Austerity for Egypt's Internet?

In protest against poor Internet services, Egyptian activists set up a Facebook page titled "Internet Revolution,” launched an official website and printed application forms to enable the Internet Revolution movement to take legal action against the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to provide services at a fair price. Meanwhile, Egypt’s Communications and Information Technology Minister Atef Helmy called on the Egyptian youth to control their Internet consumption, which caused a great deal of sarcasm on social media.

Helmy’s call to reduce Internet usage was considered by the youth as another joke by the current government, which is being described as the austerity government. The Egyptian people never imagined that the call for consumption control, which included the consumption of energy, water and education, would also include Internet usage. The role of the Internet in Egypt is not just limited to working more efficiently or to accessing knowledge. Rather, it has become a source of entertainment for millions of unemployed youth, and women who have missed their chances of getting married, in light of the high spinsterhood rate in Egypt.

Internet users in Egypt had seen a good omen in the meeting that was held between Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Helmy in late October 2014, during which Sisi stressed the need for high-speed Internet services and for improving the quality of the current Internet services provided to citizens. He also stressed the need to expand the use of government applications and electronic signatures through electronic services.