The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has imposed fines of EGP 20.65 million on mobile telecommunications companies operating in the Egyptian market.

The hefty financial fines came due to violations of the regulatory rules issued by the authority of the service, which provides that users have the right to change the service providers with the same number. The values of the fines for the companies came as follows: EGP 7 million for Vodafone Egypt, EGP 5.8 million for Orange, EGP 3.9 million for a telecom company, and EGP 3.9 million for Telecom Egypt.

NTRA stated that violations were detected related to the unjustified refusal of transfer requests and the failure to respond to requests to transfer numbers within 24 hours from the date of the request. He added that NTRA observed that the companies did not activate the transferred number on the company’s network after the transfer process was carried out, in violation of the rules previously established for the service by the agency.

NTRA developed the number transmission system to ensure the user’s freedom to choose the network that best suits his needs regarding quality of services, prices, and offers. The new system enables the user to keep his number and transfer from one mobile company to another for free within 24 hours.

Social media sites received repeated complaints from Egyptian citizens and calls to boycott mobile companies from time to time due to poor service and weak reception. Egyptians and activists complain about the interruption of mobile phone communications and the lack of government interference with the mobile companies.

During Ramadan, activists registered their objection to the exorbitant cost of advertisements for mobile companies, as football and art stars perform these ads for a high fee, while the service for ordinary citizens remains abysmal.