Year 2012 is poised to be a watershed for the telecommunications industry, with new trends and players shaking up the market. The Middle East region in particular is expected to play a pivotal role in shaping the global telecom landscape.

The Web conference focused on discussing the leading trends expected to shape the consumer and enterprise telecommunications markets in the Middle East in 2012. This was based in part on IDC's recent research and discussions with key industry stakeholders in the Middle East.

The key takeaways from this Web conference were:

• Understanding the major telecom trends that will affect the Middle East region in 2012
• Gaining insights into the uptake of upcoming consumer telecom services and technologies
• Discovering how the smartphone and OS ecosystem wars will pan out in the region
• Identifying the key enterprise services likely to find wider adoption
• Learning the strategies and capabilities service providers will need in order to benefit from these trends and capitalize on the opportunities presented

The Web conference also featured an in-depth question-and-answer session near the end, with representatives from both the operator and vendor communities posing targeted questions focused on specific predictions that were then answered by the IDC analyst in attendance.