Islamabad:  The participants of South Asian Telecom Regulatorsâ?? Council (SATRC) Workshop on â??Interconnection in Convergenceâ? has agreed to form a SATRC Working Group to share skills, information, and expertise on various issues among SATRC Regulators. The Workshop also agreed to set up a common â??Telecom Indicator Databaseâ? of SATRC countries, which would be shared by all the member regulators. Three-day Workshop organized by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) concluded here today.

The participating delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Sir Lanka, and Thailand also agreed that for future workshops and trainings the SATRC may invite a consultant of international repute having experience of the developed and developing world. A â??Model Reference Interconnect offerâ? for converged networks for SATRC countries would also be developed, the meeting decided.

Issues pertaining to spectrum management, Quality of Service (QoS) and licensing in converged networks were also discussed during the final session of the Workshop chaired by PTA Member (Technical) Dr. Muhammad Yaseen. These points were finalized and being sent to Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) for further deliberations and adoption at the next SATRC meeting to be held in December this year in Bangladesh.

Later while concluding the Workshop, the Member (Finance) PTA Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi said that telecommunication has evolved from wireline technology to mobile communication and is now spear heading towards bigger pastures of convergence and next-generation networks. Convergence is harbinger of big change.  We are experiencing connecting customers with services, services with Networks and Networks with each other, he added.

He said that Convergence provides unified user experience with services and application available across multiple access technologies and devices in support of an increasingly mobile communication environment.  For the first time in the history of mankind, humans are experiencing single service offering like mobile/broadband roaming, unified messaging, voice, data, video, entertainment and information on their handsets.  Traditional media has become personalized and interactive.

He said that for convergence to take place in telecom networks PTA is maximizing its efforts to create awareness among people by holding workshops, seminars and training programs. We as a regulator intend to maximize ability of all citizens to use ICTâ??s. Creation of a knowledge based society, reduction in cost through the use of better technology and better infrastructure, simplification of business processes and improvement in quality of service are other landmarks to be covered.

He informed the Workshop that PTA is also developing an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Center of Excellence to impart state of the art learning and skill improvement techniques.  The center of excellence shall open new vistas of learning and knowledge to the participants of APT & ITU member countries.

The delegates appreciated the conference arrangements and the participation by member countries.

 

Khurram Ali Mehran

Deputy Director (PR)