NTRA website of Egypt scored the highest ranking in Africa and is assessed to be almost fully at the interactive level, as it scored 2.48 points, according to Learning Initiatives on Reforms for Network Economy (Lirne.net) in its report " NRAWEBSITES: Benchmarking National Telecom Regulatory Authority Websites ".

The study compares NTRA websites for countries in Latin America, Caribbean and North America, Africa, and Asia.

According to the study, each website was assessed across different categories of information provision. To achieve a consistent ranking, each element was given a score of 1 to 4 based on the degree of richness.

The stages were identified as follows:

• Emerging: Only basic and largely static information is available.
• Enhanced: Content and information is updated regularly, and information is available not only in its original format (such as acts and legislation) but is also explained and digested.
• Interactive: Users can download forms, contact officials and make requests. Available information has further value added, such as being hyper-linked to relevant legislation.
• Transactional: Users can submit forms online – for example to request information, or to submit a request for license form.

In addition, the Egyptian NTRA, according to the report, had an overall average score of the highest benchmark across all subcategories with several of the subcategories benchmarked as interactive (score of 3) – having most of the items linked, forms in PDF or online, downloadable and hyperlinked to relevant legislation.

Key best practices of the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt include:

• A clear awareness of who the client/users are and what they need. This is one of the only websites where one does not have to search within several banner headings to find the Key Service Categories.

• The entire website is organized against very clear service provision categories such as Frequency Spectrum, Type Approvals, Licensing and Regulation with clear subcategories of functions and activities that a prospective client would need.

Egyptian NRA not only made clear choices of ensuring that each subcategory provided adequate information but also in addition ensured that items such as regulations and forms for each category were linked there.

About LIRNE.NET
LIRNE.NET is a Strategic Collaboration between researchers and faculty from: the Center for Communication, Media and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University, Denmark; DIRSI  (Regional Dialogue on the Information Society / Di?logo Regional sobre la Sociedad de la Informaci?n), Lima, Peru; Economics of Infrastructures Section, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; LIRNEasia, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Media@LSE Programme at the London School of Economics; and Research ICT Africa!, Johannesburg, South Africa.


About NTRA
The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) acts as an independent and prudent arbiter among the different ICT sector stakeholders: the industry, the state and consumers. Founded in 2003 according to the Telecommunications Regulation law as a national authority to administer the telecommunication sector, the scope of its work, as a general outline, covers issues related to transparency, open competition, universal service and the protection of user rights.