Internet Telephony in Bur Dubai

When I first came to the UAE, I had read about some people sentenced to four years in gaol for providing Internet telephony. The story was in the newspaper to ensure that everyone knew that Internet telephony is illegal throughout the UAE, and that punishment is swift, severe, and certain.

About four years ago, an Internet café opened up on a small alley or sikka in Bur Dubai. The proprietors understood that most Internet cafés make most of their money from telephone calls, so they put up a large sign, in English and Chinese, saying they offered International Telephone Calls. I naturally expected the café to be out of business rather quickly.

All that happened was that, about two weeks after I first noticed the café, I saw that the English sign was gone, but the Chinese characters advertising phone calls to China were still prominently displayed. The café has continued to operate for the last four years without any problems.

I was back in Bur Dubai last week, and noticed a large sign, prominently displayed in the café window: 'No internetwork phone.' No such sign appeared in Chinese characters, but the old Chinese characters promising Internet telephony to China had been taken down.

Inside, I saw a large number of Chinese customers with headsets and microphones, but non-Chinese need not apply to use Internet telephony at that café.