Thursday, Aug 21, 2008

Dubai: The 'unlimited national' data package for BlackBerry recently launched by telecom operator dudu, is in fact restricted to usage.

Per month a user can download data within 1 gigabyte (GB) of capacity and anything above that will be charged one fil per kilobyte, the operator's customer care centre attendant said. "Unlimited offers for mobile data services usually come with a 'fair use' policy around the world, in order to ensure protection against misuse," dudu told Gulf News, when contacted for its comment.

They said without a fair use clause, someone might use the data access facility to download movies all day or use the mobile as a modem to transfer large amo-unts of data. The operator said the term 'unlimited' is in reference to the user 'not being charged per use', example, per e-mail or per byte download. The operator's 'limited' package limits monthly usage to 3 mega-bytes of data access.

Marise Ananian, a telecom analyst with EGF-Hermes, told Gulf News, "1 GB per month is large enough and average usage doesn't exceed this amount."

Meanwhile, etisalat's 'Unlimited Global' is in fact unlimited. The user is not charged extra when exceeding any limits, its customer service agents said.

Roaming services: 120 countries covered

dudu has extended its network of roaming services to cover 120 countries and 300 networks, officials said. The services include voice calls, data services, mobile internet and even 3G services on select networks.

Roaming service is active by default on all monthly plan lines for UAE nationals. Expatriates living in the UAE can activate the roaming service on their monthly plan lines by visiting any dudu shop. Pay as you Go and Visitor Mobile Line subscribers can also enjoy roaming services.

By Nadia Saleem

© Gulf News 2008. All rights reserved.