Stifling VoIP services hurts a fledgling startup industry that could one day potentially enable larger, booming industries<\/h3>\n
Welcome to the United Arab Emirates. A country that excels in almost every possible field be it sports, logistics, transport, finance, tourism, culture, art and education. In almost every field that is, except telecommunications. When it comes to ICT and telecom services this great country is being shortchanged. This inefficiency is a major problem because ICT is no longer a vertical of the UAE economy, it\u2019s become a horizontal enabler of every part of it\u200a\u2014\u200afrom education to healthcare and more.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t take my word for it. The World Economic Forum\u2019s 2015 Networked Readiness Index study\u00a0<\/a>ranks<\/a>\u00a0the UAE 23rd in terms of telecom services (Singapore topped the list). Even more appalling, the International Telecommunications Union 2015 ICT Development Index\u00a0<\/a>ranked<\/a>\u00a0the UAE 32nd worldwide. Consider this: Would Dubai be content with Emirates being ranked as the number 32 best airline in the world? Will Abu Dhabi accept Etihad Airways as the number 23 global airline?<\/p>\n To understand the reason it is important to consider the history of the sector. In 1974 the UAE Federal Government established the precursor to etisalat, then known as Emirtel to offer telecom services to the fledgling federation. Emirtel was a\u00a0joint <\/a>joint venture<\/a>\u00a0between British firm International Aeradio Limited and the UAE government. Emirtel, which was nationalised in 1981, was off to a great start laying fiber optic cables across the federation in one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever undertaken, launching the Middle East\u2019s first mobile network in 1982 and changing its name to Etisalat in 1984. The story of etisalat is the story of the UAE, until the turn of the 21st century where the ambitions of both diverged. While the UAE is seeking to be a global force for the 21st century, etisalat, and now du, are content to play in the minor league using rigid, outdated, and monopolistic telecom regulations to their advantage.<\/p>\n The reason why the UAE government accepts this poor service is perhaps due to the taxes collected from this sector or royalty fees as they are officially called. The royalty fees levied on etisalat and du have been a major boon to the federal budget. By 2009 etisalat alone had paid\u00a0AED 52 <\/a>AED 52 Billion<\/a>(around US$14 Billion) to the UAE federal government coffers. This year, for the first time, both telecom firms will be paying the\u00a0same royalty fee<\/a>\u00a0of 15 percent of revenues and 30 percent of profits. However, Reuters has reported that both firm\u2019s profits are in decline this year with etisalat registering an\u00a08 per cent fall<\/a>\u00a0in first-quarter net profit and du\u2019s profits falling for six successive quarters year-on-year despite the growing population size of the country. Another reason for the government\u2019s protectionist attitude towards etisalat is also due to its hiring of a significant number of UAE nationals (now around\u00a02,500<\/a>) although this process seems to have\u00a0plateaued<\/a>\u00a0since the turn of the century.<\/p>\n The likelihood is that the historic increase in profits and subscriber numbers that these telecom duopolies enjoyed was to a large extent because of the fast paced development of every\u00a0other<\/em>\u00a0industry in the UAE\u200a\u2014\u200aexcept the telecom industry. In other words this growth in subscriber base and profits is not\u00a0because\u00a0<\/em>of their service but is\u00a0in spite of\u00a0<\/em>their\u00a0<\/em>service. Instead of adding value to the economy, etisalat and du are merely benefiting from the growth of other industries in the UAE. The more employees Emirates, Dubai Holding and Mubadala hire, the more subscribers etisalat and du sign up.<\/p>\n The mystery here is why these two firms get a free pass. After all, this is the country that prides itself on being a leader in every field. Dubai International Airport\u00a0dislodged<\/a>\u00a0London Heathrow as the busiest in 2014 while Emirates and Etihad Airways are both winning top industry prizes for their services. The latter two companies now fly to every corner of the world carrying new residents, businesspersons and tourists to and from the UAE. And yet one cannot make a simple phone call while driving between Emirates Towers and the Dubai International Financial Centre by the Empower district cooling edifice (a few hundred yards) without the risk of encountering a black spot or drive between Sharjah and Dubai without the call disconnecting. While Dubai\u2019s Open Skies Policy, in place since\u00a0July 22, 1937<\/a>, turned Dubai into the world\u2019s aviation hub, the Telecom Regulatory Authority\u2019s outdated and duopolistic rules have resulted in abysmal services not worthy of the UAE\u2019s global ambitions.