JEDDAH: Mobily and Zain customers still cannot make video calls and send multimedia messages (MMS) to friends and family subscribed to the Saudi Telecom Company's (STC) mobile network.
Furthermore, customers subscribed to STC are barred from transferring their numbers over to Mobily, a process known as porting.
"It's ridiculous, Mobily customers can send and receive MMS through our agreements with 126 operators in 63 countries. They can make and receive video calls to 30 networks abroad in 21 countries," said Humoud Al-Ghobaini, Mobily's vice president for corporate communications and public relations.
"Locally, Mobily customers can make and receive video calls with Zain customers and of course send and receive MMS from them from the first day they launched in the market."
Mobily will have been operating in the Kingdom for five years on May 25.
According to Al-Ghobaini, communication between Mobily and STC customers is still limited to basic services despite the billions that have been invested in the networks.
Mobily closed 2009 with an overall customer base of 18.2 million and the region's largest mobile broadband active user base of one million.
In December the company moved ahead and launched a new-generation of high-speed packet Internet access known as HSPA+.
In November 2009, Arab News reported that STC had a new software system that was causing incorrect bills to be sent to customers. An STC source had initially said the company would solve the chaos by the end of September despite the system being installed in July, causing many unsatisfied customers to switch to one of the other mobile operators in the Kingdom.
However, they then hit a brick wall trying to port their number.
"Switching from STC is a headache. I don't know what the problem is and why I cannot transfer my number to Mobily," said 34-year-old Umm Omar who works at King Abdulaziz University.
Umm Omar received a SR1,000 bill, which she paid before deciding to switch to Mobily. The transfer however was stopped because STC told her she owed another SR120.
"I paid SR200 with an additional SR80 just in case they decided to charge me more. For two weeks I did not use my phone and I could not switch to STC. When I enquired about it, they told me that I owed them another SR46. I paid SR100 and until today I still cannot transfer to Mobily," she said.
She added that she has an uncle working for STC but he could not help her. When she contacted Mobily last Saturday, she was told that the main problem was from STC's side. They were still holding her number.
"I don't understand why in this free economy I am not able to chose the phone company I want. I think that this is an illegal move from their side," she said.
Sultan Amri, a 26-year-old employee at a private company, said that he had been receiving bills of up to SR2,000 when connected to STC and he finally decided to change to Mobily.
"I didn't change my network because they told me it might take a long time and I didn't want to risk it. So I bought a new number and my call limit is SR500. My second bill was SR330 which I couldn't believe," he said.
Amri also said that he has been trying to send multimedia messages to his STC friends but it does not work. "Everywhere around the world you have fair competition between mobile networks, except in the Kingdom which is actually funny," he added.
By Laura Bashraheel
© Arab News 2010
