Internet commercialization is a new model for cooperation between the public and private sectors in telecommunication.
It is clear that Egypt's newly established Internet community and society have revolutionized a lot of concepts in the country.
In 1994 the Internet in Egypt became a public service, not only a service in the educational sector.It is clear that Egypt's newly established Internet community and society have revolutionized a lot of concepts in the country. The Internet has opened a window for marketing information services in Egypt to the world. The various projects of the Middle East Economic Summit, organized in Egypt by the World Economic Forum and the Egyptian Government in November 1996, were put on Web servers in Egypt and abroad prior to the summit. This has helped in the creation of linkages for the business community in Egypt with the outside world and provides an opportunity to promote tourism, culture, and trade.
Available at:
Internet Commercialization in Egypt: A Country Internet
Internet Commercialization in Egypt: A Country Model
[Date Accessed: 16 March 2011]
Lynch, D.; Rose, M. Internet System; Addison & Wesley: New York, 1993.
Internet Shutdown
On 27 January 2011, just after midnight in Cairo, all major Egyptian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were shut off (R1). This was a government reaction to Egyptians using social networks to organise protests against the thirty-year reign of President Hosni Mubarak (R2). There was a 90% decline in internet traffic between Egypt and the rest of the world (R3), although data travelling through Egypt to other countries on fibre optic cables was unaffected (R1). It is interesting to note that the small ISP which hosts the Egyptian Stock Exchange remained available online (R1) (R4). On 2 February 2011, all ISPs returned to normal functionality (R4).
(R1) "Egypt Leaves the Internet - Renesys Blog". Available at: http://www.renesys.com/blog/2011/01/egypt-leaves-the-internet.shtml [Accessed March 15, 2011].
(R2) "Egypt News - The Protests of 2011". The New York Times [online]. Available at: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/egypt/index.html?scp=1&sq=egypt%20protest&st=cse [Accessed March 15, 2011].
(R3) Richtel, M., 2011. "Egypt Cuts Off Most Internet and Cellphone Service". The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/technology/internet/29cutoff.html?_r=1&_r%201 [Accessed March 3, 2011].
(R4) 2011. "ISOC Monthly Newsletter - Egypt Internet Shutdown Q&A". Available at: http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/?p=3100 [Accessed March 3, 2011].
Pic1: All_outages_zoom2-thumb-400x300-192.png (PNG Image, 400Ã-300 pixels) - Scaled (0%), Available at: http://www.renesys.com/blog/assets_c/2011/01/All_outages_zoom2-thumb-400x300-192.png [Accessed March 15, 2011].
Pic2: egypt_returns-thumb-450x337-222.png (PNG Image, 450Ã-337 pixels) - Scaled (0%), Available at: http://www.renesys.com/blog/assets_c/2011/02/egypt_returns-thumb-450x337-222.png [Accessed March 15, 2011].
Social networking
In Egypt freedom of speech is limited to a certain extent, citizens are deprived on practising this right. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter has provided a platform on which citizens can speak freely in groups. The formed groups were used for sharing of ideas and to address the issues affecting the country at large. This came at a time when the government was working on encouraging citizens to engage in using the internet, so the cost of using the internet was extremely low, allowing more citizens to get internet at a much lower rate. The number of users increased drastically so much so close to 1000 members would join a group in the space of 24 hours. Meeting in public to organise marches or strikes became useless because citizens would rather meet in social networking sites to prevent and escape the chances of being imprisoned. Social networking proved to be more than sites were people meet and greet each other but to be a weapon that threw the Egyptian government.
Shapiro, S.M., 2009. Revolution, Facebook-Style. The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25bloggers-t.html [Accessed March 16, 2011].
History
Internet in Egypt started in the Egyptian Universities in year 1993, with cables connecting france and Egyptian universities Network of 9.6k. At that time statistics showed that there were approximately 2000 internet users of which 70% were in the academic sector. In 1994 the internet users rate increased drastically putting Egypt in fouth place in the world with 148% internet users
In 1994 Egyptian domain was divided into three sub domails.
1. The academic sub domain- which serves for Egyptian Universities Network (EUN.EG and SCI.EG)
2. The Commencial sub domain- (Com.EG)
3. Government sub domain- which serves via a partnership between IDSC and Reginal Information Tecnology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC)
Available at
http://www.iief.de/medisat/D1/egypt.html
Internet in Egyptian Schools
Egyptian Schools have primarily 3 major influences namely, traditional, secular and western. The education system in Egypt is state-owned therefore limiting diversity (R1). Due to the limited educational options the ICT - Information Communication and Technology growth must assist in broadening its function within the country (R 2). Internet usage is schools are mainly focused towards educational resources. Good written communication whilst using the internet is expected from the pupils (R3). The internet in Egypt is seen as a tool or vehicle to assist in teaching and communicating the necessary educational information to pupils. "Awareness" is different from "education." Education herein refers to systematic and formal education.(R4) Many pupils only fully discover the internet at College level (R4). The Social Networking age has brought a new distinction to "surfing the net".
R1) http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/411/Egypt-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html#ixzz1GkgKWvAa
R2) www.infodev.org/en/Document.399.pdf
R3) http://www.egyptianschool.com/userpolicy
R4) http://www.isoc.org/inet2000/cdproceedings/8d/8d_3.htm
Cellphone
The Internet has never faced anything like what happened in Egypt. In a country with a population of 80 million people and modernizing economy1 The government cuts off nearly all access to the network and shuts down cellphone service1. Vodafone, a cellphone provider said it was "obliged to comply" with the order.1With the government announcing that all cell phone network across Egypt will now be shut down2. Egypt was pulled of the map "nobody has Internet connectivity" Mr Cowie added2.Egypt made a colossal mistake that affected the country's economic status and data traffic2.
2Richtel, M., 2011. Egypt Cuts Off Most Internet and Cellphone Service. The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/technology/internet/29cutoff.html [Accessed March 14, 2011].
1Jason Ditz, 2011. Egypt Announces Total Shutdown of Cell Phone Service. Available at: http://news.antiwar.com/2011/01/31/egypt-announces-total-shutdown-of-cell-phone-service/ [Accessed March 14, 2011].
Government contribution
Internet development in Egypt began in 1854, through the establishment of an entity called Telecom Egypt, a company that operates fixed landline network. "In 1918, the Egyptian Government nationalized the Eastern Telephone Company, making in the biggest telecommunication company in the country" (Telecom Egypt.com). Today, it remains a monopoly over all fixed and international telephony (UNECA, n.d.a). According to (Heshem, n.d), another government effort to promote and encourage the growth of internet use in the country includes the launch of the free internet initiative in Cairo in Jan 2002 wherein Telecom Egypt was backed by Egypt's private internet providers. By September 2002, free internet services were available nationwide. After introducing the free internet model, there was a significant increase in the number of internet users in the country and that number has been on a steady increase ever since.
