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OUR OPERATIONS>>>Engineering and Technical Services
The Engineering and Technical Affairs Department is one of the core departments of the Commission charge with addressing technical regulatory matters which include:* Spectrum Management;
* Network Standards and Quality Of Service (QoS);
* Type Approval of Telecommunications Terminal Equipment;
* Network Interconnection and Numbering Plans;
* VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) Technology and its impact on network services provisioning and
* Institutional Capacity Building and Human Resource Development-Consultancy Assistance from the ITU and others
The engineering staff and support team comprises of: * Mr. S.R. Tumoe- Chairman/Commissioner of sub-committee on Engineering
* Mr. R.S. Kargbo- Member/Commissioner Engineering sub-Committee
* Mr. Senesie Kallon- Sub-committee Member and Secretary/Director, Engineering Department
* Mr. Victor Findlay- Spectrum Manager, Engineering Department
* Mr. Steven Konteh- Manager IT and Standards, Engineering Department
* Miss Valentina Thompson- Pupil Engineer Engineering Department
* Mr. S.M. T. Senesie - Telecoms Specialist Technician
STRATEGIC PLAN
During the period under review, a strategic work plan was developed and submitted to the then Executive Secretary wherein all the logistical needs and requirements for the department to function well were articulated. These included financial requirements and institutional and human capital capacity building.
ENGINEERING SUB-COMMITTEEA four-man sub-committee on Engineering of the board was set up to which the Director, Engineering and Technical Affairs was made a member. In its inaugural meeting this sub-committee created a generic Terms Of Reference (TOR). All subsequent meetings of this sub-committee were guided by this TOR. The TOR was in line with the engineering functions to be discharged by the commission as prescribed by the Telecoms Act of 2006 as amended 2009.
FUNCTIONAL ACTIVITIESDuring the period under review, several functional activities were undertaken to deliver good on those responsibilities in the department. In the following paragraphs some key activities will be highlighted. In some of the activities, significant milestones were established and in some, challenges still remain to be surmounted.
SPECTRUM MANAGEMENTThe major activities in spectrum management involved planning, licensing and monitoring of the frequency spectrum bands and channels. In fulfilment of these functions the following achievements were recorded:
* Development, review, maintenance and implementation of existing and new spectrum licensing regimes (Application, Processing and Assignment);
* Development, review, maintenance and implementation of existing and new spectrum pricing regimes for NATCOM (GSM, CDMA, WiMAX and other frequency spectrum types);
* Monitoring to support assignment activities initially using the Microgen iLog Equipment for FM Broadcast radio stations. " Monitoring to support assignment activities initially using the Microgen iLog Equipment for FM Broadcast radio stations. of particular interest and worth mentioning were:
1. The assignment of the 850 MHz band for Sierratel CDMA 2000 1XEVDO (the service hat is today relatively the fastest broadband Internet services on the move);
2. The assignment to Atlas Communications, the IMT2000 450 MHz band frequencies as was approved by the ITU WRC07;
3. Assignment of spectrum in the WiMAX 2.5 and 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands to Equatorial Communications, Intergroup Africa, Rawabi Dubai Group, Ambitel, Sierratel and the UNDP;
4. Revision and juggling of assignments in the EGSM 900 and GSM 1800 bands and the subsequent retrieval of the EGSM 900 band from Comium and Africell;
5. A few assignments in the VHF band, mainly to Private Security Firms and the Airline Industry;
6. Lots of planning and assignments to various users in the 7-,8-, 13-,15- and 23- GHz bands for higher capacity microwave radio links using SDH technologies for IP backhaul;
7. The IMT 2000 spectrum band of 2100 MHz was planned and one assignment made to a new entrant company called Intergroup Africa (3G Licence to Intergroup Africa) NETWORK STANDARDS AND QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS)
In fulfilment of the provisions of the Telecommunications Act, 2006 as amended, which mandates the Commission to determine and fix Quality of Telecommunications Services and Standard of telecommunications equipment and facilities, the Engineering department prepared and disseminated Quality of Service and Network Standards parameters to all Network Operators (the GSM and Sierratel, the PSTN and CDMA Operator). These entailed the QoS parameters and network performance standards.
The Commission recognized that Network Performance is the most important QoS parameter for measurement of quality of a Telecoms Operator. Poor performance of telecoms networks would induce customer complaints and faults, thereby leading to customer dissatisfaction towards the operator. In its correspondences to Network Operators (GSM, PSTN, CDMA), the C omission set the following Network Performance Parameters and QoS criteria: o Service Access Delay -less than 15 sec; o Call Set-up Success Rate- greater than 90%; o Call Drop Ratio- less than 3%; o Point of Interconnection (PoI) Congestion- less than 1% Telecommunications Terminal Devices Type ApprovalPursuant to the mandate of the Commission, NATCOM has put in place modalities to start (even if on a small scale) type approval of telecommunications terminal equipment and radio transmitting devices.
Initial moves to establish a Type Approval Committee has been made. It is intended to have representatives from the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Sierra Leone Standards Bureau and the Independent Media Commission (IMC) as collaborating partners. The purpose for this committee is to coordinate all the activities pertaining to Type Approval such as import taxes, technical specifications for broadcast radio transmitters, quality of communications terminal devices and dealership in electronic communications gadgets. Inaugural meetings were held with these bodies for the establishment of the rules of engagement and other modalities for cooperation.
To give impetus to this area of our functions, Type Approval work is ongoing (albeit on a small scale) through accreditation of internationally renowned Standards bodies (ANSI, ETSI, FCC, CEPT). The cases in point are the Cetecom Vehicle Immobilizer MW1014 and the Blackberry 8100 type approval for ZAIN Sierra Leone for its "Enterprise Push-mail" services.
INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTOver the period under review not only have we equipped individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively in the engineering department but we have also made some Organizational Development and elaboration of management structures, processes and procedures. We have also initiated networking relationship between NATCOM and other stakeholder entities in the telecoms and telecoms-related industry.