General, Mohammed Ahmad Al Marri, Chairman Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs in Dubai, said: "We appreciate all the support we have received from du as our partners in this pioneering initiative to better fulfil the needs of the labour workforce. We are committed to improving the quality of life of the labour segment in the UAE whose valuable contribution to nation-building we recognize and appreciate. With the launch of alo we have also opened a new line of communication between the labour workforce and our committee and we are here to listen to their feedback. We highly recommend ‘alo’ to all the companies who employ such expat labor workers”
Launching the new initiative, Osman Sultan, CEO, du, said: “We are thankful to the Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs in Dubai for their contribution in helping to design and bring this product to life. ‘alo’ is a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative from du to design a customised communication tool that will directly benefit the large expatriate labour workforce.”
The alo brand is designed keeping in mind the needs of the expat labour workforce primarily from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, China etc who work for the construction companies here and live in labour camps. The warm, friendly colours of the brand and welcoming nature of the name ‘alo’ which means ‘hello’ in Arabic , have all been created keeping in mind the colours and icons popular in the cultures of these countries.
In order to communicate with them in their own language, ‘alo’ comes with an easy to understand multilingual user guide in the SIM pack. The SIM pack is also contained in a wallet which the labour worker can use to store and port his money. Tailored to fit the financial needs of this workforce, du has designed the mobile package to have no high one time or annual fees i.e. there would be NO joining fees and renewal fees but the money would be collected in easy monthly instalments of AED 5. An initial credit of AED 10 has been included to enable them to get started immediately.
‘alo’ also comes with the added benefits of du like Pay by the Second, where all calls are charged by the second and not rounded off to the next minute and the option to get 15percentage extra credit on every recharge with du WOW recharge cards. Customers can subscribe to ‘alo’ at the two ‘alo Shops located in the Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs in Dubai premises near the Sonapur and Jebel Ali labour camps. They need to bring a copy of their passport and labour VISA. Customers holding existing du Pay as you Go lines can also migrate to alo at these two ‘alo’ Shops.
‘alo’ customers can also get in touch with the Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs in Dubai for any enquiries or concerns by calling the toll-free number 8009119 from their alo line.
The labour committee will keep in touch with them by providing them with labour notifications, changes in labour laws, labour news etc via SMS on their ‘alo’ line.
Key benefits of alo: • alo SIM for ZERO UPFRONT PRICE and NO RENEWAL FEES No need to pay upfront for a new alo line. From the second month onwards, AED 5 will be charged every month • 15percentage extra credit on every recharge Every time an ‘alo’ customer recharges with the ‘more credit’ option the WoW recharge, he would get additional 15percentage • ‘alo’ customer will be charged “per second” for all their calls • Ability for a labour worker to communicate with the labour committee alo users can communicate directly with the Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs in Dubai by dialing the helpline 8009119 • Ability for Committee to communicate with the labour workers The committee will be able to broadcast a message to ALL alo customers • Existing du Pay as you Go lines can be migrated to alo Simple, user-friendly Multilingual Self care offering English, Arabic and Hind/Urdu services
More benefits ‘’to be rolled out soon…….. • Easy and simple access to relevant mobile content • Multiple language support for labour line customers to set specific caller tunes and download RINGTONES at special rates • Creation of a simplified SIM menu where customers can access mobile content very easily • Customised Care support Additional Language support 2 new languages to be added for customer service and self-care- Malayalam and Bangla in addition to the existing (Arabic, Hindi/Urdu, English)