News: Etisalat sanctioned by TRA for blocking Du Campaign

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the UAE today, issued a violation decision against Etisalat for blocking a Du campaign to raise awareness of mobile number portability (MNP).

Du had asked its individual and business mobile users interested in MNP to SMS the word ‘CHANGE’ to 3553 to receive information about MNP. It was intended that consumers who did this would receive an SMS from Du containing information relating to MNP.

But Etisalat has been blocking the SMS, meaning their subscribers received no response to messages from Du.

The block has remained in place since last Thursday despite a TRA request for it to be lifted. Etisalat was asked to lift it on Friday, but failed to do so, resulting in a violation.