Muscat: Oman’s elected Shura Council has summoned the heads of the two major telecom companies that are the target of a mass boycott campaign to protest prices and quality of services, Gulf News has learnt.
Abdullah Al Amri, a Shura member representing Sadah province and a member of the council’s Services Committee, told Gulf News that a request for an urgent meeting has already been sent to the telecom providers, adding that it will be held next week.
“We will ask the telecom providers to improve their services, poor telecommunication networks in many areas and offer cheaper internet packages,” he said.
The telecom firms — Omantel and Ooredoo — are under intense pressure by a boycott launched on social media by clients in protest of high prices and low quality services. The two-hour boycott, which required a shutdown of all telecom services, started on Sunday and it will run between 4pm and 6pm every day for one week.
Mobile phone users were requested to switch off their phones or put them on flight mode.
The hashtag launched by the campaigners, titled “Boycott of Omantel and Ooredoo”, has been the top trending hashtag in the country on Twitter for more than a week.
Despite the silence of the telecom providers, many customers are encouraged to join the boycott, said Ahmad Al Beloushi, an economic expert.
“The campaign to boycott the telecom firms is well-organised and is happening for the first time in the country, and has put more pressures on telecom service providers every day since the boycott,” said Al Beloushi.
Al Beloushi added that the telecom companies would lose hundreds of thousands of riyals if the boycott continues for a week. “I think the boycott will force telecom firms to review their services and their unjustified prices,” said Al Beloushi.
State-owned Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) is the primary service provider in the country, and Ooredoo, majority owned by Qatar Ooredoo, has fewer subscribers.
Oman world network, a Twitter user, said that the boycott is very powerful against what he called the greed and exploitation of the telecom firms who only care about collecting money and emptying the pockets of their clients.
Ahmad Al Sumri, another user, said, ”We are one pulse. We are one hand. Our determination is invincible.”
Madiha Al Sulaimani said while the telecom companies have done a lot to support Omani society, through training and providing jobs for women, the aim from the boycott was improvement of services.
On Friday, campaign supporters are expected to switch off their mobile phones for 12 hours.
Many mobile phone users complain about poor internet package offers provided by the telecom companies, high call rates and blocking of internet calling services. Thousands of users have also unfollowed Twitter accounts of the two companies to put more pressure on them to reduce high prices and improve services.
Campaigners also used other social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, which have gone abuzz with boycott messages and videos, calling on everyone to boycott the telecom firms.
Omantel’s net profit for the first six months of 2016 was 66.8 million riyals, 9 per cent higher than the 61.3 million riyals it made in the corresponding period last year, while Ooredoo Oman’s net profit increased to 24.9 million riyals in the first six months, compared to 22.2 million riyals during the same period last year.
