TRA to legalise VoIP ‘soon’

The Khaleej Times reports that the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) will soon introduce a policy to allow operators to provide mobile calls via voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology. ‘The TRA is in the process of implementing a new VoIP policy,’ the regulator announced in a statement, adding, ‘It is expected that this policy will be published soon, and will be made available on the TRA website.’ Only the UAE’s two licensed telecoms operators, Etisalat and Du, will be allowed to provide the service however, although an exception to this will be ‘certain prescribed uses which deal with educational and public interest purposes’, the TRA revealed. The report also states that mobile number portability (MNP), which allows subscribers to switch service providers but retain their number, will be introduced this year.