Dubai: Du confirmed that telecom network sharing with etisalat will happen in October this year, only in voice and broadband segments.
“IPTV (Internet Protocol television) will happen at a later stage due to some technical reasons. IPTV is the key in value proposition. Customers will have the choice,” Osman Sultan, du’s Chief Executive Officer, told Gulf News.
IPTV is a system where television services are delivered through internet rather than the traditional satellite or cable formats.
Fixed network sharing was initially planned for the end of 2011 so that both etisalat and du can eye each other’s market share.
Both operators have marked their area of coverage so there is no real competition. Du primarily serves the newly developed areas and free zones in Dubai and etisalat serves the rest of the market and is by far the dominant operator.
“We are very excited about network sharing. But I don’t think it will have a disruptive affect as it is complex by nature,” Sultan said.
Strategic impact
He does not see network sharing impacting revenues this year but over the next five to six years, the agreement will have a strategic impact on revenues as there is no competition in the fixed-line business.
Jonas Zelba, senior research analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said that du is waiting for the network sharing to grow its fixed-line subscribers and they are gearing up to be a strong competitor.
“If the network sharing deal happens, du will gain in the short term as it will have a wider area of coverage. In the long term, both operators will compete against each other and everything will depend on the packages, customer service and rates,” Zelba said.
In the long term, it is a mixed scenario, Bhanu Chaddha, telecommunications research manager at International Data Corporation (IDC), said and added that etisalat’s services are not available in the new Dubai area. Du will have a wider addressable consumer market while etisalat will gain access to denser commercial areas like Dubai Media City and Dubai Internet City.
“It is difficult to speculate whose revenues will increase or fall, it depends on the operators’ offerings and who will be able to attract new subscribers,” he said.
