The blows to the citizen's head continue, but under different titles. After all sectors in Lebanon adjusted their prices, it was time to adjust telecommunications tariffs, effectively obliterating what remained of purchasing power. The citizen who went to bed with an empty stomach for many months awakened on July 1 to a significant loss in the value of their mobile balance, subject to a haircut of about 90 percent. What is the citizen's fault in bearing the losses of this sector? Will they adapt to the new prices? Or will they abandon their phone? Previously, the Minister of Telecommunications in the caretaker government, Johnny Al-Qarm, confirmed that "the decision to raise the tariff saved a sector that could not continue under the existing financial problems. Regarding the landline, the cost has increased two and a half times, noting that there are packages at lower prices for low-income people and others at higher prices. As for the mobile phone, the average bill has become 7 dollars, noting that there is a package for 4.5 dollars."
The era of telecommunications at 1500 Lebanese Lira has ended, ushering in an era of telecommunications based on the Sayrafa platform price, plunging the Lebanese citizen into a new nightmare, especially since it has become impossible to give up the mobile phone after it became a basic necessity, as the backbone of most Lebanese people's work today is the internet.
**New Services**
New services have been introduced to the citizen, and the pricing for telecommunications and mobile data will be calculated as follows: dividing the previous price by three, then calculating the amount based on the Sayrafa platform price. According to one source, "The cost of a call minute for landlines has become 0.04 US dollars after being 0.11. The cost of a call minute for prepaid lines has decreased from 0.25 US dollars to 0.08, and the average cost for SMS has become 0.02 US dollars after being 0.05. For prepaid lines, the charge has fallen from 0.25 US dollars to 0.08 US dollars. As for the recharge card, there is a new card with a value of 4.5 US dollars valid for 30 days. The card that the citizen previously paid 39,000 Lira for with a credit of 22.73 has now dropped to 7.5 US dollars, equivalent to 190,000 Lira."
**State of Confusion**
According to the same source, "The Lebanese street is currently facing a state of confusion, having awakened on June 1 to a haircut of about 94 percent of their balance. For example, a balance of 150,000 Lira turned into 6 US dollars after being divided based on the Sayrafa price. The confusion is growing between the old card and the new one, and anyone who stored cards at home has also faced the haircut; all the old cards that were worth, for example, 22.73 dollars are now worth 1.38 dollars."
In this context, complaints have started to flood in against the two companies through legal claims made against them at the Public Prosecutor's office for theft, fraud, and other crimes that undermine the financial standing of the state, as what the companies Alfa and Touch did resembles what banks did to depositors whose money was looted.
**The Search for Savings**
A large number of Lebanese citizens rushed to purchase new prepaid lines to get rid of their landline connections that have become a burden on them, especially since Alfa and Touch have not yet opened the option to transfer lines from fixed to prepaid. One citizen says, "My bill was estimated at about 100 dollars, equivalent to 150,000 Lira, but today, if we calculate it at the new price, it will exceed 700,000 Lira. Where will I get that amount? So, I had to buy a new non-fixed line to manage my balance."
Another citizen states, "We are considered part of the poor class, since the middle class has disappeared in Lebanon. I used to pay 16,000 Lira a month to recharge my line with U CHAT and Wafer services, but now this service costs me 130,000 Lira, which is 8 times what it used to be. Another citizen laments, "My entire salary does not equal 1,500,000 Lira, and I spend 9 percent of my salary on communications if I wanted to subscribe to the 4.5 dollars service."
Regarding university students under 25, the A+ service (valid for 30 days and includes 180 call minutes, 5GB, and 1,000 SMS) has decreased from 15 dollars to 5 dollars, which is about 125,000 Lebanese Lira after it previously cost 22,500 Lira. Similarly, the military line has become 1.5 dollars (including 120 call minutes, 120 SMS, and 1.5 GB). Aside from home internet subscriptions, a family of four needs a million Lira a month just for communications.
What the Lebanese people lacked was this crisis "to take them back 100 years." This crisis has gnawed at their dignity and deprived them of their most basic rights. It seems that the political authority in Lebanon is indifferent to the seriousness of the crisis that has struck Lebanon and continues to burden the citizen with the crisis without attempting to find solutions that align with the difficult living conditions.
