The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today (October 16) signed a MoU with Saudi Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) for future collaborative activities in their joint domain.

 

The pact is aimed at enhancing cooperation between the two sides, including through the application of regulatory technology (RegTech) and conducting joint studies in areas such as infrastructure and principles of digital regulation, reported SPA.

 

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), which runs until October 24 in New Delhi.

 

India’s Minister for Communications, Jyotiraditya Scindia, in his message to the conference, said that the evolution of non-terrestrial networks will unlock new vistas, expanding the horizons of communication technologies, ultimately serving our collective journey towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs).

 

CST Governor Dr Mohammed Altamimi and TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti signed the agreement in the presence of Indian Minister of State for Communications Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani.

 

With this deal, CST and TRAI also aim to exchange information and transfer knowledge in the ICT sector, benefiting from the training programs provided by the Digital Regulations Academy (DRA).

 

The deal with its Saudi counterpart was TRAI’s 20th such bilateral agreement globally and will promote bilateral engagement between India and the Gulf region in telecommunications, said senior officials at the WSTA conference.

 

Vandana Sethi, TRAI’s Advisor on international relations, said the agreement formalises the long-standing bilateral relations between India and Saudi Arabia in the area of communications regulation.

 

The theme of the one-day conference is “Emerging Trends in Regulation”. It was attended by Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU).