In the past couple of years United Arab Emirates have become a tourist haven. The all year round temperatures of around 20+ degree Celsius is what attract a lot of tourist to this place. Many tourists and guest of country, however experience something of a communication shock when they set foot in the country. Suddenly they found themselves in a country where many of their communication habits are restricted, because United Arab Emirates blocks a lot of the modern day tools for telecommunication.

Anyone willing to go on vacation in United Arab Emirates should inform himself about the telecommunication restrictions and bans he is going to experience while there. The state owns both telecoms in the country Etisalat and Du, and because the government has a monopoly on the telecommunication market it blocks or ban anything that threatens this dominance. Many internet telecommunication services are blocked entirely for that reason. For example, Skype, and more specifically SkypeOut service cannot be used in United Arab Emirates. Users cannot even call United Arab Emirates phone and mobile numbers with Skype or other similar VoIP applications. Although Skype-to-Skype calls are allowed there is a heavy regulation over the software application.

Besides Skype other telecommunication services like Apple's FaceTime is blocked also in UAE. FaceTime does not offer the chance users to call landline or mobile numbers over the internet and is used only for video calls between owners of Apple devices and yet the service is blocked from use in the United Arab Emirates. The same goes for Google Voice, too. The popular Gmail service for cheap international calling is also banned from use in United Arab Emirates because it threatens the dominance of the local telecoms.

If you are planning a visit in United Arab Emirates then it worth to know Telecommunications Regulatory Authority(TRA) aims to block any internet telecommunication services from use in the country. However, sometimes there are services that can work nonetheless and aren't affect from the ban. Still, using such service on your mobile phone or computer can get you in trouble, because using them is against the law and strictly forbidden.