CAIRO: Egypt’s booming Information and Communications Technology (ICT) spending is set to grow by more than a third in the next three years, according to a recent report.

Research conducted by economic and financial analysts Global Insight shows that Egypt is currently spending $9.8 billion on ICT and that figure is set to rise to $13.5 billion by 2011.

More than 20 companies from Egypt will participate at GITEX Technology Week, October 19-23 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center.

Act, IT Worx, Innovations for Import and Commercial Agencies, Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), Linkdotnet and Microtech has already confirmed their attendance at the exhibition.

“Egypt’s ICT industry is growing faster than most places in the world. Egypt’s relationship with the UAE is critical to help grow investment across the entire region. GITEX will allow Egyptian companies to build stronger relationships with a global audience,” said Helal Saeed Almarri, director general of Dubai World Trade Center, organizer of GITEX Technology week.

Egypt’s ICT industry is currently spending the vast majority on communications, $8.6 billion, while the remainder is made up of $639 million on computer hardware, $199 million on computer software and $375 million on computer services, according to the report.

Karim Beshara, CEO of internet services provider Linkdotnet, said, “As the largest Internet Solutions and services provider in the region we consider GITEX Technology Week an excellent opportunity for us to share our vision and accomplishments with some of the world’s leading companies in this field.”

According to internetworldstats.com, 8.6 million Egyptians now have access to the internet, making them the second highest users in Africa, behind Nigeria with 10 million users.

Key exhibitors including Blackberry, Dell, Etisalat, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle Systems, Panasonic, Sharp and Symantec.