The UAE Telecommunication Supreme Committee, the entity empowered by UAE government to oversee the telecommunication sector, has announced its intention to liberalize the UAE’s dynamic telecommunications sector by 2015. The move comes as the UAE, seeks to regularize the telecommunications market in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) recommendations, and chalks out a bilateral free trade agreement with the USA Australia.
Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Governmental Sector Development and Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the Supervision of the Telecommunications Sector said, “The ICT and telecommunications sector in the UAE has developed tremendously in the past three decades, and we are working towards market liberalization to foster competition and innovation in the better interests of the economy. By agreeing to and implementing a number of facilitative measures, we are aiming for full yet non-disruptive liberalization of this all important sector by 2015.”
The UAE Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA), in consultation with UAE Telecom Supreme Committee, is developing necessary procedures for an orderly transit to free market principles. The transit procedure has brought on board long-term strategic planners as well as marketing experts and telecommunications representatives to ensure a long-term viable solution that contributes to the telecom sector’s wellbeing.
Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, Director General of the TRA, “The UAE has pioneered exceptionally strong models of widespread telecommunications provision, and are committed to speedily progress to future paradigms of service delivery. In this regard, market liberalization will help foster a culture of innovation by introducing competition and maintaining a level playing field for providers to woo customers by providing superior services. We are working closely with several partners with the help of UAE Telecom Supreme Committee to assure a standard set of applicable procedures, policies and directives applicable to the UAE. Our efforts will bear full fruit by 2015, by which time we hope to herald in a fully matured market with a diversity of key players contributing to rapid growth.”
In an April 2006 report, the WTO analysed the UAE’s economic progress and commended its economical growth of 6 percent per year over the past decade and 9 percent in 2003-2005. The report, while noting positive diversification in the UAE’s economy, also argued that liberalization and a reduction to entry barriers would be a key inducement to further economic growth.
“The UAE telecom market is considered the one of the most developed sectors in the country, and is at par with advanced service sectors in other parts of the world. This is directly attributable to the vision and foresight of the UAE government, which provided a high growth environment for the development of telecommunication technology in the UAE. We are now working to extend market development the years to come by formulating comprehensive long term plans that will seek to address key areas for further maturity,” H.E. Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri concluded.
