January 19, 2012

The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), is an ITU event held every three to four years and mandated to review and revise the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits. WRC facilitates the management of scarce orbit/spectrum resources in the interest of end-users, with global implications for both policy-makers and the industry.

WRC-12 is being held in Geneva from 23 January to 17 February 2012 and gathering over 3000 participants from around the world. A Lebanese delegation composed of TRA spectrum experts and headed by Dr. Imad Hoballah is actively participating in this event by preparing studies on agenda items and voting on all the motions.

Moreover, during the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA) meeting Dr. Imad Hoballah was elected the Chairman of the “Coordination Committee for Vocabulary (CCV)” – the only Chairman among the Arab States- and, Eng. Mohamad Ayoub to be a Vice Chairman for “Study Group 6” and Vice Chairman for the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA) Committee 5. The election of Dr. Hoballah and Eng. Ayoub was very challenging since Lebanon and Syria already had chairmanship positions, Special Committee and CCV respectively for the past four years, and Lebanon could not have been “expected” to get any chairmanship for the coming period.

This conference is an important milestone for radio communications. The outcome of this international treaty-making conference will have worldwide ramifications in the field of communications. The WRC12 will have a major impact on Lebanon’s National Frequency allocation Table (LNFT) and TRA’s future regulations that would establish better spectrum coordination between Lebanon and neighboring Arab countries.