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Bassim Haidar’s cover story at Telecom Review: a new world will emerge in the post-Covid era

27 September 2022

Convinced that an entirely different world will emerge after the pandemic, bringing with it a host of fresh opportunities, Basim Haidar appeared in his covers story in the latest edition of Telecom Review magazine. Therefore, it is essential for ICT businesses “to adapt these changes, identify the opportunities, and embrace new and innovative ideas to lead the sector forward in the new era,” Bassim Haidar noted in his interview on the December 2020 issue of Telecom Review. This cover appearance and multi-page interview of Mr. Haidar is the latest in several top-tier media that acknowledge Channel VAS’ leading role, expertise, and thought leadership.

For Bassim Haidar, the pandemic was an accelerator of changes in consumer priorities that will remain the next day. «The need for connectivity and accessibility through mobile phones has been proven more important than ever,” he argued, adding that “all these will not be reversed after the pandemic has subsided,” as people realize that these digital tools people turned to for help during this time are helpful and useful for them regardless of the conditions.

For mobile money services in particular, after explaining the reasons for their growth in developing markets, he is confident that the pandemic would be a decisive catalyst for their wide adoption, a shift that is expected to affect the entire ICT sector. As a result, the latter should adjust accordingly, “while also ensuring that it has the necessary infrastructure in place to cope with the increased demand.”

 

Channel VAS showed a strong resilience against the pandemic conditions

According to Mr. Haidar, Channel VAS’ readiness to face the challenges of these unprecedented times resulted in a very solid 2020 business outcome, despite the conditions. “We have managed to be among the resilient minority that emerged unscathed, mainly due to the adaptability and the reflexes we have shown ever since the pandemic started,” he argued, “even though even the biggest tech firms did not have solid plans in place for a disruption of this magnitude”.

“Unfortunately, this has not been the case for several fintech firms, especially those that lacked any solid foundation and operated under a limited capacity,” Mr. Haidar added.

 

Governing bodies need to be more flexible

Once again, Mr. Haidar emphasized the need for regulators and governing bodies to adapt to the new era, characterizing their lack of understanding as the biggest problem for fintech companies to provide financial inclusion to more people. As he described, “regulators retain a decade’s old mentality and set of rules plus they are often unwilling to change and adapt to the flow of things and the new conditions something that comes in direct contrast with fintech companies growth and fast moving technology”.

Instead, Mr. Haidar proposed the centralization of data “that is currently scattered among different entities like financial institutions, telephone companies, etc.,” a shift that will be beneficial for everyone involved: fintech companies, governments, and consumers.

“Overall, governing bodies have to understand that they need to change, to be more flexible and to adjust to the new era, not only the technologically advanced one but also the post-pandemic one,” Mr. Haidar concluded.

 

You can read the whole interview by clicking here.