Governments of Nations with Emerging Digital Industry Meet at Mobile World Congress

Countries like Romania and Turkey are starting to make significant progress in the transformation from voice mobile communications to data-driven communications through mobile broadband. As a result of this, Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) is hosting today a summit with all ICT ministers of Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa to teach them the ropes so that the countries' tech leaders have the necessary preparation to transition into next-gen mobile technology.

Much to the surprise of many people, government does take quite an active part in a country's mobile broadband infrastructure, regardless of how rich private companies are. They have to plant the seeds, implementing pieces of the infrastructure, to encourage large companies to get in on the action. They will eventually assist in the development of the mobile infrastructure themselves and establish marketplaces as long as the “plant is watered.”

Alcatel-Lucent will host an event, called “Reinventing The Rules For Mobile Internet,” which will include ministers and personnel from Brazil, Mexico, Kenya, Colombia, Lebanon and Nigeria. The company will shed some light on the development of digital infrastructure within their own borders. This way, Alcatel-Lucent can establish a dialog in which to address the problems encountered in particular countries.

The conference will also take care of the need to establish regulations in mobile telecommunications to establish a healthy environment that will welcome these next-gen technologies such as 4G LTE (News - Alert). The regulations must keep digital inclusion in mind and help encourage mobile applications for education, employment of the younger generation, and social mobility for local and global communities.

Regarding the conference, Ben Verwaayen (News - Alert), CEO at Alcatel-Lucent, says, “The migration from voice to data and video puts consumers in greater control of their own content than at any time in human history. At the same time, mobile broadband will bring tremendous societal advantages to countries where fixed-line access has been limited or even impossible to implement. This debate represents a key platform for the panelists to address the opportunities of mobile broadband, and to flesh out their needs and regulatory challenges.”