During the SAMENA Telecommunications Council Leaders' Summit 2024, the Middle East Glasses-free 3D Industry Initiative was announced by Zain Group, Omantel, LAiPIC AI, LITITONG, LANSHEN 3D, and others. This initiative seeks to standardize glasses-free 3D technologies, build ecosystem capabilities, and incubate innovative applications using 5G and 5G-A, artificial intelligence (AI), and computing network capabilities. The ultimate goal is to create a next-gen experience for users and new value for the industry at large.
Today, with a largely mature ecosystem in place, the user experience for glasses-free 3D has become natural and comfortable thanks to a plethora of device choices. Further development to make glasses-free 3D more immersive and more convenient will be enabled by the high speeds and low latency of 5G and 5G-A networks, powerful computing networks, and AI. In addition to improving the visual experience for users, this will also create good opportunities for scaled commercialization of glasses-free 3D. 2024 will be key to scaled commercialization of glasses-free 3D, hence the urgency of collaborative development of glasses-free 3D display and AI technologies as well as content, applications, and networks.
The Glasses-free 3D Industry Initiative will channel industry resources to further explore the development of the glasses-free 3D industry as a whole and new directions for the technology. This initiative will promote collaboration among operators and industry partners, which will accelerate the technology's commercialization.
Moreover, this initiative underscores the urgent need for the market presence of glasses-free 3D devices in diverse form factors and at low costs. The industry will need to develop 3D applications in consumer electronics, such as those for large-, medium-, and small-screen devices like smartphones and tablets.
Furthermore, this initiative promotes the inclusion of new technologies such as AI, AR, and VR to improve the 3D user experience. These technologies can enable more real virtual applications and more intelligent image processing, improve 3D image quality, control crosstalk, and implement lossless 2D-to-3D content conversion.
Lastly, this initiative calls for exploring glasses-free 3D applications across diverse fields, which will help identify business opportunities. Glasses-free 3D is expanding from recreation and entertainment to domains like education, healthcare, and manufacturing. For example, it can help make learning more interesting and intuitive. In healthcare, it can be used for medical image visualization and surgical simulation.
Overall, the Glasses-free 3D Industry Initiative will further the 3D ecosystem, improve the 3D user experience, and create new business opportunities.
The SAMENA Telecommunications Council Leaders' Summit 2024 was held at Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai with the theme of "Evolving toward Integration, Intelligence & Sustainability in Infrastructure". Over 20 regulators, 30 operators, and 300 industry leaders worldwide discussed key topics such as Leading the 5G-A Era, Digital Transformation, and Spectrum Opportunities for the GCC Region. The stated purpose of the summit was to catalyze digital prosperity across regions in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
The Leaders' Summit was attended by renowned ICT industry players, including regulators from the UAE and Saudi Arabia; industry organizations like GSMA and the World Broadband Association (WBBA); operators from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa; and ICT infrastructure representatives like Huawei and Nokia. Enterprise representatives, analysts, application ecosystem partners, and media partners were also in attendance.