Page 19 - SAMENA Trends - November 2020

SAMENA COUNCIL ACTIVITY SAMENA TRENDS

Key Insights from SAMENA Accelerator on Fiber

• Fiber-optic networks will continue to
prove their usefulness and reliability for
increasingly sophisticated technologies in
the communications space. Data integrity,
reliable long-distance transmission, and
higher bandwidths are the hallmarks of fiber
networks.
• We have no option but to invest in Fiber; if we
don't have Fiber, we cannot really be digital.
Fiber is a lifeline to digitization.
• While investing in Fiber, the ultimate goal
should be to strategize first as to the viable
use of the Fiber; countries with lack of Fiber
strategy will not be able to drive intended
benefits from Fiber availability.
• The Industry requires expedient Fiber
deployment policies solutions to issues that
impede deployment, ranging ROW difficulties,
deciding on best deployment scenarios,
overcoming cost, time, and ROI issues, and
policy/regulatory incentives. Many issues,
such as economic, execution, and technical
problems in the deployment of Fiber, can
be tackled by building trust between the
government entities and the Operators.
• In hard-to-cover areas or complex geographies,
infrastructure-sharing should be facilitated and
promoted by policy within the Telecom Industry.
Also, policymakers and regulators from other
sectors/industries should collaborate on make
existing infrastructure such as electricity poles,
waterways, and waste water systems, gas and
district heating lines, roads and railways, etc.,
available to Fiber investors for mutual use in
the long run.
• It is imperative that clear government
directives are issues by governments to
enable the deployment of Fiber, which should
be supported fully by alignment of rhetoric
with actions, and the Private Sector should be
provided with security of investments.
• Possible incentivization measures could
include reduced taxation or tax-free operations
for certain durations, reduced licensing fees for
hard to reach areas, no taxes for rural areas,
guarantees from governments in infrastructure
security in certain areas, among others.
• To reduce fiberization costs, or to reduce
splicing difficulties, new technologies such as
Huawei AirPon are available, which should be
considered by both government and private-
sector decision-makers in their plans to
accelerate deployment of Fiber.

19 NOVEMBER 2020