The Communication Regulatory Authority (CRA) received an overwhelming response to its offer of complimentary Qatari domain registrations during QITCOM 2017. Over 400 local businesses and individuals submitted their applications for domains under .qa extensions, and once the required documents have been submitted, these will be available for applicants to use.
During QITCOM 2017, visitors also lodged 24 complaints at the CRA pavilion. A total of 125 visitors also took part in an interactive survey to reveal that they preferred CRA hotline 103 as the preferred channel of communicating with CRA. @CRAqatar, the official Twitter channel was second.
“QITCOM’s mission is well-aligned with our own which is to enable the development of the communications, ICT and the postal sectors for the social and economic benefit of Qatar, through a forward looking, transparent and consistent regulatory framework. QITCOM is an excellent forum for us to showcase our services and learn from the insights and products of industry leaders to improve the experience of telecom consumers in Qatar, and to enable the availability of innovative, high quality communications services,” said His Excellency Mohammed Ali Al-Mannai, President of CRA.
As Gold Sponsor of the conference, CRA showcased its public services and initiatives including e-Spectrum Services Portal, domain registration, complaints resolution process, competition policy, mobile application (Arsel), CRA hotline (103) and mobile number portability. Visitors to the exhibition experienced the different services that the CRA
offers first hand.
At the stand the CRA also raised awareness amongst consumers about their rights and responsibilities and the role of CRA in balancing the rights of consumers with the needs of service providers and featured an interactive station where visitors lodged telecom complaints live and received face-to-face consultations. Consumers with a complaint are free to approach the CRA if a complaint directly to their service provider remains unresolved for 30 calendar days, or if they are dissatisfied with the resolution offered.
The interactive stations on the stand also allowed users to experience CRA’s numerous services such as tracking and view existing license applications or submit applications for issuing, modifying, or canceling their spectrum licenses register radio network, area deployments, view invoices and make online payments via e-Spectrum Services Portal.
Dr. Rainer Schnepfleitner, CRA’s Head of Regulation Affairs and Competition talked about CRA’s role as a regulator for the sector in a key plenary session about the future of smart cities. CRA’s officials also had productive meetings with ICT innovators, high-level executives and industry leaders from around the world at the event to exchange ideas and collaborate towards achieving the vision of a smarter Qatar.
