Page 100 - SAMENA Trends - August 2019

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

A SNAPSHOT OF REGULATORY ACTIVITIES

IN SAMENA REGION

Afghanistan

Discussions were made on mechanism for online registration complaints through ATRA, has been designed in a manner that
and investigation of the customers’ complaints in the meeting the complaints are referred online to the companies with least
organized between ATRA Customer Care Unit and representatives time, and the companies then provide ATRA with actions and
of the telecom companies; the system was explained to the information through the system on investigating the complaint
companies by Licensing and Legal Department of ATRA. without wasting time as he said. The companies were requested
Speaking in the meeting, Mr. Nazer Hussain Raihani, Customer in the meeting to strictly cooperate in regard to complaints
Care Head, termed the purpose of online process for customer’s registered by ATRA on a timely manner so as to investigate the
complaints registration facilitating and speeding up investigation complaints in a better way.
the complaints and problems. The system, to investigate the (August 7, 2019) atra.gov.af

Algeria

It has been confirmed that Algerian WiMAX-based B2B broadband on 21 August 2019. The two companies were accused of non-
operator Smart Link Communication (SLC) and its satellite payment of taxes and denied the renewal of their licenses by the
subsidiary Divona ceased all telecom activities in the country regulatory authorities. (August 28, 2019) Agence Ecofin

Bahrain

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is pleased NBNETCo BSC(c)) Reference Offer (“RO”) on its website. The
to announce that pursuant to its powers under Article 3 RO incorporates the regulated wholesale products and services
of the Telecommunications Law, section 4.9 of the Fixed (including the price and non-price terms) to be offered by BNet
Telecommunications Infrastructure Network License and to other Licensed Operators and is effective as of 1 August 2019.
paragraph 21 of the Reference Offer Order (Ref: LAD 0619 178) The published version of the RO now in effect is available on the
the Authority has published the BNet BSC (“BNet”) (formerly Authority’s website. (August 1, 2019) tra.org.bh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s government proposed simplifying regulations by 3G licenses to be extended to match the expiry data for the 4G
introducing a single spectrum license for mobile operators to licenses, which were issued in February 2018, the newspaper said.
replace separate permits for each mobile technology, The Daily The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission
Star reported. The country’s seven operators currently have (BTRC) also proposed calculating spectrum charges based on
separate 2G, 3G and 4G licenses expiring in 2026, 2028 and 2033 an operator’s subscriber base. SM Farhad, Secretary General
respectively. The consolidated licenses would expire in 2033, of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh,
with operators required to pay additional fees for the 2G and welcomed the move and said “we appreciate the initiative. It will

100 AUGUST 2019