Egypt eSIM

Staying connected in Egypt

Almost everything a traveller does in Egypt happens along the Nile and the coasts. Install a travel eSIM at home and switch it on when you land. AirOva sells Egypt plans from $1.99: fixed GB and unlimited data, on Orange, Etisalat and Vodafone, with 4G and 5G where available.

Which Egypt plan to choose

GB plans suit most trips: about 3–5 GB covers four or five days in Cairo and Giza, and 8–12 GB a ten-day Cairo, Luxor and Aswan trip with a Nile cruise. Unlimited plans give unlimited data with no data cap and no fair-usage limit, priced by the number of days. Both plan types are data only and come with no local phone number.

Etisalat, Orange and Vodafone

Egypt has four mobile operators: Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, e& Egypt (the former Etisalat Misr, which a plan card may show as Etisalat) and WE, the mobile arm of Telecom Egypt. AirOva plans connect to Orange, Etisalat and Vodafone; WE is not on our plans. Egypt launched 5G on 4 June 2025, and it is rolling out from the busiest parts of the big cities, so elsewhere expect 4G.

Arriving at Cairo, Hurghada, Sharm or Luxor

Cairo (CAI), Egypt's largest and busiest airport, is in Heliopolis, about 15 km northeast of the city's business district. Hurghada (HRG), the second busiest, is 5 km southwest of the town centre, Sharm el-Sheikh (SSH) is the third busiest, and Luxor (LXR) lies 6 km east of the city. After landing, turn off airplane mode, switch the eSIM line on, choose it for mobile data and enable Data Roaming for that line; the plan is prepaid, so roaming adds no charge.

The Nile, the Red Sea and the desert

On Nile cruises between Luxor and Aswan, coverage is good near Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo, with drops in between and at quiet overnight moorings. Red Sea towns and hotel strips are well covered, but signal fades a few kilometres offshore, so snorkelling and dive trips are often offline. The Western Desert, including the White Desert and the Great Sand Sea, is largely offline once you leave the settlements. More in our Egypt eSIM guide.

Tip: keep hotel Wi-Fi as a fallback for important calls. Messaging works normally and app calls often go through on a roaming eSIM, but Egypt has at times restricted voice and video calls over internet apps on local networks. Inside temples and tombs expect no signal; step outside and it returns.