Activists urge 24-hour boycott of telecom services

AMMAN — Social media activists are calling for boycotting telecom services for 24 hours in protest against a potential move to impose monthly fees on using apps like WhatsApp and Viber to make calls.

In messages circulated on social media and messaging apps, activists called for turning off mobile phones from midnight Tuesday to midnight Wednesday.

Some messages called for removing SIM cards from phones for a whole day to push telecom operators into rejecting the potential fee, which media reports suggested could reach JD2 per month.

If a substantial number of people heed these calls, one message said, departments at telecom companies concerned with serving subscribers will inform the management of how “dire” the situation is.

Telecom operators are all affiliated with companies abroad, it added, which means the response will be “swift”.

Voice over Internet Protocol services enable people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for voice calls.

According to estimates by experts in the field, there are more than 3 million WhatsApp users in Jordan.

Experts have repeatedly stressed that it is difficult and unrealistic to impose fees on such services, as there are technological solutions to bypass any blockage and many alternatives to these apps online.