ABU DHABI, 9 July 2006 — Now with a specially-enabled fixed line telephone set, customers can send and receive short messages between other similar telephones and mobile phones, and even send messages to fax machines and email addresses. This is a step toward the convergence of fixed and mobile telephony services.
Announcing the innovative service, Essa Al-Haddad, chief marketing officer, Etisalat, said: “The fixed line network has been propelled into a whole new generation with this launch, and soon we will be seeing other innovative launches to boost the range of services offered on fixed lines.”
The subscription to this service is automatic for fixed line customers. To be able to send and receive text messages, a Fixed Line SMS enabled telephone set, preferably with dedicated keyboard, is required. This set will enable users to key in the text as in a computer. These telephones are available in the UAE at various vendor outlets.
To be able to send a text message, 0/00 call barring must be de-activated, and to be able to receive text messages, the telephone set should have the Calling Number Display (CLIP) feature.
One of the key elements of this service is that it is enabled for text-to-speech conversion. This means that users who do not have a special SMS enabled telephone with a screen to display the text can receive the messages as a voice message.
Meanwhile, Etisalat has succeeded in supporting the sixth Islamic Scientific Conference with several initiatives aimed at the public who would like to follow the proceedings online. The sixth Islamic Scientific Conference seminar organized by Al-Muntada Al-Islami, government of Sharjah is broadcasted live on www.albahhar.ae/islam which witnessed a great response.
“The Islamic Scientific Conference is designed to educate the Muslim community world wide on the holy substance of the Islamic religion” said Abdulla Hashim, assistant general manager, eCompany, Etisalat.