Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

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Issue 4 2012 Édition 4 2012

Africa

Afrique

www.communicationsafrica.com

Call centres Understanding the dynamics underpinnng implementation

Backhaul Leveraging assets to achieve quality service provision

Satellite Cost-effective coverage across the continent

Câble Autour de la capacité de Rascomstar-QAF and Global Telesat collaborate on provision of endto-end teleport services across Africa

transmission, et la qualité de service

Europe m15 - Kenya KSH300 - Nigeria N400 - South Africa R20 - UK £10 - USA $16.50

FEATURES: ● Internet ● Mobile ● Infrastructure REGULAR REPORTS: ● Bulletin - Agenda ● Equipment - Équipement

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CONTENTS

Issue 4 2012 Édition 4 2012

Africa

Afrique

www.communicationsafrica.com

Call centres Understanding the dynamics underpinnng implementation

Bulletin

4

Events

8

Agenda

10

Equipment

31

Backhaul Leveraging assets to achieve quality service provision

Satellite Cost-effective coverage across the continent

Câble Autour de la capacité de Rascomstar-QAF and Global Telesat collaborate on provision of endto-end teleport services across Africa

transmission, et la qualité de service

Europe m15 - Kenya KSH300 - Nigeria N400 - South Africa R20 - UK £10 - USA $16.50

FEATURES: ● Internet ● Mobile ● Infrastructure REGULAR REPORTS: ● Bulletin - Agenda ● Equipment - Équipement

A note from the Editor INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGICAL integration and service provision must be seamless to develop viable, sustainable broadcast and telecommunications industries. This issue of Communications Africa/Afrique represents extensive management experience in broadcast and communications technology operations, with a particular focus on engagement with customers through contact centres, on conenctivity through the air and from space, and on optimisation of systems that make it all work.

FEATURES Internet

18

Commercial and technological support for operators adopting the next generation in network technologies

Satellite

20

How to address the imperatives driving reductions in infrastructure investment costs whilst maintaining provision of high quality broadcasting and broadband services

Contact Centres

22

What it takes to make the contact centre a core element of business operations, requiring investment in skills as well as technology; and what factors may underpin interaction between customers and organisations

Microwave

26

Why terrestrial fibre may be the long-term solution to meet Africa’s demand for more and better connectivity - and, particularly, to provide access to data services, and improve customer experience

Backhaul

Main Cover Image: Telstra Inset: Rascomstar-QAF Contents Page Image: IBM

28

What improving standards and connection speeds means for operators’ backhaul capabilities; and a viable methodology for managing the introduction of new services in a climate of increasing traffic and decreasing revenues

Une note du rédacteur IL Y A plusieurs opportunités de relier des pays aux satellites, et d'améliorer la capacité des communications en travers le continent. Ce sujet est traité dans ce numéro. Auparavant, les services dans le nuage sont transforments pour l'Afrique, pour sa capacité à livrer l'Internet à des vitesses de centre de données et des services optimisés à organisations en Afrique Managing Editor: Andrew Croft - andrew.croft@alaincharles.com Editorial and Design team: Bob Adams, David Clancy, Prabhu Dev, Immanuel Devadoss, Ranganath GS, Prashant AP, Genaro Santos, Zsa Tebbit, Nicky Valsamakis, Julian Walker and Ben Watts Publisher: Nick Fordham Advertising Sales Director: Pallavi Pandey Magazine Sales Manager: Steve Thomas - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7834 7676, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7973 0076, Email: stephen.thomas@alaincharles.com Country China India Nigeria Russia South Africa Qatar UAE USA

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Production: Donatella Moranelli, Nasima Osman, Jeremy Walters, Nick Salt and Sophia White - Email: production@alaincharles.com Subscriptions: circulation@alaincharles.com Chairman: Derek Fordham Printed by: Wyndeham Grange Ltd Communications Africa/Afrique is bi-monthly magazine ISSN: 0962 3841

Serving the world of business

Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

3

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BULLETIN EMC acknowledged for connectivity and service delivery to remotely connected organisations SPEEDNET, FROM EMERGING Markets Communications (EMC), was named the ‘Most Transformative Cloud Service for Africa’ at the 2012 Cloud Africa Summit, for its ability to deliver the Internet at data centre speeds and enhanced services to some of the most remotely connected organisations in Africa - with second place in the ‘Best Cloud Platform for Africa’ category and third in the ‘Best Business Productivity Cloud Solution in Africa’ category; the first ‘zero latency’ browser for satellite and terrestrial links, SpeedNet is a virtual cloudbased browser designed to deliver a fast and rich Internet experience, based on multiple patent-pending technologies from EMC, guaranteeing cloud upload and download speeds of 100 Mbps, bringing a true broadband experience to governments, multinational corporations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) located in and doing business with emerging markets around the globe.

Libya to have 19.2mn mobile subscriber connections in 2015 IE MARKET RESEARCH Corp.'s report on titled ‘4Q11 Libya Mobile Operator Forecast, 2012 - 2015’ is now available; predicting that Libya is to have 19.2mn mobile subscriber connections in 2015, the report provides key operational and financial metrics for Libya's wireless market, including data on Libyana Mobile Phone, Almadar Aljadeed Company, and Aljeel Aljadeed.

Viettel launches its first mobile network in Africa IN MAY 2012, Viettel launched its first African mobile network in Mozambique, and is now seeking opportunities to expand investment in other African countries; since being licensed in January 2011, Viettel has built 12,600 km of fibre optic cable and 1,800 mobile stations in Mozambique, represents 70 per cent of the country’s total fibre optic cable network, and 50 per cent of the country’s mobile stations, helping triple the density of Mozambique’s telecom infrastructure, increasing the length of fibre optic cable network and number of mobile stations per one million inhabitants in Mozambique by 2-3 times, making it one of the world’s fastest growing telecommunications networks and placing the country among the top three nations in Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of fibre optic cable systems.

SkyVision’s South African VSAT hub SKYVISION GLOBAL NETWORKS Ltd., a provider of IP connectivity over satellite and fibre optic networks throughout Africa –has launched a iDirect VSAT HUB service for South Africa, operated by SkyVision Networks South Africa (Pty) Ltd., the company’s local subsidiary, to enable the company to respond better to Africa's need for high quality communication services over fibre, wireless and satellite; the new iDirect HUB in Johannesburg supports iDX 3.1 iDirect, taking full advantage of the Amos 5 satellite with its coverage of southern and sub-Saharan Africa, allowing SkyVision to offer cost-effective and highly reliable VSAT services for South African companies and organisations.

A technological twenty-first anniversary THE WORLD'S FIRST GSM call took place on 1 July 1991. It was made by Harri Holkeri, then prime minister of Finland, from Esplanadi Park, Helsinki, Finland. The network was built by Telenokia and Siemens today's Nokia Siemens Networks - for the Finnish operator Radiolinja, which now operates under the name Elisa.

GSM is the fastest growing technology in history. Today, there are over 4.4bn GSM mobile subscriptions.

SES provides satellite capacity for Gateway Communications SES SIGNED CONTRACTS recently with Gateway Communications Africa for capacity on the SES NSS-703 satellite at 313 degrees East and its NSS-5 and NSS-7 satellites positioned at 340 degrees East; the additional capacity allows Gateway Communications to expand its business with mobile network operators (MNOs) and Internet service providers (ISPs) on the African continent.

Eutelsat to enhance connectivity between Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa TWO NEW INNOVATIVE and highly flexible satellite programmes have been showcased at SatCom Africa in 2012; Eutelsat 70B, due for launch end 2012, and Eutelsat 3B, to be launched in early 2014, are designed to provide ISPs, telecom and mobile phone operators, video companies and government service providers with regional coverage and connectivity between Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and as far as Australia.

Telecom Malagasy expands GSM services with Hughes Satellite Technology

Harri Holkeri, then prime minister of Finland, makes the world's first GSM call on 1 July 1991 from Esplanadi Park, Helsinki, Finland

BROADBAND SATELLITE SOLUTIONS and services specialist Hughes Network Systems, LLC has been awarded an expansion contract by Telecom Malagasy SA (Telma) to supply additional HX System remote terminals and an HX hub to expand Telma’s existing GSM backhaul project; the network supports GSM 2G/EDGE voice and data, and broadband data applications throughout Madagascar.

Visual Unity’s new Kenyan operation

Gilat Satcom’s customers across Africa to benefit from Newtec technology

INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM INTEGRATOR and multiscreen platform provider, Visual Unity has entered into a joint venture with Telemedia Africa to establish Visual Unity Africa; the company, based in Nairobi, Kenya, offers system integration and professional services to the local broadcast, IT and telecommunications industries, along with specialist R&D capabilities to develop innovative mobile applications for the triple play space.

A COMMUNICATION PROVIDER offering satellite and fibre-based connectivity services in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Gilat Satcom has deployed Newtec technology to optimise its satellite links for backhauling in Africa on Measat’s Africasat 1, 46° East; Gilat Satcom upgraded their existing IP trunking network from DVB-S2 CCM/VCM operation to an adaptive ACM environment seamlessly integrating Newtec’s FlexACM technology (www.newtec.eu/FlexACM).

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Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

6540-Co

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High Performance.

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BULLETIN Nokia Siemens Networks partners with Ruckus Wireless on Wi-Fi solutions NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORKS has entered a global reseller agreement with Ruckus Wireless to help operators integrate Wi-Fi networks to deliver cost-effective mobile broadband services - enabling NSN to offer easily deployable and manageable Wi-Fi coverage as part of its small cells portfolio; NSN will offer operators the complete line of Ruckus Wireless carrier-class Smart Wi-Fi systems, including indoor and outdoor access points and controllers - and will also deliver the Ruckus SmartCell Gateway 200, a new category of wireless service gateways that allows operators to transparently accommodate mobile subscriber devices using trusted Wi-Fi access without requiring any client software.

Mobile field service and job dispatch in South Africa ECONZ WIRELESS, WHICH specialises in mobile data collection, providing employer solutions for time & attendance, employee tracking and wagehour compliance laws, is now offering EService in South Africa, on standard cell phones, smartphones and tablets, on networks including Vodacom, MTN and Cell C, for field service and job dispatch; “EService is Web-based software that enables a field service team to receive and respond to customer work orders,” said Jay Mills, Director of Sales for Econz Wireless.

Telfree helps business calculate telephone savings TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPER TELFREE offers a new tool for businesses - the Telecounter - which enables business owners, financial directors and accounting officers to calculate whether they are overpaying their telecommunications costs; Telfree launched the Telecounter to underline how much businesses could be saving and adding to their bottom line if they made the switch to their cloud-based PBX system, Office Connection.

completed in early May 2012 on Avantis Ka-band HYLAS 1 satellite meaning the new service is capable of delivering high capacity bidirectional data links of up to 365Mbps between transmit and receive sites, using NovelSat modems.

Flexible solutions for future mobile broadband networks ACCORDING TO ALCATEL-LUCENT, the Smart-RF research project undertaken by a consortium of companies led by Bell Labs has achieved a major breakthrough for base station deployment with the development of the technical foundation for a new reconfigurable radio frequency (RF) transmitter capable of supporting different wireless standards within a single radio frequency band; a programmable radio module will help network operators to deploy their base stations more flexibly - an advantage when they roll out new wireless standards (such as future generations of long term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband technology) or accommodating new spectrum allocations, providing an effective solution for mobile operators as they evolve their networks to meet customers’ growing demands for the latest services and applications, in a more cost-efficient manner.

High definition playout and content management services for local and international broadcasters SATLINK COMMUNICATIONS LTD., a teleport delivering content globally, is enhancing its service and product offering with a new HD Playout Centre based in the broadcast district in Tel Aviv, Israel; the facility provides reliable and cost effective playout, content management, digital archival and over the top solutions to connect Asia, Africa, The Middle East, Europe and the Americas for broadcasters looking to extend their international audience reach - offering the choice of opting for a fully managed, remotely controlled, hosted, or co-located service to manage the playout and distribution of content.

Gemalto acknowledged for R&D in LTE DIGITAL SECURITY SPECIALIST Gemalto has been awarded for the ‘Best contribution to R&D for LTE’ at the 2012 LTE World Summit. Gemalto’s winning entry is an acknowledgment of the innovation leadership and dedication to best-in-class research that helps bring operational LTE solutions to market quickly. This is the third consecutive recognition for Gemalto at LTE World Summit, following the “Best contribution to LTE standards“ and “Best enabling technology“ awards won in 2011. In the U.S., Gemalto also received the “Most Innovative Network Deployment” at 4G World 2011.

Tiered pricing on real-time GPS tracking LANDAIRSEA SYSTEMS, INC., which manufactures and develops passive and real-time GPS tracking systems, is offering tiered pricing on its SilverCloud Global real-time GPS tracking system, at between US$29.95/month and US $59.95/month; the SilverCloud Global can be used virtually anywhere in the world that has cellular data network capabilities, with an international SIM card that allows it to roam from country to country.

