The General Authority for Regulating the Communications Sector in the UAE confirmed that audio calls via the Internet protocol are among the organized activities in the country, and that it is prohibited to make voice calls through this protocol except through the licensed companies.
The ban includes the "Skype" service program for free communication, as well as phone calls via "WhatsApp" and "Viber" program, and any other program that adopts voice calls via the Internet protocol.
The authority stated in an official response to an inquiry from the newspaper "Emirates Today", that these services are provided only through the two licensed companies, namely the Emirates Communications Corporation (Etisalat) and the Emirates Integrated Services Company (du).
She said that these two companies are granted under the law the right to provide such services through their networks, and companies wishing to provide such services to coordinate with the two companies in this regard as a condition for providing the service..
The authority also stated that the two licensed companies should submit requests to the authority related to the services submitted by it, pointing out that the two companies have not yet applied for requests related to audio calls via the Internet protocol.
The newspaper notes on its website that many callers have faced increasing difficulties in communicating through the Skype program during the recent period, which forced them to increase asylum to use the decomposing programs of prohibited programs..
It quoted citizens and residents in the country that they could no longer conduct communications through Skype for months, whether it is sound communications or video contacts, at a time when the rest of the free communication programs via the Internet are witnessing an increasing disturbance and lack of clarity.
The authority had banned many online conversation programs in the past, the most famous of which is the Viber program, as it blocked WhatsApp voice calls through mobile networks after the American company WhatsApp adds this feature to the famous immediate messaging application last March.
