Page 138 - SAMENA Trends - February 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Bangladesh

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission asked [the stakeholders] not to take fright,” he said. Hasan said
(BTRC) claimed that the level of radiation by mobile phone the High Court had asked them to submit a report on this issue,
towers was not harmful for human health and the environment. which they would do soon. Professor Dr. Satya Prasad Majumder
The telecom regulator made the claim following radiation tests said the BTRC survey finding was very satisfactory. “Rumors
on 70 mobile network sites last year at more than 10,000 sites regarding the tower need to be overcome. There’s nothing to be
in the country. “The standard permissible amount of radiation afraid of,” he said, urging the BTRC to continue the survey and
exposure from mobile network tower is below the level of take appropriate steps to eliminate public misperceptions on the
international standards and BTRC guidelines. So, there’s no issue. Brig SM Farhad Secretary General of the Association of
reason to get scared,” Brig Md. Shahidul Alam, Director General Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh, said, “We’ll need more
(SM) BTRC, assured the people citing a survey they conducted at sites when 5G is introduced. So, there’s no reason for halting
a discussion meeting, held at a city hotel, on the tower radiation technology just out of fear. This will cause us to fall behind.”
situation in the country, reports UNB. Echoing the same, BTRC (February 17, 2020) dhakatribune.com
Deputy Director Shamsuzzoha, said: “From a statistical point of
view, the sample size may seem very small but we will continue to With addition of 8.08 million new users last year, the total number
do such tests. As we use the same technology in all the towers, of Bangladeshi Internet users reached about 100 million at the
we are confident the results will not vary much in other sites.” end of last December, the statistics of the country’s telecom
In his keynote paper, he said that radiation was generally of two regulator showed. Telecommunication Regulatory Commission
types — Ionizing and non-Ionizing. “Ionizing radiation is harmful (BTRC) data showed that the number of subscribers in the
for health but mobile phone tower radiation is non-Ionizing. country reached 99.428 million. Of the total subscribers, the
Xray is an ionizing radiation but with proper use it can even be BTRC data showed that there were 93.681 million mobile Internet
helpful. So non-Ionizing radiation from mobile towers, microwave users and 5.742 million broadband Internet users in the country
or television is not harmful at all,” he said. According to the while the rest of the connections are through WiMAX (Worldwide
BTRC’s report, radiation levels in the six districts last year were Interoperability for Microwave Access). The country’s cell phone
below the 2.10w/m2 (watts per square meter) mark, specified companies last year saw over 8 million new users to take the
as a safety threshold by the International Commission on Non- total subscribers base to 165.572 million at the end of last
Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). BTRC Commissioner month. Bangladesh currently has four mobile companies, three
Aminul Hasan said the organization had already conducted the of which are foreign-backed cell phone operators. The number
mobile tower radiation survey and examined its effect in many of subscribers of mobile operators, Grameenphone, Robi Axiata,
places of the country, noting that such surveys would continue in Banglalink and Teletalk stood at 76.462 million, 49.004 million,
future. He said “rumors” about tower radiation were “completely 35.239 million and 4.868 million respectively at the end of last
baseless”, adding that the telecom regulator had already informed year, BTRC data showed. (January 29, 2020) xinhuanet.com
the government, private companies and building owners. “We’ve

Egypt

The government is planning to improve internet speed in Egyptian that can utilize opportunities provided by the Fourth Industrial
Universities, develop 35 automated test centers, and supply Revolution, ICT minister Amr Talaat said.
hundreds of computers and software systems, Higher Education (February 19, 2020) english.mubasher.info
Minister Khalid Abdel Ghaffar stated. The plan is a part of the first
phase of the Smart Campus program, which is launched with total Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has confirmed that
investments of EGP 1.4 billion, Abdel Ghaffar added. The Ministry Saudi Telecom Company (stc) will be required to make an offer
focuses on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the digitalization of for the 44.94% of Vodafone Egypt currently held by Telecom
public Universities via the exploitation of technology, he revealed, Egypt, if it completes a proposed USD2.4 billion purchase of
according to the Middle East News Agency. The Minister denied Vodafone Group’s 54.93% stake in the Egyptian cellco. According
that robots will be used in teaching in the new smart Universities, to Reuters, which cites a letter released this week by Telecom
noting that the Ministry is developing the infrastructure of these Egypt, the FRA has stated that stc’s offer to acquire the majority
Universities. The Ministries of Communications and Higher stake in Vodafone Egypt would be subject to a 1992 law requiring
Education have joined forces to help raise a new generation a mandatory tender for any outstanding shares. Commenting on

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