Negotiations started recently between Microsoft and Apple on one side, and UAE Telecoms controllers on the other, in order to check if the ban on Skype and FaceTime could be lifted. As Hamad Al Mansoori, head of the TRA (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority), the “discussions are still ongoing”. According to arabic news Al Ittihad, those talks are a part of the two companies plan to extend their business in that part of the world. The goal of the UAE is to keep good relations with Microsoft and Apple, as the first is launching a data center in the UAE in order to cover the entire region. Etisalat and Emirates Integrated Communications have applications that offer similar features, called Botim and C’Me. Al Mansoori says that the number of people using those services are increasing. The main difference is that those apps are paid-for video applications. The telecoms in the UAE are…