Thousands lose cheap calls as Du blocks Skype

CALLS BARRED: Du has banned the popular internet telephone service Skype (pictured). (Getty Images)

Thousands of people can no longer make cheap calls to family and friends abroad after UAE telecom Du banned internet phone service Skype, the latest in a string of recent internet restrictions rolled out by the operator.

Residents living in Dubai's free zones and freehold developments owned by Emaar Properties and Nakheel first noticed disruption to their Skype service last week, complaining that although they could access the Skype website they could not make phone calls over the internet.

In a statement emailed to ArabianBusiness.com, Farid Faraidooni, Du commercial executive vice president, confirmed a partial ban was now in place.

“Du complies with all the guidelines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) with regard to content filtering. Accordingly, as per the TRA's instructions, only PC to phone and phone to PC communications are blocked - voice over internet protocol (VoIP),” Faraidooni said.

Du's actions appear to contradict comments made by CEO Osman Sultan in an interview with ArabianBusiness.com in April, in which he said subscribers would not lose access to Skype under new internet restrictions.

Du in April joined rival telecom Etisalat and began filtering internet content through the UAE proxy server. Previously Du subscribers had unfettered access to the web.

The proxy server blocks websites that contain content pertaining to pornography, alcohol, gambling, hatred, child abuse or terrorism, according to the TRA.

At the time Sultan said only websites with "offensive" content would be blocked under the new filtering policy.

The TRA is currently finalising new regulations covering internet access in the UAE, with the 'Internet Penetration Policy' expected to be published before the end of this year.

On Monday Du issued a press release offering cheaper international calls to its customers. For each second of an international call, customers will receive one fil of free credit.

The Freetime offer began on Monday and applies to Du mobile customers.

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

READERS' COMMENTS

View all comments (17)

Have your say

Skype
Posted by Mo, Toronto, Canada on Sunday 6 July 2008 at 19:21 UAE time

So what's new here? Did they just block Skype's website or did they block the whole service? I have a friend who still uses Skype to contact his family back home (under Etisalat) and it seems to be working without any issues, Etisalat only blocks Sykpe's website.

Editor's Reply: There are some illegal workarounds in use, and changes to the way Skype offers its services have made accessing Skype easier in the past, but it is a changeable situation

Does Apple ichat still work then?
Posted by Allmec on Saturday 5 July 2008 at 12:02 UAE time


Skype calls aren't working, what about Apple iChat or MSN VoIP, they still up and running?

VOIP blocked
Posted by kristina, London, UK on Wednesday 2 July 2008 at 14:17 UAE time

I also find pc skype call blocked. It's really bad, I regularly conduct business from UK and make frequent calls to bangladesh. Greed has overtaken!

Give us a break
Posted by Allen on Monday 23 June 2008 at 09:07 UAE time

I conduct all my meetings via Skype in US. This is how I can take care of business in US, while residing in UAE. Why are these guys making it harder to do just that? Just to make a bit more money on top of already expensive services. This was a bad decision and obviously very greedy one.

Business Objectives is to share Ownership
Posted by Michael(USA), P.ville, US on Wednesday 11 June 2008 at 07:05 UAE time


When we see Disneyland operating a business which has wireless hot spot access for free for its visitors within its grounds I wonder why Disney has not spoken in favor of the wireless Skype mobile phone because of its associated ownership by eBay I consider the adverse sale activity Disneyland would like to endorse or have taking place within its grounds but selling a Skype mobile phone is no big deal excepting there is no service for Skype so if a user gets his hands on a Skype mobile phone they can only make calls from a Hot Spot and in most cases it should be free access but many franchises make it a requirement for calls to be paid for when accessed. If Dubai authorities are against Disneyland offering free Hot Spot use cause its business partnerships are the law there for outsiders to own a business it must be a 50-50 proposition with some Dubai citizen and taxes the responsibility of both owners at 50% each, Dubai is trying to get full tax so it could be that when they realized that a owner relationship can receive free calls to and from a Skype mobile phone then Dubai knew they might not get the money they were hoping for from each business owner. To bad this idea exists in Dubai and other countries as it is a irresponsible argument to control a business ownership from both ends and claim tax on their only alternative landlines. When the majority of callers are not speaking the same language of the originating owner and only the language of the Dubai owner it seems a illegal stance to require the original owner to have to pay the 50% tax argument not having been able to understand any spoken words so the business partnership law is illegal in my Democratic understanding and so is denial of Skype mobile phone use in Dubai period.

Du Etisalat blocking skype
Posted by John, Dubai, UAE on Saturday 7 June 2008 at 18:52 UAE time

When is enough enough? Are there not sufficient profits in the telecoms market without forcing more? It appears to me that greed is the only real reason Skype is banned thus forcing families to use the phone more and more.

We are supposed to be in a country proud of its development, however those living here all be it temporarily will obviously pay for it in many ways.

Can anyone be proud of this or will their material gains compensate? Rich man, camel, eye of a needle!

Blocked? Again? Next? .....so expenisve?.....Makes you think, doesnt it?
Posted by Jim, Dubai / Alain, UAE on Thursday 5 June 2008 at 10:38 UAE time


There are only hand full countries blocking internet on so many websites. All I know of is China and UAE. Correct me if I am worng but I dont tihnk that even Saudi blocks internet!
Anyone concerned about internet abuse for their children etc. can easily get a blocker on explorer and anit virus etc to help them have a peace of mind.
There is no need for others to suffer, is there? And public should have access to internet like any other internet user in the West. Specially when we pay around 449dhs/m for only a 4MB speed, and in UK for 8MB speed (double the speed) it starts at only 36dhs/m !!! (you cna lok up British telecom). We are paying more than 2500% more!!! for what? Blockade?

What would next ?
Posted by Kashif, DUbai, Dubai on Wednesday 4 June 2008 at 17:26 UAE time


What would be the next block. Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger ?

Bandwidth testing
Posted by Kieran, London, UK on Wednesday 4 June 2008 at 13:07 UAE time


For the benefit of Clydd and others, try:
http://www.numion.com/YourSpeed3/index.html

There you will find a variety of bandwidth testing tools to assist you.

As to the main point of this thread; yes, telecoms and internet in the UAE have always been overpriced and unimpressive. Even Saudi Arabia, next door has always managed to maintain better priced, better run services whilst keeping them strictly within moral boundaries so, really the hi-tech "wannabe" UAE has no real excuse.

At the end of the day the real reason for the blocking is probably unrelated to money but that call monitoring programs being used by the local security find it hard or impossible to break Skype calls while they can happily listen in for keywords on emails or regular voice calls. Hence the ban.

Another step backwards
Posted by robby_z, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 3 June 2008 at 17:40 UAE time


I worked in Bahrain for 4 years and got to say the operators there has promoted the use of Internet telephony, there is no ban on Yahoo voice, skype or other PC-Phone application and Censorship is basically self censorship (No proxies, No Big brother watching).

There are cheap interenet calling cards that are available from groceries or supermarkets, Hell even BATELCO (The kingdoms Major TELCO) has got their own low cost calling cards. Moreover in Bahrain there are Internet Cafes that provide Telephony services.

I guess DU / ETISALAT Can learn a few things from their Neighbours who are much more technologically advanced and open minded

du blocks skype : whatever happened to consumer choice?
Posted by max, dubai, uae on Tuesday 3 June 2008 at 11:29 UAE time


This has nothing to do with morality / cultural values and everything with money i.e. protecting telecom revenues. I think its a insult to both cultural values and the intelligence of people to bracket the two together.

I support the UAE's position on blocking immoral content, this is a Muslim Country so fair enough - I respect that. However, simply connecting with loved ones back home at a lower cost while helping drive the economic development of this country cannot be not against cultural values.

I fail to see how this move fits into Dubai's forward thinking vision (and it is impressive). If laws can be changed so easily on skype -will they do the same on the freehold apartment you just bought 5 years down the line? This move is sending out a negative message to the world.

Everything is connected one way or another. Whatever happened to consumer choice?

