The TRA Announces Its 2006 Development Review Panel.

MANAMA, Bahrain -- The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority announced today its 2006 Development Review Panel, which will be holding its public hearing on February 5th 2006.

The 2006 Development Review Panel will be chaired for a second year by Professor Martin Cave, Director of the Centre for Management under Regulation, Warwick Business School, United Kingdom. He will be joined by Mr. Ian Martin, who is a Senior Telecommunications Analyst at ABN AMRO, Australia, and is also a member of the panel for a second year.

One new member will be joining the Panel, Mr. Robert Bruce, who is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Digital Strategies at the Tuck School of Business in Dartmouth, United States of America, and who in the past has also served as the General Council to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - the US Telecommunications Regulator.

The Panel will be coming to Bahrain on a fact-finding mission prior to the public hearing. The mission will include private discussions with all interested parties. Further details on the fact-finding mission and the dates of the proposed meetings, as well as information on how interested parties can book appointments to meet with the Panel will be announced soon.

The TRA's General Director, Mr. A. Andreas Avgousti, announcing the 2006 Panel said: "It gives me great pleasure to announce the 2006 Development Review Panel. We look forward to welcoming its members to Bahrain and eagerly anticipate their findings. Last year the Panel provided us with extremely useful feedback, on the basis of which we have tried to build a better TRA. We look forward to their input so that we can keep the TRA and the telecommunications framework in Bahrain up to the highest international standards at all times."

About the TRA

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was established by Legislative Decree No. 48 of 2002 promulgating the Telecommunications Law. The TRA is an independent body and its duties and powers include 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

About the TRA Development Review Panel

The TRA first established the Panel in 2004, making it one of its annual events. Each year the TRA invites three independent experts covering the academic, regulatory and financial/investment worlds to join the Panel and review the progress of the TRA during the previous year.

For the purposes of their review, the Panel members meet independently with members of the industry and interested parties to discuss developments in the sector. After these meetings, the Panel members present their findings and recommendations to the public in an open meeting. The Panel members also submit a full report on their recommendations to the TRA, which the Authority publishes as received on its website. The TRA subsequently publishes its response to the report, in conjunction with its annual forward plan, to link its future projects with areas identified in the Panel's recommendations.

More information on the TRA Development Review Panel 2005 can be found at: http://www.tra.org.bh/en/Development_2005.asp

Panel member bios

Martin Cave (Chairman)

Martin Cave is Professor and Director of the Centre for Management under Regulation, Warwick Business School. He holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Oxford University. Until 2001 he was Professor of Economics at Brunel University. He specializes in regulatory economics, especially of the communications sector. He is the author of the Independent Review of Spectrum Management (2002) for the UK Government, co-author of Understanding Regulation (1999) and co-editor of the Handbook of Telecommunications Economics, Vol. 1 (2002) and Vol. 2 (2005), and author of many articles in journals.

As well as his academic work he has also undertaken studies for the European Commission and advised regulatory agencies. He was a member of the UK Competition Commission from 1996 to 2002. He has advised the European Commission on broadband and international roaming issues, and assists telecommunications regulatory agencies in the UK, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Singapore. He is responsible for two studies of spectrum management carried out for the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK. He has advised the OECD, especially on telecommunications reform in Eastern and Central Europe. He is president of ThinkTel, an international think tank on telecommunications based in Milan.

Mr. Robert Bruce (Member)

Robert Bruce is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Digital Strategies at the Tuck School of Business in Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire.

Mr. Bruce has more than 30 years experience in telecommunications law, policy, and regulation. Prior to becoming affiliated with Tuck's Center for Digital Strategies, he was a partner of the New York-headquartered international law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, and head of its international telecommunications practice. Resident in the London office of Debevoise & Plimpton between 1993 and 2003, he was involved as a corporate and securities lawyer in numerous international public offerings by European telecommunications companies. He retired to pursue his interest in the intersection of business, law and public policy and, in particular, regulation and consensus building in the telecommunications and information sectors. He is currently Of Counsel to Debevoise & Plimpton.

Mr. Bruce has recently completed a discussion paper for the World Bank focusing on the international policy framework for dealing with cyber security issues. He presented a paper on regulatory frameworks and investment in the telecommunications sector at an ITU symposium in 2002, and is the co-author of two books on telecom policy. He has been a frequent advisor to the World Bank on privatization, sector restructuring and regulatory reform in the telecom sector.

Mr. Bruce served as General Counsel to the Federal Communications Commission for three years during the Carter Administration and was appointed as Director of Communications Planning of the Public Broadcasting Service at the time of its founding in 1970. He holds degrees from Harvard College (BA, 1966), the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (MPA, 1970) and the Harvard Law School (JD, 1970).

Mr. Ian Martin (Member)

Ian Martin has over 20 years of experience in telecommunications policy, regulation and research. He spent 10 years (1984-1994) with the Australian Department of Transport and Communications, focusing on research and policy advice on Universal Service Obligations (USOs), telecommunications competition and regulation. During this period he helped develop price controls for Telstra, including retail price caps and price rules for network access.

In 1992-93 Mr. Martin undertook a research exchange with Oftel, the UK telecommunications regulator, and the Federal Communications Commission, the US communications regulator, where he worked on price controls, cable regulation and other telecommunications regulatory issues.

Since 1994 Mr. Martin has worked as a telecommunications research analyst in the global investment markets with BZW, Macquarie Bank and ABN Amro. In 1997 he was the independent analyst in BZW's role of adviser to the Australian Government on the Telstra privatization. In 1999 he was the head telecommunications analyst with ABN Amro Australia, which held the lead investment-banking role in the sale of Telstra 2.

In 2001-2002, Mr. Martin was the head of ABN Amro's alternative network providers' European research team based in London, before leaving to become senior telecommunications strategist at Macquarie Bank. Mr. Martin is now working as an adviser to ABN AMRO's Australian telecommunications research team.