SAMENA (South Asia Middle East North Africa) Telecommunications Council has announced that its SAMENA Accelerator policy-level roundtable will be organized as a part of the Huawei UBB Forum (Ultrabroadband Forum) 2021, in Dubai from October 19-20 at Skyview, The Address, Downtown Dubai. The forum will address Rural Fiber Broadband Development & IPv6/IPv6+ Transition Issues. It takes place during Gitex 2021 so that it includes the Digital Communication Industry’s leading decision-makers from all around the SA-ME-NA region and beyond. The primary objectives of the UBBF-collaborated and Huawei-hosted SAMENA Accelerator is to address policy, regulatory, and business enablement issues relating to fiber deployment and industrial digitalization.

The bi-thematic policy leadership roundtable will include on ground and online speakers and attendees. Participation in SAMENA Accelerator is by-invitation only.

Advanced ICT infrastructure and other Digital Technologies are now vital as key elements of Sustainable Development, and next-generation networks and cloud communications are the new enablers. We are now seeing “inclusion” and “economic well-being” in the new “digital light” and are learning to readjust our priorities to drive socio-economic growth and fill key gaps — whether such gaps are at the policy or regulatory level, investment level, on the cooperation level, or at the level of incubating new ideas. Building the Digital Economy is the new major global imperative, which can be fully supported and propelled to fulfillment through Fiber and IPv6 based networks. New approaches in building infrastructure would greatly benefit by being aligned with changed characteristics of broadband, which is no longer a luxury.

This strategic industry event, to be held as a collaboration between Huawei and SAMENA Council, is in continuation of the SAMENA Accelerators held last year, with special focus placed this year to correlate fiber deployment with socio-economic growth, especially in the rural areas of the region. The Council expects to build the case for accelerated fiber deployment as an essential ICT pillar, which can dramatically add to and support sustainable national GDP growth by engaging rural communities. However, as a costly effort for investors, key incentives must be given, and key issue areas and challenges need to mitigated at an unprecedented pace to achieve universal access.

Furthermore, accelerating Industrial Digitalization in the era of Industry 4.0 and IoT, with the aim of accommodating complex and distributed network applications, and allowing for Telecom Operators’ search for new streams of business growth, including through intelligent cloud network capabilities, demands creating the rationale for speeding up the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 and also to the enhanced evolutions version of IPv6 (IPv6+).

SA ME NA Council’s lead in addressing this economic issue is appreciated by the ICT community. Voicing the opinion of members, Eng. Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Badran, CEO, Mobily, said, “SAMENA is an excellent platform for the Telecom leaders in the region to share their experiences in order to increase their competitive edge and achieve further growth and success. I believe that SAMENA’s energetic events and gatherings prepare concerned key persons in facing different challenges in the industry.”