The UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has said that international calls via voice-over-IP (VoIP) may be legalised by the end of the year, Maktoob Business reports. Mohammed Gheyath, executive director of technology development affairs, told the Dubai daily that the regulator is finalising a proposal allowing VoIP, which it has been working on for several years. Telecoms operators Etisalat and Du are currently the only companies allowed to provide internal VoIP services within the UAE, which banned internet-based calls in 2004. According to Gheyath, only licensed providers will be allowed to offer international VoIP under the new policy, indicating that Etisalat and Du will be the only providers of the service initially. As the duo already have the relevant infrastructure in place, Gheyath believes that Etisalat and Du will be able to begin provide services almost immediately after the policy is introduced.
In a separate story, the TRA has announced it has licensed Etisalat as the first certification service provider in the UAE, enabling the telco to offer Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) solutions.