ABU DHABI // Etisalat is offering new packages for its eLife services in exchange for two-year agreements with its customers – a move experts say may be in preparation for network sharing.
Customers are being offered bundles of internet, landline and television services, starting at a discounted price of Dh359 for the Basic plan. The new packages were rolled out in May.
This is thought to be in preparation for “bitstream access”, otherwise known as network sharing, which would allow customers to choose between Etisalat and du, its younger rival, for broadband services, experts have said.
At present, consumers in the UAE are tied to whichever provider is chosen for their building or area.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has been in consultation with du and Etisalat for three years over bitstream access, which allows providers to lease out their networks. The authority said in July last year that it would impose a requirement to bitstream access in both residential and business markets.
“If Etisalat is encouraging customers to take out longer-term contracts for eLife, that could be seen as a defensive move designed to retain customers, given the prospect that competition could soon be introduced in the UAE’s fixed broadband market, after several delays,” said Matthew Reed, an analyst at the media firm Ovum.
Etisalat said that the move was simply for its customers’ benefit.
“We wanted to simplify things for customers,” said Rashed Alabbar, vice president for home-products marketing at Etisalat
“It’s much, much simpler, and it’s all included – and that’s why we need to have the two-year contract. But they could break in the first year,” Mr Alabbar said, for an exit fee of Dh500.
Mr Alabbar said that the company welcomed competition and held itself to its own benchmarks.
“Although bitstream is coming, we see it as an opportunity for customers to have a choice,” he said.
There are four packages being offered. The first is the Basic plan for Dh359 per month, which includes basic TV channels and 10Mbps broadband.
The Sports bundle includes beIN Sports channels in addition to the Basic channels and includes a higher internet speed, at 20Mbps, for Dh499. The Movies plan has the same internet speed with film channels and video packs instead of the sports channels, for Dh569.
Both movie and beIN Sports channels are included in the Premium pack, with an internet speed of 100Mbps, priced at Dh999 a month.
Wireless phones and eLife TV high-definition boxes are offered in all four packs, as well as access to eLife ON, which allows users to watch programmes on other devices.
Customers who want higher internet speeds can opt for speed boosts from their current plans for Dh100 a month. They are allowed to upgrade for a month and then downgrade for no additional fee, unlike the company’s previous policy.
Etisalat is also phasing out “legacy” services, such as the Al Shamil ADSL internet service, encouraging customers to subscribe to packages with higher internet speeds.
“We started stripping down these, I would say, not really high demand type of services and really push for the higher speeds,” said Mr Alabbar.
Bitstreaming was proposed to facilitate “effective implementation of wholesale bitstream products, which is a key factor for the development of effective competition in the fixed broadband access markets,” Etisalat said last year.
Telecoms competition opened up in the UAE in 2007 when du launched its mobile services, ending a 30-year Etisalat monopoly.
lcarroll@thenational.ae
