Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) said on Sunday it would give subscribers special roaming rates in Egypt and Saudi Arabia in a move that could drive revenues of the largest publicly traded Arab telecom firm. The new service will be available to Etisalat's UAE customers using the networks of Egyptian unit Etisalat Egypt and Saudi affiliate Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Etisalat said in a statement. Etisalat Chief Executive Mohammed Al-Qamzi has said the firm wanted to boost revenues by offering special cross rates to subscribers in different countries. Many Egyptian expatriates, for instance, work in the booming Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy. Like other telecom firms in the world's biggest oil-exporting region, Etisalat has been expanding outside of its home market, buoyed by an economic boom fuelled by a more than seven-fold rise in oil prices since 2002. The firm posted a record profit of AED2.12 billion ($577.3 million) in the first quarter and is expected to make AED2.5 billion in the second quarter, according to the average forecast of analysts in a Reuters net profit survey last month. The Etisalat roaming alliance offer will give customers a simple, affordable and transparent rate whenever they roam taking away the complexity of calculating complex roaming charges. As part of this roaming alliance, Wasel prepaid and postpaid customers of Etisalat who roam in Saudi Arabia through the Mobily network, and in Egypt through Etisalat Misr, would be charged a simple flat rate at AED1.40 per minute for local calls, AED4.65 per minute for calls back to UAE and AED1.10 per SMS. In order to join the offer, customers need to switch manually to the mobily network (Mobily or Etihad Etisalat or 420-03) in Saudi Arabia and Etisalat Misr (Etisalat or EGY-03 or 602-03) in Egypt. Etisalat's global reach across the 16 markets we operate in gives us a unique opportunity to leverage our group synergies for the benefit of our customers.
