Tag Archives | nicolas sehnaoui

Electoral Camapaigns Bi Gheir 3alam

By Rami on April 16, 2018 in Politics

I’ve been watching for a while now what the parliamentary candidates have to say about their electoral programs and the amount of literal bullshit you get to see and hear is sickening. The promises almost everyone is making are so ridiculous and fanciful that I can’t believe there are real people supporting them and their programs.

Take for example this video by Nicolas Sehnaoui which promises a solution for the chronic traffic congestion.

They’re proposing widening the northern highway, increasing the number of buses, fixing the roads, organizing the public transportation system within the capital, and best of all establishing train lines between the main cities. Wlik w a*rrrr! Shu 3eyshin bi London?! I’m not going to put energy into explaining why each and every idea is impossible to apply with the current system in Lebanon, but seriously how do some people accept contributing to such ads? I really doubt the girl in the video is even convinced with what she’s saying.

In parallel with the above plan, this gentleman named Nazih Najem wants to also build 13 dams covering the whole country.

We live in a country where a pothole takes forever to get fixed, yet this candidate wants to convince us that 13 dams can be built with the flip of a switch.

I really have nothing personal against Sehnaoui or Najem, the above two ads just happened to have appeared on my Facebook feed and I’m pretty sure other candidates are promising similar stuff. The thing is, why can’t they keep it real? First of all, members of the parliament are in principle supposed approve laws and governments expenditure. Initiating projects on the other hand falls under the duties of each ministry, so how on earth can these candidates promise projects?

Anyway, I personally don’t care who wins and who loses, and I’m not interested to see new faces winning because thank god neither my life nor my income depend on any of them. In fact, I won’t even bother voting for anyone because I’d rather put the energy for going to the polling station into something more useful for myself. I just pity those who actually believe such campaigns and waste their time and effort supporting these candidates.

Mandatory IMEI Registration is Coming Back – Mobile Phones to Get More Expensive

By Rami on September 11, 2017 in Telecom

I was at a mobile phone shop in Beirut yesterday when I heard some people claiming that the Ministry of Telecommunications is bringing back the mandatory registrations of mobile phones IMEI in a new attempt to fight smuggling of mobile devices. (*ahem* Amhaz…)

As soon as I came back home I searched a bit and found that the thing is unfortunately real as per the below report by MTV (thanks Techie Dad), and it is quite surprising that the ministry didn’t bother alert the subscribers yet about the new decision!

For those who don’t know, a similar decision was taken in 2013 by the telecommunications minister back then Nicolas Sehnaoui and was cancelled by Boutros Harb in 2014 due to how complicated the registration process was. However, unlike now, the ministry back then launched an awareness campaign to let people re-activate their old handsets in order to keep them from being banned on the network once the registration process is put into work.

The MTV report mentions the risks of duplicate IMEIs but the ultimate purpose for enforcing IMEI registration will definitely be fighting smuggling of mobile phones, all at the expense of making our lives harder with the registration process and of course increasing the mobile phone prices (since they will all be subject to import tax and VAT), instead of tightening the controls at the customs.

It isn’t clear yet though when this thing will be put into effect but this guy on Facebook claims it will be as of September 15th. Still, let’s cross our fingers and hope the ministry thinks it over!

Lebanon is soon getting proper addressing

By Rami on May 6, 2013 in Lebanon

beirut streets

According to tweets by minister Nicolas Sehnaoui, a bid will soon be launched for addressing of Lebanon in order for homes and workplaces to get proper addresses.

So hopefully in a few months from now, you will no longer have to tell people where you live or work based on directions like “teilit mafra2 3al shmeil” or “bi wijj mini market abou afif”!

3G Capacities to increase by 50% for the same prices

By Rami on April 18, 2013 in Lebanon

Great news to all 3G users! Minister of Telecommunications Nicolas Sehnaoui announced at NDU today that capacities for all 3G plans will be increased by 50% for the same prices.

It isn’t clear however whether the increase will be immediately effective or it has to wait until we renew the service.

Update:

~~According to The Daily Star, capacities will increase as of May 1st.~~ Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui claimed on twitter that capacities will increase as of May 7th.

African Rhinoceros attacks minister Sehnaoui

By Rami on April 12, 2013 in Lebanon

Nicolas Sehnaoui

Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui was lucky enough to escape a Rhinoceros attack while he was on a hunting trip in Africa along with minister Marwan Kheireddine.

