By Christopher Hack in Beirut

The Lebanese parliament is being asked to investigate reports over the weekend that the Chernobyl computer virus infected local cellular phone networks creating panic across the country.

At least 200,000 people are believed to have turned off their mobile phones after a radio station reported that the cellular networks were being attacked by a computer virus.

Parts of the land line network then began to collapse as desperate friends and relatives called each other, warning of the problem.

The Lebanese are obsessed with their mobile phones, using them more than five times the world average per month, and the fear that they may have been disconnected for even a few hours sent a wave of panic across the country.

Costly hoax

The private sector phone companies which run the networks now say the report was a hoax and cost them tens of thousands of dollars.

But one leading MP has a darker explanation.

He described the incident as a show of power by one of the companies to discourage the government from setting up its own cellular company, as it plans to do.

He said the company was also punishing the government for a recent hike in the tax on calls.

Given the nationwide anxiety at the reports, parliament is being asked to launch an investigation.

But attention is now focusing on the whereabouts of the telecoms minister during the panic.