Dubai: “Is this the police superintendent of Dubai?”
Top officials were just a ring away on their home landline — when the first Dubai phone book came out in 1961.
And many millionaire businessmen were happy to list their home number too.
Back then, there were just over 30 pages listing a few hundred subscribers.
And to get a phone line installed, all you needed was a request letter to the phone company’s general manager.
Most pages were ads; many of them hand-drawn.
The hottest accessories in town seemed to be clunky typewriters, basic fridges, and plain ceiling fans. Product slogans included “in modern colours” or simply “beautiful design.”
The directory, reproduced by Al Serkal Cultural Foundation, is a window into a nostalgic sleepy Dubai before it transformed into a bustling metropolis.
“The Dubai Telephone System is fully automatic, all calls being connected without the employment of an operator, and therefore private and confidential,” the book boasts.
Like other phone books of its time, the directory carried instructions for subscribers on how to place and receive calls.
It was a time when saying ‘hello’ was not a favoured greeting.
“The expression ‘hello’ conveys nothing and should be avoided,” the book advises.
“When your telephone bell rings, take off the handset and announce the telephone number and your identity… Replace your handset only when the conversation is complete.”
In a handwritten memo on an original copy of the book, Emirati Nasser Abdul Latif Al Serkal recounts the story behind the first phone company in Dubai.
Al Serkal said he introduced the idea to a number of people who backed him, placing one condition — that the company have at least 500 subscribers.
The plan was presented to and approved by the then-ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
In 1960, the Dubai State Telephone Company Ltd started operations.
Its subscribers list — the first Dubai phone book — was made available in January 1961.