Wealthy residents who are targeted by telemarketers resent the unsolicited phone calls, especially at odd hours.

Viewed as yet another nuisance, many consider the calls as irritating as unsolicited SMS messages and junk e-mail, particularly when they receive them at inconvenient times of the day – and night.

Etisalat has assured that its database of customers is completely safe and nobody from outside the company has access to it. "The database is only for Etisalat and 100 per cent secure," said Ahmad Bin Ali, Manager Public Relations of Etisalat.

Etisalat has, however, been publishing telephone directories for the land sets and mobile phones from where anybody can take the numbers.

"We published numbers with the consent of the subscribers in these directories," Bin Ali said, adding that if someone wants to keep his name and number secret, he can inform Etisalat. "We have many customers who keep their numbers secret."

He said telemarketing is a new a technique and Etisalat has no objection to it provided the people involved are authorised by the authorities. Bin Ali said that Etisalat is a communications company that has been providing the best possible facilities to the people in the UAE.

Hassan Mujtaba, an expatriate, who described the unsolicited calls as "tele-spam," said: "The tele victims are being denied their right to be left alone even in their own home."

He said sales people are constantly calling him, trying to sell him credit cards, hotel packages, insurance policies or a new product that has just hit the market.

"Insurance agents are in the practice of making unsolicited calls to sell an insurance policy," said Abdul Hameed, an Indian expatriate. "If somebody refuses, the agents then ask for contact numbers for friends."

"I am fed up with these telemarketers, who assume that people will respond to their unwarranted calls," Abdul Hameed said.

Rekha Choudary, a telemarketer, said not everyone in her profession creates problems for the public. "People who are getting only commissions against their sales are the actual troublemakers," she said.

Andrew S. Marten, a British expatriate, said authorities should make it mandatory for companies with telemarketers to develop a code of ethics, ensuring that their employees do not make a nuisance of themselves.