The Impact of Internet & Telecommunications Technologies on Media and Communications Sectors in Egypt

Abstract

The Internet and telecommunication technologies have continued to grow at a rapid pace in recent years in the Middle East. Political uprisings across some of the Arab states have contributed to the increased time spent online and the popularity of social networking platforms. Egypt paid a lot of attention since the 1980s to set up and develop its national telecommunication and information infrastructure. This was done by means of governmental and private sector initiatives.There are eight major Service Provider companies which sell their services to smaller ISPs. The highest available speed through ADSL technologies was upgraded to eight MB in download in February 2008 and then to 24MB later that year. The Egyptian ISP market is functioning in a sort of liberalized and highly competitive environment. There are up to 220 ISPs in Cairo and Alexandria. Their service includes: dial-up, pre-paid and premium services. With the introduction of ADSL for homes and businesses, more subscribers are introduced into the market. However, on January 27, 2011, almost all internet connectivity to Egypt was shut off by the Egyptian government in a way to end the public uprising that took place on January 25th of 2011. Two years later, loud calls for inducing reform in the Internet and telecommunication sectors in Egypt are voiced out. This coincides with deregulating the mass media system in Egypt. Notably, the media system in Egypt relies heavily on the latest technologies of the Internet.The substantial objective of this study is to examine the impact of the Internet and telecommunications technologies on the media and communications sectors in Egypt. A meta-research analysis is used to trace back the development of all sectors. Then possible scenarios are envisaged to sketch out the possible shape of the media system in Egypt after regulating the telecommunications sector. The possible importance of the current topic stems from the need for inducing many phases of deregulatory reforms in the media and telecommunications sectors in Egypt in the wake of the Arab Spring epoch. Source: Arab Media Outlook (2011): Stating the problem of the current study takes into consideration the impact of the Internet on the media system that is developing rapidly. The previous graph reveals the latest status quo of the social media in Egypt. There is a need for getting an answer for the following questions: 1) What are the penetration trends of social networking services in Egypt?; 2) What are the laws of telecommunications services in Egypt?; 3) What factors affect the adoption of social media in Egypt? (e.g., income, youth population, digital access, Internet freedom, etc.)?; 4) What is the impact of Internet connectivity on citizen engagement and social inclusion?; and 5) What is the impact of regulating the telecommunications sector on media governance and media synergism in Egypt?