Telecoms Harmonised PHASE two of the EU-funded project New Approaches to Telecommunications (NATP II) kicked off with a meeting last week. The three-year project will build on the foundations set in phase one and aims to provide practical advice to regulatory authorities in the 10 EU partner countries -- Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey -- on how to further the development of their telecommunications sectors. NATP II will work towards the consolidation of regulatory frameworks, providing help in enhancing the strength and efficacy of national regulators. Hans Bakker, NATP II project leader, says that during the second phase assistance will also be offered to help the responsible authorities harmonise regulations and service provision both domestically and regionally. All the recommendations and practical advice offered by NATP II conform to the principles of the EU regulatory framework for telecommunications. Development of the telecoms sector is pursued on the basis of technological neutrality aimed at minimising distortions within the market; sector-specific regulation is being phased out while service policies, provision and regulatory regimes are encouraged to further harmonise. NATP II began formally in March this year with an agreement between the EuropeAid Cooperation Office and a consortium of firms including Frontier Economics, an economic consultancy based in the UK, Clifford Chance, an international law firm with offices in Amsterdam, London and Paris, all of which will be involved and Regulaid, a Dutch consultancy specialised in telecommunications. The European Commission in Cairo will mange the project. Promoting Arabic e-content THIS WEEK the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, launched Egypt's first national e-content competition with more than 150 products vying for prizes in eight categories. While online services and websites in Egypt, as well as software products, have expanded in recent years, Arabic e-content continues to lag behind English, Chinese and others. The competition aims to help rectify the imbalance by promoting Arabic e- content. "Not only will the competition encourage Egyptian innovators to create more ideas and products, it will also enable Egypt to better export products and services to the global market," said Mohamed Omran, chairman of ITIDA. Among those cited in the competition's eight categories -- e-government, e-health, e-learning, e-entertainment, e-culture, e-business, e-science and e-inclusion -- were the Al-Ahram website, Egydoc.com, Otlob.com, Masrawy.com, Al-Ostaz school curriculum software and History of Islam software. The distinctive website www.eternalegypt.org, developed by the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage in cooperation with IBM, won first prize in the e-culture section. The website, which provides a comprehensive database of Egypt's ancient and Islamic history and culture, had earlier been granted a prestigious prize by the World Summit Award 2005, an international biannual competition organised under the auspices of the World Summit on Information Society. Good for Barclays BARCLAYS Egypt's financial results for the first half of 2005 saw profit after tax increase by 106 per cent to LE115 million while earnings per share rose to 24.29, a 116 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. "We are very pleased with the results achieved in the first half of the year," Colin Plowman, director of Barclays Bank Egypt, said. "The profit growth is evidence that our strategy to invest in greater services and products is paying off." The bank's net operating income also saw an increase of 41 per cent, reaching LE182 million compared to LE129 million last year. In addition, lending grew by 30 per cent. "The bank has a positive outlook for the second half of 2005 with increased focus on its customers," said Plowman. Last year, Barclays Egypt was awarded the Barclays Executive Committee Bankers' bank of the year as one of the main contributors to the Barclays cluster in the region. "The bank enjoys substantial success in the Egyptian banking industry and maintains a significant presence in the Middle East and North Africa region due to its rapid expansion and prominent reputation in the market," said Dominick Bronsilez, chief executive of Barclays Bank African and Middle East.
