Stop promo SMS, etisalat and du told

The two telecom operators in the UAE - etisalat and du - have been given until the beginning of August to stop sending promotional SMS to subscribers without their consent, Mohammed N Al Ghanim, Director-General, Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) told Emirates 24|7.

He said this move was taken following an increasing numbers of complaints made to the TRA on this regard.

TRA is keen that the privacy of subscribers is not violated.

Subscribers who do not wish to receive promotional SMS of the operator or of a third party should be given the option to have their say, stressed Al Ghanim.

“Actually, etisalat has started sending promotional SMS that give subscribers the opportunity not to send such SMS by calling 1011,” he said.

Rani El Khateeb, owner of a company told Emirates 24|7 that he receives about 10 calls every day from banks and property companies.

“Once I received a phone call from a bank. Although I made it clear to him that I am not interested, within half an hour I received a phone call from the same bank but another employee,” says Rani.

Adel Hamzah, an employee said: “It seems that I have made a big mistake when my mobile number was published when placing an advertisement in a daily about my interests to sell a property.

“Since then, I have been receiving tens of calls from real estate companies [to] buy. The situation has become very annoying especially that I receive calls during the work time,” Hamzah said.

An advocate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the law does not criminalise deploying mobile phone for promotional ends.

However, only when a person receives several calls a day from the same company would it be considered as annoying, according to TRA regulations, and action be taken against the caller for misusing the service.

Mohammed Fikri, a lawyer of Al Sharif Advocates and Legal Consultants, said should a user receive repeated calls from the same source, he may complain to the police.

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