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Activists launched a campaign calling upon Egyptians to boycott mobile operators in the memory of 28 January
?I will turn my phone off on 28 January, to say thank you for helping to kill the protesters,? read the slogan on a Facebook campaign. The campaign called on Egyptians to boycott mobile phone operators on 28 January.
The call to action coincided with the anniversary of last year?s Friday of Anger, when Egypt?s three mobile operators, Vodafone, Mobinil and Etisalat, shut down mobile networks during the 18-day revolt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.
At least 800 people were killed and more than 6,000 were wounded during the protests. Activists blamed the three companies for complicity in the killings. They did, after all, prevent communication among protesters while making it impossible to call for ambulances when necessary.
?Thank you for depriving martyrs of the right to call their families before they died,? read another slogan, also urging Egyptians to turn their mobile phones off on 28 January.
In some governorates, political activists went further and staged protests in front of the three companies? headquarters.
Many Egyptians responded to the campaign and turned their mobile phones off last Saturday. But the boycott seems to have had little impact on the operators.
Yasser Shaker, Mobinil?s vice president for the technology department, said that his company did not witness any significant impact on its communication flow last Saturday. He added that what happened last year was completely out of the company?s hands.
Another source at Vodafone, who preferred to remain anonymous, noted that although there were similar campaigns and calls for boycotting telecom companies last year, this latest campaign was the biggest. She added, however, that the boycott on Saturday did not have a major effect on communication transactions.
Mobile companies have consistently claimed that last year?s communication blackout was out of their hands. Legally, they had no option but to comply with an order from the authorities to suspend services across the country.
Earlier this week, Egypt?s Minister of Communications Mohamed Salem stated that the three mobile operators had no choice but to cut connections on 28 January last year. The communication law in Egypt stipulates that the government has the right to order companies to terminate their services in case of emergency or threat to national security.
Salem affirmed that a proposed amendment to the communication law has been sent to the Cabinet for approval, in order to prevent such incidents from recurring.
The amended version stipulates that the president is the only person who has the right to cut off phone or Internet connections. His decision should be approved by both the Cabinet and parliament.
Last May, an administrative court did not hold the three mobile phone operators responsible for the suspension of services. Instead, it fined ousted president Mubarak and two former officials LE540 million for ordering to cut off connections.
Source: http://gregorydevans.com/2012/02/05/cellphone-off/
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