Tourists who wish to visit the Egypt should know the different prepaid phone operators available in the country–especially if they wish to use their mobile phones there. There are three available GSM prepaid phone operators in Egypt, namely: The Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS-MobiNil), Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications S.A.E. and Etisalat Misr. The mobile prefix for Egypt is +20. Their currency, 1 Egyptian Pound = 0.20812 Euro. The electricity available in Egypt is 220 Volts with an electrical frequency of 50 Hertz. Time Zone is GMT +2.
The first GSM prepaid phone operator in Egypt is The Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS-MobiNil) or more commonly known as Mobinil Egypt. The mobile communications company is one of the three major prepaid phone operators in Egypt and was founded in May 1998 and headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. Mobinil is majority-owned by France Telecom (Orange) with 71.25% ownership of the company, while Orascom Telecom owns the rest of the shares. Mobinil Egypt offers a wide range of products and services such as post paid and prepaid phone plans and Internet services. In 2008, Mobinil Egypt launched their 3G operation that is considered as the largest and newest mobile network in Egypt. As of April 2010, Mobinil Egypt has reached more than 30 million subscribers.
There are two prepaid phone cards for Mobinil Egypt, namely: Alo and Tourist Line. The activation fee for Alo is EGP 280 with 80 free credits while EGP 15 with 1 free credit for Tourist Line. The validity for the Tourist Line prepaid phone cards is seven days plus one day grace period while Alo prepaid phone card users can use the Alo card for an unlimited time. The net frequency for Mobinil Egypt is GSM 900. The logo for this prepaid phone card is ECMS-MobiNil while its net code is 602 01.
There are five available voice tariffs under Mobinil Egypt, namely: Alo Magic, Alohat, Alo Business, Alo Regions and Tourist Line. Alo Magic offers from Monday to Sunday: calls to land line for EGP 0.50 and calls to mobile for EGP 0.40. Alohat offers: calls to land line for EGP 0.60, calls to mobile (Monday – Thursday 8AM -1 AM; Sunday 8AM – 12PM) for EGP 0.40 and calls to mobile (Monday – Thursday 1AM – 8AM; Friday – Saturday; Sunday 12PM – 8AM) for EGP 0.20.
Alo Business offers calls to land line (Monday – Thursday 8AM -1 AM; Sunday 8AM – 12PM) for EGP 0.45, calls to land line (Monday – Thursday 1AM – 8AM; Friday – Saturday; Sunday 12PM – 8AM) for EGP 0.35 and calls to mobile for EGP 0.30. Alo Regions offers: calls to land line for EGP 0.50, calls to mobile (Cairo and Alex) for EGP 0.45 and calls to mobile (other regions) for EGP 0.35. While Tourist Line offers: all calls from Monday to Sunday for EGP 0.50. Tourist Line is an offer dedicated to visitors of Egypt with cheaper rates.
*Alohat has a monthly fee of EGP 5; while Alo Business has a monthly fee of EGP 20.
Additional Costs and Services:
Messaging:
- National SMS - Magic, Business: EGP 0.30; Alohat: EGP 0.20; Regions EGP 0.50 (Cairo, Alex), EGP 0.25 (Regions)
- International SMS – EGP 0.50; MMS: EGP 0.95
Video Calls:
- National – EGP 0.75 per minute
- International – EGP 7.00 per minute
Data Calls: *call 442 to activate the data service, which is called Mobinil Life
- EGP 1.00 for the first 5MB
- extra MB are billed at EGP 5.00/MB
- Internet Everywhere: it is a data sim card with usb modem kit at EGP 150 per 3GB
International Calls:
- Arab Countries & USA: Monday – Sunday 8AM – 8PM for EGP 3.00; Monday – Sunday 8PM – 8AM for EGP 2.25 per minute
- Europe: Monday – Sunday 8AM – 8PM for EGP 3.50; Monday – Sunday 8PM – 8AM for EGP 3.00 per minute
- Rest of the World: Monday – Sunday 8AM – 8PM for EGP 4.00; Monday – Sunday 8PM – 8AM for EGP 3.50 per minute
International Roaming: International roaming service available, see here
Recharge and Credit:
- EGP 10.00/10.00
- EGP 25.00/25.00
- EGP 50.00/50.00
- EGP 100.00/100.00
- EGP 200.00/200.00
- EGP 300.00/300.00
Debiting Method:
- National Calls – 60/60
- International Calls – 60/10
Second on the list of available GSM prepaid phone operators in Egypt is Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications S.A.E. or simply called as Vodafone Egypt. The mobile communications company was established in 1998 in Cairo, Egypt. They are considered the largest and biggest prepaid phone operator in Egypt. In September 2006, Raya Telecom acquired 51% of Vodafone Egypt to increase its market share, which in 2008 increased from 25.5% to 44.7%. Vodafone Egypt offers voice and data services, as well as 3G, ADSL and Internet services that extend to both consumers and businesses across the country. Their roaming services are supported by 564 partners in 188 countries. Currently, Vodafone Egypt is servicing 31.8 million active subscribers all over Egypt or a 54.9% market share.
There are two prepaid phone cards for Vodafone Egypt, namely: El Kart and Holiday. The activation fee and validity for El Kart is available upon request, while EGP 78.00 is the activation fee for Holiday with 40 days validity. The net frequency for Vodafone Egypt is GSM 900. The logo for this prepaid phone card is voda EG with a net code of 602 02.
