This year, the Beyond Connectivity annual conference theme is “Harmonized Policy “: An enabler for digital economy growth?

The governing dynamics for better ICT policies and friendly regulations transition amicably over the course of time.

With such a nuance it wouldn’t be as illogical to say that the development in every walk of life can intrinsically be attributed to one common denominator which is the realm of telecoms & ICT. To date, the overall development in ICT has been impressive; nonetheless there exist countries where ICT availability and accessibility has so for been very low, which includes countries in the Africa and other parts of the world.  Although, some markets in these regions have shown remarkable growth in the telecoms & ICT sector over the past few years but the overall ICT usage and penetration is still below global averages.

With the current information revolution and the ongoing convergence, the ICTs sector is evolving at a remarkable pace. This dynamism of the sector has resulting in ensuring decisive change in all aspects of our lives, including knowledge creation and its widespread distribution, social networking, economic activities, media and entertainment. With the emergence of next generation technologies and new ICT policies the need for harmonized national ICT policies is gaining new heights and becoming a hot issue in the SAMENA region. Progression of the telecoms & ICT is considered to be a major factor in the overall socio economic development and economic integration. ICT policies and operators strategies need to accentuate the overall development of the sector and to elicit development and progress. However, policy and regulatory bodies also have to take into account the transitioning trends in the convergent world and ensure a competitive business environment among operators and service providers for the effective development of technology.

Over the past few years, the need for a collaborative approach on various issues such as Spectrum Harmonization, Infrastructure Sharing & Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), Public Private Partnership (PPP), and International Roaming Rates among others have gained momentum in the SAMENA region. It is therefore decisive that a region-wide harmonized ICT policies be devised and implemented to help boost the industry growth further.

Hadi Melki and Ann LaFrance represented EK Partners & Al-Enezee Legal Counsel in association with Squire Sanders in this event. Hadi Melki made a presentation addressing “The Future of Local Content Industry - Legal and Regulatory Considerations."