JEDDAH, 29 June — The rush to buy prepaid chips from the Saudi Telecom Company (STC) continues to result in long queues outside STC offices.
Waits of up to five hours have been reported.
One STC office in Jeddah confirmed that it was issuing only 30 chips a day.
Call cabins, which suddenly sprang up on every major street in the Kingdom over the past few years, have nevertheless been adversely affected by the issuance of the pre-paid chips, according to a random survey conducted by Arab News.
Third World expatriate workers who typically used them are now clubbing together to buy a prepaid chip, and then calling abroad during the off-peak period.
STC’s off-peak rates compete very favorably with that advertised in call cabins.
The first blow to the call cabin business was the Boraq card, with which discounted international calls could be made from any public telephone.
Landline subscribers have also been using other prepaid cards to make international calls from home, even if they do not have the "0" facility.
The telecom company announced earlier this week that it has decided to abolish mandatory deposits for expatriates to obtain landline connections.
