TRA announces commercial launch of carrier pre-selection

Dubai: The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) announces last month's commercial launch of carrier pre-selection (CPS) for fixed-voice calls by licencees du and etisalat.

"This is a significant milestone for the licencees and it carries a great benefit for the telecommunications industry in the UAE. Users will now have the opportunity to choose their service provider regardless of the main access line provider," said TRA Director-General Mohammad Nasser Al Ganem, commenting on the implications this commercial launch has on the UAE market.

CPS is the more advanced mechanism of Carrier Selection (CS) as it allows customers to select their preferred service provider to route their fixed-voice calls without having to dial additional codes on the telephone or programming onsite equipment. CPS uses network access technology which allows traffic originating from the customer's line to be routed to the network of the chosen service provider as the "selection" of the preferred provider is automatically carried out by the exchanges in the public network of the main access line provider.

A customer, whether business or residential, who is physically connected to etisalat's network will be able to have access to services from du's network; similarly, businesses and residential customers physically connected to du's network will be able to enjoy services from etisalat. In the early part of the third quarter of 2011, both etisalat and du announced the soft launch of this service.