The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) held a specialized workshop on the Rights of Way and New Building Requirements on February 26, 2009, at the Gefinor Rotana Hotel.

The workshop attendees included:

• H.E. Minister of Telecommunications Eng. Gebran Bassil,
• TRA Chairman and CEO, Dr. Kamal Shehadi
• Director General of Operations and maintenance at the Ministry of Telecommunications/President of OGERO, Dr. Abd Al Menhem Youssif
• Director General of Construction and Equipment, Eng. Naji Andraos
• Representative of the Minister of Interior, Director General of Municipal and Village Affairs, Mr. Khalil Hajal
• Tutelage Director of Ministry of Power and Water, Mr. Mahmoud Baroud
• Secretary of the Higher Council for Urban Planning, Ms. Samar Ramadan
• Representatives from the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), Electricité Du Liban, , and the Order of Engineers
• Developers and other concerned parties were also present.

Dr. Imad Hoballah, the head of the Telecommunications Technologies Unit at TRA, introduced the workshop with a welcoming statement declaring it to be the second specialized workshop organized by the TRA following the workshop on TV and Radio Broadcasting Regulation. He stated that the objective of the workshop was to set up a forum that offers the TRA, participants, and stakeholders the chance to present their relevant point of views.

Minster Bassil

In his opening speech, Minister of Telecommunications Bassil called on the private sector to take full advantage of the telecom building space and infrastructure owned by the Telecommunications Ministry. He added that the Ministry’s assets, network infrastructure and operations make it the richest ministry in Lebanon.

Minister Bassil pointed out that the plan for the ongoing network (infrastructure) projects should take into account the (need for sufficient) telecommunications ducts, avoid frequent digging, reduce waste, and provide additional revenues for the public treasury. These would come from the leasing fees which may be collected from other network operators, considering that civil works represent the majority of network costs.

Minister Bassil said, “I requested from the Urban Planning Department, through the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, that building licenses should provide for the establishment of a special telecommunications box or room similar to the electricity room.” He added, “I also requested from Alfa and MTC to make use of only one mast per building, instead of two separate masts for each company, in order to reduce costs and avoid waste.”

Dr. Shehadi

Dr. Shehadi, Chairman of the TRA, announced that the TRA is currently working on the preparation of the terms of reference for the broadband licenses in order to pave the way for the license auction, which is expected to be launched in the next months. He said that this workshop is important because it reflects the TRA’s vision to enable Lebanon to implement broadband services as soon as possible, and to connect homes and businesses with fiber optic cables within the next 2-3 years.

Dr. Shehadi explained that: “Broadband services, in all their technological flavors, are not yet available in Lebanon, including interactive TV, videoconferencing, intelligent building control, and other services. These can only be provided to the Lebanese people through the important points mentioned in this workshop.”

He added that the workshop includes “a presentation and discussion of a draft decree developed by the TRA to facilitate access of licensed companies to public properties for the deployment of their networks according to the provisions of the Telecommunications Law. The draft decree defines the conditions of using public properties, the procedures to be followed for requesting such use, and the basis for allocation of charges, compensations and fees. This draft decree shall be submitted to the Council of Ministers, through the Minister of Telecommunications, following the consultation process.”

The workshop also included a presentation and discussion of another draft decree related to the readiness of new buildings to be connected to broadband service networks. It is not enough to deploy underground networks, if no planning has been made in advance to connect the buildings to these networks. This decree which defines the new building requirements for receiving broadband services is expected to be issued as an appendix to the building law, following the aforementioned relevant consultations. It will be submitted to the Directorate General of Urban Planning for publication according to applicable procedures.”

Dr. Shehadi added that the TRA’s Board of Directors approved, on the 10th of February, both the Service Provider Licensing Regulation and Spectrum Management and Licensing Regulation. The State Consultative Council also revised and approved the following draft regulations: Interconnection Regulation, Significant Market Power Regulation, Technical Quality of Service and Key Performance Indicators and Type Approval Regulation.

