Egypt's Mobinil is reported as saying that it expects to finally launch its 3G network on the 1st Sept 2009. The company had expected to receive access to the radio spectrum on 17th January, but the radio frequencies were not released until March 27th. The company had hoped to launch its network last month, but again missed its deadline.

"The Egyptian Company for Mobile Services, Mobinil, will launch its 3G mobile network in Egypt on September 1, immediately before the start of the month of Ramadan," the Middle East News Agency said, citing remarks by Commercial Vice President Guillaume Van Gaver.

The company also delayed the paying of its EGP750 million installment for the license by ten weeks due to the delay in releasing the radio spectrum.

Mobinil is listed on the Cairo stock exchange (29%) - and has two main shareholders, Orascom Telecom (33.1%) and France Telecom (36.3%). The company is the largest operator in the market, and according to figures from the Mobile World database, ended Q1 '08 with just over 15 million subscribers and a market share of 51.5%.

Mobinil recently reported that its first-quarter net profit grew 14% to 451 million Egyptian pounds ($84 million) from EGP397 million a year earlier. The company's revenue also surged 27% to EGP2.3 billion from EGP1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2007

Source: Middle East News Agency