Dubai, Aug 25 (Emirates 247): The UAE’s Telecommunication Regulatory Authority has reiterated that the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) – including Skype – is prohibited in the UAE, reports Emarat Al Youm newspaper.
The regulatory authority said that VoIP is banned under the Federal Decree Law No. 3/2003 and only the two telecom operators, Etisalat and Du, are authorised to offer such services.
However, neither of the two companies have submitted requests with regard to offering VoIP services in the UAE so far.
The foreign companies who are interested in providing VoIP services here should coordinate with the two telecom services providers to offer the service to residents, TRA said.
Some Skype users have faced difficulties recently.
Residents told Emarat Al Youm that Skype stopped responding and they have been unable to make both voice and video calls for months.
The residents also said that other softwares such as Viber also had voice clarity issues.
The Emarat Al Youm report quotes subscribers as urging Etisalat and Du to reduce international call rates first before blocking VoIP softwares.