Etisalat, the leading telecom operator in Mena, has witnessed a 200 per cent growth in data roaming traffic in 2010, the company said.

This includes traffic from Etisalat’s UAE customers, as well as from its international clientele of global operators who subscribe to Etisalat’s leading portfolio of carrier and wholesale services.

This observation was made concurrently at both the Pacific Telecoms Council (PTC) in Hawaii and at the ongoing Roaming Congress Mena 2011 in Dubai.

“We are witnessing a trend in roaming, and in particular data roaming, which is undergoing exponential growth. We have seen our data roaming traffic increase more than 200% last year,” said Ali Amiri, executive vice president carrier and wholesale, Etisalat.

“More people are roaming more often and they are accessing more services through increasing numbers of specialist devices. These are trends that will continue for years to come and as such, we see no reason for any slowing in the growth of roaming traffic,” Amiri continued.

Abdulraheem Aqeel, Etisalat’s vice president, service delivery management, carrier & wholesale services, explained in detail the technology trends driving roaming growth.

It can be attributed to four key aspects, namely the ability for mobile operators to act as ISPs, the increase in consumers using the same device for both personal and work reasons, the increase in browsing and streaming and the implementation of new services such as location-based applications (including augmented reality) and financial services, he said.

“Etisalat provides a roaming replicator service which effectively provides access to more than 600 networks worldwide through a single connection to many operators across the Middle East, Africa and Asia region,” Aqeel said.

“This has proven to be an efficient method of rolling out services as our group expands into new countries and provides a competitive advantage in many of our emerging markets. Our roaming hub is one of the key services from our smart hub in the UAE,” he concluded. – TradeArabia News Service