Communications Africa 5 2014

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Issue 5 2014 Édition 5 2014

Africa

Afrique

www.communicationsafrica.com

Broadcast The digitalisation of content, and the opportunities for local production

Network LTE deployment in West Africa

Innovations Mobile point of sale technology in South Africa

Data Les communications vocales, les conférences téléphoniques et l’accès à Internet

Intelsat’s five decades of critical communications provision 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 5 2014 Édition 5 2014

Afrique

Africa www.communicationsafrica.com

Broadcast The digitalisation of content, and the opportunities for local production

Network LTE deployment in West Africa

Bulletin

4

Events

8

Agenda

10

Equipment

30

Innovations Mobile point of sale technology in South Africa

Data Les communications vocales, les conférences téléphoniques et l’accès à Internet

Intelsat’s five decades of critical communications provision 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 This issue represents key developments with respect to information technology, internet access , network architecture., technical innovations and best practices for management, satellite technology for broadcasting frameworks., and solutions for digital content management.

Main Cover Image: Nicola Romagna Inset: Intelsat Contents: Ericsson

FEATURES Information Technology

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Integrating and optimising corporate systems in traditional and advanced connected environments

Internet

17

Sonia Jorge, executive director at Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), speaks at NigeriaCom

Network

20

The prospects for LTE in Africa, in terms of content provision and revenue generation; and the next generation of network service provision in Ghana

Innovations

25

Enabling and supporting financial inclusion with mPOS; and advances in satellite network operations management

Broadcast

28

Satellite support for creative approaches to digital connectivity; and an appraisal of edge packaging technology to deliver sustainable broadcasting infrastructure

ARTICLES Internet

19

Fiabilité et prestation haut de gamme, un solution rentable et flexible, et l'assistance client exceptionnelle au Cameroune

Une note du rédacteur CETTE ÉDITION DE Communications Africa/Afrique représente les communications vocales, les conférences téléphoniques et l’accès à Internet Managing Editor: Andrew Croft - andrew.croft@alaincharles.com Audit Bureau of Circulations Business Magazines

Editorial and Design team: Bob Adams, Prashant AP, Hiriyti Bairu, Sindhuja Balaji, Ranganath GS, Rhonita Patnaik, Zsa Tebbit, Nicky Valsamakis and Ben Watts Production: Nikitha Jain, Nathanielle Kumar, Donatella Moranelli, Nick Salt, Erica Sesay and Sophia White Email: production@alaincharles.com 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 South Africa UAE USA

Representative Ying Matthieson Tanmay Mishra Bola Olowo Annabel Marx Camilla Capece Michael Tomashefsky

Telephone (86)10 8472 1899 (91) 80 656 84483 (234) 8034349299 (27) 218519017 (971) 4 448 9260 (1) 203 226 2882

www.communicationsafrica.com

Fax (86) 10 8472 1900 (91) 80 40600791 (27) 46 624 5931 (971) 4 448 9261 (1) 203 226 7447

Email ying.matthieson@alaincharles.com tanmay.mishra@alaincharles.com bola.olowo@alaincharles.com annabel.marx@alaincharles.com camilla.capece@alaincharles.com michael.tomashefsky@alaincharles.com

Head Office: Alain Charles Publishing Ltd University House 11-13 Lower Grosvenor Place London SW1W 0EX, United Kingdom Telephone: +44 20 7834 7676 Fax: +44 20 7973 0076

Middle East Regional Office: Alain Charles Middle East FZ-LLC Office 215, Loft 2A PO Box 502207 Dubai Media City, UAE Telephone: +971 4 448 9260 Fax: +971 4 448 9261

Subscriptions: circulation@alaincharles.com Chairman: Derek Fordham Printed by: Buxton Press Communications Africa/Afrique is a bi-monthly magazine ISSN: 0962 3841

Serving the world of business

Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

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BULLETIN ABS sets up a new office in South Africa

