Page 3 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2024
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EDITORIAL  SAMENA TRENDS











        Mobilizing Substantial & Sustainable Resources for Digital

        Development






        Over the last two months, SAMENA Council   I  will  reiterate  here  what  SAMENA  Council
        has  echoed  the  Industry's  high-priority   pressed  upon  in  May  during  its  Leaders'
        areas,  including  some  that  it  has  helped   Summit 2024: Co-operation is essential, and
        define  afresh  and  advocate  as  loudly  as   we cannot afford fragmentation in our strat-
        possible.  These  include:  monetization  of   egies  and  efforts.  Digital  development  is
        5G  investments  through  Fixed  Wireless   almost synonymous with access to sustain-
        Access  deployment  and  advancing  toward   able,  secure,  and  meaningful  connectivity,
        5G-Advanced as a means to enhance the 5G   service availability, and affordability. Further
        ecosystem and to bring the vision of smart,   investment and scale are needed, and it is
        gigacities  to  reality;  reaffirming  consensus   more imperative than ever before that we un-
        and  way  forward  on  6  GHz  spectrum  and   lock access to new capital.
        new opportunities for the Industry as well as
        for both developing and developed nations;   Similarly, last month, at the WSIS+20, we had
        meeting  sustainable  digital  development   the opportunity to identify some compelling
        needs  of  the  SA-ME-NA  region,  with   elements  for  uniting  stakeholders  in   Bocar A. BA
        particular  emphasize  on  the  Arab  region;   universal digital inclusion: unlocking access   Chief Executive Officer
        developing  and  promoting  fresh  new   to  capital  by  broadening  the  contributor   & Board Member
        broadband financing approaches to connect   base for financing digital infrastructure, and   SAMENA Telecommunications
        the  unconnected  regions  of  the  world;   adopting structured, pragmatic approaches   Council
        promoting cybersecurity as an incentivized   to  mobilize  substantial  and  sustained
        undertaking  and  building  cyber  resilience   investment. The rationale is that it is no longer
        for  the  telecom  business;  and  assessing   up to Telecom Operators, or the "traditional"   flexible,  technology-neutral  regulatory
        implications  of  Artificial  Intelligence  for   telecom  industry  to  bear  the  burden  of   frameworks to ensure equitable access
        humans,  networks,  and  the  business,  at   building  the  world's  digital  infrastructure,   to digital transformation benefits.
        large,  among  other  areas  of  stakeholder   but  also  global  digital  platforms,  content
        interest from earlier on.             providers, financial institutions, development   SAMENA Council remains committed to
                                              banks, and governments.               promoting  a  digitally-inclusive  and
        Amidst  these  areas  of  endeavor,  it  is                                 sustainably-enabled society throughout
        critical  that    we  work  together  to  ensure   As  this  edition  of  SAMENA  TRENDS   the  SA-ME-NA  and  its  neighboring
        that  acceleration  toward  digital  economies   covers  a  spectrum  of  outcomes  from  the   regions,  and  to  help  put  into  effect
        across the regions remains uniform, so that   Council's  industry  activities,  correlating   strategic   initiatives   and   policy
        the  challenge  of  various  types  of  digital   with  aforementioned  priority  areas  for  the   recommendations  that  are  both  well-
        divides is mitigated.                 Industry,  we  ought  to  re-think  and  adopt   intentioned as they are practical.
                                              collaborative  investment  approaches  and

















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