Hani Zein

Individual and business customers are increasingly demanding highly personalised and hassle-free service. Many international businesses can be deterred from establishing operations in the Middle East region if the interactions with government bodies become time-consuming. To attract such investors, governments need to devote resources to the ambitious goal of invisible government, which limits duplication of application processes for individuals and businesses.

By Jad Hajj and Hani Zein Article The dual shock of the COVID-19 crisis and lower oil prices is forcing many governments and companies in the GCC to digitize their operations despite growing pressure on costs. Information and communications technology (ICT) providers are ideally placed to help these organizations secure effective and value for money solutions to this dilemma.

There are ways to make money from 5G, says Hani Zein. Over the next few years, telecom operators will devote enormous investment to the deployment of 5G networks. To succeed, they must learn from their experience with 4G, from which they struggled to create sufficient revenue to justify their investment and which resulted in shareholder returns that declined at 10% year-over-year throughout the 4G era.