Many years ago, Egypt started building the information society which is, nowadays, a model as regards merging information as a main component in the socio-economic development process.

National Project for Technological Promotion
In his address to the National Conference on Information Technology Development in 1999, President Mubarak introduced the national project for technological development. This project aims at making Egypt a producer of sophisticated technological components and a main base for information industry. This could be realized through the full cooperation between the state's organizations and the private sector by launching a wide spread national campaign for eliminating technological illiteracy in the society and enhancing the computer accessibility at schools, universities and all governmental bodies.
The first specialized ministry concerned with information and communication technology was established in 1999 as a pioneering step towards executing this project. This ministry, in spite of being new, has succeeded in achieving tangible technological development through a huge leap in the field of communications, which led to establishing an advanced communication network that contributed to spreading computers and Internet services to all categories of the society.

Attracting Investments for Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
By June 2007, count of companies working in ICT in Egypt reached about 2,185, while the number of employees reached about 42,322 during the same period.

Telephone Service… Wide Spread in Cities and Villages
Telephone services are widely spread all over Egypt. Telephone density reached about 15 % in May 2007. Total telephone exchange capacity reached about 13.6 million lines during the same period and number of fixed line subscribers reached about 10.9 million.
Moreover, number of telephone exchanges in villages rose from 775 in October 1999, to 1137 in April 2007. In the course of these developments, Egypt witnessed the spread of cell phone services at a globally unprecedented rate through the increasing of cell phone users to reach 27 million in 2007, against 654,000 in 1999.

The previous figure shows number of fixed line subscribers (cities and villages)
Number of ADSL lines increased from 119,768 in May 2006, to 629,261 in May 2007.
The previous figure shows the changes in ADSL lines in different geographical areas.

Internet… A Rise in the Number of Subscribers
In the framework of the technological advancements in communication, the free-of charge Internet services were launched in January 2007. Number of Internet users increased to 6.78 million in May 2007, against 5.2 million in May 2006.

Electronic Government… Advanced Remote Services
This project, which started in 2001, aims at providing high-standard services to citizens and investors directly without bureaucratic hurdles through providing remote government services as soon as needed to everybody wherever he is. A government portal on the Internet is being launched, allowing citizens to have certain transactions processed.

2- Information Technology (IT)… Modern Information Society
Egypt had strongly and rapidly entered the age of information so as to build a knowledgeable modern society that is capable of dealing efficiently and effectively with the age requirements and the future challenges.

- IT Clubs... Computers and Internet for Everyone
Due to the State's keenness on increasing the societal IT awareness and providing computers and Internet services for the whole society, the IT clubs were established. Number of these clubs reached 1525 in 2007. They are found in the youth centers, public libraries, civil society's headquarters, cultural palaces, schools and universities and are available for all citizens. The clubs are equipped with computers and Internet so as to provide financed services in all cities and villages.

Smart Village... Enhancing and Entrenching Software Industry
The Smart Village is the first distinguished technological village that attracts foreign investments to enhance software industries and Internet services, in addition to assembling PCs and peripherals. It is a great step to cross the digital gap and overcome the technological obstacles by providing active technological infrastructure. At the same time, it is the basis of promising industries that contributes to exporting raw materials in cooperation with the international companies, thus putting Egypt on the map of the countries exporting of software and computer components worldwide.

Presidential Decree No. 355 of 2000 was issued to allocate land for establishing the Smart Village along Cairo- Alexandria highway at Abu Rawash. The project is established on three phases with a capital of LE 3 billion. The first phase was opened in September, 2003. Its most important building comprises a telecommunication centre, businessmen service centre, conferences centre and technological incubators building which sponsors young technology investors to support and develop their business. The second phase of this distinguished village is underway.

The encouraging Egyptian policy for foreign investments in the village has fruited in an increase in the number of operating companies. Moreover, several agreements with major international technology companies were signed, by virtue of which the companies shall move their headquarters to the Smart Village in order to participate in building the Egyptian Knowledge Society and benefit from the rapid advance in the communication and information technology market in the region.
Furthermore, in the framework of making Alexandria an electronic city, a smart village will be built there on an area of 300 feddans.

Cultural and Natural Heritage Documentation Centre
This Centre is a unique one established in the Smart Village in September 2004. It aims at raising the public awareness of Egypt's cultural and natural heritage by submitting the information technology tools in order to document this rich heritage of Egypt. It also aims to entrench and upgrade professional competences in the field of natural and cultural documentation by using the state-of-the-art digital technology.

“Eternal Egypt” website is one of ten distinguished programmes administrated by the centre. These programmes are: Egypt's Archeological Map, Egypt's Architectural Heritage, Egypt's Natural Heritage, Egypt's Popular Heritage, Egypt's Musical Heritage, Egypt's photographic Memory, Islamic Scientific Heritage, Manuscripts, Heritage Panorama and Joint International Projects. It is worth mentioning that “Eternal Egypt” project won the Universal Top Price for Information in Tunisia in 2005 as it is considered a vivid record about Egypt's history, people, places and religions and arts related to it.

UNESCO Award for the Heritage Documentation Centre
Due to its distinguished role on the international arena, the Cultural and Natural Heritage Documentation Centre won the UNESCO Award for its role in preparing a file about As-Sira Al-Hilaleya “The Helal's Biography”. This biography was added to the UNESCO list for the international moral heritage.

The centre participated in several exhibitions and conferences such as “The International Heritage Conference” held in Alexandria in cooperation with the UNESCO.
Egyptian Postal Service... Long History and Modern Systems
Postal service in Egypt has a long history that dates back to 2000 BC. At that time it was in its primitive form. Along ages, Egypt's postal system has been steadily advancing till the postal service was first established in January, 1865. It was then affiliated to several ministries and finally to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in 1999.
Egypt was among 22 countries shared in establishing the Universal Postal Union (UPU) after Bern Conference in 1874 and was chosen as a member in this Union. She also actively shared in establishing the Arab Postal Union and the African Postal Union.

More Developed Postal Services
The affiliation of the Postal Authority to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology contributed to upgrading its services and introducing it with more efficiency and activity. The Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) was introduced, thus providing secure exchange of electronic documents among users through the central unit for communication (EDI SWITCH). This contributes to finding reliable various applications of E-business, E-commerce and E-government systems.

The first phase of the project of creating a modern digital communication network for the Postal Authority was opened in 2003 with total investments of LE 1 million as a new step to link all offices in Egypt together with the main centres. According to the world rating of the average mail transport time between Egypt and the outside world, Egypt was classified under the first category.

Postal Service… An Increase in Post Offices and Savings in 2007
The National Postal Authority witnessed several achievements during 2007, salient of which: Number of post offices increased to 3,591, number of automated post offices increased to 750 and the savings in the Saving Fund increased to about LE 50.1 billion.

Implementing Phase II of Automating Postal Offices
In cooperation with the Postal Authority, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology had prepared an executive plan for the second phase of linking the postal offices with a unified network through which all the state-of-the-art financial and postal services are provided. This phase is a pivotal turning point in the modernization process of the Egyptian postal sector as it includes extending and automating all services to more than 2500 postal offices in villages and remote areas. The first phase of such a plan included 600 offices and was successfully implemented in 2004.

Electronic Archive Project
This project is an electronic method to store the documents of companies and industrial establishments participating in the project. Within one year during its first phase, the project is providing 1000 job opportunities. It is also going to spread all over Egypt.