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Until 2002, Muna Nijem was a successful U.S. telecom executive, having served in strategic advanced technology positions at both Motorola and at Ameritech, where her work in deploying the first digital cellular system earned her 16 patents.

That all changed when King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein asked Nijem to return to her native Jordan and take on the difficult task of running the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, the first independent regulator of Jordan's telecom industry.

Although Nijem admitted her new role was daunting, she said her work in the U.S. telecom sector prepared her well.

"At Motorola, I had to make the case for which technologies the company should invest in and which were good ideas that were premature for public consumption," said Nijem in an interview this week in Chicago, where she is both attending and speaking at Supercomm 2005. "It sharpened my expertise, I learned how to prepare a strategy."

Regulatory work is similar in that she must know and understand how technology is changing the telecom market so that she can set up a regulatory framework that will both attract investors and benefit consumers.

"I feel the experience in the U.S. prepared me very well to do a good job--I worked for both an operator and a vendor, so I got to see all sides of the coin, so to speak," she said.

In two years, she has restructured Jordan's telecom industry to make it more competitive, in both the fixed and wireless markets, in accordance with World Treaty Organization requirements. From a single monopoly in fixed services and a duopoly in wireless, Jordan has grown to having 10 ISPs, one new licensed fixed services provider and a dozen more awaiting the license process and a third licensed mobile services provider.

Nijem's work in Jordan has already earned not only high praise within her native country but also support form the Arab League for her nomination as secretary-general of the International Telecommunications Union. If she is chosen in the 2006 election, Nijem will be the first woman to hold the post.

She takes her status as a role model for other women seriously, citing the gender gap as one of the issues the telecom industry must address globally.

"There is a huge divide between men and women where [technology] literacy is concerned," she said. "A huge emphasis needs to be put on this."

In many developing countries, when resources are short, the decision is made to educate only male children, which exacerbates the problem.

"There is an important phenomenon in many developing countries--a large percentage of the cash is in the hands of women," Nijem said. In her volunteer work with the United Nations, she has found businesswomen are hesitant to invest in technology firms because they don't understand it.

"That is the fault of the industry, and it's something we should solve," she said.

Nijem admits her job, like those of other regulators, is "a thankless one," especially since the concept of a regulator who is independent from the legacy provider, which was once government-owned, and the government itself, is entirely new in Jordan.

She will be speaking on Thurs., June 9, at 9:45 a.m. as part of TIA's Market Development Forum.

In the meantime, Nijem is using Supercomm 2005 as a way to become up to date on technology developments, citing particular interest in broadband and WiMAX.