The Middle East and Africa (MEA) PC market suffered a 28.7% year-on-year slump in shipments in the final quarter of 2015, according to the latest insights from global technology research and consulting firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

Shipments fell for the third consecutive quarter in Q4 2015, with the decline representing the steepest ever recorded in the region for a single quarter.

In a shift from earlier quarters in the year when the decline in desktop shipments was notably less pronounced than the decline in notebooks, this time round both product categories declined at a similar pace.

Indeed, IDC’s Quarterly PC Tracker shows that desktop shipments declined 29.4% year on year in Q4 2015 to total 1.3 million units, with notebook shipments falling 28.2% over the same period to total 1.9 million units.

“Similar to the previous quarter, Turkey, the ‘Rest of the Middle East’ grouping (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Palestine), Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan experienced the sharpest declines within MEA,” says Fouad Charakla, Senior Research Manager for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey.

“The reasons for these declines varied from country to country, but included high levels political and economic instability and uncertainty, low oil prices, increasing security concerns, and volatile currency fluctuations, especially with the U.S. dollar becoming more expensive.”

Once again, the top three vendors remained unchanged in Q4 2015. The continued focus of these vendors on the commercial segment has contributed significantly to their ability to remain at the top of the rankings, since they combined to serve almost 70% of the region’s commercial PC demand during the quarter.

Overall, HP maintained the top spot in terms of market share, despite experiencing a fall of 27.4% year on year, while second-placed Lenovo suffered a decline of 29.9% on shipments. Dell, on the other hand, escaped with a mild decline of 8.7% year on year as the vendor had experienced a relatively slow quarter during the same period last year.

Declining slightly slower than the overall market at 23.2% year on year, Asus overtook Acer to claim fourth position, while Acer experienced the fastest decline among the top vendors at 42.9% year on year.

Similar to previous quarters, the local assembly of desktops continues to slow as a growing portion of end users opt for refurbished PCs, upgrades, or to prolong their refreshment cycle altogether as they increasingly shift their usage towards mobile phones and tablets.

“As market sentiment remains low, IDC expects to see a delay in the recovery of PC demand,” says Charakla.

“Overall, 2016 will experience a further decline on 2015, as growth is only expected to occur in the second half of the year. A slightly stronger recovery is expected during 2017, after which the region will continue to experience a period of slow growth over the longer term. As the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets will continue to inhibit demand for PCs, vendors and channels across the region are expected to plan and order cautiously so as to avoid being left with high inventory levels.”

Similar to IDC’s previous forecasts, there will continue to be a gradual shift in the weight of demand from consumers to the commercial segment as a growing proportion of home users switch from PCs to tablets and smartphones while commercial end users maintain a greater loyalty to PCs.

As a result, commercial demand for PCs in the region is expected to surpass that stemming from home users by the year 2017.

Engr. Shola Taylor, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), has announced that working with member countries on making cyberspace safer and resilient is a top priority for the London-based organisation over the next four years.

In his opening address at the annual Commonwealth Cyber-security Forum 2016 which took place on 23 – 24 March in London, Taylor made it clear that while “the open, decentralised nature of cyberspace has empowered individuals, fostered innovation and driven development, it also presents dangers for its users.

“Cyberspace can be used for criminal activities by targeting individuals through identity fraud, targeting the vulnerable through child exploitation, targeting communities through extremism and even targeting whole countries – the experiences of Estonia in 2007 being one example.

“This year’s event is our opportunity to understand new forms of cyber threats and cybercrime and learn about new and effective ways to mitigate or eradicate them, particularly through international cooperation. With this in mind, I am pleased to announce here today that our Council has just approved our 2016 – 2020 strategic plan which makes cyber-security one of our top priorities”, Taylor announced.

The organisation, which convenes the annual event, is already working with a number of Commonwealth countries such Botswana, Cameroon, Fiji and Uganda to help develop their national cyber-security strategies, and the challenges and outcomes of this ongoing work are being presented at the London event.

Key issues addressed at the conference include:
· Economic growth and innovation in cyberspace;
· Legislative frameworks;
· Data privacy and security risks;
· Defending and protecting critical information infrastructure, including space communication infrastructure;
· International cooperation, including capacity and trust building;
· Combating cyber-terrorism.

Speaking about cyber-terrorism, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former UK Foreign Secretary and former Chairman, Intelligence and Security Committee of the UK Parliament said that “Cyber-security is the challenge of our time. We are conscious of threats to our lives and to our well-being from international terrorism. These same terrorists are very vulnerable and if we ensure that our law enforcement and intelligence agencies are encouraged to give priority to dealing with cyber attacks from the evil people in our midst, then the very technology terrorists use, we can use against them and ultimately defeat them.”

“The CTO’s work in the area of cyber-security is important not only in providing direction, but also in knowledge sharing and practical advice.” commented Reginald Bourne, Chief Telecommunications Officer, Barbados.

Private-sector companies taking part in the event include host BT, ICANN, Huawei, Survine, Trend Micro, and Hewlett-Packard.

“I don’t foresee any let up in the cyber threat surface, and so the CTO’s Cyber-security Conference is crucial. It is able both to raise awareness of the threats to cyberspace, and how to tackle them, but also to enable delegates to take this awareness home and influence policy, technical architecture and capacity building.” said Les Anderson, Vice-President of Cyber, BT Security
Speaking on the importance of this year’s conference, Nigel Hickson, ICANN’s Vice-President for UN and IGO Engagement said that “ICANN is delighted and honoured to work with the CTO on this important annual event in the internet governance and cyber-security agenda. It was an excellent opportunity to discuss important developments, not least the recent historic agreements reached on the transfer of key technical internet governance functions from the US to the global internet community.”

“At Huawei we believe that collaboration is crucial to securing networks and devices in this increasingly connected world. And organisations need to build cyber-security in from the start, rather than bolting it on as an afterthought. CTO does a great job of bringing together both the public and private sectors across a great number of countries, creating thought-provoking debates and discussions on the cyber-security challenges the industry is currently facing.” said David Francis, Huawei’s European Chief Cyber-security Officer.

“Interacting with people from different horizons makes us realise how global cyber-security threats are and how important trust is in converging our effort to combat cybercrime”, said Honourable Vipuakuje Muharukua, Member of the Namibian Parliament.

About the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is the oldest and largest Commonwealth intergovernmental organisation in the field of information and communication technologies.
Although our history can be traced back to 1901 with the establishment of the Pacific Cable Board, the organisation has only existed in its present form as an intergovernmental treaty organisation since 1967. With a diverse membership spanning developed and least developed countries, small island developing states, and more recently also the private sector and civil society, the CTO aims to become a trusted partner for sustainable development for all through ICTs.

The Council of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) has approved a new Strategic Plan for the Organisation for the period 2016 – 2020.

The new Plan is in line with the vision outlined to Council by Mr. Shola Taylor as he assumed office as Secretary-General in September 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya and which is aimed at transforming the CTO for enhanced value for its membership.

The approved four-year Plan, which was first endorsed by the CTO’s Executive Committee in February, is an ambitious drive to make greater use the CTO’s status as an intergovernmental organisation, its strong historical position as a platform for consultation, and its wide member and partner network across five continents to enhance value for all its members.

As a result, the new mission statement of the Organisation is to provide result-focused ICT leadership in the Commonwealth and beyond.

Speaking shortly after Council’s approval, Taylor said that “this new Strategic Plan is the result of wide and thorough consultations with all our stakeholders, including for the first time all employees of the Organisation. I am most grateful for the input we received from members during this three months planning process; the Plan is designed to assist them as well as the global community in achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals adopted last year, and I am confident that our new strategic goals reflect our members and partners’ expectations.

“ICTs provide the underpinning for our members’ socio-economic development efforts, just as health or education, and the CTO is ready to move in the direction set out in the new Plan in full support of all members.”Taylor assured.

Key notable changes in the plan include:
· Introduction of Member Action Plans to be effective from April this year, as the main mechanism to respond to members’ needs. As part of this new approach, Member Account Managers have been appointed from the existing staff to maintain regular engagement with each member of the Organisation supplementing the dedicated membership division.
· Introduction of the Affiliate Membership option open to governments of non-Commonwealth countries, as well as Academia Membership to encourage universities and tertiary educational institutions to take part in the Organisation’s work.
· Adoption of the unit of membership contribution to consolidate previously separate membership financial contribution scales into a single, simpler and fairer system.
· Launch of a Development Assistance Programme (DAP) to support members’ ICT development efforts.
· Creation of a new HR and Administration department to report to the Secretary-General. This department will drive major improvements in recruitment, development and retention of CTO employees, as well as a closer realignment of the CTO’s employment conditions to the UN system.
· Creation of a new Technical Support and Consultancy division to identify, and to respond more directly and more effectively to members’ needs.
· A new Associate Consultants registration scheme open to qualified and experienced individuals as well as consultancy firms who will support the Secretariat in responding to members’ needs.

The new Plan is structured around 6 goals and 26 strategic objectives, as follows:

Enhance the value of the CTO membership and expand the CTO’s membership base
Increase CTO membership from Commonwealth countries, non-Commonwealth countries and the ICT Sector.
Establish Member Action Plans which define clear programmes and activities for each member.
Establish a membership fee structure which provides flexibility, recognises members’ ability to pay and enables membership annual fees to cover the core budget of the organisation.
Development and distribution of the Secretary-General’s quarterly reports and e-COMMONWEALTH magazine to members.
Raise funds for development activities to support members through the Development Assistance Programme.
Review and strengthen the CTO’s capacity building programmes.
Organise events and undertake consultancies on subject matter that promote that the interest of members.
Promote South-South and North-South cooperation among Member Countries.

Promote enabling regulatory environments
Promote, encourage and facilitate the development of modern regulatory frameworks including ICT licenses, spectrum management, quality of service, digital switchover and Over-the-Top operators, aimed at creating an enabling environment for investment and development.
Encourage the development and adoption of appropriate methods of collecting relevant statistical data.

Promote affordable universal and high-quality broadband connectivity
Promote the adoption of enabling policies, technologies and regulatory measures to facilitate the rapid rollout of broadband infrastructure.
Encourage cooperation between governments, regulators and service providers to develop networks suitable for the needs of members.
Assist countries in developing and maintaining Universal Service Fund regimes.

Promote a culture of cybersecurity and effective cyber governance
Encourage and support countries in the understanding of cybersecurity issues and in the establishment of cybersecurity frameworks and relevant standards.
Facilitate the promotion of cyber governance and the Commonwealth’s engagement.
Provide best practice guidelines for members, including Child Online Protection guidelines.

Promote the development and use of ICT applications for socio-economic development
Encourage the development and use of e-applications, including e-government applications such as e-governance, e-health, e-education and e-agriculture, among others.
Provide special assistance and support to countries identified by the United Nations as being vulnerable and in need of special assistance including Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, and Landlocked Developing Countries.
Promote the utilisation of ICTs for social and economic benefits for all countries.
Promote the empowerment of women and girls using ICTs.
Promote the empowerment of youths using ICTs.
Promote the use of ICTs by disabled persons and other groups in need of special assistance.
Assist member countries in utilising ICTs for disaster management.
Encourage the development of business continuity strategies.
Assist in the development and adoption of suitable strategies for dealing with e-waste.

Ensure effective coordination of Commonwealth countries at international ICT conferences and meetings
Provide support in order to ensure the effective participation by the CTO Secretariat and Member Countries at important global and regional events related to all aspects of ICTs.

About the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is the oldest and largest Commonwealth intergovernmental organisation in the field of information and communication technologies.

Although our history can be traced back to 1901 with the establishment of the Pacific Cable Board, the organisation has only existed in its present form as an intergovernmental treaty organisation since 1967.

With a diverse membership spanning developed and least developed countries, small island developing states, and more recently also the private sector and civil society, the CTO aims to become a trusted partner for sustainable development for all through ICTs.