حرب يقول أن "الإتصالات" كانت تعمل خارج القانون وتم إبعاد كفاءات منها بدون أي تفسير ومكتب الصحناوي يرد

70 years old, and not a single white hair. Amazing!

I am with you pa... eslah bs!!!! wa taghyeer,,,lol... losers...

@jaafar: Please refrain from using insults on the forum. You know how much respect and admiration I have for you and mowaten. Please, don't disappoint me

Liberalization is something you M8 illiterates know nothing about.

It means that the government will no longer own the telecom companies and that they will be sold to the private sector. Private sector will be able to invest in enhancing the infrastructure and service.

This means that these companies will finally be able to COMPETE for customers without any price fixing. This will lead to better networks, better quality of service, better prices and will overall improve our economy. Something Hezbollah has been objecting against !

Now Liberalization is your new word for today. memorize it because this is the only way to salvage Lebanon.

Next is the electicity sector !

@FT : Don't mix Water Privatisation which is a NATURAL RESSOURCE with that of infrastructure development.

Point is simple : Governments SUCK at business. THey have no idea how to conduct business. How to optimise processes, investments, quality of service... it's not their job !

As much as I agree with the article against Water privatisation, I am totally for the privatisation of our infrastructure. This is the only way to create a healthy marketplace for companies to compete. Only competition will enhance the quality of service we have.

And this is how you end up with Telecom leaders like France or Japan who have all privatised (or semi-privatised) these sectors and are leading the world in technology today.

There is no single successful economy which has not privatised its infrastructure.

FT: Privatisation does not mean stealing money away like the heresy you state in your comment.

This is the typical M8 argument where they want their government income to depend on Telecom when it should depend on taxes. Taxes many M8 followers (HA) do not even pay. Start paying your taxes and then mention the subject...

There is a direct correlation between the level of telecom development and GDP increase in any given country which in turn results in higher tax returns for government but you and your leaders are too ignorant to know that because you know crap about the economy.

Meanwhile, you and your model countries remain in the stone age and want to prevent Lebanon from advancing and modernising its infrastructure.

Full Disclosure : your comments only show the ignorance you have accumulated all your life. Same level of ignorance enabling Nasrallah and Aoun to build the illusion you live in.

Your lies trying to picture me as pro-israeli show you're weak and incapable of argument.

FT : why would I report your post when they only serve the purpose of showing how utterly ridiculous you are and go through the trouble of answering you !

Why do you have to use such lousy assumptions ?

If you don't privatise, you will have inneficient hiring of incompetent political appointees instead like it is the case today. The same incompetent people who have brought you NOTHING !

And since when was maximising profit any wrong ? There are measures to ensure profits are reinvested in the country to build more jobs and businesses you know ? No you don't ! Because you're an ignorant fool !

@FT : Hiring incompetents can only be achieved in nationalised companies where politicians will struggle to place their "people" at key positions.

When you privatise an institution, you become accountable to shareholders but no one said the Lebanese state would not remain a major shareholder and the lebanese public would not be allowed to invest in the company. In fact, most telcos belong to the people of their country !

Understaffing ? This never happens. In fact, you optimize staffing and avoid having hundreds or thousands of fictitious jobs. You optimize costs and pass on the benefits to the consumer with lower bills.

All in all, these arguments are all false arguments to prevent privatisation from happening.

I will also tell you why privatisation is a threat to some politicians :

1- They will no longer be able to provide "free jobs" to their "people"
2- They will no longer be able to control who gets the big "contracts" (mainly, mafias with ties to our politicians through bribes)
3- They will no longer be able to place SPIES in our institutions
4- They will have to come up with a REAL economical plan to fund the Lebanese state. Telecom revenues in not a PLAN nor a Revenue sources and should never be !
5- They will no longer be able to have all the illegal mafias distributing illegal cable TV, Internet and electricity which is a HUGE revenue source to all politicians

These are the REAL reasons your M8 politicians oppose privatisation... not any of the bullcrap arguments mentionned above ! by the way, the TRA's role is to prevent such things from happening !

The only one with NO ARGUMENTS are M8 ignorants who puke up the worst possible excuses to prevent progress.

Yes, I call you a fool and I insult Aoun and Bassil.

