SAMENA Telecommunications Council presented telecom operators' perspectives in the 4th Open Consultation Meeting of the ITU Council Working Group on Developmental Aspects of the Internet (CWG-Internet), held at ITU headquarters in Geneva on February 3, 2017, and emphasized various challenges in provisioning and opportunities associated with access to the Internet.
SAMENA Council, invited to the panel by ITU and Member States, focused its discussion on the current state of connectedness, addressing its infrastructure, human, and business aspects, along with factors such as human capability, relevance, and affordability. The Council, represented by its CEO, Bocar BA, observed close correlation between well-aligned stakeholder priorities and policy-setting and sustainable investment, to enable and accelerate digitization. BA also drew upon the evolution of the Internet into an IoT ecosystem as seen from the eyes of telecom operators, and described approaches for helping stakeholders flourish in the evolving data-led economy.
While recognizing with concern that more than 50% of the global population still do not use the Internet for reasons including lack of access, skills, relevant content, affordability, and relevance to lifestyle, global platforms and initiatives such as World Economic Forum's Internet for All and ITU's Connect 2020 are helping to change the status quo. In the discussion, SAMENA Council attributed the extent of progress already made in provisioning internet access to Member States' prioritization of digital development in their national agendas and to telecom operators' investments in advanced communication infrastructure and technologies.
Panelists in the Meeting, including SAMENA Council, discussed developments of the Internet in multiple contexts, and deliberated on ways to achieve the shared vision of an interconnected society, where benefits of the Internet are realized for all members of society. Increased collaboration and dialogue between the public and the private sectors were identified as key to achieving this goal.
Bocar BA highlighted that rather than focusing on challenges, the focus should be on the opportunities that the shift to a completely new interconnected ecosystem is bringing for each stakeholder group. First and foremost, such an interconnected ecosystem should allow for inclusion and ensure that access to it is understood as a basic human right. Working together to enhance ICT skills, relevance, foster human capital, strengthen efforts to making ICT access and services more affordable, and adapting regulation to reflect new relationships, are critical to fulfilling the shared vision of an interconnected and fully-inclusive human society.
BA also stated that "Internet is a reality; as real as anything else that humans experience in life. Telecom operators, with recognizably good support from regulatory authorities and policy-makers, have made internet access a crucial part of their sustainability strategy; a factor without which digital services and true customer experience cannot be created. At the same time, however, operators are also concerned that, despite billions of dollars invested in building advanced infrastructure, and given we are now discussing 5G, a large portion of the human society still remains unconnected. SAMENA Council, which represents the interest and the views of telecom operators, feels that we need to truly and promptly implement the notion of stakeholder inclusion in the mechanics of our industry-wide working interactions and cooperation. Where operators recognize the need to transform themselves toward achieving many of the outcomes we have discussed, there is also a need to undergo transformation on the regulatory and policy plains. Fortunately, SAMENA Council, as a sector development partner to both the private and the public sectors, feels that progress is in the making. We are thankful to regulatory bodies for their willingness to work closely together with the private sector."
CWG-Internet was established as a separate group by Council Resolution 1336, in accordance with Resolutions 102 and 140 of the 2010 Plenipotentiary Conference. CWG-Internet is limited to Member States, with open consultation to all stakeholders. After the Plenipotentiary Conference, which was held in Busan in 2014, CWG-Internet started to hold physical open consultation meetings after each online consultation.