Vision for intelligent and sustainable solutions across communications networks and digital economy
With the primary patronage of the TDRA-UAE, the one-day SAMENA Council Leaders’ Summit 2025 was recently held in Dubai with a renewed call for accelerating transformation across technologies, communications networks, and digital economies, with unified digital action across the South Asia–Middle East–North Africa region at large.
Organized by the SAMENA Telecommunications Council, the Summit gathered a high-profile community of global policymakers, regional regulators, technology firms, and digital ecosystem enablers from across the globe at Madinat Jumeirah, to identify and address real-world imperatives of building intelligent, inclusive, and sustainable digital economies, especially in the 5G-Advanced and AI digital environment.
AI to the fore
Held under the theme ‘Intelligent & Sustainable Transformation of Digital Economies’, this year’s Summit arrived at a critical moment—when the first operational wave of agentic AI, intelligent networks, and data-driven policy is demanding new forms of collaboration, network monetization, app-ecosystem advancements, and regulatory foresight, according to a press statement.
Following a high-level Opening Ceremony, which included keynotes from TDRA, Huawei, ITU, DCDT (South Africa), DCO, WBBA, and ZTE, and an MoU signing ceremony between the WBBA and the SAMENA Council, the Leaders’ Summit 2025 welcomed the Guest of Honour, HE Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, who delivered a powerful keynote message for the ICT industry.
Strategic platform
The Summit served as a strategic platform for deep exploration across critical domains. The ‘Space & Digital Connectivity’ session discussed the growing role of Mobile Satellite Services and non-terrestrial networks in expanding regional reach and resilience, particularly in anticipation of WRC-27 as well as ongoing priority issues in space development and sustainability.
In parallel, the TDRA-chaired Multi-TRA Digital Transformation Forum brought together regional regulators as well as UAE government entities to explore digital service transformation and improved delivery of citizen-centric services by leveraging the 5G and 5G-A infrastructure.
The roundtable was convened with the primary objective to facilitating an exchange of insights in view of South Africa’s presidency of the G20 summit, which will take place in November 2025.
Transformation
In his keynote remarks, Bocar A. BA, CEO, SAMENA Telecommunications Council, spoke candidly about the transition the region is navigating.
“We are in the age of intelligent connectivity and operate in a landscape where infrastructure is no longer just about coverage—it is about cognition, energy discipline, and service relevance. In this context, the SAMENA Council Leaders’ Summit is not simply an event,” affirmed Bocar.
“It is a mechanism for regional coordination, for responsible innovation, and for establishing the shared direction we need. We cannot afford to be fragmented, neither in vision nor in execution,” he continued.
“The future of our digital societies is not being written by technology alone. It will be written by how wisely we govern, how inclusively we build, and how effectively we lead. That is the spirit of the SAMENA Leaders’ Summit—and the legacy we are committed to building together, with the support of all of you,” concluded Bocar.
