The SAMENA Telecommunications Council has announced that its Leaders' Summit 2025 will be held on May 26th in Dubai, bringing together top leaders, policymakers, regulators, investors, and industry executives from across the SA-ME-NA, Central Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and ASEAN regions. This annual leaders’ congregation is a key moment in 2025 for the ICT Industry to discuss the ongoing evolution of the digital landscape and the role of technology in driving economic growth and sustainable development. The theme of this year’s Summit, “Intelligent & Sustainable Transformation of Digital Economies”, reflects the urgent need for smart and sustainable approaches to accelerating digital transformation and achieving digital growth across SAMENA Council’s market of strategic focus.
The SAMENA Council Leaders' Summit 2025 will delve into how governments, businesses, and regulators need to collaborate, to ensure digital ecosystems and economies are organically supported with digital advancements, sustainable practices, and incentivization for all stakeholders, especially in terms of creating new digital experiences and maintaining investments in digital infrastructure. With tools, such as the Digital Economy Navigator (DEN) available to guide progress – of which SAMENA Council is a strong proponent – it is an ideal moment to examine how policies, regulations, and investment strategies are evolving to support the digital future in this age of 5G and 5G-Advanced.
This year, the Leaders’ Summit will examine how the region’s digital transformation is evolving with respect to adoption of new technologies, such as 5G, 5G-A, AI, and cloud services, and where maturity in digital economic development is required to be achieved. The Summit will offer an opportunity for leaders in both the public and private sectors to reflect on their roles in driving digitally transformative changes and to exchange insights on how national ICT strategies—such as those being implemented in the UAE – are influencing the overall trajectory of digital economies in the region.
In addition to the strategic discussions, high-profile roundtables will be held during the Leaders’ Summit 2025, creating unique opportunities for in-depth dialogue on key issues among a diverse group of stakeholders. By-invitation meetings will include a G20 Inter-Ministerial Roundtable, which will serve as the preparatory meeting for pre-G20 discussions, specially organized by SAMENA Council in collaboration with South Africa's Ministry of Communications and Digital Technologies and Smart Africa. Another important key forum during the Leaders’ Summit 2025 will be the Multi-TRA Forum, chaired by TDRA-UAE, which will focus on regulators and government bodies from the GCC region. This forum will address strategies for leveraging 5G infrastructure to improve municipal and smart-city service delivery across the region, highlighting the crucial role of telecom regulations and 5G infrastructure in facilitating seamless transformation among government bodies. The SAMENA Council Leaders’ Summit will also feature a roundtable focused on space development and sustainability, addressing the growing importance of satellite and space-based technologies, with special attention given to rising challenges in the areas of Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) and the next World Radiocommunication Conference 2027 (WRC-27). This will be a key opportunity for industry leaders and government officials to come together and discuss the future of space infrastructure and sustainability in the digital economy.
Several discussions around the evolution of telecom companies, specifically the transition from traditional Telecom Companies (Telcos) to Technology Companies (TechCos), will take a center stage for public discussion during the Leaders’ Summit. This shift in the business model represents a major transformation for the industry, as Telecom Operators expand their offerings to include a broader range of digital services, technologies, and super apps. These discussions will explore the strategies that operators need to adopt to successfully navigate this transition, ensuring their continued relevance in an increasingly digital world.
An underlying objective of the Leaders’ Summit 2025, is to draw attention to the pressing need among businesses and governments to adapt to new challenges, to change. As the digital landscape becomes more complex, it is clear that the demands for smarter, more sustainable solutions will continue to grow. Topics such as AI in network management, integration of 5G-A and AI, pursuit of green technology and energy solutions in telecom infrastructure, and the push for smart-city digital services and applications will be key areas of discussion. Participants will explore how Operators, Tech Providers, Government agencies, and enterprises of all profiles across multiple industries and economic sectors can accelerate the adoption of 5G, 5G-Advanced, AI, and other allied technologies in ways that not only foster growth but also ensure that digital transformation is sustainable and beneficial for all.
Bocar BA, CEO and Board Member of SAMENA Council, in announcing the Leaders’ Summit 2025 to the Industry, has stated: “The Leaders’ Summit 2025 will highlight the importance of dialogue, collaboration, investment, intelligent and secure integration of AI in the 5G environment, infrastructure investment, and creative applications and services that are dramatically re-defining digital transformation. The SAMENA Council Leaders’ Summit, enabled by its legacy patrons and collaborators, is a critical platform for dialogue, and we invite industry leaders to join in the conversation.”
More information about the Leaders’ Summit 2025 will be made available on a by-request and by-invitation basis only. To learn more, please contact SAMENA Council at SMNLS25@samenacouncil.org
Ends
Source: SAMENA Council Press release