The Egyptian Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) has dismissed news and social media reports on a 50 percent increase in mobile phone recharge card prices after a recent hike the prices of fuel and electricity.

 

IDSC said it had communicated with the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), which had affirmed that the prices of mobile recharge cards for all operators would remain unchanged.

 

In 2017, NTRA ratified a decision by mobile companies to decrease the value of mobile recharging cards by 36 percent. By way of that decision, a LE100 pre-paid card gave LE70 in credit, the LE50 card gave LE35 in credit, and the LE25 card provided LE17.5 in credit. 

 

The latest rumoured increase provoked strong criticism on social media, sparking calls to boycott mobile operators to prompt them reconsider.

 

Egypt’s currently has four mobile operators: Orange, Vodafone, Etisalat and the national Telecom Egypt's "WE." 

 

Mobile subscribers exceeded 100 million in September 2017, according to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.