This was hosted by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) in Manama, Bahrain on 1 October 2018. The workshop preceded the AREGNET meeting organized in association with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and was aimed at introducing insight on new industry topics and strengthening the collaboration between Arab countries through a series of workshops moderated by leading experts of the industry as they proceed to analyze in-depth topics of international issues related to M2M and IoT, and how it impacts the future of the telecommunications industry.
Ammar Hamadien, Head of Strategic Engagement MENA, Government and Regulatory Affairs spoke in a session titled ‘Enabling global M2M and IoT Connectivity’. This session focused on how M2M and IoT Connectivity including the implementation of the 5G/IMT-2020 will help building Smart Cities including smart healthcare, smart logistics, smart utilities, smart automotive among other things.
The session was moderated by Mr. Adel Darwish from the TRA in Bahrain (TBC) and some of the other speakers included: Mr. Marco Carugi, ITU Expert, Mr. Hesham Mustafa, Chief Business Officer at VIVA Bahrain, Mr. Karan Ponnudurai from AWS/Batelco and Mr. David Randolph Hoelscher from Huawei.
AREGNET, set up in 2003, is comprised of all telecommunication regulatory authorities across the Arab world, established under the League of 15 Arab States. The entity aims to serve as an open platform to share opinions and expertise, prepare policies, develop case studies, and procedures to create common organizational practices with the region to achieve sustainable development goals within the ICT sector.
The practices that are under AREGNET are aimed to be fair and transparent in order to encourage the development and modernization of the telecom and ICT industry in the region. AREGNET works towards transforming the Arab economy into a digital one to increase productivity and efficiency within the region by introducing and implementing new technologies, resulting in an overall attractive environment for local and international entities that develop and create modern technologies and applications.