A member of the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt, Saeed Abdel-Hafez on Friday criticized remarks by the head of the Communications Committee in the House of Representatives, Ahmed Badawy, regarding internet packages.
Badawy urged citizens with heavy video watching habits to mind their data allowance, as they tend to deplete their data in record time.
However, Abdel-Hafez said that this argument was weak and unbecoming of the constitutional and legal responsibility borne by a member of parliament.
He explained that a member of parliament must never resort to easy justifications, as citizens are the ones who pay for their services and must receive it under clear and fair standards.
Abdel-Hafez explained that the role of the Communications Committee, headed by Badawy, should be to study the nature of the market, the infrastructure, the level of competition, and to ensure consumer protection.
Blaming citizens for consuming too much data is a simplistic and superficial justification, he stressed.
Badawy assured that his committee has examined citizen complaints regarding the rapid depletion of data packages, as part of its ongoing monitoring of the telecommunications services sector.
Internet speeds in Egypt are “extremely high,” he assured, noting that the coming period will witness further improvements in internet services and infrastructure in general.
The state has made significant progress in developing networks, he explained, with approximately 64 percent of copper cables already replaced by fiber optic cables, directly improving the quality and speed of services provided to citizens.
