The talking heads were largely preoccupied last night with the release of CAPMAS’ state census and the hike in mobile phone scratch cards.

Prompted by the findings of the census, Planning Minister Hala El Saeed said the government will criminalize underage marriage, telling Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi the move will be part of the government’s strategy to curb the explosive population growth. The rate of sustainable economic growth (which the government projects should be at 5%) must be double that of population growth, said Saeed (watch, runtime 10:38).

Kol Youm’s Amr Adib was distraught with the results of the census, which he said “belong to a wreckage, not a country.” He wondered aloud how we plan on catching up with the likes of Malaysia and China when nearly one quarter of the population remains illiterate (watch, runtime 2:40).

Census coordinator Hussein Abdel Aziz told Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary that, if Egypt’s population growth continues at the same rate — approximately 30.2% over the past decade — the number of Egyptians is set to double every 30 years (watch, runtime 6:53). The National Population Center’s General Manager of Planning Sameer Abo Raya attributed the population increase to a rural culture in which people view children as a source of income (watch, runtime 2:45).

Calls by citizen action groups to boycott MNOs: As for the phone cards price increase, El Hosary then spoke to Association of Citizens Against High Prices Director Mahmoud Askalany who announced that his organization will boycott Etisalat Misr, Orange Egypt, and Vodafone Egypt. Other options remain on the table including lobbying for shifting subscriptions to market newcomer WE — Telecom Egypt’s network. He said the hike on scratch card prices violates the Competition Act, which bans market players from simultaneously increasing their prices (watch, runtime 5:06).

…with calls from MPs to remove the head of the NTRA: Adib also zoned in on the scratch card drama, speaking to House ICT Committee MP Tadros Kaldas, who said that Parliament could remove the head of the NTRA over the price hikes if necessary. Kaldas accused the authority of succumbing to pressure from MNOs, who pointed to rising fuel and electricity costs and the impact of the float of the EGP to justify price hikes. Kaldas counters that energy plays a marginal role in overall costs (watch, runtime 3:47).