Orange, Emmaüs launch new mobile recycling facility

GLOBAL SATELLITE OPERATOR ABS has expanded its global presence with a new sales liaison office in Johannesburg, South Africa to support its growing business in the Africa continent, to house sales and technical members of its Africa team, working alongside the regional Middle East office based in Dubai, ABS Africa will provide additional capacity to serve but with responsibility the increasingly dynamic African market, which sees the launch of ABS-3A satellite at the end of for business this year, or early in 2015 development, local sales liaison services and customer support throughout the continent; “Expanding our presence in Africa enables us to develop closer relationships with our customers and engineering teams, ensuring we deliver faster local service and support in helping customers to optimise their growth and successes,” said Tom Choi, CEO of ABS.

A FIFTH MOBILE collection facility was inaugurated recently in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in the presence of the Ivoirian Minister for the Environment, UrbanCleanliness and Sustainable Development, Mr Kouadio Remi Alla, and Mr Joseph Pitah, director of networks and information systems at the Orange Côte d’Ivoire; the first of these collection and dismantling facilities for mobile phones was opened in March 2010 in Burkina Faso, with others opened later in Benin, Madagascar and Niger, and more to come.

Each of the five collection facilities is run by six local employees, sending more than 10 tonnes of mobile waste to France for recycling

SkyVision completes BOA project in Burkina Faso

MOBILE ‘TIME AND attendance’ solutions specialist Econz Wireless is investing in the KwaZulu Natal region; “We are showing real growth in Gauteng and our research shows that KZN and the Cape regions are ripe for some personal attention and investment,” said Harry Lane, Econz Wireless global channel sales vice president.

COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDER SkyVision Global Networks has successfully implemented the first phase of a project with the Bank of Africa (BOA) Burkina Faso, the country’s second largest financial institution, entailing the deployment of a full communications solution through the SkyVision VPN service, connecting BoA headquarters in Ouagadougou to its branch offices throughout the country; the deployment comprises a Romantis UHP hub and SkyVision VPN, a VSATbased communications solution that provides organisations with superior network performance and reliability.

Globecast goes further West with Sonatel

SEACOM improves transit services with African PoPs

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION AND management company Globecast has extended its reach in West Africa via a new PoP partnership with Senegalese telco Sonatel, which is headquartered in Dakar and serves not only Senegal but also Mali, Guinée Bissau and Guinée; discussing the partnership, Globecast African sales manager Lionel Antoine said, “It allows us to connect customers directly via fibre at their Senegalese premises without any investment in an earth station or in space segment, which until now has been used for backhaul from Senegal.”

SEACOM’S RECENT UPGRADE of its IP/MPLS network for global and African IP transit services enables the organisation to provide low latency routes via its African points of presence (PoPs) for customer traffic that both remains within Africa, or exits Africa to the rest of the world; SEACOM has also improved its customers’ African Internet experience through a new partnership with Akamai Technologies, Level 3 and CDNetworks - deploying Akamai content clusters and caching nodes on its pan-African IP/MPLS network footprint, to accelerate and optimise HTTP content, rich media, downloadable files, video, music, software updates and other Web content requested by operators and Internet service providers connected to SEACOM’s IP network.

Econz Wireless invest in South African business

PoPs serve international pipes

Globecast’s partnership with Sonatel is ideally positioned, from both business and technology perspectives, to attract local and international broadcasters or production centres that need to backhaul signals to or from Senegal for onwards cable, MMDS, satellite or OTT distribution

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Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

“LOCAL POPS WITH local content caches means the traffic travels a fraction of the distance, allowing content to get delivered a lot faster to the end user. It also alleviates the amount traffic that gets pushed via the international pipes, which makes it that much more cost effective,” said Allan Santana, senior account executive at panAfrican ICT group, XON, which supplied the Juniper Networks equipment portion of SEACOM’s Allan Santana, senior account executive at pan-African ICT group recent IP/MPLS upgrade and also XON provided the rack-mounted servers that help SEACOM implement its advanced routing policy as well as enable additional on-ramp services for its customers.

