Businesses and consumers the world over are finally starting to see the light when it comes to Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. Yet in one part of the world, if you’re not part of the ‘in crowd,’ don’t even think of bringing your own VoIP to the party.

That seems to be the message to the masses in the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, according to the Emirates 24/7 website. The site published a report saying mobile messaging app WhatsApp started offering free VoIP calls earlier this week but UAE telecoms provider Etisalat (News - Alert) apparently blocked the functionality a few hours after it became available.

“The service was blocked because VoIP services can only be offered in the UAE by licensed providers, in effect Etisalat and du,” Emirates 24/7 reported.

According to a story on ArabianBusiness.com, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) issued a statement clarifying the policy about use of VoIP in the UAE in response to the news: "VoIP services are still a prerogative of the licensed providers who reserve the right to provide such services through their networks. Companies wishing to offer such services must co-ordinate with the licensed telecom providers in the UAE." In other words, ‘Our game, our rules.’

But the report went on to note that some people had already managed to activate the functionality and it may still work over Wi-Fi. It also said that “Subscribers of du who managed to download the functionality maintain that they have had no service disruption so far, suggesting that UAE subscribers on the du platform may have the functionality for a few days more [until] the operator decides to disable the service.”

Many WhatsApp users are still unaware of the new feature, as WhatsApp has still not made any official announcement or confirmation regarding it in the UAE.