Egypt

Basics
Egypt is the biggest mobile phone market in Africa and has 3, soon 4 network providers: All three providers have a similar footprint and 2G and 3G in the populated areas. Orange, once called Mobinil used to be market leader, but lost this position in recent years to Vodafone. Etisalat is the newest arrival, but almost equal in coverage now. So speed and coverage depend heavily on your local position to the closest antenna.
 * Vodafone Egypt
 * Orange (formerly: Mobinil)
 * Etisalat
 * Telecom Egypt (soon to be established)

2G is on 900 MHz (and 1800 Mhz on Etisalat only), 3G up to HSPA+ speed on 2100 MHz. 4G/LTE hasn't started yet.

In 2016 landline operator Telecom Egypt became the first operator to acquire a 4G/LTE concession. It will start with trials by the end of the year. Reportedly, it'll offer 2G and 3G services via other carriers’ networks. That will most likely be Vodafone of which it owns a 43% share. So a 4th provider and 4G/LTE can be expected for 2017.

For buying a prepaid SIM card, you have to visit one of the shops of the providers, show your passport and give them a local address (like your hotel address).

VoIP block
In 2015 all three mobile providers started to block VoIP calls by all OTT software/apps like Skype, Whatsapp, Viber etc. This makes international calls from Egypt very expensive. For now, not all landline/ADSL providers block VoIP. That's why there might be still a chance to use it on a WiFi or through an VPN tunnel.

Vodafone Egypt
Vodafone Egypt, half owned by Telecom Egypt, has become the biggest provider in Egypt with a 44% share of the market. It overtook Mobinil (now Orange) in 2011 and offers a good coverage with pretty high rates.

Voice and data plan
Vodafone in Egypt has a broad variety of different voice prepaid SIM cards called el-kart with various start-up prices, validities and voice and text rates. They are called Worry free, 14 Piasters, Hawkawy and ''per Second. ''Not all brands may be on offer in every store (locator). No data is included in any starter pack.

You can top-up by scratch cards or using a credit card online.

Tourist SIM
Tourists may prefer their "holiday" SIM which is sold for LE 20 including LE 5 credit in their stores. They have a validity of 40 days. Top-ups don't prolong this, you have to buy a pricey validity extension. Data is by default at LE 1 per MB on the tourist SIM. You can add the same paackages as below. Ding bing long tata

Data feature packs
Default rate outside of bundles is LE 0.25 per MB on local SIM cards. Vodafone offers the following monthly data packages as add-ons to all of their prepaid lines: After consuming the bundle quota, your internet access will be blocked. To access the internet one more time, you can choose between the different add-ons or paying the default rate. To subscribe or manage your bundles dial *2000# or logon your account.
 * LE 5: 150 MB, activation: *2000*105#
 * LE 20: 1 GB, activation: *2000*1020#
 * LE 10: no cut-off, but throttled to 32 kbps

Time-based bundles
Furthermore, they offer time-based bundles: The FUP throttles speed to 32 kbps, when quota is reached.
 * 1 hour: LE 0.75, FUP: 10 MB, activation: *2000*1#
 * 3 hours: LE 1.50, FUP: 20 MB, activation: *2000*3#
 * 6 hours: LE 2.50, FUP: 60 MB, activation: *2000*6#

Settings

 * APN: internet.vodafone.net
 * Password: internet
 * Username: internet

More information

 * Vodafone Egypt website in English

Orange (formerly called Mobinil)
Orange used to be the biggest mobile provider in Egypt when it was called Mobinil. In March 2016 they were rebranded to the Orange label. All stores and products will eventually called Orange. They compete with Vodafone, but are at no.2 position with 33% of customers and a good coverage in the country.

Availability
Their prepaid card is sold in their stores (Store locator) for up to 50 EGP. If you don't top up within a month, your SIM will be terminated and you lose your credit. They have different prepaid lines: "per second" is without a base rate, 'Netwawy' has 50 MB per day included for EGP 1.50 or 400 MB per week for EGP 7.

Data feature packs
All customers are on “Pay as you consume” by default. You will be granted 12 MB for EGP 1.5/day; after which you will be charged EGP 0.50 per MB. You can activate through your Orange account online or from your phone: dial #100#, select "Internet & BlackBerry", select "Internet Packages", select "subscribe", select the Internet package that suits you best. You will receive a notification SMS to confirm your subscription to your preferred package. Or by calling 110 customer service.

* Social Media included in the package is Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Libon and Snapchat only. For an extra EGP 5, get an additional 500 MB on top of your current package for social media. Upon finishing the extra 500 MBs, you will still be able to continue using your favorite social networks at a reduced speed of 64 Kbps with no extra cost even if you finished your main package. Activation is online. After finishing the inclusive data of your package, you can choose what happens next:

You can unsubscribe from any online package by following the same subscription steps, choose "unsubscribe" instead of "subscribe". You can change between different packages at any time by unsubscribing from the current package and subscribing to the new preferred package and the new package will be added instantly.
 * renew your package with the same price and same data volume
 * purchase a package extension of 1.25 GB for EGP 25, 3 GB for EGP 50, 7 GB for EGP 100 or 15 GB for EGP 200 (each add-ons only available for original pack sizes equal or above).
 * continue on the pay as you consume charging EGP 0.25/MB.

For an extra EGP 10 you can transform a current internet package to "unlimited". After you finish your package inclusive volume, you will still get data at a reduced speed of 64 kbps without extra cost. Activation is made online.

More information

 * APN: mobinilweb


 * new Orange website in English

Etisalat
Etisalat is the smallest of the three providers with a market share of 22%. It gives good coverage in some places, but has gaps and slow speeds in others. They combine their own hotspots in their products. You can call *233 for the nearest hotspots. Etisalat is said to have the lowest coverage, but are the only provider that publishes a 2G/3G coverage map.

Ahlan
Etisalat has a variety of prepaid cards and start up packages. The starter pack is LE 20 with LE 10 credit preloaded in their stores (store locator). Their prepaid tariff lines are called Ahlan that come in different varieties. They are sold in their stores (locator) together with recharge cards.

Data feature packages
The default data rate is at 0.50 LE/MB on all of their prepaid products. They offer a daily bundle of 12 MB per day for 1.50 LE. Subscription is by *566#. These monthly packs can be booked on the SIM: Overuse is charged with 0.25 LE per MB. To subscribe call *566# for free. WiFi is Etisalad hotspots only. These extra data add-ons can be bought, when bundle volume is used up: Add-ons will expire, when their main bundle will expire too.
 * 500 MB: 10 LE
 * 1.5 GB: 25 LE
 * 3 GB: 50 LE
 * 7 GB: 100 LE
 * 12 GB: 150 LE
 * unlimited @ max. 64 kbps: 10 LE

Data-only plan
Their data-only plan is called Mongez Prepaid and for tablets, routers and modems. The following monthly bundles are available: In the data column the first number is basic data to be consumed all day, second number is bonus data to be consumed only 2am-2pm. WiFi applies only to Etisalat hotspots.
 * Overuse 1.25 GB bundle: After consuming the bundle, 20 LE will be deducted to enjoy another 1 GB, it'll be automatically deducted till your monthly bundle renewal date.
 * Overuse 3, 8, 14 GB bundle: When used up, data is blocked. Available add-ons: 15 LE: 1 GB; 25 LE: 2 GB.
 * Overuse 20 GB bundle: When used up, speed throttles to 64 Kbps, and you can buy extra 1 GB high speed for 20 LE.

Settings

 * APN: etisalat

More information

 * Website in English