UAE MNP ... a Bride waiting for groom #mobile #mnp #uae

I was really exited after the announcement came for MNP availability in UAE market. It can address many of challenges. As I have seen the MNP in India and Pakistan the MNP usually it come with bundle of offer from the operators side to attract customers from one network to another but here in UAE you cannot see the much attraction. Du & Etisalat has spent million on advertising it but if a customer wanted to switch he needs to convenience its telecom operator that he has many valid reason to port out.

I like Du CEO statement and openness in public that "MNP ‘will not be a game changer’,  http://goo.gl/8FjzN6 and currently customer is not getting even a FREE SIM if he try to change its network. In DU customer has to pay AED 55 and Etisalat is offering the complimentary service for the new family members.

Recently TRA has disclosed that 5,000 user has request to change their network http://goo.gl/nlUWdE but the numbers of du and Etisalat request are not yet disclosed.

If still MNP goes without any welcome package and its only meant for network change. This service will not fly high. TRA should allow DU and Etisalat to introduce welcome package to attract more loyal user to the network.

Lesson: VOIP gray traffic creates the bad customer experience #UAE #Pakistan

Since 2010, I am living in UAE and I always looks for a solution to make calls to my home country to be in touch with my family. At that time the GSM operators in UAE were costing AED 1.8 ($0.5) per minute to make a call to Pakistan.

Now these days calling are very cheap by both operator and they have drastically reduce the calling rates with the help of their partners in other countries. The major issue I am facing using my GSM connection is to maintain a separate prepaid line  to get cheap calls with no commitment with my postpaid connection because none of the operator gives me best rates and they charge the user for high line rents and package commitment if you want to have cheaper international offer on my postpaid connection.

The 2^nd challenge I am facing when I make call international my family  receive the local area number on their phone most of the time because operator’s or operator partner are using grey traffic in the country which does not show who is calling and usually they avoid taking calls from unknown number.

Due to grey traffic over VOIP the quality of service is really downgraded its very rare chance if you get the good quality of service which means cheap calling means lowest calling of service. I have same experience with the calling cards available in the market by the name of Hello or Five.

I am really disappointed and raise the complaint to the operator help line but I received standard anwers such as:

“Sir, in a peak hours you might get the bad quality otherwise we don’t have any problem”

“Sir, if your family is getting local number then its not or fault ask your family to raise the complaint against that number”

How dump is my operator help line you can imagine.

Best of luck.

VOIP Calling cards in UAE. Another WAR b/w Du & Etisalat. #tra #etisalat #du #voip #uae

I am not a big fan of calling card but when I came to know about their calling rates in comparison with my postpaid I was rally shocked and my inner self forced to buy one card and try it.

You can realize if I make one call to India/ Pakistan from my post paid number it will cost me after discount average AED 1.83/minute where through these calling card using my same post paid number will cost me AED 00.40 / minute.

I could not understand why the GSM operators any where in the world charged high to the premium and most loyal customers.  

Lets start the war story between Du & Etisalat. I was unaware of the situation from the operator prospective which card launched by which operator. I use to buy FIVE BRAND cards (the picture mentioned at the right) calling card to make calls to my mother living in Pakistan. Since UAE home land line, office and mobile all of them are on Etisalat network I never feel any network congestion or downtime from there access number but some time I feel bad quality voice it because of VOIP calling cards means no promise for the best quality with cheaper price.

Accidentally I saw another card with the brand name of Hello! and I have urged to try it may be this card works better then FIVE. When I dialed their access number through my home land line it was very busy and I attempt few more time and after trying time to time and I got the same response. Then I decided to call through my Etisalat postpaid connection and I faced the same problem. After some try I decide to call on their help line which I got it in a first try. The operator was humble and she listen to my complaint and gave me standard answer "SIR, THIS PROBLEM IS NOT FROM OUR END. THE PROBLEM IS COMING FROM ETISALAT END. ETISALAT NETWORK IS CHOCKED SOME TIME PLEASE TRY AFTER SOME TIME" I explained the call center agent (she might be sitting in india and does not know about etisalat and du network a bit) that I have been trying since 3 days and the congestion become constipation of the network but all arguments were use less and full waste of my time.

