the UAE
Vision 2021
Editorial Team
The
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) seeks to promote
competitiveness within the UAE telecommunication sector in line
with the UAE Vision 2021. To achieve this goal, it employs all its human and
technical resources and encourages all sectors to keep par with the latest de-
velopments in the ICT world.
This came in the interview of mGov with Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA
Director General. He stressed that the UAE telecommunications sector was
steadily growing over the period between May 2013 and May 2014.
He pointed out that UAE prices are among the lowest in the GCC. The UAE
prices rank lowest in the GCC on PSTN baskets (low and high speeds). UAE
prices rank second lowest in the GCC on medium speed PSTN baskets.
He added that when TRA was approached by the Prime Minister’s Office to lay
the foundations of the initiative and guide all government and federal entities
towards a smooth transition, TRA has set a detailed and clear roadmap for tran-
sition into a mobile government. The roadmap is comprehensive and encom-
passes technical, administrative, regulatory, economic, media and awareness
aspects. It serves as technical reference in the field of smart service develop-
ment to all government entities.
He pointed out that the role of TRA and the mGovernment team will not stop in
early 2015. The transition into smart government shall remain in progress until
we achieve top global ranks on competitiveness indexes over the coming years
across various fields.
He exclusively announced to mGov that TRA will be unveiling its mobile app
during Gitex Technology Week 2014.
Investigating the consequences of Apple iCloud’s security crisis when a num-
ber of Hollywood celebrities’ photos were leaked, mGov sought answers from
Apple. Apple relied that the case is under investigation by the FBI and that it will
work on adding more security for the future. It did not provide an opinion about
the nature or purpose of the attack.
mGov also continue to look for an answer to a question it posed to IT specialists
in UAE agencies namely “When will there be most downloaded Arab apps?”
In episode two of this investigation, our experts continue to analyse reasons
for absence of Arab apps from the most downloaded apps list. Experts seek to
bridge the gap between Arab and non-Arab apps.
Under the “Social Media” section, the 13th issue of mGov highlights popular
postings by government entities on their social media profiles. Under the head-
line, “Large-scale participation in the Arab Social Media Award,” we tackled
news of the award on the award’s twitter account. The organizing committee of
the Arab Social Media Award stated that there is much response and participa-
tion frommost Arab countries. This was reflected in the significant rise in entries.
Also in this issue, we talk about an array of local and international reports and
news in IT and ICT, mobile apps on smartphones and tablets and the latest
apps released by the mGovernment.