Report shows evolution of operators' health services Researchers highlight drivers of mHealth models MOBILE HEALTH IN Africa and the Middle East (AME) is developing quickly, but there are differences in drivers and characteristics of the mHealth models employed in each of these areas, according to Pyramid Research; a new report, ‘Drivers of mHealth Models in Africa & the Middle East’, examines the MNO-backed mobile health services model in the Middle East and highlights the best practices that have helped operators in this region expand the reach of healthcare access, provides an overview of the mHealth model in Africa, supported by two major mHealth services examples that are run in conjunction with mobile network operators, offers analysis of mobile health service technology developments made in Africa, and how and why innovators and entrepreneurs have helped facilitated solutions to pressing needs in healthcare service delivery.

New Ka-band International IP Trunking service AVANTI COMMUNICATIONS, A satellite operator, has launched the world’s first commercial Ka-band International IP Trunking proposition that will transform international IP trunking across Africa and the Middle East with prices as low as US$500 per Mbps; increases in spectral efficiency are driven through combining Avanti’s Ka-band technology with NovelSat’s latest NS3 proprietary world leading modulation scheme, resulting in an increase in spectral efficiency of up to 5bits/HZ, observed in trials

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Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

THE GSMA REVEALED recently that mobile operators are driving significant value for the healthcare industry by improving access, reach and quality to care across the entire patient pathway, in a new report looking at the wider healthcare ecosystem, titled ‘Integrating Healthcare: The Role and Value of Mobile Operators in eHealth’, which was released at the Mobile Health Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, in May 2012; "Over the past few years we've seen mobile operators delivering end-toend healthcare solutions which have typically been provided by the traditional systems integrator but there is clear evidence supporting operators' emerging role in eHealth," said Chris Locke, Managing Director, GSMA Development Fund.

La plate-forme SpeedNet a nommée « Service dans le nuage le plus transformateur pour l'Afrique » LA PLATE-FORME SPEEDNET, d'Emerging Markets Communications (EMC), a été nommée « Service dans le nuage le plus transformateur pour l'Afrique » au 2012 Cloud Africa Summit - pour sa capacité à livrer l'Internet à des vitesses de centre de données et des services optimisés à certaines des organisations connectées les plus distantes d'Afrique; la plate-forme SpeedNet s'est également placée seconde dans la catégorie « Meilleure plate-forme dans le nuage pour l'Afrique » et troisième dans la catégorie « Meilleure solution de productivité d'entreprise d'Afrique ».

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AGENDA

Events / Évènements 2012 JULY / JUILLET 2-5

Telecoms Loyalty & Churn

Cannes, France

3-4

VAS Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa

vasafrica.comworldseries.com

loyaltyandchurn.com

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Content Management World Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa

www.terrapinn.com

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Digital Advertising World Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa

www.terrapinn.com

10-13

Internet Show Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa

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10-13

Social Media World Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa

www.terrapinn.com

10-13

The Mobile Show Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa

www.terrapinn.com

10-14

World Satellite Business Week

Paris, France

11-12

Cloud Computing World Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa

www.terrapinn.com

11-12

E-Commerce & Payments World Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa

www.terrapinn.com

11-12

WiFi 2.0 World Summit

Barcelona, Spain

11-13

SDP Global Summit

Rome, Italy

www.sdpsummit.com

12-14

COMSYS VSAT

London, UK

www.comsys.co.uk

17-19

LTE PMR Summit

Barcelona, Spain

17-19

NFC World Congress

Nice, France

17-20

Carrier Ethernet World Congress

Barcelona, Spain

carrierethernetworld.com

18-19

Managed Services World Congress

Berlin, Germany

www.managedservices-world.com

24-25

Carriers World

London, UK

www.terrapinn.com

24-26

Mobile Broadband World

London, UK

mobilebroadbandworld.com

24-27

Mobile Broadband World

London, UK

iir-telecoms.com

25-26

OSS/BSS World Summit

London, UK

www.ossbssworld.com

26-27

Nigeria Com

Lagos, Nigeria

www.satellite-business.com

www.informatandm.com

pmrsummit.com www.nfcworldcongress.com

nigeria.comworldseries.com

RascomStar-QAF works with Global Telesat to provide end-to-end teleport services within planned frequencies over Africa GLOBAL TELESAT AND RascomStar-QAF have been engaged in a strong joint venture for the provision of connectivity services to Africa’s Internet backbone.

Global Telesat, a satellite communications specialist, is collaborating with RascomStar-QAF to offer Internet services via Satellite connectivity throughout Africa. A new teleport in Alicante, Spain will exclusively use the Rascom-Qafir (RQ1R) satellite in planned C and Ku band frequencies.

The joint venture creates a new force and growth for the African telecommunications market, offering an enhanced range of fast, responsive and flexible satellite solutions thanks to the RQ1R panAfrican coverage, at very competitive prices.

This collaboration between Global Telesat and RascomStar-QAF enables both firms to deliver more optimised services to all types of customers from SMEs to large corporations, telecom operators and ISPs across the African continent including underserved communities. Internet via satellite is the only solution for communications connectivity for many people living in rural areas of the African continent where fiber connections are not available.

Faraj Elamari, CEO of RascomStar-QAF, commented, “Global Telesat’s Teleport will help us to address the connectivity needs of thousands of our customers on a very cost effective basis in Africa”.

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Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

Following the signing of a contract in Paris, France, in February 2012, between RascomStar-QAF (RSQ) and Global Telesat, RSQ is able to provide IP connectivity services throughout Africa within RASCOM planned frequencies at competitive prices

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AGENDA

Cloud award for content management

A call for collaboration on cybersecurity THERE HAVE BEEN calls recently from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for greater international co-operation between governments and the ICT industry to tackle the global nature of today’s cybersecurity threats. The recent discovery of the highly complex Flame malware by Kaspersky Lab reinforces the need for a co-ordinated response. Flame was discovered by Kaspersky Lab experts following a technical analysis requested by the ITU into an unknown piece of malware which was deleting sensitive information.

International co-operation is a key element of ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA). ITU is fully engaging its member states and all the world's players in its activities, collaborating closely with its partners to identify current challenges, consider emerging and future threats, and propose global strategies to meet the goals of the GCA. A core element of GCA is the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), an international public-private initiative -

IMIMOBILE, A GLOBAL mobile data technology infrastructure and solutions provider to telecom operators, media companies and enterprises, today announced that it has won ‘Multimedia Content Management Solution of the Year’ at the Cloud Africa Awards, hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa, in May 2012. IMImobile’s DaVinci Content Management System (CMS) powers MTN’s mobile content service - ‘MTN Play’ across 19 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

The Cloud Africa Awards celebrate exceptional services and initiatives in the African cloud services industry. The awards commend deployments that have overcome challenges in the diverse African markets and have demonstrated outstanding innovation, coupled with a differentiated offering.

whose membership comprises of 142 countries - dedicated to enhancing the global community’s capacity to prevent, defend and respond to cyberthreats.

Commenting on the urgent need for global collaboration, ITU SecretaryGeneral Dr Hamadoun Touré said, “Flame is a prime example of why governments and industry must work together to tackle cybersecurity at the global level. Early warning of new threats is vital and it is critical that best practice on required corrective steps is shared in order to best protect the global information society. This is the value in building a global coalition”.

Cybersecurity will be a major agenda theme at ITU Telecom World 2012 (Dubai, 14-18 October 2012), supported by key partners, one of whom is Kaspersky Lab. This agenda will explore issues such as mitigating risks posed by major coordinated cyber-attacks at the national level, the threats posed by malware such as Flame, and strengthening international cooperation. Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky will deliver a Visionary

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré

Keynote speech at the event, outlining the magnitude and global nature of cyberthreats today.

Speaking about the ITU Telecom World 2012 event, Mr. Kaspersky noted, “As recent events have only served to underline, Cybersecurity is a key global concern facing us all, and it is crucial that we use the international platform provided by such a top-level event as ITU Telecom World 2012 to conduct the full and proper discussions needed to best tackle this issue.”

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AGENDA

Reference designs to help redefine battery charging CONTINUED PRESSURE FOR higher-performance mobile devices is causing concern with respect to alternative methods for battery charging. Freescale Semiconductor recently showcased three reference designs for wireless charging that could change the way consumers power their energy-hungry devices.

IMS Research projects that, globally, shipments of devices with wireless power will surpass 100mn in 2015, and the wireless power market will grow to nearly US$5bn by 2016. Electronics manufacturers are studying ways to implement wireless charging technology and the associated infrastructure necessary in locations including automobiles, coffee houses, airports and other public areas to support today’s computingintensive mobile devices, such as smart phones, tablets, portable medical devices, gaming and audio accessories, and much more.

“Wireless charging frequently tops the lists of ‘hot’ features for future smart phones,” said Geoff Lees, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s Industrial & Multi-Market MCU business. “Our three new reference designs offer wireless charging solutions for a range of batterypowered devices. Once wireless charging is broadly deployed in the public infrastructure, charging could become an afterthought for users.”

Though wireless power is still in its infancy, there is massive potential for use in consumer Freescale is introducing a wireless charging reference applications,” said Jason dePreaux, research design for high-capacity, single- and multi-cell battery manager at IMS Research. “The availability of packs. Target applications include power tools, handheld radios and various industrial applications. This reference specialised components for wireless power is a design charges four Li-Ion battery packs simultaneously to critical step in the evolution of this market by deliver a total of 120 watts of power. The design consists of making the technology easier to implement while two main components: a transmitter mat and a receiver also driving down cost.” embedded into the battery packs.

Fibre technology gets the GreenTouch GREENTOUCH, A GLOBAL consortium dedicated to improving information and communications technology (ICT) energy efficiency, recently demonstrated a technology to reduce energy consumption in fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, as well as other applications. When deployed, Bit-Interleaved Passive Optical Network (Bi-PON) technology will enable a power reduction of 30 times over current technologies while improving performance and reducing cost.

FTTH is expected to nearly double over the next five years, reaching 142 million subscribers worldwide by 2016, according to ABI Research. With Bi-PON instead of the current optical technology in use, the impact on the carbon footprint is that of taking half a million cars from the roads.

Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

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AGENDA

Airtel to invest US$100mn in Rwanda MANOJ KOHLI, CEO (International) & Joint MD, Bharti Airtel, met recently with His Excellency the President of Rwanda to discuss the telecommunication company’s progress in the country. The courtesy visit follows Airtel’s commencement of operations in Rwanda in March 2012.

During the conversation with H.E. the President in May 2012, Mr. Kohli reinforced the teleco’s commitment to work with the government in supporting the knowledge-based economy. Airtel plans to invest US$100mn in its operations between 2012 and 2015 and will work towards generating both direct and indirect employment opportunities within its ecosystem. The company will also be bringing in partners like IBM and Ericsson to set up and manage world class facilities in the country.

Commenting on the visit, Mr. Kohli explained, “Rwanda is a promising telecommunications market and we are grateful to the Government and people of Rwanda for the support extended to us since our entry into the country. Our strategy for Rwanda is in harmony with the government’s vision to make telecommunications a priority. We plan to work closely with the government to provide access to affordable telecoms products and services across the country.”

Rwanda is among the fastest growing telecom markets in Africa and, according to the National Statistics Institute of Rwanda, mobile penetration in the country was at 38.4 per cent as of July 2011. Airtel was awarded a license by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) late last year to operate 2G and 3G GSM mobile services. Mr. Kohli said Airtel’s overall strategy remains in line with that of the government, by ensuring that the Airtel network is extended to rural communities, ensuring convenient access to telecommunication services.

Mr. Kohli also explained that although Kigali is currently operating on a 2G network, the company also plans to launch 3G services in the market within the upcoming quarter. The launch of Airtel’s 3G platform will help stimulate change to how subscribers experience the web on internet-enabled devices technology will be beneficial for a variety of users, which include large corporates, small or medium businesses and the youth. In addition, the organization is committed to the development of a wireless broadband infrastructure. Wireless broadband is technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area.

Rwanda will also benefit from Airtel’s mobile commerce platform – Airtel Money. The service will allow consumers and communities to take advantage of the mobile commerce reality sweeping through the industry by enabling them to conduct a range of financial transactions quickly and easily. Targeted at both banked and unbanked customers, Airtel Money will enable customers to make affordable, fast and secure financial transactions including direct fund transfers from one user to another, bill payments, top ups and mobile banking.

Services to support North African growth MOBISERVE HOLDING, WHICH provides solutions for telecommunications infrastructure and engineering services, participated in this year’s edition of North Africa Comheld in Tunis, Tunisia, amongst the high level industry players, operators, and decision-makers contributing to knowledge-sharing and dealmaking. Mobiserve is actively engaged in North Africa, with a number of projects being implemented for North African operators. The company owns a significant market share in North Africa, having been in the region since 2001. It counts several North African operators including (Djezzy), (Nedjma) and (Mobilis) in Algeria, (INWI), (Maroc Telecom) in Morocco, (Tunisiana) and (Orange Tunisie) in Tunisia among its client portfolio.

