The CEO of one of the UAE’s telecom operators has said the use of Skype has been restricted in order to protect its own investment.
Osman Sultan, CEO of telco du, said while voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) applications like Skype are not blocked, there are restrictions on its usage.
“The use of VOIP creates an economical issue. Skype is not blocked. Of course we know people use it,” he told 7Days newspaper. “For certain usage of Skype [PC-to-PC], it is allowed. But making phone calls through Skype directly, in principal, is not allowed,” he added.
He said du has invested billions of dirhams in providing the internet infrastructure that allows people to use VOIP and the telco must be able to get a return on that.
“I owe it to my customers, I owe it to my employers, I owe it to the shareholders and I owe it to the country that the economical equation on which we base all this is a viable one,” Sultan said.
“So more and more we are expanding, in offering these capabilities, but this has to be a progression based on a healthy and viable economical equation.”
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