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29 March 2024

TRA warns Etisalat, Du over random fees

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By Staff

UAE telecommunication authorities have warned Etisalat and Du, the country’s Telcom service providers, to stop charging their clients for cancellation of any service, saying they must first get approval from subscribers for the introduction of any service.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was reacting to growing complaints by customers that they have been asked to pay fees of between Dh100 and Dh2000 after they requested cancellation of certain services, such as promotion texts and blocking of spam messages.

“The service providers in the UAE must not impose any fee for cancelling services on customers who have not requested such service in the first place,” TRA said in a statement carried by Emirate Alyoum newspaper.

“Service providers are also not authorized to introduce a service to clients without getting their prior approval after informing them by a written letter of such a service and resulting fees….TRA is fully committed to protecting customers against misleading and improper telecom practices.”

The Dubai-based Emirat Alyoum said TRA received a whopping 2.8 million complaints in 2010 against Etisalat and Du, nearly double the number of complaints received in 2009. It said more than half of the complaints in 2010 were related to mobile phone services.