du’s Regional Award-Winning FTTH Network Paves the Way to Future Success & Growth

Dubai,
28 May 2008: du – the UAE’s integrated telecom service provider and the
first company to roll-out a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) programme in the
region is on its way to record continued success. The integrated
teleco, who currently owns one of the largest FTTH networks in the
world, is further expanding its network roll-out to cover unique and
landmark developments such as Burj Dubai, Dubai Palm Islands, the World
and Dubai waterfront projects. Future growths and expansion plans were
discussed at one of the interactive sessions at the du stand during
MECOM 2008.

du is the sole FTTH provider for most of the new real estate
developments in New Dubai. Many Emaar, Nakheel and Dubai Holding mega
projects are already enjoying du’s FTTH services in major developments
since 2000.*

Osman Sultan, CEO, du, said: ““We were the first company in the MENA
region to launch fully converged triple play services over FTTH in 2003
and also the first telco to launch IP based TV over FTTH network in the
same year. I would also like to add that du was awarded the Cornerstone
award for the ‘Best International Deployment of FTTH’ in 2006.”

During the course of the session at MECOM 2008, Mustafa Kaddoura,
Vice President, Fixed Access Network Planning and Business Solutions,
du, explained: “We have been at the regional fronts of offering fully
managed services since 2000. Currently, we have 300,000 FTTH passed
homes with more than 50,000 active customers using VoIP and IP TV in
addition to high speed broadband using a fully converged network**.
More than 30,000 IP phones have been deployed to 2000 du corporate
customers during this period as well. Our managed multi-tenancy IP
Telephony service is one of the largest deployments in the world.

All residential units within du’s “footprint” are currently served
via FTTH. These are Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Jumeirah
Islands, Dubai Marina, Emirates living, Discovery Gardens,
International city, Arabian ranches, Burj Dubai and many other iconic
projects.

What is FTTH?
Fiber to the home (FTTH), also called “fiber to the premises” (FTTP),
is the installation and use of optical fiber from a central point
directly to individual buildings such as residences, apartment
buildings and businesses to provide unprecedented high-speed Internet
access. FTTH dramatically increases the connection speeds available to
computer users compared with technologies now used in most places.
(Source: www.techtarget.com)

* on 31 December 2005, du acquired the business and assets of Sama
Communications Company, DIC Telecom (International Operations) and its
technology division from TECOM Investments FZ LLC. Under this deal, du
acquired a subscriber base of 19,100 containing both Enterprise
customers and a consumer base. This gave the company a solid foundation
to launch its strategic vision for integrated telecommunications
services across the UAE.
**Passed homes are homes wired using Fiber Optics that easily connected to du’s network