<\/p>\n The result of over-protecting legacy telecom operators is manifested in cost and technical deficiencies. An analyst from telecom research firm International Data Corporation told\u00a0Gulf News<\/a>\u00a0in 2014 that data prices in the UAE are still the \u201chighest in the Middle East and Africa\u201d while a report by the International Telecommunication Union on domestic broadband internet in the UAE found that it\u00a0lags behind<\/a>\u00a0Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. Moreover, while on etisalat in many areas, one simply cannot make a phone call and and simultaneously browse 4G data. This means that if you are on a 4G network phone call and receive a photo or an email you cannot open it until you end the conversation.<\/p>\n Furthermore, for some unknown reason, the UAE is reluctant to sanction Voice Over Internet Protocol calls to be conducted or received on 4G including calls on Apple FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Tango, Viber, WhatsApp and Snapchat calls and Google Hangouts. In what appears to be a Catch-22 situation apublic statement<\/a>\u00a0by the TRA asserts that is has \u201cgranted licensed operators the eligibility to provide (VoIP) services across their networks\u201d. However a senior official from etisalat, the dominant telecom firm\u00a0laid the blame<\/a>\u00a0for the ban on the regulator saying that \u201cWe work with the laws [set] by TRA.\u201d Additionally using VPN is also outright illegal and can be punishable under UAE law as it is seen as \u201ctampering<\/a>\u201d with the country\u2019s Internet network. Rather than block a website, the UAE telecom duopoly are believed to be lowering the bandwidth to an extent that renders any Internet call unviable according to one telecom public policy expert I spoke to. The TRA\u2019s erratic policy of blocking Internet websites and services was likely a factor behind the UAE\u2019s fall to the\u00a0lowest category<\/a>\u00a0of Internet friendliness as per the classification of Paris-based Reporters Sans Fronti\u00e8res.<\/p>\n Officials in the country seem to be taking note of the situation. The youngest member of the UAE Federal National Council, Saeed Al Remeithi, had\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0Federal Minister Noura Al Kaabi \u201cwon his seat by embracing innovative channels\u200a\u2014\u200ahis campaign run entirely on Snapchat and social media, not a billboard in sight\u201d. Following the Snapchat calls ban Al Remaithi lashed out at the country\u2019s telecom and Internet restrictions calling them \u2018an international embarrassment<\/a>\u2019 during a questioning session in the FNC with Hamad Al Mansouri, the TRA Director General. Mr Al Mansouri retorted that these restrictions were due \u201cto concerns over state security and cyber-terrorism\u201d. While these may be valid reasons few other countries have resorted to such drastic measures.\u00a0Banning Skype calls due to potential misuse is akin to banning cars due to potential reckless driving.<\/p>\n UAE officials such as the country\u2019s popular Foreign Minister have\u00a0more<\/a>\u00a0than\u00a0once<\/a>\u00a0voiced their displeasure with telecom services in the country. Moreover, telecom expert Raf Fatani\u00a0suggests<\/a>\u00a0that rather than banning services etisalat and du should study how operators overseas have adapted to the 21st century telecom landscape, where digitisation is transforming the way people communicate. One solution is, rather than stifling Internet calling, the TRA or telecom duopoly could introduce a flat monthly rate for people who need to use VoIP as is the case with some broadband VoIP providers in Canada and the US. Raising this matter online, a young Emirati student in Washington DC\u00a0shared<\/a>\u00a0with me his feelings of \u201cshame\u201d and \u201cembarrassment\u201d that such services are blocked in the UAE \u201cin the 21st century.\u201d While The National\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that hacktivist group Anonymous justified its 2012 targeting of the UAE because of the country\u2019s telecoms carriers \u201cunfairly penalising low-income workers\u201d with their pricing.<\/p>\n However, it\u2019s not just vexed Emirati students, government officials or low-income labourers who suffer from the abysmal telecom services in the UAE. Today, the startup ecosystem is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, not least in the Middle East where youth between the ages of 15 and 29 constitute close to\u00a0a third<\/a>\u00a0of the population. According to the Wall Street Journal the number of startups, mostly launched by young Americans, that were worth more than a billion US dollars has\u00a0tripled<\/a>\u00a0to 147 in the past two years. Between Silicon Valley, London and India youth connect and deliberate on how to collaborate, cut costs, outsource and synergise, with Dubai seeking to become their Arab world connection hub. I say seeking because guess how these young people communicate? They use Skype, Hangouts, and FaceTime, services that are banned or throttled in the UAE. The bottom line is the policy of stifling VoIP services is hurting a fledgling startup industry that could one day potentially enable larger, booming industries than the ailing telecoms. It also does little to reinforce the theme of the World Expo 2020: \u2018Connecting Minds, Creating the Future\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cA story of our time is near universal access to smart devices,\u201d says Christopher Schroeder, a U.S. based venture investor and author of\u00a0StartUp Rising<\/a>, the first look at regional tech entrepreneurship. \u201cIt means unprecedented, bottom up communication, collaboration, access to information allowing millions to solve problems and innovate. The UAE generally and Dubai are a regional, even global, hubs of talent because they understand this and what it means to be globally competitive. I suspect it is only a matter of time before easier access becomes the norm.\u201d I hope Christopher is right, although there seems to be hardline resistance to opening up the sector. While Dubai has launched a\u00a0Museum of the Future<\/a>\u00a0housed in the world\u2019s first functioning 3D printed office and is launching a\u00a0probe to Mars<\/a>\u00a0in 2020 the federal authorities still ban basic Internet calling services. The message such a puzzling conundrum sends about the UAE is that it is selectively embracing the future including the industries revolving around the Internet of Things. Furthermore, unfettered access to Internet services also gives regional technology hubs such as Amman, where no such restrictions exist, an advantage over Dubai.<\/p>\n In 2014 I was invited to attend a closed seminar in Dubai conducted by futurists, social scientists who predict future trends. Each stood up and commended much of the UAE\u2019s developments in various fields, except that of, you guessed it, the telecom industry. In fact one of the futurists flatly identified the poor telecom services as a \u201cthreat\u201d to the development of the UAE. Back in 2002 Britain\u2019s Federation of Small Businesses\u00a0complained<\/a>\u00a0that poor telecom services in some parts of England were stunting growth and called upon the government to intervene by taking over the service loop, upgrading it and renting it back to the telecom firms. In the early 2000s the UAE was coming under pressure to\u00a0liberalise<\/a>\u00a0its telecom sector following its accession into the World Trade Organisation in 1996. Rather than allow international competition or overhaul the sector, the UAE opted for more of the same: It introduced another etisalat and called it du.<\/p>\n Will the future also be more of the same?\u00a0Vision 2021<\/a>, which \u201caims to make the UAE among the best countries in the world by the Golden Jubilee of the Union\u201d, includes the realisation of a Competitive Knowledge Economy as one of its five pillars of success. So far it\u2019s a mixed bag at best with the country ranking a disappointing\u00a047th place<\/a>\u00a0in the du telecom-sponsored Global Innovation Index 2015 where ICT Infrastructure is a key component. The UAE has less than five years to go for it to attain its ambition of being \u201camong the top 10 countries<\/a>\u201d in that specific category as Vision 2021 stipulates. While the latest World Economic Forum\u2019s\u00a0Global Information Technology Report<\/a>, which measures the economic impact of ICT, saw the UAE\u2019s\u00a0ranking<\/a>\u00a0fall three places to 26th (again Singapore topped the list).<\/p>\n World class ICT infrastructure and services are no longer a luxury, they are crucial prerequisites in the development of any nation. Ultimately, the UAE government should ask itself this: Would we be happy if Emirates was the world\u2019s 32nd best airline? If the answer is no, it\u2019s high time to do something about the UAE\u2019s telecom services.<\/p>\n <\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patron of the arts and technology thought leader in the UAE, Sultan Al-Qassemi\u00a0published his first Medium blog post today, and agreed to let us republish it in full here.\u00a0 Stifling VoIP services hurts a fledgling startup industry that could one day potentially enable larger, booming industries Welcome to the United Arab Emirates. A country that … ","protected":false},"author":451,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"acf":{"legacy_meta_tags":"Probably not. So why is the UAE\u2019s telecom industry allowed to lag to such an atrocious level?<\/h3>\n
![\"1](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/07\/_blogWide\/1-M90MHtFVwM-WS_nKEQo4FQ.jpeg?mtime=20160710221036\")
<\/figure>\nThe Emirates Telecommunication Corporation \u201cEmirtel\u201d was established in August 1976 as a joint stock company between British firm International Aeradio Limited and local partners. Image credit: Pinterest<\/h5>\n
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<\/figure>\nUAE Founding Father Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum during a visit to Emirtel in the late 1970s. Image source: Al Khaleej Newspaper<\/h5>\n
![\"1](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/07\/_blogWide\/1-O21m9hGKVlA3dFbdF1W2cQ.jpeg?mtime=20160710221408\")
<\/figure>\netisalat tower on Kuwait Roundabout in Sharjah. Image credit:\u00a0Basil D Soufi<\/a>
\n<\/h5>\n![\"1](\"https:\/\/cloud.lovindubai.com\/images\/uploads\/2016\/07\/_blogWide\/1-mRSGrlIj097PQZGPerhqvQ.jpeg?mtime=20160710221533\")
<\/figure>\nIn 2014 Dubai airport overtook London\u2019s Heathrow to become the world\u2019s busiest airport. Image source: Air Cargo News<\/h5>\n
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<\/figure>\nDubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Image credit: Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi<\/h5>\n
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<\/figure>\nSheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai launched \u201cVision 2021\u201d in 2010. Image source: UAE Interact\/WAM<\/h5>\n