Starting from late this week, the cost of telecommunications and internet packages will rise by approximately 4 to 7 times, and the cost of internet in Lebanon will no longer be among the lowest in the world, regardless of its quality. It will become unaffordable for most citizens whose salaries have not been adjusted to keep pace with the rising prices of services and goods calculated at the black market dollar rate.
Although increasing the cost of telecommunications is necessary to ensure the sector's continuity, the introduction of new prepaid cards for those with limited incomes priced at $4.5 (approximately 112,000 LBP) does not meet the ambitions and requirements of a large segment of Lebanese youth, students, and entrepreneurs who need much more than 500 megabytes monthly to connect with the world!
The prepaid cards to be launched on July 1, along with the adjustment of telecommunications and internet costs, include two prepaid cards from the “Touch” company. The first costs $4.5 and provides 56 minutes of calling or 500 megabytes of data and 12 minutes of calling valid for 35 days. Current balance holders of prepaid lines will have their balances converted to dollars based on the daily Sayrafa rate; thus, a current balance of 150,000 LBP will turn into $6 by Friday, providing approximately 78 minutes of calling or 500 megabytes of data and 34 minutes of calling. The second card from “Touch” will cost $7 and will also be sold according to the daily Sayrafa exchange rate, currently around 25,000 LBP or 175,000 LBP, offering 1.75 gigabytes, 5 text messages, and 5 minutes of calling.
For “Alfa” company, the price of the card currently sold for $22.73 (or 34,000 LBP at the official exchange rate) will become $7.58, roughly 190,000 LBP calculated at the current Sayrafa exchange rate, while the card's validity period will remain unchanged at one month. The internet package prices when the new rates are applied on July 1 will be as follows: $3.5 for the 500 MB package (87,000 LBP), $13 for the 20GB package (325,000 LBP), and $19.50 for the 40GB package (487,000 LBP).
In summary, the minimum monthly cost for a prepaid card will be around 100,000 LBP at the current Sayrafa rate, which only provides 500 megabytes per month. What can you do with 500 megabytes? It is only sufficient to use the Whatsapp application for about 22 days, assuming usage is within normal rates and without sending photos and videos. Moreover, 500 megabytes is inadequate for using Whatsapp alongside other social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. If sending photos and videos via Whatsapp, 500 megabytes will only last about 5 days, noting that sending or receiving a medium-quality video of about one minute takes around 3.5 megabytes.
According to data usage rates, subscribers need between 1.5 to 5 gigabytes monthly to access popular social media and messaging apps in Lebanon and abroad, along with browsing the internet. Therefore, according to the new adjusted prices, prepaid cards must be in the range of 175,000 LBP to 325,000 LBP at a minimum, excluding regular calling costs.
As for fixed cellular lines, the current bill costs will be divided by 3 and paid at the Sayrafa rate, meaning that a bill that was $100 monthly will now be around $33, payable in LBP at the Sayrafa rate (25,000 LBP), amounting to around 833,000 LBP instead of the previous 150,000 LBP.
“Alfa” and “Touch” companies began sending text messages to subscribers informing them that starting from July 1, any current balance in dollars will be converted to LBP (at a rate of 1515) and then divided by the Sayrafa rate. Consequently, the adjusted dues will be payable in dollars or, in LBP according to the Sayrafa rate at the payment date, for the June bills. The new adjusted pricing will take effect starting July 1.
It is noteworthy that the company “STATISTA” predicts that data usage per mobile phone worldwide will significantly increase in the coming years, likely reaching an average of 34 gigabytes per smartphone monthly by 2026.
