Page 91 - SAMENA Trends - January 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

BTRC officials. A top placed source also said the IGW operators said. However, as it has been noticed in other mature markets, OTT
had formed a cartel to increase incoming call rates without [over-the-top] calls will not wipe out the entire (volume of) paid
taking approval from neither the regulator nor the government. international calls but a sizeable portion. Businesses will continue
That made calls to Bangladesh pricey. Voice calling through to use paid service for better quality as long as the prices remain
free applications would rise further in Bangladesh with the rise competitive, Manzur added. Currently, there are 24 IGW operators
in penetration of smartphones and mobile broadband coverage, in Bangladesh. Licenses of six were cancelled for unpaid dues.
said Mushfiq Manzur, Chief Operating Officer of the IOF. This will (December29, 2019) thedailystar.net
contribute to the decline of paid incoming international calls, he

Egypt

The mobile market added about 357,700 new subscribers last lost about 100,000 subscribers in October, as the number of
October, bringing the total number of mobile subscribers from subscribers to the company’s services declined from 20 million
94.8 million in September to 95.2 million, according to the Ministry in September to 19.9 million in October. The mobile market had
of Communications and Information Technology. Vodafone added 140,000 new subscribers last September, bringing the
managed to add about 230,000 new subscribers to its network number of subscribers to 94.9 million in September. The mobile
last October, increasing the number of its customers from 39.9 market witnessed a decline in the number of its users in the past
million subscribers in September to 40.2 million subscribers. year, after the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA)
Orange was able to add about 37,900 new subscribers to its checked user data to remove unregistered lines. In addition, the
services last October, increasing the number of subscribers to high price of mobile lines up to EGP 70, as a result of imposing a
its services from 28.2 million subscribers last September and new fee of EGP 50 per mobile line since the middle of last year,
reaching 28.3 million. According to the Ministry, Egypt Telecom affected the number of mobile users. (January 18, 2020) dailynewssegypt.com

Jordan

The activities of the workshop on “Regulating the Fifth Generation technology, the role of the fifth generation in contributing to
of Mobile Communications” started by the Telecommunications the development of the digital economy, a review of global best
Regulatory Authority in cooperation with Ericsson in the presence practices in the field of using the necessary spectrum for the
of the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Dr. Eng. Ghazi provision of fifth generation services, in addition to a review
Jabour, experts from Ericsson, and a number of the Authority’s of global best practices in this field. It is worth noting that the
employees concerned. Dr. Eng. Ghazi Al-Jabour appreciated fifth generation technology is characterized by high speeds to
Ericsson’s efforts in holding this workshop, stressing the transfer big data and its integration with advanced technology
importance of informing the authority’s employees of the latest based on modern technologies, in addition to providing the
developments taking place globally in the field of fifth generation necessary infrastructure to link productive and service sectors
services and the possibility of benefiting from them and applying such as health, education and industry, which qualifies it to be
them at the local level. Several workshops were held on the same a platform that supports the transition to the digital economy
topic in previous times, especially as the authority has already and the concepts of the industrial revolution Fourth, its future
begun preparing to provide these services in the future. The applications. (January 8, 2020) trc.gov.jo
workshop covered specialized topics, including: fifth generation

Morocco

Morocco reached 24.5 million mobile internet subscriptions at increased by 9.0 percent to 26.2 million. This takes the internet
the end of September, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, according to penetration rate to 73.6 percent. Morocco’s three mobile networks
the latest quarterly report from telecom regulator ANRT. Including closed the quarter with a combined mobile telephony base of
fixed broadband connections, the country’s overall internet base 47.5 million, up by 3.2 percent year-on-year. Postpaid customers

91 JANUARY 2020