Page 22 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2024

LEADERS' SUMMIT 2024 SAMENA TRENDS

Priorities Highlighted during the Leaders’ Summit 2024

The SAMENA Council Leaders’ Summit 2024 established that everything, ranging from technologies, collaborations, partnerships,
use-cases, to people and machines, must come together and be seamlessly integrated meaningfully and beneficially in the interest of
all stakeholders, including end-users, in an inclusive manner. This necessitates focus on integration and sustainability in correlation
with the evolution underway within the Industry.

However, this also merits consideration of important factors, such as a holistic focus on technology, infrastructure development,
the digital environment, building cyber resilience, intelligence-based digital transformation, spectrum availability for next-generation
digital technologies, digital innovation, expanding choice for the digital user, new infrastructure financing approaches, and
understanding what is required to lead in the next phase of the digital era.

Priority areas to focus on include:
1. Economic development in the digital age requires digital realm, with innovations and new visions and digital
preparedness for a more inclusive and equitable future players emerging), and “digital economy” (which is reflective
2. Advanced ICT infrastructure, including 5G-Advanced capabil- of a new age of human endeavor)
ities, as well as allied technologies such as Artificial Intelli- 4. Ensuring technology remains human-centric, while the
gence, Intelligent Connectivity, IoT, 5G, Cloud infrastructure, Industry reconciles the drive for profitability and market
all having pivotal role Sustainable Development competitiveness with its obligations towards social and
3. Understanding “sustainable connectivity” (which implies we environmental responsibilities
need to focus on investment, enabling environment, digital 5. Understanding the high importance of fixed broadband, to
trust-building, unlocking new capital, etc. etc.); “emerging serve as a solid backbone of fiber in the access, backbone
ecosystem” (indicative of how diversity is growing in the network, and data centers

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