Five companies have submitted requests to Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yasser Al-Qadi to obtain land in order to build electronics factories in the new technological parks of Borg El-Arab and Assuit, according to a ministry official.

According to the official, four companies have reached the final stages of these agreements and begun their implementation plans, such as Sico which seeks to manufacture locally in partnership with Chinese company Megane. The other companies are Tecno Mobile, Huawei, telecommunications equipment company ZTE, and Chinese company Ansber.

The source said that some of these companies applied to manufacture mobile phones and home appliances, while one requested to set up a factory for manufacturing mobile phone batteries, and others offered a plan to manufacture smartphones.

He said that some agreements are in their final stages and others are under implementation. Silicon Waha, a company owned by the government and represented in ministry subsidiary the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), will be a main partner in the factories. This guarantees that a permanent and continuous return will be achieved and then be invested in the development of the information technology industry.

Al-Qadi held several meetings with these companies’ officials to learn about their requirements for local manufacturing. This comes within the framework of the ministry’s local manufacturing strategy for electronics.

The ministry’s Electronic Manufacturing Committee developed a strategy with five main axes, in which the first phase will be implemented over three years with investments worth EGP 361bn. According to the committee, the strategy will focus on manufacturing mobile devices, GPS, LED bulbs, smart counters, screens, and solar energy production supplies.