Qatari mobile phone services Vodafone and Ooredoo dialled up their support yesterday for the country’s emir by changing the name of their networks to ‘Glorious Tamim’.
The move comes amid tensions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, who last month announced the severing of all diplomatic ties over allegations Doha bankrolled “terrorists” and had close ties with Saudi arch-rival, Iran.
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Ooredoo change network name to support Qatar’s Emir “Glorious Tamim”
Qatar’s largest telecom provider has changed its network name to “Tamim almajd” (Glorious Tamim) in a show of support for Qatar’s leader.
"Qatar will always be free, elevated by the spirits of the loyal"
Dear customer, Ooredoos' network name has been changed to "Tamim Almajd " pic.twitter.com/jOuTrABuzq
— Ooredoo Qatar (@OoredooQatar) July 6, 2017
Many Qatari citizens supported for the move, taking to social media using thehashtag #تميم_المجدُ (#Glorious_Tamim) to convey their approval of the decision by the telecommunication firms. Qatari’s Social media reactions seems to be happy with Ooredoo’s move and it influenced Vodafone Qatar to follow:
Qatar's biggest mobile operator changes network name to Tamim almajd to show support for the Emir. #QatarCrisis
#تميم_المجد @OoredooQatar pic.twitter.com/iZbMkxombm
— Bilal Randeree (@bilalr) July 6, 2017
#تميم_المجد #اوريدو Good job #ooredoo .. we are with our emir .. #loveyouqatar #weareqatar #tamimalmajd pic.twitter.com/VWMWxoblgl
— Ali Aslam (@haliaslamm) July 7, 2017
Vodafone Qatar follows Ooredoo’s “Glorious Tamim”:
While Ooredoo could easily make the change because it is majority state-owned, like many major companies in Qatar. Though Vodafone is a British multinational company, its Qatar subsidiary is 70 percent Qatari-owned.
Vodafone Qatar recently appointed a new chief operating officer and member of the Qatari royal family, Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani.
Ooredoo’s main competitor Vodafone initially offered users the option of coming into its stores to change their phones’ network names to support the Emir in a response to Ooredoo’s initiative.
Calls for boycott of Vodafone Egypt after ‘Glorious Tamim’ campaign in Qatar:
While many of Qatar residents seems to be happy after the changes were announced by Vodafone Qatar, many Egyptians on social media quickly expressed their anger and started posting about boycotting Vodafone Egypt as a response for the Qatari branch decision.
Vodafone does not operate in Saudi Arabia or the UAE. But Vodafone Egypt is one of the highest ranking among Vodafone operating companies worldwide.
Some Egyptians outrage across social media resulted in mocking Vodafone Egypt and called for boycotting Vodafone Egyptian branch after the company’s branch in Qatar decided to change the network’s name to “Glorious Tamim” in a show of support to the country’s emir.
Unfortunately, @VodafoneQatar is Supporting the terrorist regime in Doha…… @VodafoneEgypt we are waiting for reaction from u pic.twitter.com/MIPuMo2nDz
— Mohammed Maree محمد مرعي (@mar3e) July 7, 2017
@@VodafoneEgypt Can u think of a better way 2 protest vodafone's support 4 terrorism? Stupid move @VodafoneUK samehabouelkhie
— Tarek El Kolaly 🇪🇬 (@telkolaly) July 7, 2017
#قاطعو_فودافون_مصر
ياجماعه دول غيروا خلاص pic.twitter.com/KTMRaLjlmg
— 🇪🇬EZZAT (@zezo26222) July 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/ayman_sh_06/status/883392193456553984
قبل ما ترمى خط فودافون استلف12 جنيه وحولهم لتحيا مصر
اقتل الخونة بطريقتهم 😈#قاطعو_فودافون_مصر
— تحيـا_مــ𓁳𓆃ـصــ𓅮ـر 𝕰𝖌𝖞𝖕𝖙𓁳 (@abuel3nine) July 7, 2017
#قاطعو_فودافون_مصر
انا بحب مصر و بحب الريس و هقف ضد قطر
— Bourham (@Bourham3) July 7, 2017
Egyptians who called for the boycott thought that the move by Vodafone Qatar reflects the entire British telecommunication company’s stance in the dispute between Arab states and Qatar, in which the latter is accused of supporting terrorist groups.
Vodafone Egypt response:
https://www.facebook.com/dmctveg/videos/328138347639925/
