Dubai, Jan 21 (Emirates247) : UAE’s oldest telecom operator Etisalat has launched a new prepaid promotion, offering free access to Facebook, WhatsApp, BBM and Twitter with every recharge.

This comes within days of the new operator, Du, offering a similar promotion to its pre-paid customers.

Etisalat has gone one up on Du by maintaining that its offer “has no conditions attached to usage or expiry of the recharged credit balance, therefore customers do not risk losing their credit”. On the other hand, the Du promotion limits validity of talk time only until the validity of social package.

Etisalat maintains that “social networking is the hottest trend in recent times and continues to grow exponentially in the UAE.”

The telecom operator cites a survey conducted with university students in the UAE by two Zayed University professors, James Buie and David Bulla, which found that a vast majority (72 per cent) of the respondents use social media at least 21 hours a week.

Socializing with friends was the main use of social media and communicating with family was the second greatest reason stated by respondents of that survey.

Etisalat says its new promotion addresses the growing demand of its customers to access social networking apps anytime, anywhere, powered by 3G and 4G mobile networks.

“Social media is not only helping our customers engage with each other, but also in staying connected with trends and changes in their environment,” said Khaled ElKhouly, Chief Marketing Officer at Etisalat.

“In addition to the free data advantage with every recharge to access social media apps, it gives Wasel customers subscribing to this offer the freedom to use their talk time at their own pace. They will not lose their credit,” he added.