* Sabafon says a quarter of sites attacked by govt-allied
forces
* Sabafon subscribers cannot phone abroad
* Calls to and from landlines also barred
* Ruling party denies deliberately targeting Sabafon
By Matt Smith
DUBAI, Dec 20 (Reuters) – Yemeni mobile operator
Sabafon said on Tuesday that its facilities had come under
repeated attack by state forces because of its chairman’s
support for protests aiming to end the 33-year rule of President
Ali Abdullah Saleh.
A spokesman for Sabafon, which is 27-percent owned by
Bahrain Telecommunications Co (Batelco), told Reuters
from Sanaa the company’s headquarters had been hit three times
by rocket-propelled grenades this year.
He said more than 250 transmission towers and other sites —
about a quarter of its facilities — had been subject to
shelling, gunfire and looting, killing one employee.
Sabafon subscribers cannot receive or make calls to Yemen
landlines or phone abroad, illustrating the toll nearly a year
of strife in the impoverished Gulf nation has taken on basic
services.
Continued…
