Tag Archives | price list

So why did mobile prices suddenly increase?!

By Rami on August 19, 2014 in Lebanon

iphone5s

If you have been following smartphone prices in Lebanon over the past couple of weeks then you might have noticed the weird increase on all handsets.

For some unknown reason, prices have increased by around 10% in the latest price list published by Amhaz (Stars Communications) and are now similar to the prices during the period when the government cracked down on smugglers by requiring IMEI registration. The table below shows the difference between the prices on August 6th and 18th for some selected devices.

prices

I’m not sure whether this has anything to do to with the U.S. sanctions Amhaz was hit by a while ago or it is actually due to some extra control exercised by the Lebanese government on smugglers to make them pay the due taxes, but it’s definitely weird since nothing about this matter was mentioned in the media.

Mobile phone prices in Lebanon increasing already

By Rami on June 1, 2013 in Lebanon

mobile phones

As you all know, and in order to stop mobile phones smuggling in Lebanon, the ministry of telecommunications is now requiring all traders to register the IMEI (a unique ID assigned to each mobile device) of every legally imported mobile phone or tablet.

The collected IMEIs will then be used as of today June 1st to filter the devices that are allowed access to our mobile networks (alfa and touch). So typically speaking, a legally imported mobile phone with its due taxes paid will be allowed to connect to the mobile networks, while other smuggled ones will be denied access since their unique identifiers are not registered at the ministry.

The weakest ring in the process is of course the group of people who will be responsible of the data entry of the registered IMEIs. Since they will be easily able to register and IMEI of some untaxed mobile if there was not much control over them.

As a result, mobile phone prices ended up notably increasing over the last week. For instance, the guy who sold me my mobile was listing the iPhone 16 GB for around $650 since mid-May I guess, then he increased the price 2 days ago to $745. Logically due to the fact that the handsets he’s currently offering were legally imported and subject to some import tax.

Everybody is eventually complaining about all of this, especially that it gets a bit complicated when you buy some used handset from abroad. And I know it’s wrong to complain about a price increase when it’s a result of complying with the government taxation rules, but still, a $100 increase totally sucks!

We can now go to Georgia without a visa

By Rami on March 23, 2012 in Lebanon

After a meeting between our prime minister Najib Mikati and Georgia’s prime pinister Nika Gilauri, it was announced yesterday that visa restrictions will be lifted on Lebanese willing to visit Georgia, but it wasn’t mentioned when will this decision take effect.

So now we can add Georgia to the following list of countries where Lebanese can go without the need of a visa approval.

Africa

Cape Verde
Comoros
Djibouti
Madagascar
Mauritius
Mozambique
Seychelles
Togo
Uganda

Americas

Bolivia
Dominica
Ecuador
Haiti
Nicaragua
Saint Kitts and Nevis

Asia

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Cambodia
Georgia
Jordan
Laos
Macau
Malaysia
Maldives
Nepal
Oman
Syria
Timor-Leste
Turkey
Iran
Yemen

Europe

Kosovo

Oceania

Cook Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Niue
Palau
Samoa
Tuvalu

Internet prices going down next month

By Rami on August 24, 2011 in Lebanon

Internet prices are finally going down by the end of next month after the cabinet approved the new price list yesterday!

The good news for consumers: Today a 1 Mbps connection, the second-fastest available, costs 115,000 LL ($76.67) per month. Under the new regime, 1 Mbps will be the slowest connection sold by Ogero, the state-run telecom company, and will cost 24,000 LL ($16) per month. (Both price figures exclude the 10% value added tax.)

Packages will range from 1 Mbps with a 4 GB download and upload cap (it’s not split; you get 4GB for each) to around 8 Mpbs with a 30 GB cap. Imad Tarabay, CEO of the Internet provider Cedarcom, told NOW Lebanon that as soon as the new packages are implemented, customers with packages below 1 Mbps now will automatically receive the lowest-level new package from their providers (assuming Ogero releases bandwidth to the private sector). Customers can then decide if they want to switch packages or not.

We’re still way behind what people get in nearby countries but it’s still a good step forward, I just hope there will be enough capacity to accommodate the demand when everyone is automatically switched to 1Mbps next month, and I wish they would reconsider amending those bandwidth cap because one would consume them so fast with the speeds they’re promising.

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Tag Archives | price list