UAE TRA Etisalat and Du and VoIP Discussion
Mar 11th, 2010 | By suzanne | Category: Featured, Telecom
Gitex 2008 in Dubai, UAE
TMCNET online article is quoted, Skype executives are reportedly in talks with government officials in the UAE regarding the VoIP service provider’s future in that country…
The UAE’s telecommunications regulator generally prohibits the use of VoIP in order to protect revenue from international calls for the country’s two major operators (Etisalat and Du) — although some users get away with using it illegally. Reports on TMCnet today indicate the TRA may soon be passing legislation officially allowing the use of VoIP in the UAE.
Techistan subscriber one adds: Only Etisalat and Du will be allowed to provide voice over Internet, and phone numbers can be ported between the two as of 2010.
Techistan subscriber two adds: The TRA was established in 2004 is the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the United Arab Emirates. Its website states that in 2009, the UAE was ranked third globally as the country with the importance of the ICT to government vision of the future and fifth globally in terms of government prioritization of ICT in overall planning and strategies.
In a report in the Wall Street Journal, Skype CEO Josh Silverman called the UAE’s current block on the VoIP service “short-sighted” – especially for a country built as a trade and immigration hub. He pointed out that access to Skype would facilitate trade and connect the nation’s majority immigrant population with their families.”
“When a government acts to protect a legacy of a profit pool, it’s usually not in the interest of the economy or the people,” he reportedly said during the Abu Dhabi Media Summit in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
Techistan subscriber three adds: So what are the reasons that UAE’s TRA should open up to voice over Internet? People are already communicating back and forth from computer in UAE to computer anywhere else in the world, whether that communication includes voice, video, text chat, email, photos, or music. Where should a government draw the line as to what parts we have to leave out? Many solutions nowadays include all six, especially social and business networking sites and mobile phone sets that include mobile applications you can download. Blocking any of it doesn’t help anyone in UAE spend more money with Etisalat or Du. Whatever is the amount of revenue that Etisalat, Du and the UAE government makes with telephony as is… we believe it is actually less than what they could make if they open up voice over Internet and sell more expensive and empowering services such as more broadband, fiber to the home, and other new services and markets that are available to them to sell because of the Internet.
Techistan subscriber four adds: UAE’s TRA and even before the TRA, Etisalat always provided a clean telecommunications service with excellent quality. In fact, everything in UAE is run with quality because of our government leadership. I don
t think we should question TRA and if voice over Internet is never legal, I will not lose sleep over it.
Techistan subscriber five adds: Etisalat is a pretty powerful player with powerful partnerships in many countries….Skype naturally wants to be on their good side!
@Suzanne that will be possible bcuz Etisalat currently operates 18 networks across the world and had passed the 100m subscriber mark across its current networks.
Silverman added, however, that his company is open to discussions with the government. He said Skype is in regular contact with governments around the Gulf on allowing access to the software.
Skype is officially banned in North Korea and access to its Web site is blocked in a handful of countries, including the UAE.
Edited by Patrick Barnard
Further Edited by Suzanne Bowen … the italicized language is not composed of quote from TMCnet but instead gathered from Techistan subscribers.
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