An Ogero center in the Badaro district of Beirut. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros)
BEIRUT — During a visit to Southern Lebanon on Wednesday, the Minister of Telecommunications, Charles al-Hajj, told local television station Al Jadeed that network coverage has returned to 80% of areas in the South.
He added that the remaining 20% is still without coverage, due to the destruction and the "continued Israeli occupation."
Hajj is touring several Alfa, Touch and Ogero transmission stations in South Lebanon, damaged by the recent conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. The tour aims to inspect the repair and maintenance work that has been carried out to return these stations to service and restore telephone and internet coverage in the affected areas.
Hajj visited this morning the village of Rmeish (Bint Jbeil district), where he met with the village's representatives in addition to the Ogero Central in the area. The minister will be also visiting later on Wednesday Sour and Nabatieh.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel started in Oct. 2023, in parallel with the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, and escalated in Sept. 2024. A cease-fire agreement was reached in late Nov.2024, but it has since been violated numerous times. Although the Israeli army withdrew from Lebanese villages before Feb. 18, it is still present in five strategic points inside Lebanese territories.
Around one week after the cease-fire agreement, former Telecommunications Minister, Johnny Corm, visited the southern suburbs of Beirut to inspect the Ogero telephone exchange (the office that manages fixed-line telephones and Internet in Lebanon) damaged by an Israeli strike in the Mrayjeh district.
In an interview with Radio Sputnik quoted by the state-run National News Agency (NNA) back in December, the minister said that the total estimated damage to Lebanon’s telecommunications sector due to the war was “between $88 million and $117 million,” according to a preliminary estimate.