Technology & IT | Monday 8 June, 2015 4:26 pm |

Emphasizing the strong need to establish a strong base of cooperation with governments and industry to meet the growing demand for broadband and connectivity, SAMENA Council’s 2015 Telecom Leaders’ Summit took place recently in Dubai in the esteemed presence of His Highness Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development in the UAE.

Addressing the leaders attending the Summit, His Highness Sheikh Nahyan, said: “Successful action demands cooperation among the many stakeholders in the broadband universe. Moreover, you operate under ever-increasing pressure from the ultimate stakeholders, the millions of consumers in the SAMENA region, who wish to be connected more reliably, more swiftly, more inexpensively, and more securely. Global citizens are counting on telecom entrepreneurs to succeed. The SAMENA Council aims to develop a unified voice among operators and service providers in cooperation with national administrations to enable, to shape, and to affect changes in policies and regulations.”

His Highness Sheikh Nahyan added, “The President of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has always sought productive cooperation among governmental agencies, business and corporate leaders, and the people who live and work in the country. We have for over forty-three years visualized new opportunities and figured out the best ways to put our new ideas into action successfully. We have realized that successful action demands compromise and cooperation among the many stakeholders in our country. Compromise and cooperation have been particularly vital because we have always forged our way into an unpredictable future. What is reasonably predictable about our future, however, is the absolute need to be connected within our country, our region, and our world. We depend on you telecom leaders for those connections,” His Highness Sheikh Nahyan concluded.

“The industry is going through major transformations. Currently, there are about 3.9 billion mobile subscribers and by 2020 this number is expected to rise to almost 5 billion mobile subscribers with the ratio of 10 IP connected devices per subscriber. This will result in the creation of approximately 40-50 billion connected devices by 2020. Operators are therefore facing huge challenges and we have to establish excellence as a standard in our efforts to create a strong base of cooperation between the public and private sectors,” said Bocar B.A, Chief Executive Officer, SAMENA Council.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Shiyaohong, Huawei Middle East President, said, “The availability of fast ubiquitous broadband connectivity is transforming the telecommunications landscape in the region as we work towards our vision in building a better connected world. For 15 years in the

Middle East, we understand that cross-industry cooperation and placing the customer at the heart of our innovations is crucial for progress as the industry continues to evolve. The Telecom Leader’s Summit is a great way for Huawei to show our gratitude to our loyal regional partners and support the growth of the Middle East’s broadband economy. Our end-to-end solutions connect systems, businesses, cities, societies and people in order to transform industries, improve efficiencies, creates better experiences for everyone and pushes the boundaries of ICT industry.”
 
Hosted by Huawei for a second consecutive year, the Summit gathered leaders, policymakers, regulators, telecom operators, Internet players and technology providers, including Dr. Nasser Marafih, SAMENA Council Chairman and Group CEO – Ooredoo Qatar; Mr. Shiyaohong, Huawei Middle East President; Dr. Khaled H. Biyari – CEO, STC Group; Dr. Kamal Shehadi – Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer, Etisalat Group; Dr. Syed Ismail Shah – Chairman, PTA Pakistan; Tony Wong – Head of FBB Business Consulting, Huawei; Jean-Francois Thomas – CEO, Orange Jordan; Dr. Hamadoun Toure – Former SG ITU; Safder Nazir – Regional Vice President Smart Cities & IoT, Huawei; Hakam Kanafani – Chief Adviser and Board Member, Turk Telecom Group; Maciej Witucki – Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Orange Poland; Ihab Ghattas – Assistant President of Middle East, Huawei.

The summit also witnessed three panel discussions where panelists deliberated on a number of issues facing the telecom industry today, under the theme “Broadband Transformation: Visualizing New Opportunities and Defining Urgent Imperatives in Stakeholder Cooperation - Innovation towards Building a Better Connected World.”

As part of the first panel discussion on the topic “Broadband Infrastructure Deployment in the SAMENA Region”, speakers turned the spotlight on balancing innovation, investment and inclusion against the backdrop of an ever growing need for connectivity. It was highlighted that 73% of the population in the SAMENA region is covered by 3G while 65% has access to relevant content and 54% can afford broadband. Leaders explored answers to barriers that continue to hinder broadband connectivity and usage in the SAMENA region in addition emphasizing affordability as one of the main challenges. Panellists agreed that the rising demand for data has made the Internet and broadband a human right and that mobile alone cannot cater to this demand indicating the need for governments and policymakers to support infrastructure development through investment-friendly policies. There was also widespread agreement that regulations and business models that worked for the industry 10-15 years ago are no longer effective and that broadband is a core prerequisite for greater connectivity.

The second panel on the topic “Stakeholder and Cross-Industry Cooperation in the Age of Smart Cities” aimed at exploring means of enabling the smart city vision to pave the path for the creation of smarter digital societies, identifying priorities of digital development taking into account data security and privacy and the interdependencies of emerging technologies for smart cities. The speakers initiated the discussion by setting the definition of a Smart City as a connected city where citizens can exercise all their rights using technology as an integral and effective tool. Panellists agreed that a stronger partnership and openness with other parties is crucial to provide suitable services to citizens. They further highlighted that while certain aspects of digital innovation are


negatively affecting the quality of human interactions, Smart Cities aim to facilitate increased productivity.

The concluding panel on the topic “Accelerating Broadband Development to Drive Citizen-Centric Innovation” focussed on adoption of smart regulation to help bridge the digital divide, building a truly digital society and sustainable digital economies, the leading role of telecom operators in empowering the evolution of citizen-centric digital solutions and services, and strategies to meet the massive current and future mobile data demand especially in the domain of video content. All the participants agreed that the ecosystem is much bigger than operators and vendors and that all stakeholders should cooperate to define and build smart regulations. The speakers also highlighted the critical nature of Investment-friendly policies for the development of the telecom sector.