DU
ETISALAT
Mubasher: Monopolistic mentalities witnessed by the UAE telecom companies are currently hindering in the way of Dubai’s road for a smart city by 2021, as reported by Arabian Business, according to the UAE lawyer Habib Al Mulla, the founder and chairman of Baker McKenzie.
In a reply to a tweet stating that the UAE is advanced in every field except for telecoms due to inflated prices and blocked internet calls, Al Mulla said that the blocking of free Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services such as Skype is blocking the way of the country’s development.
“After Etisalat blocked WhatsApp calls and Skype video [calls] and all audio and video calls, it has now also blocked all free channels and websites. How will we turn into a smart city with this monopolistic mentality!”, Al Mulla said on his Twitter account, as a reply to a tweet by Khalifa Al Baloushi.
User Al Baloushi urged authorities to “dispose of monopolistic attitudes” by local telecom tycoons Etisalat and du in order to open the market for global competition, Arabian Business said.
In December 2017, both Etisalat and du blocked VoIP services in the UAE through Etisalat introduced apps C'Me and BOTIM to users for prices starting at AED 52.50 a month on mobile devices in January.
Etisalat noted that “access to the Skype app is blocked since it is provided unlicensed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, which falls under the classification of prohibited contents as per the United Arab Emirates’ regulatory framework.”
Similarly, du responded to a Twitter message asking the company to “reconsider” the ban noted that “any unauthorized applications or services that are providing VoIP calling services are not supported in UAE,” Arabian Business added.
The step of blocking such services caused social media uproar by the UAE residents, leading Etisalat to launch a new calling plan just two weeks later, allowing customers to use two VoIP apps C’Me and BOTIM for both iOS and Android devices.
“The plans are available to Etisalat’s prepaid, postpaid and e-Life home broadband customers for a fixed rate of AED52.50 a month on mobile devices and AED105 over a computer using the eLife account,” Arabian Business said.