The recent stormy weather with heavy rains wreaked havoc for many, but proved to be a windfall for satellite dish technicians. The high winds disturbed dishes resulting in a business boom for them.

All sections of society and people of all ages want their favorite channels. Therefore, setting up dishes and programming channels has generated employment for thousands of so-called free-visa workers.

Whether it is the posh Tahlia Street of Jeddah or the remote village of Zulm in Riyadh province, technicians with ladders and tool-kits are a common sight.

The rains provided a lot of relief to dish technicians, many of them in dire need of money in order to regularize their status or leave the Kingdom owing to the recent crackdown.

Kamal Islam, a Bangladeshi technician in Riyadh’s Hara, said: “This week has been good; strong winds always boost business for us.”

Mohammed Hilal, from India, said technicians are charging not less than SR 120 or above since Tuesday as winds have disturbed dishes. He said he had paid a doctor a consultation fee of SR 30 whereas he had been compelled to pay SR 120 to a dish technician for fixing a dish for his house.

Expat Mohammed Shajiuddin said that “rather than paying dish technicians, I try to fix the dish myself in order to receive Indian channels.”

Mohammed Rahmat, who runs a dish shop in Al-Kharj, said the rain and winds are keeping him busy.

Baiju Kodakkam, a technician in Hail, said the “business has been hectic for a week now.”

Nazar Kayakkotam, a Taif-based expat, said it was after three days of chasing technicians that he was able to fix his dish.

Several Indians in Riyadh and Dammam have separate dishes and receivers with encrypted cards. They subscribed to the service back home and brought them into the Kingdom. Reception is good in the Central and Eastern Provinces. As these dishes are different, technicians demand more money for their frequency realignment.

Consequently, most technicians are wishing for rain and winds, while residents pray such a calamity doesn’t recur.