مصر.. رئيس الوزراء يتفقّد سنترال رمسيس «المحروق» ويتابع عودة الخدمات

During an inspection tour this morning to follow up on the repercussions of the fire at Ramses Central in downtown Cairo, Egyptian Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly emphasized the necessity of taking the required measures to ensure the structural safety of the Ramses Central building. Officials clarified that a technical report will be issued by the Technical Inspection Authority on construction works after examining the building in this regard.

Madbouly expressed his gratitude to the civil protection personnel for their efforts in dealing with the fire that broke out at Ramses Central, where he met with several of them and praised the efforts they made to extinguish it.

The Prime Minister also reviewed the efforts being made to restore communication services that were affected due to the fire that erupted inside the central belonging to the Egyptian Telecommunications Company. He called for the urgent submission of a recovery plan and for the building to return to full operational capacity as soon as possible, once its structural safety is confirmed.

The Prime Minister was briefed on the current status of the central building in terms of structural safety and the status of services provided after the fire broke out. The Minister of Communications presented a detailed report in this regard, indicating that a fire broke out on the seventh floor of Ramses Central at around 5 PM on July 7, 2025. The civil protection was notified, and despite the presence of self-extinguishing mechanisms and manual attempts to assist, the rapid spread of the fire through the cables led to its transfer to adjacent rooms and intensified, making it uncontrollable by self-extinguishing devices.

He also clarified that the civil protection arrived around 5:30 PM, but the fire spread to most floors of the building and service halls, partially affecting services, both geographically and sectorally.

The minister stated: Immediately, services were transferred to alternative exchanges for the largest part of the network of the Egyptian Telecommunications Company, and maneuvers were conducted to restore services that could not be resolved through the alternative exchanges.

Regarding the status of the services provided, Dr. Amr Talaat explained that concerning landline services (data), there is no service interruption outside the Ramses Central area, and the performance quality has returned to normal levels. However, in the vicinity of the central, there is a complete outage affecting customers, and service has been partially restored, with the remaining customers expected to have their service restored within hours on Wednesday, while also noting the incident's impact on landline services (voice).

He clarified that outside the Ramses Central area, there is no impact on the service, and service was restored at 6 AM yesterday, Tuesday, at its normal rates, while in the vicinity of Ramses Central, there is a complete outage affecting customers, and service has indeed been partially restored, with the remaining customers expected to have their service restored during the day.

Regarding mobile services (voice), the Minister of Communications explained that at the beginning of the crisis, the service was negatively affected for the four operators in terms of quality outside the central area, but quality has been largely restored, reaching an average of 95% of normal rates for all four companies by this morning. However, in the vicinity of the central, the quality of service was significantly affected at the beginning of the crisis for the companies (Orange - Vodafone - Etisalat - we), and alternative solutions were implemented before the end of yesterday, with gradual improvements in quality expected to reach normal levels.

As for sectoral services, he noted that the service was partially affected in the banking sector at the beginning of the crisis (in a few banks that did not have a backup connection), but network maneuvers were conducted, and the partial issue was resolved by 9 AM yesterday, except for one bank, which had its issues fully resolved and will operate normally by the end of the day.

Regarding the stock exchange, it was confirmed that services were restored in the evening on the same day of the incident from the stock exchange's side. However, the stock exchange anticipated potential issues and preferred to suspend yesterday's session. Once it confirmed the stability of broker services, the session was opened normally today, Wednesday.

The minister confirmed that supply services have been operating without faults since the first day, and service was restored at Cairo Airport in the affected area within two hours in the evening on the same day of the incident. Emergency services have been operating without any impact at all, but ambulance services were affected at the beginning of the crisis, with the connection to 123 from the three companies (Orange - Vodafone - Etisalat) being disrupted in some governorates. Service was restored at 4 PM yesterday, noting that alternative numbers were allocated for each governorate to facilitate access to ambulance services before the service was fully restored.

The Prime Minister was accompanied on the tour by the Minister of Communications, the Governor of Cairo, the Deputy Minister of Communications for Technology Infrastructure Development and Digital Transformation, and the Managing Director and CEO of the Egyptian Telecommunications Company.