Page 101 - SAMENA Trends - August 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

while Vodafone tailed the list, outperforming in only five areas a new monthly stamp duty of EGP0.67 (USD0.03) will be collected
with an average speed of 20 Mbps. (August 3, 2020) menafn.com by operators from pre-paid subscribers, up from the previous
charge of EGP.051. Meanwhile, post-paid subscribers – who are
Egypt has raised the stamp duty tax on telecom services, marking billed annually for the tax – will see their fee increase from EGP6.1
the first time that the levy has been increased since subscribers to EGP8.0.
began being billed directly for it in 2012. Effective from July 2020, (July 21, 2020) Ahram Online

Iran

Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology reduce the delay by 5 to 6 milliseconds in this test.” Elsewhere in
(ICT) said that first trial of high-speed 5G mobile internet his remarks, the deputy ICT minister pointed out that targeting the
technology has been successfully tested in Iran with a speed of speed of data exchange in 5G network in the world is theoretically
1.5 gigabits per second (Gb/s). Speaking in an interview with Mehr one to 20 gigabits, adding, “this speed is proportional to the
news agency on Wed., Sattar Hashemi expounded on the reasons investment and other components but the average considered
behind Iran’s entry into G5 technology and added, “ICT’s Research for it (5G) will be a speed between 1.5 and 2 gigabits.” Hashemi
Center is the location of the first 5th generation communications reiterated that the test trial in ICT Research Center would enable
site and all stakeholders in this field can participate in the research all stakeholders of the ethnology in Iran, including other mobile
and development (R&D) of this project.” In the pilot test of this operators, to contribute to the project. Currently, the average
project, a speed of 1.5 gigabits per second was successfully speed of the Internet in 4G communications is estimated at about
tested, he said, adding, “5G also has a significant improvement 20 Mbps per user, the Deputy ICT minister Sattari added.
over 4G in terms of data transmission delay, so that we could (July 23, 2020) en.mehrnews.com

Kuwait

CITRA launched a new update to its application for electronic would also allow the submission of a request for the release of
services on Wednesday, which is in line with the future vision communications devices with the availability of online payment
of the State of Kuwait towards enabling E-Government. In a in addition to sending a complaint or suggestion to the authority
statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), CITRA stated that and submitting the registration of (.kw) domain. Furthermore,
the application provides electronic services in an interactive way CITRA stated that the application will provide features such
in order to facilitate the procedures of the authority's clients as as testing the internet speed and requesting the blocking of
well as enable customers to view its latest developments and websites, in addition to the most important updates that are
decisions. CITRA indicated that the application updates included made to the content of the official website, such as the authority’s
applying for individual services and following up on the status news, the Cybersecurity and emergency response page, the
of the requests for the authorization of radio services for radio communications and information technology sector data for the
amateurs, the import of communications equipment, the radio State of Kuwait and the page on the emerging corona virus.
service (Citizen Band) and the marine. Moreover, the application (August 19, 2020) citra.gov.kw

Morocco

The Morocco ranks 43rd globally for mobile internet speed. previous month, with a 4G internet speed estimated at 39.32
Morocco ranks 43rd globally out of 138 countries for its mobile megabits per second (Mbps). Morocco also ranked first in North
internet speed, data from American site SpeedTest shows. The Africa. The country is seventh in the MENA region. The country’s
website in charge of evaluating the performance of the internet fixed broadband internet ranked 117, moving up eight spots. Data
across the globe unveiled data for July 2020 for 138 countries. shows the UAE topping the list with the fastest mobile speed, at
The data shows that Morocco moved up nine places from the 110.90 Mbps per second, followed by South Korea, China, Qatar,

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