Egypt’s ride hailing app Uber has been experiencing technical difficulties for the past two weeks which is preventing customers and drivers from accessing the application. “They [the government] are blocking the app especially for drivers. A lot of drivers are coming in to download VPN which is the only way they can download the app,” a source close to Uber revealed to Egyptian Streets,”…this is because the government wants their customer data [ and its data server].” According to the source, Uber is currently lobbying with the government to solve this issue. The issue rose when President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi rectified a law that was passed by the parliament last May over the licensing issue halting both Uber and Careem’s operations. The law essentially regulates the operations of the two apps and contains a clause that requires the ride booking apps, including Uber and Careem, to share user data and information with the local security authorities upon their request. According to Mada Masr, “the problem was being caused by Egyptian telecommunications company WE, the mobile service provider of the state-owned Telecom Egypt.” However, users of other local telecommunications service providers…
Is Uber Blocked in Egypt? Mobile App Experiences Network Difficulties
January 31, 2019