Econet expansion targets rural communities

What Ovum sees in So.cl

ECONET WIRELESS ZIMBABWE has completed a US$307mn multi-lender facility agreement with international financiers expected to see its network expansion programme targeting marginalised rural communities of the country.

Multi-lender facility agreements have been completed with Chinese, European, African Multilateral,South African and Zimbabwean banks.

According to an Econet spokesperson, the substantial facility is being used to develop network infrastructure further, and also to enhance ongoing development of relevant products and services.

AS MICROSOFT RECENTLY announced the launch of its So.cl network, Eden Zoller, principal analyst at Ovum, observed, “Microsoft So.cl is not a fully-fledged social network and it is far too early to even suggest it could be a rival to Google+ or Facebook, and the chances are it never will So.cl has been designed for students studying social media to extend their be. The fact that So.cl is educational experience and rethink how they targeted at students learn and communicate echoes Facebook’s beginnings and has made many assume it is a Facebook clone.

“But So.cl is, as Microsoft stresses, an experiment and designed to be layer on existing social networks. Microsoft is being sensible in positioning So.cl in this way. The opposite approach of Google, which entered social networking all guns blazing with a full on service, is having modest success.”

Eden Zoller added, “So.cl is powered by Bing and is about social search and sharing, with little value add beyond this and no-where near the kind of features offered by Facebook or Google+. If So.cl gains significant traction, which we think unlikely, then Microsoft might well ramp up the service with additional features, particularly mobile where Microsoft can tap into the Windows Phone platform.

“But for now So.cl will most likely remain an experiment at heart, which is no bad thing and Microsoft will still walk away with valuable insights and experience that can help improve its overall search capabilities, which is its major priority.”

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s continued network expansion programme will see the operator connecting more people in more places - and will also allow for a greater number of previously marginalised rural communities to have access to affordable telecommunication solutions "The continued network expansion programme will see Econet connecting more people in more places. lt will also allow for a greater number of previously marginalised rural communities to have access to affordable telecommunication solutions," according to the spokesperson.

Econet says that it expects to boost network penetration levels to over 100 per cent by 2015. The expansion is also expected to uplift economic growth and generate much needed employment, according to the spokesperson.

Wallace Mawire

12 Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

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AGENDA

HBZ Bank integrates Google Apps

HBZ BANK LIMITED South Africa, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Habib Bank AG Zurich, recently upgraded its e-mail solution from legacy Microsoft to Google Apps. Google secured the deal via its locally based Enterprise Partner, Grove Group. Google is continuing to develop its profile in the enterprise space with more companies adopting its collaboration and communication suite called Google Apps for Business.

Google’s recent wins certainly indicate that not only are Google’s services ready for large businesses, the security of it's services are being endorsed by the most security conscious organisations, i.e banks. While HBZ Bank Limited is the first bank in South Africa to go Google, it is not an isolated incident of a bank moving to Google Apps for business. Spanish bank, BBVA, also recently moved its 110,000 employees to Google Apps, a very large deal by any standard.

Nusrat Zaidi, Head of IT at HBZ Bank Limited South Africa, had this to say regarding their reason for moving to Google’s cloud, “For HBZ Bank Limited South Africa, there was only one option when it came to upgrading our email solution from legacy Microsoft Exchange. This option was Google Apps. Cost saving

was a major factor in our decision. Our head office is also on Google Apps, so now we are also realizing the same productivity and collaboration benefits. From a cost efficiency perspective there really was no other option but to Go Google.”

Whilst Nusrat Zaidi makes the point that cost reduction was the pivotal factor, he also points out that productivity and collaboration gains were imperative in the decision.

Chad Bartlett, Head of African Sales at Grove Group, added, "Grove are delighted to have been involved in assisting the first South African based bank onto the Google Apps for Business services. In fact what makes this even more significant is that HBZ Bank are part of the Habib Bank AG Zurich who operate out of a country with one of the highest banking procedures and standards in the world. Grove are happy that the security and privacy standards offered by Google's Enterprise team was enough to meet the high expectations of HBZ Bank and their clients. The pure security economies of scale offered by a global vendor, like Google, cannot be underestimated when measuring against traditional in-house security methods."

How to do more with big data analytics IN ITS FOURTH annual EMEA CTO Roadshow, in May 2012 in Vienna, Austria, Teradata chief technology officer Stephen Brobst and and Martin Willcox, the company’s director of platform and solution marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa, discussed the latest technological and business trends affecting data warehousing and Business Intelligence.

The event addressed important technology developments in big data analytics and data warehousing and, in particular, how Teradata enables even the most complex organisations to support tactical, time-sensitive and complex analytic queries from a single copy of their data.

By managing all company data within a single database, companies dramatically reduce the total cost of ownership through the elimination of maintenance and administration costs and increase their organisational agility in responding to new demands for analysis.

“We built the industry’s first massively parallel ‘shared nothing’ database computer to enable our customers to ask ‘any question, any time’ of their data, no matter how much data they have,” said Brobst.

Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

13

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AGENDA

Alcatel-Lucent et Smile lancent l’un des premiers réseaux 4G LTE d’Afrique en Tanzanie SMILE TELECOM HOLDINGS Ltd (Smile), operateur en télécommunications africain, a choisi la technologie 4G LTE fournie par AlcatelLucent pour proposer des services ultrahaut débit mobile tels que le chat vidéo en direct et la télévision en mode streaming à Dar es Salaam en Tanzanie.

Le réseau sera le premier d’Afrique à fournir un service 4G LTE dans la bande de fréquence 800 MHz, offrant ainsi aux entreprises et aux particuliers un accès Internet de haute qualité et ultrarapide, initialement dans la capitale commerciale et le plus grand port maritime de la Tanzanie. Avec comme objectif pour Smile d’offrir une couverture universelle dans les plus brefs délais.

Après un premier lancement restreint en avril, Smile propose maintenant ses services 4G LTE dans d’autres quartiers de Dar Es Salaam, parmi lesquels Mikocheni, Massani Peninsula, Oysterbay et Sinza. Les entreprises et les particuliers bénéficient désormais d’un haut débit mobile quatre fois supérieur à celui de la 3G, suffisamment rapide pour la visioconférence et les applications professionnelles, la télévision en mode streaming, les films sans interruption, ainsi que les services de médias sociaux à forte densité

de contenu. L’accès est assuré via des routeurs haut débit installés dans les habitations, les bureaux et les lieux publics, comme par exemple les centres commerciaux et les cybercafés. Smile prévoit d’étendre sa couverture à travers la Tanzanie en 2012, puis de déployer des services similaires dans les trois pays où Smile est présent. Tom Allen, Directeur des Operations et Exploitation de Smile, a déclaré : « Smile est toujours en quête d’innovations pour étoffer son offre de services.

Le haut débit a un impact considérable sur le développement économique et social. Par notre présence dans le pays, nous espérons jouer un rôle majeur pour améliorer le quotidien des Tanzaniens. La demande de connectivité Internet est très forte en Tanzanie. Avec la collaboration d’Alcatel-Lucent, nous sommes en mesure de fournir à nos clients des connexions plus rapides et de meilleure qualité, et de leur proposer par conséquent des services attractifs répondant à leurs besoins. » Et Daniel Jaeger, directeur des activités d’Alcatel-Lucent en Afrique, d’ajouter : « AlcatelLucent dispose d’un savoir-faire très étendu en matière de services haut débit mobile complets et peut ainsi répondre aux besoins de nombreuses communautés. Nous avons

Orange Business Services fournit le réseau mondial de ZIM, spécialiste de transport maritimee ZIM, ENTREPRISE DANS le transport maritime par conteneur, a choisi Orange Business Services pour renforcer l’optimisation de son réseau mondial MPLS. A travers un contrat de plusieurs années, le réseau de nouvelle génération offrira à ZIM des fonctionnalités avancées (routage optimisé, continuité de service, etc.), des services de communications unifiées et de cloud computing, dans le cadre d’une offre différenciée grâce à la souplesse de contrats de qualité de service (SLA) adaptés à chaque site. ZIM utilisera ce réseau mondial pour optimiser le système de communication de 100 navires, qui transportent chaque année plus de deux millions de conteneurs et ses 6 000 collaborateurs déployés dans les différents ports localisés dans plus de 120 pays. « Nous recherchions plus qu’un simple partenaire réseau. Nous souhaitions nous allier à un véritable partenaire reconnu pour sa fiabilité et sa transparence » résume M. Dudi Avni, CIO de ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, Ltd. Orange Business Services répond pleinement à ces

14 Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

critères grâce à une stratégie et à un portefeuille de solutions qui nous permettront d’aller de l’avant et de développer nos activités avec la certitude d’avoir à nos côtés un partenaire qui nous accompagne et sait répondre à nos besoins ».

Orange Business Services dispose de prestigieuses références dans l’industrie navale du fret maritime grâce à sa gamme étendue de services (communications par satellite, solutions de télé-présence, etc.) et qui équipe 8 des 10 plus importantes sociétés de transport de conteneurs au monde. « Nous déploierons en effet pour ZIM un réseau mondial reliant tous ses sites critiques, permettant un fort retour sur investissement et répondant à son objectif de réduction des charges d’administration. L’extrême fiabilité de notre réseau nous permet de réduire les délais d’échange et maximise la disponibilité des sites, ce qui est décisif pour un leader du transport maritime », ajoute Helmut Reisinger, VP Sales et Marketing Europe d’Orange Business Services.

également une connaissance approfondie des besoins de Smile et de ses clients. Grâce à notre technologie 4G LTE, beaucoup de gens bénéficient désormais de services haut débit auxquels ils n’avaient pas accès auparavant, ce qui contribue au développement économique de la Tanzanie et à la création de nouvelles sources de revenu pour l’opérateur. » Alors que la demande de services Internet continue d’augmenter, Alcatel-Lucent propose aux opérateurs tels que Smile une voie d’évolution haut débit claire et efficace. Son portefeuille innovant lightRadio™ a été élaboré dans cet objectif et il apporte aux réseaux mobiles une solution permettant d’atteindre des vitesses de transmission vertigineuses et de réduire à la fois les coûts d’exploitation et la consommation d’électricité.

La plate-forme de routeurs de cœurs de réseau de Smile sera intégrée aux équipements réseau d’Alcatel-Lucent fonctionnant dans la bande de fréquence 800 MHz, ce qui entrainera un coût d’investissement moindre pour ce déploiement puisque le service est déjà commercialisé et opérationnel en Europe. Il prend donc en charge une palette de plus en plus large de terminaux LTE, dont les routeurs, les clés (dongles), les téléphones et les tablettes déjà sur le marché.

Un prix pour l’entrepreneur social en Afrique FORT DU SUCCÈS de la première édition en 2011, Orange lance aujourd’hui la seconde édition du Prix Orange de l’Entrepreneur Social en Afrique. Le projet a pour but de promouvoir l’innovation sociale en faveur du développement, grâce aux Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC). Avec ce prix, Orange versera une aide financière et s'engage à accompagner par son expertise des projets innovants à fort impact sociétal, portés par de jeunes entreprises.

Les gagnants de la première édition L’appel à projet a recueilli l’an passé plus de 600 candidatures, reflétant la véritable dynamique entrepreneuriale et le potentiel des télécommunications sur le continent africain. Les trois gagnants de la première édition ont été dévoilés en novembre 2011 à l’occasion de la cérémonie des AfricaCom Awards au Cap en Afrique du Sud. Il s’agit des projets suivants : • Télé-Irrigation Horticole : projet nigérien mettant la technologie mobile au service des horticulteurs.

• Agasha Business Network : plateforme ougandaise de commerce en ligne communautaire pour la promotion de petites entreprises africaines sur le marché mondial.

• Kachile : start-up ivoirienne de commerce en ligne de produits artisanaux africains.

Le Prix récompensera de nouveau cette année trois entrepreneurs ou nouvelles entreprises proposant des solutions qui s’appuient de façon innovante sur les TIC pour répondre aux besoins des populations du continent africain. Les projets proposés lors de la première édition couvraient des domaines variés comme la santé, l’agriculture, les services financiers ou encore l’éducation.

www.starafrica.com

S04 CAF 4 2012 Report A_Layout 1 18/06/2012 12:03 Page 15

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S04 CAF 4 2012 Report A_Layout 1 18/06/2012 12:03 Page 18

INTERNET

Profile

Optimising infrastructure for Internet operations Eng Sameh Atalla explains how, with increasing demands for Web-based services and te prospect of dynamic broadband markets, telecom providers must adapt and optimise assets to grow

I

N INTERVIEW WITH Communications Africa/Afrique, Mobiserve Holding’s CEO, Eng. Sameh Atalla spoke of developments in communications markets and technological innovation in Africa and the Middle East.

Communications Africa/Afrique: How is Mobiserve helping African operators benefit from the next generation in network technologies?

Sameh Atalla: As a pioneer in the industry, Mobiserve Holding has been working as a service provider for managed services since 1999 in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia with 13 operational offices on the three continents.

