Etisalat sees network sharing with Du within a year

Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), the UAE’s incumbent telecoms operator, expects to begin network sharing with rival Du within the next twelve months, The National cites the company’s senior vice president Abdulrahman Almulla as saying. The launch of bitstream access would break the monopolies held by Etisalat and Du within their respective areas by giving consumers nationwide the choice of operator for their fixed line voice and broadband services, but the two companies have been negotiating the terms of its introduction for a number of years and have yet to reach an agreement. ‘I would say that in less than one year this can be provided. We are working hard towards this target,’ Almulla said, adding: ‘We are over the technical complexities, we are almost there. It is now a commercial matter, but we are not at a standstill, these have not been a lost few years, we are in an extended testing phase, and this will improve the outcome for customers. It will be sorted out in way that will be a win for all sides, the operators and the customers, the longer we take in testing, the better the outcome will be for everybody.’