Author
Ehab Kanary
Given the focus on a post-oil era, it’s no surprise the region is in the early stages of the greatest transformation of networking yet. It’s an exciting time as exponential growth in video, mobility and cloud are revolutionising how we connect to each other. CommScope is helping organisations across the Middle East and Africa plan for the future as communications technology evolves at an astounding rate.
Below are four key trends shaping the region’s growing need for fibre based on insights from customers and partners.
CLICK TO TWEET: CommScope explains how Fibre is a growth engine for the Middle East and Africa.
Innovation across industries is creating an economic imperative
As the region embraces economic diversity, governments are investing in non-oil industries to diversify their sources of income[i]. Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are taking steps to position themselves as financial technology hubs[ii] while the Dubai government is focusing on increasing productivity across healthcare and construction[iii]. Saudi Arabia has taken another step in its ‘Vision 2030 plan,’ created to lessen the country’s dependence on oil, by giving women the right to drive.
Places like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain continue to experience increased airline traffic[iv] while the UAE has its own space program. In fact, it plans to expand satellite efforts and launch the first Mars probe in the Arab world[v].
Millennial entrepreneurs are driving changes in tomorrow’s network
A recent report by HSBC Private Bank suggests that the Middle East is home to the highest proportion of millennial entrepreneurs in the world – 63 percent of the business owners they screened in the Middle East were age 35 or under. Mobile phone use is almost 100 percent among millennials in the region.
The rise of applications requiring low latency
Network latency is even more critical in today’s information age, where delay is often measured in milliseconds rather than days. The UAE is well placed to lead the worldwide autonomous revolution given Dubai’s smart city goals combined with a young and tech-savvy population[vi]. The value of the region’s augmented reality and virtual reality market is expected to be $6 billion by 2020, according to GITEX.
Middle East and Africa’s demand for bandwidth is rising exponentially
According to a Google report, watch time on YouTube is growing by 60 percent year-on-year in this region while 69 percent of consumer internet traffic will be video, according to Cisco. Ninety-three percent of the region’s 193 million monthly Facebook users access the software from mobile phones while 62 percent of young Arabs – those aged 18-24 – use WhatsApp on a daily basis[vii].
CommScope is adapting to fibre demands through innovation
As the world embarks on a potential fourth Industrial Revolution, it is the 30 billion to 50 billion connected devices that will spur the unprecedented growth in bandwidth. The next few years are critical to building the networks that will meet the demand. In anticipation of this need, CommScope is preparing the Middle East and Africa for decades of increased bandwidth.
The region is encouraging investment in high capacity networks as leaders see fibre as the infrastructure of the 21st century. Come visit us in Hall 1, F1 – 40 at GITEX Technology Week 2017, taking place in Dubai on October 8-12.
