The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said it has achieved a major landmark with the commercial launch of its carrier pre-selection (CPS) for fixed-voice calls by licensees, du and Etisalat.

'This is a significant milestone for the licensees and it carries a great benefit for the telecommunications industry in the UAE,' remarked TRA director general Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, while commenting on the implications this commercial launch has had on the UAE market.

'Users are now having the opportunity to choose their service provider regardless of the main access line provider,' he pointed out.

CPS is the more advanced mechanism of Carrier Selection (CS) as it allows customers to select their preferred service provider to route their fixed-voice calls without having to dial additional codes on the telephone or programming on-site equipment.

CPS uses network access technology which allows traffic originating from the customer’s line to be routed to the network of the chosen service provider as the 'selection' of the preferred provider is automatically carried out by the exchanges in the public network of the main access line provider.

A customer, whether business or residential, who is physically connected to Etisalat’s network will be able to have access to services from du’s network; similarly, businesses and residential customers physically connected to du’s network will be able to enjoy services from Etisalat.

'This achievement took significant effort from both licensees, and the TRA congratulates their dedication and commitment to bring about the successful implementation of this mechanism,' said Al Ghanim.

'As the regulatory authority, it is the TRA’s roll to safeguard the ICT sector in the UAE, and one of the ways we can encourage growth in the sector is through healthy competition among its service providers,' he added.

In the early part of the third quarter of 2011, both licensees - du and Etisalat - had announced the soft launch of the service which was regarded as a final stage of the testing, said the TRA chief.

The soft launch was designed to assess all aspects of the service including the customer facing systems, the inter-operator systems, the order and provision process, and the technical capabilities, he stated.

Commenting on the achievement, du chief executive officer Osman Sultan said, 'The decision to introduce CPS by the regulator is yet another forward looking move to offer better choice in telecom connectivity to the UAE residents.'

'It underscores our corporate philosophy of extending our services to benefit the community at large through our services,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service