MIDDLE EAST

To see a brief summary of a country's WiFi rules in the box below, put your mouse inside the country's borders on the map at left.

For more detailed information about radio regulation in a particular country, click on the country in the map or use the "Country pages" selector in the left column.

Regional:

"Egypt to Lead a Taskforce for Studying Internet Broadband," National Telecom Regulatory Authority of Egypt press release, 28 May 2009: "AREGNET [The Arab Regulators Network] assigned NTRA to lead a taskforce to study broadband internet and figure out how to spread it on wider scale among the Arab citizens. The teamwork will look into the Wi-Fi, Wi-Max and UMTS technologies, their frequency spectrum and the means to set prices for such services. The TRAs of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Emirates, Jordan, Tunisia, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan and Libya joined the taskforce..."
"Deregulation payback," by Sarah Gain, ITP Net, 26 May 2005, on the boost to individual Middle Eastern economies from telecom reform and deregulation.
"Deregulation in Gulf's Telecom Sector Gaining Momentum," by Henry T. Azzam, Arab News, 13 September 2004.
"Surge in demand for wireless technology predicted," by Tom Daly, ITP.net, 23 May 2007: "Wireless technology will make a big impact on the oil and gas industry in the next five years, according to... Leif Eriksen, director of the energy and utilities industry solutions group at Symbol Technologies, recently acquired by Motorola... 'Today, the penetration of wireless in the oil and gas industry worldwide is less than 10%,' he said... 'BP was one of the first to adopt wireless in their refineries and offshore rigs, and even BP has less than 20-25% deployment. At this point there is still a lot of room for growth. I would say that five years from now, wireless technology will be widely deployed in the oil and gas industry in all sorts of forms - not just through wifi or wireless LAN but also through things like RFID (radio frequency identification) and wireless sensor networks,' Eriksen added..."
Documents from the ITU Telecom Development Bureau's Arab Regional Workshop on Licensing, Amman, Jordan (2-4 September 2003).
"ورشة العمل الإقليمية "الشبكات اللاسلكيةالمحلية (ITU/BDT Arab Regional Workshop on "Wireless Local Area Networks [WLAN]"), Amman, Jordan (21-25 November 2004).
شبکه‌‌ی بی‌ (WLAN page in the Arabic Wikipedia)
النقاط الساخنة.. إنترنت بدون أسلا (Wi-fi page at Islam Online) in Arabic.
"Intel CEO Craig Barrett: 'Interconnect The Arab World,' - Intel Corp. press release, 27 October 2003: "Barrett urged Arab nations to continue to deregulate spectrum and support Wi-Fi hotspot deployment in an effort to promote the growth of wireless computing..."
Jumpstarting the Broadband Infrastructure with Wireless Technologies: Wireless Internet in Arab Countries Series - proceedings of a Wireless Internet Institute/United Nations ICT Task Force conference in Amman, Jordan, 14-15 May 2004 (120 pages, pdf): "Unlike in Asia and sub Saharan Africa, there was no report of use of 802.11x devices over long distances using special antennas or home made 'cantennas.' Overall, wireless Internet regulatory issues are not yet high on the agenda of regulatory agencies..."
"GCC to have 1000 hotspots by 2006," by Maddy Reddy, ITP Technology, 25 October 2004: "The evolving Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) WLAN technology that allows high-speed wireless internet through access points called hotspots at public places is gathering momentum in the Gulf region. The GCC is projected to have over 1,000 hot spots by the end of 2006, with a total number of 250,000 users, in other words an average of 250 users per hotspot..."
"'There are still no detailed regulations specific to WiMAX in Arab countries. Some Arab countries, however, have specified the type of license that needs to be obtained to provide WiMAX service. For example, in Algeria, the company should have a VOIP authorization and regulator has specified the 3.5 GHz band for WiMAX, while in Jordan, the company should have an individual license needed to use the frequency (a scare resource).' Ms. Serene Zawaydeh, a consultant at Arab Advisors Group wrote in the report" WiMAX in the Arab World: Current status and regulations The report covers Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen. ---"Algeria Becomes the Arab World's WiMAX pioneer," Cellular News, 21 April 2006.
"Jordan to host 9th conference of World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters," by Hana Namroqa, Jordan Times, 2 November 2006: "...Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine are currently the only Arab countries which grant licences for privately owned radio [broadcasting] stations."
Media Freedom in the Middle East and North Africa, Doha Centre for Media Freedom, February 2009.
The Information Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa, by Grey E. Burkhart and Susan Older, RAND National Defense Research Institute, 2003 (85 pages).
"Benchmarking Regulators: Making Telecom Regulators More Effective in the Middle East," by Mohammad A. Mustafa, Public Policy for the Private Sector, June 2002 (World Bank Note No. 247).
"Jordan has the most Competitive Arab Cellular Market - report," Cellular News, 26 September 2005: "...Lebanon, Oman and Libya had the least privatized telecom markets, with 100% government share (ownership) of telecom revenues. The three countries also scored in the bottom half of the [Arab Advisors Group's] Cellular Competition Intensity Index. The most privatized markets were Palestine (with 0% government proportionate share of revenues), followed by Jordan (23% government share), Sudan (27%), Bahrain (34%), Yemen (39%), Syria (40%), Algeria (41%), Kuwait (45%), Egypt (47%), Morocco (55%), Qatar (55%), UAE (60%), Saudi Arabia (70%) and Tunisia (80%)..."
Telecommunications Privatization in Arab Countries: An Overview by Riad Dahel, Arab Planning Institute, October 2001 (23 pages).
فريق العمل العربي الدائم للطيف الترددي [Arab Spectrum Management Group]. Click here for frequency manager contact lists.
The Gulf Cooperation Council's IT Regulatory Committee.
"Middle East RFID Association Gets Ready for Business," by Rhea Wessel, RFID Journal, 22 May 2009: "Companies that use or sell RFID technology in the Middle East, as well as academic organizations in that region, have formed a group designed to promote the use of radio frequency identification. The group is focusing its work on helping Middle Eastern governments create and implement policies and regulations, such as frequency dedication, for RFID. The Qatar-based organization, known as the Middle East RFID Association, was founded in late 2008 and will be officially launched in the middle of this year..."
UNDP's ICT for Development in the Arab Region - website in English, French and Arabic.
"Challenges for Information and Communication Technology Development in the Arab World" by Soumitra Dutta, Charles El-Hage, Karim Sabbagh, and Paola Tarazi; a chapter from The Arab World Competitiveness Report 2002-2003, edited by Klaus Schwab and Peter Cornelius, Oxford University Press. Not to be confused with...
"Challenges to Telecommunications Regulation in the MENA Region" by Kamal S. Shehadi, Connexus Consulting, presented at OECD Conference on Telecommunications Policy for the Digital Economy, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (21-23 January 2002).
"MIDDLE EAST: Focus on contrasting fortunes with the 'digital divide'" IRINnews.org, 29 August 2005: discusses ranking of Middle East countries in UNCTAD's 2004 ICT Development Index: Egypt and Yemen represent extreme cases.
"Bluetooth penetrates Middle East," AME Info, 8 December 2004.
"For the Modern Moslem Woman: Lifting the Veil Using a 'Bluetooth Burqa,'" Spiegel Online, 25 February 2008.

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MIDDLE EAST

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