DAMMAM, 28 November 2003 — Saudi Arabia’s telephone network during Eid holidays is the busiest in the GCC countries, and the Kingdom’s cellular network since Eid day has been so busy that at times it was difficult to reach even local numbers.
According to an estimate, more than two million international calls were placed during the first two days of Eid from the Eastern Province alone. Over 26 million SMS messages were exchanged during the first two days of Eid, which included domestic and international messages.
In addition to individual SMS messages, a large number of companies also used SMS to promote their products and services causing overloading of the network, an STC official said.
Expatriate workers, mainly Indians, Bangladeshis, Egyptians, Pakistanis and Filipinos, made most of the international calls. There are more than seven million expatriates in the Kingdom, with Indians forming the largest group with 1.6 million people.
Most of the international calls were made through international call cabins, followed by SAWA prepaid cards and prepaid landline telephone cards. Supermarkets and shopping centers reported brisk sales of SAWA cards and prepaid telephone cards. SAWA prepaid cards became scarce, and for the first two days some retailers were selling the cards for SR105 each. But an increase in supply and newspaper reports of an artificial shortage resulted in bringing down the price to SR100.
International call cabins in the Eastern Province reported big business, and many call cabins worked 24 hours to cope with the rush. Jafar Al-Shammary, a call cabin owner in crowded Al-Swaiket market, said his cabin registered an increase of over 250 percent during Eid. He said on Eid day a total of 3,000 international calls were made from his cabin.
Call cabin owners add that this year more international calls were placed during the first two days of Eid than last year during the same period.
Call cabin owners admitted that the network was so crowded that at times it was difficult to get a connection for several minutes.
