People In Otobaia Are Afraid They Will Not Communicate Their Relatives Across Enguri River

Every new day brings new obstacles in the village of Otobaia in Gali district. It is a Georgian village and locals urgently need permanent communication with their relatives across the Enguri River. Unfortunately, subscribers could use Georgian communication networks only in several villages of Gali district because they were very close to the administrative border; consequently they were within the coverage area of Georgian networks.

However, after the antenna of the Abkhazian tele-communication network A-Mobile was set up in the center of Otobaia village, the subscribers of Georgian network “Magti-Fix” encountered problems. Lately, the residents of the border-villages bought Magti-Fix phones because of its low tariff. In near future, antenna of one more Abkhazian operator “AquaPhone” might be set up in Otobaia. People think separatists will install special apparatus which will completely block the frequency of Georgian networks and they will not be able to communicate their relatives.

Despite similar threats, the population does not hurry to quit Georgian networks However, they do not know how long the situation will last. Locals doubt the incident of the village of Barghebi will occur in Otobaia too – the Abkhaz separatists seized Magti-Fix phones from the residents of Barghebi under force; however, some of them managed to hide the apparatus.