Egypt's telecoms law under review
GOVERNMENT
By Admin - May 18, 2011, 1:27 p.m.
The laws governing Egypt’ s telecommunications are under review, with recommendations due before cabinet within the next two months.
Egypt’ s National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) says that the Egyptian Telecom Regulation Law No.10/ 2003 will be reviewed in light of the changes taking place in Egypt.
This, it says: “ is in line with the requirements of democracy, preservation of the citizens’ freedoms and their privacy and in a way that ensures opening markets to attract new investments in this promising sector.”
Public comment has been invited on the matter, and a panel of high-level stakeholders, including the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Information Technology Institute (ITI), international experts and local and telecoms operators, have held a dialogue on possible amendments to the laws.
The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dr. Magued Osman, said his ministry would open the door for all ideas and suggestions of all concerned entities, starting from now and for the coming month.
Accordingly, a draft resolution will be prepared based on these ideas. The draft shall be presented at the Cabinet of ministers meeting by the end of June or middle of July 2011.
According to the minister, the trend in this regard is accessibility, and not prevention. MCIT will take into consideration all views and suggestions of the civil society organizations regarding the protection of citizens’ privacy through communications networks, as well as the protection of freedom of information exchange.
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