The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has issued a directive ordering major operators Etisalat and du to put a ceiling, or hard cap, on their respective mobile data bundles in a bid to protect consumers from higher additional charges.
Directive (1) of 2016 applies to all mobile data bundles whether included as part of the main subscription or purchased as an optional add-on.
The directive obligates the operators to limit the supply of mobile data to the size of the bundle. Once the bundle is exhausted, the licensee cannot supply any further mobile data unless the consumer gives express consent.
The TRA released its directive after identifying several factors that could result in consumers being subjected to disproportionately higher over-bundle rates their knowledge, as in most cases, they are not aware of the costs incurred from out-of-bundle rates or the additional charges made once their bundles are all used up. The directive serves as a safety net measure to protect mobile data subscribers from what the TRA calls “bill shock.”
Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director General, said: “We are concerned with the potential for consumers to receive larger-than-expected charges for their out-of-bundle mobile data usage. We acknowledge that both Etisalat and du have provided various tools to enable their customers to monitor their data usage and manage their costs.”
“Consumers may not be aware of the actual costs associated with such mobile data usage and this could lead to ‘bill shock.’ We aim to address the issue once and for all through this new directive,” Al Mansoori added.
In broad terms, Licensees have three rates for mobile data:
1. No bundle rate: usage is charged on a pay-as-you-use basis at the rate of Dhs1 per MB
2. In bundle rate: Data bundles are available in various sizes, with validity periods ranging from one day to one month. Depending on the particular bundle purchased, the in-bundle rate, or charge for data consumption within the bundle allowance, can be as low as Dhs 0.03/MB
3. Over bundle rate: prior to the TRA’s Directive, in circumstance where the consumer’s data consumption exceeds the allowance for a given bundle, the consumer may consume additional data on a “pay-as-you-go” basis at the over-bundle rate of Dhs 1 per MB of data consumed.