01 October, 2006

Etisalalalalalat

Looks like Etisalat has been owned by the TRA...

First...
"Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has kicked off its celebrations of 30 years of existence by offering rewards to all mobile users in the UAE.

This scheme is designed to include all new customers as well as existing prepaid ‘Wasel’ and postpaid customers.
...
New subscribers to the prepaid ‘Wasel’ service will be offered the SIM card at Dh165, and will receive Dh165 worth of initial credit. The initial credit includes Dh10, which can be used for international calls, SMS and other value added services and Dh155 of promotional credit to mark Etisalat’s 30th Anniversary, which can be used for national calls made within the UAE on the Etisalat network, and will be valid for 60 days from the date of purchase."
-- from HERE


Second...
"ABU DHABI — The implementation of the discount schemes offered by Etisalat to Wasel and GSM subscribers as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations has been postponed by a few days because of some technical problems.

“The decision to defer the schemes was taken five minutes before midnight on Thursday,” a staff member at the Etisalat Contact Centre told an anxious caller who had subscribed to Wasel but did not automatically get the discount as promised by Etisalat. The Khaleej Times Complaints Corner was also flooded with calls from disappointed Etisalat customers.
...
An Etisalat official advised Wasel and GSM subscribers who opted for the discount schemes from September 29 onwards to give the details of the transactions to the Etisalat Contact Centre at 101. They will be entitled to the discounts once the technical snag has been dealt with and the schemes come into operation, he said. "
-- from HERE

Then the TRA steps in...
"
Dubai: etisalat, the UAE's main telecommunication operator, has postponed the launch of a special promotion after receiving an objection from the UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).

The TRA said yesterday that etisalat has violated the Telecom Law, its License and TRA policy on price regulations.
...
The TRA has instructed etisalat to withdraw this offer, and stated that while etisalat's offer appeared to be attractive, it actually had the effect of locking customers to etisalat before competition begins.

The TRA said etisalat, with over 5 million subscribers is apparently willing to spend millions in order to lock-in customers, which is an act of anti competition.
...
The authority added that by announcing the promotion etisalat had violated the telecom law, its license and the TRA's price control policy by publicising a promotional offer for mobile services without having sought or received approval from the TRA.
-- from HERE

This should be entertaining.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, Ok that explain why when I did renew my wasel line to benefit from the offer and I waited and waited but no credit was added to my wasel , so I called the 101 the reply at first was Aaa !! there is no such offer where did u hear that from ? than when I Insisted that I read it in one of the local Newspaper than he changed his tune of voice saying that the announcement of the offer made by mistake couple of days earlier than it should,
but don’t worry we took note of your number and u will defiantly benefit form the offer at the time , which is when? No one knows!!

Mme Cyn said...

Ah yes. Did anyone else get a message this weekend that our Wasel accounts can now be used outside the country (*111*number #send)? Gee, that was supose dto have happened form the day I signed up for my Wasel account nearly a year ago...

Seems like somebody is a little afraid of du-know-who...

Seabee said...

The reality is that the government, through TRA, controls all this stuff. The alleged competitor, du, is also government owned. So we have two government-owned telcos controlled by the government's TRA.

They have already stated that they won't allow price competition and this is just one example of it.

When du starts operating - expect nothing to change!

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