At the beginning of 1980, Kuwait had approximately 550,000 landline telephone connections. These lines were used for all communications, both local and international, as well as for operating telex machines and other services. Due to the poor systems and services provided by the Ministry of Communications at the time, and as a step towards modernization, it was decided to privatize the printing and distribution of telephone bills to subscribers on a monthly basis. The task was not easy, given the chaotic address system and the absence of a GPS system. Several companies submitted bids, most offering around one million dinars annually. One bid stood out, with the bidder offering to undertake the task for only KD 75,000.
This fact was well known to those working at the Ministry of Communications at the time, as well as to the companies that submitted bids, including a company managed by my friend Hisham Al-Sultan. The then-Minister of Communications, as well as the relevant committee, decided to enforce the law and award the bid to the lowest offer, even though everyone believed there was something wrong. The error was later discovered, and the tender was canceled. From that day forward, no landline user received a monthly bill as before.
Those who wanted to know the cost of their international calls had to visit the ministry in person to request a printout of their calls. This ordeal continued for over thirty years, until the advent of the WhatsApp application, which allowed free international calls and alleviated these difficulties in recent years. I recalled this story after reading the decision of the Partnership Projects Committee to announce Beyon Connect as the winning investor in the telecommunications network development project.
The acting Director General of Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects, Asma Al-Mousa, stated that awarding the contract represents a new strategic milestone in the digital transformation process and the provision of a stateof- the-art fixed telecommunications network across all areas of Kuwait, enabling internet speeds of up to 10 gigabytes per second. According to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Al-Mousa stated that at least 65 percent of the total jobs in the project will be allocated to Kuwaiti citizens, and 50 percent of the company’s shares will be offered for public subscription. We hope that extremist fatwas prohibiting subscription to this company will not arise, as happened with other companies that are now among the most profitable.
The greatest harm from avoiding subscription was suffered by lower-income citizens, who followed such fatwas, while wealthier individuals benefited, increasing their shareholdings due to the large number of people abstaining. Ironically, these same individuals later took to the streets demanding the cancellation of loans. It is worth noting that Beyon Connect is a Bahraini company specializing in the development and provision of innovative products and services aimed at creating and strengthening inclusive digital communities for both the public and private sectors.
The company was founded in 1981, the same year the Ministry of Communications stopped sending landline telephone bills to customers. It took 45 years to witness any significant development in the ministry’s systems.
By Ahmad alsarraf
email: [email protected]
email: [email protected]
