Etisalat, du to rely more heavily on UAE credit rating score for new postpaid customers

The UAE’s two largest telecom providers, Emirates Telecommunications Group Company – Etisalat and Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company – du will rely on the Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB’s) Credit Reports and Scores more heavily when onboarding postpaid customers.

The operators will rely more on AECB’s reports and scores to assess the individual’s or company’s ability to meet future payments commitments based on their past payment behaviour. It will help in the decision making process regarding onboarding postpaid customers as well as permitting purchase of its devices.

Both operators have been working with the AECB for the past four years, reported news agency WAM.

Etisalat and du provide outstanding bills and payment history on a regular basis on individuals and companies in the UAE to the AECB.

AECB collects credit information from banks, finance companies, telecom operators, water and electricity companies and courts which feed into the generation of Credit Reports as well as forming the basis for predictive and analytics products such as the Credit Score and other unique indicators.

With the addition of both Etisalat and du’s data, AECB’s customer information database stands at 9 million individuals and 600,000 companies.

“All banks and finance companies in the UAE use Credit Reports and Credit Scores to support their decisions in assessing applications for credit facilities” said Marwan Ahmad Lutfi, CEO of AECB.

“With both Etisalat and du historic and current bill payment information submitted to AECB, it is now critical for both individuals and companies to maintain timely payment schedules and avoid defaults as essential telecommunications services payment patterns are going to show on credit reports and will undoubtedly impact one’s creditworthiness and ability to avail products and services offered within the industry,” added Lutfi.