Caretaker State Minister Marwan Kheireddine saved caretaker Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui from a rhinoceros attack while they were in Africa, reported An Nahar daily Friday.

It said that as the ministers were on a hunting trip in Africa, Sehnaoui decided to rest by the rhinoceros, which he mistook for a rock.

The animal soon turned its attention to Sehnaoui and attempted to attack him.

The minister began to run away from the rhinoceros, while Kheireddine and their companions scared off the animal with their sticks. Source

I wonder what other cool hobbies do our ministers have!

Lebanese bloggers reinvent the world

By Rami on February 27, 2013 in Lebanon

Nicolas Sehnaoui

The ministry of telecommunication is holding a competition called “Lebanese bloggers reinvent the world” and offering the winner a trip to Silicon Valley with minister Nicolas Sehnaoui.

All you have to do is submit a blog post about one creative invention that you think might change the world, to be assessed by a jury of prominent Lebanese in Silicon Valley working in the ICT sector.

The digital era is revolutionizing our societies.

As Lebanese, we are uniquely equipped with the creativity needed to succeed and shine brighter than any other country on the Digital Sphere. So let’s embrace the digital revolution and reinvent the World!

Whether it’s a flying car, a humanoid Nano-Robot that manipulates our DNA or an environmental country sized biosphere that reduces pollution we all have that one crazy creative invention that might change humanity.

Compose and submit a blog post about this topic under the main title “Lebanese Bloggers Reinvent the World”, accompanied with a subtitle reflecting your own Invention.

Blog posts will be judged by a jury of prominent Lebanese in the Silicon Valley working in the ICT sector based on the writing style and the creativity of the Invention.

The winner will get the chance to visit the Silicon Valley with Minister Sehnaoui end of March.

If you have some creative idea, make sure to write about it and submit it as soon as possible to the competition website www.reinventingtheworld.net, since the competition ends in a couple of days from now on March 1st, and results will be announced on March 6th.

4G pilot phase in Lebanon

By Rami on February 13, 2013 in Lebanon

As per minister Sehnaoui, the pilot phase of the 4G service will start by the end of this month including 200 students and 200 specialists as in the case with 3G back in September 2011. And I just hope I’ll take part in this testing phase like last time!

Alfa by the way is currently offering an interactive platform at ABC Achrafiyeh where’s they conducting some live experiments to show people how fast can the service be, but note that the devices they’re using are probably the only ones on the network right now.

via LBCI

Nicolas Sehnaoui’s promises for 2013

By Rami on January 6, 2013 in Lebanon

Nicolas Sehnaoui

Telecom Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui posted on new year’s eve a list of goals he’s looking to accomplish in 2013 in the form of predictions (à la Michael Hayek).

Prediction 2013 #1- Improve the 3G quality with the Deep Indoor Expansion

Prediction 2013 #2- Deploy 4G in the main cities

Prediction 2013 #3- Start the Fiber To The Homes (FTTH) tender process and start connecting users to the Fiber Optic network

Prediction 2013 #4- Equip the remaining 130 co’s with DSL capability

Prediction 2013 #5- Allow and tariff VDSL technology to allow higher speeds for the 75% living under 2km from the CO

Prediction 2013 #6- Launch an International Tender on the management of the 2 mobile operators

Prediction 2013 #7- Finalize with Cyprus the purchase of 700Gb on the Alexandros cable

Prediction 2013 #8- Double the caps on 3G for the same price

Prediction 2013 #9- Start connecting the Heavy Users to Fiber Optic network

Prediction 2013 #10- Deploy the active cabinets that will allow 25% of people living further than 2km from the CO to get normal DSL

Let’s hope they all come true!

Nadim Gemayel complaining about his internet

By Rami on January 3, 2013 in Funny

Loved Sehnaoui’s replies!

via Racha El Halabi

MoT to start collecting all mobile subscribers information

By Rami on December 7, 2012 in Lebanon

I just heard an announcement on the radio that all mobile subscribers will be soon required to submit their personal information (a copy of their ID + a recent photo) to the ministry of telecommunications in order to keep track of who’s using each an every mobile number in Lebanon.

Mobile shop owners will be responsible for collecting the information of those who buy new phone lines, while existing subscribers will have to submit their information within a few months from now, and their lines will be automatically deactivated if they failed to comply with the deadline (I’ll update the post with the exact date as soon as I know it).

I guess this will be so annoying especially when you decide to sell your phone line, since you will have to make sure the buyer registers it under his name so that you don’t hold responsibility of anything he/she does with it!

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