Who do you have to know to get fast internet around these parts? Serious question. We went, with our checkbook wide open, to one of the three big mobile network operators — one that claims to be corporate friendly and that says it offers bundles including WiMax and microwave solutions. One with whom we have been a customer in good standing for more than a decade.

“Please, Big Telecom, get our soon-to-be new office online. Give us microwave internet, so that we may surf speedily and without worry. So that those who work for our parent company may back-up their large files to their hearts’ content.”

Days later: “No,” sayeth the telecom, mumbling something incoherent about bandwidth allocations at the Telecom Egypt-run central.

“Tayyeb, what about WiMax?”

“Sure,” sayeth Big Telecom. “That’s a great idea. We’ll get back to you.”

Days later: “Actually, no.”

“But why?”

“Because.”

Full-stop.

There are few experiences less satisfying than dealing with a corporation that no longer cares about being good, let alone great.

Careem is launching today a pilot run of its new, USD 100 mn fixed-route bus service, a company executive said, according to Masrawy. The service, a competitor to hot startup Swvl, will kick off in Cairo today and roll out to Alexandria and other parts of the country in the near future, the exec claims. The ride-hailing company had announced its plans to pilot the service in August, saying it will start with at least four Egyptian cities before tapping the broader MENA market.

This comes as Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will be in Cairo tomorrow for “an important announcement” (pdf).

EDEX 2018 opens today in Cairo. The nation’s first defense expo runs through Wednesday at the Egypt International Exhibition Center and will feature international pavilions from 20 countries. Among those attending: The Brits, who have sent trade envoy (and frequent visitor to Cairo) Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Lt. Gen. Sir John Lorimer, the UK government’s senior defense advisor for the Middle East, to visit, according to a statement.

A delegation of 11 major French companies is in town today, says Ludovic Prévost, director of the Business France office in Cairo. Execs from companies including Veolia and Systra are along for the visit.

Events you can attend today:

• AUC’s knowledge portal, Business Forward, marks its one-year anniversary today;
• The French Chamber of Commerce is hosting a seminar on consumer finance this evening.

Asian shares opened up this morning, oil prices surged and the USD got a bit cheaper after the so-called Trump-Xi trade “armistice,” suggesting a good start to the week for equities when western markets open later this morning.

Moscow and Riyadh will extend their OPEC+ pact for another year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the weekend, Bloomberg reported. OPEC and other oil producers are scheduled to meet in Vienna on 6 December to possible output cuts to prop up prices.

If you’ve made a reservation at a Starwood hotel in the past four years, your personal information may have been hacked. The personal data of as many as 500 mn people has been exposed, including passport details, phone numbers, email addresses and, for some, encrypted credit card information. You should worry if you’ve stayed at hotels including the Sheraton, the Ritz Carlton or the Autograph Collection. Reuters and the New York Times have the story. New Starwood parent company Marriott has put up an entirely unsatisfying website, and you can take Wired’s advice on how to protect yourself from this hack and others going forward.

In miscellany this morning:

Do you run a family business? Thinking about succession? Brown Brothers Harriman, where the late US President George H.W. Bush’s father was a partner, has got you covered with their surprisingly good Owner to Owner quarterly magazine. Highlights include a profile of a family that sold their department store chain to private equity, a look at family business governance, and a discussion of how buy-sell agreements help succession plans. You can read it online in pdf form here.

Jeffrey Talpins may be the hottest investor on Wall Street — and odds are good you’ve never heard of him despite his hedge fund, Element Capital Management, posting a gain of 26.8% in 10M2018 against a loss of nearly 1.9% for the average hedge fund. Read: Jeffrey Talpins is the hedge-fund king you’ve never heard of (WSJ).

Element Capital’s website? We call that an “F.U.” site. As in “Oh, you want more information? F.U.” Click though and you’ll understand. (Though by hedgie standards, it’s actually rather generous with the run of text down the right-hand side.)

The head of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund says he doesn’t have a personal assistant, arranges his own meetings and makes his own travel arrangements. An FT columnist asks him if he’s for real — and, while cheering him on, admits to having enjoyed being pampered herself.

For those who dream of the iPad Only Lifestyle, but still need to work on their Mac: Tld YouTuber Jonathan Morrison (who recently made waves with a video of him editing a video on his 2018 iPad Pro) shows how to ‘transform’ your iPad Pro into a Mac using a 2018 Mac Mini and a little dongle (watch, runtime: 4:24).