Cricket Fans in UAE Follow Action on Cellphones

Indian and Pakistani cricket fans in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are following the ongoing one-day series between the two countries in India on their 3G-enabled handsets, courtesy mobile services provider Etisalat.

This is only the second time that Etisalat is providing this service to its subscribers. Though it had beamed live this year's World Cup in the West Indies, it did not offer this service during the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

"Cricket is a passion for a large number of our customers, and by bringing the excitement of the matches to our customers on their mobile phones, Etisalat will be enabling them to experience the action as it happens," Khalifa Al Shamsi, Etisalat's vice-president, marketing, stated in a company press release.

"We extend our best wishes to the supporters of both teams, and look forward to a memorable series," he added.

The UAE is home to around 1.5 million expatriate Indians and 600,000 Pakistanis.

Etisalat is offering this service to its customers at 35 dirhams a week. It will cover all the five one-dayers and five Tests. The service, which commenced with the first one-dayer in Guwahati Monday, will culminate on December 12, the last day of the last test in Bangalore.

For Etisalat customers who do not have 3G-enabled mobile handsets, the mobile service provider is offering an SMS cricket news alerts service based on events during the match.