Page 4 - SAMENA Trends - September 2021

EDITORIAL SAMENA TRENDS

Enhancing Connectivity for the Region’s Sustainable

Digital Growth

When it comes to building successful digital all industries, adjacent sectors, and digital
economies, sustainability and inclusiveness economies, at large. And this crucially
are the key principles. It is truly through requires the participation and contributions
collaboration and by fostering inclusion and of all digital space players, recognizing
participation of everyone that we can ensure that the Internet is the lifeblood of digital
that we will take into account different needs economy and we need to improve the pace
and issues into consideration…in order to of growth and inclusiveness of our regional
take actionable steps to make real progress. digital economy; enhance how education
As our societies and the global economy and healthcare delivery is carried out; and
digitalize, there are ever more possibilities how innovation happens, at large.
to advance standards of living through
human-centric, data-driven, and evidence- Understanding that the inherent nature of
based policies, increased economic the digital economy demands participation
competitiveness, higher-quality jobs, and concerted efforts and unified region-
enhanced provision of public services wide and worldwide responses are needed to
throughout the SA-ME-NA region's urban tackle the connectivity gap, it is crucial that Bocar A. BA
Chief Executive Officer & Board
and rural communities. targeted policies and better, more flexible Member
regulatory and competition frameworks are SAMENA Telecommunications
We have less than 10 years to make put in place. Council
progress on multiple fronts, which
includes provisioning meaningful Expectations put forth by international ICT
access to connectivity and achieving community, with our region's policymakers
beneficial utilization of the 5th generation and regulators at the forefront, have
mobile broadband and fixed broadband conspicuously defined priorities attached
technologies that our industry has created. to them, such as universal access and the
To close the gap between connectivity development of meaningful and affordable
and digital economy, we need to tackle the connectivity, which is foundational for
financial resource gaps for building digital ensuring digital inclusion and expediting
infrastructure, which can empower the digital transformation efforts, to help build
region's digital economy. Such financial a sustainable digital economy in the region.
resources are required to build both 5G The necessity of digital resilience, resilient
networks as well as fiber and IPv6 based networks and enhanced robust connectivity,
fixed networks. which are crucial for making the most
beneficial use of the Internet, lie at the heart
We are at a stage in our technological of how fast we can materialize a sustainable
evolution where connectivity must catalyze digital economy and move toward creating
a multi-layer wave of digitalization across a knowledge society.

4 SEPTEMBER 2021