What strikes me most about the April 2026 Smart City Committee Newsletter is not any single development, but rather the consistency of the signal across all of them.

Whether the topic is AI-driven governance, urban air mobility, autonomous public transport, or large-scale IoT deployment, the same infrastructure requirement sits underneath: resilient, low-latency, high-capacity fiber connectivity. The technologies change but the foundation does not.

As Smart City Committee Chair at Fiber Connect Council MENA, representing Khatib & Alami, I am pleased to share this edition covering the developments shaping smart and connected cities across the Middle East, North Africa and global markets.

The region is moving. Cities that invest in getting the infrastructure layer right will have the platform to absorb whatever comes next. Those that treat connectivity as an afterthought will find themselves retrofitting under pressure.

For those working across digital infrastructure, urban planning, and city operations, this edition is worth your time and we welcome your continued dialogue.

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