Image via WikipediaAdding to the list of large-scale demonstrations in the Middle East organized through internet and social media now irritated Iraqi mobile phone users are also building up their own protest to fight for their rights. The protest begins from a complete boycott of using the Kuwaiti mobile phone operator, Zain. It has been largely accused by the overall users, for its poor mobile phone coverage in entire Iraq, as the group of activists begins their activity through forward emails and Facebook groups. These organizers are convincing the general public to support fighting for their customer rights and instructing them to switch off their phones, as a protest, for one complete day, on 21st of May, 2011.
One of the leaders in the organization, Haidar Sabr, told AFP that "We are demanding to end this one percent of Iraqis' suffering." He went on claiming that the ripples of his protest are also sparking in Lebanon as he alleged that "It sounds like a simple matter but it's an important one when it comes down to it."
Sabr's Facebook group, which he created with several other leaders too, has gathered a total of 200 users so far, however, it is not identifiable whether how many of them are actually residing in Iraq and will they even actually take part in the protest or not. Meanwhile the support for his protest day on 21st May keeps on strengthening with more and more forward emails and message board postings.
The headquarters of Zain in Iraq were not reachable by AFP, to shed light regarding their stance on this protest gathering. The official website of phone operator boasts that it has more than 10 million users in whole of Iraq.
Previously in February 2010 as well, both the major mobile phone operators of Iraq, Zain and second-best Asiacell, were warned by general public to improve their services. Even the government officials had set a committee reviewing the performance and services of both the companies, which determined that, the services of both companies is deteriorating drastically. The report also confirmed the allegation that the users are generally experiencing citing poor voice quality along with the limitations in the network coverage too.
Just last year, government fined all major mobile phone operating companies, which added a total of 20 million dollars, which was paid by Zain, Asiacell and Korek as a compensation of their poor services and failure to honor customer agreement and contracts.
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