Reports and Coverage

By Dr. Chafic Chaya, regional communications manager, RIPE NCC

The fact that the internet is transforming the world economy through its rapid evolution and the growing use of its technologies is evident. In 2019, more than half of the global population connected to the internet and billions of devices are connected online. The internet’s potential to support social and economic development has been recognized, as has its potential for enhancing the free flow of information and ideas around the world. However, the internet’s growing popularity has also placed increasing pressure on its governance systems.

Etisalat collaborated with Huawei to complete the industry's first trial of compact all-optical cross-connect (OXC) for the transport industry enhancing connectivity and speed while the cutting-edge technology will simplify optical architecture and build future networks.

Co-authored by Prof Mary Hinesly of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and Jay Srage, CEO, Centrigent

Organizations like the World Economic Forum, OneWeb and the United Nations have created initiatives to connect the public on a mass scale, realizing that a connected population has a direct effect on GDP as well as economic and social growth. We are now entering a new age of industrial digital divide which if left unaddressed, will have a more severe and direct impact on the economy and the adoption pace of advanced technologies.

By Francisco Sant’Anna, Industry Advisor for Regional Services Providers, Ciena

Fiber has never been as critical as it is today, and this trend is likely to continue for a long time. With the evolution of 4G and initial 5G deployments underway we will see an almost six-fold increase in mobile data-traffic between 2018 and 2023 (according to Ovum’s Network Traffic Forecast: 2018-23, published in December 2018). The result? Massive demand for transport capacity. Combining this with the cell densification needed to deliver suitable coverage at a higher spectrum, mobile services will be a major driver for extending fiber reach.

Huawei international and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology announced the recent winners of the Saudi Arabia edition of the Huawei Middle East ICT Competition 2019. The competition aims to nurture local talent in the ICT field with a vision to sharpen their ICT skills and prepare them for the future of technology in line with the visions and goals of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in relations to human capital.

The World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) saw agreements signed by some 3400 delegates from around 165 Member States which were enshrined in the Final Acts of the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the global use of radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits.

Egypt’s Ministry of Public Enterprise Sector has announced the completion of the largest tender in both Egypt and the Middle East’s ICT industry for digital transformation in its subsidiaries.

In cooperation with Kaspersky, the world's leading provider of cybersecurity technologies and services, Umniah has launched Kaspersky Safe Kids a product that promotes parental control to protect children on the internet, making Umniah the first telecommunications company in Jordan to offer this product on a monthly subscription basis.

5G network forms the underlying layer to digitally transform and bring new capabilities across industries, entertainment and public services changing the role of telcos to facilitate services that will enable futuristic use cases, opined Etisalat senior executives at the two-day GSMA event.  

NXN and Microsoft have ventured into a partnership to launch NXN’s digital transformation platform “DNX” and its digital services on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform for government entities, real estate developers and enterprises across the region.