By The current economic downturn and fluctuating energy and food costs is hurting everyone. But can the Telecoms sector start the fight back?

With the world in recession regions such as the Middle East and North Africa are stepping up to the challenge to start the fight back. With millions being invested in infrastructure to drive foreign business to the region and with an ever developing working population, the consumer demand is tripling, a momentum that cannot be seen to slow down.

With the instant-access wave of communication taking a stronghold and progressive approach even during the most damaging of economic times, it has become more and more apparent that even when stock prices are down and unemployment is up, the telecommunication industry is still forging full-speed ahead, providing the framework and backbone of connectivity for businesses trying to get back on their feet.

In the middle of both the telecommunications world and the economic turbulence is the Middle East, providing a template for the rest of the world on how to grab hold and embrace the technologies and breakthroughs in telecommunications, and utilize them to make businesses and lives better. It is not very often that the leaders in this region, or this industry gather in one place.

Last week saw the unprecedented gathering of CTO’s and network heads from the Middle East telecommunication world, joining forces to debate the new era of the telecom market. These communication experts lending their advice from Ericsson Packet Networks, Acme Packet, Intel, Nokia Siemens, Netcracker and Huwawei proved to be an efficient and powerful way to address the issues and developments facing the region.

The Next Generation Telecoms Summit MENA was called in light of the current economic downturn, and telecom operators are fighting for innovative technologies to move their business forwards. Contentious issues were brought to the table by technology executives such as Ali Al Ahmed, Group Chief Strategy Officer at Etisalat and Mohammed Rafi, Group CIO at Zain.

While the main issues were focused on the telecommunications world and the economic turbulence in the Middle East, it provided a template for the rest of the world on how to grab hold and embrace the technologies and breakthroughs in telecommunications, and utilize them to make businesses and lives better. It is not very often that the leaders in this region, or this industry gather in one place. It is even more rare that a region can be held up as an example for the rest of the world. The Next Generation Telecommunications Summit MENA proved to do both.