Kamel served as Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology from July 2004 to February 2011 where he was responsible for the reform of the ICT sector and the development of telecom services and the Internet industry in Egypt. Kamel joined the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) since its foundation in October 1999 where he was appointed Senior Advisor to the Minister following his pioneering efforts in ICT. He was a Board Member of Telecom Egypt from 2000 to 2004 and a Board Member of Egypt’s Private Public Technology Development Fund (TDF) to support start-ups and incubators in ICT from 2002 to 2004. Kamel is an Egyptian expert in global Internet governance issues. Kamel spearheaded numerous national initiatives to boost ICT use in all sectors of Egyptian society.
His efforts, along with those of Dr Ahmed Nazif, constituted a major factor in the establishment of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Kamel started his career as a Network Support Engineer for the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology. He was then appointed Assistant Researcher at the Electronics Research Institute (ERI). Returning to Egypt from Germany, he became Manager of the Communications and Networking Department at the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC/RITSEC), and gained a professorship at the ERI. During 1992 to 1999, he established Egypt's first connection to the Internet, steered the introduction of commercial Internet services in Egypt and founded the Internet Society of Egypt.
He hosted several IGF, ICANN and ITU regional and international events in Egypt. Kamel is known for his visionary strategy in driving and developing Egypt's ICT sector, leading Egypt into the global Information Society. He has led many national initiatives to increase Internet and broadband penetration in Egypt. He has been the main proponent of Egypt's programs to reform and deregulate the telecommunications sector. Kamel has played a pivotal role in developing the ICT enabled O&O (outsourcing and offshoring) industry in Egypt.
During his tenure as a Minister, he led a local and global team to formulate and implement a national strategy that positioned Egypt as a regional role model in call centers, Business Process Outsourcing, Knowledge Process Outsourcing and Innovation based services. The strategy implementation occurred in a public private partnership cooperation and has included the buildup of business parks, the development of a large talent pool and the establishment of business incubators as well as the development of the necessary environment for entrepreneurship and business development to attract global players to invest in Egypt.
The yield on Egypt's socioeconomic process has been remarkable in youth employment and GDP and exports growth. Tarek Kamel served as a member of the Internet Society (ISOC) Board of Trustees in Virginia and as Vice President for Chapters from 1999 to 2002. He is a founding member and a previous board member of AfriNIC. He acted as Chairman of the Executive Bureau of the Arab Telecommunications and Information Council of Ministers from 2004 to 2008 and the Chairman of the Ministerial Conference on Communication and Information Technologies of the African Union from 2006 to 2008.
In recognition of his leadership in the ICT sector, the South African Ministry of Communications named him, in 2005, "Top Minister in Africa with an ICT Portfolio". Kamel holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering at the same school. From 1989 to 1992, he pursued his Ph.D. in Germany at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the Technical University of Munich with the support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
