December 14, 2007

In November the TRA participated in the 5th annual Francophone Network of Telecommunications Regulation (FRATEL) meeting in Montreux. Switzerland.

The conference took Quality of Service and Consumer Protection as its major theme and consisted of three round table discussions scheduled over three days. The TRA’s participation in this event aimed at furthering Lebanon’s profile as a major active participant in international seminars while learning from the experience of other nations and benchmarking against international best practices in the telecommunications field.

Prior to the three days of round tables, half a day was devoted to wireless local loop and frequency allocation. This gave various countries the opportunity to discuss their experiences of allocating wireless resources.

The round tables gave European regulators the chance to share their expertise on the three subjects of tools available to regulators to ensure quality of service, securing access to telecommunications for the widest range of people, and the competencies required to control quality of services and protect consumers in this regard.

One of the issues raised by many countries was the need for access to service to be defined not only as a regulatory matter but also as requiring government level policies. This is due to the investment and infrastructure that is required if the high access targets are to be met. At the end of the seminar, FRATEL’s annual report was discussed, an action plan for 2008 was set and a new coordination committee and president were elected.

The protection of consumer rights is one of the TRA’s main objectives, not just in terms of securing fair prices for telecommunications but in ensuring quality of service. The TRA is devoting major time and resources to this prime area of concern and in this regard it is coordinating with representatives of consumer protection associations and other civil entities to ensure this matter continues to be a priority.