Libyan rebels successfully hack into mobile phone network

Rebels in Libya now have a functioning mobile phone system after a team led by a US telecoms expert successfully hived off a section of the government-controlled network.

The Libyan state mobile provider, Libyana, was designed to allow only central switching via the government capital of Tripoli, and mobile communications have been blocked in all rebel areas and are monitored.

The lack of communications was seriously hampering military operations for the rebels, as Gadhafi's forces have blocked radio traffic.

"We went to fight with flags: yellow meant retreat, green meant advance," General Ahmed al-Ghatrani, a rebel commander in Benghazi, told The Wall Street Journal. "Gadhafi forced us back to the stone age."

However, Ousama Abushagur, a Libyan telecoms executive from Alabama, conceived a plan to take control of the network while on the way back from organising a relief convoy to the country.

The plan involved installing a new switching centre, and then hijacking sections of the existing Libyana network to provide independent coverage.

The state mobile network, which is run by Gadhafi's eldest son, is built around Huawei hardware, but the Chinese company refused to sell the equipment needed to do the job.

After negotiations, the United Arab Emirates state telecoms company agreed to sell the team the hardware they needed and provide a satellite feed to back it up.

"The Emirates government and [its telecoms company] Etisalat helped us by providing the equipment we needed to operate Libyana at full capacity," said Faisal al-Safi, a Benghazi official who oversees transport and communications.

After determining that the hardware could not be flown into the country safely, the team brought it in by truck via Egypt after a week's delay by border police. In two weeks they successfully set up routing and data switching with the network operators in rebel-held territory.

The Free Libyana service is now operating. International calling is highly restricted, but domestic calls are free, since a billing system has not been set up.

Internet services were disrupted in Libya in the early stages of the rebellion. However, as the conflict escalated, all online traffic in Libya was suddenly shut down in March.