Vodafone Egypt (VFE), in which Telecom Egypt (TE) [ETEL.CA] owns a stake of 44.95%, is set to pay the USD-portion of its recently-acquired 4G licence before 14 November 2016, according to the company’s CEO, Stefano Gastaut. VFE has recently paid EGP1.53bn to the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), representing 50% of its USD346.3mn licence, of which USD11.3mn for a virtual fixed-line licence. Gastaut said the fluctuation of the USD in the parallel market made it difficult to source the USD portion to pay VFE’s equipment suppliers such as Huawei and Ericsson; Gastaut noted that VFE uses its parent company, Vodafone Group, to source USD liquidity for various needs. Regarding the international gateway license (IGW), Gastaut said VFE will announce its decision in two months. In a related context, Al Borsa newspaper wrote that VFE started negotiations with TE to offer fixed-line services virtually over TE’s network, quoting Gastaut. (Al Mal, Al Borsa)   Telecom Egypt: EGP8.58 as of 01 November 2016, Rating: Neutral, FV: EGP10.25 per share, MCap: USD1,649mn, ETEL EY / ETEL.CA