Egypt second fastest-growing computer market

Egypt has a 35-percent growth rate and that is the fastest in the world after China with a 38-percent growth," said Rob Eckelmann, Intel's managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told a news conference here. Egypt also beats other Arab countries in the Gulf and North African that have 20-percent growth, he said.

Eckelmann, a former US deputy assistant secretary of commerce for science and electronics, was speaking to the journalists here on the sidelines of a seminar to introduce local PC assemblers to new products.

"Around 200,000 PCs were sold in Egypt since the beginning of 1998 compared to 160,000 in 1997, and we expect one million to be sold in 2004," Intel's Middle East General Manager Gilbert Lacroix told AFP. "In terms of population (65 million Egyptians) this is very little. But there is a huge potential when we think that 40 percent of the population now is under 15 years of age," he said.

Sixty-five percent of the market is controlled by 800 small, local PC assemblers with the remaining 35 percent of the market held by world computer giants, Lacroix said. "We would like to train these assemblers and make them familiar with the new products available, particularly the quality products," Lacroix said. Eckelmann said this was necessary "to meet the challenges" of 2000 and Europe's switch to the Euro starting January 1, 1999.

Intel's Middle East "road show" of 11 countries is aimed at encouraging small and large companies to learn about the technology trends that will shape business in 1999 and beyond as well as introduce "E-business implementation" -- or the use of the Internet to carry out business transactions. "In Egypt, E-business offers tremendous potential for the tourist industry, providing greater reach and export," Eckelmann said. Tourism, Egypt's main source of foreign currency, brought more than three billion dollars to the country's coffers in 1997.

"E-business will get rid of the middle men and make it easier for end users to get into direct contact," he said. There are currently one billion PCs worldwide connected to the Internet, according to Intel data.