Page 139 - SAMENA Trends - June-July 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Partnering Dialog, we can now further target students through a quality education and bridging the disparities faced by teachers
widely accessible medium - the telephone. I would like to take this and students in the emerging era of e-Learning. We would also
opportunity on behalf of the MOE and the Sri Lanka government like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the efforts
to extend my gratitude to Dialog. Together, we are committed to taken by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri
ensuring equitable access to education in this time of crisis.” Lanka (TRCSL) and all network operators for facilitating us in
Commenting, Supun Weerasinghe, Group Chief Executive of Dialog making this inclusive distance learning solution freely accessible
Axiata PLC said, “We extended these inclusive teleconferencing across all networks. Our aim is to enable teachers and students
solutions alongside the Nenasa 1377 distance learning helpline with their education efforts, and not be marginalized due to the
to the Ministry of Education to facilitate 1000 schools across new-age digital divide, by utilizing the power of the telephone,
the country with the necessary tools to ensure continuity of their which is one of the most commonly available facilities in the
educational endeavors while also upholding a high standard of country.” (June 8, 2020) dailynews.lk

Syria

A Syrian court has ordered that mobile network operator SyriaTel government and an erstwhile member of the regime’s inner circle.
be placed under judicial custody, amidst a row over dues allegedly The Syria Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SyTRA)
owed by the company but disputed by the telco’s majority owner, demanded SYP233.8 billion (USD1.09 billion) in back taxes from
Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of President Bashar Al-Assad and one SyriaTel and rival cellco MTN earlier this year. Whilst MTN had
of Syria’s richest and most influential businessmen. Regional reportedly agreed to negotiate with the regulator regarding a
news agency Zawya cites a statement from the court as saying the mechanism for payment of the owed amount, SyriaTel has so far
seizure is intended to ‘guarantee the rights of the public treasury refused to do so, disputing SyTRA’s claims. Following this, the
and the rights of shareholders in the company’. The development government ordered a ‘precautionary hold’ on Makhlouf’s assets
comes on the heels of the Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE) as a ‘guarantee of repayment’ of the amount SyTRA claims is
deciding earlier this month to suspend trading of the company’s owed by SyriaTel, and imposed a travel ban on the businessman.
shares – also with the intention of protecting shareholders – (June 9, 2020) commsupdate.com
and has been seen as an unusually public clash between the

Turkey

Deputy Minister of Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Ömer of statistics regarding the distribution of e-commerce volume
Fatih Sayan attended the Electronic Commerce Information on the basis of variables such as industry, provincial and
System Digital Promotion Meeting, where the e-commerce data demographic features, forecasting "The narrowing and expansion
of the country was also announced. Stating that pandemic periods of e-commerce by determining their studies and sharing
affects the whole life deeply, Sayan pointed out that the internet these statistical information with the public on a monthly basis,
usage, which has been following an upward trend in recent years, forming medium and long-term e-commerce policies and
has increased more with the epidemic. Prime Minister Recep evaluating them economically constitute an important part of the
Tayyip Erdogan, "Our agenda in our digital economy, digital studies." Deputy Minister Sayan: It will be possible to reach more
commerce, digital Turkey, the future of cities are" reminiscent of detailed information with this protocol. Touching on their efforts
the promise Sayan, "We have worked with this awareness and in this field as the Ministry of Transport, Sayan said, “Statistical
planning. Digital Transformation at the National Technological information is collected from the service providers operating in
Breakthrough of the map of the path we have walked under the the postal sector by BTK. However, the data of the mail sector
leadership of our President. And when 5G, domestic respirator, collected without e-commerce data obtained in a healthy way is
cyber security or unmanned aerial vehicles, all of which are more significantly missing. With the protocol signed in this context, it will
valuable than yesterday. We should make fine adjustments, be possible to reach more detailed information about the Turkish
sectoral strategies, sensitive and longest possible plans. I hope postal sector with the data to be sent to BTK. Also, considering
we will succeed next, as we have come to these days. ” Deputy that one of the most important dynamics of the mail industry is
Minister Sayan said, “As a result of the notifications made to e-commerce, I think that this data will provide an important input
ETBİS, the necessary methodology for all the data collected, to BTK in many areas such as the quality of service in the mail
determination of the overall e-commerce volume, the production industry, user rights and the solution of consumer complaints.

139 JUNE-JULY 2020