Due to increasing customer demand, we added a new point of presence (PoP) in Cairo, Egypt, earlier this year to help improve connectivity in the region. This new PoP reduces latency from an average of 80 milliseconds to 20 milliseconds or less for users who previously relied on our nearest hub location in Frankfurt, Germany.
Egypt is a land of vast e-commerce potential with a market projected to reach $13.18 billion by 2025.(1) Are you curious about the country’s digital landscape as it stands in 2022? If so, check out our brief overview of Egypt below!
The trendsetter of the Arab world
Organizations looking to tap into emerging markets should take a closer look at Egypt, one of the earliest cradles of human civilization. Egypt is home to more than 105 million people and is the most populous country in the region collectively known as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The country’s strategic location has historically made it a bustling hub for various trade routes between the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Today, Egypt is an important partner of the United States due to our many shared interests and robust commercial ties and serves as a vital bridge for businesses extending their commercial activities into the Middle East and Africa.
Digital transformation, or the process of integrating digital technology into all areas of a business, has grown sharply in the country in recent years. It’s no surprise, as the number of internet users in Egypt has nearly tripled from 26.4% to 71.9% of the population in the last decade. For comparison, internet adoption grew by 15 ppts in the United States during the same time period.(2)
Egyptian users spend an average of 8 hours and 2 minutes per day on the internet – well above the world average of just under 7 hours. Over half of that time is spent on mobile phones.(3)
Indeed, Egypt’s smartphone adoption for internet users is some of the highest in the region at 94.5%, and nearly all users between 16-64 years old stream some sort of TV content over the internet.(4) This makes the country particularly attractive for companies in the over-the-top (OTT) media sector, which includes subscription video on demand (SVoD) services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Starzplay, and others. In fact, there are more viewers of digital videos than live broadcast television in Egypt today.(5)
The country’s mobile gaming market has also seen strong growth in recent years. Egyptian gamers spent a total of $676 million on games so far in 2022, representing a 21.4% year-over-year growth from 2021.(6) Due to the relatively high barrier of entry in costs related to traditional PC and console gaming, Egypt is quickly becoming mobile-first and is poised to lead the region in the mobile app industry in the near future.(7)
Of course, streaming online media and playing internet-connected mobile games require a solid network and low latency. This is why an increasing number of big players in the digital entertainment space have been searching for effective ways to strengthen their network to reduce latency and improve user satisfaction in the region. One such way is through bare metal servers that keep applications and content closer to end users without the need for organizations to deploy their own local infrastructure.
Final thoughts…
It takes a ton of research, careful planning, and a reliable global service provider to successfully expand into new countries and continents. Tapping into the economic potential of emerging markets demands low-latency, high-performance infrastructure. If you need help setting up a strong foundation in compute and networking to grow your business, talk to a Zenlayer solution expert today!
References:
(1) https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/ecommerce/egypt
(2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/209117/us-internet-penetration/
(3) https://datareportal.com/digital-in-egypt
(4, 6) https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-egypt
(5) https://www.brightcove.com/en/resources/blog/mena-ott-opportunity-2022/
