Monday, Mar 26, 2012
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--The United Arab Emirates will revisit the number of telecom companies that currently operate in the country by 2015, but only after conducting a study to explore the logic of such a move, an official at the Telecoms Regulatory Authority, or TRA, said Monday.
"We will consider the liberalization of the [telecom] sector by 2015," Majid Al Mesmar, the TRA's deputy director general, told Zawya Dow Jones by telephone.
Mesmar's comments come amid recent speculation that the U.A.E. regulator is considering plans to allow more telcos to compete in the local market against incumbent operators Emirates Telecommunications Co. (ETISALAT.AD), or Etisalat, and Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co. (DU.DFM), better known as Du, in 2015.
By the end of 2011, there were 11.7 million active mobile subscribers in the U.A.E., representing a penetration rate of about 200%.
Fintan Healy, executive director of regulatory affairs at the TRA, told Zawya Dow Jones on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai on Monday that there's a commitment between the U.A.E. and the World Trade Organization to consider further market liberalization by 2015.
"Between now and 2015 we will study if this is appropriate to consider further liberalization, then we will make recommendation to the leaderships," he added.
-By Shereen El Gazzar, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 446 1684 Shereen.elgazzar@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
26-03-12 1259GMT
