JEDDAH: Mobily announced yesterday it would be providing a weeklong 50 percent discount for Wednesday’s service disruption it has blamed on construction company Saudi Oger. The discount begins today.

“Etihad Etisalat’s (Mobily’s) network suffered a seven-hour-long outage, partly due to an error from a subcontractor, Saudi Oger, who cut through one of Mobily’s core network cables on the intersection of (Riyadh’s) King Abdullah Road with Takhassusi Street,” the company said in a press statement.

“The contractor was working on a project unrelated to Mobily’s business and had been briefed of the cable’s location through maps, diagrams and a series of meetings. Nevertheless, the contractor cut through the cable, even though it was buried under seven meters of reinforced concrete,” it added.

For its part Saudi Oger admits to accidentally cutting one fiber-optic cable, but questions whether such a mishap could have led to a nationwide disruption of service affecting what Mobily claims was all of its 11 million individual and corporate customers.

The outage lasted for seven hours, cutting off service to Mobily’s customers at a critical time of the day. Engineers and technicians from Mobily rushed to the scene to bring the network back to life.

Mobily said it would offer its entire 11 million-strong customer-base the 50 percent discount through Monday.

Mobily has threatened legal action against Saudi Oger for the cost of the disruption while the construction concern has threatened a countersuit based on what it claims was false allegations.