The Egyptian unit of Etisalat, the telecom giant of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), attracted more than 300,000 subscribers in the first 20 days of operation, local newspaper Gulf News reported on Tuesday.

Etisalat Misr, the company's subsidiary in Egypt, launched its services on May 1 with the country's first 3.5G network, bringing rich multimedia content and enabling mobile business across Egypt.

It also brought mobile television, high-speed internet access and video calling to the Egyptian market for the first time.

Aiming at attracting 10 million subscribers by 2010 in the Egyptian market which has a population of more than 70 million, Etisalat Misr plans to invest 6 billion to 8 billion Egyptian pounds (1 U.S. dollar equals to 5.68 Egyptian pounds) additionally in the next three years, the report said.

"These investments will be allocated to all aspects of our business in Egypt including new base stations, enhancing the network, customer service centers, and so forth," Etisalat Misr's chairman Jamal Al Sadat was quoted as saying.

The company is also planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) to list itself on the Egyptian stock market within two years, the report added.

Etisalat Misr is one of 14 service providers managed by Etisalat in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Etisalat's services currently reach more than 32 million subscribers.

Source: Xinhua