Archived Newsroom • Press Release |
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Bahrain welcomes world’s top tech policy makers at
leading UN regulatory gathering
Global experts debate best ways to stimulate growth of digital services
Manama, Bahrain, 3 June, 2014 – Bahrain today welcomed more
than 650 high-level international delegates from the world’s information and
communication technology (ICT) regulatory authorities, who will spend the week
debating the opportunities and challenges of tomorrow’s increasingly
interconnected digital environment.
The world’s largest specialized gathering of ICT policy makers, ITU’s
Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) aims to stimulate
debate, knowledge sharing and exchange of best practice among regulators,
industry leaders, government policy analysts and other key ICT stakeholders.
Hosted by the Government of Bahrain under the patronage of Prime Minister HRH
Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the event is taking place at the Gulf
Hotel Bahrain from 3-5 June. Discussions will focus around ‘Capitalizing on the
Potential of the Digital World’, and feature key topics including Big Data;
consumer empowerment; strategies to stimulate ICT market competition and meet
growing demand for network capacity; emerging digital business models such as
OTT and cloud services; and innovative radio spectrum management trends.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of Bahrain is partnering
with ITU to host the symposium, which is officially chaired by TRA Chairman Dr
Mohammed Ahmed Alamer. This morning’s opening ceremony welcomed a great many
distinguished guests, including HH Sheikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Deputy
Premier of Bahrain,
H.E. Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa,
Minister of State for Telecommunications Affairs, and ITU Secretary-General,
Dr Hamadoun I. Touré.
In his opening address to GSR-14 delegates, Dr Touré said the digital
ecosystem has re-drawn the business boundaries and paved the way for a wealth of
fresh and innovative ideas. “In this new business landscape, how can we ensure
that both consumers and businesses benefit from the opportunities of living in a
digital society? How can we respond to their need for a secure, reliable and
trustworthy ecosystem, while fostering a positive investment climate that will
ensure we can finance tomorrow’s infrastructure rollout?” he asked.
The symposium’s Opening Debate, Redefining Responsibilities in a Data-Driven
Digital World, featured top-name speakers including TRA’s Mohammed Alamer;
Bocar Ba, Chief Executive Officer, Samena Telecommunications Council;
Magdalena Gaj, President of the Office of Electronic Communications of Poland
and GSR-13 Chair; Gabrielle Gauthey, President, Global Government Sector,
Alcatel-Lucent; and Lin Mombo, President of the Regulatory Board of the Autorité
de Régulation des Communications Eléctroniques et des Postes (ARCEP), Gabon. The
debate was moderated by Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication
Development Bureau (BDT), which organizes the symposium every year as a service
to ITU’s public and private sector members.
“Users today increasingly have to deal with new issues brought about by new
technologies, new devices, new online services and applications which affect
consumer behaviour. In a globalized, interconnected and increasingly complex
environment, consumer education and empowerment are critical for users to fully
benefit from the potential of the digital world,” Mr Sanou said.
This year’s symposium comes at a time of enormous transition for the ICT
sector. Sharp increases in data flows resulting from the rapid development of
new services and applications such as cloud computing, coupled with always-on,
ubiquitous ICT networks, are challenging traditional regulatory approaches.
In his opening address, GSR-14 Chair Mohammed Alamer said: “We are gathered
here to examine ways of ensuring that the full array of benefits of the digital
world is brought to all citizens in an informed, responsive and safe manner.
This can only be achieved through effective and smart regulation targeted at
empowering consumers, redefining responsibilities, and creating the conditions
for a data-driven economy to flourish. Here in Bahrain we are very much in
favour of ‘light touch’ regulation, with market dynamics shaping the telecoms
industry, and the competition within it."
GSR-14 continues until Thursday 5 June, culminating in a series of regulatory
Best Practice Guidelines. Outputs from the meeting will
also be incorporated into ITU’s annual regulatory report,
Trends in Telecommunication Reform.
The essential voice of industry is brought in through the Global
Regulators-Industry Dialogue (GRID), where both public and private sector
participants have the chance to debate pressing challenges, such as how to best
meet exponential demand for capacity and high-speed connectivity.
In addition, a special
dedicated meeting of private sector Chief Regulatory Officers,
held just prior to the opening of the GSR, is designed to facilitate discussion
and information sharing among telecommunication service and technology
companies, and frame debate during the symposium itself.
The
Pre-event Programme on 2 June opened with an ITU
Workshop on White Spaces and Dynamic Spectrum Access
focused around opportunities and challenges linked to new approaches to spectrum
management
ITU also hosted a
special meeting of Regulatory Associations, where delegates
had the opportunity for discussion, information exchange and bridge-building to
promote better and more active cooperation between Regulatory Associations
around the world.
In addition, the programme featured a special
seminar on "Satellite Communications Spectrum:
Assessing User Needs for Connectivity", co-organized by the Global VSAT
Forum and the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO).
A series of Discussion Papers on key GSR issues is available
here.
Background information, including speeches of the high-level participants and
key global statistics on broadband, are available on the GSR-14 Newsroom at
http://www.itu.int/en/newsroom/gsr-14/Pages/default.aspx.
Download GSR-14 photos:
www.flickr.com/photos/itupictures/collections/72157631420351334/
Watch GSR-14 video interviews:
www.youtube.com/user/itutelecommunication
Follow the event on Twitter at: #GSR14.
For more information, visit the
GSR-14 home page or contact:
Sarah Parkes
ITU
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information
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Jeoff Barraclough
R3 / Strategic
Communications Consultancy
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Monica Albertini
Communications Officer,
Telecommunication Development Bureau
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TRA Bahrain:
Mohamed Ali Al Khalifa
Senior PR & Media Specialist
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www.itu.int/facebook
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