Several carriers are waiving charges relating to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
Telus has announced it’s waiving long-distance, text, and roaming charges. Customers can make donations to charities providing relief in the conflict areas by texting DONATE to 41010.
Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron, companies under the Québecor banner, also announced they waived charges associated with long-distance calls and texts to Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. Customers in the conflict areas also don’t have to pay roaming charges. The move applies until October 31st.
Videotron is waiving long-distance and SMS charges for our customers to Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip from Oct. 7-31, 2023.
Roaming charges for customers in those regions will also be waived during that period.— Videotron (@Videotron) October 12, 2023
SaskTel has announced it’s waiving charges for long-distance wireless, landline, and business calls to Israel only. The same applies to fees for international text messages. It’s unclear why the company hasn’t applied the measure to Gaza and the West Bank, as many other telecom companies in Canada have.
Rogers and Bell also announced similar actions in the regions.
The two national telecom companies have also taken action in Afghanistan following devastating earthquakes. Telus has announced similar measures, telling MobileSyrup it’s waiving roaming and long-distance charges until October 17th.
Updated Oct. 16th 6:50pm ET: The article has been updated with additional information from Telus.
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