By Shahd Alhamdan
JEDDAH — Many expatriates and Saudis expressed anguish over the presumed “blocking” of several free voice and video call services in the Kingdom.
Saudi students studying abroad have also been affected.
The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) announced on Wednesday through its official Twitter account that it has not blocked any free calls, videos, and messaging services.
It said that they were pursuing the issue with telecom companies to find out what were the reasons behind the disruption.
Ana Loren Ebare, a Filipino worker in her 30s, said that she was very upset because she can not see and talk to her mother and her two daughters. For her telephone calls are very expensive.
Sarah, a Lebanese expatriate in her late 40s who did not want to mention her family name, said, “These services not only help me see my daughter who is living outside the Kingdom through video calls, but also help me save the cost of telephone calls. Earlier, I used to pay SR1,400 every month for telephone bill. But today I don’t have to pay much because of free call services.”
“I have not been able to talk to my daughter since free video and voice call services like Line and FaceTime have been blocked,” she said.
Zainab Ahmed, a Saudi woman who had been using imo and Line, said that she has not been affected since there are many other free video and voice call services that could be used as an alternative.
Abdelaziz, a Saudi citizen, wrote on Twitter about a new free video call service called ‘Duo.’
Last month Google launched this service. It allows users to make calls between iOS and Android devices — something FaceTime can’t do.
