155
Dr. Amr Talaat/ Minister of Communications and Information Technology inaugurates the Egyptian African Telecom Regulatory Center (EG-ATRC) to prepare and enable African cadres to confront emerging challenges in Telecom Sector
 8 July 2021

“The Center is the first of its kind in Africa to Provide telecom regulatory training sessions”, said Dr.Amr.

In light of the Egyptian efforts exerted to prepare African cadres capable of handling the emerging challenges in Telecom Sector, Dr. Amr Talaat; Minister of Communications and Information Technology, inaugurated today the Egyptian African Telecom Regulatory Training Center (EG_ATRC). The Center is subordinate to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority of Egypt (NTRA) located at Smart Village, and was inaugurated in the presence of Eng. Hossam El-Gamal; the Executive President of NTRA. EG-ATRC’s main aim is to develop the capabilities of telecom regulators and relevant entities in Africa. In fact, this process will take place through a unique training system encompassing professional as well as academic Egyptian expertise to hone the trainees’ skills with necessary experiences that would contribute to establishing a promising digital economy in Africa.

During inauguration, the first training program was launched by EG-ATRC with 11 African trainees involved. It was also launched in the presence of Mr. Ambassador/ Sherif Mokhtar; Deputy Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Africa, alongside other ambassadors and diplomatic representatives of Sudan, Cameroon, Senegal and Mauritania.

Dr. Amr Talaat/ Minister of Communications and Information Technology emphasized that EG-ATRC was founded to reinforce Egypt’s policy in regard to cooperation aspects with African brothers, those aspects entail the introduction of serious projects that are really useful for Africans. Furthermore, he pointed out that EG-ATRC is the first of its kind in Africa to provide training sessions in telecom regulation. It paves the road for experience-exchange in important fields such as, Cyber Security and Smart Systems, the Minister clarified.

Dr. Amr Talaat also added that Egypt took wide steps during the previous years in Telecom Sector Governance, improving its ranking on the Information and Communication Technology Regulatory Tracker of 2020 issued by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-ICT). In fact, Egypt moved up 54 positions to occupy the 41st ranking out of 193, in comparison to the 95th ranking on the former standings. This massive achievement encouraged the foundation of EG-ATRC to exchange experiences relevant to this field with African brothers. A review of the Egyptian experience in ICT fields; particularly, the foundation of smart cities, the foundation of the New Administrative Capital and the introduction of new technology projects; such as, “Haya Karima” Presidential Initiative, will be presented during EG_ATRC’s proceedings, to be adopted and imitated all over the Continent.

Training programs provided by EG-ATRAC to build African youth capacities will include Cyber Security, in order to boost competencies in respect to information and network security. Moreover, Cyber Security Program also tackles the process of providing as well as organizing technical support and systematically building capacities in such a field.

Additionally, a training program in managing scarce resources; namely, Frequency, Numbering among many others, will be also provided. In fact, Radio Spectrum is one of the vital issues in Africa, requiring premium competencies to be ideally managed and utilized in order to have a positive impact on telecom and internet services. Therefore, a specialized program on this issue will be provided. It will allow seamless communication among experts to provide the necessary technical assistance in this regard.

Furthermore, training programs will include Smart Cities and Infrastructure, as the number of countries wishing to establish smart cities has actually increased. To this end, the Egyptian experience offers many Egyptian modules that are more relevant to Africa, with the New Administrative Capital on the top of list. This example is very convenient to be passed on to African brothers, as some of its aspects are still underway, representing a live example for experts. Gaining a massive importance in light of e-payment tools increasing adoption, Digital Financial Inclusion comes among many other programs that are going to be provided as well.

Eng. Hossam El-Gamal, the Executive President of NTRA, clarified that the foundation of EG-ATRC aims to develop the human competencies working in Telecom Sector. It also aims to enable Africans to deal with the emerging regulatory and technical issues, making the Center’s graduates of a real and efficient value to Telecom Sector in its comprehensive regional concept. He also pointed out that EG-ATRC aims to provide trainings to 150 specialized Africans on an annual basis through specialized training sessions designed and instructed by an elite of international experts.

It is worth noting that EG-ATRC is providing the training programs in English, through face to face training sessions at one of NTRA’s convenient buildings. Similar to ITU Academy, these training sessions are also available online through open-session approach. The sessions will be available for free via online gateways, as such an approach would ensure the continuity of learning process in case any emergency like COVID-19 Pandemic occurred.