The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat and the Governor of Gharbia Tarek Rahmi inspected, today, the telecommunications network and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) project in Sandabast, as part of the Decent Life initiative. They were accompanied by the Managing Director and CEO of Telecom Egypt Adel Hamed and officials from Telecom Egypt.
This came as part of the ICT Minister’s visit to Gharbia Governorate to open and inspect a number of projects implemented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) within Decent Life. The FTTH project is implemented by Telecom Egypt to enable high-speed Internet access in the villages targeted within the initiative.
During his inspection tour, the ICT Minister reviewed the developments made in the ICT infrastructure in Decent Life villages in Gharbia. Telecom Egypt has upgraded the telecom infrastructure in 12 out of 54 villages in Gharbia. The project is being implemented in the remaining villages. Over 50% of the development work has been completed, including the replacement of copper cables with fiber optic ones.
Talaat explained that MCIT has been successfully implementing projects in the villages targeted within Decent Life, including providing high-speed Internet, improving mobile phone services, developing postal services, and promoting digital literacy to build a productive digital society.
The ICT Minister pointed out that fiber optic cables were installed in 7,400 homes in Gharbia villages. Moreover, copper cables were replaced with fiber optic in 43,000 homes. He pointed out that providing Internet connection in rural villages is a key pillar for building the digital society.
It is worth noting that Telecom Egypt is implementing a landline network maintenance project in Gharbia. The maintenance of about 41% of the total cabins and boxes is to be completed in 2022/2023.
The project helped reduce landline network malfunctions to 5.8% by the end of 2022, compared to 8.3% at the beginning of 2022. Internet outage recurrence also decreased from 22.4 at the beginning of 2022 to 15.20% by the end of the same year.
In a similar vein, the ICT Minister and Gharbia Governor, accompanied by Egypt Post Chairman Sherif Farouk, opened four post offices: Rayayinah, Damat, Hanout, and Tafahna El Azab. The offices were developed and equipped with the latest technological systems and solutions to provide all kinds of financial, postal, and governmental services to citizens.
It is worth mentioning that Gharbia has around 297 post offices that provide different types of postal and financial services to citizens.
Farouk revealed that the nationwide post office development plan is almost complete. The number of developed offices reached 3,600 out of 4,000, while the total number of new post offices reached 300, bringing the total number of post offices to 4,300. Offices are developed following the latest international standards to facilitate citizens’ access to services.
Rayayinah Post Office extends over 70 square meters, while Damat Post Office extends over 50 square meters. As for Hanout Post Office, it is located on a 90 square meter area, and Tafahna El Azab Post Office is located on a 190 square meter area.
The four offices deliver all kinds of postal, financial, and governmental services such as pension disbursement, current and savings accounts, local and international transfers, and postal services. The offices are equipped with ATMs, Points of Sale (POS), and the latest surveillance and industrial security systems.
Hanout and Tafahna El Azab Post Offices have been developed within the framework of MCIT role in the Decent Life presidential initiative.
The ICT Minister is visiting Gharbia Governorate to open and inspect several MCIT projects as part of the Decent Life initiative. He commenced his visit with meeting with Gharbia Governor at the governorate’s general bureau. He then inspected a number of digital projects.
Talaat and Rahmi also inspected the construction site of CREATIVA Innovation Hub at Tanta University. They visited Tanta Intellectual Education School which has been equipped with technological tools and devices to facilitate learning and training for students with intellectual disabilities. In addition, Talaat checked the work status in Tanta Main Post Office and Telecom Egypt Store in Tanta (3) Telephone Exchange.
