Tartus – Shaaban Chamieh

Residents of al-Usaybah in rural Baniyas complained to Enab Baladi about the poor and interrupted internet service due to a malfunction in the optical unit for months, without any solutions, despite submitting dozens of official complaints. The village urgently needs to be equipped with solar panels to service the communication sector.

Ramiz, a resident of the village, told Enab Baladi that the malfunction of the “internet card” is not the only problem; the village has been suffering from communication and internet issues for years due to the reliance on optical units amidst the deteriorating electrical situation in the governorate. When the card breaks down, service is nearly completely lost.

He added that residents have officially informed the Baniyas Communication Center and the Tartus Telecom branch about the issue “without any response or solutions,” calling on those responsible in the company to address this suffering.

He pointed out that a large number of subscribers have canceled their connections and subscriptions due to their inability to benefit from the service, despite incurring high bills, forcing them to rely on mobile internet services, where “the price of the package exceeds the salary of a full-time employee for an entire month,” as Ramiz stated to Enab Baladi.

The ministry responds: We are working on importing solar systems

In response to the complaint, Mohammed Biro, the official for central complaints at the Ministry of Communications and Technology, told Enab Baladi that there are areas receiving telephone and internet services via optical unit technology due to their distance from the telephone center and the presence of a good number of subscribers. However, these units require a continuous power supply.

Biro added that given the poor electric situation, it became necessary to contract with “Memo” in 2016 to supply solar energy system equipment to ensure the electrical feed. In the past, the company’s work was halted due to the poor financial situation in the country.

“Currently, after things have improved,” the ministry’s complaints official promised to expedite the import of these systems through the technical administration of the telecom company to restore power to the units and provide services to subscribers without any interruptions.

In April 2024, the Ministry of Communications and Technology stated in a press response to local media that the power unit for al-Usaybah village in rural Baniyas was included to provide it with a solar energy feeding system as part of the Syrian Telecommunications plan for 2024, to ensure the continuity of communication and internet services for residents. However, this has not yet been implemented.

Several villages in rural Baniyas suffer from a communication and internet reality based on the optical unit system, amidst the deteriorating electrical situation in the governorate, where there is an average of two hours of power supply at most for every ten hours of power outage (four hours of connection daily). The company has equipped some villages with solar panels, while others are still waiting for the Telecommunications company to fulfill its promises after many years.