Harb Announces Lower Mobile Phone, Landline Tariffs, Improved Internet Speeds
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb announced on Friday a number of improvements to mobile phone, landline, and internet services in Lebanon, which namely include the reduction of costs of services and faster internet speeds.
He said during a press conference that monthly landline tariffs have been reduced from LL 12,000 to LL 9,000, while obtaining a line has now become free of charge.
The cost of a mobile telephone call from prepaid cards will be reduced from 36 cents/minute to 25 cents/minute.
In addition, owners of postpaid mobile phone lines will receive 60 minutes worth of free phone calls as a “partial compensation” of the the USD 15 they pay each month for the service, explained Harb.
Internet services will also be improved to allow citizens to receive better quality at the prices they have already been paying.
They can enjoy double to six times the DSL speeds they have been receiving, as well as double to quadruple the quotas.
3G subscribers can enjoy greater quotas at the same price as previous plans.
The changes to the mobile phone services will take effect on June 1 and the changes to the postpaid lines will take effect on July 1.
“The Lebanese people constantly wonder why Lebanon cannot remain up-to-date with the latest technological advancements in the telecommunications sector. They ask why they have the highest tariffs in the world for poor telephone and internet services,” Harb stressed.
“I decided to improve the quality of services because all aspects of the economy are linked to the telecommunications sector,” said the minister.
23 May 2014, 15:20
29
flamethrower why you always here? Every time time I log on to read the news i see you commenting nonsense.
23 May 2014, 15:26
26
don't forget Bassil and his riches too. We had high prices and bad service. He hired 20 personal consultants @$30k per month.
23 May 2014, 16:41
27
Sehanaoui and Bassil through their cowboy manners in the ministries were financing the FPM.
23 May 2014, 15:29
82
Harb is picking the low hanging fruits.
Now if they make call cheaper, every Tom, Dick and Harry will end up talking hours with their girlfriends, and the network will not be able to take it, and we will go back to bad quality communications. A real improvement would be to improve the infrastructure backbone of the telecom sector.
23 May 2014, 15:33
23
Nonsense is when you have nothing to say. How about you contradict me ? if you can that is. I'm pretty sure there is nothing you can say to prove me wrong ... I challenge you !
23 May 2014, 15:55
00
Harb is building on Sahnaoui's legacy. I work in Telecom and if it wasn't for the network expansions that happened during Sahnaoui's tenure, Harb would not have been able to reduce prices and still expect the network to handle the new increase in data and voice calls.
In telecom things do not happen in matter of days. Networks are build over years, and Harb has been in the ministry for less than 3 months. He is reaping the goodies of the previous ministers.
23 May 2014, 16:31
28
@FT : How can you blame me from hating Hezbollah ? They are the one true obstacle to my country actually living in peace and having a future.
They have no plans for this country yet monopolize its power structure and hijack it for their own use. You cannot even deny this !
Yes I hate Hezbollah blindly because they have no respect for anyone including you and Aoun.
So until they are disarmed or exterminated from the face of this earth, my hate will live on as the hate of the majority of the population of Lebanon towards them. You cannot even deny this !
PS : the predecessor to my predecessor is my predecessor ... live with it !
24 May 2014, 09:21
11
So while most people outside of Beirut are struggling to get speeds above 0.5mbps or 0.25mbps after 11pm, the minister increases the load dramatically on the service.
Two possibilities. Either he has no idea what's happening, and his technical team genuinely made sure the network can handle this (relatively possible if Ogero actually coordinates with the ministry).
The alternative is that the land based network especially will barely function with the new system, and that he's surrounded by incompetent people.
Regardless, it's clear from his speech that he has no idea personally what's going on in his ministry, given his pathetic remarks about its importance to the economy. That's what happens when an 80ish old perennial presidential candidate takes over a (relativrly ) high tech ministry.
