TRA hosts first Europe, Middle East and North Africa Regional Telecommunications Conference

The conference brings leaders from both operators, regulators and academia together is the first such ITS conference to be held in the Middle East. It will be held on 26-28 October 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bahrain.

This conference intends to open possibilities to discuss the issues, which are not only internal to the telecommunications sector, but also relate to the interaction between this sector and more general socio-economic environment including general economic growth, international trade, addressing the needs of low income people or people with special needs, and links with environmental issues.

In his keynote speech at the opening of the conference, TRA's Chairman Dr. Mohammed Al Amer said:

"We are delighted to host the ITS conference in Bahrain and exchange views and experiences on telecommunications issues with internationally recognised experts and speakers. This conference will shed light on many of the issues that the telecommunications sector face as we transition to a digital environment and society. It brings together recognised experts from many fields that will assist TRA in ensuring that Bahrain is at the forefront with respect to international best practices in regulating our competitive market."

ITS Chairman Mr. Erik Bohlin said, "First I would like to thank TRA - Bahrain for its generous support and for hosting the 20th European Regional ITS conference. It is recognised that Bahrain is leading the region with a small, very effective and efficient regulator body. Bringing the ITS conference to Bahrain allows us to expand our reach into the emerging markets of the Middle East and North African region."

TRA General Director Mr. Alan Horne said, "We are pleased to hear experts complimenting the government and the regulator in Bahrain for the approach it has taken to develop competition in the telecommunications market. It is interesting to hear that as a consequence of the relatively small geographic scale of Kingdom of Bahrain we may in fact have substantial advantages over larger countries in which the cost of benefits and time to deploy next generation access networks is prohibitive."

Mr. Horne went on to say, "Size is not a key factor in justifying and supporting regulatory initiatives such as number portability and making available the local loop to competition, but population density is. As Bahrain has one of the most densely population countries such measures are not only justified but essentials to support the development of the ICT market."

Over the next three days more than 85 Telecoms professionals from more than 15 countries will be debating such topics as Next Generation Network, Mobile Business Models, Economic and Social Sustainability, Internet Regulation, Infrastructure Growth and Competition and Regulatory Challenges.