The caretaker Lebanese Telecommunications Minister, Johnny Corm, assessed the sector's losses caused by Israeli bombings and population displacements on Friday morning.
In an interview with the Voice of Lebanon, Corm revealed that "113 stations of the mobile operator Touch are now out of service — 61 for security-related reasons and 15 due to thefts — and 114 stations belonging to the other operator, Alfa." He added that" 26 of Ogero’s 266 stations, the official operator, are also out of service, affecting 15,000 subscribers, or 2.2% of the total subscribers."
Corm promised that Ogero would publish daily updates on the status of its network.
The war between Israel and Hezbollah began nearly a year ago, with daily bombardments in southern Lebanon. About two weeks ago, Israel escalated its attacks, restlessly bombing not only southern Lebanon and Nabatieh but also various regions in the Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut — and reaching central Beirut in recent days.
Hundreds of thousands of residents are now displaced. On Thursday, the Lebanese Health Ministry’s released an updated death toll estimates that Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,974 people, including 127 children and 261 women, and wounded 9,384 others since Oct. 8.
Corm noted that regions experiencing a massive influx of displaced persons are facing additional pressure on telecommunications infrastructure. "To address this, we have activated the National Roaming service and redistributed resources, particularly by increasing the capacity of the stations that are in higher demand," he said.
One emergency measure taken by the ministry to assist the population during the current crisis was to extend the validity period of prepaid lines by seven days and defer the payment deadline for fixed cellular lines by one month.
According to Corm, the districts most affected by a decline in service levels include Marjayoun (2%), Sour (35%), Hasbaya (32%), and Nabatieh (59%). All are located in southern Lebanon, the region that has sustained the most damage due to the war.
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