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Dubai: du, the UAE's second telecom operator, will release its service and subscription charges in late January, deliver SIM cards to customers in February and may not begin service until March, the company's chief executive confirmed yesterday.
The statement by Osman Sultan reveals for the first time the extent of delay the operator faces after initially planning commercial launch by year-end. "We're in the final stages," Sultan told Gulf News.
The news means that du will almost certainly miss its launch deadline of February 12 set by the telecom regulator, and could face penalties. As of yesterday, 400,000 numbers have been booked on du.
Nearly 10 per cent of UAE residents appear to have reserved mobile numbers with du, but they may have to wait until February or March for commercial services to begin.
Sultan said the company's initial target of 250,000 numbers was almost immediately surpassed when it launched its number booking campaign, and now stands at 400,000.
Sultan spoke to the Gulf News following the signing of the interconnection agreement with etisalat at the offices of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in Abu Dhabi.
With the agreement, du enters the final stretch before launch. The TRA is reviewing du's price proposal and Sultan said he hopes to present the prices to the public in late January.
After seeing what percentage of reserved numbers is converted into paid-up accounts, du hopes to deliver SIM cards in February and launch in either late February or March. du initially planned a launch by the end of this year.
Sultan attributed some of the delay to the success of its booking campaign, which lets etisalat customers reserve their seven-digit numbers with du but requires the du prefix of 055. Additionally, technical difficulties in site sharing with etisalat have caused problems.
The news means that the TRA may penalise du for launching after February 12, which marks a year after it awarded du's licence. "The 12th is the official deadline," a TRA spokesman told Gulf News. "When we reach that point and find it is not there, we'll discuss it further."
Initial drive
In the next few weeks du will process the numbers it booked as part of its initial subscription drive, said Sultan. "Immediately after this we will have our commercial launch, and we are expecting this to come in the next 8 to 12 weeks," he said.
du is currently in the second phase of its number booking campaign, and expects another 100,000 more reserved numbers by launch date.
So far, du has focused on getting existing etisalat customers to carry their numbers to du. Next month, however, du will also open its subscription campaign to brand new numbers.
In February, du must find a way to deliver hundreds of thousands of SIM cards to customers throughout the seven emirates. Without giving away specific plans, Sultan said du would make sure customers receive their cards comfortably and conveniently.
Yesterday's signing of the interconnection agreement clears a longstanding obstacle to du's launch, and creates a set of rules on how the two telecoms exchange data traffic and the prices they can charge each other. The TRA and the board of directors of the two companies must now ratify the agreement.
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