TRA Conducts Sada Al Barq Fourth Annual Exercise

Mobilk - The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has conducted the fourth annual exercise of Sada Al Barq on 26 and 27 November 2016, which aimed to test the readiness of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to deal with emergencies. The exercise have been conducted in collaboration with several strategic TRA partners and relevant entities to the ICT sector on the national level. 

The exercise included a practical simulation for responding to several emergencies on the ICT sector level. During the first day, the TRA and its supporting entities plan for responding to cable outages has been tested. The second day has witnessed testing the National Emergency Plan for the Telecom Sector (NEP-T), as well as the media plan.

Commenting on the subject, H.E Engineer Majed Al Mesmar, Acting Director General of TRA, said: This exercise comes within the framework of the periodic and routine preparations that we conduct every year in cooperation and coordination with the concerned authorities on the national level, for the aim of ensuring continuous functioning of ICT sector in emergency crises and natural disasters. We are fully aware of the importance of the pivotal and strategic role of ICT sector in securing direct communication between different teams in crises situations or sudden changes.

Mohammed Al Ramsi, the Vice-President of the National Committee for Emergency Telecom added: Scientific and systematic elaborated preparedness is the basis for achieving a fast response, which is considered a decisive factor in emergencies. Furthermore, with the increasing reliance on ICT sector in light of the great transformation towards smart cities, it is a necessity to raise the degree of readiness and preparedness to commensurate with the importance of the growing role of the ICT sector.

The results of this exercise were very positive and matched the performance indicators set in advance in this regard. All the participating parties showed their full keenness to commit to their assigned roles according to their fields of specialties.