New telecom operator du will launch its mobile telephone service on February 11, ending the monopoly held by Etisalat. The service will be available in 85 percent of populated areas in the United Arab Emirates.
Figures released by the Dubai Statistics Centre reveal that the emirate has an unemployment rate of 2.6%, one of the lowest in the world. The Dubai Labour Force Characteristic Survey 2006 also shows that population has increased by 7% to reach 1,370,714 of which 78% are male and 22% female.
The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority has announced the opening of the first of five hundred air-conditioned bus shelters. The shelters, which also include ATMs and vending machines, are intended to boost use of the city’s bus services and reduce traffic congestion. Further measures to curb the problem include the introduction of 1,500 hi-tech buses over the next three years.
Emirates Bank is fitting all its ATMs with Fraudulent Device Inhibitors, the latest fraud-prevention countermeasure for ATMs. Developed by NCR, these make it difficult for criminals to attach foreign devices on or around the card reader.
A heavy sandstorm hit Dubai yesterday afternoon causing visibility to drop to as low as 50 m.
A survey conducted by online recruitment agency GulfTalent.com finds that salaries in Dubai and UAE have increased by 10.3% in the year to August 2006. The main factors contributing to the increase were economic growth, rising living costs, weakness in the US dollar and a strong Indian economy.
Starting today, workers in the public sector will move from a Thursday-Friday weekend to a Friday-Saturday weekend.
The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing today released impressive results for the first quarter of 2006. Around 1.7 million people visited the city between January and March (1.6 million 1Q 2005) resulting in hotel revenues of AED 2.83 billion. The number of hotels and hotel apartments increased to 410 (379 1Q 2005) with the total number of rooms standing at 30,162 (27,438 1Q 2005).
Dubai’s target is to achieve 15 million tourists by 2010.