Tired of promotional calls on your phone? Here’s how you can stop it

Dubai: You are in an important meeting, and your phone starts ringing, you think it's an urgent call from a family member or co-worker. But instead, it’s just a marketing call from a telecom company.

Receiving promotional phone calls about a new offer or package can be distracting, especially if you are at work or doing an important task. If you want to put an end to this, phone subscribers in the UAE have the option to block marketing calls from telecom companies.

The UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) reminded phone subscribers that they can opt out of receiving promotional calls from Etisalat or Du. TDRA informed people about this service through a post on its official Twitter account on Sunday, February 13.

How to stop receiving promotional calls from telecom companies

For Etisalat users:

Send an SMS to - 1451 – with the message ‘DNC’

You will immediately receive a text message from Etisalat that states: “Thank you for registering to Etisalat’s – ‘Do – not – call’ listing service. You will not be receiving any further promotional calls from Etisalat from next month onwards.”

For Du users:

Send a blank SMS to 5293.

After that, you will receive an SMS from Du confirming your cancellation.

How to block telemarketing calls

If you have been receiving regular calls from a company, marketing their products or services, you can now block their calls or report them in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Dubai residents can use the ‘Do not disturb’ service by the Commercial Compliance & Consumer Protection (CCCP) Sector from Dubai Economy to block or report a company marketing their products. If you live in Abu Dhabi, you can report any violation to Abu Dhabi's Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT).

Find out how to submit a complaint or block a telemarketing company here.