The price offered to fixed line monopoly operator Telecom Egypt for a mobile licence is 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($360 million), the country's telecommunications minister Atef Helmy said at news conference on Wednesday.

The country's three existing mobile phone service providers are Vodafone Egypt, Mobinil and Etisalat Egypt but with Egyptians increasingly using mobile phones and the Internet instead of making fixed line phone calls Telecom Egypt has been relying on its data traffic for revenue growth.

It has been waiting to launch a new mobile operation that would complement an existing joint venture with Vodafone and compete with the sector's two other players.

A licence for companies offering mobile services which allows them to use Telecom Egypt's fixed line network is priced at 100 million pounds, Helmy added. – Reuters