November 03, 2010

The TRA actively participated in the IIR Middle East conference held at the Metropolitan Palace Hotel on 1-2 November 2010 around “Leaders in ICT. An In-Depth Regulatory & Policy Update of The Telecommunications Sector In The Levant Region”.

Chaired by Mr. Alan Horne, this conference gathered local and regional telecom experts and served the objective of unveiling the key opportunities in ICT in the Levant Region.

Mr. Horne opened the conference by briefing the audience on the economic visions in many countries and the millennium developments Goals. Mr. Antoine Boustany, represented H.E. Dr. Charbel Nahas and went over the ICT expectation supporting the economic vision for the Republic of Lebanon. He stressed on the importance of ICTs which are seen as important as the water and energy resources. He discussed the role of the Internet in keeping the public informed, reducing costs and facilitating the knowledge of laws while helping citizens in country’s governance and spreading health care information.

The panels and sessions on the first day focused on Outlining the Government’s Economic Policy And How ICT becomes A Key Enabler For This Vision as well as on the Alternative Strategies To Achieve The Key National ICT Policies.

Mrs. Mahassen Ajam, TRA Board Member and Head of Information and Consumer Affairs Unit participated in the first panel discussion, on behalf of Dr Imad Hoballah, where she clarified the correlation between the ICT and the telecommunications policy, and highlighted the vital importance of the TRA’s role in building a solid regulatory framework to improve the ICT sector in Lebanon. She also stressed on the urgent need to determine and agree on the role of the private sector in the development of ICT in general and telecom in particular. Mrs. Ajam reiterated the full cooperation between the TRA and the Ministry of Telecommunications and expressed the urgent need to have the sector’s Policy document issued by the Minister of Telecommunications, in order to discuss it with concerned parties and ensure a rapid and solid development of the sector as provided for in the Telecommunications Law.

This panel also involved Dr. Youssef Nusseir, Director of ICT (UN-Escwa) and Mr. Fadi Kawar, CEO and Chairman of TRC Jordan who in turn discussed the Jordan vision 20/20 (JV2020), the REACH program and the national ICT strategy (07-11) in Jordan.

Mr. Patrick Eid, TRA Board member and Head of Market and Competition Unit participated in the second session where he discussed spectrum pricing policy and its legal background as defined in law 431/2002. He stressed on the need to have a clear spectrum pricing to ensure optimization and waste reduction. He also went over the various methods for setting Right To Use (RTU) fees through the auctions and Administrative Incentive pricing (AIP) and the different methods to apply the RTU fees. Finally he discussed the TRA recommendations regarding RTU fees and Spectrum Administrative Charges (SAC) documents that were issued for public consultations. Following their review and approval by the TRA Board, The Draft Decree along with the supporting documents were sent as provided for by the Telecommunications Law 431 to the Minister of Telecommunications for approval and recommendation to the Council of Ministers for Issuance.

Other speakers in this session also went over interesting topics on the subject. Mr. Ibrahim Al Omar from Viva Bahrain discussed the importance of applications such as Facebook and Utube and gave some interesting statistics on mobile penetration of 54% and Broadband penetration of 2% in the Levant area. Mr. Nael Adwan, TRC Head of Economic department, also gave an overview on the Jordanian Telecom market and shed the lights on the convergence and its regulatory challenges mainly related to licensing, spectrum and numbering.

During the Second Day of the conference, the sessions highlighted international case examples from France and Korea including in depth discussions on broadband and internet security. The TRA participation was marked by major speeches around the cyber threats and security efforts related to Broadband deployment, and the protection of children in cyberspace.

The TRA Senior Technical Expert Dr Ali Krecht presented, on behalf of Dr Imad Hoballah, current outlook for the telecom sector in Lebanon in view of the ongoing infrastructure projects lead by the Ministry of Telecommunications and highlighted the need to address various issues and adopt policy measures required for take-up of fixed and wireless broadband telecommunications services under a transparent and competitive licensing regime.

Mr. Said Haidar, Quality of Service, Type Approval and Standards Senior expert shed the lights on the side effects of ICT on consumers and the Nation’s security. Mr. Haidar also explored all potential protection measures. Mrs. Corine Feghaly, Consumer Affairs Senior Expert, explained the TRA awareness efforts in terms of children protection in cyberspace as well as the TRA’s vision and potential regulatory measures to be contemplated in this regard.

To view IIR press release click here
To view the conference agenda click here

TRA presentations:
Cyber Threats and security efforts. Broadband considerations
Policy Measures for the Development of Telecom Sector in Lebanon