Under its annual theme “Global. Regional. Digital,” the 16th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit successfully concluded its two-day gathering with the participation of a broad range of professionals, including telecom operators, telecom vendors, industry regulators, government officials, content providers, cybersecurity experts and consultants, among other attendees.
The Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit once again made history as one of the most anticipated and largest ICT events in the industry, with the continued presence of thousands of distinguished guests across the ICT industry — physically and virtually — and the support of 2022’s esteemed lineup of sponsors, namely the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), du, e&, EY, Amazon Web Services (AWS), PCCW Global, Huawei, MTN GlobalConnect, NEC, Netcracker, Nokia, Verizon, Cisco, CSG, CommScope, Emircom, MYCOM OSI, Reailize, SES, Sofrecom, China Mobile International (CMI), Gulf Bridge International (GBI), Mavenir, ZTE and APTelecom.
From December 7–8, 2022, the huge conference hall and demo exhibition area were fully packed with attendees, fulfilling the event’s goal of providing informative sessions and delivering an extensive platform for brand promotion and networking.
Commenting on the success of the event, Toni Eid, founder of Telecom Review and CEO of Trace Media, said, “This year, we are back together again in Dubai for two days — with a more diverse audience and insightful panel discussions. Impressively, many notable industry leaders have joined us for the first time. This two-day hybrid event of the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit has been built on the success of many years of informative gatherings, finally culminating in this, the 16th edition. I would like to thank every partner for their support. See you again next year for another amazing edition, where, once again, we’ll promise to deliver the Best ICT Leaders’ Summit!“
Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit
This year’s summit was bigger than ever, raising the bar higher with distinctive and top-notch speakers, all thanks to the participation of the most influential figures in the ICT industry from all over the world, representing the Middle East, Africa, North America and Asia Pacific regions, among other locations.
Inside the TR Summit Conference Hall
During the first day, His Excellency Mohammad Al Ramsi, deputy director general for the telecommunications sector, TDRA, graced the event with his presence and delivered the official opening keynote speech. This was closely followed by the opening fireside chat between Masood Sharif Mahmood, CEO, etisalat by e&, and Jawad Abbassi, head of MENA region, GSMA.
Pioneered by the ICT Leaders’ Panel, other exclusive panels were arranged on day one to cover the topics of cloud innovation, sustainability and green tech, wholesale and digital transformation.
During the second day, the official opening debate discussing “Building the Asian Dream” took place between Dr. Atsuko Okuda, head of ITU Asia Pacific, and Toni Eid, founder of Telecom Review Group.
Exclusive panels conducted during day two covered the topics of infrastructure deployment, 5G performance, women in ICT and the future of technology.
Over the course of 2022’s Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, impressive keynote speeches were also delivered by notable individuals across the ICT industry. Among the list were du CTO, Saleem Al Blooshi; Netcracker Technology and BostonGene Founder, Chairman & CEO, Andrew Feinberg; Nokia Head of Ecosystem and Trend Scouting, Leslie Shannon; EY Global Partner, Fuad Siddiqui; AWS VP of Telco MEA, Bernard Najm; MTN GlobalConnect Chief Mobility Business Officer, Kedar Gupte; NEC Head of Business Development, Viplob Syngal; TELUS CTO, Ibrahim Gedeon; and Zain KSA GM & VP, Maha Ibrahim AlQernas.
Telecom Review Excellence Awards
One of the highlights and most exciting parts of the 16th Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit was the annual Telecom Review Excellence Awards ceremony, which honored leading ICT brands and leaders for their achievements throughout the year and was followed by the annual gala dinner.
Inside the Telecom Review Gala Dinner
The night started with an interesting fireside discussion between Toni Eid and Hatem Dowidar, Group CEO, e& about the company’s transformational journey.
Jeff Seal, Chief Awards Officer, Managing Partner and Editor-in-Chief, Telecom Review North America, noted, “2022 brings out the biggest Telecom Review Excellence Awards program yet, garnering a very high-interest level from the industry. We received a record-breaking number of nominations from around the world. Thus, we added more distinct awards and categorized them into global and regional scopes. The Excellence Awards continue to be the ‘standard’ for which the industry judges its peers. The Telecom Review panel of judges are leading experts from around the world and spent a thorough deliberation in the process. Congratulations to all winners and we hope to welcome you again next year!”
This year, the Excellence Awards and Leaders’ Merit Awards were split into global and regional categories. The full list of award winners can be viewed here.
On December 6, prior to the 16th Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) CxO meeting was also hosted by Telecom Review in a hybrid format, with the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), du, TELUS, IBM and Huawei as co-hosts.
As a token of appreciation for hosting the ITU-T high-level industry executives meeting for the 5th consecutive time, Toni Eid was awarded the Certificate of Appreciation by Chaesub Lee, director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau during the ITU CxO meeting.