www.communicationsafrica.com

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BULLETIN « Orange Maghreb », une nouvelle gamme d’offres pour appeler au Maroc, en Algérie et en Tunisie

Une nouvelle plateforme de synchronisation et partage de fichiers

FAISANT SUITE AU lancement des offres Orange Jokko, Weleli et Akwaba à destination des communautés sénégalaises, maliennes et ivoiriennes vivant en France, Orange poursuit donc sa stratégie de déploiement en offrant la possibilité de bénéficier de la qualité de son réseau pour appeler à l’étranger; Orange a proposé un forfait Maghreb, à destination des communautés maghrébines de France, qui souhaitent échanger régulièrement avec leurs familles et amis vivant au Maghreb, mais aussi en France - avec, sans coût de connexion, une carte sim mobicarte Maghreb permet aux clients de bénéficier immédiatement de 10 minutes d’appels vers le Maghreb et 10 minutes d’appels vers la France métropolitaine.

VAULTIZE A LANCÉ une nouvelle version de sa plateforme de partage de fichiers et d'accès universel incorporant des fonctions de Gestion de la mobilité d'entreprise (EMM) et une nouvelle expérience utilisateur (UX) sophistiquée qui répondent à l'approche actuelle en termes de solutions d'entreprise axées sur le mobile; « La nouvelle mise à niveau de la plateforme présente de multiples avantages : elle assure une expérience utilisateur sur mobile en premier à la fois facile et élégante sur les terminaux AVEC gérés par l'entreprise ou ceux de l'employé, facilitant l'accès à distance sans VPN, la synchronisation et le partage des contenus d'entreprise sur les terminaux et les magasins de contenus de l'entreprise», a déclaré Ankur Panchbudhe, directeur technique et cofondateur de Vaultize.

1Spatial récompensé par le Prix d’Excellence Oracle Spatial et Graphx SOCIÉTÉ SPÉCIALISÉE DANS les big data géospatiales et membre de niveau Gold du réseau des partenaires d’Oracle (Oracle PartnerNetwork – OPN), 1Spatial s’est vu décerner le très convoité « Global Oracle Spatial and Graph Excellence Award 2014 », dans la catégorie « Partenariat » lors d’une cérémonie organisée à Washington durant le dernier Sommet Oracle Spatial; selon Jim Steiner, Vice President of Product Management, Oracle Server Technologies : « Nous avons choisi 1Spatial pour son expertise complète sur les produits Oracle, sa connaissance des secteurs d’activités et l’introduction de ces compétences dans de nouveaux marchés mondiaux ».

Un accord, un réseau religieux LE WORD NETWORK est désormais accessible à 70 millions de téléspectateurs supplémentaires en Afrique centrale et australe grâce à un nouvel accord de partenariat conclu avec ViewSat en vue d'un lancement sur IntelSat20; « Nous sommes ravis de travailler avec ViewSat et de pouvoir diffuser notre message aux habitants de l'Afrique tout entière » a déclaré Kevin Adell, PDG de WORD Network.

Un forum sur la gouvernance de l'Internet en Afrique XLUS DE 470 participants de plus de 41 pays, venant du gouvernement, secteur privé, milieu universitaire, des institutions de recherche, du comité technique, des organisations de la société civile, des médias et d'autres parties prenantes ont participé au 3ème Forum sur la gouvernance de l'Internet en Afrique (AfIGF) qui s'est tenu du 10 au 12 juillet 2014 à Abuja. Le Forum a été co-organisé par le ministère fédéral de la communication et de l'information à travers l'Autorité nigériane du registre Internet, du Forum sur la gouvernance de l'Internet au Nigéria et de la Commission économique pour l'Afrique (CEA). Le Forum a également été soutenu par le Groupe consultatif multipartite local (LMAG) du Forum sur la gouvernance de l'Internet nigérian (NIGF), et de la Commission de l'Union africaine (CUA), ainsi que des forums sousrégionaux sur la gouvernance de l'Internet en Afrique.

