Monday, 25 May 2026
Egyptian PM visits Ramses Central following major fire
Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly conducted a site visit this morning to Ramses Central, the country’s main telecom exchange in downtown Cairo, following a significant fire that broke out in the building earlier this week. He was joined by Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Amr Talaat, Cairo Governor Dr. Ibrahim Saber Khalil, and senior officials from Telecom Egypt and the Ministry of Communications.
The Prime Minister inspected the severity of the damage and received a comprehensive briefing from Minister Talaat on the ongoing efforts to fully restore telecommunications and digital services affected by the fire. The incident, which was reported on the seventh floor of the building at approximately 5:00 pm on July 7th, quickly spread due to the presence of cable infrastructure, challenging efforts to bring it under control.
Thanks to swift intervention by civil protection units, the blaze was contained, although services in surrounding areas were impacted. “Ensuring the structural safety of the building is an urgent priority,” Madbouly said, noting that a technical inspection is underway. He also expressed gratitude to the civil defense teams for their rapid response.
Minister Talaat confirmed that fixed internet services have returned to normal outside the immediate vicinity of Ramses Central. In affected areas, restoration is underway and expected to conclude within hours. Fixed landline voice services experienced similar disruptions and have largely been restored.
For mobile voice services provided by Egypt’s four operators (Orange, Vodafone, Etisalat, and WE), coverage was initially impaired, but connectivity now stands at around 95% of typical levels citywide, with full recovery expected imminently in the directly impacted zone.
Key sectoral services such as banking and stock market operations were briefly affected, but prompt network rerouting minimized downtime. The Cairo Stock Exchange paused trading on July 8th as a precaution, resuming normal operations today following service stabilization. Airport and emergency services (including police and ambulance call centers) have also had their connectivity fully restored, with interim hotlines provided during the recovery period.
Prime Minister Madbouly instructed officials to expedite a recovery plan for the Ramses Central building to restore it to full operational capacity as soon as structural safety is assured. Before departing, he personally thanked members of the civil protection force for their dedication in tackling the blaze and safeguarding a critical facility for Egypt’s digital infrastructure.