Mobiserve has deep seated expertise in a range of next generation telecom and connectivity technologies including 4G and WiMAX, having installed over 12,000 sites throughout the three continents. Thus we can leverage our expertise and apply it to the needs of a particular project .

Mobiserve also better serves African operators by maintaining a strategy of being close to them on the ground. In Africa alone, we have offices in Egypt, Kenya, Mali, Uganda, Tanzania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and South Sudan. Other regions are covered by our offices in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. All offices are staffed with local telecom experts.

This gives us a strong understanding of the particular needs of a local operator and market as well as the ability to rapidly deploy field staff to projects.

CA: Egypt has been a leader in Internet deployment and utilisation over the past decade. To what extent could Egypt - and, perhaps, other markets in North Africa and the Middle East - serve as a model for sub-Saharan Africa's evolution towards a truly mobile Internet?

SA: Operators I think in Egypt were instrumental in helping with the rapid deployment of mobile Internet with flat rate data plans, customised content, and value added services. This is something that sub-Sahara’s operators can emulate, especially in terms of offering mobile specific value added services that are attractive to consumers. Already we are seeing this though with Safaricom’s MPESA and its Kipokezi service which has really jumped started mobile Internet usage in Kenya.

CA: How can Mobiserve help operators to reduce costs as they grow their networks? Do you consider infrastructure-sharing as key to optimised operations?

SA: Mobiserve assists operators to reduce costs by enabling them to quickly and cost-effectively roll out networks with our premium turnkey telecommunications services such as telecom infrastructure build out and telecom engineering. We also help operators cost-efficiently maintain networks through our telecom operations and maintenance services.

Yes, we think network infrastructure sharing is the key to optimised operations. Already, network sharing is one of the

18 Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

Sameh Atalla, CEO of Mobiserve

By reducing duplication of the most expensive parts of an operator's network, cell sites, towers, base station equipment, and transmission network, operators deliver better services more cost-effectively fastest growing trends in the telecommunications industry, becoming a widely adopted business model in the US, Europe, and Asia. By reducing duplication of the most expensive parts of an operator's network, cell sites, towers, base station equipment, and transmission network, operators deliver better services more cost-effectively. Savings can be significant for an operator, 20% to 50% of an operator's capital or operating costs depending on the level of network sharing, without compromising network quality.

In the Middle East, regional operators are increasingly implementing this concept with UAE based operators “du” and “Etisalat” signing a network sharing agreement last year. Egypt has also taken a step in this direction, with the signing of a cellular network tower sharing agreement between ourselves and Egypt’s National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA). Mobiserve’s new license with the NTRA will enable Egyptian operators to bring costs down as they continue to roll out next generation networks as well as push forward with innovative services for customers.

In the case of other parts of Africa, network tower sharing is beneficial, as it enables operators to expand coverage into rural areas for instance, as well as continuing to provide new services without incurring significant capital expenditure. ✆ Established in 1999, Mobiserve Holding is a turnkey solution provider for telecommunication and engineering services, enabling mobile operators to roll-out and maintain mobile networks quickly and cost-effectively www.mobiserveholding.com

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INTERNET

Commerce

Algerian seminar highlights business process outsourcing trends and in-demand services FIRST SERVICE Algeria recently hosted a seminar for business leaders in Algiers, which was attended by senior management from the banking, insurance, pharmaceutical, automotive, real estate and consumer goods sectors. The seminar discussed the latest business process outsourcing (BPO) trends and introduced some of First Service Algeria’s most in demand BPO services - including bad debt collection services, printing and enveloping, as well as digital archiving.

Present for First Service Algeria were General Manager Mohamed Sameh, Operations Senior Manager Sherif Ali, and Commercial Manager Abderrahmane Merabtine - along with fellow managers and staff.

Although only lately introduced, First Service Algeria’s new digital archiving service is gaining strong popularity among companies across all industries. The service enables customers to safely archive their documents and ensures easy accessibility. First Service Algeria utilises the highest encryption and security levels to guarantee the safekeeping of clients’ documents.

With its printing and enveloping services, companies can rely on the highest levels of security as well as the latest advanced technology for error free printing and processing. First Service Algeria’s state of the art facilities have an output capacity of an impressive 100,000 envelopes per day.

Diamond Bank Nigeria commits to integrated Internet banking NIGERIAN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION Diamond Bank’s Internet banking service, DiamondOnline, has gone live on CR2’s BankWorld internet platform.

CR2 is a provider of multichannel banking software solutions.

Diamond Bank ranks amongst the top 50 banks in Africa with US$4bn in assets, 230 branches, about 300 ATMs and 1.8mn account holders. It has played a pioneering role in the development of electronic banking products and services, and is the first bank to use CR2’s latest BankWorld Internet solution, which employs portal-based technology to offer new levels of interactive

customer experience, flexibility and business functionality. The solution builds on a rapid design and customisation capability that allows banks to design and deploy new online banking strategies, and adjust the services and marketing within existing segments through a drag and drop process which does not require programming enabling the bank to present a range of different ‘shop windows’ to its customers with each customer segment having immediate access to the services, product subscriptions, advertisements and offers most relevant to them.

BankWorld system currently interfaces with

Diamond Bank’s iFlex core banking system.

Announcing the development in Lagos, Head of Customer Services & Technology of the Bank, Premier Oiwoh, stated, “We decided to engage CR2 in order to take total ownership of our internet banking site. BankWorld internet portal gives us the flexibility we required to deliver different portals to our customers segments and roll out new services without relying on any vendor. We have the capacity to design a banking site that adapts to each segment of customers and deliver relevant products and services which will translate into effective cross sales.”

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Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

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SATELLITE

Digital

Cost-effective quality coverage How the strength of demand for quality connections is driving growth for satellite services provision throughout Africa

B

ROADCAST SERVICES IN Africa are on the brink of significant growth in number of channels and services. This is on the back of growing demand from the increased number of TV homes, which is set to increase from 93mn in 2010 to 122mn by 2015 (Dataxis). Digital TV is also expected to surge with the deadline for digital migration rapidly approaching. At the moment fewer than 10 per cent of African TV homes have access to digital TV, while the number in Europe is 75 per cent.

In terms of broadband connectivity, approximately 300mn people in Africa find themselves over 50km from a fibre or cable broadband connection (the further from the connection, the worse the broadband quality). An additional 400mn people on the continent have no internet access at all, indicating that around 700mn people have limited or no access to broadband. While there are plans to increase fibre connectivity across the African continent by 2013 or 2014, satellite broadband has the advantage of reach, providing an efficient way of connecting the majority of the 700mn unconnected people.

Satellites allow countries to reduce their infrastructure investment costs while providing consumers with high quality broadcasting and broadband services This is according to Ibrahima Guimba-Saidou, head of Africa for global satellite operator SES. "Satellite offers many benefits to a continent such as Africa, and SES is helping African regulators, governments, broadcasters and network operators to bridge the digital divide using satellite technology," said Guimba-Saidou. "SES satellites allow countries to reduce their infrastructure investment costs while providing consumers with high quality broadcasting and broadband services.

Satellite technology provides nationwide coverage; cost-effective distribution independent of existing infrastructure and borders; is not limited to the number of people it reaches and handles all formats including digital, HDTV, 3D TV and IP."

Delivering on digital television SES has been collaborating with Samsung to drive digital broadcasting via satellite in sub-Saharan Africa by introducing an LED television set with an integrated free-to-air satellite receiver. The sets are being distributed in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon in August 2012. Other countries on the continent will follow.

The integrated satellite receiver will allow consumers to receive television channels for free without the need for an additional set top box as the LED screen will be directly connected with the satellite dish. In preparation for the TV's launch, SES and Samsung will jointly arrange training sessions with distribution partners and installers to ensure the proper connection of the TVs to satellite dishes, and began embarking on marketing campaigns in June 2012.

20 Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

SES is helping African regulators, governments, broadcasters and network operators to bridge the digital divide using satellite technology (Photo: Loral Space & Communications)

The TV set has also been designed to withstand the impact of humidity, lightning and electricity surges through reduced power dependency. "This is innovation at its best, designed to help consumers in their homes," commented Guimba-Saidou.

A further example of SES innovation is SAT-IP, which is a new IPbased satellite reception technology that demodulates and converts satellite signals for in-home distribution to any IP-enabled device. The SAT-IP communications protocol has been established as a new standard for satellite in-home distribution.

"In servicing more than 40 African countries, SES is well aware of the huge demand for greater services, both quality and quantity. The opportunity lies in providing a growing sophisticated African viewership with a significantly increased number of TV channels – a first for many African countries and broadband services where previously none existed," said Guimba-Saidou. ✆

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Le nouveau câble sous-marin dans l'Océan Indiene

F

RANCE TÉLÉCOM-ORANGE et les autres membres du consortium LION2 – ses filiales Mauritius Telecom, Orange Madagascar et Telkom Kenya, ainsi que les opérateurs Emtel Ltd et la Société Réunionnaise du Radiotéléphone ont célébré aujourd'hui à Mayotte la mise en service du nouveau câble sous-marin haut débit LION2. Ce câble apporte pour la première fois le haut débit à Mayotte et renforce la connectivité du Kenya.

Le câble LION2 apporte le haut débit à Mayotte et renforce la connectivité du Kenya Après l'inauguration, fin 2009, du câble sous-marin LION (Lower Indian Ocean Network), cette mise en service constitue l'aboutissement du second volet du plan

d'expansion de l'internet haut débit dans l'Océan Indien mis en œuvre par le Groupe. Le câble LION, qui relie Madagascar au réseau très haut débit mondial via La Réunion et l'Ile Maurice, a désormais été prolongé par LION2 jusqu'au Kenya en desservant Mayotte.

La capacité de transmission, la qualité de service Grâce à une station d'atterrissement à Kaweni (Mamoudzou), LION2 permet notamment de fournir à Mayotte, pour la première fois, un accès haut débit au réseau internet mondial avec une capacité de transmission et une qualité de service équivalentes à celles disponibles en Europe.

Au Kenya, le câble LION2 est relié à une station d'atterrissement qui vient d’être construite à Nyali, près de Mombasa. Ce câble représente un projet important pour renforcer la connectivité du Kenya aux réseaux internationaux et pour couvrir ses besoins en capacité pour les années à venir. Par ailleurs, LION2 constitue également une route

alternative qui permet de sécuriser les transmissions haut débit passant par l’Europe et l’Asie pour l’ensemble des pays d'Afrique où le Groupe est implanté. Il offre en effet la possibilité de rediriger le trafic en cas de besoin vers les trois autres câbles qui relient déjà le Kenya.

Long de 2 700 km, LION2 bénéficie de la technologie la plus performante utilisée actuellement dans le domaine des câbles sous-marins en fibre optique : le multiplexage de longueur d’ondes qui permet d’augmenter la capacité en fonction des besoins sans nouvelle intervention sous-marine. Le débit maximal de LION2, qui s'élève aujourd’hui à 1,28 Tbps, pourra être ultérieurement augmenté grâce à la compatibilité du câble avec les prochaines générations technologiques de transmission.

La construction du câble LION2 représente un investissement total d'environ 57 millions d'euros, dont près de 38 millions ont été financés par France Télécom S.A. et ses trois filiales. ✆

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CONTACT CENTRES

Investment

Starting up an African call centre Contact centres can be complicated - but often the complications are more a matter of understanding the dynamics behind implementation than anything else

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OU'VE DECIDED THAT your company needs to install a call centre to handle its customer interactions. What happens now?

What does your organisation need to be aware of? And who do you need to talk to?

“Before you do anything you need make sure that the provider you're engaging with has a proven track record,” says Andre le Roux, Managing Director at ATIO, the ICT integration specialist that partners with companies to implement Interactive Intelligence contact centres on the continent. “A good provider will have a clear and verifiable track record – it's in any company's interests to ensure that the track record exists and is verified by clients.”

Processes to meet needs Every business is governed by different dynamics and influences – and each contact centre solution must therefore be developed according to these needs. There are no one size fits all answers to contact centre questions, in other words. But the first step in the process should always involve defining exactly what the true business needs are.

“A lot of the time decision makers look at the potential solution in terms of what they think their business can afford,” says le Roux. “This is generally a mistake, however. A full business analysis will reveal the true forces at play in terms of costs and savings. Putting in place a six-seat contact centre when your business actually requires 20 seats can end up costing a great deal of time and money, and the reverse is also true. The core aim has to be to align the company's strategy and

22 Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

“A contact centre is not a short term investment - it's a core element of business.

It's therefore essential that a company grows its peoples' skills along with its technology” - Andre le Roux, Managing Director at ATIO its operational reality.”

Le Roux also points out that with technology evolving so fast across the world, software based systems are generally preferable to more modular pieces of hardware. One of the primary attractions is that softwarebased systems allow companies to ensure easy integration with existing ICT infrastructure.

Conversely, modular hardware systems can prove difficult to integrate and maintain. And then there can also be difficulties in changing the size of the contact centre. Software based systems allow for the almost instant addition or removal of seats, while with hardware orientated systems scaling up or down can be complex, and extended.

