16 November 2009
MUSCAT -- Nawras Chief Executive Officer, Ross Cormack joined a lively debate at the recent Convergence to Istanbul 2009 event, held by the SAMENA Telecommunications Council. Taking his place amongst regional industry peers, Cormack joined the panel of nine in discussing a range of important issues that are topping today's agendas for the leading operators of the region. Proceedings began with an introduction from A. Bocar, President of SAMENA Telecommunications Council preceding the opening speech from Thomas Wilson, the council's CEO.
Honorary Guest, Binali Yildirim, Turkey's Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology gave the keynote address. The thought provoking CEO session was moderated by Ghassan Hasbani, Partner and Head of Middle East Communication and Technology for Booz & Co in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Joining Cormack were CEO panel members Samer Salameh from Alfa Mobile, Wilson Varghese from Kalimat, Dr Paul Doany from Turktelekom and Dr Amer Awadh al Rawas from Omantel as well as Hatem Bamatraf, Senior Vice President Technology -- du, Ahmed Bin Ali, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Etisalat; Alex Shalaby, Chairman of Mobinil and Dr Homoud Al Kussayer, Vice President Regulatory, STC.
It was noted that the telecoms industry has shown resilience during this period of economic difficulty and has contributed to the recovery of many of the world's economies. The panellists agreed that the new growth is coming from broadband in all countries of the region and that broadband is now much more of a need rather than a want for large parts of the populations. The CEOs debated strategy for delivering broadband to corporate customers recognising that system integrators may well be partners in that growth opportunity.
Such system integrators could include the providers of the computing and software facilities to corporations who are trusted partners of major corporations. The operators also debated how to help regulators achieve their aim without the need for the type of intervention that has been seen in other markets for example Europe, where it has probably been to the detriment of customers as well as the operators. Later this month, Ross Cormack will be addressing the TelecomsWORLD Middle East 2009 conference in Dubai where he will talk about 'excelling in customer experience as a key growth strategy'.
MUSCAT -- Nawras Chief Executive Officer, Ross Cormack joined a lively debate at the recent Convergence to Istanbul 2009 event, held by the SAMENA Telecommunications Council. Taking his place amongst regional industry peers, Cormack joined the panel of nine in discussing a range of important issues that are topping today's agendas for the leading operators of the region. Proceedings began with an introduction from A. Bocar, President of SAMENA Telecommunications Council preceding the opening speech from Thomas Wilson, the council's CEO.
Honorary Guest, Binali Yildirim, Turkey's Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology gave the keynote address. The thought provoking CEO session was moderated by Ghassan Hasbani, Partner and Head of Middle East Communication and Technology for Booz & Co in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Joining Cormack were CEO panel members Samer Salameh from Alfa Mobile, Wilson Varghese from Kalimat, Dr Paul Doany from Turktelekom and Dr Amer Awadh al Rawas from Omantel as well as Hatem Bamatraf, Senior Vice President Technology -- du, Ahmed Bin Ali, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Etisalat; Alex Shalaby, Chairman of Mobinil and Dr Homoud Al Kussayer, Vice President Regulatory, STC.
It was noted that the telecoms industry has shown resilience during this period of economic difficulty and has contributed to the recovery of many of the world's economies. The panellists agreed that the new growth is coming from broadband in all countries of the region and that broadband is now much more of a need rather than a want for large parts of the populations. The CEOs debated strategy for delivering broadband to corporate customers recognising that system integrators may well be partners in that growth opportunity.
Such system integrators could include the providers of the computing and software facilities to corporations who are trusted partners of major corporations. The operators also debated how to help regulators achieve their aim without the need for the type of intervention that has been seen in other markets for example Europe, where it has probably been to the detriment of customers as well as the operators. Later this month, Ross Cormack will be addressing the TelecomsWORLD Middle East 2009 conference in Dubai where he will talk about 'excelling in customer experience as a key growth strategy'.
© Oman Daily Observer 2009
