needy expat workers get new phones as singapore moves to scrap 2g
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Needy expat workers get new phones as Singapore moves to scrap 2G

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Needy expat workers get new phones as Singapore moves to scrap 2G

A migrant worker checks his mobile phone at the Marina Bay Promenade
Singapore - Arab Today

A Singapore migrant welfare group has started distributing 3G-enabled mobile phones to cash-strapped foreign workers days before the city-state shuts down its 2G network. Telecom operators in the highly wired island will end second-generation services on April 1, forcing thousands still relying it to upgrade their handsets or become a casualty of technology's relentless advance.

Migrants group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) said the first batch of handsets was given to 50 jobless foreign workers late Tuesday. The laborers are out of work due to wage disputes or workplace injury.

Many rely on cheap 2G handsets to keep in touch with loved ones back home while awaiting a resolution to their problems. TWC2 said it would hand out 120 more handsets next week, while some of the remaining 80 phones which have been collected would be given to other migrant welfare groups for distribution.

The group had urged the public to donate used 3G handsets or money to buy phones for the workers. Singapore, with one of the world’s highest mobile penetration rates, is re-allocating scarce radio frequency spectrum to meet surging consumer demand for high-speed data.

But some 132,300 people in the city-state were still using 2G phones as of December, official data showed. “Phones are a lot more important to these workers than to all of us who have access to computers. It’s their only link to their family... a very important social lifeline for them,” TWC2 treasurer Alex Au told AFP.

There are almost 1.4 million foreign workers in labor-scarce Singapore, many in the construction and marine industries. Bangladeshi Ahamed Mohammad Faruk, 30, who has been jobless for eight months after his employer withheld his salary, was among those who got a phone.

He had been wondering how his three-year-old daughter has grown since he left for Singapore two years ago with just a few pictures of her. His old 2G phone could only be used for calls and texting. “I am excited to see her (recent) pictures,” a smiling Ahamed told AFP after getting a touch-screen phone that can send and receive multimedia and browse the internet.

Japan, South Korea and US telecom giant AT&T have already shut down their 2G networks and Australia is set to stop the service in September. But globally, 2G is not set to vanish, even as the number of smartphones is projected to soar from four billion last year to some six billion by 2020, according to IHS Market data.

Source : Arab News

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

needy expat workers get new phones as singapore moves to scrap 2g needy expat workers get new phones as singapore moves to scrap 2g

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

needy expat workers get new phones as singapore moves to scrap 2g needy expat workers get new phones as singapore moves to scrap 2g

 



GMT 16:16 2014 Wednesday ,10 September

Samirah Ibrahim receives Saudi cultural attaché

GMT 09:32 2017 Sunday ,24 September

China confirms will limit oil exports to North Korea

GMT 19:56 2016 Saturday ,17 September

Typhoon Meranti death toll rises to 28

GMT 09:40 2018 Monday ,01 January

OIC Summit opens in Kazakhstan

GMT 06:37 2015 Monday ,07 December

Iran film directors protest colleague's jail term

GMT 18:37 2017 Friday ,25 August

Mental health issues should be prioritized

GMT 04:39 2017 Thursday ,31 August

Trump vows to right 'self-destructive' tax code

GMT 05:29 2017 Tuesday ,22 August

Celebrations across India on 71st Independence Day

GMT 10:54 2017 Wednesday ,11 October

Child obesity grows tenfold since 1975

GMT 02:31 2016 Tuesday ,06 December

Dubai Women Establishment delegation participates

GMT 04:29 2018 Wednesday ,19 September

North and South Korea: Kim and Moon hail new future

GMT 14:18 2013 Monday ,19 August

Newlywed Lebanese couple pose at car bomb site

GMT 11:11 2011 Friday ,12 August

Palestinian university ranks seventh in Arab world

GMT 15:16 2015 Wednesday ,26 August

UAE ambassador attends charity ceremony in Qalubiya

GMT 16:59 2016 Tuesday ,26 July

Hedge funds in new cycle of oil short-selling
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday