SAMENA Council's Leaders' Summit 2019 Highlights Industry Leaders' Preparedness for 5G and Enunciates Collaboration as a Necessity for Ensuring Digital Inclusion in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Dubai: SAMENA Telecommunications Council's annual Leaders' Summit was successful held today at Atlantis, The Palm, with patronage of the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the United Arab Emirates, provided under the leadership of Director General H.E. Mr. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori; special guest-of-honor address by UAE Cabinet Minister & Minister of Tolerance H.H. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahyan; and a leadership message by International Telecom Union (ITU) Secretary-General H.E. Mr. Houlin Zhao.

Hosted for the sixth consecutive year by Huawei Technologies Middle East, Co-Sponsored by Sudatel Group and Ericsson Middle East, with Zain Group promoting the need for child protection online as an important imperative for the Industry, the one-day leaders-only congregation, the Leaders' Summit 2019, delved into discussions pertaining to the future of 5G and foreseeable impact that 5G will have on ICT business growth, on the development of the digital ecosystem and innovation, as the region prepares for the digital revolution and anticipates fulfillment of national ICT visions.

“I am very pleased to have witnessed today's prolific presence of leaders from all across the Industry, who took an active part in SAMENA Council's Leaders' Summit 2019. It was an honor to welcome each one of them. We have always had a highly distinguished congregation in the Summit, but this year is special, because the region is about to experience 5G, and representatives from so many regions converged today to both contribute insights and to take back perspectives, which could assist in their own technology deployment planning. We, as Industry, have made tremendous progress, and this is especially seen in the UAE. I wish to immensely thank the UAE Government, SAMENA Council's leadership, the SAMENA Council membership, Leaders' Summit sponsors, and  our team, for making this much anticipated event a great success", stated Bocar BA, CEO and Board Member of SAMENA Council.

As an integral part of the Leaders' Summit, to accelerate the large-scale deployment of 5G, Huawei hosted the  "5G is ON" Forum, which served as an occasion for 5G industry partners to discuss how emerging 5G-enabled intelligent services and innovations may help telecommunications operators to identify new business opportunities, thereby enhancing prospects of achieving growth.

SAMENA Council's 4^th SALT Meeting (SAMENA Leaders' Roundtable) among operators, technology providers, and regulators was also held. A by-invitation-only closed-door meeting, following the Chatham House rules of communication, the SALT Meeting was organized to discuss critical issues, including those relating to 5G spectrum availability in the region, preparations for the global WRC-19 conference later this year, cross-border spectrum interference, and digital services matters, with special mention of the need to protect children online.

Leading regional regulatory authorities, global and regional telecom technology providers and operators, as well as global bodies and institutions contributed to the discussions during Leaders' Summit 2019, including among others CITC - Saudi Arabia, TRC - Jordan, TRA - Bahrain, TRAI - India, Saudi Telecom Company, Batelco Group, Etisalat International, du, Omantel, Orange MEA, Sudatel Group, Zain Group, Eutelsat, AT&T, BT Global Services, Huawei Technologies, Ericsson MEA, TechMahindra, Ankabut, Dawiyat, GSMA, the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank Group.

The SAMENA Council's Leaders’ Summit is an annual leadership event, encompassing private and government sector leaders' gathering, bi-lateral stakeholder meetings, and panel discussions, held among stakeholders in a world-class setting. Leaders' Summit 2019 has built on past discussions, centered around enabling a true digital economy, which can only materialize itself via the timely availability of 5G; thus requiring prompt attention to address the region's spectrum needs, making 5G devices available, and attending to cross-border spectrum interference as well as cybersecurity challenges.

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About SAMENA Telecommunications Council
SAMENA Telecommunications Council is South Asia - Middle East - North Africa (SAMENA) region’s premier industry association of telecom operators and service providers. SAMENA Council voices network operators’ issues and needs to regulators, policymakers, and international institutions. Renowned regional telecom operators, including Saudi Telecom, Etisalat, Batelco Group, du, Viva Kuwait, Orange - MEA, Zain Group, Telecom Egypt, Sudatel, Omantel, and Alfa (managed by Orascom TMT), among other leading operators and technology companies, are a part of the Council’s membership. SAMENA Council is widely considered a sector-development partner to the private and the public sectors, empowering stakeholders to communicate together in addressing the most pressing industry issues, in order to help create a sustainable business environment for the industry, and to accelerate digital development in regional economies.

As an international non-profit organization, SAMENA Council is contributing to the understanding of cross-stakeholder priorities within the public and the private sectors. The Council has created a unique regional position as the regulatory reach and operator advocacy organization, promoting institution-level engagements with leading private and public-sector organizations.

SAMENA Council was founded in 2006. In February 2018 in Barcelona, Saudi Telecom Company, represented by Eng. Nasser Al Nasser as its GCEO, was re-elected to chair the Board of Directors of SAMENA Council.

Izhar Ahmad
Director - Industry Affairs & Communication izhar@samenacouncil.org
+971-52.2434140

© Press Release 2019