On October 11, the team at Tafa3ul Hub held their annual conference, Eye on the South — a platform focused on the present and future of Iraq's southern cities and the opportunities they hold for investment, innovation, and youth empowerment. The subject is far bigger than a region of roughly eight million people: these are the cities Iraq's long-term development plans depend on, the ones that can change the country's regional future.
I was honored to take part and to present on a sector that is still relatively new to the country — fiber optics. Fiber strengthens the technology industry and unlocks enormous growth across every other sector, and it is fundamental to participating in the digital economy.
In my time on stage I focused on the work FiberX Iraq has done to develop existing infrastructure in Basra specifically — the commercial and strategic path now being drawn not just for the Basra citizen, but for the secondary telecom agents too: how contracting with them should be done legally, in a way that protects them and their families while improving the quality and continuity of fiber service.
It was also a real pleasure to hear Dr. Nabil Al-Marsoumi speak in person after years of following him on television. And in the end it was a wonderful gathering of friends from Baghdad and other provinces, all there to celebrate a huge achievement by Tafa3ul.