Egypt’s fixed-line monopoly Telecom Egypt (TE) plans to establish a subsidiary in Singapore, seeking to expand into international and submarine cable services.
According to an official source at TE with knowledge of the plans, the new subsidiary is set to contribute to boosting Telecom Egypt’s volume of investments for international services and data transfer through submarine cables.
TE’s Singapore subsidiary will basically serve the Asia region and support the company’s strategy towards maximizing the benefit of data traffic transferred internationally through submarine cables, the source noted.
Speaking to Amwal Al Ghad on Sunday, the source referred that TE’s new subsidiary awaits regulatory approvals from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).
In its latest meeting, Telecom Egypt’s board of director has ratified the decision to pump new investments in Singapore to expand into international and submarine cable services.
The Singapore office will an addition to Telecom Egypt’s another affiliate, located in France, TE France, which was established many years ago to manage TE North submarine cable in France.
The TE North cable, built in collaboration with Alcatel-Lucent, is a 40G undersea cable that connects Abu Talat, Egypt, to Marseille, France, with branches to Jordan, Cyprus and branching units to be used for further expansion. It began operation in mid-2011.
Meanwhile, Telecom Egypt has recently announced a new cooperation with China in field of submarine cable services.
The landline monopoly, in which the government owns an 80 percent stake, said revenue totaled 2.72 billion Egyptian pounds, down 5.2 percent from the previous year. 