There are five voice tariffs under Vodafone Egypt, namely: Super Dardasha, Kalam Extra, Kalamna, Yearly Control and Holiday. Super Dardasha offers: calls to land line for EGP 0.50 and calls to mobile for EGP 0.39. Kalam Extra offers: all calls for EGP 0.39. They also give additional 10 minutes of calls a month for every 30-minute call. If users call for another 60 minutes, they will get an additional 20 free minutes. All free minutes can only be used with numbers in Egypt.
Kalamna offers: calls to Vodafone for EGP 0.20, calls to mobile for EGP 0.40 and calls to land line EGP 0.60. Yearly Control offers: calls to mobile for EGP 0.30, calls to land line (Monday – Sunday 12PM – 12AM) for EGP 0.45 and calls to land line (Monday – Sunday 12AM – 12PM) for EGP 0.35. For Yearly Control offer, international calls and roaming are preactivated for free. This kind of offers is valid for 12 months. Holiday offers: all calls for EGP 0.75. This kind of offer is dedicated to tourists visiting Egypt for a shorter time.
Additional Costs and Services:
Messaging:
- Super Dardasha, Yearly Control: National SMS – EGP 0.30; International SMS – EGP 0.50
- Kalamna: SMS to Vodafone – EGP 0.30; Other national SMS – EGP 0.40; International SMS – EGP 0.60
- Holiday: SMS – EGP 0.50
- All plans: MMS – EGP 0.95
Voicemail: Free of charge
Wap/Data Calls: EGP 0.50 per minute
International Calls: *Peak tariff: Sunday – Thursday 8AM – 8PM
- USA, Canada and the Arab Countries – EGP 4.50 (peak); EGP 3.75 (off peak)
- Europe – EGP 5.00 (peak); EGP 4.50 (off peak)
- Africa, Australia, Far East and South America – EGP 6.00 (peak); EGP 5.00 (off peak)
International Roaming: International roaming service available, see here
Refills, Credit and Validity:
- EGP 10.00/11.50
- EGP 25.00/28.70
- EGP 50.00/57.50
- EGP 100.00/115.00
- EGP 200.00/230.00
**Refills do not extend validity. Users can buy “validity extension” cards for the cost of EGP 5, EGP 10, EGP 20 and EGP 40 extending of 3, 6, 12 or 24 months.
**For Holiday prepaid phone card, the initial validity is 40 days upon its activation
**Users can extend the validity of 30 days by buying a “validity extension” at the price of EGP 60 with no credit included.
Debiting method: 60/60
Voda Prefixes: 083x
The third GSM prepaid phone operator in Egypt is the Etisalat Misr. It is a subsidiary of Etisalat United Arab Emirates and started its operations in Cairo, Egypt in 2006. Etisalat Msr is one of the 18 service providers managed by Etisilat United Arab Emirates in Africa and the Middle East. They are the first telecommunications company in Egypt to offer 3.5G services. Now, Etisalat Misr has upgraded their network to 3.75G which is a marketing term for HSDPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access). This technology increases the upload speeds that can support 1.4 Mbit/s. They are also the first prepaid phone company to offer downlink speeds of up to 7.2 Mbit/s which is two times faster than the 3G network. Currently, Etisalat Misr has 32 million subscribers across Egypt, including the total number of fixed-line, Internet, mobile and television subscribers from each of its subsidiaries.
The prepaid phone card name for Etisalat Misr is called “Ahlan.” The activation fee for this prepaid phone card is EGP 20. Ahlan has unlimited validity after its activation. The net frequency for Etisalat Misr are GSM 900/1800 and WCDMA (HSDPA). The logo for this prepaid phone card is etisalat EG while its net code is 602 03. Ahlan offers calls from Monday to Sunday: calls to land line for EGP 0.49 and calls to mobile for EGP 0.39. There are two other options for Ahlan users:
- 15pt from Etisalat to Etisalat – send an SMS to 2008 and get calls to Etisalat for EGP 0.15 per minute
- Double the credit – send an SMS to 1919 and get double credit for EGP 20, EGP 40 and EGP 100 refills. Bonus credit has a validity of 30 days and must be used 50% for calls to Etisalat and 50% for other calls.
Additional Services and Costs:
Messaging:
- National SMS – EGP 0.29 per message
- International SMS – EGP 0.49 per message
- National MMS – EGP 0.75 per message
- International MMS – EGP 3.00 per message
Video Calls:
- National – EGP 0.75 per minute
- To Mobily KSA and Etisalat United Arab Emirates – EGP 7.00 per minute
- International – EGP 8.00 per minute
Voicemail: EGP 0.19 per minute
Data Calls:
- GPRS, 3G – EGP 0.99 (€ 0.13) for the first 5MB per day
- Each additional data – EGP 5.00/MB
- Mobile TV – EGP 0.50/min
- Browsing using the Etisalat mobile portal is free of charge
International Calls:
- Arab Countries and USA – Monday to Sunday 8AM – 8PM for EGP 3.50 per minute; Monday to Sunday 8PM – 8AM for EGP 2.70 per minute
- Europe and Canada - Monday to Sunday 8AM – 8PM for EGP 4.10 per minute; Monday to Sunday 8PM – 8AM for EGP 3.50 per minute
- Rest of the World - Monday to Sunday 8AM – 8PM for EGP 5.10 per minute; Monday to Sunday 8PM – 8AM for EGP 4.00 per minute
International Roaming: International roaming service available, see here
Billing: 60/60
Refills, Credit and Validity: EGP 3.00 with 250.00 credit
*Every recharge amount is tax inclusive. Etisalat Ahlan has lifetime validity