JEDDAH: The fact that you must provide proof of legal residency to obtain a pre-paid calling card or registered post-paid account with Saudi Telecom or Mobily has for years resulted in a flourishing black market for these cards, which are typically — but not always — being sold to undocumented residents and overstayers.
Arab News recently paid a visit to the main phone souk on Jeddah’s Palestine Street. The sidewalks around the central area of phone stores are populated with young Saudis holding lists of pre-paid phone numbers ready to use.
“Most of the customers are illegal residents who cannot legally obtain a SIM card from the telephone carrier,” said Mohammed, who didn’t want to provide his family name. Mohammed said he works in the mornings and evenings.
Obtaining any kind of phone account the legal way involves providing a valid iqama (work/residency permit). Saudi Arabia’s uncounted number of undocumented migrants and visa overstayers — people who entered the country legally, usually with a pilgrimage visa, but remained beyond the expiration date of their temporary visas — need to make phone calls, so they approach vendors such as Mohammed to obtain an account. These numbers have been opened in the name of a legal resident or citizen. Usually the vendors themselves buy multiple numbers in their own names or the names of friends or relatives.
“Prepaid SIM cards are not risky to sell,” said Mohammed, adding that most of the prepaid SIM cards he sells are under his name.
Last year, telecom companies and the governmental Communications and Information Technology Commission said they would crack down on the prevalence of fraudulent account holders. The daily Al-Madinah reported in January 2007 that as many as 70 percent, or 10.5 million, accounts were not accurately registered.
“It is a good business,” said Naif Al-Malki, a Saudi in his 20s who says he has been unable to find legal work. “I graduated two years ago and since then I haven’t succeeded in finding a job. I had to find an income.”
Al-Malki’s comments reflect the ongoing problem of a high unemployment rate among Saudis. Officially the number is about 9 percent for men and 25 percent for women, but these figures do not account for people who have given up looking for work or have never sought help from the government in finding jobs and are therefore uncounted.
Despite the ongoing efforts to “Saudize” the Kingdom’s workforce, Saudis are finding it difficult to compete with the lower wages paid to legal and illegal workers in the Kingdom — so they often resort to the informal economy to make a living, whether it’s the bedou that sells camel milk on the side of the highway or the young urban shebab selling calling cards off Palestine Street. Not all customers are undocumented migrants and overstayers. The most lucrative sales are to those customers wanting to buy customized phone numbers, such as easy-to-remember numbers or numbers that spell out words. Vendors who offer a special numbers often write them on signs to attract customers.
“The price of a special postpaid or prepaid number can reach up to 4,000 riyals,” said Al-Malki.
“You have to have good sources and connections in the telephone company to be aware of the new special numbers,” added Mohammed, who pointed out that these numbers are sold at a premium by Saudi Telecom, making it more of a risky investment. Mohammed borrowed money from friends to buy his first custom phone numbers to re-sell in the black market. “After selling a few special numbers a person would then have his own capital to buy and sell more special numbers,” he said.
In some cases sellers of these custom phone numbers often go with the buyer (who is typically a legal resident or citizen who could afford SR4,000 for a customized phone number) to transfer the number, making it a legal sell.
But for pre-paid calling cards, usually sold to people without legal proof of residency, the numbers simply remain in the names of the original purchaser. In the event the number is used to commit a crime, the name of the purchaser would pop up in investigations, a concern that didn’t seen to bother any of the young men selling accounts in their name to total strangers.
