Friday, July 11, 2025, 1:21 AM
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MCIT: Minister’s Remarks on Internet Performance After Ramses Fire Taken Out of Context

Thursday 10 July 2025 11:41

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has clarified that recent remarks made by Minister Amr Talaat regarding internet performance following the fire at the Ramses Telephone Exchange were taken out of context and misrepresented in several reports.

In a statement issued today, the ministry emphasized that the Minister’s comments—delivered during a meeting with the ICT Committee at the House of Representatives—were technical in nature and intended to highlight the resilience and efficiency of Egypt’s telecommunications network, even under significant pressure.

The fire, which broke out at the Ramses exchange building earlier this week, raised widespread concern over the potential impact on national connectivity. However, Minister Talaat clarified that while the Ramses facility plays a crucial role in the network, it is only one component of a broader and highly interconnected system that has been developed over several years to serve over 120 million mobile users and 15–20 million fixed Internet subscribers across the country.

The Minister also addressed what he described as a common misconception—that Egypt’s digital infrastructure is solely dependent on the Ramses exchange. He refuted this claim, stating:

> “Had Ramses been the sole backbone of Egypt’s internet, complete failure would have made these very discussions impossible—yet they took place online, underscoring the network’s continued functionality.”

Talaat further explained that his remarks about "improved performance" referred specifically to the technical ability of the network to handle abnormal traffic loads in the aftermath of the incident. This, he said, is a key indicator used by telecom professionals to assess service efficiency under stress.

The ministry reiterated its commitment to transparency and technical accuracy and called on media outlets and commentators to avoid misrepresenting statements that are grounded in engineering assessments and network resilience data.