Egypt has won the Speedtest Awards for the fastest fixed Internet speed in Africa presented by Ookla®️, the global leader in network intelligence and connectivity insights. It has become at the forefront in the first and second quarters of 2022.

The award came as a culmination of the tireless efforts made by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to upgrade the Internet infrastructure, thus contributing to raising the median fixed broadband speed and reaching 46 Mbps, compared to the median speed of 6.5 Mbps in 2019. In 2019, Egypt ranked 40th in Fixed Broadband in Africa.

The ICT Minister received the award during a ceremony held by Ookla, on the sidelines of the 42nd edition of GITEX Global exhibition and conference, held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

GITEX Global was attended by the Egyptian Ambassador to the UAE Sherif Al-Badawi, the Consul General of Egypt to Dubai and the Northern Emirates Ashraf El Deeb, the CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz, the Assistant ICT Minister for Strategy and Implementation Sherine El-Guindy, CEO and Managing Director of Telecom Egypt Adel Hamed, and various officials from MCIT and Telecom Egypt.

Ookla grants its award based on an accurate analysis of the speedtests taken by users, using Speedtest®.

In his remarks, Talaat emphasized that Egypt’s winning of the award for the fastest fixed Internet speed in Africa is the result of great efforts and huge investments dedicated during the past years to develop and upgrade the ICT infrastructure in Egypt to ensure that citizens receive the best Internet services. Thus, the median fixed broadband speed has increased by about eight times in three years; the infrastructure capability to assimilate the unprecedented increase in data traffic has been supported; and the pace of digital transformation has been accelerated. He pointed out that Egypt pumped investments amounting to EGP 40 billion since 2019 to implement the first phase of a project aiming at raising the efficiency of the Internet.

The ICT Minister added that the ICT infrastructure development projects are currently being expanded to achieve Digital Egypt vision and retain progress and growth indicators witnessed by the ICT sector during the past few years.

The ICT Minister explained that the second phase of the project aiming at raising the efficiency of the Internet is currently being implemented with investments estimated at EGP 40 billion to extend the fiber-optic network in the cities. In addition, a project with investments of EGP 25 billion pounds aimed at installing fiber-optic cables is currently being implemented in more than 4,500 villages within the Decent Life initiative to raise the efficiency of the Internet in 3.5 million homes. Accordingly, 58% of the Egyptian population has benefited from the project.

It is worth noting that the ICT Minister is paying a two-day visit to Dubai to participate in GITEX Global. On the sidelines of his participation in GITEX Global, his visit agenda includes a number of meetings with officials of major international companies to discuss enhancing ICT cooperation.