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Display Form For Public Consultation on the draft text of the Strategic Plan 2016-2019


Name :	AL-KHWAITER, Zyad
Date :	April 24, 2014
Organization :	Saudi Telecom Company (STC)
Country :	Saudi Arabia
Contribution :	Thank you for opening this opportunity to contribute to ITU 2016 - 2019 Strategic Plan. The comments are: 1) Background Document, Section 2.2.1: We have one general comment: ITU, while ensuring the development of Telecommunication/ICT services may need to safeguard the interest of traditional telecommunications players against the disruptive and mostly freemium services / business models of emerging non-traditional telecom players, such as OTT and other web based players. These players are reshaping the value chain on which the traditional telcos’ business models were based upon producing numerous challenges. So we believe that the Union need to play its role and it could be in the shape of: - Necessary regulation framework to protect against market value erosion - Facilitating dialogue / partnerships for enhanced collaboration - Ensuring level playing fields among various players This would warrant continued investment of traditional telcos in the necessary infrastructure which is key enabler for provisioning of telecommunication/ICT services around the globe. Rationale: With the current situation, Telcos will not be able to invest in NGN unless there is more flexibility in terms of regulation to guarantee the ROI. Others models where the investment are funded by public funds will increase the digital divide penalizing developing countries lacking natural resources. 2) Background Document, Section 2.2.3.1: More emphasis should be done by ITU to preserve the basic principles of telecommunications (quality, confidentiality, authentication, security) in the new ways of communication. Rationale: Lack of basic principles of telecommunications damages the customer experience and poses important challenges to the society overall in terms of security 3) Draft Strategic Plan, Section 3.1.3: The economic sustainability should be include as well, to guarantee a sustainable business model where the Telcos have an adequate return on investment Rationale: If current regulatory regime is maintain telcos will not have the capability to invest. Others models where the investment are funded will create an increase in the digital divide penalizing developing countries lacking natural resources. Thank you for taking these comments into consideration.