Thursday, February 3rd 2011 - 22:05 UTC

Vodafone forced to send pro-Mubarak mobile-phone text messages

UK’s Vodafone was ordered to send mobile-phone text messages by the Egyptian government, urging people to confront “traitors and criminals” as demonstrators demanded the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

Cairo’s Tahrir Square, epicentre of the struggle

The Egyptian authorities can instruct the local mobile network operators, which also include Etisalat and France Telecom SA’s Mobinil service, to send messages under emergency powers provisions, Vodafone said Thursday. The messages were not written by the mobile-phone operators, it said.

“The Armed Forces urge Egypt’s loyal men to confront the traitors and the criminals and to protect our families, our honour and our precious Egypt,” said a February first text message sent on Vodafone’s network.

A Vodafone spokesman declined to comment on the details of the messages it was ordered to send. Spokespeople for France Telecom and Emirates Telecommunications Corp., also known as Etisalat, couldn’t immediately be reached to comment.

Egyptian Internet services were restored Wednesday after protests by demonstrators demanding the ousting of Mubarak had led to five days of closure. Mobile-phone voice services at units of Vodafone and France Telecom SA were restored January 29.

The world’s biggest mobile-phone operator has protested to the authorities that the current situation is “unacceptable,” Vodafone said. “We have made clear that all messages should be transparent and clearly attributable to the originator.”

Egypt’s largest opposition group rejected Thursday talks with President Mubarak after at least six protesters were killed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square overnight, and vowed to stay at the scene of the fighting until he steps down.

Vodafone Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Colao said earlier today that SMS services in Egypt had not yet been restored. “It’s not in our power, it will be restored when we are authorized to restore it,” Colao said on a conference call with reporters.

Egypt has one of the most advanced telecommunications markets in the Middle East and Africa. About 95% of Egyptians, or 74.9 million subscribers, are clients of a mobile phone network, according to analysts at Cairo-based AlembicHC.

“This is a country where there is still a curfew and extraordinary legislation in place,” Colao said, adding that antennae had been damaged as part of the protests. “We are in a continuous dialogue with government”.
 

Published in: Politics, International.
Tags: Cairo, Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Vittorio Colao, Vodafone.

12 comments Feed

Note: Comments do not reflect MercoPress’ opinions. They are the personal view of our users. We wish to keep this as open and unregulated as possible. However, rude or foul language, discriminative comments (based on ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or the sort), spamming or any other offensive or inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated. Please report any inadequate posts to the editor. Comments must be in English. Thank you.

1 briton (#) Feb 03rd, 2011 - 10:34 pm Report abuse
according to the news this is something The Egyptian authorities
denied, perhaps its time to go and bring peace,
but I suspect this may well just spread ,
2 I (#) Feb 03rd, 2011 - 10:46 pm Report abuse
#1 can you say jews ??
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12043290
www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/latest/World-food-prices-reach-record-levels-as-oil-hits-100.html
www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/features/article_1616857.php/BACKGROUND-Who-s-who-in-Egypt
3 briton (#) Feb 03rd, 2011 - 10:51 pm Report abuse
in what way Jews
I thought they were all Egyptian ?
but you may well be correct if you say the Jews will suffer,
Israel will lose its buffer states, then its anybody’s guess ?
4 I (#) Feb 03rd, 2011 - 11:35 pm Report abuse
#3 in case you didn't noticed this started with Iraq in 1990's for the oil supply in kwait, and then continued with Afghanstan gas fields in turkmenistan for the passage through Kashmir to India, Pakistan and China, in the next few days Yemenis will add their voice to the cry, We are all hoping this protest ends up in South Arabian palaces.
5 xbarilox (#) Feb 04th, 2011 - 12:58 am Report abuse
@ 3 “in what way Jews I thought they were all Egyptian ?” You thought wrong, as usual. They can be Egyptians and Jews at the same time, because Jew is not a nationality, Egyptian is a nationality. You're assuming that those people are all Egyptians because you are an ignorant. You're always trying to be sarcastic and you're only showing your ignorance. Stupid.

I hope this protests start in the USA and in the UK too, those terrorist governments must pay for all the evil things happening in Middle East and around the world. Remember Iraq and the weapons of mass destruction that weren't there and Bush laughing:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nb8Onp_s3g&feature=related
6 Fido Dido (#) Feb 04th, 2011 - 06:26 am Report abuse
I hope this protests start in the USA and in the UK too, those terrorist governments must pay for all the evil things happening in Middle East and around the world. Remember Iraq and the weapons of mass destruction that weren't there and Bush laughing:

Don't worry, they will get it. The US will be the last on the list. why? simple..the dollar, the reserve currency of the world, what will change if you understood what Davos elite were talking about of printing a 100 trillion dollar more credit.
7 Be serious (#) Feb 04th, 2011 - 10:40 am Report abuse
Anybody else feel that the standard of reporting coming out of Egypt from the western press is not exactly fair and balanced? Clearly some Egyptians support Mubarak, surely they can't all be secret Policemen thugs?
8 briton (#) Feb 04th, 2011 - 02:28 pm Report abuse
more silly replies to serious comments.
if you say so then it must be true, your the expert
9 Fido Dido (#) Feb 04th, 2011 - 03:48 pm Report abuse
Briton, the only true expert here is you...keep on drinking coca cola (no wonder Brits have bad teeth and are so intelligent)
10 briton (#) Feb 04th, 2011 - 03:53 pm Report abuse
very clever
at least we have teeth, clean, well looked after ,
this is of course if you can afford it, mmmmmm
11 Fido Dido (#) Feb 05th, 2011 - 01:41 am Report abuse
I know I'm clever..I'm Dutch, and by getting as much information before typing here or talking to a person, I know much
You, You are a Brit, play video games, keep it's head stuck in the sand, and blabber and type shit.
12 briton (#) Feb 05th, 2011 - 01:49 am Report abuse
yes but you read it, that makes you clever,
so to yet again rude, proves what, it proves you are what your name says .

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!

Get Email News Reports!

Get our news right on your inbox.
Subscribe Now!