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Consumer is the king as mobile giants slug it out

DUBAI & SHARJAH — Phone users in the UAE are making the most of the healthy competition between the telecom giants in the country.

Consumers say that indeed competition is healthy as it has rapidly improved the telecommunication services sector in the UAE. They also say that they have discovered better and economical ways of making use of the offers made by du, especially on mobile phone lines.

Most phone users say that they are now using a cheaper handset with a du SIM card just to make outgoing calls as du’s Pay-By-The-Second offer is very economical.

“I recently bought a cheaper phone set without a camera or other facilities, which I have kept only for making outgoing calls. I also keep another phone set that carries my Etisalat number because all my contacts have that number and I can’t do without it. This I use only for incoming calls,” says Praveen M.K., who works in Media City.

“Since the time du launched its Dh1 offer, I have found making calls very economical,” says Vigesh N, a pharmacist. “I am getting back my worth of money that I had spent in its Pay-As-You-Go offer. I initially spent Dh155 to acquire the mobile line connection out of which Dh34 was included for talk time on the first call while the rest I had to pay in instalments of Dh24 for the next five months,” he explained, adding that the nature of his work necessitated that he should pay for only what he uses.”

“Earlier, I was talking for a second and paying for a minute, now I have control over both time and money,” he pointed out.

Vigesh also added, “Except for the fear for losing one phone set, two numbers work well for me.”

A du official says that Pay-By-The-Second offer is available on all national and international voice and video calls made from the UAE, with the exception of roaming calls and all premium rate and flat rate calls which are charged by the minute.

Says Mohammed Amin, a marketing official, “I have heard that many people are opting for such kinds of offers to save money. My company gives me Dh450 a month to stay in touch with my clients but it has never been enough for me as I have always ended up paying from my pocket. Hence, I will also opt for paying only for what I use.”

For housewife, Rukhsana Noor, du’s Call Select also seems to be an economical way of using her existing non-du landline phone to make national and international calls.