1.630851-2701754394
More mobile services for the Filipino Overseas Absentee Voter (OAV) registration will be provided in the next three months to meet the October 31 deadline, a consulate official told Gulf News Image Credit: Gulf News Archive

Dubai: Mobile phone subscribers in the UAE will soon have the choice of blocking unwanted commercial and promotional text messages. 

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has announced that it has asked telecommunications operators du and etisalat to provide subscribers with information on how to block incoming text messages. 

A TRA official told the local Arabic newspaper Emarat El Youm that beginning next June subscribers will be able to block all spam messages. 

The TRA has reached an agreement with du and etisalat on the matter and the option to block unwanted promotions text messages will be made available based on the subscriber's request. 

The only exception will be text messages sent by banks as it is a service provided to update customers on their bank accounts, said the official.