Page 105 - SAMENA Trends - January-February 2023

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

REGULATORY NEWS

TDRA Releases the Arabic Version of the United Nations e-Government

Survey

The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory
Authority (TDRA) announced the release of the Arabic version of
the United Nations E-Government Survey 2022, which monitors the
level of progress in various indices related to digital transformation
in 193 countries. The report release took place on the sidelines of
the World Government Summit, with the participation of H.E. Eng.
Majed Sultan Al Mesmar, TDRA Director General, and Mr. Vincenzo
Aquaro, Chief of Digital Government Branch in the Division for
Public Institutions and Digital Government - UN DESA, which is
the body responsible for issuing the report and following up on
the development of digital government globally. In the context of
announcing the report release, H.E. Eng. Majed Sultan Al Mesmar
said: “The dissemination of digital knowledge in Arabic has an
impact on more than 420 million Arabs and Arabic speakers in
this region. We are proud that the UAE, which provided the Arab
world with an inspiring model in digital transformation, embodies
Its mission by transferring knowledge from its reliable sources
to Arabic language, to serve the vast majority of Arab readers.”
He added: “We highly value our partnership with the UN and its
various departments, foremost of which is the Department of
Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), and we are pleased that
this partnership serves our goals and the goals of the countries of
the region in creating a sustainable digital future, in line with the
UN global mission.” The release of the report included holding a
workshop with the participation of TDRA, local digital governments
and the United Nations. The workshop included discussions on the
mechanisms for preparing the report and ways to develop them Telecommunications Infrastructure Index (TII), and Human Capital
to serve the needs of the region and the particularity of the digital Index (HCI). The UAE is ranked first in the Arab region in all of these
transformation process. The Arabic language is one of the six indices, which allows it to support other Arab countries in this
official languages of the UN, in which the report is issued. The UAE, regard. The report presents success stories and experiences from
represented by TDRA, prepares the Arabic version of the report, and countries around the world in various digital applications that help
coordinates with the UN to publish it on a global and regional scale create a real impact on societies based on ICT. The UAE had a large
with the aim of disseminating digital knowledge and improving share of those experiences that can be beneficial for countries of
the digital transformation capabilities of the Arab countries the region. The UAE has handled the translation of the UN report to
based on the latest international standards, developments and Arabic since 2018, under an MoU with the United Nations. The UAE
experiences. The report monitors the world countries in related publishes the report on the government official portal and arranges
indices, foremost of which is the E-Government Development Index for its publication on the portal of the UN DESA to be available for
(EGDI), Online Services Index (OSI), E-Participation Index (EPI), all interested countries, institutions and individuals.

IFT Classifies 6GHz as ‘Free Spectrum’; Clears Band for Wi-Fi 6E Usage

The Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de The IFT notes: ‘With the allocation of this segment, the amount
Telecomunicaciones, IFT) has paved the way for the introduction of spectrum for the provision of Wi-Fi services in the country will
of Wi-Fi 6E services in Mexico by classifying a 500MHz block of practically double, adding to that of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands
spectrum in the 5925MHz-6425MHz range as ‘free spectrum’, which that are already used by these systems.’
can be used without the need for a concession or authorization.

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