Daraa – Halim Muhammad

The Directorate of Telecommunications in Daraa governorate allocated new internet gateways for the town of Tal Shihab in the western countryside of Daraa. This was followed by the telephone exchange administration asking the town’s notables to collect 50,000 Syrian pounds ($3.4) from each subscriber for the new expansion of internet gateways.

The imposition of the amount met with opposition from some residents who considered it the responsibility of the relevant authorities to bear the cost. Others believed that at least the new beneficiaries should pay the amount, while some found the amount trivial compared to having a telephone line reaching their homes.

The reason for requesting the amount, according to notables, was due to repeated thefts of network-feeding cables, rendering some neighborhoods out of service, and the need to purchase new cables.

Pressure and final call

One town notable told Enab Baladi that the exchange administration determined this amount to purchase replacement cables and a lithium battery to secure additional operating hours, especially at night when the exchange runs on solar power during the day.

The source added that charging the subscribers this amount serves as a “form of punishment” to pressure the community to protect telephone lines from theft. The cost of the cable purchasing project amounts to 500 million Syrian pounds ($34,000), with the Directorate of Telecommunications bearing the expense except for 50 million pounds that are supposed to be collected from the subscribers.

The “Tal Shihab, Home of My People” page on Facebook, a local page that reports on the town’s news, published what it called the “final call” from the exchange administration to internet gateway subscribers. It mentioned that the General Telecommunications Company in Daraa suspended the installation of the gateways and set September 18 as the last deadline for receiving the specified amount.

It added that the gateways allocated for new subscribers would be sold to the private sector by public auction. The director of the Daraa telecommunications branch, Ahmed al-Hariri, confirmed to the Global local news site that 832 internet gateways were installed for the Tal Shihab exchange in July.

Between supporters and opponents

Mohammed (22 years old), a resident of the town with an internet gateway, expressed his refusal to pay the amount, saying that the cost should fall on the new beneficiaries since the cables to be installed will serve their sector.

Mohammed works in agricultural day labor with wages of up to 30,000 Syrian pounds, meaning he needs to pay two days’ wages to settle this “levy,” as he described it.

Meanwhile, Khadija al-Ali, a town resident, found the amount negligible compared to the service provided. She added that her family paid the amount since the notables’ communication on social media called for payment.

She mentioned that the service alleviates her family’s burden of buying satellite internet or Syrian or Jordanian internet, as the monthly cost of these methods does not fall below 300,000 Syrian pounds ($20), while the internet gateway fees do not exceed 30,000 Syrian pounds.

On August 28, the Telecommunications and Post Regulatory Authority under the Syrian Ministry of Telecommunications increased the fees for fixed telephone and fixed internet services by 30% to 35%.

Similar campaigns

In August, notables from the city of Tafas launched a similar campaign to buy lithium batteries to provide continuous internet coverage around the clock, not just during daylight hours, especially after equipping the city’s post office with a solar power system.

The notables set an amount of 100,000 Syrian pounds ($6.8) for each subscriber, and after collecting the amount, the post office administration could purchase the batteries.

According to the local page “Tafas al-Habiba,” priority for installing internet gateways connected to lithium battery-powered electricity will be given to subscribers who paid the specified amount.

Repeated cable thefts

After the Syrian regime took control of Daraa governorate in 2018, the Tal Shihab telephone exchange resumed internet service after two years of maintenance. However, the main and subsidiary cables feeding the gateways were repeatedly stolen by thieves eyeing the copper material.

The thefts included most of the telephone cables, even in the city of Daraa, a stronghold of Syrian regime forces. On August 30, unknown individuals stole the main cables near the Directorate of Education in the city, causing a service outage for more than 2,400 subscribers.

In January 2022, unknown individuals stole the main cable of the Daraa city’s telephone center, depriving 4,000 subscribers of the service.

Tal Shihab witnessed repeated thefts of neighborhood-feeding cables, and the main cable linking the exchange to the Daraa post office was stolen in the town of al-Yadudah in 2021.

The Directorate of Telecommunications in Daraa threatened to cut off service to the town of Tal Shihab if cable thefts continued in the town.