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Friday July 21, 2006
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 There's a long history of connections between the US and Lebanon; consumer advocate Ralph Nader, former U.S. energy secretary Spencer Abraham, U.S. Senator John Sununu, pioneering journalist Helen Thomas and Emmy-winning actor Tony Shalhoub are all at least part Lebanese-American.
So as Lebanon goes through yet another miserable time, cell phone company T-Mobile is stepping up and offering free calls and text messages for any of its subscribers trapped in Lebanon or evacuated to Cyprus or Turkey. The free calls started on July 12 for Lebanon and Cyprus and July 21 for Turkey, and continue through the end of the month. Calls from Lebanon on T-Mobile phones usually cost $2.99/minute. The map at left is of Lebanese cell phone coverage -- the gray areas are supposedly good coverage, which is pretty comprehensive. That is, if the towers and electricity aren't down. Wireless blogger Paul Munford says in his email newsletter today that Jordanian cell-phone company Fastlink, which is owned by the same parent company as Lebanese cellular carrier MTC-Touch, is providing free service in Beirut for now. I've emailed Cingular to ask them if they're doing the same thing. I'll update this post if I get a response. Sprint and Verizon only have a tiny number of customers able to roam to the countries in question.
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July 21, 2006 4:07 PM
It's really good of the company to do this in a time of emergency. I'm sure it earns them something in the long run, but as long as the cellular infrastructure is sound (which it may or may not be, I'm curious to see what you turn up) it's a really good example of corporate social responsibility in action. I'd be interested to see if they add this to their CSR statement. :) Still, considering the story where the Swedish government managed to evacuate its citizens incredibly quickly by sending text messages to the cellphoens of Swedish citizens in Lebanon, this could serve mulitple purposes, all of them good.
July 30, 2006 4:40 PM
This is Great Customer service by Tmobile, they are really showing true meaning of being a Global GSM company and focusing on customer service to their real needs, in times when it counts. They were able to step-up in other disasters as well, this is another example. I am moving from Verizon to Tmobile.
August 4, 2006 5:58 PM
It is amazing to see such a gracious offer from a company in this day and age. I have been a sprint customer for the past 6+ years and this act alone is enough for me to switch to T-Mobile! Does anyone have a link to a press release on T-Mobile's site? All I can find is 3rd party announcements of this program. I will be moving my 4 lines to them as a "Thank You!"
September 10, 2006 2:07 AM
thank you very much