(AFP Photo)
Egypt took 175th position, of 193 countries, for internet speed, with download speed at 2.7 Mbps, compared to 20.1 Mbps globally, broadband testing company Ookla said in its Netindex report.
Giza and Cairo are among the areas with fastest broadband connection in the country.
According to Netindex, top internet service providers (ISPs) include Raya Telecom, Egyptian Universities Network (EUN), Nile Online, and Noor Group. Etisalat Misr, Mobinil, Vodafone Egypt and TE data also made the top ISPs list.
In May, UAE-based research and teaching institution Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG) and online recruitment website Bayt.com stated that connectivity challenges, internet prices and the lack of Arabic content are the main challenges facing Arabs while using the internet.
The survey sampled approximately 3,000 people from 22 Arab countries. Of that number, 48% of respondents “faced challenges with connectivity and accessibility to the internet”, while 45% stated that the “cost of internet access was too high”. Around 41% of the people sampled argued that “the unavailability of Arabic language content was a challenge”.
In February, thousands of Egyptians pledged to not pay their monthly internet subscriptions, to protest poor service and high prices, in an effort to put “pressure” on internet service providers.
The act of online protest led the National Telecom Regularity Authority (NTRA) to call on internet service companies to review the quality of their services and to improve their efficiency over the short and long term, and to set fair internet prices.
The NTRA has observed an increase in complaints of poor internet service through its hotline or on social networks, according to a statement.