When I tried through DU mobile and I got the connection from 1st try with most pathetic voice quality through hello! card. I have registered my complaint at TRA (telecom regulator authority) to get noticed for the service and problem facing by customers. Later when I read the card from the back its written its by "Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC)" , which does not mean it should not work on Etisalat network but I am sure their is some thing which is not being told by both operators.

I am not sure either Etisalat has blocked DU's calling card access or Du has limited number of access from Etisalat. In this regards customer has to pay for all of the experiment. If you guys wanted to try any VOIP card please make sure that you buy a respective calling card as per your land line or mobile line service provider.

For more information you can visit Gulf News website link http://goo.gl/xa36O8

Does NFC is looking for a right business case? whats the real problem?

Its been quite exciting when we see the effort in order to promote NFC as a financial tool. Till today NFC is still struggling to get in to the lime light and wanted to get address the big challenge. In the industry many big players has done lots of effort in promoting  NFC as a financial tools we must appreciate them because they can see the future of payments will also go mobile. 

The ideal scenario for any financial transaction in NFC consist on

1. Financial institute   (a regulated financial institution by the authorities)

2. Mobile operator    (Mobile Network Operator)

3. Acquirer                (payment acquiring license holder)

4. Agent Network      (merchants holding POS and mobiles)

5. Payment scheme     (Master/VISA/Amex etc)

Where is the fault?

The debate has begin when the ownership of SIM stays with telecoms operator. Every mobile operator wants to be successful like mpesa and they wanted to be successful as per their wish circle.

Bankers has their own limited circle since both operator and banks don't have such service as their core business the commitment and attention from the top management is not their to make this service successful.

Since the vision is not clear and even them self believe the service will fly and make revenue in next 6 months to 2 years times. Most of the operator focus the service till the time its launched. The remaining work which requires 10x efforts after the technology and regulations go ahead. This includes customer activation, agent network development, obtaining approvals from central bank for new initiatives, compliance, KYC and budget for promotion.

Usually most of the operator failed because they don't let the NFC SIM space available for the banks and other financial operators for micro payments because they know if they let the space to other their work just to issue the SIM card and managing the SIM space like a real estate agency and the financial revenues will be out of their hands. Few operators still believe that they are in competition with all banks and payment institutes and they are the only guys who can go banking out of branches.

This what i came across when I use to work with operators for financial service consultancy. Finding the right business case can leverage to all the stake holder to come on a same page. I can see if the operators management can commit the following they can be champion in financial industry. I can advise all participants to listen each other other regarding their concerns and try to resolve in a better way.



1. Hardcore commitment for the top driven management for the service.
2. Open their products for financial institute.
3. Leverage / subside the NFC and other financial service for promotion
4. Increase the PIE with the help of 3rd parties and business partners
5. Adopting inoperable approach.
6. Hiring the right people.
7. Strategic / integration with other products with financial services.

If you are looking or more details. Feel free to contacts and advice.

Kaiser Shahzad
kaiser at onairtech.com

UAE welcomes its first NFC application for transport & micro payments

Road & Transport Authority (RTA) has announced its  partnership with Du & Etisalat in UAE to provide NOL (ePurse) services via NFC technology and launched SMART NOL NFC application. Currently NOL (ePurse) has the 6 million active cards and people in Dubai using it for day to day for transportation purpose (buses, metro & marine bus). The concept is not new in the world the same products has been launched for transportation in Singapore, London & Hong kong. RTA is leading in region for this product so far if you compare with other GCC countries.

RTA CEO express about the importance and their expectation from SMART NOL (NFC BASED). Since they have 6 million cards and looks forward to have good adaptation from early adopters.

The next big thing which is alarming for VISA and MasterCard, American Express and others that RTA has started focusing on introducing micropayment in Dubai. The challenge its self its very big because in absence of VISA and MASTERCARD acquiring network for NOL, RTA has to build its own acquiring merchant network which accepts NOL for purchases. This makes sense due to high number of card members across UAE is using it for transportation.

The Smart Nol success is highly dependent on operators push and this will be make or break situation for RTA to enter in mobile payment market. Since both operator (DU & Etisalat) till today don’t have any approval from Central Bank UAE to start micropayments in UAE. This can be a good start for both of them to learn and own the NOL application and use it to build customer base for their upcoming financial service which includes mobile wallets, bill payments, mobile remittance & P2P.