Slow Internet Speed Due to Heavy Traffic

Egypt’s Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Dr. Amr Talaat has clarified that the recent significantly slower internet speeds is because of the increased burden on the local network due to heavy traffic. Because more people are working or studying from home (or binge-watching Netflix, let’s be real), not only is there a heavier load on local networks, but on the speed of global websites being accessed worldwide. The minister added that this, in turn, is causing numerous technical difficulties.

Egypt increased the bandwidth of the local network six-fold to better high-speed broadband networks to accelerate the national internet speed, which increased from 5mbps to 30mbps at a total cost of EGP 30 billion. The minister said that this has been able to support the unprecedented pressure on the local network.

The ministry has been combating these issues through various means, such as increased data limits for internet packages by 20% and gifting users – who recharge their accounts via electronic payment - with 30 times their data bundles for free. Interestingly, the peak time for internet usage in the recent period has been between 5 PM and 5 AM. We won't engage in conjecture as to the reason for this, but we hope it's family-friendly.