Saudi Arabia's telecommunications ministry has blocked telephone access to sex lines. The action was taken in response to parents complaints about their unbelievably high phone bills.
Reports from the telecommunications ministry said a single customer had run up a telephone bill of $345,000 from calls placed to sex lines. And another customer received three consecutive monthly bills of more than $80,000 each.
"If there's no control in the home, then the telecommunications ministry must take control," an editorial in Saudi Arabia's Al-Eqtissadiah newspaper said. "We will continue to fight this phenomenon and will cut access to every such line we identify," the newspaper quoted Telecommunication Minister Ali al-Jihani as saying.
In a society as conservative as this Muslim nation, sex lines are considered to be extremely offensive. Men and women are forbidden to mingle in public, and cinemas and theaters are banned. As a result, many individuals resort to satellite channels in search of entertainment. Satellite channels, though, are the origin of advertisements for sex phone lines based in foreign countries.
In the last six months the telecommunications ministry has blocked access to over 50 sex lines.
