Mobile phone services would soon get expensive in Egypt, Yves Gauthier, Mobinil‘s COO, said on Monday, citing increased operational expenses.

“In the last (couple of) years the traffic has increased and we have had to increase operational expenses,” Gauthier told a group of journalists, adding the company could no longer keep absorbing the market shocks.

According to Egypt Independent, Gauthier also told reporters that plans were afoot to introduce new 4G infrastructure in Egypt.
This is in addition to identifying other investments that would prompt an upsurge in costs.

Egypt Independent reported that Gauthier estimated that the company would “garner” billions worth of investments in the 2013 fiscal year.

“We are in an industry where we need to invest, to prepare the way for new technology,” Gauthier was quoted as saying.

“With the exchange rate of the pound, if you are not able to increase revenue, you cannot provide the same services,” he said. “At a certain moment, you have to increase your revenue.”

Egypt Independent reported that Gauthier said that the price hike – first passed by mobile operator Vodafone – was merely the company’s decision to pass the existing 15 percent sales tax on to consumers.

Mobinil had not made a move to increase prices yet, but this was “becoming an inevitability” considering the current economy, other company executives said.

Gauthier reportedly said that if the International Monetary Fund-mandated tax reforms put on ice by President Mohamed Morsy in December are finally put into action, the company would have no choice but to pass the higher taxes on to its customers.

“We can no longer keep absorbing the shocks to the market here,” he said. Mobinil is owned by majority shareholders Orange, a French Telecom company and Orascom Telecom Holding, a division of the Egyptian-owned Orascom Holding. Mobinil’s market share in Egypt is estimated at 34 percent.