Egypt's internet market adds 200,000 new customers in Aug

Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology says the number of internet users increased by 200,000 customers in August from 36.28 million in July to 36.48 million in August, reports the Daily News citing a report. The number of mobile internet users declined by 0.17 percent in August to 96.2 million users compared to 96.4 million users in July, says a report released by the ministry which also shows that penetration of mobile internet services reached 108.6 percent of the total population.

The number of users of fixed internet service ADSL increased strongly by 2.11 percent in August, recording a total number of 4.35 million users up from 4.26 million in July. Mobile phone internet penetration achieved a growth rate of 0.42 percent. The number of subscribers increased from 28.65 million customers in July to 28.77 million in August. Subscribers to USB modems declined from 3.37 million in July to 3.36 million users in August, a drop of 0.41 percent.

The fixed phone line market witnessed a slight growth in August, where the number of subscribers increased from 6.12 million in July to 6.33 million subscribers in August, achieving a growth rate of 3.3 percent. The cost of telecommunications services fell during the second quarter as mobile phone services prices fell from USD 2.77 in 2015 to USD 2.3 in 2016. Fixed internet service ADSL prices fell from USD 9.83 in 2015 to USD 5.6.

The usage of fixed telephone lines costs dropped from USD 2.12 in Q2 in 2015 to USD 1.8 in Q2 of 2016. The prices of mobile phone services are calculated based on the prepaid amount of every thirty phone calls and a hundred text messages every month across mobile phone and landline services companies. ADSL services prices are calculated according to the lowest price of the internet services company with the most subscribers.