By; wael Elgafry

The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Egypt (NTRA) carried out a series of judicial seizures in Greater Cairo as well as some Upper Egypt governorates, through judicial officers, in coordination with Telecom and National Security Investigation Departments and post visual references and investigations conducted by Telecom Investigations Department as well as permission obtained from the concerned prosecution.

The procedures resulted in the seizure and removal of two telecom networks consisting of 5 antennas, 152 routers and a number of computers used to save data and to manage as well as operate internet network for customers with the aim of streaming and disseminating Internet services to the public, targeting more than 3000 subscribers in El-Minya and Luxor for the purpose of generating illegal financial profit.

The act of establishing an internet network without obtaining a permission from NTRA actually constitutes a violation for the provisions of Article 21 of Telecommunication Regulation Law No. 10 of 2003, which stipulates that it is prohibited to establish or operate telecommunication networks, provide telecommunication services, without obtaining a license from NTRA. And in accordance with Article 72, it’s stipulated that whoever carries out any of the aforementioned acts without obtaining a license from NTRA shall be liable to prison for a period of not less than six months and not exceeding five years and a fine of not less than fifty thousand pounds and not exceeding five hundred thousand pounds, or either penalty. Furthermore, a large number of SIM cards sold outside official telecom outlets, in addition to 8 devices used to activate mobile lines as well as many photocopies of national ID cards, and contracts for the sale and activation of mobile SIM cards registered with user data, were also confiscated in Cairo and Assiut, a practice that is deemed a violation of the regulatory frameworks issued by NTRA regarding the sale and activation of mobile phone lines in Egypt’s market.

This step comes within NTRA's role in controlling, governing and regulating the telecommunications market as well as preventing all violations and illegal practices in this market.

These judicial campaigns are also necessary to eliminate negative and illegal practices in Egypt’s telecom market that negatively affect the telecommunications services provided to users.

NTRA also stressed that it will continue to carry out regular campaigns during the upcoming period on stores that violate the provisions of the Telecommunication Regulation Law across the Arab Republic of Egypt, in order to ensure commitment to all measures and procedures regulating business in telecommunications market and thereby guarantee the rights of telecom users.