Press Release

SAMENA Telecommunications Council, in collaboration with Huawei Technologies Middle East, a long-active Member of the Council, is holding its 1st SAMENA Accelerator series of policy roundtables with the Public and Private sector industry stakeholders on November 19th, centered on Fiber Deployment. The 2nd SAMENA Accelerator will be held on November 25th, focused on accelerating the SA-ME-NA region's Digital Economy.

Bocar BA, CEO and Board Member of SAMENA Council, has stated that "We are thrilled to receive confirmations of keynote speeches and participation from key industry stakeholders across the leading developing economies of the SA-ME-NA region, and thus look forward to a very good, outcome-oriented discussion on November 19th and November 25th.”

BA further stated that "Digital transformation, enabled by mobility, cloud and broadband technologies, including Fiber-optic, is taking place in almost every industry and is reinforcing the need for us to re-think ICT infrastructure development. Many countries in the region now have well-defined national ICT visions and plans are being implemented to infuse ICTs across the board into each dimension of the national economy. These visions are already proving that countries that take ICT policy measures soon than later, secure for themselves and their citizens a better future."

IN OCTOBER, at the Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF) 2020, SAMENA Council, represented by Bocar BA, had built on the recommendations already issued to UN Member States by the ITU, the private sector, and by the UN Broadband Commission alike, highlighting the Fiber networks' positive economic impact and fulfillment of bandwidth demands posed by emerging digital communications technologies in countries with low Fiber penetration. SAMENA Council had drawn attention to the need for developing Fiber-based networks in the region, acknowledging that Optical Fiber has played a vital role in making possible the remarkable growth in global communications over the last 25 years. For the coming decades, Fiber will again be instrumental in delivering innovation in many sectors that now increasingly rely on ICTs and collaborate with telecom operators, supporting new technologies. Fiber will make ultra-fast broadband and 5G, IoT and advanced smart technologies possible, and will  be necessary for achieving the Digital Inclusion and Global Digital Connectivity imperatives.

Earlier in SEPTEMBER this year, during the ITU Global Cyberdrill, held as a part of the regional dialogue for the Arab region on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, SAMENA Council had drawn attention to the significant potential in the latest digital technologies to transform communication and create new value for private-sector and public-sector entities alike. Enabled by broadband, which requires future-proofing with increased proliferation of Fiber-based networks, the digital services ecosystem is also in need of cybersecurity measures as well as increased IP address space. To this effect, the Council had emphasized on the need to transition from IPv4 to IPv6 and IPv6+.

Accelerated digital transformation requires an overall vision where technology, including Fiber-optic connectivity, along with human resources, improves efficiency and effectiveness of business. In the 5G, this can only be achieved with a new internet protocol. As IPv4 exhaustion becomes more and more imminent, network operators across the globe are taking a closer look at transitioning to IPv6. Being the successor of IPV4, IPV6 will not only offer far more address space and thus further catalyze the Internet Economy, but will greatly resolve network bottlenecks caused by the soaring number of Internet-connected devices while allowing for further stimulation of digital innovation across industries and how those industries elevate the end-user experience in the digital era.

The SAMENA Accelerator on Fiber Deployment on November 19th thus carries a multifaceted aim of presenting a strong case for accelerating Fiber-based networks in the SA-ME-NA region and to fine-tune focus on cybersecurity, network efficiency and resilience, and to help accelerate the Digital Economy. As a part of this aim, the Fiber policy roundtable will communicate Fiber-optic GPON/FTTH infrastructure expansion and encourage cross-stakeholder and cross-industry participation in capacity-building opportunities. SAMENA Council believes, with proper policy and regulatory mechanisms in place, healthy competition in building ICT infrastructure can help drive investment and innovation, and it must exist at all levels, from regulatory enablement, to investment, to wholesale, to retail.

Participation in the SAMENA Accelerator on Fiber deployment can be requested at the following link:https://www.samenacouncil.org/accelerator-fiber-2020/

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