Half full or half empty?

A recent poll on expat sentiments have local newspapers split on the proverbial glass:

Emirates Business 24/7:
More than a third of expats in region will opt to stay put

Arabian Business:
One in three expats poised to return home

So what's your take on it? UAE two-thirds full or one-third empty?

Skype access to return to the UAE?

It might be according to Arabian Business - but don't hold your breath, read the whole article.

Quote of the decade from Mohamed Al Ghanim, director general of the TRA:

Customers and even those (VoIP) companies think that we are blocking them, but we are not blocking them – we are putting a process together for those companies to be licenced and this will take some time. There are challenges associated with it.

Wait a minute - an online company with no physical presence in the U.A.E has to be licensed in the U.A.E.? Is this true with other companies such as Ebay?

Another gem:

When we licence a company in the UAE, we make sure they have a presence, so if you pay your bill and the company does not provide you with a service, there is a way to recover your money. Customers need to be protected.

Yah - tell that to the people who have lost their money to U.A.E. licensed companies such as property developers who have over-hyped and under-delivered, or to telecom companies who charge people for a fast internet speed but deliver such a slow speed that a snail would be ashamed of it.

Why can't the TRA just come out and say, "We're banning Skype because it would cut into our already humungous profits."?

We could live with that!