UAE resident alert: You may now switch your Internet, fixed-line provider

After getting the liberty to choose their mobile service provider while retaining their number, UAE residents will be now able to choose their broadband and fixed line provider.

At the ongoing Gitex Technology Week yesterday, UAE telcos Etisalat and Du formally signed the network sharing deal that had been hanging fire for several months now.

Etisalat and Du had first begun talks over bitstream access (network-sharing) in 2009, and despite the government being the largest shareholder in both companies, an agreement hadn’t been reached in six years – until now, that is.

The long-delayed deal to allow competition in the UAE fixed-line telecommunications services was finally signed yesterday, allowing residents across the UAE to be able to choose their fixed-line and Internet service provider.

This move will open the doors to competition in the lucrative in-home connectivity segment.

Until now, Du was restricted to offering such services in newer, freehold areas in Dubai while Etisalat provided the services in the rest of Dubai and across all other emirates in the UAE.

“Competition is crucial in driving performance and innovation,” said Saleh Al Abdooli, Etisalat’s CEO.

“A fair and healthy competitive environment always accelerates progress in the telecom sector, benefitting both, operators and users. Therefore, we see competition on fixed services for residential customers as an opportunity for growth,” he said.

According to Etisalat’s Q1 2015 financial report, its fixed line subscriber segment contracted 7 per cent year on year as it continued its efforts to migrate subscribers to the eLife segment, its television streaming service, which it said saw a 14 per cent year-on-year increase in the quarter.

Du’s fixed-line subscribers, on the other hand, stood at 651,000 in Q1 2015, a 6 per cent year-on-year growth.

“Having played our part in furthering the bitstream agreement under the TRA’s supervision, we look forward to its positive impact on the UAE’s telecom landscape. We thank the TRA for its crucial role in all aspects of making bitstream a reality, in line with a common objective of stimulating telecommunications advancement in the country,” Etisalat’s Al Abdooli said after the signing of the agreement.