Egypt govt 'forced' Vodafone to send pro-Mubarak texts
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Vodafone says it was ‘forced’ to send messages urging customers to attend rally in support of President Hosni Mubarak, Associated Press reports
Telecommunications giant Vodafone says that it was ‘forced’ to send texts messages urging customers to support President Hosni Mubarak, the Associated Press news agency has reported.
Yesterday, AP said its reporters had seen text messages, sent via Vodafone and other carriers, urging recipients to join a pro-Mubarak rally. The messages were sent at a time when few other text messages were being delivered.
Vodafone said that the Egyptian government’s use of emergency laws to force it to send the text messages was “unacceptable”, and that it had officially complained.
When Vodafone blocked mobile voice and data services, the company said it had no option but to comply with the government’s instruction to do so. “Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it.”
Vodafone’s Egyptian division is a joint venture with Telecom Egypt, which in turn is majority-owned by the state.
The UK-headquartered company also operates a customer support call centre near Cairo. Union sources have told Information Age this week that customer calls have been redirected to UK contact centres as a result of the upheaval in Egypt. These include technical support calls that the UK division does not have the resources to handle, the sources claim. Vodafone has declined repeated requests to confirm or deny these reports.
As it reported a 3.5% rise in quarterly revenues to £11.9 billion this week, Vodafone said that emerging markets have been an important source of growth for the company and will be a strategic focus in future.
