The reason Skype is banned in the UAE

Etisalat and rival du would have to hike the cost of local fixed line calls if Skype and other VoIP based software were allowed in the UAE, the company’s chairman told Arabian Business on Friday.

“If Skype or other types of Voice Over IP (VoIP) is introduced in the UAE, that will affect the revenue not only for us, but for also for du,” said Mohammed Omran in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.

“In the UAE, quite a good portion of revenue comes from international calls and the tariffs in the UAE are still unbalanced. Local charges are much lower than cost, especially for fixed line.”

Etisalat charges private users AED15 per month for unlimited local, fixed line calls, and AED50 for business users.

“This is below cost and normally this is partly compensated with international calls. We have called several times for readjustment of the tariff to link it with the cost, so that we would be able to lower the cost of international calls,” Omran said.

The cost of line rental and local calls should be in line with other countries, Omran said.Etisalat does not know if and when VoIP software will be legalised in the UAE, he added.

Skype users beware

Skype is running again in the UAE for computer to computer calls, some people can call landlines but others can't. If a user wants to add credit to their Skype account they are forced by Skype to use a UK site called Moneybookers. I was punted onto the Moneybookers site when I clicked "add credit" on my Skype page only to find that I couldn't get into the Moneybookers site initially because UAE users have to use a VPN to access Skype and Moneybookers won't accept contacts from anonymous proxies. The only thing to do is disconnect from Skype and close the VPN, then go back onto the net and into the Moneybookers website direct. First, you are asked to intially register and you're sent a confirmation email. You then go back into the Moneybookers site and after completing the registration process which includes giving all credit card details, to my horror they immediately blocked access to my Moneybookers 'account' (if such a thing even existed). It was instantaneous: I gave the cc details and immediately I was "blocked". Yes there's sufficient credit on the card. Moneybookers have a complaints "process" on their website so I've filled out the form, probably a completely pointless exercise, if I get a response at all it'll be one of those smarmy "....your complaint will be handled by the first available customer care consultant..." They have the cc details and that's all they wanted. This has been my experience with Moneybookers this morning and all I can say after my experience is 'Beware'.

Skype blocked in the UAE

Skype is a software programme, created in Estonia, which allows users to make phone calls from their PCs. Calls made to other Skype users are free and there's a small fee for calls to landlines and cell phones. I can make calls to NZ, talk for 15-20 mins and it only costs around 40c US.

Access to Skype is now blocked (again) in the UAE. It was banned previously (2005-ish) but people got around it by using VPNs but now that doesn't work either. Attempts to access the Skype website result in this message:



'We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates.'

I don't understand how making phone calls to family and friends overseas is "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the UAE". Inconsistent with profit making more like it........