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hey people,
just a Q. when is DU going to start their GSM service ?!? anyone knows ?!
I heared from someone that they will start by June/July !! is it true !?!

Palkid7 wrote:hey people,
just a Q. when is DU going to start their GSM service ?!? anyone knows ?!
I heared from someone that they will start by June/July !! is it true !?!

As i heard they are going to launch their GSM services by the end of June.

Ive heard they are to launch their GSM services at the end of July (supposedly)
Its such a con anyway, people must realise its mostly owned my Etisalat and its a clever way to steal customers away from themselves ! either way its a win win situation for them!

Talk about a Monopoly !

As its part of DIC previously Saheem Tech, if the phone service is as crap as their TV service, Gawd help us all.

thorntonashley wrote:Ive heard they are to launch their GSM services at the end of July (supposedly)
Its such a con anyway, people must realise its mostly owned my Etisalat and its a clever way to steal customers away from themselves ! either way its a win win situation for them!

Talk about a Monopoly !

I know that, Etisalat is owned by the Government, Du is 50% by Government, and 25% by Etisalat !!
So yes as u said stealing cutomers away from themselves !!

arnie,

Ive also heard that Etisalat has been holding back technology for quite a while e.g PTT, so when DU comes in it can claim to be pioneers within the UAE Telecoms industry.
A pime example is that when they go live you will be able to send picture messages internationally rather than just locally.

They need to take a leaf out of Bulldog's Book from the U.K , 8mg broadband for £19.95 - my god thats cheap!

Yer its crap, i agree, i got 8 meg AOL @ £29.95 ( about 190 Dhs)

I guess its because there are more subscribers in the u.k, thats why its so much cheaper...economies of scale and all....!

Arnie, i know its slightly off topic but what goes on in the Fight club, its sounds dangerous....is it a place where people arrange to meet up in underground carparks late at night and battle it out to the death...lol or is it not that exciting...?


only 9 more posts for me and then maybe the nice administrator man will let me in..!

No its because there is a monopoly here, in other countries there isn't....

Thats why we are ripped off....

Liban is absolutely spot on.

Palkid7 wrote:hey people,
just a Q. when is DU going to start their GSM service ?!? anyone knows ?!
I heared from someone that they will start by June/July !! is it true !?!

They were in negotiations with Etisalat over access rights (Du needs to use Etisalat infrastucture - at least initially) and Etisalat were stalling. The regulator told them to get on with it but after that I didn't take anymore notice. Best guess sometime between July-Dec this year.

Sharewadi


"the regulator"

Well, there are two launches. A soft non-commercial launch and a fully fledged customer offering. The first was/is supposed to take place this month, May. The second, commercial launch was/is supposed to take place September. For anyone working in the telecommunications, communications, and ISP sectors you will know that soft launch more often than not pushes out the commercial launch. Invariably the service launch date will be pushed out to another date in time. That's just the nature of the game. Look at O2 in the UK. It pushed back 3G hard launch by nearly 18 months because of trialling issues in the Isle of Mann. Vodafone did the same in the UK but by nearly 2.3 years. American operators are still scrambling to the GPRS and 3G race and some still left standing still while the bigger operators take the best resource on the market to lead their propositions, i.e., their services.

As far as Du and its customers are concerned, Du is a new operator and will invariably meet customer expectation but given the majority of its subscriber base is from the West, our perception is greater, our level of service expectation is greater, our everything is greater. The service will launch with a resounding success. There are some really clever people on board at Du. It has solid financial backing by it's investors and importantly, the new telecoms regulation authority will ensure fair competition.

I agree

Great post, but excuse me while i piss myself laughing at the concept of "fair competition" in DXB. It will never happen.

The worst case scenareo is the ET will slash their prices to the point that it will cripple DU.

Well.., it's always nice to have a lock of the horns once in a while to show the old goat who the new boss is

Trouble with the incumbent is that it's an old work horse and it's upper layers cascading to the roots are stale and I'd hedge a bet that their ineptitute leads to their inability to manage in a changing market.

Just a perspective.

Don't get me wrong, I do have issues with Etisucksalot, but you have to agree that 99.9% of the time, when you pick up a phone here...it generally works! Can't be all bad until the bill arrives!



Knight

I agree to a point DK. But providing a good service is something that should be taken for granted.

Ripping consumers off because of a monopoly sucks.

Take one example of Wesel. 160 dhs to provide the Sim Card, then 12 months later give us another 100 dhs to reactivate it.

So if we applied that crappy principle to DEWA DIC etc we would all be cut off after 12 months, then pay again to get reconnected.

They do that every month don't they?



Knight

I Agree to these terms wrote:Trouble with the incumbent is that it's an old work horse and it's upper layers cascading to the roots are stale and I'd hedge a bet that their ineptitute leads to their inability to manage in a changing market.

"Ineptitute"? Is that a kind of musical instrument?

I wouldn't have thought there was a significant level of ineptitude prevalent in the upper layers. Of course, it makes sense that they try to protect their monopoly as long as they can. What particular aspects of their changing market management policies would you have specific issues with?

I've been impressed how quickly they've come to connect phones, internet, and even more impressed that when I forget to pay my bill and the line gets disconnected, by the time I get home from making the payment, it's working again. And for no penalty fee.

arniegang wrote:"the regulator"

Yes, well...