TRA Organizes the NGNae Forum

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) organized the UAE Next Generation Network Forum (NGNae) held on 14th of September 2011at its Dubai offices.The meeting was headed by TRA Director, Infrastructure & Services  Eng. Mohammed Al Ramsi, and attended by senior officials from the TRA, as well as representatives from Etisalat, Du, Nokia Siemens Networks, Ericsson, and ADMC.
NGNae is an industry forum established on July 5th, 2011 with the initialpurpose to guide and leverage issues and activities pertaining to Next Generation Network interconnection, interoperability, and other issues related to NGN Transition.  Its ongoing purpose is to create an improved framework for the industry, and ensure that it is in accordance with the Telecom Law.
Commenting on the NGNae forum, Director General of the TRA, H.E. Muhammad Nasser Al Ghanim said: “This meeting comes following the launch of the NGN Industry Forum framework last July; therefore, it represents another step taken by the TRA to keep pace with the significantchanges witnessed by the telecommunications industry throughout the world. This forum aims to encourage the industrial sectorin the UAE to migrate to the NGN infrastructure.”
“The forum focusedmainly on providing the licensees with an opportunity to contribute and share their views on NGN regulations framework. A solid framework enhances the ICT sector in the country, creates clear and transparent NGN regulations, promotes broadband and advanced services for end users, encourages innovations, and ensures customer security and protection,” he added.
Participants were introduced during the meeting to the NGNae forum, and ashort presentation about the forum was displayed in order to provide the audience with an overview about the need to transform to NGN, and the benefits behind such a transformation. A transition to NGN can be accomplished in coordination and corporation of both licensees to review and analyze issues related to implications of NGN convergence, as well as the challenges licensees might face during the transition. The core, access, transport, and application layer of NGN networks were also considered during the meeting.
Furthermore, it was stressed that licensees will have the chance to exchange experience and knowledge, express their views and challenges to migrate to NGN. In addition the meeting discussed the development of technical framework and standards required for NGN, and proposed projects to be handled by NGNae for the next three years.
In regards to the assistance extended by the TRA to the forum,the meeting discussed the TRA’s role in the development of the NGNae sector,it noted that the NGN implementation has and continues to evolve differently around the world due to differences in national communication needs and consumer demand, levels of development of existing infrastructure, and regulatory framework. The forum pointedout that the TRA, in its capacity as sector regulator for telecommunications, has an important role to play in NGN introduction and growth in the UAE.
It was also mentioned that the TRA will focus on shaping the new regulatory framework sothat it does not hinder development, while at the same time, continues to focus on achievement of its operational objectives in light of possible new developments in the sector.
The meeting stressed that the international experience indicates that the most effective role of the regulator in relation to the market is not as a promoter of new services and technologies, but rather as a facilitator and referee, and the most economically efficient and appropriate decisions on NGN roll-out will come naturally from the operators based on opportunities and needs that they perceive in the UAE.