The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and the National Center for Housing and Building Research signed a cooperation protocol to activate the work of the Egyptian Code for the design principles and requirements for implementing optical fiber networks for communications in buildings and facilities as of the first of next April.
This comes within the framework of fruitful cooperation between the Ministries of Communications and Information Technology, and Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities to include fiber-optic cables for communications, as part of the building requirements, and to update the Egyptian Building Code to include a code of communications networks to meet the citizens’ needs for high-speed Internet services.
The protocol was signed by Engineer Hussam El-Gamal, CEO of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, and Dr. Khaled Al-Dhahabi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Housing and Building Research
The protocol comes in implementation of the country’s plan to achieve digital transformation. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the National Communications Regulatory Authority, through Telecom Egypt, are implementing a plan to develop the communications infrastructure to keep pace with the technical requirements to efficiently provide digital services to citizens.
The plan includes replacing the copper networks with advanced fiber optic networks and extending these networks within the buildings and facilities. This necessitated the availability of constructional and technical conditions to ensure their readiness to receive these networks, and to ensure their performance with the necessary efficiency and speed, which reflects the importance of applying the Egyptian code to the principles of design and requirements for implementing optical fiber networks for communications in buildings and facilities issued according to the Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Decree No. 818 of 2020 .
The protocol aims to lay down mechanisms for implementing the Egyptian code for optical fibers, procedures for verifying the structural and standard requirements contained therein, business tests and standards for their receipt.
Under the protocol; A technical committee shall be formed of specialized experts from both parties, and from the relevant authorities, in order to ensure the review of engineering and construction designs for buildings and facilities, in accordance with the requirements of the Egyptian Code for Optical Fibers, provided that the committee shall prepare a list of the technical and construction requirements that must be taken into account in accordance with the foundations of the Egyptian Code of Optical Fibers necessary to obtain The license, as well as the conditions and testing mechanisms necessary for receiving works and granting operating licenses, in addition to developing a list of general guidelines to ensure that the licensing agencies and those applying for them are informed of the code requirements.
The protocol also provides for working together to assign the city agencies of the Urban Communities Authority and District Heads of the Ministry of Local Development to take into account the recommendations and mechanisms issued by the committee regarding the code.
It is worth noting that it was agreed in 2019 between the Ministries of Communications and Information Technology, and Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities to include fiber-optic cable connection for new homes and buildings nationwide within the building requirements, and to update the Egyptian building code to include a code for communications networks, which includes standard specifications for private infrastructure. By providing communication services.
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