FNC asks TRA to devise strategic plan for Emiratisation

Abu Dhabi / WAM

The Federal National Council (FNC) on Tuesday called for devising a strategic plan to Emiratise the telecommunications sector during a session for debating the policy of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
The house recommended that the plan should include programmes and initiatives on the best methods to nationalise the vital sector and should consider the present and future requirements of the sector along with financial bonuses for
employees.
The FNC recommended that the TRA mull slashing of prices of all communications services following the completion of the terrestrial networks exchange project and opening of the geographical domain of licensed operators.
The house committee for Islamic Affairs and public utilities issued a set of recommendations after discussing the TRA policy.
The recommendations called for introducing benchmarks for measuring performance of the TRA’s activities and initiatives, preparing a programme for adopting the concept of ‘‘Knowledge and information-based economy’’ in the TRA’s future, earmarking financial allocations for more training technical programmes to build the capacities of Emirati technicians and professionals, and dedicating special programmes to deliver low-price communications services to persons with special needs and to help them communicate and interact with others.
The recommendations stressed the importance of promoting the e-commerce applications, encouraging investment in e-commerce technologies and building and qualifying national taskforces as per international best practices to respond to ICT emergencies and combat cybercrimes.
The committee made these recommendations after it held eight meetings during which it examined a number of research papers. It also held extensive discussions with TRA representatives to exchange views and obtain clarifications on a host of issues regarding its strategic Emiratisation plan, the regulatory framework for competition in the ICT sector, and prices of services
in comparison with those in
neighbouring countries,
Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri, TRA Director-General, gave a presentation during the session about the
national communications plan which seeks to establish the sector as a key contributor to national
development.
‘‘Any improvement in any of the services needs some time,’’ he noted.
Elaborating on the TRA’s achievements, Al Mansouri said that the number of users had grown steadily to 20 million and the TRA spent AED800 million on development and improvement projects.
‘‘Emiratisation in the TRA is one of the highest among government entities reaching 82 percent, while the government target is 62 percent,’’ he noted.
Answering a question about the complaints against telecom operators increasing to more than 3,000, the TRA chief said a project that will finish by end of 2017 will connect the customer relationship with the TRA and operators and they will handle complaints online.
‘‘There is a technological challenge and we will have better monitoring next year,’’ he added.
The house decided to refer the recommendations to the committee for redrafting and inclusion of MPs’ remarks on the final report.
The 8th session of the house’s First Ordinary Session of the 16th Legislative Chapter was chaired Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Speaker of Federal National Council (FNC), and attended by Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development, and Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs.