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Pagers have become the focus of international attention following a series of simultaneous explosions in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday that killed at least 12 people, including two children, and wounded nearly 3,000 others.
The devices in question are AR-924 model pagers manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, a company based in Budapest, Hungary, according to the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, whose branding was reportedly seen on the destroyed remains.
In a statement on its website, Gold Apollo said: "Regarding the AR-924 pager model mentioned in the recent media reports, we clarify that this model is produced and sold by BAC. Our company only provides the brand trademark authorization and is not involved in the design or manufacturing of this product. Gold Apollo Co., Ltd. always complies with relevant regulations and maintains transparent and compliant partnerships with our collaborators."
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs has stated that from early 2022 to August 2024, Gold Apollo exported 260,000 sets of pagers, primarily to European and American countries. However, they have no records of direct exports to Lebanon.
What Is the BAC AR-924 Pager?
The device is described as a "compact, front-panel programmable pager" with a backlit display supporting 4 lines of text. Weighing 56 grams, it operates on a single AAA battery and is available in both UHF and VHF frequencies, according to amateur paging network website Hampager.de.
"We just received verification that the AR-924 was never available in the USA," U.S. pager distributor PagersDirect told Newsweek.
"Although the model numbers are similar, the AP-924 pager that we reference in the product description of the PA780 pager [on our website] is not at all related to the AR-924 model number used for the pagers in Lebanon. The AP-924 used a AAA alkaline battery, not a rechargeable battery."
A search for the AR-924 on Gold Apollo's official website returns a '403 Forbidden' result for the page, indicating the page exists but is blocked. The page was available yesterday, as archived by Wayback Machine, and describes a dust and waterproof device that runs on a rechargeable battery via USB-C connector. It is described as both PC programmable and hand programmable.
Although Gold Apollo denied manufacturing the paging device, Taiwanese police carried out a raid on its premises on Wednesday, according to local news site Liberty Times. "Police officers entered Apollo Company one after another today," it said.
Are Pagers Obsolete Technology?
Although pager technology is over 70 years old, the devices, once at the height of their popularity in the 1980s, are still used in the U.S. and around the world today.
A 2023 survey from clinical communications company Spok found that 81 percent of respondents (from within the healthcare industry) said they use pagers in their place of work for secure communication, "citing reliability over other forms of communication as the primary reason."
Similarly, in the U.K., the National Health Service relied heavily on pagers until the government announced in 2019 that they had to be phased out by 2021 as they were costing the NHS around £6.6 million a year.
Working in areas where cellphone signals cannot reach, pagers are also capable of encryption using the AES-128 standard, which supports one-way communication protocols.
Why Would Hezbollah Use Pagers?
The use of pagers by Hezbollah and other militant groups may be attributed to several factors: pagers operate on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies. They have significantly longer battery life, with the AR-924 claiming up to 85 days of use. This is particularly crucial in areas like Lebanon, where electricity outages are common.
Like all other pagers, it doesn't require a SIM card and does not require cellphone service to operate. One-way pagers can receive messages but cannot send any. Since this is one-way communication, a pager cannot be pinged or geolocated and is therefore untraceable.
Pagers, although considered outdated tech, are seen as a way to evade sophisticated electronic surveillance. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned in a February speech, "The phone that we have in our hands... is a listening device," emphasizing the perceived security risks of mobile phones in comparison.
Why Did the AR-924 Pagers Explode?
Reports say that Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, may have orchestrated the explosions. The alleged method involved planting explosives in 5,000 AR-924 pagers, which were then imported by the Lebanese militant group in the months leading up to the incident.
Analysts speculate that the explosive materials were incorporated into the pagers before they were delivered to Lebanon and Syria, utilizing sophisticated supply chain manipulation techniques.
Another theory states the devices exploded due to the lithium batteries in them being overheated. The Wall Street Journal quoted security analyst Michael Horowitz who suggested the attack could have been caused by malware triggering the batteries to overheat and explode. According to an anonymous U.S. official, Israel informed the United States about the attacks after they occurred.
Update 9/18/24, 10:28 a.m. ET: This story was updated with a comment from a PagersDirect spokesperson.
Update: 9/18/24, 11:18 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional clarification from a PagersDirect spokesperson.
About the writer
Marie Boran is a Newsweek reporter based in Carlow, Ireland. Her focus is reporting on technology. She has covered the ... Read more