Lebanese legal officials on the Shura Council have suspended the powers of telecoms regulator TRA, reports Telegeography citing local paper The Daily Star.
Speaking to journalists, interim minister of telecommunications Charbel Nahhas suggested that the…
Lebanese legal officials on the Shura Council have suspended the powers of telecoms regulator TRA, reports Telegeography citing local paper The Daily Star.
Speaking to journalists, interim minister of telecommunications Charbel Nahhas suggested that the move would improve services and ensure that “nothing would stop” long-delayed plans to launch 3G, this time by September.
He said that Shura authorities had issued a verdict suspending Telecom Law 431, meaning that TRA’s competencies had effectively been transferred to the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoT).
The country has two state-owned mobile operators, Alfa and MTC Touch, which are respectively managed by Orascom and Zain.
Earlier this year, Alfa and Swedish vendor Ericsson agreed to a joint deployment of 3G, and Zain too has made concrete plans to build its own network.
Crippled mainly by political infighting, the country has had on-again, off-again plans to kick off the new technology for years now. Commercial disagreements have also been an issue, with a group of domestically-run ISPs filing a suit claiming that neither operator is officially licensed to provide 3G under Law 431. This led TRA to remind operators to follow the law, in turn prompting fears that the launch of 3G could be delayed.
In fixed-line, state-owned incumbent Ogero has said it is unable to connect new broadband lines because the MoT has failed to provide it with the necessary funding. Speaking to The Daily Star, Nahhas denied the claim, saying that Ogero had recently received money from the ministry.
