Focus on Digital in Middle East Com day one keynotes

The conference room was packed this morning at the 19th annual Middle East Com, for the opening presentation by Host Operator Etisalat’s Chief Business Officer, Salvador Anglada. Mr Anglada presented Etisalat’s view of the new opportunities available to operators in the hyper-connected world. With a forecast of 50 billion connected devices by 2020, and 4 billion new internet users in the next 10 years, operators must prepare for the benefits coming their way from the new digital environment.

Operators are no longer at the centre of the communications universe – they are part of it and need to establish what role they are going to take, and where they will build their capabilities. With the Middle East communications market still in growth phase, the time is ripe for consolidating current success and preparing for the future.

Charbel Sarkis of Google was next to present, with a speech on “Digitising the Customer Facing Value Chain”, highlighting the preference and benefits of a more digital approach to customers and customer service.

Zain Sudan’s CEO Elfatih Erwa was interviewed by Ovum’s Matthew Reed, giving a detailed insight into his operation, and was followed by the operator panel featuring Greg Young, CEO, Nawras; Mikkel Vinter, CEO, Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa; Sacha Dudler, General Manager, STC and Ahmed Mokhles, Executive Vice President, Consumer and Digital Business, du. The panel was moderated by Strategic Partner Telecom Review’s Editor in Chief Toni Eid and highlighted how telcos are contributing to business and consumer lifestyle enhancements.

Afternoon tracks focussed on Customer Experience Management, Transformation to the Networked Society and MVNOs in the Middle East.

Join us tomorrow for day 2 at the Mina A’Salam Madinat Jumeirah with keynote presentations from Ross McAuley, Vice President Brand Marketing at Jumeirah Group and Dr Aisha Bin Bishr, Deputy DG of The Executive Office, Member of the Smart Dubai Executive Committee. With top level discussions on Smart Cities, Smart Services and Managed Services, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow.