Hotlines tempt Damascene youths

The Syrian telecommunications establishment has canceled direct telephone dial up with several foreign states after the problem of what is called "beautiful digits" has escalated among young men who spend hours on telephone on "sexy" conversations on the telephone with numbers that often appear on foreign satellites like Venus and Joy.

An increasing number of Syrians had complained over the high telephone bills, as one of the bills reached US $80,000.

A source at the Syrian telecommunications establishment said, "The establishment has found out a way to cancel" the hotlines, through cutting off direct contacts with these countries and limiting telephone contacts to the telephone exchange operator.

In this regard, the Syrian local daily Tishreen said that a state-establishment employee has found that his telephone bill has exceeded 4 million Syrian pounds (US $80,000), and following mediation with the establishment (often the establishment does not give details of the bill) he found out that his son had made "love-telephone calls with such hotlines" in Chile, Surinam and Macau and that during one day the young man had made telephone calls that accounted for 325 minutes with these "beautiful digits."

Meanwhile, the director of the investment department at the telecommunications establishment, Saleh Salem, said, "Upon monthly follow-up of telephone contacts from Syria to other countries, it was noted that the number of telephone calls is greatly increasing to countries such as Sierra Leone, Chile, Macau, Panama and others."

He stressed that despite the fact that these "telephone calls constitute roughly huge revenues for the organization, (25 million Syrian pounds for Sierra Leone), yet the establishment has decided to cut direct telephone contact for serving the interests of citizens."

The establishment limited contacts with "the beautiful digits" which are 40, to the telephone exchange operator in a way to enable parents to watch out.