Labor official decries telecom tariff hike

BEIRUT — On Friday, Castro Abdallah, the head of the National Federation of Trade Unions, described Lebanon’s new higher telecom tariffs as “one of the biggest crimes in the history of theft,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

Here’s what we know:

    • In a statement that came on the first day of the implementation of a roughly sixfold increase in telecom prices, Abdallah called on citizens and “all those affected by this corrupt political authority” to take to the streets and protest until “a civil disobedience throughout the country” is declared.

    • No protests have been organized in Lebanon related to the increased tariffs. The decision to increase prices of services provided by Ogero, Alfa and MTC was made by Telecommunications Minister Johnny Corm during the cabinet’s final session before entering caretaker mode on May 20.

    • On Friday, the ministry started pricing all subscriptions in USD using Banque du Liban’s Sayrafa rate — which as of Thursday stood at LL25,200 to the dollar. To calculate the new prices, the original dollar rate (at LL1,507.5 to $1) should be divided by three, then multiplied by the Sayrafa rate. For instance, set Thursday via Sayrafa at LL25,200 against the dollar, a LL34,265 prepaid recharge card will now set you back LL191,016 — over six times as much.

    • Abdallah’s statement concluded that the decision to increase telecom tariffs was taken to “please the International Monetary Fund” and called on the Telecommunications Ministry to reverse its decision.