Egypt’s digital exports reached $7.4 billion over the past seven years, a 124% increase from $3.3 billion in 2018, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat announced. He noted that the communications and information technology (ICT) sector has been the fastest-growing in the economy, with annual growth rates between 14% and 16%.
Amr Talaat, Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, announced at the monthly meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt that digital exports reached $7.4 billion over the past seven years, up 124% from $3.3 billion in 2018. The ICT sector, he said, has been the economy’s fastest-growing, with annual rates of 14% to 16%, and its GDP contribution rose from 3.2% to 6% this year.
Outsourcing exports doubled in three years, from $2.4 billion in 2022 to $4.8 billion in 2025, as companies in the industry grew from 90 to 240, with over 270 service delivery centers operational. Talaat outlined Egypt’s Digital Strategy, built on four pillars—fostering digital innovation, enhancing citizen services, driving GDP and exports, and job creation in the digital economy—supported by strong infrastructure and a favorable legislative environment.
The ministry is expanding the pool of ICT professionals, with trainees in tech specializations increasing 200-fold over seven years, from 4,000 in fiscal 2018/2019 to 500,000 last year, targeting 800,000 this year. This includes formal education and vocational training aligned with market needs, such as the first graduates from Egypt University of Informatics in the New Administrative Capital and the expansion of WE Schools of Applied Technology from one in 2021 to 27 across all governorates.
Training methods have diversified to in-person, online via platforms like MaharaTech, and blended models, covering technical, language, soft skills, freelancing, and entrepreneurship. Programs prepare youth for the freelance economy and equip non-ICT professionals with AI skills, while the Digitopia competition identifies digital talent.
Egypt’s National AI Strategy, launched in 2019, advanced the country 46 places in the Government AI Readiness Index. Its second edition this year focuses on six pillars: data, skills, ecosystem, infrastructure, applications, and governance. AI systems are being deployed for better services, including early breast cancer detection and speech-to-text in court sessions.
Supporting Egypt’s global outsourcing hub status, agreements signed last November with 55 global and local companies aim to create 75,000 jobs over three years, following 2022 deals with 29 firms that targeted 34,000 jobs but delivered 60,000 by end-2024. Fifteen global brands now manufacture mobile phones in Egypt with 40% local value-added, boosting production capacity from 3.3 million units in 2024 to 10 million in 2025.
The Egypt Digital Services Platform offers 210 government services to over 10 million users, handling about 2 million transactions monthly. Since 2019, $6 billion has been invested in networks—$2.7 billion for mobile and $3.3 billion for fixed broadband—driving a 16-fold increase in average internet speed to 91.3 Mbps, making Egypt first globally in fixed broadband speed, up from 40th in 2018.
The second phase expands fiber optics to 4,500 villages under the “Decent Life” initiative, alongside 5G rollout, Wi-Fi Calling, IoT for vehicles, and telemarketing governance. Over 90% of Asia-Europe data traffic passes through Egypt via 21 international submarine cables, with six more under construction.
Talaat highlighted the regulatory framework, including the Cybercrime Law, Personal Data Protection Law, Egyptian Responsible AI Charter, Cloud First Policy, and Open Data Policy.