Regional industry losing faith in “bought” awards

Several telecoms executives of operators and vendors in the Middle East have expressed discontent to Comm., that recent telecoms awards ceremonies are biased and have been “bought” through sponsorship deals.

At a recent awards ceremony held in the region, more than half of the accolades on offer were won by the highpaying sponsors.

A c-level executive from a Middle East operator also revealed that his company had stopped applying for awards out of principle, after an awards organiser promised his company the Best Operator of the Year Award, for a sponsorship sum of US$70,000.