Doha forum tackles key issues in telecoms sector, digital media

The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) is co-hosting the International Institute of Communication’s Telecommunications and Digital Media Forum (TDMF), which opened in Qatar yesterday.
The two-day event has brought together regional and international policy and decision makers in Doha to exchange ideas and experiences that will help the industry to evolve.
The aim of the Forum is to consider best practice policy and regulatory decision making to drive accessibility, affordability and competitiveness, while ensuring that the digital ecosystem is fair and offers protection to all.  
The Forum is tackling a range of issues such as, stimulating investment in telecom and digital media innovation, content digitisation, convergence, consumer protection, OTT services, net neutrality principles and encouraging competition. Panel discussions include sessions on policy and regulatory challenges, and opportunities is the region as well as on the changing roles and responsibilities of regulators and the private sector.
High-level dignitaries from GCC members-states attended the Forum yesterday, including Dr Abdulaziz bin Salem al-Ruwais, governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission, Saudi Arabia; Sheikh Nasser bin Mohamed al-Khalifa, deputy general director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in Bahrain; and Mohamed al-Ramsi, head of Regulatory Affairs at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in the UAE.
The Forum has attracted senior representatives of regulators from different parts of the world including GCC member states, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Germany, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the UK, and Singapore, among others. The private sector expert speakers from Cisco, Dentons, Etisalat, Ericsson, Facebook, Nokia, Microsoft, are also among panel speakers.
“Communications is a key component of the business and social environment of any country and the sector is evolving at an incredible speed, so it is critical that we have a solid regulatory foundation to keep pace with the ever changing dynamics. It is therefore important to learn from the experience of others, thus CRA is continually engaging with regulators and industry experts from GCC member states and other countries to foster the development of Qatar into a smart, connected nation, through effective and innovative ICT regulations,” said Mohamed Ali al-Mannai, president of CRA.
The International institute of Communications (IIC) director general Andrea Millwood said topics of key significance are being discussed at TDMF.
“The IIC places itself at the intersection of business and public policy, recognising the value of debate and shared interest with the intention of facilitating ideas to be disseminated and exchanged and common understandings to be promoted. The market is growing robustly with untapped demand for services, among both businesses and citizens. This richly expanding market and explosion of digital consumption provides challenges for regulators and policy makers,” she added.