Citing the conflicting media reports raised on the permission to use WhatsApp voice calls in UAE, country’s telecom regulatory authority has issue a statement to Emirates 24/7, elaborating the legality aspect of it.
In the statement, TRA has confirmed the regulations of VoIP calls on WhatsApp, but said that the permission is granted to the licensed operators. The companies who wish to provide WhatsApp VoIP calls to their customers should collaborate with the UAE’s licensed service providers to proceed further.
Earlier, Telecom operator Du had confirmed blocking the new WhatsApp feature after Etisalat. Both the licensed operators offer VoIP calling cards, although the cards are not available in all the retail shops across the country. Du’s VoIP calling cards, named Hello, are available in the retail shops near the worker’s accommodations aiming to make their calls to the home country cheaper.
Etisalat’s VoIP call cards ‘Five’ also provide cheaper calls rates to few countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Pakistan, Oman , Nepal, Kuwait, India and Bangladesh.
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Besides the comment on VoIP calls, UAE’s TRA has also stated that the authority stays committed towards improving the Information and Communication technology infrastructure in the country to make it in par with global standards.
