Egypt’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has adopted a regulatory framework for data centers and cloud computing, according to a statement yesterday. The new framework, designed in consultation with local and international data and cloud computing firms, will help Egypt attract investment and establish itself as a regional hub for data infrastructure, the regulator said.

Egypt is hoping to capitalize on certain strategic advantages to become a heavyweight in the data center industry — but as we reported back in February, progress has so far been slow. This new framework could address some of the challenges that stand in the way, including slow local user speeds and bandwidth due to poor fiber-optic infrastructure, high pricing (particularly for international traffic), a lack of private sector involvement, and a need for more technical know-how.

Head in the cloud? You can read a refresher on Egypt’s data hub ambitions here and here.