"The armed forces are asking honest and loyal citizens to oppose the traitors and criminals," or "All fathers / mothers / son / daughters preserve our country because the nation is eternal." Both SMS, like many others of the same kind, were sent Thursday by the telephone operator Vodafone Egypt to their subscribers. Pictures of these messages that resemble calls to support the regime of Hosni Mubarak did not take long to find on the Internet.
Before the speed at which these images have spread compromising on the Web, the British operator has decided to react."We had no choice," is in essence his line of defense.
In a press release published on its website, Vodafone says that "The Egyptian authorities may require operators to send voice messages to the Egyptians." Vodafone has no other choice then but to relay the text submitted by the government. The British group finds this situation "unacceptable" and said he "protested to the authorities."
Other operators
Contacted by FRANCE 24, a representative of Vodafone ensures that "the Egyptian authorities have asked to send messages since the protests began.The operator confirms he did not have a choice because this obligation is recorded "in the license agreement to be signed by the operators to deploy in Egypt", according to that spokesperson. "We need to think about the safety of our employees there," says Vodafone as a justification for having complied with this obligation.
But the British operator does not intend to be the only one who pointed the finger. "Mobinil and Etisalat are also subject to the same obligation," and can be read in the press release. Orange, which owns Mobinil, has little taste of being dragged into this mess."We are currently checking this story and we do not understand how Vodafone could claim that," surprised the French operator contacted by FRANCE 24. But Vodafone, meanwhile, did not budge: "This has been confirmed by our colleagues on the spot".
Remains to be seen what will happen if the Egyptian authorities reiterate their request to send SMS to Vodafone.
Photo credit: indi.ca / Flickr
