Bocar BA
CEO – SAMENA Telecommunications Council
Commissioner – UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development
COVID-19 has challenged both the private and the public sectors in multiple ways, and various critical sectors of the economy have come under unprecedented pressures to perform. Amidst this unrelenting challenge, ICTs hold great hopes for driving recovery and helping us move forward albeit with new approaches, which will also be essential for the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Every year since 1969, the world has been celebrating the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. However, the year 2020 represents a unique opportunity for the ITU membership, including SAMENA Telecommunications Council and its Members, to recognize and commemorate the contributions of the private sector, digital networks and ICTs in the advancement of the Information Society. It is also time to proactively participate in the the “Connect 2030 Agenda for Global Telecommunication/ICT Development” (PP-18 Resolution 200, Rev. Dubai, 2018) now linked to the Strategic Plan of the ITU for the period 2020-2023, specifically focusing on how technological advances in the coming decade will contribute to accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by UNGA Resolution A/70/1, collectively, recognize that the spread of information and communications technology and global interconnectedness has tremendous potential to accelerate human progress and to bridge the digital divide.
Amidst the current Corona-virus crisis, the availability of ICT infrastructure has proven its necessity beyond any doubt, with Telecom Operators taking several measures at the network and customer-care levels, expanding not only radio network capacities to accommodate increasing data traffic, but also offering free-of-cost benefits to customers, including free data bundles, providing free access to educational platforms online, and effectively reducing financial pressures on households struggling to cope with the current situation. Regulators too have adapted to the necessities dictated by COVID-19 and have been quick in exercising their enabler’s role by allocating additional spectrum resources to Operators and incentivizing out-of-box thinking. The prevailing COVID-19 crisis situation is thus serving as a catalyst for bringing about a paradigm shift in how we use ICTs for provisioning healthcare services; delivering education; and how the world’s private and public-sectors cooperate, to help synergize collaboration in digital transformation through broadband connectivity, digitization, and innovation at an accelerated pace.
In acknowledgment of the necessity to see the integral role of ICTs in managing the current situation and to revise our vision and strategy to fulfill SDGs for the next decade, the efforts led by initiatives such as the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation and of the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development evidence commitment in putting digital cooperation into physical action, for instance, through an emergency “Agenda for Action”; to keep economies and societies working. This is in absolute accordance with the defined SDGs for the next decade. Each Commissioner in the Broadband Commission is tasked to drive meaningful collaboration and to assist in defining actionable steps based on the three pillars of resilient connectivity, affordable access, and safe use of online services for informed and educated societies, to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; ease the immediate adverse impacts for economies and societies, and to help secure a sustainable next decade for ICTs and digital innovation.
SAMENA Council, represented by Commissioner Bocar BA, acting on behalf of the Council’s Telecom Operator Members, is advocating for the UN Broadband Commission’s Agenda for Action and is inviting the Industry to join efforts to leverage the power of broadband for more effective emergency response, to promote faster and better overall recovery, connecting the unconnected, and to help put the world’s economic and environmental health on a path to improvement and sustainability.
In view of our immediate needs to get out of this unforeseen global crisis and with Connect 2030 Agenda in mind, SAMENA Council deems it necessary that industry decision-makers take immediate steps to:
- promote that ICT infrastructure is fundamental to the survivability of the nations and thus positive policies must be framed as soon as possible to incubate innovation to accelerate digital infrastructure development and transformation;
- define clear digital blueprints, to achieve common consensus among policy-makers and ICT ecosystem players;
- align national ICT visions with global trends and agreed ICT development objectives, by formulating clear telecommunications industry plans and corresponding digitization promotion policies, which should also help enhance competitiveness within the telecommunications industry;
- encourage 5G+ industry applications to develop a full-fledged 5G ecosystem, by ensuring that platforms and facilities are provided to newcomers and that market-entry barriers are reduced for new investors; and
- identify and foster ICT talent, and put in practice talent management approaches.
COVID-19 is an opportunity to see the Connect 2030 Agenda in a new light, and to develop an ICT + Collaboration culture not only to deal with natural disasters and similar crisis situations in the future but to build a sustainable new decade for the world and it’s Digital Economy through ICTs.
