Local newspaper The National, citing reports by a management consultancy firm, claims that it will be four years before the United Arab Emirates gets another mobile operator, in spite of calls for more competition. Although the regulator the TRA declined to comment, the watchdog’s director general has previously said it was standard procedure to give a new entrant such as Du a two or three-year grace period to gain market share and become sustainable before adding a third competitor. The country’s wireless market is currently divided between Etisalat and Du, which according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database claimed 77.7% and 22.3% market shares respectively at the end of March 2008.
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