02 November 2016
TRA is Gold Sponsor for 60th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the standardization sector

The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) is participating with a high-level delegation at the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) meeting which started on October 25 in Yasmine Al Hammamat City in Tunisia and will continue until November 3, 2016. The meeting is held every four years with the participation of official delegations from various countries in addition to more than 1,000 guests interested or involved in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. This year’s edition will once again gather senior government officials, experts, operators, manufacturers, academics and other stakeholder organizations. The TRA is the official Gold Sponsor for the assembly’s celebration of the standardization sector’s 60th anniversary.

The agenda of the meetings include discussions on security, privacy and reliability in ICT, as well as conformity, quality adoption, operational ability and interconnection. Also to be highlighted are amendments to internal procedures for the standardization sector within the International Telecommunication Union and the disabled’s right to access ICT services. The election of committee president and vice president for the study committee on standardization will also be held, with UAE nominated for two important positions: as president of the 20th study committee, the committee responsible for the Internet of Things and smart cities, and vice president for the 2ndstudy committee responsible for digitalization.

H.E. Majed Al Mesmar, TRA Deputy Director General for Telecommunication Sector and head of the UAE delegation, said during the 60th anniversary celebration that the accelerated developments in the sector in recent years have put pressure on the importance of finding solutions through international collaboration in the field. It is important to formulate standards, regulations, specifications to guarantee security and privacy through the new development of ICT.

“The amount of data that humanity can produce in two days now is equivalent to what civilizations have produced since ancient times up to the beginning of this millennium. That is what we call big data which is not latent or diminished, but flows in various directions, sending information not only between humans, but also among devices or the so-called machine-to-machine connectivity (M2M) and Internet of things (IoT). These developments are the main features of smart cities and are accompanied by challenges in terms of security, privacy and interface integration,” H.E. added.

The last WTSA was held in 2012 in Dubai where various important decisions were made related to the internal systems of the standardization sector, including the responsibilities and tasks of various study committees. The meeting issued recommendations for the regulatory framework of the sector. It is worth to highlight the special preparations of the Arab Group and the coordination with other regional groups to share views and unify positions whenever possible. The UAE is the vice president of the Arab team in charge for preparing for the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly in the current session.

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© Press Release 2016