The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has co-hosted the International Institute of Communication’s Telecommunications and Digital Media Forum (TDMF) in Qatar from March 22 to 23. The Forum has brought together regional and international policy and decision makers in Doha to exchange ideas and experiences that will help the industry to evolve.
The aim of the Forum is to consider best practice policy and regulatory decision making to drive accessibility, affordability and competitiveness, while ensuring that the digital ecosystem is fair and offers protection to all.
The two-day forum, being held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Doha, is tackling a range of issues such as, stimulating investment in telecom and digital media innovation, content digitization, convergence, consumer protection, OTT services, net neutrality principles and encouraging competition. Panel discussions include sessions on policy and regulatory challenges, and opportunities in the region as well as on the changing roles and responsibilities of regulators and the private sector.
High-level dignitaries from GCC members states attended the Forum including His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Salem Al Ruwais, Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; His Excellency Shk. Nasser Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa, Deputy General Director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in Bahrain; and Mohammed Al-Ramsi, Head of Regulatory Affairs at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in the UAE.
The Forum has attracted senior representatives of regulators from different parts of the world including GCC member states, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Germany, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Singapore, among others. The private sector expert speakers from Cisco, Dentons, Etisalat, Ericsson, Facebook, Nokia, Microsoft, etc. were also among panel speakers.
"Communications is a key component of the business and social environment of any country and the sector is evolving at an incredible speed, so it is critical that we have a solid regulatory foundation to keep pace with the ever changing dynamics. It is therefore important to learn from the experience of others, thus CRA is continually engaging with regulators and industry experts from GCC member states and countries around the world at events like today’s Forum to foster the development of Qatar into a smart, connected nation, through effective and innovative ICT regulations," said His Excellency Mohammed Ali Al-Mannai, President of CRA.
"The IIC places itself at the intersection of business and public policy, recognizing the value of debate and shared interest with the intention of facilitating ideas to be disseminated and exchanged and common understandings to be promoted. We are delighted to be in Doha again, after a number of years. The market is growing robustly with untapped demand for services, among both businesses and citizens. This richly expanding market and explosion of digital consumption provides challenges for regulators and policy makers. It is against this backdrop that we are discussing topics of key significance at TDMF," said Andrea Millwood Hargrave, Director General of IIC.