is a subsidiary of Etisalat U.A.E., the sole telecommunications services provider in the United Arab Emirates from 1976 until the arrival of Du (telco) in February 2007, and the first 3.5G network operator in Egypt. Etisalat Egypt is one of 15 service providers managed by Etisalat in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Etisalat group currently has access to a potential market of just below 1 billion subscribers and today Etisalat services over 130 million subscribers including the total number of fixed-line, Internet, mobile and television from each of its subsidiaries.
In November 2007, Etisalat Egypt upgraded to 3.75G which is the marketing term for HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet access). The Uplink channel carries information from the mobile terminal to the network such as file uploading, e-mail attachments and user response in interactive games. HSUPA is an enhancement of 3.5G networks that increases upload speeds. HSDPA stands for High Speed Downlink Packet access. A Downlink channel carries information from the network to the mobile terminal such as video and music downloads.
Etisalat Egypt was the first mobile operator in Egypt to offer Downlink speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/s which is two times faster than 3.5G downlink speeds. Today, Etisalat Egypt’s 2G and 3G robust and high quality network covers and serves 99% of the population in Egypt, with download speed reaching up to 84Mbit/s. Moreover, Etisalat Egypt is the first and the only operator in Egypt that has an exclusive international gateway. In order to complete Etisalat Egypt’s product portfolio, two well-established ISPs (Internet Service Providers) were acquired and provide broadband services.