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Mobile Phones Boycotted in Syria
Mobile phone subscribers in Syria carried out a boycott of the networks yesterday in an organised protest over high charges by the country's two network operators, Syriatel and MTN Syria. The protest was publicised via local blogs and social websites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Messages were spread amongst phone users calling for prices in Syria to be lowered to levels comparable to those in other Middle-East region. They were also complaining about the relatively short time that PrePay top-up credits are valid for. Most top-ups, for SYP150 ($3.25) have to be spent within just seven days - although that was recently extended to 15 days.
The campaigners sent out the following message:
قاطعوا الموبايل في واحد حزيران 2009
ساهموا معنا في الحملة الوطنية للضغط على شركات الاتصالات لتخفيض الفواتير أسوةً بالبلدان المجاورة […] ساهم معنا وانشر الخبر ليصل إلى أكبر عدد ممكن
Contribute with us in the national campaign to lobby the telecom companies to lower the bills to become similar to neighboring countries […] Contribute with us and spread the news to reach as many people as possible
According to figures from the Mobile World, the country is estimated to have ended last year with just under 7.7 million mobile phone subscribers, which represents a population penetration level of 38%.
On the web: Mobile World - ITP - Global Voices
Posted to the site on 2nd June 2009