ITU to open up doors to Palestine ICT sector wider

Sunday, Apr 06, 2014

Dubai: International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Sunday approved six resolutions at the sixth World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-14), being held in Dubai. The conference opened on March 30.

“We have a made a very good progress last week. The atmosphere of this conference is so conducive to positive resolutions. Fortunately, we are not influenced by the Ukraine case so far. All the minds are tuned to one direction,” Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of International Telecommunication Union, told Gulf News.

He said the good thing is that US, Canada, Japan and European countries have been so eager to be part of this development conference. They are taking part in debates on development issues.

One of the main resolutions, which was unanimously accepted by all countries and endorsed by all, he said, was the opening up of the ICT sector in Palestine. The resolution recognises the right of Palestine to use broadband and gives the ITU oversight to migrate their terrestrial TV from analogue to digital and implementation of 3G/4G broadband services.

“ITU will open up the doors for Palestine people to have 3G/4G broadband access and spectrum sharing. The people in Palestine should get access to ICT. This was negotiated with the US, who is representing Israel this time,” he said.

The resolution will go to the Plenipotentiary conference taking place in Busan, Republic of Korea, from October 20 to November 7 this year.

Immediately after the meeting, Touré said the cost of implementation will be calculated and expects public-private partnerships to play a “key role” in opening up the sector.


Most important issues

Mohammad Nasser Al Ganem, Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of the UAE, and Head of the UAE delegation, said the most important issues approved were the cyber security, climate change and broadband tariffs.

“So far, we have had a very good progress and no controversial issues. The delegates are working positively and unlike other conferences where political issues have propped up on the table to solve technical issues,” he said.

One of the expected outcomes of WTDC-14 is the Dubai Action Plan, which will set the agenda for development of telecommunication and information and communication technologies over the next four years.

By Naushad K Cherrayil Staff Reporter

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