Du dont, cant and never have!
Posted by Rainigade, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 3 June 2008 at 10:07 UAE time


Firstly, let me just state the most obvious thing - You have no choice except to use the telecom provider that is responsible for your area. Yes, there are two in the market, but its not like you can swap from one to the other if you are dissatisfied with the service. You are stuck!

Armed with this knowledge, Du dont and wont provide any semblance of service. Their call centre agents have voices and phones and nothing else. Its like talking to an automated service. They give you the scripted lines, are not allowed (or dont) take any decisions and are almost French in their attitude of "c'est la vie, what you gonna do?".

We have had nothing but trouble with Du since moving in last year - with them first disconnecting our satellite TV connection because we didnt take it through them and then miraculously having it restored after two weeks of shouting, having to wait for a WEEK before even an appointment with a technician was made, dealing with agents who have no clue about wireless network routers and yes - the infamous billing services.

What choice, dear fellow readers, do we have? None. We just have to keep our chins up and take it like a man. Oh and make sure our near & dear ones abroad have PCs so we can talk to them for free!

No doubt in anyone's mind that Du dont and wont!

proxys just reduce speed
Posted by clydd on Tuesday 3 June 2008 at 08:27 UAE time


I agree with the previous poster.. when will Du revamp their billing system. it has been over a year ..yes thats right.. over a year that they promised that billing will be streamlined.

Due to it not being implemented properly as of date, we have to visit in person the internet city hq to pay our bills. (if we resort to the other current "state of the art" methods of drop box cheque payment or credit card authorization form) there is no guarantee that billing errors will creep in due to the bad time lines of bill issuance and postal delivary of the same.

on the debate of the proxy censrship.. although I feel the country is justified in how it wants to deal with im-moral content etc.. the sad part is the proxy DOES slow down internet access.

Du does not yet have a bandwith tester application on their site to allow people to really see what kind of speeds a client is paying for.

How do we know that a 512kbps connection is actually giving you that throughput? ...and that bandwidth pipes are being increased to cope as more and more apartments and users are coming online?

answers ?

Go backward?
Posted by Beth, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 3 June 2008 at 07:35 UAE time

Du spend huge money to block the progress.. What about the services? We are suffering with the problems, slow connection and low quality employees.

Dear Du, where are our proper invoices about our tel. calls. Your website is horrible. I never have had the list of my calls. I do not need cheaper and most expensive calls from my telephone….. IMPROVE YOUR SERVICES AND MAKE YOUR CLIENTS HAPPY.

Du gives into the TRA
Posted by Sam on Tuesday 3 June 2008 at 06:12 UAE time

I'm going to have to say that 'cheap' calls isn't what's being banned here. It's actually free calls! Yes you have the option to call landlines in different parts of the world with Skype, but that functionality is available in almost all popular instant messaging clients such as Yahoo messenger, Gizmodo, and MSN.

Extract from the policy:

"9.1.10

Websites which provides Voice-over-IP service (more specifically PC-to-phone and phone-to-phone over public internet). This includes websites which promotes for VoIP software and hardware.

Exemption: PC-PC VoIP "

I would hazard a guess that the good majority of skype users use skype end-to-end to make FREE calls with one another without calling landlines ie PC to PC calls which according to Mr Faraidooni and the TRA fat cats is ACCEPTABLE under the exemption - So why block Skype? Is it in violation of the UAE's "traditions" and "moral values"?

The TRA's internet censorship plan is now in the public domain and can be studied by all. It's a downloadable PDF on the Wikileaks website. Link at the bottom.

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates_Internet_censorship_plan_(2006)

du blocks skype
Posted by leo, dubai, uae on Tuesday 3 June 2008 at 04:21 UAE time

What a great slogan, "du just dont"; shame it wont be taken up as it would be one of the first truly reflective slogans in Dubai.

Du
Posted by Jane, Dubai, UAE on Monday 2 June 2008 at 12:04 UAE time


In contrast to the forward-thinking proposed implementation of innovative technologies in "green" developments and the like, the UAE has once again proved itself to be an almighty turkey, and taken a huge step backwards. Perhaps if du offered a better service I might consider calling international from my phone. Or if they offered anything in the way of service at all. The fact of the matter is, du just don't.

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM