 Welcome to ITU Telecom World 2018 here in Durban, South Africa, where I'm very pleased to be joining the studio today by Ravi Suchak, who is the Vice President for Public Affairs at EMEA, the American Tower Corporation. Ravi, welcome to the studio. Thank you, Max. It's a pleasure to be here. Now, I'd like to start off by talking about smart digital development. It's the theme of ITU Telecom World. What does it mean to you, an American Tower Corporation? Well, as an American Tower, we've developed the view that smart digitization needs to be sustainable. Indeed, present needs are challenging, but in overcoming them, our future generations should not be compromised. And therefore, smart digital development should impact different economic sectors, should safeguard our environment, and support local communities, which is what we are trying to do at American Tower, for example, through our digital village initiative, through which we provide free ICT education and training in the local communities we support. But for smart digital development to be a reality, particularly in emerging and developing markets, there is a need for more and better infrastructure. And to realize the infrastructure and therefore digitization objectives, the role of the tower industry is essential as we enable mobile network operators to improve their service and their network and expand their coverage to areas which are underserved or not served at all in some cases. And the last point I would make on this as for digital development to be sustainable, it must be underpinned by institutional and regulatory certainty, and also policies which incentivize investment and innovation. Now, I'm sure you'll tell me that they are, but why are tower companies important to the ICT landscape? Tower companies play a fundamental role in the ICT ecosystem. Towers are the basic building blocks for the roll out of wireless technologies, and companies like American Tower build quality, reliable, resilient infrastructure enabling the next generation of wireless technologies and therefore bringing improved services. So take 5G, for example, which is going to revolutionize the ICT landscape. 5G will be anchored by wide coverage macro cell towers, and it's essential therefore that there is an extensive network of towers and small cells for 5G to be deployed. That's why the role of the tower companies as an enabler is fundamental. So we're not going to be seeing these enormous towers, but it's going to be a lot of smaller towers relaying one to another. Is that the way it's going to work? Yes, that's certainly for 5G, and because of densification, you will be seeing a lot more of those combined with a so-called smart furniture. Right, because I've seen towers that have been made to look like trees and all sorts of things like that to fit in with the landscape etc. That's where it's going. Right, okay, fantastic. So what are some of the key challenges for tower companies in expanding in emerging markets? I will mention three high-level challenges. The first is the state of infrastructure in some emerging markets. In many African countries, for example, because of poor electricity grids, tower companies are forced to use more expensive and less green energy alternatives, such as diesel, which of course poses a big challenge. I would also highlight regulatory instability, particularly in areas such as spectrum, taxation, competition and infrastructure. This obviously deters investment both in the country and the industry, and I think also more can be done in terms of transparency. So in terms of policy making and administrative procedures such as licensing and permitting, more can be done to make these processes transparent so that they are clear to all stakeholders. It's a final challenge I would highlight, which relates to the points I've just made, is political instability, which of course goes hand in hand with policy and regulatory stability. Now American Tower Corporation is a member of ITU. I wanted to ask you, what's the value of ITU membership for you? We are very happy to be members of ITU and in terms of value of membership, it gives us the opportunity to engage with different stakeholders in the ICT sector, both from the government states and industry peers, and collaborate with them and contribute to discussions which help define ICT policy. And through attending these kind of events and participating in meetings and forums, we're able to make that contribution hear the views of governments and our peers on what challenges the industry is facing. And this obviously provides further opportunity for us to align on synergies and opportunities for smart partnerships, which of course is at the crux of goal 17 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It certainly is. And finally, ITU Telecom, what have been your impressions of this year's event? It's been a fantastic event, obviously. It's our first for American Tower, but the event we've certainly enjoyed being here. It's been a great opportunity for us to engage with different stakeholders on determining how we can better societies and their advancement through adopting smart solutions. And this dialogue is prerequisite if we really want to reap the full and true benefits of connectivity. And I don't think there's any better place to have that dialogue than Telecom World. And just on that, on behalf of American Tower, I would like to extend my appreciation to the government of South Africa for its hospitality and for supporting Telecom World, and also to the ITU for convening such a great event on such a large scale. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.