The United Arab Emirates (UAE) telco Du says it is confident that it will be granted access to rival operator Etisalat’s fixed networks by the end of this year following a long-running saga over bitstream access. A report from Gulf News quotes Du’s chief executive Othman Sultan as saying that both parties have been involved in a trial of fixed network sharing with 100 customers. Meanwhile, an Etisalat bond issue prospectus states: ‘Etisalat anticipates that the bitstream access service will be launched by the end of 2014.’
Etisalat and Du first began discussing fixed network sharing in 2009 but have been unable to agree on terms. The fixed sector is currently dominated by PSTN operator Etisalat, though Du has deployed limited fibre infrastructure in new development areas including Dubai Internet City, Media City and Knowledge Village.