Draft Decree Related to the Use of Public Properties

Dr. Shehadi summarized the importance of this decree in the following points:

• It will allow Lebanon to have a competitive broadband market operated by a number of fiber optic service providers competing to offer the best quality of service.
• It will dramatically increase the deployment of new fiber optic networks and significantly reduce installation costs since civil works represent the majority (60-70%) of network installation costs.
• The license auction, coupled with higher license price offers, will ensure increased revenues for the government. There is no doubt that companies will pay higher prices because the utilizing existing network infrastructure will allow them to cut back on their costs. The government will also be able to collect annual revenues from leasing the access to ducts and conduits.
• Public works will be implemented only once in order to avoid frequent interruption of people’s movement and work and to minimize traffic congestion.
• The relationship between telecommunications service providers and relevant administrations will be clarified by defining the rights and obligations of each party. This will positively affect network deployment progress by using the existing infrastructure, especially the Ministry of Telecommunications’ ducts, while also facilitating the organization of works on public properties and on roads in particular, as well as securing additional revenues for these administrations.
• It will define and clarify the TRA’s role for resolving differences between concerned administrations and service providers with respect to access to public properties.
• It will set out the ground rules for the allocation of charges, compensation, and fees, which will secure reasonable revenues for concerned administrations in return for the occupancy of public properties by service providers.

Dr. Shehadi believed that this decree is significant because it will allow Lebanon to successfully enter the broadband era and finally catch up with developed countries.

Draft Decree Related to Infrastructure within Buildings

According to Dr. Shehadi, this second decree is also significant for the following reasons:

1. New buildings will be prepared in advance to accommodate the new telecommunications services, including broadband services. This will lead to the reduction of broadband installation costs and improve overall availability to end users.
2. Facilitated implementation of broadband services will be possible after having completed the access networks in the building area.
3. Allowing construction companies to provide new apartments and offices with an additional advantage at a very low cost (relative to overall building cost).

Dr. Shehadi mentioned that the TRA will benefit from comments and proposals presented by the participants, and that they will do everything possible to take them into consideration for the two decrees, which will be amended accordingly. He believes that after the “ratification of the decree related to the use of public properties, Lebanon will have broadband regulations that are similar to those of developed countries, in line with the best international standards.”

Hajal and Ramadan

Mr. Khalil Hajal, the Director General for Municipal and village affairs and the representative of Minister of Interior and municipalities , also presented at the workshop. He focused on the TRA’s important role in developing the telecommunications sector, and the significance of cooperation among all public administrations to achieve this objective. He also pointed out the municipalities role as key players in the development process, especially considering that there are 940 municipalities spread out over Lebanon.

Mr. Hajal confirmed that all municipalities and municipalities unions were ready to cooperate with the TRA and the Ministry of Telecommunications. This is an approach they usually adopt, to provide fruitful cooperation with all ministries and administrations concerned with the implementation of projects in the municipal sector.

Following this speech, Ms Samar Ramadan, representing the Higher Council of Urban Planning, gave her interpretation. She stated that the Directorate General of Urban Planning received the TRA paper requesting the adoption of the new building requirements and was highly responsive to the requirements for development of the telecommunications sector, and that they are ready to issue the required decrees, when necessary.

Eid

Following this, Mr. Patrick Eid, TRA’s board member and head of Market and Competition unit, presented “The Introduction of the New Buildings Requirements and Rights of Way workshop”. He claimed that the TRA, with expert support, has conducted a technical study to investigate the recommendations adopted, internationally and by SOLIDERE, so as to identify the most convenient recommendations and technical specifications that new buildings must comply with, in order to accommodate broadband services at a minimal cost to the consumer.

He went on to describe how the TRA has had many meetings with the President of the Council of Ministers and the Directorate General of Urban Planning. They agreed to commission the TRA to prepare a study which defines the technical requirements for rehabilitation of old and new buildings; provided that the applicable decree pertinent to the building law is amended and then submitted to the Council of Ministers, through the Directorate General of Urban Planning, for ratification.