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QATAR'S telecommunications sector is in robust health and continues to make valuable contribution to the national economy, says the President of Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) Mohammed Ali al Mannai. In an interview with The Business Year, Mannai spoke on the CRA's strategy for FIFA 2022 World Cup in terms of addressing Qatar's growing demand for spectrum and enhancing cyber security.
How do you assess the overall health of the telecoms sector and its key role within Qatar's ongoing economic diversification programme?
Overall, the telecoms sector is in robust health and continues to make a valuable contribution to the national economy. This is largely due to growing competition competitive pressures and a diverse population mix. However, service providers have adapted to these changes well, increasing efficiency and diversifying their revenue streams into associated activities. The fixed-line network covers almost the entire country and 99 percent of Qatar's households are now covered by a fibre-optic network. With a nationwide fibre-optic network, customers now enjoy a high-speed service and are becoming increasingly sophisticated and will, in the medium term, help to increase service providers' revenues and drive efficiency and innovation. In terms of economic diversification, the communications sector is the right place to start, and we need it to be a lever for growth and innovation. I would like to see two key areas of investment: the wider fixed sector to enable competition and the knowledge economy.
How will you cater to the increasing spectrum of demands that Qatar's infrastructure plans and major events like the FIFA 2022 World Cup will require?
Radio spectrum is a fundamental, finite and valuable national resource and its careful management is critical to the smooth running of not only major global events taking place in Qatar such as the World Cup, but also everyday operations of telecommunications, government, aviation, security, energy, ICT and other nationally important sectors that ultimately impact the country's GDP. Demand for radio spectrum in Qatar is high and growing every day, particularly because of the numerous advanced technologies that require new radio spectrum alongside existing technologies. We were busy last year with all matters relating to the management of frequencies in Qatar and there is rapidly growing demand for spectrum across the nation. The number of spectrum licenses issued in 2016 was up 145 percent from the previous year and the number of frequencies assigned also saw a significant rise in 2016 up 117 percent from 2015. The challenge among regulators worldwide is to find enough spectrums for future radio applications and next-generation networks such as 5G. Part of our journey to becoming a converged regulator is ensuring a consistent and converged position across all uses of the spectrum. This means constant coordination with other regulators in the GCC to ensure harmonisation and a robust and effective management process.
How does CRA develop a regulatory framework and cooperate with all stakeholders to enhance the level of cyber security in Qatar?
We are building our institutional capabilities by developing our staff, expertise and resources. From a regulatory perspective, we are in the process of developing ICT data privacy bylaws needed to manage the flow of stakeholders and promote security awareness. We are in constant contact with other regulators and learning from industry leaders who have been in the field for many years about how they tackle the various challenges facing the ICT sector. We also need the cooperation and compliance of service providers and have been focused on the 'socialisation' of policies and regulatory frameworks through workshops and consultations.
What is your outlook for the year ahead?
The outlook for the ICT sector is stable, as I do not foresee a substantial increase in revenues this year in the telecommunications sector. However, the declining contribution of hydrocarbons as a result of low oil and gas prices will mean that the ICT sector will make an increasingly important impact on GDP. Overall, CRA has made great progress toward supporting Qatar's transition to a connected digital economy and the plan is to build on the strong momentum generated in the last few years by continuing to open doors for investment, new innovations and new business models in the market.
