Minister states that with digital transformation, MCIT seeks to adapt information tech to improve the performance of services in various state institutions
In order to achieve the transformation into a digital society, build a strong digital economy, and build a digital Egypt, the focus is on three main axes: digital transformation, building digital skills and digital creativity, says Minister of Communications and Information Technology [MCIT], Amr Talaat.
The minister’s comment was pointed towards the ministry’s integrated strategy to build a digital Egypt, which is a comprehensive vision and plan and is the cornerstone of transforming Egypt into a digital society.
Talaat states that with digital transformation, MCIT seeks to adapt information technology to improve the performance of services in various state institutions, based on fully digitized systems, during a sit down with Al Borsa News.
This will be done through the conversion of government services into digital services and making them available through various outlets in cooperation with the ministries providing the service, which contributes to raising work efficiency, achieving transparency and facilitating services provided to citizens.
When it comes to building digital skills and job opportunities, Talaat notes that preparing the Egyptian citizen for the era of digital transformation is an essential element for implementing the Digital Egypt project, as a digital society cannot be built without the level, experience and sufficient numbers of human resources that will undertake this task.
The ministry is concerned with providing training and capacity building for all segments of society, including school and university students, graduates, professionals, women and people with disabilities, in addition to youth in Arab and African countries.
The ministry also seeks to develop Egyptian skills and expertise in the various disciplines of the ICT industry.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is looking to build an ecosystem that aims to encourage entrepreneurship and stimulate creativity, in addition to promoting research, development, innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of information and communication technology to stimulate the growth of the sector and transform Egypt into a regional center for innovation.
This is part of the third axis, digital creativity.
In another context, the minister added that the communications and information technology sector is the fastest growing in Egypt during the last fiscal year 2019-2020, with a rate of 15.2 percent.
He said that the sector’s contribution to Egypt’s GDP is 4.4 percent during the same year, and the ministry aims to reach a growth rate of about 16 percent in the current fiscal year, as well as looking to increase the sector’s contribution to the GDP to reach 8 percent within three years.
The minister added that the ICT sector’s investments amounted to about 48 billion pounds, with a growth rate of 35 percent in the last fiscal year 2020-2019, aiming to increase this percentage by 40 percent in the current fiscal year.
On the consumption rates and pressure witnessed by the Internet due to the Corona pandemic, the minister said that communication networks witnessed severe pressure due to the intensity of consumption with the start of the pandemic.
Peak usage hours increased from 7 hours a day to more than 15 hours with an increase in the volume of consumption reaching 99 percent during the times when people were mostly at home, and also relying more on education and remote work, adding that we are now witnessing another peak of the pandemic with consumption rates exceeding the first wave.
Regarding the plans taken by the ministry to develop Internet services in Egypt, which it implements in cooperation with Telecom Egypt, the minister referred to raising the efficiency of the Internet through a plan that began two years ago with investments amounting to about 30 billion pounds, which resulted in the rise of Egypt from 40 to fourth place on the African continent.
“We started the second phase of the Internet development plan in the second half of 2020 with investments amounting to about $300 million, and with the beginning of 2021, we will start the third phase of raising the efficiency of the Internet and connecting fiber cables to a greater number of homes,” he went on to say.
In another context, he added that the new administrative capital was chosen to become the digital capital of the Arab world in 2021.
He attributed this to it being a fully smart city, and all its services and facilities are managed through a digital system.
