ABU DHABI // After Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, took to Twitter on Sunday to say Etisalat was flooding his phone with SMS advertisements, the flow of spam stopped pretty quickly.
Or so it seemed. Yesterday Sheikh Abdullah was back on the microblogging service saying it had returned.
He had first tweeted his frustration on Sunday, saying: "I just received this message now: 'Dear customer, thank you for subscribing to Reuters breaking news service. You will soon receive the latest updates straight from Reuters to your phone'. I didn't subscribe."
He followed up with several tweets on the subject, including one saying: "I urge Etisalat to stop sending adverts and new services which I have asked to be stopped on my phone."
That spurred Etisalat into action. The company tweeted: "Our team is working on solving the problem since your first tweet was received. It will be resolved soon. Thanks for the cooperation of your Highness."
On Tuesday, Fintan Healy, the executive director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), said the body had "been liaising with His Excellency's office and all concerns are resolved".
Mr Healy said that since 2010, new customers had been given the choice of opting out of such services. He said any customers complaints were registered by the TRA and operators were given a warning, and if problems continued, a fine.
That, it appeared, was that. But at 1pm yesterday, Sheikh Abdullah tweeted that he had received another "flood" of ads.
Several of his Twitter "followers" responded suggesting he switch to du.
That may have been premature. At 7.14pm last night, Sheikh Abdullah tweeted: "Thanks to Etisalat for solving my problem."
But he added the company should "remember that I am only one customer … I hope they respond to other problems in the same way."
[ osalem@thenational.ae ]
The specs: 2024 Mercedes E200
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cyl turbo + mild hybrid
Power: 204hp at 5,800rpm +23hp hybrid boost
Torque: 320Nm at 1,800rpm +205Nm hybrid boost
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.3L/100km
On sale: November/December
Price: From Dh205,000 (estimate)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: AI
Number of employees: 41
Funding: About $1.7 million
Investors: Self, family and friends
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: CarbonSifr
Started: 2022
Based: Dubai
Founders: Onur Elgun, Mustafa Bosca and Muhammed Yildirim
Sector: Climate tech
Investment stage: $1 million raised in seed funding
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
The specs
Engine: Single front-axle electric motor
Power: 218hp
Torque: 330Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 402km (claimed)
Price: From Dh215,000 (estimate)
On sale: September
EMIRATES'S REVISED A350 DEPLOYMENT SCHEDULE
Edinburgh: November 4 (unchanged)
Bahrain: November 15 (from September 15); second daily service from January 1
Kuwait: November 15 (from September 16)
Mumbai: January 1 (from October 27)
Ahmedabad: January 1 (from October 27)
Colombo: January 2 (from January 1)
Muscat: March 1 (from December 1)
Lyon: March 1 (from December 1)
Bologna: March 1 (from December 1)
Source: Emirates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Clinicy
Started: 2017
Founders: Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman, Abdullah bin Sulaiman Alobaid and Saud bin Sulaiman Alobaid
Based: Riyadh
Number of staff: 25
Sector: HealthTech
Total funding raised: More than $10 million
Investors: Middle East Venture Partners, Gate Capital, Kafou Group and Fadeed Investment
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US' most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was first created in 2008.
Speed:
THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
Abilities:
THAAD is designed to take out projectiles, namely ballistic missiles, as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles both inside and outside of the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 93 miles above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then deployed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.