Dubai - UAE, April 22, 2013: The South Asia - Middle East - North Africa's SAMENA Telecommunications Council is hosting the chairmen and chief executives of telecommunications operators and broadcasting companies worldwide to participate in its 4th Annual CEO & Chairmen Leadership Dinner, to be held on May 24, 2013 in Italy. Telecom Italia will host this leaders' gathering in Venice, with strategic partnership support extended by the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO).

The SAMENA Council's CEO & Chairmen Leadership Dinner will build on the Council's past successes as a premier executive platform for the telecoms industry's chairmen and chief executives, and will create close collaboration with one of Europe's  most prominent industry associations- ETNO and one of the largest telecom operator groups which is Telecom Italia.. The Leadership Dinner will also comprise of discussion sessions, particularly in the areas of exploring prospects of cooperation and collaboration among telecoms networks, broadcasters, and over-the-top providers. As the core of the discussion of the SAMENA Council's Leadership Dinner has been designed to focus on the creation and convergence of new ecosystems, the participating leaders will have an opportunity to discuss digitization, transformational way forward for telecoms operators and broadcasting companies, new partnership needs and challenges for stakeholders of the telecom and content value-chains, and new sustainable business and economic models.

Furthermore, a collaboratively organized CEO workshop by ETNO and the SAMENA Council, titled Telecommunications and broadcasters in the Middle East: convergence of challenges and opportunities in the global digital market, to be organized at Telecom Italia's Future Center, will engage the highest representatives of the main broadcasters and telecommunications operators active in the SAMENA and European regions. The aim of the workshop is to understand various dimensions of the digital revolution underway and to both create and discover new insights into the emergence of new business models; the new structure of competition among players, with focus given to emerging spectrum needs and spectrum allocation strategies, access to content and its consumption via new technologies, policy considerations for telecom and broadcasting networks, financing, media freedom and human rights protection, among other issues.

Mr. Bocar A. BA, CEO of the SAMENA Council said "The legacy of the SAMENA Council's Leadership Dinner in 2013 is relationship and business development as well as discussion of high-priority telecommunications issues, conducted in a world-class ambience. Participation in the SAMENA Council's Leadership Dinner has truly increased since its inaugural launch in 2010. We attribute the continual success of this executive initiative by the SAMENA Council to the depth of knowledge that is exchanged among our participating leaders and to the support provided by our gracious hosts and strategic partners. This year, we are indeed thankful to Mr. Franco Bernabè, President and CEO of Telecom Italia and to Mr. Luigi Gambardella, Chairman of the ETNO Executive Board, for facilitating our Leadership Dinner's planning process, which we believe will contribute to the global dialogue on industry issues, which have a direct bearing on the success of the business in this converged world."

Mr. Luigi Gambardella, Chairman of the ETNO Executive Board and Telecom Italia Group Vice President for Relations with International institutions and Organizations added: "We are very honoured to host this year's SAMENA Council annual gathering in Venice. Both Telecom Italia and ETNO believe that common reflections between players in different geographic areas of the world will help develop a shared vision on the challenges that the telecom sector is facing and the possible synergies that the convergent scenario may offer to telcos, fixed and mobile, and broadcasters. The borderless nature of on-line services requires more debate on future business models and investment challenges at a global level. We therefore hope that both the workshop and the SAMENA Council's CEO & Chairmen Leadership Dinner will provide a useful platform for a successful exchange of ideas on how to best respond to market evolution for the benefit of citizens both in the EU and in the Samena region."  

The SAMENA Council has delineated its focus on the need to transform business models and the need to accelerate the adoption of digital services, as innovation and new strategies are the new requirements that need to be fulfilled to able to benefit from advanced telecommunications technologies, and to help operators sustain investments in establishing next-generation access networks.

In a series of collaborative undertakings that ETNO and the SAMENA Council have created, both organizations feel that in order to benefit from increased cooperation in areas such as spectrum, access to content, ICT skills, and new innovative business models, which includes models for both telecom and broadcasting networks, active and collaborative engagement of industry leaders is required. For this purpose, the SAMENA Council's Leadership Dinner will help serve the industry's need to work on the new agenda.

-Ends-

About SAMENA Telecommunications Council
SAMENA (South Asia-Middle East-North Africa) Telecommunications Council is a tri-regional, non-profit telecommunications industry association that represents over 40 telecommunications operators in 25 markets, representing an aggregate subscriber base of 700 million mobile users, 79 million fixed-line users, and 22 million broadband users. The Council's membership embodies a community of telecoms operators, manufacturers, government bodies, academia, and leading global management consultancy organizations. SAMENA's Board of Directors and member companies include the largest regional operators and global multi-network operators as well as new competitive entrants. SAMENA focuses on digitization and broadband investment policies, and aims to promote beneficial regulation and governance that further industry evolution, as well as cooperation among key ICT industry stakeholders. For further information, please visit www.samenacouncil.org or contact SAMENA Communication at +97143642700 or email to (communications@samenacouncil.org).

About Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia is the largest Italian telecommunications company, also active in the media and manufacturing industries. Now a private concern listed on the Borsa Italiana, it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies. The company operates landline telephone services in Italy, GSM mobile phone services in Italy and Brazil through its TIM subsidiary, and DSL internet and telephony services under the brand Alice in Italy and San Marino. It also owns a stake in Telecom Argentina. Internationally, Telecom Italia is present in professional telecom services for other operators or corporations through TI Sparkle. Diversified, Telecom Italia also controls one of the main Italian television companies, Telecom Italia Media, and owns Olivetti, the manufacturer of computer peripherals and other hardware.

About ETNO
ETNO's 37 member companies and 12 observers, including leading telecoms operators and equipment manufacturers, from Europe and beyond represent a significant part of total ICT activity in Europe. They account for an aggregate annual turnover of more than €600 billion and employ over 1.6 million people. ETNO companies are the main drivers of broadband and are committed to its continual growth in Europe. For more information, please consult www.etno.eu or contact Thierry Dieu, ETNO Director for Communications and Public Policy (dieu@etno.be) or at +32 2 227 10 82.

For further information please contact:
Farah Ibrahim
TRACCS
Tel: +9714 3672530
TRACCS 24/7 Media Hotline: +97150 9448389
Email: farah.ibrahim@traccs.net

© Press Release 2013