Subscribe by RSSUAE: VOIP Services Banned
For one reason or another, the “good” things in life get some flak in certain parts of the world. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised anymore. There are so many things that have gone down this path. More so, there are so many factors that come into play – we cannot really expect uniformity when the world is so diverse. Still, as I was browsing the news online about VOIP today, I was a bit surprised at the fact that the United Arab Emirates has placed a ban on VOIP services in the country – including the famed Skype! According to the report published by Gulf News:
The ban on Skype and other Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services in the UAE will continue and these services will be allowed only through licensed telecommunication operators - etisalat and du, a top Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) official said on Sunday.
“VoIP for everyone is still under consultation. No timeframe can be set on when that’s going to be allowed,” TRA director general-board member, Mohammad N. Al Ganem, told Gulf News on the sidelines of a TRA event here.“We are doing a lot of consultation and we are looking into what’s happening around the world with regard to VoIP. However, we are taking it very seriously,” Al Ganem said. He said the industry is being consulted on the issue. “Hopefully, once we finish with the industry consultation, we will look at it,” Al Ganem added.
As per prevailing TRA policy, all VoIP services that use public internet are prohibited.
To be honest, I had to read through the news article twice to fully grasp what is going on over there – and even then, I do not know if I truly understand the situation in the UAE. I think that it is not a reaction against VOIP itself. I have this impression that it is more of a government regulation issue with communications. Else, why wait on the TRA to make it “legal?” However, in the first place, I do not understand why VOIP using public Internet is prohibited. I might be missing something here, I don’t know. Does anyone know anything about the whole thing?
I think I have taken the Internet and VOIP for granted. When I read news like this, I believe it all the more.
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March 11th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Hi, I’ve read you article about Skype and VoIP n general in UAE. I’ve moved to Dubai few months ago and when I wanted to topup my Skype credit I couldn’t go to Skype.com, the block this website and many others, but you still can open them though proxy or using VPN app.
The season is Etisalat monopoly, on Du wifi spots you can actually connect to Skype for example. But home Broadband they do block. I hope some pressure from press will do some good for VoIP, so for now only some people who know how to use VPN can use Skype. I have no problem with that.
Monopoly is the only reason, Etisalat is the biggest telecom company here, Du telecom I just see when I use roaming from my UK mobile, so Etisalat runs everything.
Even broadband is only 4Mb/s and the speed goes only to 2Mb/s and the price is two time the price of 24Mb/s I had in London, but I have to except it for now.
One more thing Etisalat broadband (blocks) too many websites if it has some word in contents against religion rules, like xxx, sex, e.t.c… O.K. I think that is all
Sorry for my English
April 15th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Well the reason is simple. They dont want to lose the money to voip. The 2 telecommunications companies are related to the government and since the popularity of of voip services, they have lost a lot.