Leading telecom experts from South Asia and Mena (Samena) region and Europe will address the need for developing sustainable business models for the Internet at a major event to be held in Turkey next month.

The 'CEO Leadership Event' is being hosted by Samena Telecommunications Council and the European telecommunications network operators’ association (ETNO) in Istanbul on June 9.

The dinner event will convene chief executives from Samena’s 25-market network as well as leaders from the EU network operators.

It will serve as a platform for direct representation of the ICT policy interests of operators in 60 countries, with active participation anticipated from at least 40-plus chief executives from around the European, Samena and other regions.

The agenda revolves around the sustainability of the Internet model and the development of viable business models on all layers of the Internet value chain, said the organisers.

Given the global increase in the use of bandwidth-hungry applications—attributed mostly to ‘over-the-top’ video content — data traffic over mobile and fixed networks has been escalating exponentially, they noted.

Without significant investments in enhancing bandwidth capacity and an evolution of existing business models, this development would give rise to network congestion and deterioration in network performance, ultimately impacting the functioning of the Internet and the nascent content value chains, they added.

Samena and ETNO believe that a sustainable economic model for the Internet has to achieve a balance of the interests of all key stakeholders – including network operators, content rights holders, online content providers, providers of enabling technologies and network connectivity, and manufacturers of end-user devices, said a senior official.

Thomas Wilson, CEO of Samena Telecommunications Council said that ensuring that the Internet continues to develop in a sustainable manner despite rapid traffic increase and generally flat relative revenues are a key economic performance challenge faced by all e-communications network operators at the global level.

"Telecoms operators in the Samena region closely follow the ongoing debate in Europe and elsewhere on how to stimulate all players of the value chain to innovate and invest in additional capacity," Wilson noted.

"We also share the views expressed by ETNO members that it is essential to move towards a new equilibrium in which risks and returns are fairly distributed, taking into account the value created for consumers," he added.

Luigi Gambardella, chairman of ETNO’s executive board said the evolution of broadband infrastructure and of online services and applications, as well as the related policy developments, need to be looked at from a global perspective.

"The sustainability of the Internet is not only an issue in Europe but also in the rest of the world. This is why ETNO values very much increased co-operation with Samena, which represents some of the fastest growing ICT and telecom markets in the world," Gambardella added.-TradeArabia News Service