Dear All,
Welcome to the July 2020 newsletter from the Global Telecom Policy Research Network (GTPRN).
We wish that you and your beloved ones are in a good health. As the situation re-COVID-19 seems to be much better than the last months, in many countries, curfew is relaxed, and we have the chance to meet and return to our offices again.
The last month was also a good one for GTPRN as our subscribers have increased by 25% with more interaction especially on our Facebook group. The lesson is that people have different preferences with respect to commenting and interacting. While some prefer emails, others find platform such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter more encouraging. Perhaps this is because they allow interaction via emojis and few lines comments or maybe because these platforms have a more appealing interface.
In all cases, you are more than welcome to join our Facebook or LinkedIn Groups, or to follow us directly on our website www.gtprn.org where you have the chance to comment on each article or post.
We have the privilege this issue to have several exclusive contributions for GTPRN by high profile telecom policy practitioners and academics. This include Prof. Jennifer Manner, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at EchoStar Corporation/Hughes Network Systems LLC, on technology neutrality, Prof. Jason Whalley, Professor of Digital Economy at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, on the impact Covid-19 on ICT industry, and Mr. Mohamed Abd El Hassib, Vice Chairman of ITU-R Study Group 7 (Science Services), on the activities of the group in preparation for WRC-23. You can comment and express your views by contacting us on [email protected] or by commenting directly on their posts on www.gtprn.org
We are also very pleased to introduce to you two telecom policy experts who have kindly joined our GTPRN editors’ team namely, Mr. Arzak Khan, an internet governance and cyber security expert, and Mrs. Rolla Hassan, Senior Manager, Internet Policy Analysis at the NTRA of Egypt. Feel free to check their bios at the end of this newsletter issue. As you all know, I am coordinating GRPRN community on a voluntary basis, and would welcome researchers in joining our editors’ team. Initially, we need representatives from each region (e.g. Latin America) to have a wider scope for GTPRN.
Finally, please share with us and with the GTPRN community your opinions, articles, views, news, announcements. Please also help us by spreading the word about the GTPRN community and forward this newsletter if you think it is useful to your colleagues or students.
Take care, stay safe and well.
Mohamed El-Moghazi
GTPRN Team