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July 2003 | ||||||||||||
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In this Issue:
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Telecommunications Regulations The regulatory framework of telecommunications in Palestine is relatively a new one as the Telecommunications Law was enacted in 1996. This law was neither reviewed nor approved by the legislature and was enacted in the absence of almost all stakeholders other than the government. Several attempts were conducted to address the regulatory issues of telecommunications in Palestine. Nevertheless, most of these attempts were not activated nor applied by the government. As part of these attempts and most active are the efforts lead by the Palestinian Information Technology Association of Companies (PITA) through its Telecom Policy and Regulations Committee (TPRC). Through its activities addressing telecom regulation, the TPRC aims to accomplish the following objectives o Revision and modernization of the Telecommunications Law of Palestine in the context of the multilateral trading system and the WTO agreements on Telecom. o Establishment of an Independent Regulatory Body for the Telecommunications Sector in Palestine with strong private Sector participation. To accomplish this PITA supported by MAP and the ITMA contracted Mr. Bill Garrison as a visiting consultant who came on a mission to Palestine for 5 working days to provide advice on best practice approach of addressing the policy issues of regulating the telecommunications sector in Palestine. PITA drafted the consultant engagement plan PITA supported by the ITMA and DAI/MAP contracted Mr. Bill Garrison, who is a well known expert in regional and international regulation of telecommunications industry with over 25 years of experience . PITA arranged for all of the meetings according to the engagement plan, and prepared for a general workshop in which two presentations were made on Establishing and Strengthening Telecommunications Regulatory Frameworks and The WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services and The Basic Telecommunications Services Agreement.
PITA members as well as other stakeholders’ i.e. Jawwal and Paltel, PLC members, Lawyers, PNINA, ISOC, Paltrade, the Private Sector Coordination council, and Ministry of ICT, Ministry of National Economy, Ministry of Finance were invited to those workshops. The consultant engagement plan also included meetings with Minister of National Economy, Minister of Finance, and Minister of ICT, unfortunately the consultant only met with the minister of National Economy, while the scheduled meetings with the other two ministers were canceled due to their unavailability. Mr. Garrsion has met with Jawwal’s CEO, while the meeting with Paltel CEO was canceled due to his unavailability. A very fruitful meeting was arranged with the Economic and Legal Committees of the Legislative Council, the PLC members were briefed on Telecom Regulations in other countries, as well as the telecom reform that is needed for the WTO accession. The PLC Members were very open and receptive to the ideas presented, and they emphasized the importance of the regulatory body as well as the need for a new Telecom law that should be drafted in cooperation with the private sector. The consultant submitted a paper on the list of issues to be tackled and modalities in other countries. PITA’s Telecom Policy and Regulation Committee has met and discussed a plan of action that has been put forward to implement the before mentioned PLC Decision, and to address the issues that concern the private ICT Sector in the new regulation process. The Policy Management Team will finalize the Plan of Action and get the Telecom Committee approval on it in order to commence the implementation. Various activities and workshops will be organized for different stockholders in order to build consensus and cooperation. |
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British Deputy Consul General Visits PITA to discuss the
High Tech Imports Seizure
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PITA and Paltrade Join Teams to develop a Sector
Marketing Plan According to this MOU, a joint ICT Sector Marketing Team was incepted to identify the ICT’s unique and critical gaps through Sector Profile, Industry Partnerships, Products and Services, Market Analysis (Environmental Scan, Competitive Analysis, and Target Markets), Strategic Framework for Sector Market Development, Action & monitoring plans as major components of the ICT Sector Marketing and development Plan. This plan will provide for a medium term strategic framework which will define PITA & PalTrade’s scope of work and contribution to the achievement of this plan through jointly lobbying and advocating for prioritizing the ICT SMP as key to the overall National economic growth agenda by Public institutions and donor support through private sector projects. |
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PICTI News PITA championed project, the ICT incubator PICTI is now under registration as a non-profit entity, PICTI partners have started the process of registering the incubator after the initial three Partners, PITA, Massar and the PBC have signed a partnership agreement with the USAID, and in effect the USAID is becoming a full PICTI partner with full BoD representation. The PICTI proposal has been submitted to the Global Development Alliance GDA last May. Un-official positive news has been received that PICTI proposal has been accepted for funding by the GDA. PICTI partners are now working to attract new partners to the project. |
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PITA launched a new Marketing & Business Development programs PITA has invited the IT companies to register in newly lunched programs in Marketing & Business Development, this programs is a part from the firm level assistance programs for the year 2003. The programs are designed to facilitate and support PITA members to expand into new markets locally and internationally; Support the development of a business-enabling environment through policy and advocacy initiatives. As part of PITA Strategy to assist its members to deliver competitive services and products to enable market access by promoting the adoption of international best practices in business and management and help companies improve business and operational status and position, PITA will lead a comprehensive Business Development Firm Level Assistance program to achieve these goals. The program will be offered to all PITA members. PITA will work closely with MAP/DAI to insure the best implementation and management of this program for the benefit of its members. After the successful implementation of MAP/PITA Compressed Service Program with more than 10 IT companies, evaluation and analysis of the program were conducted. The evaluation showed participating firms' interest in the program and its results. As one of the main outcomes of the program, listings of local firms' development needs were provided. The outcomes of the analysis as well as other important feedback from the local stakeholders led to the establishment of a strong reference for the new service programs needed. PITA will soon announce a new subsidy on the cost of this program, please observe PITA’s website for the new subsidies http://www.pita-palestine.org/services.htm.
