Free Internet Access Is Profitable In Egypt

prostoalex writes "With the demise of free Internet access providers, it's interesting to see this model working in Egypt, where the state-owned telecom allows people to dial-up for free as long as they pay the regular phone access fees. Associated Press quotes the phone line charges being 25 cents per hour. The ISPs that promote free Internet access from Telecom Egypt are then given their share of the profit."

Comments

Successful in India

[daaku]

The same strategy is being used in India, and its quite successful. Its not exactly free, as you pay for phone access plus more, but there's no account setup, username/password and so on. Its extremely convenient, you get charged for what you use with your phone bill.

Re:25 Cents US?

[Drawkcab]

Their per capita GDP is $3000 per person, about 1/11 of the US, and the distribution of wealth/income is not unreasonable. So lets say that is the equivalent of $3/hour in terms of local purchasing power. That compares favorably to the way dialup ISPs used to work before flat rate plans became commonplace, and they are not committed to any monthly bill, they only have to pay for what they need. Internet Cafes are also popular in Egypt, another way that the general population has affordable access to the net.

Not big news

[Stephen Samuel]

I remember similar things going on in England. As I remember it, there was a big fight going on about who should get what part of the reciprocal payments for customers using the service. This was a couple of years ago.

The real fact of the matter is that the service isn't free.. It's just being paid for through your phone bill.

Because I get my ADSL from my phone company (Telus) I can also pay for it through my phone bill... Does this mean that I'm getting my ADSL for free too?

(at $40CAN/month ($25US) for 1.5megabit down and 500kbit up, some people might claim that I really do)

Slashdot discovers hot water

[hysterion]

Where have you been?!?

It's not just Egypt, it's any place with no flat local phone rates, i.e. basically everywhere except North America . Example: it's the standard in Switzerland.

(See also Estonia, Brazil, Portugal, India, Ireland, Argentina, Guatemala, England, Poland, ...)

Slashdot editors need to get out more.

Why Single out Egypt?

[evilviper]

Free Internet can work anywhere that people are already paying per-minute for local phone calls. It doesn't work in the US where unlimited local calls are free.

I think it would be more appropriate to call it "Free Internet Fails in USA, works everywhere else"

Anyone know why Egypt is getting singled out?