International call charges 'too high', say UAE residents

ABU DHABI - The cost of international calls in the UAE is too high, consumers have told the country's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.
Consumers are unhappy with the prices of fixed-line and mobile overseas call charges, according to a survey conducted by the agency.
The poll revealed that 42 percent of fixed-line customers were unhappy with the cost of calls abroad, with 19 percent neither satisfied or dissatisfied.
Among mobile users, the figure was worse, with 48 percent expressing their unhappiness with pricing, alongside 19 percent who were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.
he TRA survey also revealed that the cost of international calls was so high that a significant number of users asked people from other countries to call them instead of the other way round.
The figures stand in stark contrast to a generally favourable assessment of the UAE's telecoms services, according to the survey.
A total of 86 percent of respondents said that they were happy with their overall mobile service, with 79 percent pleased at the quality of customer service. The results were broadly similar for fixed-line services, where 93 percent were happy with their overall service.
On the internet side, 89 percent were satisfied with the overall performance, although 56 percent said they were dissatisfied with the cost of internet provision.
The TRA survey team spoke to 2,133 people in the UAE, spread across all of the seven emirates.

- ArabianBusiness.com