Outsourcing exports also grew by 54 percent between 2022 and 2023, Talaat added, noting that the sector’s contribution to the GDP increased to 5.8 percent in FY2023/2024 from five percent in the previous fiscal year.

Minister Talaat was speaking during a meeting with a House of Representatives committee that is currently examining the new government’s programme for the coming three years.

He also noted that Egypt came among the countries with Classification A in the Digital Government Readiness Assessment published by the World Bank for 2023, compared to Classification C in 2018. 

Egypt jumped up 49 spots in the Government Artificial Intelligence (AI) Index, he added.

The average fixed internet speed also increased to 75.4 Mbp/s in May 2024, up from 6.5 Mbp/s in January 2019, according to the minister.

Gov't Plan
Minister Talaat told the committee that the objectives of the government’s programme for the ICT sector include: Raising employment rates and human development, building a sustainable future based on the knowledge economy, and contributing to developing various sectors' performance.

He also reviewed the key aspects of the government’s digital strategy, identifying its main priorities: Establishing a legislative framework to govern the sector and protect users, developing regulatory frameworks that would attract local and foreign investment, and partnering with the private sector and civil society.

Furthermore, Talaat said youth training will expand in the coming period to help them be independent professionals in outsourcing fields and work on freelance platforms.

This will help achieve the goal of having 130,000 professionals in outsourcing with digital exports of $3.7 billion in 2024 and 550,000 professionals with exports worth $9 billion by 2026.

The minister said the number of trainees increased from 4,000 in FY2018/2019 to 400,000 in FY2023/2024. The ministry plans to reach 500,000 trainees in FY2024/2025 and 1 million trainees in FY2029/2030, he added.

Talaat also highlighted the ministry's programs under the Decent Life presidential initiative. He noted that the ministry has connected fibre optic cables to 9.3 million buildings nationwide, and developed 1,741 post offices and 1,981 mobile towers.

Talaat noted that the ministry's subprograms aim to develop a competitive economy that attracts investors, including increasing digital services on the Digital Egypt platform, where around 170 digital government services are available.

As part of its plan to develop communications systems and localize the information technology industry, Talaat said the ministry seeks to increase the number of mobile towers from 7,000 in 2014 to 35,000 in 2024.

The communications ministry has a target to reach 50,000 towers by 2030, according to Talaat.

The minister also touched upon his ministry's plan to empower the private sector and enhance local and foreign investments.

The plan targets forming international alliances to build submarine cables to transport international data traffic through Egypt, he explained.

It also seeks to attract more investments in local mobile phone manufacturing and cloud computing, he pointed out.

Talaat announced during a press conference on Monday that Egypt is expected to launch electronic SIM cards, known as eSIMs, into the local market in the coming two months.