.
The implementation of the WTO agreements and many other regional
and international trade agreements means that Egypt has excellent
potential as a regional exporter and provider to other markets
in the area. There are already 9.9 million fixed lines and 9.86
million mobile lines in place.
Major multinational companies such as Alcatel, Microsoft, and
Hewlett-Packard have found Egypt to be their safe haven in business.
There is a long list of worldwide investors that have found it
the wisest decision to invest in Egypt Of these are Cisco Competency
Center, Giesecke and Devrient, Huawei, Oracle, and Siemens. They
have managed in close-knit cooperation with Egypt and utilizing
mostly the facilities the government provides within the Smart
Village to accelerate and multiply their business. Alcatel,, for
instance, has become a center of excellence in Egypt with extended
international activities. The center provided end-to-end solutions
and full turnkey capabilities for fixed and mobile networks. Alcatel
now has more than 140 engineers working in more than forty countries.
Another enticing case is Siemens Egypt which first started in
Egypt in 1859; one of the steadiest businesses in the country.
Siemens utilizes more than 750 Egyptian employees.
Become one of the top 10 IT offshore
outsourcing locations worldwide
Grow with global demand (25-30%
per year)
Focus on ICT companies (where
Egypt already has strong precedents - IBM, etc.) and Egypt-oriented
industries (travel, etc.)
Maintain/grow role as IT product
provider to Middle East market, exploiting strengths in education,
health management
Establish Egypt as 1 of top 5
centers for multilingual contact centers
Establish Egypt as 1 of top 3
multilingual engineering support centers
Focus on ICT engineering support
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