“I am aware that the public institutions need revenue, but the solution should not be to raise the tariffs on everything because eventually people will not be able to pay for services anymore,” Hussein Hajj Hassan said. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
BEIRUT — Hussein Hajj Hassan, head of Parliament’s Telecommunications and Information Committee, said Tuesday after the committee’s meeting that he is opposed to the raising of telecom tariffs “without a full economic plan.”
Here’s what we know:
• “I am aware that the public institutions need revenue, but the solution should not be to raise the tariffs on everything because eventually people will not be able to pay for services anymore,” Hajj Hassan said. “The solution is in achieving a balance, if you want to raise the tariffs you have to present an alternative for the citizens,” he added.
• He also pointed out that the decision to raise tariffs is within the cabinet's authority. “Our committee can only recommend and question the government,'' he said.
• Hajj Hassan also accused the central bank governor of not opening lines of credit to import diesel for the government’s fuel facilities which he considers as “the main problem” of the struggling telecommunications industry. “Apparently we have money to interfere in the dollar rate so we might as well pay for importing diesel,” he said, referring to the fact that BDL is allegedly injecting dollars into the economy to improve the lira’s value.
• The head of the committee also claimed that the people who run exchange rate tracking platforms, which BDL blames for the devaluation of the Lebanese lira against the dollar on the parallel market, live in Turkey and Syria “which is the reason why Lebanon has not been able to arrest these people.”
• Lebanon's telecommunications companies are increasingly short on cash, as fuel and operating costs do not match tariff rates, which is causing constant service outages in the country.