Mr. Ahmed Said, the Senior Expert in the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Egypt (NTRA), was elected as the President of Study Group 3 of Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) in 2022. Mr. Ahmed was elected for 3 years as the first Egyptian and Arab to hold this position. ITU-T Study Group 3 is also considered one of the major study groups at the level of ITU, being concerned with setting the economic and regulatory international standards of telecommunication and information technology sector across the world. Study Group 3 actually encompasses more than 150 global experts, whereas its administrative team members were elected during the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) held in participation of 193 countries.

Egyptian contributions to ITU-T Study Group 3, over the recent years, have been the mainstay for the ITU to issue successful directives pertaining to online apps and mobile financial transactions. The recommendations to deal with online apps was actually acknowledged by the ITU in 2018, after NTRA, represented by Mr. Ahmed Said, had led the Arab and African Group to support the ITU’s directives. Egypt’s role was also clear in leading the African and Arab Group to give recommendations with respect to carrying out financial transactions via mobile phone, and in supporting the African countries to develop this service due to its major importance for Africa and the Arab world.

It’s worth noting that ITU-T Study Group 3 is responsible for studying tariff and accounting principles of telecom services. It is also responsible for setting the cost standards for service providers and establishing international regulatory frameworks to be used as a reference by countries. Furthermore, Study Group 3 discusses and gives recommendations regarding many economic issues such as service cost and the economic impact of new services like IoT apps and data centers.