---
title: Middle Eastern operators allying against OTT? - Developing Telecoms
description: A number of operators in the Middle East may form a consortium to combat potential revenue losses caused by an influx of over-the-top (OTT) players.
canonical_url: https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news/4150-middle-eastern-operators-allying-against-ott.html
language: en-GB
date: 2015-06-28T06:12:10Z
notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news/4150-middle-eastern-operators-allying-against-ott.html. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers.
markdown-tokens: 1147
---

> **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news/4150-middle-eastern-operators-allying-against-ott.html. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content.
> **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers.
> **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above.


 [Operators](https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news.html)## Middle Eastern operators allying against OTT?

 

 

   Details    James Barton    Category: [Operators](https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news.html)     02 October 2012     11457 views   

 

  ![](https://developingtelecoms.com/images/stories/highResLogos/800x600/placeholder-logo_1200x900.png)  

 

A number of operators in the Middle East may form a consortium to combat potential revenue losses caused by an influx of over-the-top (OTT) players...

A number of operators in the Middle East may form a consortium to combat potential revenue losses caused by an influx of over-the-top (OTT) players. The group, which could include major UAE player du, would come together to create a global Arabic social networking platform.

While the concept would likely prove popular – there are over 350 million Arabic speakers worldwide, and many international operators have ties to Middle Eastern groups – it would be ineffective as a project spearheaded by just one operator. This is the belief of du’s chief executive Osman Sultan, who has raised the proposition of an operator alliance.

The proposed consortium would allow the platform to reach far more users, providing the scale that would allow it to compete. The majority of OTT services and social networks do not generate network traffic but not operator revenue, with Sultan noting: "Network traffic doubles every eight to nine months, but revenue is heading to a plateau, so we need to claim part of the new revenues alongside OTT players."

The idea of an alliance has also been advocated by the chief executive of Bahraini operator Batelco, Sheikh Mohamed Al Khalifa, who said: “There are gains to be made by collaborating within our industry in the Middle East.”

 

 

   
## More Articles you may be Interested in...

<!-- AI:SCHEMA: Schema.org description of canonical page in JSON-LD format -->
<!-- AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN format=jsonld scope=page -->

```json
{
    "@context": "http:\/\/schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Article",
            "author": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/essential-reading.com\/#james_barton_4d6427c012"
            },
            "dateModified": "2015-06-28T06:12:10Z",
            "datePublished": "2012-10-02T10:13:16Z",
            "description": "A number of operators in the Middle East may form a consortium to combat potential revenue losses caused by an influx of over-the-top (OTT) players.",
            "headline": "Middle Eastern operators allying against OTT?",
            "image": [
                {
                    "@type": "ImageObject",
                    "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/images\/stories\/highResLogos\/placeholder-logo_1200x900.png",
                    "caption": "",
                    "description": "",
                    "width": 1200,
                    "height": 900
                }
            ],
            "inLanguage": "en-GB",
            "mainEntityOfPage": {
                "@type": "WebPage",
                "url": "https:\/\/essential-reading.com\/telecom-business\/operator-news\/4150-middle-eastern-operators-allying-against-ott.html"
            },
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/essential-reading.com\/#defaultPublisher"
            },
            "url": "https:\/\/essential-reading.com\/telecom-business\/operator-news\/4150-middle-eastern-operators-allying-against-ott.html"
        },
        {
            "@type": "Person",
            "name": "James Barton",
            "@id": "https:\/\/essential-reading.com\/#james_barton_4d6427c012"
        },
        {
            "@id": "https:\/\/essential-reading.com\/#defaultPublisher",
            "@type": "Organization",
            "url": "https:\/\/essential-reading.com\/",
            "logo": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/essential-reading.com\/#defaultLogo"
            },
            "name": "Developing Telecoms"
        },
        {
            "@id": "https:\/\/essential-reading.com\/#defaultLogo",
            "@type": "ImageObject",
            "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/images\/stories\/highResLogos\/dt-site-logo-440.png",
            "width": "440",
            "height": "122"
        }
    ]
}
```

<!-- AI:SCHEMA:END -->