Egypt's telecommunications regulator has set new rules for companies sending text messages to multiple mobile phones, in a move activists say will stifle efforts to mobilize voters ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections.

VT

The mass public dependence on internet, emails and SMS services is increasing evidently especially by the groups known of its reforming nature in many countries like Iran and Egypt. These groups are using these methods to escape the governmental pressures applied on their activities. The surprise of the Egyptian government during last parliamentarian elections was clear when the Muslim Brotherhood got 20 % of the seats and that is after depending heavily on the SMS services which was considered by the voters as a successful method to promote campaigns at that time.

In a move activists say will stifle efforts to mobilize voters ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections. Egypt's telecommunications regulator has set new rules for companies sending text messages to multiple mobile phones that commits the media organizations and all operating companies in the country to obtain a permission from the ministry of information and the Supreme Council of journalists before sending news or information SMS under the pretext of keeping this service operating.

Mahmoud el-Gweini, adviser to the Egyptian telecommunication minister, said the decision was not meant to curb political activity, he said, but was spurred by concerns that "random" text messages concerning sensitive issues such as religious tension or the stock market could be sent to consumers.

Gamal Eid, a human rights activist, said groups such as his use the mass text messages to spread the word about rights violations. "The authorities will never give us a license to spread this kind of news," he said.

Media channels cited sources in the SMS aggregators as saying the decision aims to prevent the opposition from using SMS service before the next elections.

The Egyptian telecommunication market is considered one of the biggest in the region with the presence of more than 60 million users and that increases the difficulty for the government to censor this sector