The two-day TowerXchange MENA 2020 Conference kicked off yesterday at the Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre in Dubai, UAE. A list of international speakers headed up panels and closed-door round-table sessions.
The conference opened with a keynote panel discussion on “A vision of the MENA Tower Industry for the 5G Era” and touched on common and distinct challenges and opportunities for the professionalization of infrastructure sharing in MENA and visions beyond towers, an holistic and integrated view of 5G communications infrastructure spanning indoor and outdoor sites, fiber, core networks and data centers. The panel featured:
- Moderator: Rohan Dhamija, Regional Managing Partner, Analysys Mason
- Abdulrahman ALMoaiqel, Chief Commercial Officer, TAWAL
- Majid bin Amer al Kharousi, CEO, Oman Tower Company
- Kash Pandya, CEO, Helios Towers
- Steve Howden, Senior VP & Deputy CFO, IHS Towers
A second panel discussion was titled: “Identifying towerco opportunities and redefining the value proposition for MENA” focused on adapting the towerco business model to fit the Middle Eastern market and attract local capital, identifying the value drivers for tower investors and meeting investor expectations and exploring the monetization options. The panel consisted of:
- Moderator: Gulfraz Qayyum, Managing Director, Citi
- Richard Ltaif, Chief Strategy & Governance Officer, TAWAL
- Abu Chowdhury, CFO, ASMA Capital
- Iyad Mazhar, Founder, TASC Towers
- Akshay Grover, Chief Investment Officer, iSON Tower
- Eric Crabtree, Chief Investment Officer, International Finance Corporation (IFC)
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