Delay in accord with Etisalat may hit du

Dubai: The UAE's second telecom operator, du, may face a delay in rolling out its services unless it and Etisalat can come to an agreement next month, a telecom official said on Monday.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) which in the past has said it won't get involved in the negotiations has already extended the grace period for the two companies to link their services.

Despite ironing out 80 per cent of their differences, du could be forced to delay the launch from the third to the fourth quarter of 2006 unless the companies can reach an agreement on a final few points, said Ahmad Bin Byat, Chairman of du.

"The situation now can not bear any delay beyond the end of this month, otherwise we will be forced to introduce our services to customers in the last quarter of 2006," he said.

However, Bin Byat said that the delay in the negotiations didn't mean the two operators are on opposing sides.

"We are not surprised by the delay because du has a new status in the UAE, and the delay is expected," said Bin Byat.

its link to a telecommunications and internet system that spans the globe yesterday.

The system will provide du customers with the capability to make international calls and connect to a high speed internet service without the need to access Etisalat infrastructure.

The link is being provided by Flag Telecom's Falcon submarine cable system, which stretches from Suez to Mumbai, and links to the company's Fibre Link Around the Globe (FLAG) submarine cable.

du has already invested millions of dollars in Flag Telecom's cable system, along with operators in Bahrain, Egypt, India, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar and Sudan.

Flag accepted handover of the Falcon segments from the UAE to Oman and from the UAE to Qatar last month. The segment from Qatar to Bahrain is scheduled to be handed over to the operations team this week.

du intends to roll out international, advanced mobile and fixed line services as well as broadband Internet and pay TV packages later this year.

du Chief Executive Osman Sultan said international connectivity through Falcon would enable du to enhance the level and quality of international services it was able to offer its customers and provide the infrastructure to meet the increasing demand for the roll-out of mobile and fixed voice and broadband services.