Meeting on Terrestrial Trunked Radio for GCC
The Supreme Council for Information and Communication Technology, ictQATAR, is hosting a meeting on the use of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) in the region, as part of its cooperation with the GCC Telecommunications and Information Technology Bureau. The meeting is taking place at the Diplomatic Club from 16-17 February, 2009 and is attended by delegations of all GCC countries including representatives of telecom regulatory authorities (TRA) and ministries of interior, as well as ICT experts and TETRA service providers. Representatives from Qtel and the Ministry of Interior are also attending.
TETRA is a mobile radio or two-way receiver technology commonly referred to as “walkie talkies.” The technology uses low radio frequencies for connection, allowing for communications over large geographic areas. TETRA is frequently used by emergency services, such as police, fire and ambulance, as well as government agencies, military and transport services.
“It is important to bring together leaders in the region to discuss TETRA technologies to ensure a coordinated approach in how we manage this valuable technology and the radio frequencies, especially in a region with so many shared, close borders,” said William Fagan, Executive Director of the Regulatory Authority at ictQATAR.
The meeting in Doha is the second GCC meeting on TETRA. The purpose of the meetings is to develop a GCC wide policy on TETRA, reviewing the application of international best practices in efforts to improve the use of the technology and decrease cross-border interference. At the first meeting, which was held in Bahrain in October 2008, a proposal for the creation a regional forum on TETRA was presented by ictQATAR in conjunction with the delegation from the United Arab Emirates. The purpose of the forum is to share knowledge and experience and to develop capacity of TETRA users and service providers in the region. The meeting in Doha will discuss technical, financial and administrative aspects of the forum and draft recommendations to be presented to the Ministerial Committee.
The meeting will also discuss a technical paper from the Sultanate of Oman to determine the criteria for the use of Tetra in the border areas between the GCC countries and setup a mechanism to reduce the interference in the border areas, taking into account the overlapping nature of the border between the GCC Countries.
At the side of the meeting, vendors of TETRA equipment including EADS Defence and Security, Motorola, Sepura, StopNoise, TETRAsim, WaveKorea and Fitelnet will exhibit their products.
