Business | Technology
Banning VoIP is a losing battle
An etisalat official said banning Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a losing battle and that the UAE's incumbent telecom operator was studying how it might offer the technology to consumers.
- By Ivan Gale, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 February 10, 2007
- In the UAE, where VoIP services are blocked, the technology has become a cause celebre for many expatriate residents desiring an affordable means of communicating with families back home.
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Dubai: An etisalat official said banning Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a losing battle and that the UAE's incumbent telecom operator was studying how it might offer the technology to consumers.
Nasser Salim, etisalat's vice-president of network development, told delegates at the Seventh Global Symposium for Regulators last week that free VoIP services such as Skype have eroded earnings for many telecom operators, but the rollout of VoIP worldwide was inevitable.
In the UAE, where free to low-cost web-based VoIP services are blocked, the technology has become a cause celebre for many expatriate residents desiring an affordable means of communicating with families back home.
"VoIP has really reduced revenue for telcos, and some countries are even banning it," Salim said. "But you cannot sustain such a ban. It's coming."
The government regulator, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), has said VoIP would be allowed only by the two licenced operators in the country, etisalat and du.
As etisalat awaits a finalised policy from the TRA, Salim said the deployment of advanced new networking technology here would provide the technical foundation to offer VoIP service, as well as create more revenue streams for etisalat to justify offering a service that eats away at traditional voice call revenues.
The technology, called next-generation networks, is based entirely on the Internet Protocol (IP) standard and would also enable etisalat to offer services such as video-on-demand and triple play, or the delivery of TV, internet and fixed line calling through one pipeline and consolidated on one bill.
Such services would lessen etisalat's reliance on revenues from voice calls and make it easier to embrace this popular but controversial new technology that has found widespread adoption in other parts of the world.
"Hopefully, next generation networks will provide for other services, like VoIP," he said.
Salim said the implementation of the new network architecture could take place beginning in the third quarter of this year, but etisalat hadn't made a final decision yet on VoIP.
"We're looking at the impacts and to see if there is a need in the market," he said. "Once we have next generation networks, then there is no [technical] issue moving to VoIP."
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