And what of companies that are budget sensitive?

“Some companies struggle with the primary cost of setting up their own system, especially when they haven't used the technology before. The learning curve and cost involved can be prohibitive,” says Dave Paulding, Interactive Intelligence Regional Sales Manager for Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

Investing and growing Hosted or “Pay as you Grow” solutions can be good starting point for these companies, offering a low barrier to entry and the ability to work extensively

with contact centre technologies and systems before investing directly in technology.

“Pay as you grow can be very valuable as it eliminates the need to invest up front,” says Paulding.

“It can be a good approach if you want to run short time frame campaigns, or to examine exactly how the system works. More and more mid sized companies follow this route to test out the contact centre space. Once they are comfortable and understand the process they can transition into owning their platform.”

Le Roux also points out that any contact centre solution must incorporate a strong human focus, and that in an ideal scenario staff will grow and change along with the technology they are using.

“A contact centre is not a short term investment - it's a core element of business. It's therefore essential that a company grows its peoples' skills along with its technology,” he says. “Most often we would see a company moving from manual processes to a call centre, and looking to train its staff accordingly. They could well then evolve from a call centre to a contact centre, and staff would be trained in the use of relevant technology once again. The most important principle is to ensure that the overall evolution takes into account the company's broader business strategy and skills dynamic.” ✆

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CENTRES DE CONTACTS

Formation

Les services d’externalisation pour infrastructures de communications

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VAYA OFFRE UN panoplie de services administrés conçus pour aider les entreprises à augmenter leurs performances, à réduire considérablement leurs dépenses et à accélérer la transformation de leur environnement de communications. Avec cette nouvelle offre baptisée Communications Outsourcing Solutions (COS), Avaya prend en charge l’administration de toutes les tâches de communications — indépendamment de leur âge, de leur localisation et de leur fournisseur —, dans le but de contribuer à la compétitivité des entreprises à l’aube d’une nouvelle ère de collaboration avancée.

Des solutions personnalisées, de l’administration complète La solution COS fait partie du portefeuille de services administrés conçu par Avaya, qui permet aux entreprises de lui confier l’administration de leurs infrastructures et

« Avec une solution bâtie sur mesure pour chaque client, les services COS d’Avaya permettent aux entreprises d’éliminer certaines contraintes financières et techniques, ainsi que de tirer le meilleur parti possible des investissements qu’elles consacrent à leur infrastructure de communications. » - Ed Nalbandian, vice-president, Avaya Operations Services. applications de communications. C’est la première offre de services entièrement externalisés proposée par Avaya qui apporte des solutions personnalisées et assure l’administration complète de l’environnement de communications des clients, notamment au sein de leurs applications de communications unifiées, centre de contacts, réseaux de transmission de données et moyens de communications vidéo. La panoplie de services COS propose un niveau accru de services administrés en prenant en charge les

communications du client, en s’intégrant directement à ses processus informatiques et en gérant l’ensemble de ses outils de communications (production, facturation, opérations, etc.). « Les sociétés qui disposent d’une expertise vaste et approfondie des technologies de communications seront bien placées pour les aider à optimiser leur environnement de communications, et accroître ainsi leurs performances et leur rentabilité, » a dit Eric Goodness, vice-president, recherche en services administrés, Gartner, Inc. ✆

All-in-one \adj: all-inclusive. For the contact centre, Interactive Intelligence defines its all-inone IP communications platform this way: All communications applications running on a single platform. A single point of administration for all functionality, meaning less training and less complexity. Add-on applications activate with simple license keys, to bypass costly, complex integrations.

Complete fault tolerance and business continuity for all contact centre applications. A single allinclusive solution from a single vendor, including a single maintenance contract. All redefined by a lower total cost of ownership. Shouldn’t this be your definition too?

www.inin.com

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CONTACT CENTRES

Multimedia

Calling all comms channels Essential elements underpinning development of the multimedia contact centre or multichannel contact centre

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ULTIMEDIA COVERS THE full range of communication channels, including voice calls, email, fax, web chat, call backs, SMS, video calls and Social Media discussions. Leading multimedia contact centre technologies route all these forms of communication between customers and the business through a single processing engine.

The fact that all communication is routed through a single engine enables measurement, recording and reporting across all interaction types, creating a strong understanding of the brand's customer service experience, via a single interface.

Why does it matter?

As all the analysts and strategists keep telling us, the communications landscape has changed dramatically over the last five to ten years. But, ultimately whether people want to

Customers want to choose how they interact with your organisation – they certainly don't want to be told how they will interact with you - multimedia contact centres have the capacity to meet this primary service challenge use Twitter and MXit to communicate with you is less important than the fact that brands are facing a strategic context where they can no longer dictate how consumers speak to them.

This is a major shift - only a few years ago was it acceptable for a brand to demand that consumers use a voice-orientated contact centre. Today, this approach will simply see the consumer try another company that is more sensitive to his or her individual context.

New opportunities A proactive approach to a multimedia contact centre can open up new business development opportunities. Aside from meeting evolving consumer communication demands, many companies are implementing innovative new channels as well. Instant messaging offered from the company website is just one such option. In the realm of web-based electronic product sales, for example, the ability for clients to chat directly with service agents as they browse sites can add significantly to competitive advantage in a very competitive sector.

The big challenges If it's not executed correctly, the shift to a multimedia contact centre can be chaotic and expensive. It can also damage the quality of customer experience.

Integration is a primary issue that must be addressed.

A multimedia contact centre will only deliver on the vision of improved customer service if it is governed by a single processing engine. That sounds basic enough, but

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the reality is that many organisations are running parallel communications systems. In addition to the technical nightmare that is bound to emerge from the parallel mind-set, disparate systems make it inevitable that “Oh dear we must have missed it...” will become a part of the company's service culture.

Conversely, in a singular system every multimedia interaction has measurable service levels and minimum response times.

All interactions are routed into the same processing engine, queued and routed to the appropriate work group, and then reported on. Standard service levels can be applied to any interaction customers have with your organisation. In this context managers are able to by-pass the impossible task of manually collating report-backs from each channel, while the detailed strategic view of all customer interactions that is created allows decision makers to do their jobs as effectively as possible.

The bottom line The days of the one way communication street are over. Customers want to choose how they interact with your organisation – they certainly don't want to be told how they will interact with you.

Multimedia contact centres have the capacity to meet this primary service challenge.

In addition, however, they deliver important cost and efficiency benefits. The bottom line is that it is cheaper for organisations to handle a wide range of electronic communication efficiently than to attempt to force all customers to use the telephone. Companies providing excellent service via multimedia interactions not only reduce call volumes and operational costs, they also improve customer satisfaction levels in the process. ✆

Karl Reed, Sales and Marketing Director at Elingo

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Alcatel-Lucent to bring faster, higher-quality Broadband for Africa Realising the potential of a connected world and tackle rural inclusion

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LCATEL-LUCENT, A LEADER in mobile, fixed, IP and Optics technologies, and a pioneer in applications and services. The company brings an unmatched heritage of ideas and execution to the challenge of realizing the potential of a connected world.

It includes Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent's world-renowned research and development arm. With operations in more than 130 countries, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The company is a sponsor of the 9th edition of West and Central AfricaCom conference which focus on ICT in all 24 countries in Africa. Alcatel-Lucent is well represented at this conference, including Daniel Jaeger, Vice President Africa, Eric Lacombe and Alpin Verlet, Country Managers in West and Central Africa and Eric Festraets, Director Network and Business Strategy, who is delivering a key note in the plenary session on June 13th, on the matter of “Addressing traffic explosion by advanced end-to-end network transformation”.

In a discussion with the Alcatel-Lucent delegation With your experience, so far, what are the major challenges facing the telecom sector of the West and Central African region?

What role is Alcatel-Lucent playing to connect people in the rural areas in Africa?

West and Central African economies rely on increasing mobile and internet penetration to grow. According to World Bank +10 per cent mobile penetration allow +0.8 per cent GDP and +10 per cent internet penetration allow +1.4 per cent GDP. Service providers must invest more in new broadband technologies and modernise their network in a context of a challenge on the ARPU. Today’s service and network providers in the region are facing three main challenges: 1. they need to master their economics, both from cost control as revenue generation point of view; 2. they need to master their end to end network complexity, step out of the silo/per domain strategy and look at the overall approach; and 3. they need to master the future-proofness of their network evolution, implementing only the most innovative products, in other words; their main challenge is to guarantee shareholders return on investment while mastering network complexity and providing good customer experience.

Connecting people in rural areas is about offering cost-effective solutions for scarcely populated areas, it is about responding to the need of the people in an affordable way. Under these circumstances we believe our global end to end network architecture encompasses the most advanced wireless technologies with acceptable cost points.

Customers want faster and better wireless services at lower prices. So operators need a quick, low-risk network evolution strategy. We provide to our customers full turnkey end to end project from civil work to network integration allowing best quality of the network at lowest cost of ownership for service providers.

What is your vision for Alcatel-Lucent expansion in Africa in 2012?

Alcatel-Lucent is gaining more and more ground on the African continent, service and network providers appreciate the focus of our company on the most cost-effective and innovative products, architectures and business models, mastering the totality of topics related to telecom business.

Alcatel-Lucent’s very strong presence in Africa countries a real asset for operators, our company is ready to engage anywhere in Africa with the accurate expertise and at any level. We keep in investing in our human capital in Africa our experts teams are able to address more and more complexity in the networks which identified us as the strategic partner for network transformation in Africa.

What is the latest technology from Alcatel-Lucent that is going to be beneficial to operators in Africa?

Alcatel-Lucent has the strong belief that constant technology innovations in the various domains (wireless with LTE and lightRadio, Wireline with converged copper/fibre solutions, edge/core with evolution into the 100G era, etc…) will lead to the optimal end to end network transformation strategy for the service and network providers community. Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs are providing innovation with more capacity, lower footprint and very significant energy savings. Our latest technologies allow operators to optimise their Return on Investments and to minimise their OPEX in a decreasing ARPU context.

In today’s competitive market, how confident are you that the AlcatelLucent innovation will fly in African market?

Knowing Alcatel-Lucent always concentrates on responding to the customer’s needs when designing and developing new and innovative products, we are pretty confident above mentioned innovations will definitely fly in Africa, they help service and network providers in the sense they are cost-effective, fitting into an end to end strategy and future-proof. Exactly what the major players in Africa expect.. AlcatelLucent has played a major role in the roll out of most of the 5 submarine cables in operation at end of 2012 including ACE coming in here at Dakar.

What is the future of wireless broadband, especially in Africa?

We believe wireless broadband to play a major role in the connectivity game of the (near) future in Africa. The combination of availability, cost and bandwidth evolution dictates us to do so. Nevertheless, checking the forecasts of wireless traffic for the coming years, ALU believes that complementing wireless broadband with fixed technologies, mainly for backhauling and offloading the traffic but also in an opportunistic way for those area’s where fixed infrastructure is available, will definitely optimise the business case of the service and network providers. Also a certain number of 3G roll-out are ongoing in areas one considered hopeless for 2G services thanks to adoption of smartphones and usage of usb dongles.

Many countries like Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Angola and Tanzania are now exploring LTE and 4G. More LTE rollout are to come in medium term if Africa that can further create attractive Environment for investments in term of regulation and taxes. It is very promising to receive good signs, like the recent ones from Sénégal, in this direction.

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NETWORK

Microwave

The resurgence of long haul microwave Terrestrial fibre is considered the long-term solution for Africa’s demand for connectivity - providing access to modern data services, improving the customer experience - but even with hundreds of thousands of kilometres of deployed fibre, problems remain

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HILE NETWORK DEPLOYMENT in Africa was traditionally the domain of government-owned public carriers, these organisations have declined over the past decade in most countries. Now, building out telecommunications networks is typically undertaken by private operators who own their networks. Because there are often several competing operators in a country, many countries are encumbered with multiple parallel networks and replicated infrastructure. Without shared telecommunication networks, operators, especially of mobile networks, have had to aggressively build their own trunk radio routes providing capacity mostly for their exclusive use. This is especially true of high-capacity, long-distance networks where each network is an island. Regional interconnection and linkage to the intercontinental subsea cables, necessary for unhindered access to the valuable Internet, is still inaccessible to most citizens.

As the early data services, such as GPRS/EDGE and, later, fixed wireless, accelerated bandwidth consumption, operators decided to invest in optical fibre, building out point-to-point routes in parallel to their highest-capacity microwave links. In 2006-2007, when fibre was being planned seriously in many countries, fibre links were perceived to be the ultimate solution to the increasing demand for bandwidth, crossing borders, connecting regional groups and providing intercontinental connectivity by linking to subsea cables.

At the start of 2010, there were more than 300Gbps of Internet capacity in place on the African continent with a third going to subSaharan countries. By the end of that year, Internet traffic grew by an additional 70 per cent to more than 500Gbps. The demand driving this phenomenal growth emanates primarily from the increasing rollout of 3G mobile networks, HSPA+, Wimax and, now, LTE. This is creating an expectation among consumers that, once experienced, unhindered access with high capacity and smooth access will be the norm.

