“Shifting Gears into an Innovative Era” was this year’s main topic of SAMENA’s Beyond Connectivity 2010 annual conference. This topic clearly shows that we are coming to a turning point in the telecom industry. While some argue that innovation is not happening in the industry at a desired speed, all consider it to be the name of the game and the next era.

Making broadband access real, widespread and cost-effective is a must. Innovation needs to happen not only in creating and deploying the most advanced infrastructure, or offering the killer services and applications but providing an overall killer customer experience. While competition became fierce in the telecom sector not only between operators themselves but from non-traditional players like of Apple and Google, innovation became the key differentiator.
Our cover story sheds the lights on a very innovative project - The GBI Cable System (GBICS)- that aims to connect the world to the Gulf and ensure that the region has the international capacity to address the unprecedented growth that we are witnessing. Through an extensive interview with Mr. Ahmed Mekky, Board Member and CEO of GBI, we tackle the latest updates of the GBI cable which is expected to be operational by 2011.

The fast deployment of fiber to the home (FTTH) - driven by the great potential of delivering higher broadband access speeds – is threatening cable operators who claims that FTTH is not necessary. In this issue, we try to explore the ongoing rivalry of FTTH and cable infrastructure.
Also in our pages, find a review about the latest mobile operating systems.

Finally, this time of the year reveals the first quarter financial results, check our financial news to check who announced profits and who witnessed low revenues.