With the active participation and sponsorship of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), SAMENA held its annual summit at the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai, in the presence of Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence in the United Arab Emirates H.E. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan as a guest of honour at the summit, and with the participation of a group of decision-makers and workers in the field of ICT in the public and private sectors in the Middle East and North Africa region.

TDRA Director-General, His Excellency Eng. Majed Sultan Al Mesmar gave the opening speech in which he highlighted the importance of regional cooperation to advance the telecommunications sector and digital transformation in order to contribute to creating the future and promoting a sustainable digital economy to serve the region. He said: “Advanced digital ecosystems have proven to have an effective impact on society, economy and government work. Today, emerging technologies constitute a strong drive for the transformation process towards a sustainable digital economy, whether in the UAE or in the region and the world. However, this journey has some challenges that we must work together to overcome and turn into opportunities and prospects. One of these challenges is the legislative issue, as technologies are constantly evolving, and in order to keep pace with them legislatively, we must be highly innovative. Thus, TDRA was keen to launch the first experimental legislative environment for the ICT sector (ICT Regulatory Sandbox), on the sidelines of the World Government Summit that was held in Dubai last February.”

H.E Al-Mesmar called for concerted efforts to support countries that are not connected to submarine cables, which deprives them of broadband Internet services, and offered the UAE’s assistance in this context based on the UAE’s global trends, and said: “The UAE is ready to provide the necessary advisory and technical support to those countries.”, in order to achieve the noble global slogan raised by the United Nations in the context of its development goals, (Leave no one behind).”

Deputy Director-General for the Telecommunications Sector, His Excellency Mohammed Al Ramsi participated in the activities of 5.5G session. Al Ramsi presented TDRA’s efforts to enhance the infrastructure of 5G and 5.5G, and the role of this technology in promoting innovation and increasing the speed of communication between devices and stations, which support the establishment and development of smart cities in their various fields such as education, health, transport, logistics, industry and others. Al Ramsi indicated that TDRA has taken many necessary steps to facilitate the development of 5.5G, including the allocation of spectrum at 6GHz and mmWave scales.

Among TDRA’s participants in the summit sessions, Director of CERT, Adel Al Mehairi participated in a discussion session on enhancing digital trust to reach a sustainable, connected and smart world. Manager of Broadcasting and Space Services, Khalid Al Awadi also participated in a session on the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks and space platforms. TDRA also had an active participation in the discussion session “Creating Digital Value and the Internet”, where Manager of Spectrum Policy, Sultan Albalooshi touched on the importance of infrastructure in enhancing the role of the Internet in digital life and the digital economy.

On the sidelines of the summit, TDRA participated in the collective launch of the 5.5G open lab, in partnership with Etisalat by e& and Huawei. This launch reflects the stakeholders’ keenness on the principle of partnership in preparing for the future and dealing smartly with new technologies.