Page 119 - SAMENA Trends - June-August 2021

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Kuwait

According to a new global study, the prices of mobile internet countries provide the best offers for mobile data in comparison
in Kuwait are among the cheapest in the world, as telecom with the cost of megabits per second (Mbps) and find the best
companies provide them with the best value per gigabyte of value around the world, as well as the price per gigabyte compared
mobile data, reports Al-Rai daily. The study was issued by Top to local income to determine the cheapest mobile internet prices.
Dollar, which is a center for financial studies. It is based on (August 10, 2021) arabtimesonline.com
information collected from around the world to determine which

Lebanon

Imad Kreidieh, Chairman of Lebanon’s state-owned telco Ogero, the telco also has to pay for international internet connectivity
has warned that national power shortages will have a knock- in US dollars, exacerbating the company’s funding shortfall that
on effect on his company’s ability to provide internet services. he estimated would be close to USD20 million in 2021. Kreidieh
Sustained power-rationing may soon cause ‘disastrous’ large- indicated that end-user prices need to be increased to help cover
scale internet outages in Lebanon that could cripple the central costs, saying the government must make the decision to raise
bank, the economy and vital infrastructure from hospitals to tariffs. Compounding all these problems, Lebanon remains in a
schools, Kreidieh told the newspaper as he warned that services political deadlock after the government resigned following August
were crumbling under the weight of the country’s ongoing 2020’s devastating chemical explosion in Beirut. Despite the
economic crisis. Lebanon has struggled with power cuts for major challenges, Mr. Kreidieh confirmed that Ogero is continuing
decades, but the problem has intensified after a Turkish company with its plans to expand fiber-optic broadband access – albeit at
operating power barges generating around a third of the country’s a much slower pace than previously expected. An intended four-
electricity said last month it was ending operations due to unpaid year fiber-optic rollout program began in 2018, but ground to a
bills and legal challenges. Ogero has been buying additional halt in late 2019, with virtually no work carried out on the project
diesel generators to keep internet relay stations running – but during 2020, before deployment resumed in 2021, the chairman
according to Kreidieh this is costly and unsustainable due to reported, adding that: ‘Despite financing difficulties, Ogero has
worsening diesel shortages, whilst the introduction of solar- been adding 1,500 to 1,600 new subscribers to the fiber-optic
powered network stations remains at a fledgling stage mainly due network per month.’ However, he calculated that Ogero needs
to financing restraints. Furthermore, the chairman highlighted that approximately USD80 million in additional funding to complete
Ogero is struggling to import equipment to maintain its networks the network rollout.
as the value of the national currency continues to plummet, while (June 9, 2021) The National

Morocco

The National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT) More specifically, WiFi 6 will allow a 40% increase in throughput
has published a decision detailing a number of amendments compared to its predecessor thanks to higher data transfer and
concerning spectrum used with low-power short-range devices. more powerful processors." WiFi 6E complements WiFi 5 and 6
Among the changes, it is now possible to take advantage of the (already authorized in Morocco in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands),
Wi-Fi 6E standard, which can significantly boost the speed of it said. ANRT said that it will bring more additional spectrum to the
license-exempt indoor wireless networks. It said that the country current WiFi allowing high browsing speeds (up to 9.6 Gbps by any
is the first in Africa to authorize the use of 6 GHz frequencies hotspot) and reduced latency for activities such as teleworking,
for faster Wi-Fi connectivity. In addition to the introduction of video conferencing, e-learning and augmented virtual reality.
Wi-Fi 6E, there is an extension of the 24 GHz band to include On the occasion of this revision, some new applications have
omnidirectional radars of obstacle detection and motion also been introduced (omnidirectional obstacle detection radars
detection radars. An official statement said: "From June 2021, it operating in the 24-24.25 GHz band, low-power short-range
will be possible to use the latest evolution of the WiFi standard, portable devices operating in some frequency bands).
which has a maximum theoretical connection speed of 10 Gb/s. (June 8, 2021) developingtelecoms.com

119 JUN-AUG 2021