Mme Fatima Denton, Directrice de la Division des initiatives spéciales à la CEA, s'exprimant sur la croissance rapide de l'Internet en Afrique, a déclaré que la technologie mobile permet à des millions de personnes en Afrique d'accéder à Internet, même en l'absence de réseaux à haut débit développés.

«La pénétration du haut débit mobile en Afrique atteint près de 20 pour cent en 2014, contre 2 pour cent en 2010 et bien que toutes les régions continuent d'afficher des taux de croissance à deux chiffres de pénétration du haut débit mobile, l'Afrique se distingue avec un taux de croissance de plus de 40 pour cent - deux fois plus élevé que la moyenne mondiale».

Elle dit que la clé de la réussite d'une gouvernance de l'Internet, aux niveaux sous-régional et régional est de faciliter la prise en main et la participation active au niveau national.

Elle ajoute que les forums nationaux sur la gouvernance de l'internet représentent un fondement essentiel pour élargir l'accès à Internet dans nos pays respectifs.

Le Ministre nigérian des technologies de la communication, Omobola Johnson, souligne l'effet catalytique d'Internet dans des secteurs tels que la finance et la santé. Elle dit: «Dans l'État d'Ondo au Nigéria, le programme Abiye relie des femmes enceintes et des nourrissons jusqu'à 5 ans à des centres de santé ou cliniques près de chez eux et l'Hôpital de santé maternelle et infantile, à Akure, la capitale de l'État.

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Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

«La clé de ces liens est la disponibilité et l'utilisation des TIC entre les patients, les travaux de santé et les spécialistes de la santé; les résultats ont été de meilleurs soins de santé maternelle et infantile, des accouchements plus sûrs et une réduction de la mortalité maternelle et infantile plus. Ceci, fait-elle remarquer, est une réalisation remarquable pour un État qui était classé par la Banque mondiale, en 2008, comme ayant le taux de décès maternel le plus élevé dans le Sud-ouest du Nigéria.

D'autre part, Mme Denton a indiqué que le Sommet de Rwanda, en octobre 2013, qui a vu plusieurs chefs d'État et des centaines d'intervenants s'y rendre, a mis au point un Manifeste appelé «SMART Africa». Le Manifeste, qui définit les cinq piliers de changement qui mettrait les nouvelles technologies et l'innovation au cœur du développement socio-économique en Afrique, a été approuvé par le Sommet de l'UA en janvier dernier.

La CEA, en tant qu'institution de premier pour les pôles d'innovation et de développement durable de «Smart Africa Alliance», qui sera un cadre régional unique pour améliorer la connectivité sur le continent, entre autres, continuera à soutenir ses États membres dans leurs efforts de construction d'une société de l'information inclusive en Afrique.

Plusieurs recommandations ont été formulées sur les politiques pour permettre l'accès à Internet; la création, la diffusion et l'utilisation de contenu pour sensibiliser le public à l'innovation et la créativité dans le développement de contenu; Internet comme moteur, croissance et développement et la nécessité de politiques qui favorisent l'accessibilité d'Internet et encourage la politique d'accès au haut débit; sur le Forum sur la gouvernance de l'Internet et l'avenir de l'écosystème de l'Internet et la nécessité de renforcer la coopération multipartite au sein du Forum sur la gouvernance de l'Internet en Afrique afin d'accroître la participation de tous les acteurs dans la transition des fonctions de l'IANA; renforcer la confiance numérique; la nécessité d'encourager et de respecter les droits de l'homme en ligne et hors ligne; la nécessité pour les pays de migrer de l'IPv4 à IPv6; et encourager la mise en œuvre et la gestion de DotAfrica, parmi d'autres.

www.communicationsafrica.com

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AGENDA

Events/Événements 2014 OCTOBER/OCTOBRE 15-16

Capacity Africa

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

21-23

Broadband World Forum

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

22-23

East Africa ICT Summit

Nairobi, Kenya

28-29

FTTH Council Africa Conference

Johannesburg, South Africa

www.capacityconferences.com www.broadbandworldforum.com www.aitecafrica.com www.ftthcouncilafrica-conference.com

NOVEMBER/NOVEMBRE 4-6

Global MilSatCom

London, UK

www.globalmilsatcom.com

11-13

Africa Com

Cape Town, South Africa

africa.comworldseries.com

12-13

Global Broadband Traffic Management

Barcelona, Spain

18

TMT World Congress

London, UK

www.tmtfinance.com

Doha, Qatar

www.itu.int

www.broadbandtrafficevent.com

DECEMBER/DÉCEMBRE 7-11

ITU Telecom World

Broadband World Forum to showcase tech to build, optimise and monetise networks TAKING PLACE IN Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on 21-23 October, Broadband World Forum 2014 is one of the world’s largest telecoms, media & technology events with over 7,800 senior executives from across the globe converging to benefit from a three-day, five-stream conference programme, where over 300 cross-industry speakers will show how to build, optimise and monetise networks. Keynote speakers will kick start each day with a specific focus on key industry themes.

Day 1 will highlight service innovation, with: Andrew Pile, CTO, Vimeo; Dr Gyula Feher, CTO & founder of Ustream; and Jonas Rönnkvist, director consumer technology platforms, IT department, at Volvo Cars.

Day 2 will feature a dicussion of network innovation, with: Ger Baron, CTO of

the City of Amsterdam; Alphonzo Samuels, chief technology officer at Telkom SA; and Berit Svdendson, EVP & CEO of Telenor Group.

Day 3 will focus on net neutrality & market disruption, with: Jon "maddog" Hall, president of Project Caua and executive director of Linux International; Anna Troberg, Pirate Party leader; and Perry Stathopoulos, CTO at Mindgeek.

Delegates can attend sessions within the five main conference streams during the event: Virtualisation, Network Intelligence, Access Evolution, Mobile Broadband and Connected World. Topics to be discussed within the streams include: Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV), Big Data Analytics, Network Efficiency & speed, Connectivity for All, Mobile Backhaul & Fronthaul, Connected Home, Internet of Things and Holistic Customer Management.

ITU Telecom World set to showcase technological, social and design innovations AHEAD OF THE 2014 edition of ITU Telecom World, taking place in Doha, Qatar, on 7-10 December, the ITU has been undertaking a global hunt for the innovators, makers or entrepreneurs who are using technologies such as 3D printing or advanced robotics, or working within fields such as biomimicry, which uses technological innovations to imitate nature in order to solve problems – those who can make a real difference in a rapidly evolving and changing world.

“The advent of technologies such as 3D Printing, robots and Unarmed, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – or UUAVs – have significantly enhanced the possibilities for transforming lives, especially in the remotest corners of the world,” said ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I Touré. “I am delighted that our upcoming event in Doha will provide the ideal platform to showcase these technologies to a global audience and help us realize their full potential.”

Many of the innovations identified by ITU will be dshowcase in the Lab, part of the InnovationSpace at ITU Telecom World 2014. Pioneered at ITU Telecom World 2013 in Bangkok, the Lab provides a dedicated space where the event’s participants can discuss,

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Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

The Young Innovators Programme @ ITU Telecom World is a critical element of its promotion of new solutions

touch, interact, and experiment with truly cuttingedge innovations. Demos last year included origamiinspired robotics, gravity-powered lighting, thought-controlled gaming and Paro, a therapeutic

robot in the form of a baby seal.

ITU Telecom World 2014 will take place 7-10 December in Doha, Qatar. For more information on how you can be a part of this key event, visit telecomworld.itu.int

www.communicationsafrica.com

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AGENDA

ABS and Arabsat agree on ABS-3A SATELLITE OPERATOR ABS has signed a strategic Khalid Balkheyour, president and CEO of Arabsat commercial agreement with Arab Satellite said, “We are very pleased with this payload Communication Organization (Arabsat) for a multi- agreement with ABS, and we hope it is the beginning transponder lifetime Ku-band payload on the new of a long term successful partnership.”

