du to charge per second on all voice calls

The billing system introduced is considered to be the most fair and transparent method that telecom users can enjoy.

Osman Sultan, Chief Executive Officer, du, commented; "For the first time all the customers and visitors in the UAE will enjoy this per second billing on local and international voice calls across mobiles.

"The most significant impact in terms of cost will be for short phone calls as it would not be fair to charge someone for a full minute or on increments of 30 seconds for a call that lasts only a few moments."

"Our clients will pay for precisely what they use - it's only fair," added Sultan.

The announcement was made at a press conference at the Madinat Jumeirah, where du also launched its brand campaign and revealed that a preview of its innovative Next Generation Mobile Services will be demonstrated during GITEX 2006. In addition du also unveiled that its international roaming service will provide more coverage to more networks around the world than any other mobile operator has ever done at the time of launch.

du also announced another first in the region - the du Mobile Payment Service, which will enable customers to recharge their line or pay mobile monthly bills and more with the click of a button using their mobile phones.