The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has met the substantial radiocommunication requirements of the Road World Championships Doha 2016 (RWC) with temporary frequencies assignments. CRA approved 741 different types of radio equipment such as walkie-talkies, wireless microphone systems and wireless cameras, and 88 different frequency channels for the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) sponsored by Road Cycling World Championships Organizing Committee.
Qatar is the first country in the middle east to stage this prestigious event which has been organized annually since 1921. RWC attracts pan-global broadcast and online coverage, hence clear, and interference-free operations are essential for both - the teams racing in the competition and for broadcasters. CRA played a major supporting role in the organization of the event in line with its national mandate of managing scarce resources such as the radio spectrum.
Large-scale events typically require significant use of the radio spectrum for activities such as broadcast coverage, surveillance, managing spectators, security and sound relay, and high-quality radiocommunication within assigned bands of the radio spectrum is essential for smooth operations.
CRA met the needs of the organizers within a short time period and extended its full support for the timely release of imported equipment shipped to Qatar in cooperation with the concerned authorities.
In 2016, CRA met the full radiocommunication needs of all large sports events held in Qatar and assigned a total of 360 temporary radio spectrum frequencies and approved 2,366 items of radio equipment for use across seven sports championships. In addition to RWC 2016, CRA supported MotoCross Championship 2016, Qatar MotoGP 2016, Commercial Bank Qatar Masters Golf 2016, Cycling Tour of Qatar 2016, Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2016, and Qatar Total Open 2016.
CRA intends to contribute to the success of these high profile sports events within its jurisdiction and will continue to support all future events. For the benefits of organizers of all types of large events (sporting and non-sporting) that require use of radio communication devices and temporary spectrum frequencies, CRA has made available relevant forms and guidelines in its website here: Forms - Guidelines.