As the CIT sector continues to climb up the development ladder, critics are pushing for the approval of the revised communications draft law. Yasmine El-Rashidi finds out what is happening For several years now, the nation has been in the throes of an attempted IT and communications revolution; struggling to join in the making of the "global village" by propelling itself into the ranks of high-tech nations. In the years since 1999 -- when the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) was founded -- much has been done to bridge the digital divide between Egypt and the West. But while much attention and effort has gone into building the infrastructure and raising awareness, critics are beginning to question a lag in the development of the communications law -- the first draft of which was reviewed by parliament in 2000. In recent weeks, however, the tides on the communications sector have turned -- the revised communications draft law being one of the topical issues in parliament. "It has been one of the President's priorities," an official at MCIT told the Al-Ahram Weekly. "One of the top points on the national agenda." Some critics have said the push for approval of the draft law has come a little late -- that it should have been enforced two years ago when Egypt was experiencing its big communications boom. Others, however, believe that it has come at just the right time. "The developed nations, such as Europe and the United States, implemented communications laws as their sector grew," Zeinab Zaki, business development manager at MCIT told the Weekly. "That is what we are doing too. The industry has expanded, and we now know what it needs. The law covers all areas of the industry, and addresses all the potential problems, questions and situations which may arise." At first, Zaki says, the industry was new to the world, and certainly new to Egypt. "It was once the sector expanded," she says, "that the need for a governing mechanism became necessary. So far, we've been operating in accordance with the TRA's 1999 law -- but it doesn't govern the industry as a whole. It was just a tool we were using -- never a long-term plan." The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) shifted from being state-owned to a joint stock company in 1998, a move taken to re-establish it as a regulatory authority, to regulate and support the competitive, liberalised market. "We devised a licensing regime and established the licensing terms and conditions for various telecommunication services," Fekrya Allam, executive director of the TRA, told the press recently. "The market moved from one dominated by a single operator, to one of free competition and transparency. Today, over 20 licensed operators -- ranging from local companies to large global telecommunication service providers -- are servicing the Egyptian market with mobile, Internet, data, VSAT, and pay phone services." The expansion, for the most part, surged in the past two years -- when the first project seeds planted by MCIT began to bloom. Between October 1999 to April 2002, land-line telephone subscribers increased from 6.4 million to 9.1 million, mobile phone subscribers from 654, 014 to 3.823 million -- an increase of 484.5 percent. The change is evident across the board; pay phones in the country increasing in number from 13,305 to 40,444 -- a 204 percent increase; the number of CIT companies have jumped from 266 to 702, and the number of trainees in CIT skills development soared from 1,200 to 44,400. With the increasing figures, and shifting CIT borders, the country's authorities felt a pressing need to take up the communications reins. "The law is founded on the deregulation of the communications sector," Zaki says. "That is the primary goal; to deregulate in order to bring in the private sector. We want them to have a key role in it," she explains. "But to do that, we need to enhance and promote it as a viable sector to invest in. We need to elevate the image of IT and communications in Egypt, and show the rest of the world that their rights -- as business investors and partners -- are protected. We need to raise the interest of Foreign Direct Investors (FDI) The goal, ultimately, is the private sector and its involvement." In light of this, there are several main points which act as the founding pillars of the law. Tied to making the sector a viable investment option to local and foreign investors alike, the law guarantees: 1) Transparency 2) Fair competition 3) Provision of comprehensive services 4) Protection of user's rights "It basically organises and coordinates between services," Zaki says. "Protecting the rights of companies in the sector and shielding them against monopoly, and ensuring transparency in licensing. As a whole, the law defines the nations' role in monitoring the sector." The law stipulates the formation of a national governing authority to manage the communications office. The authority's aim will be to organise communications in the country, and develop its services by the means of technological advancement. "It [the authority] encourages international investment in the field," the draft law states. "Especially in guaranteeing the spread of communications services to all governorates -- including the rural and more remote areas. The authority will also protect national security and the interests of the State, as well as secure proper usage of the frequency spectrum," it continues. "It will guarantee the commitment of implementation of international agreements, as well as the decisions issued from regional and international organisations concerning communications." According to industry players, there are no real alterations to the revised law. "Just the usual minor alterations that occur when all the reviewing entities have seen it," Zaki says. One of the CIT sector's gurus, Ossama Kamal -- organiser of the largest CIT event in the region, Cairo Telecomp -- voiced a general nonchalance at the law. "I've been reading, and re-reading the draft law," he told the Weekly. "And I can't see any real changes. Nothing drastic. I don't really feel that the sector is waiting anxiously for the passing of the law." With a bit more enforcement, Kamal says, the TRA's authoritative tactics seem to be doing the job all right. The government voices, of course, tend to disagree. "If we want to bridge the digital divide, and join technologically advanced CIT nations such as Europe and the US," Zaki says. "We need the law." Especially needed, it appears to the public, is the need for the bill to regulate e-signatures: critical to the growth of e-commerce and e-services, and their credibility and legal clout. In December 2000, MCIT set up a committee comprised of representatives from the Ministries of Justice, Finance, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Economy, Foreign Trade, as well as the Ministry of State for Administrative Development, the Egyptian Central Bank, and the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center(IDSC), in addition to legal and technical experts. Extensive regional and international research culminated in the draft e-signature bill. In a document released by MCIT, the main points of the bill were summarised as follows: "Granting e- signatures and information written electronically or digitally the same legal status (in civil, commercial, and administrative matters) as traditional signatures, and documentation recognised under the current legislation. The law will include all civil, commercial, and administrative transactions recorded and signed electronically when they are carried out in accordance to the provisions of the draft law and its executive ordinances. In order to offer the necessary protection and oversight, the law requires all agencies that offer electronic verification services or any other services related to e-signatures to obtain licenses." The law names the Agency for the Development of the Information Technology Industry as the body responsible for regulating e-signatures, setting the necessary standards, as well as auditing, monitoring, and licensing "Certificate Authorities." The big national debate, as always, has circled around the question of security -- a national favourite, but an issue that is said to be under the control of the e-signature law's clenched fist. "It allows criminalisation of actions that harm the credibility of e-signatures and related technologies," the document announced -- a process that uses the imposition of a system of public and private checks as its means; a measure of trust building, it believes. The skepticism around the e-signature advent still remains high, however, as does the coming of the much talked about e-government -- the real darling of the national agenda. Those in charge, however, point to the sector and ask the public to assess the growth and progress for themselves. After all -- their line of thought follows -- who would have dreamt that Egypt's CIT sector would take such strides and penetrate the areas it has. The nation's CIT boom, the figures seem to indicate, is simply that: a boom. Why, then -- in terms of the law -- should the country's CIT sector be the odd one out?