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Upcoming Important Event |
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PITA NEW |
Members |
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Located in Ramallah, and could be contacted through Mr. Daoud Ibrahim, General Manager. Badawi Information System was established in 2001, and is active in Computer Hardware and Networking. For more information please check PITA’s members’ database through http://www.pita-palestine.org/memberdetails.php?mi=87 |
2. Al-Nasher Advertising Agency Located in Ramallah, and could be contacted through Mr. Saed Abdelhadi , General Manager. Al-Nasher was established in 1999, and is active in Computer Hardware, IT consultancy, and Networking. For more information please check their profile:http://www.pita-palestine.org/memberdetails.php?mi=95 |
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3.
Citynet
for Trade & Communication company |
4. ALTARIQ Systems & Projects
Located in Gaza, and could be contacted through Mr.
Tareq Eslim, General Director. ALTARIQ is newly
established (2003), and is active in Software
Development. For more information please check PITA’s
members’ database through: |
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PITA’s
Miscellaneous
News The New Edition (2004) of PITA’s Palestine IT Directory will be published and distributed in Dubai during Gitex 2003 and Palestine@Gulf -PITA’s office in Dubai Internet City-. Bailasan for Computers & Internet is the implementing agency. This year edition will include a calendar, IT Sector Profile, Companies Products and Services, and a lot of other valuable information. Interested individuals and organizations should contact PITA’s Office to reserve a copy. WELOCME NEW STAFF PITA staff & member companies welcome the newest addition to the team, Ms. Angie Sharaf, the Administrative Assistant of Palestine@Gulf, PITA’s office in Dubai and wish her the best and offer our full cooperation.
The national furniture SHOW was planned for and organized by some of the most prestigious and professional organizations operating in Gaza. Therefore, when PITA was formally invited to be present at this major event, PITA took the opportunity as it was felt that participation would aid in achieving part of the Outreach program such as increasing public awareness and IT Diffusion to other sectors. During our actual and active participation, a major part of this objective was achieved as we effortlessly and successfully increased awareness of PITA, its role and objectives amongst most of the visiting public. Furthermore, from the constant contact with other participants in the show PITA has managed to introduce and emphasized the importance and benefits of information technology to their daily operations. |
Management & Marketing Training Program in Gaza PalTrade in cooperation with PITA has started the first phase of a Management and Marketing Training Program at the end of May 2003.The purpose of this program is to provide the participants with the skills to identify the following;An effective marketing techniques and strategies, rationale for managing businesses in crisis, effective instruments and methods to assist business owners to access the international markets, Identify the components of an effective marketing package. Nine companies (18 persons) of Gaza’s PITA members are participating in the program. The main outline of the program is; General Marketing Skills such as Marketing Research Skills, Market entry Strategies, International Marketing, Managing Business in crisis, and Credit Analysis and financial ratios. The CENTER of Continuing Education (CCE–Birzit University) and the training Accounting and Management Institute (TAMI) are conducting this training program. The training program consist of three phases, after completion of these three phases, CCE will grant a certificate to the participants showing the number of attendance hours of the entire training package. Such certificates will be accredited and considered as completed modules for any future Professional Diplomas in managing SMEs. |
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