PTA, NTRA sign MoU for co-op in telecom
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to increase bilateral cooperation in the fields of telecommunications and electronic communications regulation on advantageous and equal conditions and in the spirit of friendly relations between the two Authorities. Chairman PTA Maj. Gen (Retd) Shahzada Alam Malik and Executive President NTRA, Dr. Amr Badawi signed the MoU in Geneva, Switzerland. His Excellency Masood Khan, Ambassador Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations and International Organizations at Geneva, also graced the occasion.
The MoU is aimed at promoting the exchange of information concerning the experiences in the regulation of the telecommunications industry between the two regulators. It is anticipated that the cooperation will serve to support regulatory policies and actions by the two Authorities keeping in mutual interests, international best practices, public convenience and necessity of the citizens of both nations.
According to the MoU, PTA and NTRA will encourage and support the cooperation on a variety of areas such as Regulation of telecommunications and electronic communications markets, telecom market liberalization, legal and regulatory frameworks for the telecommunications industry, licensing regime, interconnection regulation, price regulation, competition policy, infrastructure sharing regulation, and other regulatory issues, telecom services planning policies, universal service programs (regulations and implementation), frequency spectrum regulations, triple play services regulations for CATV and IPTV.
Both regulators will also pave the way for promotion of technical innovation in the ICT field, exchange of official information and documentation, exchange of staff, bilateral consultations, Joint organization of technical workshops, seminars, study visits and training sessions, dissemination of best practices in the field of telecommunications and electronic communications regulation, missions of experts and joint working groups in telecommunication services and technologies.