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July 17 2004

Lebanon's trade unions are calling for a boycott of cell phone usage on July 15th as a move to encourage the government to lower cellphone tariffs, which remain amongst the highest in the world.

The boycott has been supported by 15 organizations, including the business friendly, Chamber of Industry and Trade and the Beirut Trade Association, along with several major trade unions.

"Consumers are asked to shut their phones from Wednesday at midnight to Thursday at midnight," Zuheir Berro, president of the Consumers Lebanon Association which is organizing the boycott, said "All consumers should participate, as this will cost the government 2.8 million dollars in lost revenues for the day," he said, warning: "If they fail to respond to our demands, then we will have to escalate the action."

The Consumers Lebanon Association is calling for the networks to be allowed to charge for calls by the second, as opposed to the minute and a lowering of call rates by 30%. They are also calling for the introduction of a PrePay service with extended expiry dates on the credit top-ups.

The union claims that 500 minutes of calls in Lebanon costs on average, US$121 where similar call time would cost just US$66 in Jordan and US$42 in Egypt.

The country has two GSM networks that are very tightly controlled by the government.