The Minister of Communications, Johnny Al-Qurm, held two meetings with representatives of both Touch and Alfa mobile operators.
An extensive discussion was held on the telecommunications sector and the network status after adjusting the tariff, in preparation for the development of a working paper for the next phase of this sector, which is the most important on the economic and service levels.
Great emphasis was placed on network and coverage problems as well as trying to find alternative solutions to the power shortage at the transmission stations.
The problem of the shortage of some equipment was also discussed in order to try to find solutions to it.
The Telecom Minister suggested holding a weekly meeting to address the problems and draw up a list of out-of-service stations under both Touch and Alfa in order to do what is necessary to restart them and improve the quality of transmission.
Al-Qurm also suggested laying out a plan for the next three months.
Issues of the new package policies, data services, and the number of subscribers of both companies after adjusting the tariff were discussed.
It was noticed that the market share of Touch increased and the average rate of data usage per subscriber in Alfa was not significantly affected compared to the rate at which the prices were modified.
In view of the sector’s loss of a number of qualified and experienced employees, Minister Al-Qurm commended the cooperation between the two cell companies and universities in Lebanon to strengthen both customer service centers.
Touch has initiated a plan to cooperate with 10 universities for the purpose of strengthening the customer service centers and benefiting from youth experiences.
The Minister also asked Touch to complete dispensing with the One Time Password (OTP) verification method to facilitate and expedite the payment process for the subscriber.