Communications in the United Arab Emirates

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In the United Arab Emirates, Federal Act No. 1 [1] of 1976 establishes the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation as the sole telephone and telecommunications provider in the country, however freezones and modern housing developments are exempt from this and utilise a separate telecommunications company. That company, however, has been ordered to block VoIP in these areas.

For the majority of the UAE, Etisalat has a monopoly on business and personal telecommunications services.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) requires Etisalat to actively censor Internet sites. Material deemed offensive, or "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates", is usually blocked, as well as pornography and gambling sites. For commercial reasons, there is also a total ban on internet telephony or VoIP, with Skype blocked. The TRA has released conflicting statements regarding when (if ever) the ban will be lifted.

For political reasons, the entire Israeli internet domain, .il, is also blocked. Pro-Israeli content which does not use the "*.il" domain, however, is accessible (e.g. jpost.com - the website of the Jerusalem Post). The ban on MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr was recently lifted, with a few links on MySpace remaining blocked.

Recently, a new Telephone company and Internet Service Provider called "du" [2] has been established. du includes the telecommunications arm of Emaar properties, previously called "Sahm". Sahm as a telecomms operator for Emaar, a commercial and residential real estate developer, was in competition with the state-run Etisalat, and was arbitrarily absorbed into Dubai Holding Company/TECOM/Dubai government prior to the formation of du. As such, du services are only available in Dubai Holding Company/Emaar properties at present. Public services, competitive to Etisalat, should commence at the end of 2006. Number portability will not be immediately available.

[edit] Data

Telephones - main lines in use: 1.26 million (2005)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 4.99 million (2005)

Internet subscribers: 578,000 (2005)

Telephone system: modern system consisting of microwave radio relay and coaxial cable; key centers are Abu Dhabi and Dubai
domestic: microwave radio relay and coaxial cable
international: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat; submarine cables to Qatar, Bahrain, India, and Pakistan; tropospheric scatter to Bahrain; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia

Radio broadcast stations: AM 13, FM 7, shortwave 2 (1998)

Radios: 820,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 15 (1997)

Televisions: 310,000 (1997)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2001)

• Etisalat, as of February 2004, is the sole ISP of the United Arab Emirates

Country codes: AE