Wednesday, Dec 01, 2010
Gulf News
TRA officials conduct extensive tests
Market share expected to increase to 30%
Dubai The UAE Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) yesterday revealed in a study that telecom services have improved a lot in the past year, but customers have mixed views.
Authority officials travelled more than 11,000km across the UAE between April and July to check performance and service levels of the two telecom operators. They made more than 32,000 voice test calls.
Mohammad Al Ganem, TRA Director-General, said in a statement: “The survey results provide a realistic picture of the development achieved in cellular mobile networks in the UAE in 2010. The latest international methods and technologies had been used while conducting the survey to ensure the maximum degree of credibility.”
It said that benchmarking of such service allows the TRA to confirm that each licencee meets stipulated quality standards of performance and helps ensure that telecommunications services provided throughout the UAE are sufficient to satisfy the demands of the public.
The test includes network coverage, dropped calls and the clarity of calls.
However, customer experience across the country paints a different picture.
“The mobile phone services have hardly improved, 3G is a great addition, yet etisalat was too late,” said Hussain, a Gulf News reader. “I would believe a company so progressive or eager to be No 1 would be keen to jump on new technologies,” he said yesterday.
Touqir Awan, an Abu Dhabi resident, said, “I am using du mobile since its launch and I am using iPhone from last one and a half years. Service is really poor.”
While complaints are plenty about rates for internet and television services, some have noticed improvements in those services.
Cheaper local calls
“The services have improved a lot, especially concerning du’s services. Also now we are looking for cheaper local calls from etisalat,” said Vector, an Ajman resident.
“I think the internet services have improved the farthest,” added Hussain.
Du recently launched the region’s fastest broadband at 24Mbps (megabits per second) to meet high bandwidth demand for high volume data downloading, video streaming and online games, while etisalat’s fastest is 16Mbps.
TRA’s new tests included a stronger focus on mobile data service performance to ensure that consumers are receiving suitable mobile broadband availability and promised download speeds.
The authority said it is working with the two operators to identify areas that could be improved.
Dubai (Zawya Dow Jones) Etisalat expects to double revenues at its Afghani unit this year versus 2009 and expects to grow its market share in the troubled country, a senior company executive said yesterday.
“We are expecting our revenues in Afghanistan to double this year compared to last year,” Saeed Hamad Al Hameli, chief executive officer of etisalat-Afghanistan, said at the Afghanistan International Investment Conference in Dubai.
The telco’s market share is expected to rise to 25 per cent to 30 per cent from nearly 20 per cent now, Al Hamli said.
“The total penetration rate in Afghanistan is about 50 per cent, knowing that the population there is about 30 million to 32 million,” Al Hameli said.
He called upon Afghan authorities to amend laws to attract foreign investors. “As a foreign investor in Afghanistan we can’t acquire land there and perhaps the Afghan authorities should look into that matter,” he said.
rosy outlook
Have your say
How would you rate telecom services in the UAE? Do you have any suggestions on how they can be improved? Share your thoughts at
readers@gulfnews.com
By Nadia Saleem?Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
