Middle East operators including Du are considering an alliance to create an Arabic online social platform to secure revenue they are deemed to be losing out on from over-the-top (OTT) players, reports Reuters.

With more than 350 million Arabic speakers globally and a large number of operators affiliated to Middle East operator groups, supporters of such a project say it has potential to succeed.

However, chief executive of UAE number-two Du, Osman Sultan, said the project is unlikely to work with just one operator as it wouldn’t have sufficient scale. He has therefore raised the idea of an alliance with all the major Arabic operators during the past year.

Social networks and other OTT companies are benefiting from using mobile networks to build their business without generating revenue for the operators.

“Network traffic doubles every eight to nine months, but revenue is heading to a plateau, so we need to claim part of the new revenues alongside OTT players,” Sultan told Reuters.

Batelco chief executive Sheikh Mohamed Al Khalifa also welcomed the idea. “There are gains to be made by collaborating within our industry in the Middle East,” he said.

Other operators declined to comment on the initiative.

Polish operators Polkomtel, Orange and T-Mobile recently joined forces with third-party developers and academic institutions to address OTT competition.