Dubai: Telecom operator du has launched both prepaid and postpaid fixed landline telephone services across the UAE.
Speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of a press conference on Wednesday, Fareed Faraidooni, chief commercial officer, du, said: "Fixed landline customers across the UAE can call 190 destinations across the globe at competitive, easy-to-remember rates from any home landline phones. Customers will pay as low as one fils per second during the night [9pm to 9am] and three fils per second from [9am-9pm] and 1.5 fils per second on Fridays from 9am to 9pm."
Du launched the fixed postpaid landline service in new Dubai around four years ago by forming an alliance with major real estate developers.
No fees
Prepaid customers can now call from any landline with no monthly or activation fees. Initial subscribers who use this facility will be charged two fils per second from 9am-9pm from Saturday to Thursday till February 18.
To activate this service, prepaid customers need to dial 800135 from any landline and follow the simple instructions. Upon activation, subscribers will immediately get Dh5 free instant credit. To make calls, subscribers need to dial prefix 08888 before the international number while existing du subscribers need to dial "*" (star) in place of 08888.
Free device
"Postpaid customers will need to sign up for the monthly service at any du outlets and they will receive a "08888-dialer" device for free. Subscribers can make calls connecting this device to their landlines without dialling 08888 manually. Subscribers will be charged Dh25 as activation fees and will get 50 minutes of international calls as free," Fareed said.
"We expect a very strong response for this prepaid service across the UAE. This move is part of innovation, which we have been focusing right from the beginning, and we want to give customers value for their money," Fareed said.
According to Irfan Ellam, analyst at Al Mal Capital, du's service is very good for the end user and expects etisalat also to come out with similar offers in the near future.
He said du is expected to report Dh4,906 million in revenues for 2009 compared to Dh3,951 million in 2008 while net income is expected to skyrocket to Dh183 million in 2009 compared to Dh4 million in 2008.
Du is expected to post Dh5,865 million in revenues for 2010.
"Du will be a major bene-ficiary in TRA's Mobile number portability. Total fixed line phones are expected to fall by two per cent this year in UAE," Irfan said.
Etisalat had 1.3 million fixedline subscribers as of 2009 while du had 160,000 fixed line telephones as of third quarter 2009.
Du's digits
- Dh5.8m revenue expected to be reported in 2010
- 160,000 fixed line connections in third quarter 2009
