SAMENA Council partners with Booz & Co. to push for ICT policy evaluation and incentivizing digitization in the region

The SAMENA Telecommunications Council has announced that it is embarking upon one of the South Asia – Middle East – North Africa region’s most unique policy assessment initiatives, envisioned to provide a detailed account of the ICT policy regimes and the need to incentivize digitization in the SAMENA region, where some of the most competitive, technology-savvy, and tough regulatory environments prevail. 

Booz & Company, which has partnered with US-based Telecom Advisors and has been selected by the SAMENA Council as its study partner of choice, following a long proposal evaluation process, officially commenced the SAMENA region’s ICT assessment study on September 9, 2012. 

The SAMENA ICT policy assessment study will aid in the quantification of areas within the regional ICT policy realm, where improvements could be recommended to regulatory and policy institutions for the purpose of enhancing socio-economic progress in the region, particularly in each of the 25 markets that are currently part of the SAMENA Council’s network. Various case studies, attending to a spectrum of both market and policy dynamics within a select group of countries, will be developed. In parallel, this initiative will assess the existing and emerging policy impact on digitization and future economic progress in the SAMENA region both quantitatively and qualitatively. 

Mr. Thomas Wilson, SAMENA’s CEO and Executive Managing Director, believes that, “this policy assessment initiative has been the subject of our focus for well over a year. SAMENA will be able to bring strong value to its membership and to its Board through tangible results, which Booz & Co. is going to help us achieve. Our study directly supports the interests of SAMENA Council’s membership as well as various stakeholders in the region. It also underpins SAMENA’s strategic stance on digitization as an incentive for continuing network infrastructure investments in the region.” 

Dr. Karim Sabbagh , senior partner with Booz & Company said, “Digitization offers unprecedented potential for economic, social and political development  and has proven to have a significant impact on economic growth, job creation and governance. A co-ordinated effort by all stakeholders in the region can help the region prosper and realize the full potential of digitization.”    

The SAMENA Council’s initiated its study RFP evaluation process in June 2012. Expressions of interest and proposals were submitted by various renowned global knowledge-consultancy firms. SAMENA’s final selection was made keeping in view commercial and technical aspects of Booz & Company’s partnered proposal, an overall best understanding of the SAMENA Council’s strategic goals, a detailed low-risk project execution plan, and Booz’s decisive communication of positive conclusions and recommendations that the Study will put forth upon its finalization in November 2012.