Zoom IP Telephony for UAE Businesses: Complete Setup Guide

Cloud-based IP telephony has overtaken traditional PBX in the UAE. Zoom Phone in particular has become the default choice for businesses migrating from Avaya, Cisco, NEC, and Mitel systems. Here's the complete picture if you're considering the switch.

Why move from PBX to Zoom Phone?

•30–50% lower total cost over 3 years
•No on-premise PBX hardware to maintain
•Single platform: calls, meetings, chat, contact center
•Mobile/desktop apps — same business number anywhere
•Easier to scale and offboard users (no license waste)

Zoom Phone licensing for UAE

Three main tiers:

•Zoom Phone Metered — AED 35/user/month + per-minute charges (good for low-volume users)
•Zoom Phone Pro Unlimited — AED 50/user/month (unlimited calling to UAE)
•Zoom Phone Pro Plus — AED 80/user/month (Zoom Workplace bundle: phone + meetings + chat)

Number porting from Etisalat / du

You can keep your existing UAE business numbers when moving to Zoom Phone. The process:

•Submit Letter of Authorization (LOA) signed by the account holder
•Provide latest 2 phone bills from Etisalat or du
•Tawasul AV submits porting request through Zoom carrier portal
•Porting completes in 5–10 business days
•Zero downtime — calls route to both old and new systems during the cutover

Deployment timeline

For a typical 50-user UAE office:

•Week 1 — Discovery, design, license procurement, port request
•Week 2 — Configuration: queues, IVR, hunt groups, user provisioning
•Week 2 — Porting cutover and user training
•Week 3 — Production go-live and tier-2 support handoff

Do you need desk phones?

Not necessarily. Zoom Phone works fully on softphones (desktop and mobile apps). If users prefer a physical phone, certified options:

•Poly Edge E300/E450 — premium executive phones, AED 850–1,400
•Yealink T54W/T58W — value-oriented business phones, AED 600–950
•Poly Trio C60 — conference room phone, AED 2,800

Common features we configure

•Auto-attendant with multilingual menus (English/Arabic)
•Hunt groups and call queues with SLA reporting
•Voicemail-to-email with transcription
•Call recording (compliance-ready, encrypted)
•Integration with Salesforce / HubSpot / Microsoft Dynamics
•Power BI dashboards for call analytics

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Zoom Phone legal in the UAE?

Yes. Zoom Phone is licensed for use in the UAE through carrier partnerships. Number porting from Etisalat and du is supported.

Can I use Zoom Phone for emergency calling (999)?

Yes. We configure E911-style emergency location reporting per device so emergency services see the correct address.

How does Zoom Phone compare to Microsoft Teams Phone?

Both are excellent. Teams Phone is better if you're heavily invested in Microsoft 365. Zoom Phone has more advanced contact center features and typically lower per-user cost. Tawasul AV deploys both.

What happens during the porting cutover?

Zero downtime. Calls route to both your old PBX and new Zoom Phone simultaneously during the 24-hour transition window. We monitor the cutover live and switch direction once we confirm all calls are arriving on Zoom.