TRA Bahrain announces the names of the external experts tasked with reevaluating unsuccessful bids for the National Fixed Wireless Services Licenses using the 3.5 GHz spectrum range.MANAMA, Bahrain -- The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Bahrain (TRA) was established by Legislative Decree No. 48 promulgating the Telecommunications Law. The TRA is an independent body and its duties and powers include, among other things, protecting the interests of subscribers and users of the Kingdom of Bahrain (TRA TRA Training TRA Transfer TRA Transition TRA Tennessee Regulatory Authority TRA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Oman) TRA Tax Reform Act (1976, 1984, or 1986) TRA Teachers Retirement Association ) has announced the names of the experts responsible for reevaluating unsuccessful bids at the forthcoming auction of two National Fixed Wireless Services (NFWS NFWS National Fixed Wireless Services (telecommunications) NFWS National Ferret Welfare Society (UK) NFWS Navy Fighter Weapons School ) Licenses the closing date of which is the 28November 2006 . The panel members are international experts with extensive knowledge and experience in the field of telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. and regulation. The experts (in alphabetical order) will be: * Mr. Peter Alexiadis - a lawyer specializing in competition and communications law. He is a partner at the Brussels office of the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and has served as an external counsel to the Communications Unit at DG Competition for three years (1999 - 2002). * Mr. Nigel Attenborough - an economist specialsing in telecommunications. He is director at NERA Economic Consulting For other uses of "Nera", see Nera_(disambiguation). NERA Economic Consulting is a firm consisting principally of microeconomists. It was founded as the National Economic Research Associates and forms part of the Oliver Wyman Group which in turn belongs to Marsh & McLennan and in the past he was the head of regulatory economics Regulatory economics is the economics of regulation, in the sense of the application of law by government that is used for various purposes, such as centrally-planning an economy, remedying market failure, enriching well-connected firms, or benefiting politicians (see and competition policy in British Telecom The telephone and communications carrier that provides services in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It used to be a division of the British Post Office, but was privatized in 1984 under Margaret Thatcher's administration. . * Mr. Peter Walker - an engineer specializing in Telecommunications. He is an expert in regulation with over 34 years experience in the telecommunications industry among which he served ten years as the Director of Technology at Oftel/OFCOM . As stated in the Invitation to Tender document issued by the TRA all submitted bids will enter a pre-qualification stage where they will be evaluated against the technical, legal and financial criteria published. Only bids that pass the pre-qualification stage will be eligible to participate in the actual auction. The TRA has introduced to the evaluation process the additional safeguard of the expert panel that will reevaluate any bids that are not successful and present the TRA with its conclusions as to whether the TRA's assessment of the unsuccessful bids was appropriate. If the panel comes to the conclusion that a bid meets the qualification criteria, then the panel will advise the TRA of the same. It is worth noting that the ultimate decision of whether to include a bid in the list of successful bids remains with the TRA but unless exceptional reasons exist the TRA will be following the advice of the experts. If for any reason the advice of the experts is not followed the relevant party and the experts will be advised accordingly. The Chairman of the Board of Directors and Acting General Director of the TRA, Dr. Mohammed J.K. Alghatam, commented as follows on the announcement of the panel: "We are pleased to announce the names of the members of the Panel of Experts. They are all well respected experts in their areas of expertise and with a long track record in the Telecommunications industry. We welcome them to this important process, and we trust that their valuable contribution will positively influence the transparency (1) The quality of being able to see through a material. The terms transparency and translucency are often used synonymously; however, transparent would technically mean "seeing through clear glass," while translucent would mean "seeing through frosted glass." See alpha blending. of the forthcoming auction. " Notes to Editors: * The NFWS licenses are of particular importance to the Bahraini telecommunications market, as they will pave PAVE Cardiology A clinical trial–Post AV Node Ablation Evaluation the way for wireless connectivity to customers for voice and data services. This in turn means that the companies which are successful in obtaining the licenses will be able to provide services directly to the end customers. The license entitles the winners to offer local voice telephony Meaning "sound over distance," it refers to electronically transmitting the human voice. In the beginning, telephony dealt only with analog signals in the circuit-switched networks of the telephone companies. , and subject to obtaining the additional relevant licenses, for which there is no limit, they can also provide internet services, international calls, etc. The licensing process creates the potential for the entry of two independent operators for fixed telephony and data in Bahrain. About the TRA The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was established by Legislative Decree decree, in law, decision of a suit in a court of equity. It is the counterpart in equity of the judgment in a court of law, although in those jurisdictions where law and equity have merged, judgment is sometimes used to include both. No. 48 of 2002 promulgating the Telecommunications Law. The TRA is an independent body and its duties and powers include, among other things, protecting the interests of subscribers and users and promoting effective and fair competition among existing and new licensed operators. More information regarding the TRA can be viewed at www.tra.org.bh |
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