Egypt’s Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises Investors has called on the government to provide urgent compensation for small businesses impacted by the disruption of financial and telecom services following the Ramses exchange fire.
The group said the outage, which began after a Monday blaze in the Ramses exchange building, caused “near paralysis” in sectors that rely heavily on digital platforms, including delivery apps, online payments, and customer support systems.
“The losses are staggering — estimated between 20 and 30 billion Egyptian pounds,” federation head Alaa El-Saqty told Al Manassa. He added that 15–20% of factories still lack full internet access, and some areas experienced outages lasting more than 35 hours.
Although Communications Minister Amr Talaat said Tuesday that 95% of services have been restored, parts of downtown Cairo continue to face slow or partial connectivity.
In a statement seen by Al Manassa, the federation warned that daily-wage workers were among the hardest hit, as many SMEs rely on short-term hires for delivery, marketing, and support roles. “Each day without service means lost wages for hundreds of workers,” the group said.
The federation urged the government to offer relief not only through direct financial aid, but also through tax breaks, free technical support, discounted utility bills, and deferred payments for insurance and licensing fees, proportionate to the duration of the outage.
“This crisis has exposed the risks of Egypt’s centralized telecom infrastructure and the lack of contingency planning,” the group said, warning that the disruption had also eroded confidence in the country’s business environment, especially among small and informal enterprises.
The federation called for real dialogue with policymakers to enhance economic and digital resilience — including backup telecom infrastructure, alternative coverage for critical zones, and training on emergency internet solutions like satellite connectivity
Egypt’s telecom regulator has ordered all operators to provide up to 10GB of free data to users affected by the fire.
The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) said in a statement Wednesday that mobile users will receive 1GB of free data, while home broadband subscribers will get 10GB. If a user’s fixed-line service remains unstable, they may instead receive 5GB on their mobile line.
