The top executives of the two telecommunication providers in the United Arab Emirates said they have nothing to fear from the introduction of competition from new mobile operators in the future. The chairman of Etisalat and the chief executive of du were speaking on the sidelines of the Middle East Communications Exhibition and Conference (MECOM 2008) which was officially opened on Sunday at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center by Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority and CEO of Mubadala Development Company. Both were responding to questions about Mobile Virtual Network Operators, which provide services to their customers over the existing infrastructure of licensed operators. They have dramatically changed the telecom landscape in Europe, the US and parts of Asia, bringing down the cost of calls. The head of the UAE Telecommunications Authority, also speaking on the sidelines of MECOM yesterday, said it was premature to discuss their immediate introduction but mobile virtual network operations would be examined “down the road.” Their introduction into the UAE would be seen as “an opportunity and not a threat” by Mohammad Hassan Omran, chairman of Etisalat. “I think it will happen with all the alliances and partnerships taking place and there will not always be the need for new networks to be established - we can provide them,” he said. Asked if Etisalat would consider becoming a virtual operator in overseas markets, he added: “I would love to.” Osman Sultan, CEO of du, agreed mobile virtual networks were “not a threat in a mature market” such as the UAE and it was “natural that these things should happen.” With 6,500,000 customers, Etisalat is the UAE's biggest telecom provider and is expanding dramatically internationally with ventures and partnerships in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. du, with two million customers, is concentrating on the domestic market. Mohamed N. Al-Ghanim, director general of the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, said it was premature to discuss the early entry of virtual mobile operators. “Competition has only just started and we are looking at the market,” he added. “We will look into it down the road. First we will have to see if the market will be able to absorb another mobile operator, or a virtual mobile operator. It is a question of timing. We must do things in stages, just as in Europe and the rest of the world.” Virtual mobile network operators don't own infrastructure but buy bulk time at a discounted rate from licensed mobile network operators and resell to customers with additional services. There are now more than 300 such operators across the world. __
