VIDEO INTERVIEW: Mobile operators face an increasingly challenging future, with transformation beyond traditional services to wider technology advancements now key to future survival, warned Khaled Biyari, CEO of Middle East operator giant STC.

Biyari, speaking to Mobile World Live at GSMA’s recent Mobile 360 Middle East event in Dubai, said it is becoming impossible for operators to base their models on pure connectivity alone, as he opened up on the company’s own drive around cloud, Internet of Things and wider digital services.

He believes mobile operators, to survive in the future technology ecosystem, “must transform in the way you structure your network, your customer experience, your cost and financial structure, otherwise you will end up being swallowed somehow”.

Biyari said STC started its journey to evolving from a mobile operator to a technology company a couple of years ago, which included looking at how to make its existing infrastructure ready for the future digital economy.

In the interview, Biyari also spoke of the Middle East’s potential in 5G, predicting that uptake will be “extremely fast,” given high data demand that already exists in the region.

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