Page 7 - SAMENA Trends - February 2020

FEATURED SAMENA TRENDS

SAMENA Council’s New Leadership

Following SAMENA Council’s Convergence how the speed of change is affecting deliver the best possible level of service for
to Bahrain 2020 conference, which delved the pace of business transformation. the people and markets of this region.”
deeply into 5G&IoT and the regional digital The sustainability of network operators
vision, the recent election of Mobily and is key as the providers of the digital Upon being newly elected, Mobily CEO
Arabsat to the Council’s Board of Directors infrastructure, which supports all digital Mr. Salman Badran expressed the
and unanimous re-election of stc Group and related economic activity. While appreciation on having been re-elected
and Batelco to chair and vice-chair it, has trying to understand the impacts on their as a member of SAMENA Council’s Board
set new expectations of co-operation and businesses from these developments and of Directors representing Etihad Etisalat
collaboration between the Satellite and identifying the right digital transformation Mobily. Mobily’s CEO mentioned the
Terrestrial Operators in view of regional strategies, regulatory authorities and importance of SAMENA Council in enabling
digital development plans, leveraging the governments are struggling to adjust legacy harmonization among stakeholders and in
5G and allied technologies. regulatory and economic frameworks to facilitate growth of the digital economy
the new technology- and market realities. via proper collaboration in setting relevant
SAMENA Council’s Board of Directors, A lot of questions are surfacing regarding policies, strategies, and regulations of the
earlier comprising solely Telecom the disruption caused, including what to do ICT sector.
Operators, sees a large space available about cross-border data flows, taxation in
for collaboration with Satellite and the the digital economy, spectrum availability, To bridge the gaps in understanding of
great business cases that exist for 5G and Digital Services use cases and different stakeholder issues, and to align
both terrestrial and satellite players to much more. policy, regulatory, and private-sector
explore together. Satellite and Terrestrial priorities, SAMENA Council brings together
Operators’ collaboration has a strong On his first-time election to the Board, different stakeholders and focuses on
potential to create and multiply cross- Arabsat’s President & CEO, Mr. Khalid Ahmed enabling and facilitating the proliferation
industry collaboration, partnerships, and Balkheyour, stated: “Communications of advanced Digital Services, addresses
to materialize 5G technology use-cases, technology today has the ability to improve challenges in relation to Data Regulation,
which can help justify the expedience and people’s lives and provide them with drives the harmonization of Operators’
investments required in the adoption and access to information and opportunities. positions on Spectrum Management, and
proliferation of 5G. As an industry (Terrestrial or Satellite), we draws Regulators’ attention to excessive
have a responsibility to grow, evolve and Industry Fees and Taxation.
The need to ensure sustainability of provide real solutions for the people’s
the industry has brought together needs. I believe the Council will provide The current leadership of SAMENA Council
telecommunications service providers a strong, unified voice in our discussions consists of stc Group, Batelco, Etisalat,
and various stakeholders along the digital with governments , stakeholders, and Mobily, stc Kuwait, Orange - MEA, Zain
value-chain to collectively investigate regulators, as we all work together to Group, Arabsat, Sudatel and Omantel.

Board Member Representation (From left to right): Orange MEA, Zain Group, Omantel, Batelco, stc Group, Mobily, SAMENA Council,
stc-Kuwait, Arabsat, Etisalat Group, Sudatel Group
7 FEBRUARY 2020