The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority will invite Vodafone, Etisalat, Orange Egypt and Telecom Egypt to officially apply for 4G mobile licenses today, said ICT Minister Yasser Al Qady (runtime: 5:36). NTRA sources tell Amwal Al Ghad, however, that the invitations have already been sent out. Al Qady also confirmed that the licenses will be auctioned off to bidders who can meet technical and financial qualifications. We’re taking the minister’s explicit emphasis of the basics as a clear message to players such as Noor ADSL that have mumbled lately about there being no bar to their applying for a 4G license.

…Telecom Egypt (TE) will begin offering mobile services using rival operators’ networks at first if it secures one of the 4G licences, an ICT Ministry official told Bloomberg’s Tamim Elyan. The plans to sell 4G licences will include a spectrum allotment allowing TE to offer wireless services in Egypt, a source said. “The plan replaces an earlier one that some mobile operators threatened to fight in international arbitration. Mobile carriers … were concerned that a new competitor would eat into their market share, the telecommunications regulator said at the time,” but a Beltone Financial analyst says the Egyptian government will not let the situation “escalate into threats of arbitration this time and has been seeking feedback from the carriers and working to settle disputes with Telecom Egypt.”

TE can afford to build us all a nice, fast network: Yesterday’s news came as TE recorded a more than 115% uptick in net profit after tax to EGP 1.196 bn. The fixed-line monopoly brought in revenues of EGP 3.065 bn during the quarter, up 11% y-o-y. The company also captured 74.8% of the ISP market through its subsidiary TE Data, adding 184k new customers to its base, according to a regulatory filing. Apparently, TE doesn’t worry much about the Egyptian Competition Authority reading its earnings releases.

What does 4G mean to me? Data speeds on a high-quality 4G network can be as much as 5-7 times faster than 3G, so faster downloads and better video streaming should be among the benefits. Also: Poorer battery life. Trust us, you’ll be learning how to manually enable and disable LTE on your phones.

What should I look out for? If you’re old enough to remember the rollout of 3G in Egypt, you’ll remember that network quality and geographical coverage will be among the key issues. Also at issue for those who buy their phones abroad or on the grey market will be whether Egyptian carriers launch networks on frequencies compatible with the LTE bands baked into your current phones.