The Arab Book; Telecommunication Polices in the Arab Region By Khalil Aburizik

1. The Arab Book; Telecommunication Polices in the Arab Region By Khalil Aburizik ITU Regional Officer for HRD/M for Arab Region aburizik@itu.int www.ituarabic.org The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

2. Agenda • What is the Arab Book? • Need for Arab Book • Who is to benefit from Arab Book? • Current Structure • Strong\ weak points of the book. • Development plan. The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

3. What is the Arab Book? The Arab book is one of BDT publications designed to serve telecommunication policy makers and regulators in the Region. It provides information on the current and trends of the telecommunication policies for the Arab region, The Arab Book is a dynamic instrument to be reviewed and updated by the countries of the region with the help of ITU/BDT, The Arab Book 1st issue was in 1996 and updated in 2002 The Arab book is composed of seven chapters, each contains recommendations, and is structured around specific issues to be considered in the restructuring process. The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

4. Need for Arab Book All Arab countries, decision makers have already started or considered, the restructuring of the telecommunication sector. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to devise a structure appropriately tailored to situations prevailing in the country concerned, to the planned changes and to the available manpower and resources. It is possible to modify the structure of an organization, as complex as it may be, by using modern organizational tools. The restructuring process of the telecommunication sector in the Arab world is rather recent and is still in its initial stages. Despite the commonalities and similarities in the Arab region, Arab countries vary extensively in the capabilities and progress achieved in the past five years. The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

5. Arab Book provides information on the situation of the telecommunication sector in the Arab Countries, summarizing telecommunication networks, legal and regulatory matters, economic and financial matters in an administration or in public corporation, to help the decision makers in the Arab Region to establish new and/or modified laws, rules and administrative machinery that permit a country to have a modern telecommunication sector flexible enough to be able to “digest” future technologies and other unforeseen developments. The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

6. Who is to benefit from that Book? • Telecom Policy Decision makers (statistics and comparisons) • Telecom Regulators • Investors • Executives • Staff (orientation sessions) The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

7. The Book in its current structure: Chapter I-Telecommunication Networks and services Chapter II- Internet and IP services Chapter III- Legal and Regulatory Aspects Chapter IV- Organizational Aspects Chapter V- Management Aspects of Public telecommunication Operation Chapter VI – Economic and Financial Policy Chapter VII- Industrialization, Research and Development The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

8. The Book in its current structure (continued..) Annex 1 - Extract from the Strategic Plan for the Union 1999 –2003 (Minneapolis,1998) Annex 2- The Valletta Declaration (Valletta, Malta, March 1998) Annex 3 - Extract from the Valletta Action Plan Annex 4- The Arab basic telecommunication indicators Annex 5 - Outline of a Law Determining a Regulatory Framework for the Telecommunication Sector Annex 6 - Methods of granting and renewing licenses Annex 7 - ITU-D Sector Members List in the Arab Region Annex 8 - Glossary, Acronyms and Abbreviations Annex 9 - References The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

9. Strong\ weak points in the book Questionnaire: For the development of the Arab Book according to the needs of those using it, a questionnaire was prepared to evaluate the book. We received some responses and we would like you to contribute by filling in the questionnaire that will be distributed now. The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

10. Strong\ weak points in the book Strong points • Keeps an eye on Telecom Trends in the world. • Gives a real image of the structure of the telecom sector in the Arab region • Up-to-date data on the telecommunication status in the Arab Region (statistics and comparisons). • Brings international examples and comparisons The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

11. Strong\ weak points in the book Weak points • Need for more frequent updating of the content and the statistics. • The slow response of some administrations in providing the ARO with their most recent data. • Unavailability of sufficient number of copies for all those concerned. • Data and content are only in traditional form The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

12. NEW VERSION BY DECEMBER 2003www.ituarabic.org/arabbookitu@ituaraic.org Development plan…. 1. Make the Book available on-line on the Internet The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

13. Arab Book Development Plan (cont’d) 2. Permanent working group of professionals assigned by Members and Sector Members. 3. Instant updating of the book when ever new data or topics is available. 4. Yearly published 5. Develop it on CD The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

14. Arab Book Development Plan (cont’d) 6. Use of Multimedia technologies on CD with proper databases, videos and audios Example: List of Regulators The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003

15. Thank you Please return the questionnaire back to the secretariat or e-mail to: itu@ituarabic.org And add it to your favorite www.ituarabic.org\arabbook The 5th Annual Meeting for Telecommunication Development in the Arab region Beirut 2003