Jordan Times
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Jordan committed to supporting vibrant ICT sector — Kurdi
Kurdi said successful media and telecommunications convergence is driven by customers’ needs
By Mahmoud Habboush
AMMAN — Jordan is committed to providing a flexible legislative and regulatory environment to nurture a vibrant, liberalised and competitive Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, said Omar Kurdi, minister of ICT on Tuesday.
Kurdi, who was speaking at the opening ceremony of the third Annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference, urged the private sector to review their business modles and provide more bandwidth to ensure quality service delivery.
He said the scope of convergence is diverse and being offered by different types of companies including cable companies and entertainment and media organisations, adding that his ministry is currently conducting a comprehensive policy review with regard to converged services by different suppliers.
Based on recommendations of a specialised company conducting an assessment of Jordan’s current situation, the ministry is expected to announce a new policy for converged services before the end of this year, said Kurdi.
The ICT minister pointed out that successful media and telecommunications convergence is driven by customers’ needs, not technology, saying that providing localised and Arabised content in Jordan and the region would effectively enhance the use of Internet Protocol (IP) applications.
More than 300 regional and local participants in the telecom and media sectors took part in the two-day conference, organised for the third year in row by the Arab Advisors Group.
The conference comes amid a booming telecommunications industry in the Arab world. A survey conducted by the Arab Advisors Group reveals that before the end of 2007 over eight new cellular licences are expected to start operations in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Kuwait, Tunisia, Palestine and Bahrain.
In addition, more than 20 new fixed and international traffic operators are expected to start opertions in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Oman, Iraq and Palestine before the end of the upcoming year.
Yesterday’s sessions included a presentaton by the Palestinian cellular company Jawal entitled: “Operating under extraordinary circumstances.” Other subjects addressed by the conference included, “Media flavour in emerging voice and messaging services,” “Mobile TV: current state and prespects,” and “Fighting fragmentation — integrating business and communiations strategies to retain markets share.”