Since moving back to the UK and travelling a lot more to the US, it has been hard not to notice the sad demise of the landline, decimated apparently by the overwhelming dominance of mobile technology. Apparently the last landline in the US will be disconnected in 2025, while in the UK most subscribers keep it only as part of their internet package and use it sporadically – less than 10 times a month.
I love fixed phones. Nothing, so far at least, can beat their clarity, or the feeling that your brain is not being fried by salvos of radiation. Lebanon still clings on and last week the telecoms minister and former presidential hopeful Boutros Harb, held a press conference to tell the nation that fixed phone subscriptions had increased in 2014, evidence he claimed that the sector was “rapidly improving”.
According to a study by the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union (“Committed to connecting the World”), Lebanon experienced an 11 per cent increase in the number of fixed-line subscriptions, equivalent of 8,000 new connections a month.
Other figures were equally impressive. Broadband internet subscribers apparently increased by 134 per cent; DSL subscribers increased by 45 per cent and mobile broadband subscribers increased by 31.8 per cent. The number of Lebanese using the internet went up by 21.4 per cent, while the number of mobile users reached 4,387,275, a figure that has surely been boosted by the nearly 2 million Syrians who have arrived in the country since 2011.
That there is life in the landline is no surprise. I would wager that the vast majority of these 8,000 new subscribers can be found living in the hundreds of new apartment blocks that were completed in 2014 and the trend is likely to continue over the next 12 months.
But this by itself does not explain our love affair with the landline at a time when most people are getting rid of them. It’s simply that the country’s mobile phone tariffs are so extortionate that the “landline” is still very much an affordable alternative means of communication. Or to put it another way, we only use the mobile when we have to.
So usage may be on the increase, but the Lebanese are also being seriously ripped off. I have just come back from six weeks in Beirut, where I spent about $230 on internet services compared to $60 spent in the UK each month. And what’s more, Lebanon has one of the slowest upload and download speeds in the world, ranking 152nd out of 182 countries surveyed. Ditto my Lebanese mobile bill for August, which came to around $250, compared to the $32 I spend in the UK per month.
All this is hardly breaking news. High mobile tariffs are one of the recurring themes whenever the cost of doing business in Lebanon is discussed. The government still has to wake up to the fact that setting the high tariffs and retaining two network operators, Zain Telecom and Orascom Telecom, Media and Technology (OTMT), is not the way forward even if mobile revenues do generate more than 15 per cent of annual government revenue.
To maintain this system is to never allow the full potential of the mobile device to affect the Lebanese economy. By cutting the apron ties and allowing the operators to compete and perhaps allowing a third into the market, rates will surely come down and stimulate growth in the long term, not just in the cities, but also in rural communities. In Africa, Zain Telecom, then MTC, proved that the mobile phone could transform the economic landscape in a way not seen since the invention of the wheel.
Mr Harb, who at the press conference, followed up each statistic with bold superlatives, assuring us that the ITU’s figures rank the country “in first place worldwide when it comes to yearly growth” in this area, really wasn’t painting the whole picture. Bottom line, Lebanese consumers deserve fairer rates and a better service. Who knows? Then they might even ditch their beloved landline.
Michael Karam is a freelance writer who lives between Beirut and Brighton.
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hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
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The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
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