Recession hits mobile market due to high prices, supply shortage

The mobile market suffers from a state of stagnation due to a significant increase in prices and a scarcity of supply of devices, due to the halt in imports and the high exchange rate of the dollar.

Walid Ramadan, deputy head of the Mobile and Communications Division at the Chambers of Commerce, said that the prices of mobile phones rose at approximately the same rate as the pound’s price drop against the dollar.

Ramadan told Daily News Egypt that the mobile market is suffering from a complete stagnation due to the doubling of the price of mobile phones, in addition to the lack of supply of mobile devices.

Ramadan explained that the volume of locally manufactured mobile phones does not cover the volume of demand in the local market and does not contribute to lowering prices due to the import of components, whose prices have increased due to the high price of the dollar.

Mobile phone sales in Egypt recorded more than 15 million phones in 2021, according to the research institution GFK, compared to 13.3 million phones in 2020.

The value of Egypt’s imports of mobile phones decreased by 50.7%, to reach $299.1m during the first 4 months of this year, compared to $607m in the comparative period of the previous year.

Ramadan believes that the mobile market in Egypt is experiencing the same scenario as in 2016, when Egypt liberalized the exchange rate of the pound against the dollar in November of the aforementioned year, which caused a significant rise in mobile prices, followed by a state of stagnation for a period of time.