Director General of Ogero Imad Kreidieh
The $6 fee that was suggested to be imposed on WhatsApp was the spark that lit the street on October 17. Today, amid the stifling economic situation the Director General of Ogero, Imad Kreidieh, sounded alarm, warning of a new emerging disaster.
The disaster currently is no longer the $6 fees on WhatsApp, but it is rather a disaster that threatens of isolating Lebanon from the whole globe.
Is it true that the country will be isolated? Will the fuel crisis impact the internet services, bringing us several years back ?
“Internet outage and network interruptions are totally impossible, unless a catastrophe occurs and if Electricité du Liban (EDL) stops providing electricity, and I do not expect that this will happen,” says Kreidieh.
Kreidieh added in an interview with “Alanbaa” website: “The prominent problem currently is in power rather than in internet. Power cuts will affect all sectors negatively.”
Ogero, likewise other institutions, companies, and citizens, is suffering from power cuts and from harsh rationing, Kreidieh said. He added that Ogero’s power generators are for emergency use and can run up to ten hours per day, but we were forced recently to run the generators for more than 20 hours, and this is leading to mechanical problems. If power generators stopped the service will be definitely interrupted.
Kreidieh said that the telecom committee has agreed yesterday on the need to increase Ogero’s budget for maintenance and operation.
Ogero is facing several problems, but Kreidieh said that the staff have adapted to the nature of problems that are occurring recently, and intervene within an hour to solve the problem. That’s why outages are not lasting for a long time.
Kreidieh reassured that the speed and quality of the Internet will not be affected at all, and that the main centers are equipped with a sufficient number of generators to keep the service ongoing
Internet tariffs remain the most prominent issue for subscribers, that’s why it will not witness any increase, amid the stifling economic conditions and the deteriorating currency. Kreidieh said that subscribers need the internet services more than anytime because a wide range of people are still working remotely from home. “I don’t recommend increasing the tariff at the present time,” he said.
Kreidieh added: “Fuel outage means that all services will stop, however, I don’t expect this scenario will happen, and the country reaches this level of deterioration.”
Ogero is working to be fully prepared to address any mechanical or network problems and as long as there is power the service will not stop.”