Left - Mr. Mohammad Gheyath - Executive Director, Technology Development Affairs at TRA, and Mr. Mohammad Zarooni - Director of .ae Domain Administration

As part of its strategy to support and enhance Arabic content on the Internet, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has announced its plan to launch .emarat.

This step has been made under the new directions of ICANN -- the international corporation responsible for managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses, which allows the use of languages other than English as an equivalent to the domain names for countries.

".emarat" is the Arabic equivalent for the currently used domain name ".ae". The Ministerial Council for Services has previously approved the usage of ".emarat" as a domain name for UAE in Arabic.

In his comments, H.E. Mohamed Naser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General, said: "Our objective is to support Arabic content over the internet and build a strong identity for UAE and Arab countries across the World Wide Web. We encourage all companies and entities in the UAE to register for '.ae' and Name '.emarat' as it represents their local business identity and brings their country pride."

Using an Arabic domain name would expand the number of Internet users and enhance the Arabic identity of UAE and increase the contribution to the Arabic content available on the Internet. The .ae Domain Administration of TRA has updated its systems to support domain name registration in Arabic.

Mohammed Gheyath, Executive Director, Technology Development Affairs, said: "Our Systems have been upgraded to handle the registration of .emarat, the Arabic domain name of UAE Our goal is to become the first Arab country to introduce an Arabic domain name."

Gheyath added, "Introducing a new TLD will lead to acquiring several unique web addresses that attracts website owners and Internet users. Moreover, using the Arabic language in internet addresses is a new and unique experience. The launch of registration for the Arabic domain .emarat is expected in the Q2 2010."

Top officials at the media free zones in the country voiced today their full support for the UAE's TV audience measurement initiative. They expressed their support during a meeting held today between officials from the National Media Council (NMC), the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) and directors of the media free zones.

The meeting was attended by representatives from Abu Dhabi Media Zone (TwoFour54), Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City, Ras Al Khaimah Media City, and Free Zone of Sharjah International Airport.

The chiefs of the media free zones stressed the need for adopting more advanced systems for TV audience measurement in order to achieve a mutual development in the local media industry that will create a viable data base assisting broadcasters to deliver proper shows and increase their ad revenues.

The meeting explored ways for working out a common concept for building a preparatory framework that ensures implementation of the initiative in a better way in line with policies of the NMC and TRA.

The project consultant made a presentation about the project including a detailed plan for implementation after the consultancy studies were completed.

The NMC and TRA said they were keen to see the TV stations acting as the cornerstone of the project, a mission that requires them to play an effective role in the consulting or execution phases of the five-year project. Separate meetings will take place within the few next weeks between the consultant and the project executive committee to design the a detailed concept of the project and determine the role of each stakeholder in the implementation of the project.

From left, Dr. Mubarak Al Doseri, Mr. Mohammed Mahmood, Mr. Ali Al Mohannadi, Mr. Alan Horne and Basil Al Arrayed.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) General Director Mr. Alan Horne along with Mr. Mohammed Mahmood TRA's Director of Technical and Operations and Mr. Basil Al Arrayed TRA's Director of Communications and Consumer Affairs met recently with Mr. Ali Al Mohannadi, Head of Municipality Council of Southern Governorate and Dr. Mubarak Al Doseri, Member of Southern Governorate Municipality Council to discuss the benefits of wireless technologies in supporting employment and economic development within the Kingdom.

A separate meeting was also held on the same subject with Mr. Mohammed Hamada, Head of Muharraq Municipality Council.
No longer can wireless just be thought of as cellular telephones. Wireless technologies are now being used to deliver high speed (Broadband) communications giving access to the internet for information research, gaming, social networks, videos, as well as providing opportunities for companies to promote their own services through on line advertising.

Broadband wireless technologies such as those being used by Batelco, Zain, Mena Telecom and Bahrain Broadband will increase the efficiency of businesses by allowing staff and consumers to be connected to telecommunications services anytime anywhere. Broadband is an enabler for many services and can help improve education, and enhance the reach of eGovernment services to the public. Wireless Broadband services are very important to the new developments where there is no wired infrastructure, so people living or working in such areas will be connected from day one.

TRA General Director Mr. Alan Horne said
'As the community demand for telecommunications services is increasing towards wireless technologies and mobility not only for voice but also for data and multimedia, TRA is putting a collective efforts with the municipalities and operators to ensure the deployment of prober high quality wireless infrastructure that serve the increasing demand of residence and businesses to wireless high speed broadband and achieve the objectives of the Kingdom 2030 economic vision'

Through its meetings, TRA assured the municipality councils that it will be working with the industry to ensure that future telecommunications mast will be visually blend within the surrounding environment and will be shared by operators and explained that the telecommunications signals in Bahrain are well below the safe limits set by that World Health Organisation.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) is conducting a nation wide investigation and search for users who operate Radiocommunications equipment without a frequency licences that interfere with licensed radio equipment.

According to the Telecommunications Law, use of the radio spectrum in Bahrain is only permitted by users who have a frequency licence.  TRA issues frequency licences to users of telecommunications frequencies. However, there are some users who violate the Telecommunications Law by transmitting radio signals without a frequency licence or use the radio spectrum outside the terms of the frequency licence issued by TRA.

Mr. Mohammed Mahmood, Director of Technical Operations at TRA stated "TRA has embarked on a campaign to locate these illegal users and to stop their radio transmissions, as illegal use of the radio spectrum causes interference to licensed users and degrades the quality of services provided by licensed telecommunications service providers operating in Bahrain."

According to Section 73 paragraph (g) of the Telecommunications Law, any person operating radiocommunications equipment without a frequency licence is punishable by a fine of up to BD500,000 and the confiscation of all equipment and tools used in committing the offence.

TRA advises all users of telecommunications spectrum to check that they have an up to date Licence.  Failure to have a valid licence may result in confiscation of equipment and a fine being imposed.