In their haste to deploy, it is not uncommon to find two or three operators building along the same route at the same time, and even cases where newer fibre deployments damage those just built in the frantic effort to speed up deployment.

With so many fibre deployment projects planned and undertaken, Africa looks like a fibre continent.

Problems with fibre Today’s reality is not quite so rosy as the dream of unhindered and affordable connectivity for the majority of citizens remains unrealised.

For several years, operators invested almost completely in fibre and neglected microwave. But fibre is expensive to deploy and operate.

Furthermore, with little or no microwave deployment, network operators are left vulnerable to sudden loss of capacity in cases of fibre breaks.

Fibre breaks When a fibre break occurs, the expectations that customers have built up for accessibility and quality of service are suddenly dashed. After a fibre break, in the best cases, severely restricted back-up services to fibre routes are dimensioned to carry only essential voice and signalling traffic, leaving the growing IP-based data services at risk along with the

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Microwave is suited to African deployment, for its record of technological advances, lower deployment costs, ease of maintenance, and practical backup strategies revenues they generate. In the worst cases, fibre breaks destroy connectivity completely for unacceptably long periods of time.

Breaks in the fibre, malicious or accidental, are a daily occurrence. With vast road construction, poor environmental management and erratic observance of planning procedures, no country in Africa is immune. In Nigeria alone, there are, on average, fourteen fibre breaks per 100km per year leading to a colossal 2,200 hours of network down-time!

Even the high capacity subsea cables are not immune to breakage.

Recently, a ship's anchor was dropped onto a subsea fibre optic cable off the coast of Kenya severely disrupting the region's Internet access. As a result, until repairs are completed, Internet connections are expected to be reduced by 20 per cent in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Deployment and operational expenses Greenfield fibre deployment is a time-consuming and expensive activity.

The costs for trenching and deploying fibre increase rapidly with distance. Right of way permits and the labor intensiveness of trenching add significantly to the cost and the time required. Fibre requires significant supporting equipment. For example, network interface cards (NICs) for fibre cables can cost US$1,000 each and a fibre network requires thousands of them.

For connecting highly populated areas, fibre deployment can be justified. However, as Africa comprises many large countries with population centers separated by vast distances, not to mention numerous remote areas, fibre deployment becomes exceedingly expensive.

Maintaining a fibre network is costly as well. Fibre cables are susceptible to damage from the environment. Parts break more easily in fibre cabling than in other cabling systems. A fibre break or equipment failure requires human intervention. Remote breaks can be very costly to repair especially when they are in inaccessible areas that take time to reach.

The microwave alternative Although they neglected long-haul microwave in favour of fibre, African network operators are re-thinking their strategies. Where microwave was once considered a less desirable technology than fibre, operators are now seeing significant advantages.

Microwave is particularly suitable to the African environment due to technological advances, lower deployment costs, ease of maintenance, and practical backup strategies. For example, Celtel has installed a long-haul microwave link to improve communications between Uganda and Tanzania. A new microwave link now connects Tangiers, Morocco with Tarifa, Spain.

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NETWORK

Microwave

Advances in capacity Today’s microwave technology provides impressive long-haul capacity.

Where outdated routes were previously limited to two or three STM1s, they now carry capacities measured in gigabits. Innovative technologies, like advanced modulation and multi-channel bandwidth control empower operators to provide true high capacity on long-haul routes.

Today’s long-haul microwave provides abundant capacity far in excess of Africa’s current and predicted demand.

Advances in reliability Where inclement weather and other types of interference used to be mitigating factors in microwave link availability, leading microwave equipment vendors are now able to keep their long-haul transmission links functional even in transient fading conditions. For example, microwave systems such as those of wireless backhaul specialist, Ceragon Networks, sense the quality of the transmission link and can automatically decrease the modulation technique in case of degraded signal quality due to interference or other microwave propagation problems. So, if a microwave transmission is humming along at maximum capacity and suddenly encounters fading, the Ceragon microwave system automatically steps down the modulation to lower levels until the transmission network maintains the requisite level of reliability. The traffic is distributed over all carriers using Multi-carrier Adaptive Bandwidth Control (ABC), so, when one carrier is affected by reduced modulation, the link distributes traffic to the remaining carriers, making the link appear as a single dynamic, high capacity pipe. As the transient problems disappear, the resilient microwave system automatically re-applies more efficient modulation techniques to regain full capacity. All of this occurs automatically with split-second timing and without human intervention.

Many operators must continue to support their legacy TDM systems (SONET/SDH) as they turn to packet technology to provide the latest convergence capabilities. Advanced microwave systems, like Ceragon’s Evolution Long Haul, are able to support TDM as they supply an easy and inexpensive migration path to all-IP. Microwave systems boast numerous other technological advances providing a good solution to Africa’s connectivity requirements today and well into the future.

example, if a route becomes redundant, microwave equipment can be quickly and inexpensively moved to a new route.

All of these advantages add up to lower costs and easier maintenance and operations for microwave systems.

Backup Long-haul microwave has generally been considered an expensive and limited back-up to fibre based on historical solutions built around allindoor, high-power equipment that requires space, cooling and electrical power. Today’s microwave solutions can deliver vast improvements in all of these categories. For example, Ceragon Networks provides all-outdoor configurations that do not require cooling units, significantly reducing the electrical supply needed to power them.

Microwave is the perfect medium to provide backup for alreadydeployed fiber networks. Why would anybody want to deploy, as a backup to the fiber network, yet another expensive fiber network?

Microwave provides the necessary capacity in most applications, including backhaul, for the rapidly growing mobile networks throughout the continent. If the fiber network suffers a break in service, the microwave network can efficiently carry the capacity so that customers can enjoy continuity of service. Microwave is the backup medium of choice for fiber networks.

Microwave surges ahead Microwave is enjoying a resurgence in Africa. Superior speed of deployment, high capacity, flexibility, ultra-reliability, and low capital and operating expenses make long-haul microwave a potent telecommunications solution for the African market. ✆

John Earley, President for the Middle East and Africa, Ceragon

Keep Your Network Running with Spectrum Communications DMR-IP

Deployment costs and speed Long-haul microwave links are significantly less expensive and speedier to deploy than fibre. Right-of-way issues and expensive trenching are avoided while complete microwave networks can be employed economically in just weeks reducing the operator’s time to service provision and revenue. Unlike fibre, microwave deployment costs do not increase with distance, and long-distance hops of 20, 50 or even more than 100 km are practical to implement.

Microwave is an excellent fit for large African countries with vast territories between population centers.

Maintenance and operations Unlike fibre which, in the African experience, is prone to breakage and loss of service, microwave is highly reliable. With a microwave site in one secure location booming traffic over the air to another site tens or even hundreds of kilometres away, operators need not suffer the maintenance problems associated with a long fibre cable and its numerous connections along the way, snaking through remote or difficult terrain. The mean time between failure (MTBF) of leading microwave systems is now in excess of 100 years!

Advanced microwave systems consume far less power today than in the past. With passive cooling and power consumption that can be accommodated from solar or wind power, they suit the African ecosystem perfectly.

While fibre, once put in the ground, is static, microwave is flexible. For

Spectrum Communications is a leading Solution Supplier to Telecom Industry, in the Middle East and Africa Regions, providing Transmission Solutions to Network and GSM mobile Operators and ISP Service Providers and Oil & Gas Industry.

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NETWORK

Backhaul

The increasing need for new management solutions How future migrations to 4G standards, with the potential of 100 Mbits per mobile connection, will drive requirements for even greater backhaul capabilities

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ONTINUED CELLULAR MARKET penetration, burgeoning consumer demand for wireless rich media, and the promise of even more dataintensive applications continue to drive bandwidth consumption, fuelling an increase in the global number of cellular base stations. 3G and 4G cellular services, which require very low latency and packet-based switching, place additional burdens on existing infrastructure, taxing backhaul solutions to their limits, increasing operational expenditures (OPEX), and increasingly burdening service providers who continue to expand ageing architecture to meet expanding backhaul needs.

To address these increasing demands and cost pressures, wireless carriers need to evaluate their existing assets, identify the ideal solutions to meet future needs, and implement costeffective technologies to migrate their existing architectures to their ideal design over time.

Within a context of global development of communications infrastructure, the last five years have seen Africa’s emerging nations, which have had with very little existing backhaul architecture in place, account for many new cellular base station installations over the last five to ten years - in large part due to a continuing upswing in cellular subscriptions.

An equally important driver of network consumption is the expansion of cellular services beyond traditional voice and text messaging. Increasingly, cellular offerings encompass a more full-featured blend of voice,

To reduce backhaul OPEX to manageable levels and build truly 3G- and 4G-compliant networks, mobile carriers should project near-term and long-term bandwidth and class of service demands based on business goals and market conditions data, video, and other rich media. Industry observers expect continued growth in mobile broadband access with users demanding the same types of content provided by home broadband connections.

Addressing wireless backhaul challenges To reduce backhaul OPEX to manageable levels and build truly 3G- and 4G-compliant networks, mobile carriers can choose from solution portfolios that include a range of products, utilizing fibre transport solutions or emerging RF wireless protocols such as millimetre wave or WiMAX. As a first step, carriers should project nearterm and long-term bandwidth and class of service demands based on business goals and market conditions. After determining these targets, providers should audit and catalogue their existing resources, including any planned decommissions. With a solid understanding of their business direction and a firm grasp of their current capabilities, carriers can then make educated technology selections to meet their future needs cost effectively. Professional services organizations with relevant experience can often provide helpful

evaluation frameworks and cost-saving advice during the planning stage. For example, by projecting a legacy backhaul architecture’s rising percentage of OPEX over time, carriers can find the point at which the capital expenditure (CAPEX) of new higher bandwidth backhaul solutions would begin to show a positive ROI. For new installations (e.g., greenfield applications), or areas where cable or fibre are either absent or impractical, wireless technologies, such as WiMAX or millimetre wave, offer economical yet efficient backhaul solutions. With proper planning, wireless backhaul links can provide reliable, high quality transport throughput without the expense of installing new lines. Wireless transmission also allows service providers to retain end-to-end control of their data, without the risk or uncertainty of leasing through a third party. Carriers should also look to extend the efficiency of these investments through crossconnectivity hardware that intelligently routes traffic between devices and provides performance and reliability statistics allowing carriers to assess their hardware needs as proactively as possible. ✆

The continuing commitment to invest in Airtel’s DRC network AIRTEL’S TELECOM NETWORK in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was the first operator to be visited by the new Telecommunications & ICT Minister in the country – his Excellency Tryphon Kin-Kiey Mulumba. The visit in May 2012 was part of the newly appointed Minister’s familiarisation programme to understand the realities that the telecom operators are dealing with in the country.

DRC, is the largest country in sub Saharan Africa by area since the accession of South Sudan as an independent country, and the eleventh largest country in the world. With a population of over New Telecommunications & ICT Minister of the DRC, 71mn, it is the world’s nineteenth most populous His Excellency Kin- Kiey Mulumba, during nation, the fourth most populous nation in Africa, familiarisation tour of Airtel facilities

28 Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

and the most populous officially Francophone country.

The Minister learned, during his visit, about the level of investments made by the Airtel in DRC. More than a billion US dollars has been invested in the network so far, and Airtel plans to invest an additional US$615mn over the next three years. Commenting on his visit, His Excellency Kin-Kiey Mulumba said, “Our country is very large and the potential is huge. Airtel is a big company, and the investments made so far by Airtel in our country are amazing. We, as the Government, are under the obligation to make available the essential infrastructures to enable operators like Airtel and others to continue investing in our country and improve the national coverage. "

S06 CAF 4 2012 Report C-E-F_Layout 1 18/06/2012 12:06 Page 29

NETWORK

Backhaul

The next generation of optimised multi-layer transport How operators may address the rapid evolution of new packet services, the resulting changes in traffic mix, and declining revenues

I

NCREASINGLY, OPERATORS IN Africa’s emerging markets are presented with the imperatives to overcome planning uncertainty, acquire greater cost-effective scalability, utilise bandwidth and network assets better, and manage network performance more effectively. Operations today must be streamlined and total cost of ownership (TCO) minimised. Greater flexibility to create new and differentiated services more quickly and cost-effectively is essential. And, with all this, equally effective support for packet-, circuit-, and wavelength-based services is required.

How operators can meet today’s challenges According to ECI Telecom Ltd, achieving the new scalability, performance, manageability, and revenue objectives which the evolving market environment demands, and doing so costeffectively, requires that operators adopt a more efficient approach to building and operating networks. A more flexible, efficient, manageable, and automated next-gen (NG) transport solution is needed, one that integrates packet and optical technology in an innovative way that provides support for legacy services while being optimised for delivering high-growth services.

This new solution must offer maximum bandwidth efficiency, provide the ability to dynamically allocate network resources when and where needed most, take advantage of increased automation, and offer greater awareness and control over the network. But the savvy operator knows that ongoing success requires more than simply the better leveraging of network assets and control of network costs. It also requires the capability to flexibly and rapidly create new services and to ensure a differentiated experience for customers, so that profitable new revenue streams can be built. It is necessary to fine-tune control of QoS down to the per-service or individual customer level, and to correlate management events and conditions across network layers.

Integration of network layers into one device has sparked very strong interest from operators worldwide. It provides potential synergies in packaging, power, ports, cabling, and network management, resulting in expected cost savings and network simplification. The declining revenue-per-bit yield from bandwidthintensive packet services has made more efficient use of network bandwidth a critical objective for operators. This need for greater efficiency has led to a heightened interest in meshed restoration, since the cost of dedicating bandwidth resources solely to the function of protection has become increasingly prohibitive in this new market environment.

Cost pressures have also led to increased interest in maximising the efficiency of aggregation networks. That, plus the advantages of service transparency, effective support of legacy SDH/SONET traffic, and the need for scalability to 100G and beyond, has led to the creation of a standards-based multiplexing hierarchy and to offering Layer 1 switching that allows efficient grooming of electrical domain services onto wavelengths.

Soukna Comnet Power Management System (PMS) Compatible with Multiple Mobile Platform

Comnet Power provides an integrated and remotely managed fully power solution combining the existing power sources like: Gel batteries, fuel generators and commercial power with new power source technologies like: Wind Turbine, Solar Panels, Fuel Cells, and more advanced technology which is the Fuel Enrichment System used to reduce the fuel consumption of generators.

• Low OPEX => High revenues • Reduce Manpower, Maintenance and Fuel cost Dbayé Highway Dbayé , Lebanon Telefax: 00961-4-545175 Email: sales@souknacomnet.com The Apollo 9600 OMLT platform

www.souknacomnet.com Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

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S06 CAF 4 2012 Report C-E-F_Layout 1 18/06/2012 12:06 Page 30

NETWORK

The need for more deterministic Ethernet performance has created a demand for enhanced OAM. The need for operational synergies with the IP/MPLS core has led to the development of metro-friendly Layer 2 protocols that streamline MPLS to provide a more cost-effective Layer 2 alternative for the metro. The need for standardisation has encouraged wide support of MEF-certified Ethernet services.

The rise of mobile computing and growing interest in Cloud services have brought about two main changes: bandwidth demand is increasingly dynamic, and the locations and timing of bandwidth use increasingly uncertain. It is, therefore, increasingly important to dynamically allocate network resources when and where needed, a function of multidegree wavelength-switching capabilities that offer greater flexibility and are non-blocking in nature. At the same time, the need for greater automation, more efficient restoration mechanisms, and a tighter coupling of the optical transport network with higher and more intelligent network layers has heightened operator interest in a control plane that spans layers, particularly when used in conjunction with reconfigurable networks offering dynamic wavelength-switching capabilities.

The evolution of packet services from “best effort” to an expanded service portfolio with tiered services that include more differentiated and deterministic offerings, has led operators to take greater interest in a better OAM model, one equally applicable to all traffic types. Operators are increasingly focused on growing their portfolio of differentiated packet services and on being able to respond quickly to new service opportunities. Their aim is to ensure a good quality of experience for those services while potentially supporting some of them with marketable SLAs. Quick fault detection, correlation, and problem resolution are required.

For a network offering a mix of packet and circuit services while leveraging underlying optical transport, a multi-layer network management solution is needed to help operators correlate service performance to what is going on across multiple network layers.

Last but not least, the need to streamline operations has led to increasing interest in automated provisioning and to stronger linkages between provisioning and planning tools.

The operator response As they examine changing market requirements and the impact of new services on their revenue opportunities and network operations objectives, an increasing number of service operators are coming to a conclusion: The time is right to integrate network elements (NEs) and associated network management spanning L0, L1, L2, and elements of Layer 3 intelligence, while leveraging the most costeffective network layer that provides the required functionality.

The operators expect this to achieve both CAPEX and OPEX savings while meeting “green” initiatives. However, to date, many operators have moved cautiously toward this goal. Although it offers many potential benefits, it also involves potential pitfalls or lost opportunities if not done with the right design approach and architecture. So, although operator interest in greater integration of network layers has remained strong, lessons learned have often left them waiting for a solution that better meets their long-term needs.

Offerings to date While much of the technology in the first generations of packetoptical transport platforms was mature, its implementation led to relatively slow uptake. Vendors tried to repurpose existing platforms and leverage past development expenditures rather than innovate in developing the best mix of packaging, architecture, technologies, and operating paradigm. As a result, they developed suboptimal solutions that better met their needs than solve the operators’ problems.

30 Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

Backhaul

The New Solution: Optimised Multi-Layer Transport (OMLT).

What operators really need is NG transport infrastructure that fully marries the scalability, performance, cost, and OAM model of optical networks with the adaptability, cost efficiencies, and flexible service-creation opportunities of packet networks.

Operators need a portfolio of products which build a more intelligent, efficient, and flexible network that integrates packet and optical technology, scales cost-effectively, makes maximum use of network resources, minimises TCO, and enables the creation of new revenue opportunities while protecting existing revenue streams. In other words, they need an intelligent, fully integrated multi-layer transport solution that simplifies operations and optimises performance and cost for a diverse and changing mix of packet-, circuit-, and wavelength-based services.

The architecture must accommodate different network starting points and different future objectives. It needs to reduce the necessity for planning certainty, minimise up-front CAPEX, eliminate the potential stranding of assets, and future proof the network investment. Consistent carrier class OAM applied to all traffic types in the network must be offered, and operators must have the ability to transport circuit, packet, and wavelength traffic equally well while supporting tiered service levels and marketable SLAs. The result must be an intelligent multi-layer transport network that can respond to traffic load and network impairments, dynamically allocate bandwidth and reroute traffic when and where required, so directing traffic to the most cost-effective network layer that best meets the functional requirements and cost objectives of each part of the network.

The repurposed packet-optical transport platforms of the past have not been the solution. What operators need is a new breed of infrastructure, an optimised multilayer transport (OMLT) platform.

Optimised multi-Layer transport The intelligent NG OMLT solution must be based on mature and proven L0, L1, L2 technologies and management with L3 intelligence, and incorporate an innovative design philosophy and modular architecture that enable strategic flexibility and fine-tuned control of the network. It should integrate packet and optical networks in a way that maximises the full costcontainment and revenue-creation synergies possible, while providing the greatest flexibility, performance, control, and manageability possible. Operators need a low first-in cost, a payas-you-grow approach, future proofing, streamlined operations, minimised TCO, and the ability to quickly allocate network resources when and where needed, as well as the flexibility to maximise new revenue opportunities. ✆

ECI’s Apollo OMLT THE PRODUCT OF ECI’s extensive transport experience together with operator input and market-leading optical technology and innovation, the Apollo OMLT combines ECI’s well-recognised strengths in transport with best-in-class packet networking technologies and integrated multi-layer management. The modular design and practical focus of Apollo’s innovative architecture give operators the opportunity to build the best solution for their needs today, while ensuring they keep the door open for the right solution in the future.

And it incurs no penalty or stranding of assets for the operator, regardless of the pace or path with which they choose to address the migration from circuit to packet traffic. For those operators with the eventual goal of convergence of all packet and circuit traffic onto a single packet network, Apollo provides an ideal, practical, and cost-effective migration path toward that objective, and an optimal solution when the operator gets there.

www.ecitele.com

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EQUIPMENT

GL offers handheld portable test instruments for TDM and IP networks GL COMMUNICATIONS INC. has released to market a portfolio of handheld portable test instruments for TDM and IP networks. Speaking recently about the new products, GL's CEO Mr. Vijay Kulkarni said, “GL's handheld telecom test instruments are simple and easy to use and are designed to test almost any network interface including TDM (Analog, T1, E1, T3, and E3) and IP (Ethernet) networks. They are portable, battery operated, rechargeable, and light.”

Mr. Kulkarni explained, “GL's PacketShark is a handheld unit that can tap Packet Networks, and capture Ethernet and IP packets at wire speed over optical or electrical interfaces up to 1 Gb/s. It selectively filters the captured packets based on specified criteria. Packets are transmitted through two ports with the packets that are traffic compliant with the filters are sent to a packet analyser, such as GL's PacketScan for detailed packet analysis. Alternatively, the traffic can be even sent to a memory card (SD) and later analysed offline.

GL's IPNetSim - Handheld is a handheld battery operated instrument that can simulate real-time IP and Carrier Ethernet network dynamics by means of hardware controlled packet delay, loss, jitter, errors, bandwidth constriction, congestion, and duplication. IPNetSim Handheld simulates network behaviour of up to 1 Gbps rates with accuracy always better than 1ms. IPNetSim Handheld is equipped with a hardware based impairments generator, and dual GbE ports.

GL's LinkTest DualE1 is a handheld dual-port tester for E1 and data communications (V.11 / X.24, V.24/RS232, V.35, V.36/RS449, EIA-530, EIA-530A) interfaces. With the support of a large range of software options for E1 services and sub rate multiplexing system, this handheld unit provides a scalable test

solution for E1 and data testing. It provides a large, clear screen with a full set of physical layer tests for E1 balanced and unbalanced circuits including BERT, VF, round trip delay and signal level.”

Mr.Kulkarni further added, “Our other portable products: LinkTestTM Single, LinkTestTM Single+, and LinkTestTM Dual are sophisticated bit error rate testers in a compact, handheld package and can test a wide variety of communications facilities and equipments.”

www.gl.com

Motorola Solutions’ MTP3000 Series TETRA radio, designed for safety and effectiveness MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS, INC., which provides missioncritical communication solutions, now offers an expanded portfolio for the TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) community with the addition of MTP3000 handheld radio series. Launched at the 2012 TETRA World Congress in Dubai, UAE, the three new models in the MTP3000 series answer core user demands for increased user safety and reliability and set new standards with significant improvements in audio quality, increased network coverage, ruggedness and ease of use. These radios will increase choices for the differing needs of users, ranging from entry level to advanced, with feature sets that match operational needs.

The new MTP3000 radios offer the highest receiver sensitivity in the market (a -2db increase on all existing TETRA radios), which allows a 14 per cent range increase and a 30 per cent boost to network coverage, when compared to a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) specification radio.

The MTP3000 series has been designed to deliver superior audio quality with an optimum level of audio loudness and clarity of voice, coupled with a superior microphone system, ensuring that users can hear and be heard clearly, even in the noisiest environments.

Tom Quirke, vice president and general manager, Global TETRA Organization, Motorola Solutions, said, “Government organisations and enterprises need TETRA radios that deliver greater user safety, ease of

The MTP3000 series introduces a new fast and rugged IP55-certified side connector, allowing the user to connect and disconnect an accessory in less than two seconds. Also, the MTP3000 range is fully supported by Motorola’s Integrated Terminal Management system, which ensures that organisations can manage their radio fleet effectively

use and ruggedness to help their users focus on critical operations in what are often harsh or challenging environments. The MTP3000 raises the bar in terms of outright performance while maximising the user’s ability to manage different devices and accessories in the field. With the superiority of built-in safety, enhanced audio quality and intuitiveness in the new MTP3000 series handheld terminals, we are setting new standards with a choice of radios for a wide range of different users. Feedback from different organisations during beta trials has already been extremely positive, and we are very pleased that a user group in the Netherlands has already chosen the MTP3000 series as its radio of choice.”

Motorola is also highlighting its vision for the Ultimate Patrol Vehicle – the result of five years of field research, simulations and usability studies. The vehicle’s cockpit incorporates the latest technologies and easy-to-reach integrated controls for streamlined decision-making and actions by officers involved in high-stress pursuits. For streamlined actions, the car has integrated, easy-to-reach controls with key functions tied to single button presses or simple voice commands. Its workstation runs applications such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and real-time video streaming over LTE and TEDS (TETRA Enhanced Data Services) to empower and protect officers like never before.

www.motorolasolutions.com

Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

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EQUIPMENT

Huawei offers eRelay for wireless backhaul

Sonetel enhances PBX solution for small and medium businesses

GLOBAL INFORMATION AND communications technology (ICT) solutions provider Huawei has unveiled eRelay, the industry’s first LTE TDD wireless backhaul solution to meet small cell transmission challenges, at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s (CTIA) Wireless 2012 event held in New Orleans, in the USA, in May. Huawei’s eRelay solution effectively eases constraints on transmission resources when small cells are deployed.

Operators worldwide have begun deploying small cells in hotspot areas to enhance overall network capacity in the face of explosive growth of mobile broadband network traffic. Many small cell deployments in these hotspot areas, however, are hampered by a lack of transmission resources; and such is commonly the case with available optical fiber. Operators all over the world are now focused on meeting these transmission and flexible deployment challenges facing small cells. Huawei’s formulation of the eRelay solution was based on the analysis of micro base station deployments. It utilises SingleRAN’s unified hardware platform, advanced LTE technology, 256 highorder QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) technology, and provides wider bandwidth and greater transmission capacity. A more cost-efficient solution that works the same way as microwave transmissions, the Huawei eRelay solution uses NLOS (Non-Line of Sight) transmission and supports PtMP (Point-to-Multipoint) transmission.

