Bandar Seri Begawan - The substantial growth in the use of mobile telecommunication services in Brunei over the last few years is expected to continue as people become increasingly dependent on mobile devices for business and social purposes.

The use of bandwidth-hungry' mobile broadband applications such as social networks is growing significantly. This will increase the demand for high capacity mobile networks and put pressure on mobile telecommunications providers to improve their quality of service to support such applications.

According to a press statement, the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) recognises the need for mobile telecommunications providers to have access to sufficient radio frequency spectrum using advance mobile telecommunication technology to accommodate the demand for high capacity and deliver data throughput enhancement to support 'bandwidth-hungry' services and applications. Therefore, AITI proposes to make the 1800 MHz band spectrum available for the deployment of advance mobile telecommunication technology systems and services, including Long Term Evolution (LTE) or 4G.

In order to have a better understanding of the various requirements of the relevant stakeholders, AITI issued a public consultation paper on The Allocation of 1800 MHz Band for International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT) Systems and Services' as a first step before undertaking the exercise of awarding the rights of the utilisation the 1800 MHz band spectrum to operators.

The public consultation paper has been made available on the AITI website as of today. AITI hereby invites views and comments from the industries and members of the public on the approach and measures for the allocation of the 1800 MHz band for IMT Systems and Services.

Public consultation is a process generally practiced by AITI to provide opportunities for the industries and members of the public to express their views on the regulatory framework and procedures proposed by AITI. This is the fourth public consultation paper published by AITI in 2012. The first public consultation paper was regarding Proposed Unified Licencing framework which was launched on April 18, 2012. AITI received a total of seven feedbacks from licensees and relevant stakeholders.

The second public consultation paper was on telecommunication and broadcasting competition code and was published on June 4, 2012. AITI has received three feedbacks from licensees.

Similar number of feedbacks was also received after AITI issued the third public consultation paper on Domain Name Management Framework on Sept 14, 2012.

AITI urges its licensees and relevant stakeholders to submit feedbacks and comments on the public consultation paper. The paper is available for download from AITI website (www.aiti.gov.bn) starting today.

The deadline for submission of comments is December 14, 2012, at 3.30pm.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin