Saudi gets SR10bn phone bill

A well-known Saudi Islamist got the shock of his life when he received his mobile phone bill and noticed it contained 13 digits—the bill was for more than SR10 billion (Dh9.9 billion). When he called the local service provider to ask for correcting the error, he got another shock—the bill could be correct.

Fahd Matar, quoted by the Saudi Alyoum newspaper, said he could hardly believe his eyes when he read the bill with a value of SR10.828.705.046.28.

He said that he called Mobily, Saudi Arabia’s second largest GSM service provider, and was told that the bill could be correct.

“The strange thing is that some employees in the company told me that the figure in the bill might be correct because of the high charges for roaming and internet use in my mobile phone,” he said, adding Mobily, owned 27 per cent by the UAE’s Etisalat, has disconnected his mobile phone service.

Matar told the paper that he had regularly paid his phone bills and that the largest bill has not exceeded SR3,000. He said he would resort to court to tackle the problem.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.