Egypt's government, through the National Company for Telecommunications Services (NCTS), signed a service agreement with the high-speed satellite internet service provider Hughes Network Systems. The agreement gives NCTS access to two Hughes Jupiter System gateways, a network management system etc, to provide connectivity in rural areas via the Tiba-1 satellite. Connecting rural populations via satellite is part of the 2019 "Decent Life" project "telecom" components beginning with 1,300 villages being connected to the country's optical fiber network. Telecom Egypt will complete this operation guided by the ICT Ministry as more than half of Egypt's population lives in rural areas according to the Digital Report 2021 published by Hootsuite and We Are Social.