TRA’s green signal to VoIP services

The long-pending hopes of the telephone users in the UAE to make VoIP calls without being hassled by the fears of violating laws of the land, appear to be near fruition.

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority or TRA on Monday announced the policy framework permitting the country’s two popular licenced operators Etisalat, Du to provide the VoIP service to all categories of customers.

Within hours of release of the TRA policy, Etisalat announced its decision to provide its business customers with reliable and secure VoIP solutions, with immediate effect. However, the ordinary customers of Etisalat will have to wait for some more time to make VoIP calls, as the telecom operator was working out the required business models for providing such services based on the just-released TRA policy.

When contacted by Khaleej Times a spokesman for the Du also said they would get back with the official response from the company quickly on the introduction of the services.

Releasing the VoIP policy, Mohammed Gheyath, the Executive Director at the TRA said the VoIP facility would be part of the portfolio of services being provided by the licenced telecom operators like Etisalat and Du. The licenced telecom operators would decide as to when they will introduce the services and what would the tariff plan. ``They would be able to decide on these issues after evaluating the market conditions, and we would also be watching the market till the year-end,’’ he said.

TRA has granted permission to provide VoIP facilities to the satellite-based telephone service providers Thuraya and Yahsat. While Thuraya is already in operation, Yahsat would launch its operations only after the Yahsat 1 Satellite is put into orbit and starts operation next year.

TRA has made it clear that the telephone users can make use of the VoIP services only through the telecom licence holders like Etisalat and Du. However in special cases like the educational and research institutions there could be some exception, if they are using the services for education and research purposes.