The government is writing and implementing many new laws on the ICT sector and has in the past year published drafts for public consultation (see here for MCRB’s submission regarding proposed mandatory SIM card registration).
The laws governing interception of communications have not yet been drafted or published for consultation, with no clear indication of when this will happen. In the absence of both legislation and technical regulation, it is not clear how companies should or will respond to government requests for interception. Although Telenor is not due to launch its service until the end of September, the company publicly stated in the sustainability update that until the rules on lawful interception are finalised, Telenor will not respond to any government requests for interception. Ooredoo launched its service in late August and has not publicly stated how it will respond to government requests on interception in the absence of a law, or indeed if it has received any requests.