ictQatar Assistant Secretary Confirms State Commitment to Connecting Community with Broadband Network

Doha, December 12 (QNA) - Assistant Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Information and Communication Technology (ictQatar) Hassan Jassim Al-Sayed who is also Board Member of Qatar Broadband Company has underlined that the State of Qatar will link the community with the broadband high-speed network including the provision of a fibre optic broadband network directly in homes and businesses. Addressing the opening session of Fibre to the Home Council, Middle East and North Africa, which kicked off in Doha today, Al-Sayed by the year 2015 about 95 percent of the homes and businesses in Qatar will be covered by the national broadband network that comes as a fruit of the tireless efforts led by the National Broadband Network (NBN). In his address, the ictQATAR Assistant Secretary-General touched on Qatar's vision aimed to provide broadband network service, saying that the care for and development of a knowledge-based economy comes at the heart of Qatar National Vision 2030, which is the driving force behind the National Strategy for Information and Communication Technology 2015, at a time when Qatar National Broadband Network Company comes as one of the most important bodies for the achievement of the ambitious goals set out in this strategy. He pointed out that the broadband service offers many opportunities, but in the meantime the environment that encourages innovation and allows individuals to live experiences of creative risk, stressing that Qatar is committed to helping in the draw-up of policies and regulatory frameworks that ensure the National Broadband Network's advantages and benefits. Al-Sayed noted that ictQATAR and Qatar National Broadband Company are working to ensure that there are no unnecessary regulations that may hamper innovation and are continuing to draw up policies that will stimulate greater openness and freedom of expression so that ideas would grow and turn into solutions, adding that they are also working to raise the digital culture of the citizens who have a minimum of critical thinking skills, and which are necessary for browsing the amazing digital world provided by the high-speed Internet network. He also stressed that the continued work with the private and public sectors is a source of confidence in the possibility of creating an environment that encourages rapid innovation in institutions and the astonishing progress in the field of personal development and building a new generation of "digital citizens" capable of addressing the most pressing challenges.(QNA)