Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Hopes To Get UAE Skype Ban Overturned

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has big plans in the Middle East, as evidenced by its plans to build massive data centers in the region, but the company is hoping to make headway on a nagging problem in the area as well. Calls on Skype have been banned in one country for a number of years, and the company is pushing to have the ban overturned.

CNBC has the details on Microsoft’s efforts.

Microsoft and Apple are in talks with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) federal government to lift its ban on Skype and FaceTime calling, which have been illegal in the Gulf country for years.
UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) Director General Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri confirmed the talks this week, according to local news reports, citing Microsoft and Apple’s growing investment plans in the UAE and the desire to forge closer relationships with tech companies as primary reasons.

Messages on the platform are permitted in the UAE, but free calling via an internet connection is frowned upon. The ban is mainly in place because of telecom laws in the country, which essentially provides a monopoly to the country’s largest providers. A similar ban was lifted in Saudi Arabia just last year.

“We are passionate about the benefits that Skype offers to our users around the world by facilitating communication and enabling collaboration,” a spokesperson for Microsoft said.

Microsoft Corporation shares fell $0.29 (-0.31%) in premarket trading Thursday. Year-to-date, MSFT has gained 9.48%, versus a -1.44% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

MSFT currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #1 of 68 stocks in the Software – Application category.