So far, the #Unlimited_internet_in_Egypt and its Arabic version, #انترنت_غير_محدود_في_مصر, have been mentioned in 263,000 tweets and more than one million tweets, respectively, with both hashtags trending since 3 July.
The campaign has become an outlet for many that are frustrated with the quality of services they are getting and the fact that Egypt is one of the very few countries in the world with limited internet.
Another user alleged that Egyptians pay twice as much for one gigabyte than any other country charges, complaining that even then, internet is limited and suffers from frequent drops in speed.
Though monthly internet bundles in Egypt have various caps for internet speeds based on users’ landlines’ capacity, some providers have limited internet quotas that, when consumed, continue to work, albeit with a throttled speed.
In the event a subscriber needs to upgrade back to their original speed, they are required to either re-buy their monthly package or use an add-on quota.
One social media user even went as far as saying that these bundles do not take into account the advancing internet culture, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world into a digital culture that reigns supreme in a lot of fields.
Egypt has witnessed a noticeable increase in the number of internet users since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. In January 2022, Egypt had around 76.9 million internet users — up from the 50.4 million reported in January 2021 — of which 63 million were using mobile data, 10.9 million were ADSL users, and 2.2 million were USM modem users, according to a report issued in March 2022 by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
The number of mobile data users in Egypt alone has increased by 13.6 million users in one year, from an estimate of 50.4 million in January 2021.
The campaign has also witnessed the contribution of various public figures, such as renowned Egyptian actor Mohamed Saad, who voiced his support for the hashtag with comics making fun of the internet speed.
Moreover, prominent Egyptian actor Mohamed Henedy also took part in the campaign saying that “Unlimited internet has become a necessity in the upcoming period.”
“The internet has become our entire life… The state has upgraded the education system and made it reliant on the internet… Journalism has transformed into video journalism… and we have thousands of gamers in one of the most important industries in the world, which the Ministry of Youths and Sports is supporting in the meantime,” Henedy added.
Egypt has invested about EGP 60 billion to develop its communications infrastructure as part of its plan to pave the way for digitising Egypt, according to a previous statement by Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat.
The country is currently ranked 83rd worldwide in terms of fixed internet global speed according to the Speedtest Global Index, up from its previous rank of 86th back in February 2022.
Speedtest’s Global Index is the ranking system made by Ookla — a global leader in internet testing, data, and analysis — that compares internet speed data from users around the world on a monthly basis.
Short link: