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Dubai: When du launches its mobile service it will cover 85 per cent of the country although customers will not pay roaming charges to make calls in the remaining areas, its CEO said.
du CEO Osman Sultan told Gulf News last week that the country's new telecom operator is busily expanding its network but that there are many outlying desert or rural areas where it is not feasible to establish immediate coverage.
"There will be some remote areas where coverage isn't necessary to have, and we will use the etisalat network," Sultan said. He said the calls will remain under the du calling plan and no roaming charges will be levied.
Under its telecom license and the interconnection agreement it signed with etisalat last week, du is allowed to share and lease infrastructure with incumbent operator etisalat.
Through a site-sharing agreement, etisalat has provided some 90 sites across the country where du will use call towers or set up their own antennae.
Problems
Technical problems have hampered this project, however, leading to a delay in du's launch plans.
du said last week in would launch its mobile service in February or March, with fixed line and Internet broadband rollout through the seven emirates to follow.
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