You gave a study about WATER privatisation which has nothing to do with Telecom and Energy and I even agree that Natural ressources should not be privatised.

So until you come up with real arguments against the privatisation of our infrastructure and letting the lousy politicians handle what businessmen should be handling, then shut up and stop opposing real plans that can achieve economic growth in this country !

Privatisation doesn't mean government gives up ownership of the telecom entity. In France, the government is still the major shareholder of Orange which is a world leader in the sector. The rest of the shares are held by the public. Same with EDF.

And no, people like Harb will not get a 20% share... why do you have to come up with such atrocities ???

FT : "any nordic country can be an example. japan as well."

Are you joking ? They are all liberated telecom markets. In fact, some of the first in the world. And all the operators there compete for better services and prices. And their shares are traded on stock market !

Better than your communist era mentality ya FT!

Many people would !

You need to separate 2 jobs : Production and Distribution.

Distribution is a national security concern and should always remain under control of the state.

Production : anyone could produce and sell electricity on the national grid (ZAHLE is the best example) and compete on prices, quality of service, energy source...

In fact, you can even install a windmill on your land and sell the excess power to EDL for distribution like it is the case in many advanced countries.

@Roar : it's not true that it costs a fortune. In fact, on the long run, it's cheaper ! The only problem is financing and this is where the government should pressure the banks to give out loans to finance such things. In fact, there was an announcement of such a plan not long ago but like any such announcement, we forget.

But if a private investor were to invest in a powerplant to produce 1GW of solar electricity and sell it to the public, why would this be a problem ?

PS : Harb is not the energy minister and neither am I.

good link ft, even if I disagree in theory with 2/3 of the points.
Lots of countries with private water/electricity companies with no problems. Then, we have to see the 'lebanese implementation'...

Roar: "It costs 12-20k per household", how can the average Lebanese afford that ?

The average Lebanese pays hundreds per month for EDL and illegal generators.

12-20k to be depreciated over 8 years gives you an average of $1.5k to $2.5k per year or between $125- $200 per month. If you take a loan, it will cost you additional interest which is negligible and beyond 8 years, you get free electricity.

Sounds good for you ?

Now how to get the 12-20k ? Simple solutions exist :

- Banks can lend you the money (government should pressure them to)
- You can "lease" the equipement and pay it monthly
- Supplier can give you the loan himself

@Roar : setup what exactly ? Solar electricity at home ? If you do that, then there is no monthly bill beyond setup.

Otherwise, there are ways to help the public through Subsidies. For example, in France, EDF is obliged to buy clean energy from producers at 3 times the cost of normal electricity as a way to subsidize the production of clean energy. They sell it back to you a 1x the cost.

In the ideal situation, you sell 100% of your production to the grid. Not just the excess. This is to cope with night / day situations.

There are methods to store excess energy that require government/private investments such as using excess energy to pump water up a mountain and releasing the water down hydraulic energy turbines when you need extra power.

It's all solvable and it's all affordable. The question is how to finance it so that everyone can benefit from it at affordable prices.

I still believe it's better for the private sector to invest in large and efficient solar plants rather than individuals with their own installations. It's more efficient, less costly and in the end, you can subsribe to these sources of power even though they are distributed by EDL.

@leb_roar: Do Asylum Seekers have to pay for electricity in Australia?

You couldn't privatize EDL... who will accept to send bill collectors in Dahieh or in the South where they get beaten up or shot at...

there is a reason the people that don't want this country to advance tried to plant a bomb in his elevator.
I also agree with privatization. As long as there are laws preventing monopolies, privatization will create competition which will lead to a far better experience for the end user (you and I), competitive rates, more jobs, etc. you get several companies competing for my business is far better than what we have in place today. A miserable experience at best!

but M8 claim that bassil improved communications and internet so much! LOL

neither M14 or M8 work for the welfare of people or the good of the country... they only work for their interests and money. those who pretend that M8 are better are also biased and ignorants...

lebanon has the capacity to surpass israel's economy but:
- Hezbollah cannot want this: it is bad for their business, they have to keep lebanon divided to be strong as the israelis want them to!
- M14 are weak and only think about keeping their seats...
- the people of lebanon are sheep and run after those politicians that will bring them advantages

in a word: no one in lebanon want the country to improve, everyone has interests in keeping it weak!