| Kippreport.com

Share

Ring-Ring, Ring-Ring

March 17, 2011 5:08 by Eva Fernandes

And we’re not the only ones who feel that way. Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom, who was in town for the Abu Dhabi Media Summit as well, said he would like to see Skype being made available in the UAE. “I’d be pleased to see it available here in this market … it’s a positive thing that should be embraced. It’s a matter for the telecommunications companies and the regulator to decide. There’s always been a few exceptions where the service has not been available, which has been disappointing for those people because they could not communicate with people in other countries.”

Thanks Zennstrom, dodgy grammar aside we couldn’t agree with you more. Of course, the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) announced this December that it would be entering into talks with Skype, but three months on nothing substantial has come from the talks. We won’t pretend to be massively surprised, but it is slightly disappointing; Kipp was expecting the TRA to follow in the footsteps of Qatari Qtel who partnered up with Skype to provide access to Skype software for mobile broadband users in Jordan and the Philippines (where it operates).

Oh well, here’s hoping Zennstrom comments hit home and that he strikes a deal or two with the TRA while he’s in this neck of the woods. Before we let you go Kipp just has one last teleco-tid bit for you, and it’s good news and has to ‘do’ with var zflag_nid="1583"; var zflag_cid="54"; var zflag_sid="2"; var zflag_width="234"; var zflag_height="60"; var zflag_sz="1"; var zflag_click="[INSERT_CLICK_TRACKER_MACRO]";

Pages: 1 2

Tags: Etisalat, Etisalat du, etisalat pay per second, etisalat qtel, etisalat rivals, Etisalat Zain, etisalat zain Saudi, Saudi zain deal, Saudi zain sale, Skype Abu Dhabi Media Summit, Skype TRA, skype uae, zain acquisition, zain eticalat buyout