TRA hosts the ITU Regional Forum on ICT Measurement

Mobilk - The ITU Regional Forum on ICT Measurement has been officially launched today in Dubai, hosted by the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) during the period 12 – 14 December 2016, in coordination and collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The Forum aims to enhance the countries capabilities in the region to produce ICT related statistics, based on internationally agreed standards and national methodologies and indicators. The event has witnessed a significant presence of high-level officials and national experts in this field, in addition to representatives of ministries, regulatory agencies, national statistical offices, service providers, regional and international organizations, as well as other relevant stakeholders. 

In his speech for the official opening ceremony, H.E Engineer Majed Al Mesmar, Acting Director General of TRA, said: In the United Arab Emirates, we pay exceptional importance to the global indexes in various fields, especially those issued by the ITU. Our wise leadership ensures that these global indicators are our compass to strengthen our efforts towards enhancing competitiveness, through deriving 70 national objectives; many of them are based on these global indicators. In addition to mobilizing all government and national efforts to achieve these objectives by the UAE Golden Jubilee, within the UAE vision 2021. One example is our keenness to be ranked among the top ten countries in the global Network Readiness Index (NRI), and to be ranked first in the Online Service Index (OSI).

H.E Al Mesmar added: In the context of such a high interest in global indexes, and its emanating national objectives, H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has delivered an open letter to the people of the UAE, included among many issues, an order from H.H to form working teams at the government levels, under the name of he Executive Teams of the National Agenda. These teams consist of 550 officials representing different sectors and levels, to work under his direct supervision, in order to ensure the full achievements of these objectives on a timely manner.

H.E concluded his speech in saying: On the infrastructure level, and through analyzing data and facts related to the national telecommunication network ability to accommodate the developments of smart cities, and transition into the digital knowledge economy, efforts are being made in the UAE to adapt the telecom network with the fifth-generation technologies (5G), where the national investments would reach around 10 (Ten) Billion Dollars by 2020.

Moreover, H.E Brahima Sanou, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) praised in his speech the UAEs achievements in the ICT Development Index (IDI). He highlighted the UAEs advancement in several sub-indexes, in addition to achieving the first rank regionally in the IDI Access sub-index.

The Forum agenda includes the discussion of many important topics, such as the ITUs efforts in the field of ICT measurement, the exchange of knowledge and experiences in this regard, coordination and related national procedures and lessons learned. Additionally, successful experiments have been reviewed during the Forum in relation to coordinating efforts between the countries as well as collecting and analyzing data, and the sustainable development objectives of the ITU, as stipulated in in the ITU agenda 2020.

The Forum will conclude tomorrow by holding a number of workshops and technical sessions that include statistics on ICT services demand, related development indexes, and statistics of Big Data.