The empowerment of people is essential for any transformation. Digitalisation is shifting limits and will dissolve the still existing separation between blue and white-collar workers. Never before had the digital agenda been so necessary and vital. It is not just an immediate response to the impact of the COVID-19, but it also makes the drive for research and innovation indispensable. The current economy models are out of breath because of the speed in which changes occur. We are in the era of globalisation, climate change, pandemics, digital transformation, collaborative  economy, urban concentration and depopulation of the rural world. Numerous changes that governments struggle to regulate. However, they also imply new  ivergences and polarisations between mechanisms and societies. Therefore, new responses are necessary.

Despite its substantial growth potential, the Mediterranean’s mobile industry faces many infrastructural and operational challenges. Mobile operators face difficulties in powering their existing networks, both off-grid and on-grid, due to unreliable power supplies and heavy reliance on expensive and polluting diesel generator power. Adopting green power alternatives from energy service companies (ESCOs) presents a strong financial and corporate social responsibility opportunity for mobile operators. Therefore, modernisation and digitalisation of the Mediterranean economy, through the advent of 5G, offer a major leap forward in communications  quality, which is crucial for the region to develop a diversified, globally competitive communications network.

Join ASCAME, in partnership with other relevant associations in the digital and innovation sectors, in this key Hot Seat Talk. Together we will answ er a crucial question: what are the challenges of the Mediterranean’s mobile industry?