Vodafone Egypt, the Egypt arm of Vodafone Group PLC, has signed a credit facility agreement with a consortium of seven banks for a five-year loan worth EGP 4 billion.
Ahmed Essam, chief executive officer, Vodafone Egypt, said on the sidelines of press conference held on Monday that the consortium comprises Banque Misr, CIB-Egypt, Bank of Alexandria, HSBC, Emirates NBD, National Bank of Egypt (NBE), QNB Al Ahli and Barclays.
The credit facility will go for financing the upgrade of the company’s network and services, the top official said, adding that a portion in the loan may go for financing the integrated telecom license.
Egypt’s telecom companies are awaiting the launch of the integrated license that will allow then to offer landline, mobile and Internet services.
Vodafone had announced in March a plan to inject nearly EGP 9 billion worth of fresh investments into the Egyptian economy, which would create 3 thousand new jobs till 2017.
The global parent company Vodafone Group PLC owns 55% in its Egypt-based arm, while the Egyptian government owns trough Telecom Egypt (TE) a stake amounting to 45%. Vodafone Egypt is capitalized at EGP 1.2 billion, while its market capitalization amounts to EGP 14.4 billion.
Egypt’s minister of telecommunications Atef Helmy said earlier in November the unified telecom license will be issued at the end of this year. He added that the license will include the mobile and land phone services.