Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is key to digital transformation and productivity improvement for all enterprises and industry sectors across the Middle East. For many industries, digital transformation has now entered the fast lane. Mature commercial applications of new technologies – particularly 5G, cloud computing, AI, and blockchain – are speeding up the digital transformation of all industries. This presents enormous opportunities for the Middle East’s digital economy and the ICT ecosystem needs to work together to shape this bold future.
The MENA digital economy, predicted to touch a whopping $400 billion by 2030, is at the precipe of disruption. In the future, individuals, households, and industries will have higher requirements for digital infrastructure. For individuals, immersive services like XR and holographic communication are starting to mature, and connectivity experience is set to increase.
Requirements for latency and ubiquitous connectivity will also increase. For households, the demands generated by advanced services like 24K 3D VR games and holographic education and meetings will create a full-fiber, 10 Gbit/s era. For industries, digital transformation is remarkably accelerating. Industrial-grade applications such as smart manufacturing and power grid dispatching are raising diversified requirements for connections, quality, and sense, while also triggering explosive growth in demand for computing power and storage.
A robust digital platform is one of the core engines driving digital transformation success. New information technologies can make organisations more efficient through intelligent management of their physical assets like buildings, factories, production lines, and utilities. At the same time, advanced digital technologies in connectivity, cloud, AI, and computing can change how organisations operate and create new business models.
Data is at the core of digital transformation, and data ingestion, transmission, storage, and analysis are key steps. The telecom ecosystem possesses the fundamental building blocks – access, interconnectivity and applications – that enable digital transformation. Carriers can deliver new experiences for individual consumers, and provide enterprises with more comprehensive digital transformation solutions.
The rapid changes we are set to experience will be accompanied by increasing requirements for digital infrastructure. The next milestone we must hit on the path to the intelligent world is 5.5G, which will deliver 10 Gbit/s experiences, support hundreds of billions of connections, and help us achieve native intelligence.
There are three ways the ICT ecosystem can help break through common barriers in digital transformation. First, boost digital infrastructure, including more robust connectivity and stronger, more diverse computing resources. Second, help organisations go beyond simple cloud adoption and truly make the most of the cloud, focusing on advanced technology services that leapfrog development. Third, build out local digital ecosystems, including partner development, strengthening the digital talent pool, and providing more support for SMEs.
At the same time, our digital economy requires strong cybersecurity measures. Ongoing commitment to communicating and cooperating with all stakeholders in an open, transparent, and responsible manner is needed to jointly improve cybersecurity and privacy protection capabilities and address the challenges through technological innovation, knowledge sharing, standards development, verification, and other measures.
Multi-tech synergy is critical for finding the right technology for the right scenario. By prioritising the ICT ecosystem, we can offer end-to-end products, solutions and advanced ICT technologies, focusing on 5.5G, AI, digital power, cybersecurity, cloud, and industry applications designed to meet the needs of various industry scenarios and sectors such as government, utilities, oil and gas, transportation and finance, hence creating new value and addressing government national digital transformation goals.
Digital talent is also vital to support Middle East’s digital transformation and economic growth. Digital skills and literacy, a basic human right in the digital era as per the United Nations, are essential to developing the digital economy. Huawei CSR initiatives, such as the flagship global program Seeds for the Future, equip the youth with the necessary skills required to contribute to their countries’ digital transformation, socio-economic development and national plans and visions.
Huawei remains committed to providing the latest technologies and expertise to advance digitisation across the region, while working with partners to ensure the talent is available to drive digitisation. We also realise that our partners and the communities we serve have prioritised environmental protection. Therefore, Huawei’s digital power solutions can support green development by promoting renewable energy, electrification of transport and greening of digital infrastructure to cut carbon emissions.
Building on our strengths in ICT infrastructure technologies, characterised by device-network-cloud synergy, we have stepped up efforts to create a digital ecosystem where all players create and share value together to help industries go digital. Our open collaboration for a shared success approach, coupled with our in-depth technical capabilities and ongoing investment in R&D and innovations, supported us in having over 700 cities and 267 Fortune Global 500 companies worldwide that chose Huawei as their partner for digital transformation.
The future of the Middle Eastern economy, supported by a solid digital foundation, looks bright. However, it will need the support of customers, ecosystem partners, industry organisations, academic institutions and all relevant ICT stakeholders. They will need to continue openly collaborating on evolving and reinforcing digital infrastructure, thereby, accelerating the advent of key technologies new generations, such as 5.5G for the advanced connectivity era and intelligent world.
