The Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (Mobinil) expects lower third quarter revenues as a result of the recent boycott campaign against the company, it said at a press conference on Sunday .
The company's CEO Hassan Kabbani said the company is facing a fierce boycott campaign which has been “unacceptably” exploited by its competitors.
Kabbani accused unnamed parties of trying to provoke political conflicts with the company, taking advantage of the boycott which has continued for over a month so far.
Mobinil, which is owned by Coptic businessman Naguib Sawiris, became the target of a boycott after Islamist groups accused Sawiris of expressing contempt for their religion after he posted a controversial cartoon on his Twitter account.
The cartoon depicted a bearded Mickey Mouse and a veiled Minnie Mouse. Sawiris has repeatedly apologized for what he said was a "joke" that was not meant to be taken seriously.
“We will not apologize for a mistake we did not make, with all due respect to the clients deciding to leave the company and move to Etisalat and Vodafone,” said Kabbani. “Politics have been thrust into business matters in order to harm Mobinil, which employs more than 5000 Egyptians.”
“Mobinil won't get involved in polemics of any kind and will strive to improve the quality of its services and come back stronger than before.”
Kabbani declined to disclose the number of clients who left the company for Etisalat or Vodafone, or boycotted Mobinil altogether. However, he noted that the number was fewer than one million.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
