SAMENA Council Launches the 10Giga Society Initiative to Accelerate Digital Economy Development in the Middle East

[Dubai, UAE, October 13, 2023] SAMENA Telecommunications Council held the SAMENA Accelerator summit on 10Giga digital infrastructure at the Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF) 2023. The honorable speakers from communications ministries, World Broadband Association (WBBA), IPv6 Forum, Arab ICT Organization (AICTO), Omdia, and Huawei had a deep discussion and shared their opinions on "how to accelerate 10Giga deployment and promote the digital economy". At the summit, an initiative was launched by all participants to usher in the 10Giga society. In addition, Omdia released the Fiber Development Index 2023 report, pointed out the current situation of fiber development in the region, and shared the key measures to accelerate 10Giga deployment.

Mr. Bocar A. BA, CEO of SAMENA Council, said in the opening speech, "Over the next few years, as we strive to achieve the 'Giga' milestone, our objective is to create impact beyond just simple Internet. Fixed-line networks, which literally are the backbone of national digital transformation, and are key to sustainable digital development, are the most important infrastructure for communities and businesses, for resilient communication, and for fulfilling national digital visions. Moreover, our technological capabilities, which now extend to 5G-Advanced in mobile systems and to Net5.5G in IP bearer and data center network for the intelligent world, will be playing important role to support the end-to-end network quality for 10Giga Society. Therefore, SAMENA Council is proposing a move toward 10Giga, and would like to reiterate the importance of timely policy, regulatory, and business decisions in this regard."

Mr. Mohammed Bin Ali, Acting Director Telecommunications Directorate, MTT of Bahrain, shared the history of telecommunications policy milestones and the achievements in the telecom market: "We have successfully completed more than 92% of the targets set forth in our national transformation plan (NTP5), and have already realized the gigabit vision. Bahrain has the ambition to be a leading 10Giga society, with nation-wide deployment."

Mr. Latif Ladid, Founder & President of IPv6 Forum, said: "The global IPv6 deployment rate has exceeded 2.5 Billion IPv6 users with 50% penetration of the Internet world. The next step is to develop IPv6 Enhanced innovation. Toward 2030, Net5.5G concept is proposed by the industry, including 10G access network, 400G/800G bearer network, and 800G AI DCN, building end-to-end networks with ultimate experience, to facilitate 10Giga society digitalization."

H.E. Eng. Mohamed Ben Amor, Director General of AICTO, said: "AICTO established the Arab IPv6 Council to promote IPv6 and IPv6 Enhanced, which are important for the digitization of the region. With IPv6 converged transport network and AI data center networks, Net5.5G will build a high-speed and high-quality network infrastructure for the cloud and AI era."

Sense Strategy, MTT of Bahrain, China Mobile International, TMRW Foundation, and Huawei holding a deep discussion on how to accelerate the 10Giga society

Mr. Lin Yanqing, Principal Consultant of Public Affairs of Huawei, said: "10Giga will be the basic requirement for home broadband due to glass-free 3D and other ultra-high definition streaming video, but for enterprise cloud and AI requirement, it's still not enough. Wi-Fi 7, 10GPON/50GPON, and 400G/800G bearer network will work with AI to ensure user experience. To better support sustainability development, the ICT industry has played a key role, enabling green transition of almost all the other industries. From the end-to-end network perspective, full fiber is the answer."

The SAMENA Accelerator on 10Giga infrastructure development, building on a past edition of the summit on improving fiberization and IPv6 transition policies in the region, aimed to accelerate focus on fixed network development as mobile networks undergo evolution beyond 5G. Leveraging Net5.5G in IP bearer and data center network capabilities for the intelligent world, 10Giga networks will provide the necessary means to future-proof digitalization and digital transformation in the region. To this effect, this 10Giga initiative by SAMENA Council will further pave the way toward building sustainable digital economies in the region.