Middle East countries treat phone and internet as a source of revenue rather than as fundamental business- entrepreneur-enabling infrastructure.
So they're concerned that Facetime, maybe particularly Facetime audio, cannibalizes their mobile network call revenue. Yes, Skype and other alternatives may still be available, but Facetime is integrated into the iOS address book and pressing the "call with facetime" button is just as convenient as dialing a contact's phone number.
I saw this crushingly-self-harmful behavior when I lived in the region and experienced expensive, slow Internet access. They also ban ISPs from buying bandwidth from anyone other than a massively-overpriced state monopoly pipe. If they treated mobile and internet as a key enabling infrastructure instead, the massive expansion in business would result in much higher tax revenue than the hit to the measly communications tolls. But they're either short-termist or have friends who personally profit from the telecom departments.
Plain and simple: State capitalism runs the risk of cronyism, corruption, regulatory capture, etc. Singapore is a good example of state capitalism with relatively low levels of all of these.
So they're concerned that Facetime, maybe particularly Facetime audio, cannibalizes their mobile network call revenue. Yes, Skype and other alternatives may still be available, but Facetime is integrated into the iOS address book and pressing the "call with facetime" button is just as convenient as dialing a contact's phone number.
I saw this crushingly-self-harmful behavior when I lived in the region and experienced expensive, slow Internet access. They also ban ISPs from buying bandwidth from anyone other than a massively-overpriced state monopoly pipe. If they treated mobile and internet as a key enabling infrastructure instead, the massive expansion in business would result in much higher tax revenue than the hit to the measly communications tolls. But they're either short-termist or have friends who personally profit from the telecom departments.