The day of March 15, 2010 was largely historical for the United Arab Emirates: the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) Committee officially authorized access to Internet telephony, previously completely closed or limited throughout the country. The TRA solution means that both existing telecommunications companies in the UAE, Etisalat and Du, will provide users with access to services such as Skype, Vonage, Zfone, MindSpring, Minisip and other applications that make it possible to make phone calls over the Internet.
Satellite telephony providers Thuraya and Yahsat are also planning to provide IP telephony services to their subscribers.
TRA has established rules for using Internet telephony in the UAE, the main of which was the restriction of direct access to third-party services. It is known that the service will be paid, but, in total, calls via the Internet will be several times cheaper than in normal mode. Exceptions will be made only on an individual basis - for educational institutions, research centers and charitable organizations. The decision on VoIP tariffs will be made by telecommunications companies: neither Etisalat nor Du have yet announced their numbers. Also, the introduction of the service will take some time, necessary for telecommunication companies to solve technical issues and pricing.
