Vodafone forced to send texts from Egyptian government

Vodafone was forced to send text messages composed by the Egyptian government during the protests in the country, the company announced on Thursday.

The London-based operator, along with Mobinil and Etisalat, says that it was compelled to send the text messages — which identified the sender only as 'Vodafone' — under emergency powers of the Egyptian Telecoms Act.

"They have used this since the start of the protests. These messages are not scripted by any of the mobile network operators and we do not have the ability to respond to the authorities on their content," Vodafone said in a statement.

"Vodafone Group has protested to the authorities that the current situation regarding these messages is unacceptable. We have made clear that all messages should be transparent and clearly attributable to the originator."

Vodafone's data services had previously been taken offline — along with all the major ISPs within the country — but the company said on Wednesday that it had managed to reinstate internet access for its customers.

Wider internet access was also restored on Wednesday according to Ripe NCC, the European organisation that oversees internet address allocation.