Etisalat-du 'unbundling' deal to be finalised by year end

Telecom operators du and etisalat are set to finalise talks on "unbundling" by the end of this year, said a senior official from the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority.

"Unbundling local loop is under discussion between the two operators. There are two groups in etisalat and du, which are doing their work today to allow all streams to have access to each other. The aim is to finalise all technical processes by the end of December," said Mohamed Al Ghanim, Director-General, UAE TRA.

He said the second group is discussing financial matters and TRA is overseeing the talks to ensure that the process is fair, transparent and pro-competition.

"I hope that by the end of this year – we'll see light in the fixed line infrastructure assets and broadband services will also increase with a competitive price," Al Ghanim told the Telecom World Middle East forum yesterday.

Under the process, called local loop unbundling, the regulatory authority forces the incumbent to separate bundles of subscriber lines from the incumbent network, and leases the subscriber lines to new entrants or service providers at low cost such that the latter avoids building a new network from scratch at high cost.

TRA is also developing a comprehensive competition framework to strengthen competition in the UAE telecom sector. It has recently introduced a cost accounting framework to enhance the level of cost transparency within the industry.

Al Ghanim said TRA will remain independent and powerful while fostering the culture of competition. Etisalat, in April, was fined Dh400,000 by TRA for failure to comply with fair-competition rules.

He said TRA will be presenting a new national telecom policy to the Cabinet by the end of this year, which will draw the five-year roadmap of the UAE. Mostly comprised of broadband issues, the policy will also set the tone whether there is a need for another operator.

"We first have to ask high-level questions whether we want more infrastructure competition or what we have is enough – this will have a substantial change in the landscape," he told Emirates Business, adding that the VoIP will come to the UAE but certain legal frameworks have to be set first.

"Right now, we are in discussions with both operators on having application for internet telephony," he said. "There is a need for a legal framework. There is nothing called free, even Skype you pay for it, and when you start to pay for services, you need to have a licensed company here in the country so that if the customer complains that it did not get the service, he they can come to regulator."

He said VoIP can help balance the telecom economy.

Alan Horne, General Director of TRA Bahrain, said: "Anybody who fights what is good for consumer is fighting to lose a lot of money. VoIP is just a technology. We should not fight against it. It's just a question of getting business model right."

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