Dr. Waqar Mahmood, Director KICS-UET Lahore, represents Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan at The Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF) 2021 held in Dubai, UAE.

The Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF) 2021 is a major industry event organized by the UN Broadband Commission and Huawei. This event provides a great opportunity for stakeholders from the industrial sector to communicate and work together to develop a sustainable ecosystem for the ultra-broadband industry.

Under the theme “Extend Connectivity, Drive Growth,” Huawei, world-leading operators, industry partners, and other industry elites from all over the world gathered at UBBF 2021 to explore possible prospects and challenges in the ultra-broadband market.

Representing the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan at the UBBF 2021, Dr. Waqar Mahmood explained how HEC is playing its pivotal role in accelerating digitalization and creating new value in Education. ICTs are of mandatory importance in higher education so as to improve teaching, R&D activities, deliver high-quality services for efficient operations, and support education application and information technologies. HEC not only introduced the smart universities concept in Pakistan but has implemented the idea over a period of time by creating 350+ e classrooms, providing 130+ universities with WIFI services, and making around 105 universities safe through surveillance services. HEC is able to connect 50 cities and 1000+ universities and colleges via PERN IP and by 2025, it is expected that 50% of colleges out of 3000+ will connect PERN. 

“Robust environment for learning and teaching, jobs growth in the targeted segment, improve equity education, and changes in students’ outcomes are few key impacts of the cloud network convergence in education,” said Dr. Waqar while speaking at the UBBF 2021.

Mr. Ryan Ding, Executive Director of the Board, President of the Carrier BG, Huawei, Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU, Mr. Bocar A. BA, CEO & Board Member, SAMENA Telecommunications Council UAE, Mr. Rodrigo Abreu, CEO, Oi Brazil along with other distinguished speakers from around the world also presented at the forum. 

Whereas, Mr. Imran Ali Shah, Sr. Manager Research at KICS, Prof. Dr. Zia ul Qayyum, Vice-Chancellor, Allama Iqbal Open University, Dr. Bhai Khan Shar, VC SABS University of Art, Design & Heritage, Jamshoro, Mr. Niaz from Huawei Pakistan, and the representatives from the University of Karachi also attended the forum representing Pakistan.

The participants at the forum discussed how to build a future-proof ultra-broadband network infrastructure, how to extend connectivity boundaries, and how to open up new space in the industry in order to achieve new business growth.