 Welcome to the World Ready Communication Conference 2023, WRC 23 here in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. I've got the great pleasure of being joined in the studio today by Dr Maria Meyers Hamilton, who is the Managing Director of the Spectrum Management Authority, SMA, which is also an agency of the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology of Jamaica. Welcome to the studio, Maria. Thank you, Max. So good to be here today. Great. Now, we're here at WRC. It's a long, whole event. I really wanted to just ask your impressions of it so far and why this event is an important one for you. Well, it's a very, very important place, a space, special space, where all regions are present. Over the last maybe four years, up to this point in time, we've been meeting separately. So Region 2 has been sitting together, going through and harmonising our position at SITEL and also at the CTU, Caribbean Telecommunications Union. So this is like our Super Bowl. We're here now, we're on the pitch, we're on the field, and we're ready to come together as the world to harmonise and to make certain that we connect all who are unconnected as our primary goal. Now, here you're also a Vice Chair of one of the committees as well. Yes. We have been pushing very strongly for better gender parity, more women participating in the WRC. I wanted to ask you, how successful do you think that's been? It has been going very well, I believe. We've had a lot of strong women coming for me who have set that pathway. And many times, I mean, one can look at Vina, who actually chaired WRC many years ago. That's correct. And we have a number of Jennifer, Manor, a number of persons, Cindy Cook. So a lot of people have helped me to stand on their shoulders today. And I must say our region, the men in the region are supportive of us. I mean, there's asked the questions, will you like to serve? And of course the answer is yes, because the more we are connected, we can also understand different point of views. And so you're seeing more women here participating and taking also stronger roles and more important roles here. Absolutely. Even down to the spokeswoman from other regions who I've noticed a number of other women are taking an active role. So we're stepping up in the field and I'm very grateful for that. What impacts do you think this conference will have in the future of radio communications? Oh, this is the conference that has the impact of it all. Because for one thing we're going to see where, you see, let us take a step back. For example, COVID was a thing and COVID propelled technology to a point that regulations now it's catching up. So as a group, there are many of us who are ahead of each other. We're now in a collaborative space to understand what works and to see how best we can actually harmonize certain positions, not only from the standpoint of the utilization of spectrum, but also in terms of policymaking, which is something that I'm very passionate about. And we're not specifically talking about regulation here, but what are the main challenges for regulators nowadays, do you think? It's fine that the technology is moving very fast, that's one thing. And what now is, was when, you know, like for example, satellite, for example, satellite with the Leo, Mio's and Hio's, we find that hips is hair, haps is hair. How do you regulate these systems? So now more and more we have to now come down to partnerships, sit with the players, understand how does the service behave? Will a blanket license work? How much terminals do you sell? Do you have to report differently? So it's totally different to how IMT usually operates. And at the end of this conference, what do you hope will be the final results? Well, the final results, the renewal of those big books, the re-regulations. And then we go back and do our national frequency tables across the region. And then we're going to consolidate it into the region now and at the regionally frequency allocation tables. So again, it's all about making sure that business can move seamlessly throughout the economy of each of our islands. Because each island in the Caribbean, we can't have different regs going on because then that retards business. And again, we want more connectivity. So the more seamless that can be as a regulator and the regulators around the better it is for business and connectivity. Well, that's wonderful. Well, thank you very much for joining us in the studio today. It's welcome. Taking the time to be here. And I know that we'll obviously see each other around the corridors here in the future. But hopefully, we'll catch up with you again very soon. Thank you for that. And thank you for having me. It's an honor. Thank you. And if you've enjoyed this interview, which I'm sure you will have, then do check out other interviews on our YouTube channel as well as podcasts on our SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And for more information, visit our website at www.itu.int. Thanks for tuning in.