Lebanon - using your mobile phone with a local sim card

RPS Partnership's consultant who has just returned from Lebanon says that as of the 1 June this year, there are some new rules if you want to use your own phone with a local sim card in it.

Anyone bringing a mobile into Lebanon which has not previously been been used on either of the two networks and then wants to use it with a Lebanese sim card in it, will have to register the handset prior to use. 

You can register it at any Alfa or touch centre in the country or at the mobile registration service desk at the airport. This has to be done within a month of arriving in the country.You are allowed to bring 3 mobile phones into the country every six months.

In simple terms this means you can't use an old handset which has not been used in Lebanon before without registering it. This means that the Lebanese Government is clamping down on how handsets are used and by whom. For a long time now, you have had to register your details when you buy a Lebanese simcard with a phone.

This applies not just to mobile phones (cellphones), but also tablets, dongles and routers.

Photo:  www.executive-magazine.com