Cell phone firm Vodafone has accused the Egyptian authorities of making use of its network to transmit unattributed texts supporting the federal government. Vodafone was told to call off services past week when disputes against President Hosni Mubarak began.
But the authorities then ordered Vodafone to switch the network back on, in order to send text messages under Egypt's emergency laws, the organization said. In a declaration, Vodafone described the messages as "unacceptable". "These messages aren't scripted by the mobile network operators and we do not possess the ability to respond to the authorities on the content."
Likely price
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says how the government clampdown on internet services may possibly have cost the Egyptian economy as much as $18m (£11m) a day or $90m in total.
The impact of the communications block might be even higher, as it could be “more tough in the future to attract foreign organizations and guarantee them that the networks will stay reliable", said the OECD in a statement.
In another development, the credit ratings firm Fitch has demoted the Egypt's debt grade by one notch to BB from BB+, citing the consequences of the continuing political unrest on the economy. The nation's debt grade has already been demoted by 2 other ratings firms, Moody's and Standard & Poor's.
