CAIRO: After ongoing online protests against a recent decision by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to lower the price of monthly ADSL internet subscriptions from LE 95 to LE 45 while limiting the capacity of downloads to 2 Gigabytes per month, the ministry now says subscribers have a choice. According to an MCIT official who preferred to remain anonymous, subscribers can either opt to continue with the old system or subscribe using the new one. But in a previous statement, the ministry said that the fee for the 256 kilobits per second speed would go down to LE 45, with an additional LE 8 per GB for any extra download over the 2 GB limit without mentioning anything about subscribers having any choice. The main goal behind this decision, said the source, is "providing lower income brackets with internet access. Another goal is to increase competition between the various service providers, maintaining the quality of the service as well as decreasing the amount of line sharing among households so that individual households can afford their own connection. The decision was met with a lot of anger on online groups, especially on social networking websites like Facebook, where users started an online petition protesting against the changes which they see as a profit-seeking scheme and a way to restrict internet use. Others see it as a step backwards as it limits their online freedom, sarcastically dismissing the new system as a scam by the government. Disgruntled users have set up online petitions, sent their complaints to several media outlets and even made official complaints to the government.
