No MVNOs planned for UAE, regulator says

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has quashed speculation that it is looking to shake up the United Arab Emirates’ wireless market by licensing mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). ‘There are no plans for MVNOs. We are happy with the current structure of the market,’ local newspaper The National quotes Mohamed Al Ghanim, director general of the TRA, as saying. Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) and Du are the country’s sole mobile operators, between them accounting for around 13.01 million wireless subscribers at 30 September 2012, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database. Etisalat is the market leader, although the incumbent has seen its share steadily eaten away since its only rival launched in February 2007, leaving Etisalat with 54.2% of the market at the end of Q3 2012, down from around 60% a year earlier.