Telecommunications in the United Arab Emirates

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Telecommunications in the United Arab Emirates is under the control and supervision of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) which was established under UAE Federal Law by Decree No. 3 of 2003.^[1] From 1976 to 2006 the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) was the sole telephone and telecommunications provider for the UAE.^[2] And while there were exceptions for free zones and modern housing developments, for the majority of the UAE, Etisalat held a monopoly on business and personal telecommunications services. In February 2006 this monopoly became a duopoly when a new telephone company and Internet Service Provider, du was established to offer mobile services across the UAE and Internet and TV services to some free zone areas.^[2] Earlier du provided triple play services to free zone areas under the name Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), which is still its legal name.

Telephones

• Land lines: 1.825 million, 61st in the world (2011)^[3]
• Mobile cellular: 11.727, 66th in the world (2011)^[3]
• Blackberry users: 730,000 with 480,000 subscribed to Etisalat and about 250,000 with du (2010)^[4]
• System: modern fiber-optic integrated services; digital network with rapidly growing use of mobile-cellular telephones; key centers are Abu Dhabi and Dubai^[3]
  • Domestic: microwave radio relay, fiber optic and coaxial cable^[3]
  • International: linked to the international submarine cable FLAG (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe); landing point for both the SEA-ME-WE-3 and SEA-ME-WE-4 submarine cable networks; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat; tropospheric scatter to Bahrain; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia^[3]
• Country code: 971^[3]

Radio and television

• Except for the many organizations now operating in Dubai's Media Free Zone, most TV and radio stations remain government-owned; widespread use of satellite dishes provides access to pan-Arab and other international broadcasts (2007)^[3]

Radio has been around for more than 60 years in the UAE. Prior to the UAE’s formation, the British Forces Broadcasting Services (BFBC) had a local FM radio studio here. It ran syndicated entertainment programmes and read news about the command to it garrisons stationed in the then Trucial States.

In the late 70’s, UAE Radio started independent services. Channel 4 was the first commercial radio station followed by Emirates Media Radio and the Arab Media Group. As of February 2014, independent radio stations in the UAE include 7 each in English and Hindi, 12 Arabic, 4 Malayalam, and one each in Tamil, Tagalog, Russian and Farsi.

• Television broadcast stations:
  • 72 free-to-air channels (2011)^[5]
  • 33% IPTV penetration (estimated, 2011)
• Televisions: 743,133 (est. 2004),^[6] 310,000 (1997)

Internet

• Subscribers: 3,604,065 or 70% of the population (2011)^[3]
• Service Providers (ISPs): 2, Etisalat and du (2008)^[3]
• Hosts: 337,804 (2012)^[3]
• Top-level domain: .ae (see also: .ae Domain Administration)^[3]

Internet censorship

On the du network, users who try to access a blocked web page are redirected to du's block page.

Internet filtering in the UAE was listed as pervasive in the social and Internet tools areas, as substantial in the political area, and as selective in the conflict/security area by the OpenNet Initiative in August 2009.^[7] The UAE has been listed as "Under Surveillance" by Reporters Without Borders since 2008.^[8]

The United Arab Emirates censors the Internet using Secure Computing's solution. The nation's ISPs Etisalat and du (telco) ban pornography, politically sensitive material, all Israeli domains,^[9] and anything against the perceived moral values of the UAE. All or most VoIP services are blocked. The Emirates Discussion Forum (Arabic: منتدى الحوار الإماراتي), or simply uaehewar.net, has been subjected to multiple censorship actions by UAE authorities.^[10]

TRA ^[11] instructs Etisalat and du to block parts of WorldHeritage, all VoIP services such as Skype and SIP based services^[12] and some social networking services like hi5, Friendster, and all dating sites like Yahoo! Personals and Match.com.^[13] For political reasons, the entire Israeli internet domain, .il, is also blocked. Pro-Israeli content which does not use the "*.il" domain, however, is accessible (e.g. jpost.com - the website of the Jerusalem Post).^[14] A 2005 study, before du was established, also showed Etisalat sometimes block websites relating to the Bahá'í Faith.^[15]

Broadcast media censorship

On 16 November 2007 Tecom stopped

Telecommunications History Beacon Broadcasting Communications satellite Computer network Drums Electrical telegraph Fax Heliographs Hydraulic telegraph Internet Mass media Mobile phone Optical telecommunication Optical telegraphy Photophone Prepaid mobile phone Radio Radiotelephone Satellite communications Smoke signals Telecommunications history Telegraphy Telephone The Telephone Cases Television Timeline of communication technology Undersea telegraph line Videoconferencing Videophone Videotelephony Pioneers Edwin Howard Armstrong John Logie Baird Alexander Graham Bell Tim Berners-Lee Jagadish Chandra Bose Vint Cerf Claude Chappe Lee de Forest Philo Farnsworth Reginald Fessenden Elisha Gray Guglielmo Marconi Alexander Stepanovich Popov Johann Philipp Reis Nikola Tesla Camille Papin Tissot Alfred Vail Charles Wheatstone Vladimir K. Zworykin Transmission media Coaxial cable Free-space optical Optical fiber Radio waves Telephone lines Terrestrial microwave Molecules Network topology and switching Links Nodes Terminal node Network switching (circuit packet) Telephone exchange Multiplexing Space-division Frequency-division Time-division Polarization-division Orbital angular-momentum Code-division Networks ARPANET BITNET Computer Ethernet FidoNet Internet ISDN LAN Mobile NGN Public Switched Telephone Radio Telecommunications equipment Television Telex WAN Wireless World Wide Web By continent Telecommunications in Africa Sovereign states Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe States with limited recognition Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland Dependencies and other territories Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla / Plazas de soberanía (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom) Western Sahara Telecommunications in Asia Sovereign states Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Burma (Myanmar) Cambodia China Cyprus East Timor (Timor-Leste) Egypt Georgia India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen States with limited recognition Abkhazia Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus Palestine South Ossetia Taiwan Dependencies and other territories British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Hong Kong Macau Telecommunications in Europe Sovereign states Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom States with limited recognition Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria Dependencies and other territories Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Svalbard Other entities European Union Telecommunications in North America Sovereign states Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States Dependencies and other territories Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Navassa Island Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands Telecommunications in Oceania Sovereign states Australia East Timor Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Associated states of New Zealand Cook Islands Niue Dependencies and other territories American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna Telecommunications in South America Sovereign states Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Dependencies and other territories Falkland Islands French Guiana South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Telecommunications Telecommunication Mass surveillance

• UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
• Etisalat website
• du website

External links

References

• Telephone numbers in the United Arab Emirates

See also

^[18][17][16]