Following SAMENA Council’s Convergence to Bahrain conference, which delved deeply into 5G&IoT and the regional digital vision, the recent election of Mobily and Arabsat to the Council’s Board of Directors and unanimous re-election of stc Group and Batelco to chair and vice-chair it, has set new expectations of co-operation and collaboration between the Satellite and Terrestrial Operators in view of regional digital development plans, leveraging the 5G and allied technologies.

SAMENA Council’s Board, earlier comprising solely Telecom Operators, sees a large space available for collaboration with Satellite and the great business cases that exist for both terrestrial and satellite players to explore together. Satellite and Terrestrial Operators’ collaboration has a strong potential to create and multiply cross-industry collaboration, partnerships, and to materialize 5G technology use-cases, which can help justify the expedience and investments required in the adoption and proliferation of 5G.

Sensing the significance and necessity of engaging non-Telecom industries, such as Healthcare, Financial Services, Transportation, Energy, among others, directly with the Telecom Industry, SAMENA Council has set the agenda for its next Leaders’ Summit, the announcement for which was first internally made to its Members during the General Assembly, held in Bahrain on February 6th. The objective of the much-awaited Leaders’ Summit, which is to be held this year with the patronage of the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of the UAE, will be to take discussions from earlier editions of the Leaders’ Summit forward toward ensuring inclusiveness of other industries and verticals, including Digital Space Players, Utilities, Oil & Gas, Healthcare and Transport sectors, and the Economy as a whole.

The 2020 edition of the Leaders’ Summit has been earmarked by SAMENA Council as the stage for issuing the call for collaboration to non-Telecom industries, considering a wide majority of non-Telecom sectors are expected to take advantage of 5G and IoT, and other associated emerging technologies that require network-level collaboration from both Telecom and Satellite Operators.

SAMENA Council’s Leaders’ Summit is a by-invitation-only industry event. Chairmen, CEOs, and top-level decision-makers attend the Leaders’ Summit, which is a renowned platform for voicing and addressing policy and regulatory challenges as well as for identifying business opportunities and building bridges among the Industry’s influential Leaders.