SCANDAL / DOCUMENTS UNCOVERED On page 3

MYSTERY SOLVED On page 8

DURRËS / PROTEST BY THOSE WHO WERE DISMISSED “Whoever paid 6,000 USD kept their job” Customs officers: The mafia has devoured us On page 16

These are difficult times for those who use an Albanian mobile phone. They have not worked for many months. Before, people said the war was to blame, along with the large number of foreigners who had come to Albania, all of whom had a mobile phone. But now the war is over, foreigners are gradually leaving, yet AMC mobile phones still do not work. Those who use them know very well: it is impossible to make a call at any time of day or night, even when phone traffic ought to be less congested. You dial the number, send the signal and ... nothing: the connection is impossible, the network does not work, the system is blocked. This happens once, twice, ten, a hundred times. That accursed electronic device, which you paid no less than 500 dollars for and which is supposed to deliver the latest in communications, turns into a useless and expensive tool in Albania. But that is not the only problem. Anyone in Albania or Switzerland who tries to call their spouse, friend, or relative who has a mobile phone inevitably hears an AMC answering service say that the person they are trying to reach is unable to answer. When the service does not work, you cannot receive calls on your mobile either. Anyone who has subscribed to AMC has paid for a service that AMC does not provide: it has taken the money but does not provide the service. This is fraud. The reason is simple: AMC has taken on more subscribers than its telephone network has the technical capacity to serve. It is like selling a thousand tickets for a theatre with only one hundred seats: clearly, 900 people will be left outside. And what do people do after paying for a ticket and discovering they have been cheated? They protest. But in Albania nobody protests, because we are preparing to enter Europe but have still not learned to recognise our rights and responsibilities. Meanwhile, AMC continues to cheat us and continues to sell subscriptions, even though it knows its network cannot handle them: it takes the money, a lot of money, but does not provide the service. Where does all this money go? AMC technicians say they are investing in extending the mobile network to Kukës; citizens of Kukës also have the right to have a mobile phone, but would that investment not have been more urgent when there were 150,000 refugees in Kukës? And does it make sense to open a new theatre while the person who has bought a ticket is left outside the first one? AMC’s rates are the highest in Europe. In Albania, people continue to pay to buy a card (100,000 old lekë), while in all the other countries this type of tariff arrangement is different; people continue to pay a monthly subscription (3,500 old lekë), which is free in all the other countries, and they continue to pay extremely high rates when they talk. How can they explain that the phones do not work? This exceeds every limit of patience. Perhaps the reason for this fraud is privatisation. In a few months, some of AMC’s shares will be sold to foreigners: but it is a bad thing that, on the eve of this transaction—which should improve its service (and thereby increase its value)—AMC is destroying it (and thereby reducing its sale value). WE, who use mobile phones, are tired of being cheated. So at this point we propose something: yes, a phone strike. Let’s switch off our mobile phones, leave them at home, in the car, or shut away in our bags. Let’s turn off these hated, useless little machines in this country, and in this way AMC will understand that nobody is using its network and that it will no longer be able to make a profit. Let us make our voices heard as frustrated subscribers who have been silent. We, among those 900 theatre spectators left outside the performance with tickets in our hands, should call on the other 100, who have managed to get in or to leave by the street. Let’s leave AMC alone on its electronic stage, without hearing it make even a single phone call. And if it is not absolutely essential, let’s cancel our phone contracts: saving money and our nerves. Having a mobile phone that does not work is worse than having none at all.

The new fashion among Albanians On page 11

Reflections / Shpëtim Nazarko On page 4