Leaders of North African country, Algeria, are proposing to put together an information and communication technology (ICT) policy for the country, according to the Algerian Press Service (APS).

Algeria has a high take-up of telecoms services, as it has a mobile penetration rate of over 100% according to BuddeComm research.

However, the nation placed 124th out of the world's 140 most innovative countries in this year's Global Indesx of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

As a result, politicians - such as Abdelhafidh Aourag, of the Ministry of Higher Education - have proposed initiatives that could be adopted in an ICT policy document.

“It is necessary for Algerian companies to work in partnership with researchers to produce goods which can be competitive, not only on the domestic market but also on the international market,” he said.

Mai Barakat, of Informa Telecoms & Media, says that although Algeria has a well developed ICT sector, the industry has not been regulated well, and a policy would be welcomed.

But she fears that calls for an Algerian ICT policy from politicians could be nothing more than hot air as well.

“There’s been a lot of talk about these kinds of things, I found with a lot of these markets one should generally not believe something until its happened,” she said.