TRA continues its participation in GITEX Technical Week 2011

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) continued its participation on the fourth day of GITEX Technical Week 2011 held at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, during 9-13 October 2011 amid wide local, regional, and international participation of key ICT industry movers and shakers.

Commenting on the activities of the day, H.E. Mohammad Nassir Al Ghanim, TRA Director General said: “Our participation on this day of GITEX Week is highly important, due to the topics that we have been discussing related to our operations. The topics included a variety of activities such as monitoring, licensing, and awareness campaigns that make up the core of TRA’s work, which aims at achieving its goals in providing a safe and suitable environment for users and industry players in the UAE ICT sector.”

“Through the wide attendance that GITEX Week has witnessed so far, we sense a keen interest by companies, entities, as well as individuals, about what the UAE ICT industry brings to our society, educational system, and economy. We are motivated to move the industry forward into wider and broader horizons, in order to maintain our leading position regionally and support it on the international level,” Al Ghanim added.

At TRA's stand, visitors watched a presentation displaying information about spectrum monitoring, a program which aims at facilitating planning and operation management, eliminating and minimizing harmful interferences as much as possible, and limiting illegal spectrum usage by identifying locations of unauthorized transmissions. The presentation showed that the TRA has established a network of Spectrum Monitoring facilities, integrated with Spectrum Management System which consists of state-of-the-art radio monitoring and direction finding equipments. The TRA has established seven Fixed Monitoring Systems (FMS) in the UAE, one in each of the Emirates, which are un-manned, remotely controlled monitoring systems, in addition to deploying many Mobile Monitoring Systems (MMS).

Another presentation at the TRA's frequented stand explained Type Approval, a requirement for Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (RTTE) to comply with specific technical equipment which must be registered with the TRA before it can be supplied in the UAE. A  presentation included an overview on the objectives of this regime which are to facilitate competition in the supply of telecommunications equipment and to stimulate the availability of a wide variety of equipment. The showcase on the topic underlined that the type approval process is open, transparent, non-discriminatory, and supports the promotion of competition in the telecommunications sector. The presentation also illustrated the formal regulations set by the TRA for type approval highlighting that these regulations are the definitive statement of the roles and responsibilities of the TRA. Any person wishing to register radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment (RTTE) are required to comply with relevant technical specifications and to be registered with the TRA before it can be supplied in the UAE.

In-line with awareness campaigns, a presentation displayed information on the public awareness campaign launched by the TRA, aiming at enlightening the general public and phone retailers about the applied rules and regulations related to the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) Numbers in the UAE, in order to assist them to comply with those rules, and avoid any legal consequences that may result from failing to abide by the regulations. The campaign also highlighted the UAE Telecom sector regulations that prohibit importing, manufacturing, managing, supplying, selling, or offering for sale any Mobile Telecommunications Apparatus for which the IMEI Numbers have been altered in any way, and such acts, without the consent of the manufacturer, is considered as a breach of these regulations applicable in the UAE.

The fourth day of Gitex witnessed the TRA's continued effort to highlight its operations and inform the public about its awareness campaigns; an ongoing endeavor of the TRA carried out in order to safeguard the community.