UAE’s TRA widens scope of VoIP usage for incumbent operators

The UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) today announced that it has revised the Voice over IP (“VoIP”) Regulatory Policy, allowing licensees (Etisalat and Du) to offer a greater range of VoIP services.

The revised policy also exempts certain usages from its provisions, for example, for UAE academic and governmental institutions.

The latest revisions allow the widening use of VoIP in the UAE, but still tie them to the country’s two licensed operators. The provision of third-party VoIP services remains illegal. The TRA made it clear that as is the case with other telecom services in the UAE, parties other than the licensees may not provide VoIP services.

Etisalat and Du may provide VoIP services as:

(1) An end-to-end voice service (as in the traditional telephony);  

(2) As a “feature” on top of connectivity service; or

(3) In any other form that the licensee may wish to provide