Egypt's National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) is in the final phase of finalising broadband wireless access (BWA) regulations, says Mohannad El-Megharbel, senior telecoms planning engineer at the authority.
The NTRA will hold a session today to discuss BWA regulation in the country, before it is formerly introduced, says El-Megharbel.
In the past few months, the NTRA decided to go through a three-phase consultation process with different market players in preparation for granting licences for BWA technologies.
"There has been constant consultation by many market players with the NTRA regarding the proposed regulatory framework for BWA networks working in the frequency band of 3.5 GHz," El-Megharbel explains.
Today's session will allow the NTRA to make final amendments to the BWA regulatory framework proposed in the second phase, he adds.
Market response
According El-Megharbel, the consultation process has been coupled with market response towards gaining a BWA licence. "There have been 23 responses from market players."
Some of the interested parties include Vodafone-Egypt, Telecom Egypt, Orascom, Alkan, EgyNet, Nile Online and TEData, as well as Alcatel, Huawei, Motorola and Siemens.
Any telecoms operator is allowed to provide BWA services according to the conditions stated in the general regulatory framework for BWA networks, he says.
"The regulatory rules for the 3.5GHz frequency band will have to provide a business case that fulfils the requirements set in the BWA."
Increasing penetration
El-Megharbel notes that the push towards BWA is important for increasing broadband Internet penetration in Egypt. "Currently we have about 181 984 broadband Internet users out of about 75 million people, which is very low."
He notes that it is also important for increasing the voice tele-accessibility, which only stands at around 12 million fixed-line subscribers.
BWA is one of the main pillars of the convergence era, which Egypt must take advantage of, El-Megharbel notes.
"By introducing BWA, we will also pave the road for a strong e-content market by providing high-speed connections. It will enhance community services, like e-health and e-learning."
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