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B
Y
R
OYAL
D
ECREE
in 2004, Qatar’s Supreme Council of ICT
(ictQATAR) was formed with a clear and authoritative
mandate as both a regulator and an enabler of Qatar’s ICT
sector. In May 2005, His Highness and Heir Apparent of Qatar
Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani unveiled ictQATAR’s vision
and mission with the further directive “to create an advanced
information-based society that will improve the life of everyone
in Qatar and will enhance the social and economic development
of the country.” As such, its main responsibilities include draft-
ing telecommunications-related legislation and regulations as well
as defining, maintaining and prosecuting a national ICT vision,
strategy and masterplan aimed at enabling the socioeconomic
development of the nation.
Since its formation, ictQATAR has diligently pursued the devel-
opment of a national ICT strategic plan tailored specifically to
the unique circumstances and requirements of Qatar and based
on relevant international best practices. The approach used is
provided in Figure 1.
This process led to the development of ictQATAR’s strategy, summa-
rized below, which has come to be known by the acronym FIRST:
Foster the Environment
– Develop the market conditions, infra-
structure and supporting legal and regulatory framework that are
most conducive to ICT development
Increase Readiness
– Build awareness and reduce barriers to the
use of ICT by citizens, businesses and government agencies
Raise Usage
– Increase Internet usage among citizens, busi-
nesses and government agencies through targeted government
policies to provide incentives and support the development of
compelling content
Sustain Impact
– Continuously gauge progress, measure impact,
and refine initiatives accordingly
Target Early Results
– Prioritize initiatives and secure quick wins
to sustain momentum and support.
Twelve development programmes
In order to realize this strategy, ictQATAR devised twelve ICT devel-
opment programmes, seven of them cross-sectoral and five of them
sector-specific, which in total encompass nearly 170 initiatives.
ictQATAR will continue to partner with the different stakeholders
in Qatar (including other government agencies, ministries and the
private sector) to implement these twelve programmes:
1)
State-of-the-art infrastructure
: Initiatives include broadband
for all, wireless neighbourhoods, and a National Data Centre
to support the transformation of Qatar into a knowledge
based society and the growth of its business as a leader in IT
services
2)
Innovation and capability building
: Initiatives to address ICT
literacy, educational programmes, stimulation of the ICT job
market, development of ICT ventures, fostering of ICT
research and development, and inducing foreign ICT enter-
prises to open development centres in Qatar.
3)
Regulatory and legal framework
: Initiatives include the draft-
ing of regulations to govern a competitive market while
ensuring universal access. Other initiatives address the devel-
opment of cyber-laws and e-commerce regulations to address
privacy, cyber-crime, security of transactions, etc.
4)
Safety and security
: Initiatives include the creation and imple-
mentation of a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)
Enabling a national ICT transformation
ictQATAR
Environment
Readiness
Usage
Education
Health
Finance
Tourism & Sports
Other
Vision
Socio-Economic
Programs
Sector Specific Priorities
and ICT Imperatives
ICT Strategy
Sectoral ICT Plans
Qatar Vision
Sustained Political
Reform
Long-Term Economic
Development
Equitable Social
Development
Government Services
Education
Health
Financial Services
Tourism and Sports
Transport
Oil and Gas
Manufacturing
Figure 1: Approach to develop the ICT strategy and masterplan