Page 38 - SAMENA Trends - January 2021
P. 38
ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS
ARTICLE
Omantel: Empowering Economic Recovery Through
Sustainable Digital Transformation
Robust and Visionary Roadmap for Future Generations
“A sustainable, digital economic recovery from the global slowdown
which was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.” This was the tone,
vision and strategy of the Framework Working Group of the G20 2021
which met in January.
The pre-COVID years too had been showing a marked shift towards
digital & ICT Services; the Digital Economy Report 2019 by United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development stated that digital
economy accounted for between 4.5 and 15.5 percent of the world's
GDP in 2019.
At the start of 2020, over 4.5 billion people were using the Internet,
with 3.8 billion social media users and nearly 60 percent of the global
population online, says the Digital 2020 Global Overview Report, citing
the World Internet Development Report 2020. These figures indicate
a highly digital future, that will form the backbone of every country’s
economic progress.
Oman, way before COVID-19 impacted economies, took solid steps
towards its own digital transformation aiming to create a sustainable
knowledge-based society, raise the productivity and efficiency of the
public and private sectors by building national capacities, strengthen
the infrastructure, develop the IT industry and improve the quality and
execution of government services.
Oman’s national goals, even before the spread of COVID-19, are
parallel to combined global economic objectives of a strong, balanced,
Baha Mohamed Ridha Al Lawati inclusive and sustainable economic recovery that hinges on digital
Vice President Enterprise solutions.
Omantel
The country has been readying itself for this future since 2003 in
the form of its Digital Transformation Strategy. The Arab Monetary
Fund has underlined how Oman, through this strategy, has been
focusing on developing society’s capabilities, including individuals’
skills, and extending government applications and smart services to
help establish a comprehensive system of ICT-based and ICT-reliant
industries.
38 JANUARY 2021
