TRA 2015

TRA in 2009 (on the topic of Skype):

"I don't see the TRA being anti-consumer," he said. "We opened up the market. We are trying to protect consumers. The TRA is a government agency. We have wider issues to worry about. Consumers only have their own concern to worry about." (source: http://gulfnews.com/business/telecoms/tra-denies-anti-consumer-charge-1.266598)

TRA in 2015 (on the topic of actual consumer protection):

"The TRA had said last year that as of May 18, only 55,555 mobile numbers had been successfully transferred out of 190,185 requests submitted in the first five months of the mobile number portability service’s availability. 

The regulator also said that the 134,222 rejected applications included some that had been resubmitted more than once by the holder of the number. 

In yesterday’s statement, the TRA said that a joint team would be formed comprising the TRA and the operators “to find appropriate solutions to customer complaints”.  (source: http://www.thenational.ae/business/telecoms/uae-telecoms-regulator-steps-up-oversight-into-customer-complaints)

Given that it is 2015 and du and Etisalat still do not have any real interconnection between their broadband networks (i.e. 0 competition) and given that roughly two thirds of all mobile portability (i.e. Etisalat>du or du>Etisalat) are failing (i.e. roughly one third competition), has the TRA really done a good job of worrying about the "wider issues" thus far?

Blackberry dumbphones

Assuming the BlackBerry ban isn't mere saber rattling, is it not disgusting that consumers will have to bear the costs of the TRA's decision to ban BlackBerry services?

Not only the cost of devices, but for companies and individuals to swap over to different devices?

It is absolutely not enough that the TRA require du and Etisalat to provide services in place of devices we've all already paid for;

"Both telecommunications operators – Etisalat and du – were informed of the decision earlier today. The notification was delivered with an instruction to ensure minimal consumer disruption in the provision of alternative services." (from www.tra.ae)

So where are the calls from Etisalat and du arranging delivery of our new phones that haven't had their feature-list suddenly cut in half overnight?

If this all turns out to be a failed attempt by the TRA to try and force RIM to co-operate with ridiculous laws who will refund consumers that went and bought new devices in the belief that BlackBerry services would be banned?

Given the absolutely atrociously ridiculous cost of on-the-fly 3G data in the UAE we're all going to end up "forking over yet another ton of money to Etisalat and du once again" (so common that we can henceforth abbreviate it to FOY-ATOM-TEA-DOA)

Also, at a time like this, let us not lose sight of the General Policy for the Telecommunications Sector in the State of the United Arab Emirates:

"3.3 Become the Regional ICT Hub
The Government will support the development of the UAE as a regional ICT and telecommunications hub by:
[...]
3. Ensuring a secure environment in telecommunication applications and usage, including information security and network security, authentication, privacy and consumer protection by developing Policies and Regulatory Framework for this subject."

So to ensure that the UAE becomes a regional ICT Hub by "ensuring a secure environment", the TRA's grandmaster plan is to ban anything that is a secure environment?

With front page CNN, BBC, Slashdot, New York Times the UAE is sure set to become the regional ICT hub in about minus 8000 years. What will the TRA find reason to block tomorrow in its continuous quest to 'protect consumers'? Skype?

Is it little wonder companies like Skype have set up shop in Bahrain and not the UAE?

Will the TRA use this extremely sound reasoning:

Blackberry data is immediately exported off-shore, where it is managed by a foreign, commercial organization. Blackberry data services are currently the only data services operating in the UAE where this is the case. (from www.tra.ae

to start blocking services which are managed overseas and are encrypted like Gmail? Will the TRA start outlawing all encrypted communications including https websites so we can no longer use banking facilities in a secure manner?

Etisalat, eLife and unfair marketing practices

I called Etisalat this afternoon regarding their eLife services which I have posted about previously and have come to some interesting conclusions. Most of all the information provided on their website and the wording that they have chosen, as well as the unavailability of proper information appears to be unfair for consumers.

The information Etisalat offers is as follows:

• There will be a 100 GB LIMIT on the UNLIMITED eLife packages
• They claim that it is under test and have no idea when it will be implemented
• They have no idea how it will be implemented (i.e. what happens after bandwidth limit)
• They have no idea of what the costs associated with such a limit would be

How are consumers meant to make informed decisions with their purchases when Etisalat is holding back information in such a way? Especially when eLife is offered with a 12 month contract.

Technically speaking Etisalat is offering an unlimited connection at this moment, however they have already previously mentioned things like fair usage policies and such on their website which they have since removed which is a little bit more than suspicious (in that it seems they are trying to make customers purchase an 'unlimited' connection on a 12 month contract that is going to be limited in the near future while making no solid information available).

At the moment there is no actual mention of any limitations at all on their website and this information is only available via phone; there is one webpage regarding the FUP (fair usage policy) however it is no longer linked to anywhere on the site and it makes no mentions of prices or any technical or solid information whatsoever.

I particularly find it interesting that the TRA is always so adamant about 'protecting consumers' when it comes to Skype or security threats on BlackBerry Messenger, but don't seem to do much of anything when it comes to actual consumers. Their policies make for interesting reading...

"2.1 Price Transparency Before Service Offering
2.1.1 Prior to offering service to consumers, licensees shall disclose the
following:
(a) all prices that may apply, including deposits and pre-payments;

(Taken from TRA Price Transparency Policy)   

Etisalat had no idea when I called what the prices of additional bandwidth would be. Which means they are offering a service to customers without being able to inform customers of what pricing will actually be. This means that Etisalat is not being transparent in their pricing.

"2.2.2 When a Licensee offers a service which is priced per a certain number of usage units or in another similar manner, that Licensee shall provide the functionality for consumers to know their available units."

(Taken from TRA Price Transparency Policy)   

Etisalat does not currently offer any method for tracking bandwidth usage. To be fair they do not actually have a bandwidth limit yet, however if they are offering people a service that will be limited in the near future it would be considered fair to provide consumers with this service right now so they may ascertain the accuracy and functionality of such a service and also tailor their internet usage to fit any future limits.

"2.3 General Publication Requirements
2.3.1 Licensees shall publish, in a form easily available to consumers,
the prices for its services offered to consumers.
2.3.2 The information shall be published in a manner that is up-to-date
and easy to understand.
2.3.3 Where Licensees make more than one service offer for the same
service, they shall make available the prices in a manner that enables
consumers to compare the various offers.
2.3.4 Licensees shall provide a means for consumers to contact licensees
for further price information."

(Taken from TRA Price Transparency Policy)   

"2.1 No marketing communication or practice shall, or be likely, to mislead, confuse or deceive consumers by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise."

(Taken from TRA Marketing and Communications Policy)   

Etisalat's elife packages are displayed on their website as UNLIMITED yet are going to be LIMITED.
I ask you, is it "easy to understand" or "accurate" when a service is offered as unlimited when it is actually going to be limited?



The dictionary definition of unlimited for those of you who are interested:

"un·lim·it·ed

 [uhn-lim-i-tid] 

–adjective

1.

not limited; unrestricted; unconfined: unlimited trade.

2.

boundless; infinite; vast: the unlimited skies.

3.

without any qualification or exception; unconditional."

The usage of the term 'unlimited' in telecommunications marketing has already proven contentious in other countries, yet the TRA has taken no action against Etisalat for it.

"11.1 References to prices, services, terms and conditions, or comparisons thereof, shall be clear and transparent and shall not mislead or deceive or be likely to mislead or deceive consumers."

(Taken from TRA Marketing and Communications Policy)

Obviously when Etisalat uses the language 'unlimited' consumers are going to be mislead into believing they are paying for an internet connection without limits when it will in fact have limits. 

"2.3 Any footnotes or disclaimers in marketing communications or practices
shall be readily visible and legible, audibly apparent and understandable
and shall not contradict, materially qualify or otherwise alter the basis of
the communication or practice."

(Taken from TRA Marketing and Communications Policy)

This limit is mentioned nowhere on their website. The only specific terms and conditions that I could find was a simple "terms and conditions apply" which appeared to be in reference a special offer, Etisalat did not expand upon the terms and conditions for that promotion on their website. Etisalat's terms and conditions PDF makes absolutely no mention of any future bandwidth limitations or fair usage policy and does not fairly warn consumers of what they may end up paying.

"8.1 Marketing communications and practices shall not exploit the credulity,
lack of knowledge or inexperience of consumers."

(Taken from TRA Marketing and Communications Policy)

This last part is what it all comes down to. Etisalat is offering a service which will be limited in the future and is not making adequate information available to consumers, furthermore, consumers who are not technically savvy will not understand the implementation of a fair usage policy on a connection that is described as "unlimited", especially when Etisalat has made little effort to inform customers of what the actual fair usage policy is and provide any solid information. Their usage of the term "UNLIMITED" is a sham and is deceiving and taking advantage of consumers who will be caught unaware when the fair usage policy is introduced. (Etisalat has already previously written on their site that the fair usage applies which would mean some customers believe the FUP is in effect when it currently isn't and this would be detrimental to people wanting to use their connection freely without fear of incurring extra costs)

Etisalat also refuses to offer telephone and internet services under seperate billing with eLife. I have read reports online of Etisalat forcing customers to abandon their Al Shamil internet service (which is just an internet service and does not include telephone connections) and this in itself is alarming. I have also been told by Etisalat's 101 number that some Etisalat business centers are no longer offering Al Shamil at all.

6.2.5 Anti-competitive bundling or tying – bundling or tying products or services offered in Relevant Markets, and which by doing so does or may restrict, prevent, or distort competition in one or more of those Relevant Markets or another Relevant Market;

(Taken from TRA Competition Safeguards Policy)

This means, hypothetically, if you moved house and only had eLife and no traditional copper services you would have to purchase phone and internet from your ISP (in a bundle) and would have no method to subscribe to each individually. Given the upcoming interconnection between Etisalat and Du this would mean a very anti-competitive situation in which you may have to purchase two phone lines to get better offers from different providers.

EDIT: It appears based upon information on du's website and their customer support line they are doing the same forced phone/internet bundling with their 'real broadband' packages.
du said on the phone that they have no information about what would be available (i.e. whether seperate telephone/internet connections would be offered) when the interconnection starts.

This potentially means (as a worst case scenario) at the start of the upcoming interconnection (apparently in a few weeks?) will leave customers already in 12 month contracts unable to usefully purchase individual services from other providers without doubling up on services they already have, although lets see what happens.

du and Etisalat's "real broadband" / eLife packages both come with 12 month contracts. For me as an Etisalat customer this is a problem. If I were to hypothetically sign up for eLife tomorrow, and then du made phone lines available in my area in 6 months time I would be disadvantaged for wanting to use the competitors services because I am in a 12 month contract that forcefully bundles both phone and internet services.

Additionally, du also said on the customer support line that there is no bandwidth limit on their 'real broadband' packages, they have also stated on twitter that there is no fair usage policy.

"6.2.9 Anti-competitive customer lock-in - locking-in customers through unduly long-term contracts, and which by doing so does or may restrict, prevent, or distort competition in a Relevant Market;"

(Taken from TRA Competition Safeguards Policy)

"2.1.2 Where a service is packaged with another service and/or product, licensees shall inform consumers of the price they would pay if they obtained that service and/or product from licensees separately and of any additional conditions or restrictions that apply."

(Taken from TRA Price Transparency Policy)   

What can you do? There are other TRA policies that do hopefully protect the consumer;

   

2.2.4 Licensees shall notify consumers individually, at least twenty-eight (28) calendar days prior to any price increase or any change that has the effect of a price increase.
2.2.5 Licensees shall offer consumers the opportunity to terminate their contracts without penalties before an increase in prices takes effect.

(Taken from TRA Price Transparency Policy)   

This means that when Etisalat changes their price they must announce it to consumers and you have the right to discontinue services without incurring any penalty for terminating your contract. However, as Etisalat seems intent on preventing people from making separate subscriptions to telephone/internet/etc you may find yourselves out of options in a country that supposedly doesn't have a telecommunications monopoly anymore.

SMS spam in the UAE finally coming to an end

Mobile phone users in the UAE can now opt out of annoying text message spam, after a ruling from the Telecommunications Regulations Authority (TRA).

Prompted by the anger of millions of mobile phone customers at their days being interrupted by unwanted text message offers of reduced prices at the local supermarket, membership deals at the country club and, perhaps most annoying of all, a bargain text-messaging plan from their mobile service provider, the TRA has brought in a regulation that users must be able to block text spam.

Mohammed al Ghanim, the director general of the regulator, said: “After receiving many complaints from customers about random marketing SMS messages, the TRA decided to introduce this new policy to curb the annoyance such messages cause,” said

After the announcement from the TRA, Etisalat said its customers could opt out of spam messages by texting “b etisalat” to 1011 without paying a penalty. Customers of du can text a blank message to 5293 to block all mobile spam.

Best part of article:
"It is not known whether either company intends to publicise this latest initiative with an SMS marketing campaign."

More here: Block on mobile phone spam for UAE users (The National)

Du, Etisalat, the TRA and the future

According to The National, Du is (finally) soon going to gain access to Etisalat's telecommunications network...

The telecommunications operator du is set to gain access to the network of its rival Etisalat within weeks, ushering in a fresh wave of competition in the phone, internet and television market.

If the move goes ahead as expected, UAE residents will finally have a choice of telecoms providers regardless of where they live.

Etisalat has a monopoly on traditional telephones, internet service and cable TV throughout most of the country, while du services a small area of Dubai that includes newer neighbourhoods such as Dubai Marina and Media City.

“Welcome to competition,” Farid Faraidooni, the chief commercial officer for du, said this week.

The development will be a boon to du, which has been able to offer UAE consumers only mobile and landline services because of regulatory and technical issues.

Here are my personal predictions for broadband internet access and telecommunications in general in the next 12-24 months:

• Du and Etisalat will begin a price war and heavily reduce the cost of their bundles (i.e. internet/tv/phone bundles) in a short timespan in an effort to gain market share.
  
• We will see impossibly ridiculous combinations of high-speed internet with low bandwidth (like Etisalat's connections that you can only use for 6 hours at full capacity in an entire month) In light of bandwidth increases for internet connections it is likely (and already on the way to happening) that we will see people having to pay for additional bandwidth through their teeth (like Telstra in Australia
  used to charge 465 AED per additional GB). Because of these bandwidth restrictions we will be 'heavily reliant' on content provided by Etisalat / Du.
  
• They will make it harder to individually purchase services (i.e. a separate internet or separate telephone connection) and harder to purchase services with no obligations.
  
• They will both introduce things like yearly contracts, ETF (early termination fees) and start ramping up the fees so we can enjoy full duopoly greatness; the contracts will make it hard for us to move between Etisalat and Du. You can already see that Du's new low priced, high speed connections have a 12 month contract with a 100 AED early termination fee (in my opinion this isn't too bad)
  
• While the price of telecommunications will seem to come down, we will all be at the mercy of contracts with our telephone companies and will end up paying heavily for breaching them.
  
• Skype will still be cheaper.
  
• The TRA will probably say "no comment"
  

(Of course this is in many cases a worst-case scenario prediction and is just a prediction so take it with a grain of salt. But please do ask Du and Etisalat as much as possible before signing anything and research whatever services you purchase as much as possible before agreeing to anything)

FNC attacks internet-censorship loopholes

"The FNC report also blamed the TRA for failing to prevent the use of proxy software that allows people to bypass blocks on hundreds of websites classified as “forbidden”.

“There is also some software that allows downloading things without going through the filtering process,” said Sultan bin Hussein, a member from Umm al Qaiwain.

“Peer-to-peer software is not being blocked,” he said.

“We notice the effect of this problem in the crimes committed by children and violence among the youth. All of these crimes are influenced by the internet.”

Mr al Ghanim said it was not possible to block all “forbidden sites”.

“Companies that offer peer-to-peer services change their websites and there are thousands of them that keep changing,” he said. "

More here: Give us cheaper telecoms says FNC

Does anyone anticipate the TRA trying to block VPN's anytime soon?

You can read more about this at the Federal National Council website (google translate)

Google Earth blocked?

The Google Earth application appears to be blocked via Etisalat connections at the moment.

Anyone else experiencing this problem?


More here: http://www.pprune.org/middle-east/408823-google-earth-blocked.html

Thanks to anon for tip

.il (Israel) TLD unblocked?

Has anyone else found the Israeli TLD to be unblocked from the UAE?
On my Etisalat connection it seems to be open.

Here's a URL you can try it on: http://www.google.co.il/

flickr block feedback

"DUBAI - A censorship watchdog is encouraging the public to give feedback over the blocking of photo-sharing web site Flickr.
Last week Internet provider du joined rival Etisalat in blocking the web site to thousands of homes across the UAE. A statement by the Telecommunications and Regulatory Authority (TRA) said that “technical difficulties” had prevented du from following the ban two years before.

“Flickr breaches the prohibited content categories of the Internet Access Management (IAM) policy regarding sexual nudity,” the statement said.

“It does not have the technical facility of blocking prohibited contents, and it cannot be partially blocked; where such facility is available on YouTube, Facebook and other similar sites.”

Users of Flickr said the site contained images of ‘artistic nudity’ which could have been construed as pornography. du and Etisalat have been asked by the TRA to allow customers to give their thoughts on whether the level of censorship is appropriate."

more here

business unaffected by du proxy?

According to Khaleej Times...

A du official said yesterday, “With immediate effect, all pornographic web sites will be blocked as per the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) requirements.”
[...]
"“du has blocked pornographic sites only, a move we are sure all parents will welcome. Content blocking guidelines are provided by the TRA and we abide by these,” he explained."
[...]
He also clarified that business will remain largely unaffected. “Normally business should not be affected because du has only blocked pornographic sites and sites that contain material that is offensive to the moral, cultural and social values of the UAE.

Despite claiming three times that only pornographic websites will be blocked (and also claiming only once that websites 'offensive' will be blocked) I find it interesting that on the 14th of April the following websites were blocked...

arabtimes.com = blocked
secretdubai.blogspot.com = blocked
wikipedia article on 'fitna' = blocked

First day of Du proxy

Today marks the first day of internet censorship on Du internet connections; they have issued a public statement as follows:

"It is our constant endeavour to maintain the perfect balance between ensuring that all our customers' requirements are met, and that we comply with all the guidelines of the TRA, including those on internet content filtering.

The World Wide Web offers us great opportunities to get and share information and to communicate. However, it is imperative that when making use of this technology for its enormous benefits, we respect the moral, social and cultural values of the United Arab Emirates.

du will be blocking all content that is not in line with these values, effective from 14 April 2008. Due to the nature of the content filtering process, some harmless sites may also inadvertently be blocked. We request our customers' assistance in informing us when a site that they consider harmless has been blocked, by writing to safesurf@du.ae so we can look into the matter."

more here

Du censorship first began on the 23rd of March with the blocking of the Secret Dubai Diary website

According to the following Khaleej Times article, the proxy on Du is a result of a new "Internet Penetration Policy" (which as far as I'm aware hasn't been published publicly by the TRA yet);

"In a Press statement yesterday, Mohammed Al Ghanim, Board Member and Director-General of TRA, said, “Since du is a new company that has just started to implement the concept of monitoring in the best possible way, it has to comply with the policy within a month from the date it is announced.”

However, a TRA spokesperson clarified, “The policy actually means proxy. It will regulate the web content allowed in the UAE. Since du is new, it has to wait for the policy before it can buy the software to regulate its web content. Etisalat is already following the policy. Both telecom operators have to abide by the TRA regulations.”

Facebook partly blocked by Etisalat

Etisalat has once again managed to block an integral part of facebook (or was it just MySpace I'm thinking of the last 5 times they managed to do something like this?) (http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/); this is preventing CSS and other design elements from the website loading properly.

du has 'adult' content

Khaleej Times has a shocking report on adult content that is accessible via du internet connections.

""I have been an etisalat customer for long and recently happened to use the du Internet. I was surprised to find that a site which was inaccessible in the etisalat network was available in du," claimed a user.

Another user who did not wish to be identified questioned whether regulations for both operators were different. “I have also stumbled across web sites on the du Net that are inappropriate. As far as I know, such web sites are blocked automatically in the country. However, it means that we have to be extra careful when children are around as they might be able to access content that we do not want them to see,” he said. In a statement to Khaleej Times, du said, "As a licensed operator, du complies with all the regulations, directions and policies, including Net censorship imposed by the TRA. We receive direct instructions from them on blocking web sites and filtering Internet content, and implement them within 24 hours as we have already invested in the infrastructure that enables us to censor the content of the World Wide Web. If any consumer has any specific issues relating to a particular web site, they can communicate it directly to the TRA and we will take the necessary measures."

[...]

""Currently, TRA is in the process of putting together a law to govern Internet proxy in the country which may allow the service provider to point out sites that need not be blocked by TRA. However, any such web site that is not in accordance to the UAE's religious and cultural values or is outright pornographic material, will remain blocked," he said.

This law would also give the freedom to service providers and customers to choose web sites that may be educational, scientific or medical content and are currently being blocked in the country by the TRA due to their generic nature.

The TRA official also said that whoever comes across a web site that does not conform to UAE laws should report it to TRA so that immediate action can be taken."

more here

Vimeo

Can anyone explain why Vimeo is blocked by Etisalat?

"The main difference between the site and other competing video sharing services such as YouTube is that Vimeo allows only user-created videos, of a "friends and family" nature. No pornography, TV shows, music videos, movies or anything not created by the user can be uploaded."

Du begins blocking

Du has gone and gotten itself a proxy page!


The page that has been blocked? Secret Dubai's blog! Congratulations!

Thanks to anonymous for tip and screenshot

(reportedly blogger/blogspot is now working on Du connections once again--except for Secret Dubai's blog)

7days coverage of SD block

7days has some coverage of the secretdubai block including some choice quotes from the TRA...

"Secret Dubai Diary, one of the emirate's most popular blogs, has been shut down in a move that has upset the many thousands of its readers. The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has decided to block secretdubai.blogspot.com, calling it, “a web site for slander, defamation and vilification against Dubai”.


The same site was blocked in 2005 for similar reasons. However, since laws to block web sites were not concrete then, the site was eventually unblocked. This time, the TRA says the content was more offensive.

TRA spokesman Rasheed Joumblatt told 7DAYS: “Many people contacted the TRA complaining about the offensive language and the lies that had been spread on the site, 'mutilating' their beautiful city and twisting facts to dishonour the development and progress of the city…

“The TRA browsed the web site and found that it is a site for slander, defamation and vilification against the city of Dubai… and UAE individuals and personalities.”

more here