(Ecofin Agency) - On December 26, 2018, Ahmed Zidane, the deputy spokesperson of Egypt’s communication and IT committee, revealed that by 2020, the government would replace 95% of its copper telecom network, which is now 60% replaced, with fibre optics cable.

By modernising its internet network, Egypt wants to improve its broadband internet penetration rate that was 43.3% in 2015.

In 2019, the government plans to reach 53.5 % ; the aim being to greatly improve the population’s access to internet. For Egypt, that is making the internet a driver for future growth, improving the population’s internet access is a pre-requisite for the emergence of a digital economy.

To meet its goal, which is to cover the whole country with optical fibre and at a minimal cost, Egypt will benefit from the expertise of the optical fibre cable manufacturing plant inaugurated by the authorities in March 2018.

Installed in the industrial town of Badr, in the northeast, this $30 million investment is the result of a partnership between the Egyptian HitekNofal Solutions and the Chinese Hengtong Group.