State-owned Egyptian telecommunications provider Telecom Egypt is expected to gain a 5 percent stake of the mobile market in 2018 with 5.2 million subscribers, a report by Egyptian financial investment firm Beltone Financial predicts. The report says Telecom Egypt's market share will increase by 12 percent by 2022 with 14.5 million subscribers.
The report says Telecom Egypt will likely focus on the post pay sector, benefitting from its "strong business unit of companies and organizations". The report adds that the company would target home business unit subscribers as its land internet subscriptions reached 4.1 million in 2017.
Costs attributed to 4G charges and mobile license payments saw Telecom Egypt's capital expenses increase to LE 10.7 billion (Egyptian pounds) in 2017 compared to LE 10 billion in 2016. The company's net debt increased to LE 6.7 billion by the end of 2017, compared to LE 2.1 billion in 2016. By the end of September 31, 2017, net debt was recorded at LE 5.6 billion.
Telecom Egypt succeeded in adding 2.3 million subscribers by the end of 2017, according to Beltone's report, which attributed the rise of the company's revenues to the growth of all its sectors in the fourth quarter in 2017; as retailing revenues rose 36 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis and wholesale revenues increased 6 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Telecom Egypt gained profitability in the fourth quarter in 2017 at LE 1.1 billion, compared to net loss of LE 12 million in the same period in 2016, the report says. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net profit increased by 11 percent.
The report adds that the company recorded a net loss of LE 396 million, attributing this to allocations to settle disputes with mobile operators by LE 1.2 billion, exceptional costs for employees at LE 410 million, the rise of depreciation and amortization charges and the increase of finance expenses.
Telecom Egypt is a public company, listed on Egyptian Exchange (EGX) since December 1999.