Page 44 - SAMENA Trends - May 2025

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS
ARTICLE
Humanness: The Soul of Humanity and a Solution to
Operators’ Revenue Struggles
Izhar Ahmad
Director - Industry Affairs & Communication
SAMENA Telecommunications Council
The reality has taken a bit of time to dawn that Telecom Operators
are no longer just infrastructure providers. They are much more
than that, and it continues to take significant investments and
innovation to play the central role in the digital realm, as was
seen in the earlier years of this decade. However, investments and
innovation are not enough…
As Telecom Operators’ business model evolves toward the
technology company model, the next phase of growth lies beyond
infrastructure, and hinges on intelligence, humanization, and
preservation of humanness.
While legacy issues remain in some known
or evolving forms – i.e., performing amidst
competition, the need for a level-playing
field, new disruptions, monetization and
revenue pressures, new service models, and
transformational pressures, overall – these
realizations lead us into a new opportunity
landscape, ruled over by intelligence…and
subservient to the human interest.
Over the last five years, the global techno-economic landscape
has been utterly reshaped. Assessed qualitatively, the dynamics
of the prevailing digital economy were shaped by and are deeply
rooted in the lingering impacts of the last pandemic. The results
are: accelerated digitalization, hybridization of work, value-based
consumption, renewed self and health awareness, clarity on the
current state of inequalities and various forms of divides, adaptation-
driven mindset, new business models, human-centrism, no more
apathy toward the environment, worries about both voluntary and
involuntary disruptions in the global supply chains, shifting trade
dynamics and routes, data privacy and cybersecurity concerns,
trust in national as well as global institutions, a compelling case for
digital trust-building, and a host of other trends and realizations.
44 MAY 2025