Deng Taihua, President of Huawei LTE TDD&WiMAX&TDS Wireless Networks, said, "As the best business partner for operators, Huawei is dedicated to providing customer-centric solutions to help operators deal with the challenges of mobile broadband era. eRelay solves problems associated with transmission constraints, promotes small cell deployment ,improves capacity for hotspot areas and ultimately improves user experience."

SONETEL, A VOIP provider with users in more than 200 countries, has begun giving all of its subscribers free iNum numbers from Voxbone. The agreement to provide iNums expands Sonetel’s relationship with Voxbone, which has provided the certified reseller more than 17,000 geographical phone numbers since 2010. iNums are global phone numbers that Voxbone launched in 2008 to support IP communications. iNums enable a customer to establish a local presence in new locations with a single, portable number. By providing every customer an iNum, Sonetel will extend the subscriber’s range of free calling to include communications with all other iNum users, anywhere in the world.

Sonetel offers a free hosted PBX solution that is particularly popular with small and medium businesses (SMBs) in price-sensitive regions, such as Africa and Asia. The company then upsells those customers on call termination and Voxbone-provided premium origination services.

Together, Sonetel and Voxbone help business owners cost-effectively add local phone numbers, as well as launch virtual offices in any country where they see a market opportunity.

Sonetel is providing iNums to more than 40,000 of its existing users and will assign them to the 200 to 300 customers that sign up for the service each day.

“Sonetel’s decision to provide free iNums to all of its customers is the latest example of increasing adoption of these flexible, global numbers that support IP communications features,” said Voxbone CEO Rod Ullens.

www.huawei.com

www.sonetel.com

Imtradex reports a positive outcome at TETRA World Congress THE NUMBERS SPEAK for themselves: 2950 visitors and a total of 106 different exhibitors make the TETRA World Congress 2012 in Dubai, in the UAE, the most successful event in the history of digital trade show. Among the highlights of this exhibition were the headsets from Imtradex Hör-/Sprechsysteme GmbH. From the 15th to the 17th of May, Imtradex demonstrated its intent to meet the demands of the digital radio age.

The hand microphones Aurelis Bluetooth and Aurelis Nexus aroused great interest along with the OnGuard Bluetooth. The OnGuard Bluetooth was designed specifically for use in undercover investigations and with an unobtrusive headset it connects via Bluetooth to a mobile phone, which the investigator carry.

"The wireless design, the inductive Neckloop, the induction receiver RS7 and with a silent sending button, the device is absolutely predestined for the covert operation," explains Ralf Kudernak, managing director of Imtradex Hör/Sprechsysteme GmbH. For the success at the trade fair in Dubai also showed the high suitability that the product has: A wireless transmitter button ensures that it can be hidden for use in the hand. By pressing a button, calls can be assumed, be initiated or

32 Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

terminated. In the case of normal use the battery only need replacement once a year and can be replaced by the user himself. Also convincing was the

hand microphones from the Aurelis series, specifically designed for modern digital radio systems. Above all, the Aurelis Bluetooth: The wireless handheld microphone placed with its innovative and high quality equipment set new standards of communication and security. It includes a transmit button, a microphone, highquality speakers, an emergency button, a three-level volume control, a two-color LED and a connector for external audio equipment. Like all Aurelis hand microphones it also has a very robust and splash- proof plastic housing. Depending on the digital radio it is possible to integrate different data applications.

In Dubai, Imtradex presented the newest products within the Aurelis family: The Aurelis Nexus. The Aurelus Nexus is an evolution of the successful Aurelis base. An integrated Nexus jack in this model, makes it compatibility with all major headsets and InEar-Headets also from other companies.

"Currently, the Aurelis Nexus is indeed only available for the Sepura STP8000, but the great demand this year at TETRA World Congress confirmed the existing plan, to produce the model for all other wireless devices," said Ralf Kudernak.

www.imtradex.com

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EQUIPMENT

World’s first SIM swap fraud solution for banking industry ADEPTRA, A GLOBAL expert in customer engagement technologies, in partnership with ValidSoft, has developed, tested and implemented the world's first detection and prevention application to tackle the growing problem of SIM card fraud for the banking industry. The solution combines ValidSoft’s unrivalled fraud detection technology, with the rich and robust functionality of the cloud based Adeptra Risk Intervention Platform.

Following a successful pilot project at a longstanding Adeptra client, one of the world’s largest banks is the first to adopt the application.

This solution provides the marketplace an opportunity to engage and understand customer data in a way that protects the banks and their customers within a real-time intervention delivered by Adeptra. This is the first Adeptra partner to successfully address the issue of SIM card fraud. The bank’s adoption of the application is another stage in its work to secure all transaction channels by using leading edge technology and Adeptra’s cloud based Risk Intervention Platform to deliver the process.

Swapping SIMs with increasing frequency SIM swapping is a financial crime that is increasing in frequency, where fraudsters obtain

Increasingly, fraudsters are obtaining and utilising replacement SIM cards to acquire security messages and one-time passwords sent to consumers by banks and utilise a replacement SIM card to acquire security messages and one-time passwords sent to the consumer by the bank. Criminals are then able to change details, add beneficiaries and transfer money out of the account using personal information that may have been acquired through phishing attempts. While most types of financial fraud are recognising reductions due to chip and pin, phone fraud saw a 48 per cent increase in 2011.

The deployment at the bank comprises SIM swap protection provided by ValidSoft’s baseline processing system, coupled with its unique predictive modeling capabilities. Once a suspected case has been highlighted, Adeptra's Decision Engine considers all available detection sources and a wide array of consumer data to ascertain the risk level. The system will then

determine whether a communication is required and initiates the communication via the most appropriate channel for that particular customer.

Capitalising on existing investment Adeptra’s CTO, Tony McGivern, commented, “Once again, Adeptra leads the market into a new territory by engaging and delivering the most sophisticated anti-fraud solutions in the industry today. Without any additional capital investment and using existing technology, banks can benefit from best-in-class fraud detection applications that deliver loss avoidance options to our clients.

Adeptra assess and defines the intervention necessary to prevent further losses based on the critical data that ValidSoft delivers.”

Pat Carroll, CEO of ValidSoft, said, “We are very pleased to see our partnership with Adeptra bearing fruits so quickly. The contract with a global leader in the banking industry demonstrates that ValidSoft's security technology is at the forefront of fraud prevention solutions. Our partnership with Adeptra combines the market leader in sophisticated customer care with the best of breed in fraud prevention solutions.”

www.adeptra.com

Une solution de sécurité pour smartphones NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORKS a lancé une suite de sécurité pour terminaux intelligents de type smartphones et tablettes. Contrairement aux autres solutions du marché, basées sur le terminal et souvent spécifiques au fabricant, la suite de sécurité mobile de Nokia Siemens Networks offre une protection totale, indépendamment du type et de la marque du terminal. Particulièrement simple à utiliser, cette suite combine protection sur le terminal et sur le réseau. L’approche de bout en bout de la solution peut ainsi constituer une nouvelle source de revenus pour les opérateurs qui pourront proposer un service de sécurité complet à leurs abonnés.

Environ 84 % des abonnés mobiles utilisent leur smartphone pour accéder à leurs données et à divers contenus dans tous leurs déplacements, que ceux-ci soient professionnels ou privés. Pour les pirates et les cybercriminels, ils constituent donc une cible de plus en plus intéressante. Malgré les risques, moins de la moitié des utilisateurs confirment en effet verrouiller leur clavier ou utiliser des mots de passe pour protéger leur smartphone ; et 29 % seulement ont envisagé d’installer un antivirus sur leur smartphone.

Des services complets de sécurité Les opérateurs télécoms sont idéalement positionnés pour proposer à leurs abonnés haut débit mobile une solution pratique de sécurité renforcée. Pour les y aider, Nokia Siemens Networks a lancé une suite de sécurité mobile qui associe protection du terminal et protection sur le réseau. Grâce à cette solution, les opérateurs vont pouvoir faire bénéficier les clients, aussi bien les professionnels que les particuliers, de services complets de sécurité. « Les opérateurs, en qui les clients ont toute confiance, apprécieront cette nouvelle solution pratique et gage d’une sécurité complète. Non seulement les opérateurs ont un accès privilégié aux systèmes de sécurité du réseau, mais ils peuvent proposer des solutions de protection compatibles avec tout type de terminal, et non ceux d’un constructeur en particulier. Enfin, ils seront en mesure d’actualiser les règles de sécurité automatiquement, dès que nécessaire »,

Nokia Siemens Networks a lancé sa suite de sécurité pour terminaux intelligents de type smartphones et tablettes (Photo: Intel)

explique Thorsten Schneider, Head of Security Business, Nokia Siemens Networks.

En proposant une solution de sécurité en plus des contrats d’abonnement et un environnement protégé, incitant à utiliser davantage de services mobiles, les opérateurs pourront donc proposer ce service et accroître nettement la fidélité de leurs abonnés.

Au-delà, la solution permet de protéger le propre réseau et les systèmes de l’opérateur ; cela se traduira par des économies d’assistance client et de support technique, coûts qu’il se doit aujourd’hui d’assumer en cas de faille de sécurité.

nokiasiemensnetworks.com

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EQUIPMENT

Télévision ultra haute définition: à l'aube d'une nouvelle ère L'UIT SONT ANNONCÉ l'élaboration d'une nouvelle Recommandation qui constitue une avancée majeure dans le domaine de la radiodiffusion télévisuelle. Cette Recommandation va révolutionner l'environnement de la radiodiffusion télévisuelle avec l'arrivée de la "télévision ultra haute résolution" ou TVUHD. Le Secteur des radiocommunications de l'UIT a élaboré cette norme - ou Recommandation - au sein de la Commission d'études 6, en collaboration avec des experts du secteur de la télévision, des organisations de radiodiffusion et des organismes de réglementation.

Télévision ultra haute définition: un avenir mieux défini La qualité des images pour le téléspectateur s'est considérablement améliorée depuis le début de la télévision dans les années 30. La pâle image noir et blanc du téléviseur installé dans le coin de la pièce a laissé la place à l'image couleur "haute définition" d'une netteté éclatante qu'offrent les écrans plats.

Mais, la technologie ne cesse d'évoluer. La Commission d'études 6 des radiocommunications a donné son aval à un projet de nouvelle Recommandation relative aux spécifications techniques de la télévision ultra haute définition (TVUHD), lequel est maintenant soumis aux Administrations pour approbation.

Deux niveaux sont définis pour les normes de qualité pour la TVUHD spécifiées dans la Recommandation de l'UIT-R. A chaque niveau, les avancées en termes de qualité s'apparentent plus ou moins à celles que l'on a connues lors du passage de l'ancienne télévision à définition normalisée à la télévision haute définition (TVHD). La résolution des images de TVHD est aujourd'hui comprise entre 1 et 2 mégapixels. Le premier des niveaux de la TVUHD offre une résolution d'image d'environ 8 mégapixels (format d'image 3 840 x 2 160) et le niveau suivant offre une résolution d'image d'environ 32 mégapixels (format

d'image 7 680 x 4 320). Pour faire court, on parle parfois pour décrire ces systèmes de systèmes de TVUHD "4K" ou "8K".

La qualité ultra haute définition s'accompagne d'un meilleur rendu de la couleur et le nombre d'images par seconde est plus élevé que dans les systèmes de télévision d'aujourd'hui.

Le Secrétaire général de l'UIT Dr Hamadoun Touré a rendu hommage à la Commission d'études 6: "La TVUHD va bouleverser le monde la télévision.

Regarder un programme de TVUHD sera demain une expérience inoubliable et j'attends ce moment avec impatience."

David Wood, Président du Groupe de travail 6C de l'UIT-R (GT 6C), qui a élaboré le projet de nouvelle Recommandation, a déclaré: "Nous entrons dans une nouvelle ère de la télévision: la TVUHD offrira des images d'un réalisme saisissant pour la plus grande satisfaction du téléspectateur. Le moment est historique. Il faudra attendre encore quelques années avant que les systèmes de TVUHD arrivent dans nos foyers mais ils arriveront bel et bien. Le progrès est en marche, grâce aux efforts inlassables des experts internationaux participant aux travaux du GT 6C." Le Président de la Commission d'études 6 des radiocommunications, Christoph Dosch, a ajouté "Voilà manifestement un résultat important de la Commission d'études 6 des radiocommunications dont nous pouvons être fiers. Avec l'élaboration de cette Recommandation, les organisations dans le monde entier pourront commencer à travailler en confiance pour faire de la TVUHD une réalité."

Le Directeur du Bureau des radiocommunications de l'UIT, François Rancy a déclaré: "J'ai vu les images qu'offre un système de TVUHD 8K, la sensation de présence est extraordinaire. Cet accord témoigne du dynamisme soutenu de l'UIT-R et de la Commission d'études 6."

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34 Communications Africa Issue 4 2012

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