The Hudson Institute's New York Web site, which has some excellent commentary on Middle East geopolitics, has an anonymous article on what it calls the "dark side" of the United Arab Emirates:

Although a signatory to free trade agreements, the UAE does not, for instance, allow American companies to legally operate within its billion dollar VOIP sector and allow users to make computer-to-mobile-phone calls. This is done to protect the state-owned monopoly, Etisalat [Emirates Telecommunications Corporation], although recently Dubai started a similar company, DU...