CAIRO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Telecom Egypt, the state-owned landline monopoly, said it acquired the country's first 4G mobile license on Wednesday at a cost of 7.08 billion Egyptian pounds ($797 million) paving the way for it to become the fourth mobile provider in Egypt.

The Egyptian government is selling four 4G licenses as part of a long-awaited plan to reform the telecoms sector and Telecom Egypt will join existing mobile carriers Vodafone Egypt, Etisalat and Orange Egypt.

The telecoms regulator approved revised terms for 4G mobile broadband network licenses earlier this month and offered them to Telecom Egypt and all three mobile service providers.

The license is valid for 15 years and services must be made available within six months, Telecom Egypt said in a statement.

Egypt is giving companies that already operate in the country priority in obtaining 4G licenses but has said it would launch an international tender should any of the operators decline the offer.

The remaining carriers have until Sept. 22 to accept the offer.

The terms were revised after negotiations with the four telecom carriers. A senior official at the Telecommunications Ministry told Reuters previously that the revised terms included additional frequencies to those originally offered but no change to a condition that 50 percent of the payment for the license be made in U.S. dollars, which the telecom companies had objected to.

Egypt needs hard currency after burning through its foreign exchange reserves as political turmoil hit foreign investment and tourism since a 2011 uprising.

Telecom Egypt said on Wednesday it had so far paid 5.2 billion pounds for the license, 50 percent of which was paid in dollars. The rest will be paid over four years, the company said.

($1 = 8.88 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting by Cairo newsroom; Editing by Susan Fenton)