Arabic is the official language of the UAE. English is used as the favorite medium of communication in the majority of trade and commerce activities, along with Arabic. English is widely spoken and understood in major cities of the UAE like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah etc. Urdu, Hindi, and Farsi are other major languages in the UAE. As a large number of expatriates are from the Indian sub-continent, South East Asia, Africa and several other regions, you will find people here speaking Bengali, Malayam, Punjabi, and Tagalog too.

Postal Services
Postal services will be available only at main post offices between 9am and 1pm on Sunday, July 19, on the occasion of Al Israa Wal Miraj holiday.

The counters of all other branches of Emirates Post will remain closed. However, collection of mail from street boxes will be as usual. Collection and delivery of mail will also continue at the post offices

Telephone
Telephones - main lines in use: 1.26 million (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 6,500,000 (2007)
Internet subscribers: 578,000 (2005)

Telephone system: modern system consisting of microwave radio relay and coaxial cable; key centers are Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Domestic: microwave radio relay and coaxial cable

International: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat; submarine cables to Qatar, Bahrain, India, and Pakistan; tropospheric scatter to Bahrain; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia.

To own a telephone number in the UAE, you need to be atleast 21 or else if you are younger than that you will need a letter of approval from your guardian. In addition to the age requirement, you need to have a residence visa. The cost of a phone line (landline connection) is Dhs. 200 and you will need to fill an application form along with a copy of your passport, residence visa, and property lease. A telephone line will normally take a maximum of two working days to be installed, and you will pay a quarterly rental charge of Dhs. 70. The same requirements required for obtaining a telephone line apply for getting a mobile number (GSM), but the cost of obtaining a number is Dhs. 320 and you will obtain your SIM card on the spot when you apply.

The international code for the United Arab Emirates is 971. Area codes are 2 digits and telephone numbers are 7 digits. The area code for Abu Dhabi is 02, Al Ain is 03, Dubai is 04, Sharjah and Ajman is 06. Mobile numbers in the UAE begin with 050 followed by a 7 digit number. In order to dial a number in the UAE from abroad, the additional 0 at the beginning of the area code should be excluded, while dialing it locally the 0 should be kept. The same principle applies to calling a mobile number from abroad.

Internet Access

Etisalat has setup a division spefically to handle all internet issues and it is known as the Emirates Internet & Multimedia (EIM) and is the United Arab Emirates' only ISP. It has Internet acess services for Dialup, ISDN, ADSL, and Cable. Internet webpages viewed in the UAE are routed through the Emirates Proxy (proxy1.emirates.net.ae:8080) which blocks sites that contain pornography, religious offensive material and criticism of the rulers.