ABS-3A satellite planned “Arabsat has put in the for launch in late market a Request for 2014/early2015. This KuProposals for 4 new band payload deal will satellites at different orbital provide Arabsat with locations, and yet, we additional growth continue to see rapid opportunities to serve increase in customers’ their customers over the demand on Middle East and North telecommunication and Africa regions. broadcasting services The ABS-3A satellite across the region, this will be one of the agreement leverages world’s first all-electric Arabsat capabilities to propulsion satellites (a ABS and Arabsat have agred on a multi-transponder harness more growth Ku-band payload on the ABS-3A satellite Boeing 702SP platform opportunities over the satellite) with nearly eight kilowatts of EOL coming three years,” Balkhyour added. payload power and up to a total of 48 C and Ku“ABS is very excited to collaborate with Arabsat band transponders. It will be located at 3° West on this strategic transaction. The MENA beam of and will offer expanded capacity connecting the ABS-3A is the first time ABS has been able to Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa provide a complete coverage of all of Middle East regions. Its wide C and Ku-band coverage will and North Africa. We are proud to announce Arabsat serve both sides of the Atlantic for trans- as our strategic partner on this capacity which will Atlantic as well as regional connectivity and serve the growing needs of their MENA customer services. base,” said Tom Choi, CEO of ABS.

NFV documents released for industry comment AT THE 7TH meeting of ETSI’s Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Industry Specification Group (ISG), cohosted by Citrix and Ericsson at the end of July and the beginning of August 2014, nine draft NFV documents were released for industry comment, a new leadership team was elected and plans for the next phase of NFV were laid down. The documents made openly available for comment this week will together complete the first release of NFV when published at the end of the year. The ISG NFV has adopted a policy of making draft specifications openly available to the industry in order to encourage feedback. The documents released this week describe an infrastructure overview, the virtualized network functions architecture and the compute, hypervisor and infrastructure network domains. They also cover management and orchestration, resiliency, interfaces and abstractions, and security. These drafts are now available for industry comment from http://docbox.etsi.org/ISG/NFV/Open, and will be completed and published before the end of 2014.

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As well as focusing on the technical content of the first release at this meeting, plans for the content and structure of the second phase of NFV were discussed and laid down. The main objectives of this next phase are to build on the achievements made in the first two years of the Industry Specification Group and include interoperability, formal testing, as well as working closer with projects developing open source NFV implementations. The activities will include both normative and informative work.

NFV ISG has chosen a new management team to carry the group forward. Dr. Steven Wright, of AT&T, was elected as chairman, and Mr Nakamura Tetsuya, of NTT DoCoMo, was chosen as vice-chairman. Both are elected for a period of two years.

Dr Wright commented “I’d like to thank the outgoing chair, Prodip Sen, and all the ISG participants, for their hard work to bring the ISG to this point. I look forward to assisting the ISG as it continues to progress towards its goal of an open NFV ecosystem with interoperable implementations.”

Mobile innovation in Mozambique MOVITEL - A JOINTVENTURE between Vietnamese telecommunications group Viettel and Mozambican company SPI - has won the “Best Mobile Innovation Award” in the Mobile Innovations Awards 2014, becoming the first and the only operator in Africa to win three prestigious international awards in three consecutive years.

Movitel has been recognised for popularising telecom services in Mozambique

The Mobile Innovations Awards reward companies bringing mobile technology innovation into a business context in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

AfIGF deliberates policies on Internet access OVER 470 PARTICIPANTS from the government, private sector, academia, research institutions, technical committee, civil society organisations and media, from over 41 countries, attended the 3 rd African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) held recently in Abuja, Nigeria. The Forum was co-organised by the country’s Federal Ministry of Communications and Information Technology through the Nigerian Internet Registry Authority and Nigerian IGF and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). The Forum was also supported by the Local Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (LMAG) of the Nigerian Internet Governance Forum (NIGF), and the African Union Commission (AUC) as well as the African sub-regional IGFs. Elaborating on the Internet's fast growth in Africa, Ms. Fatima Denton, director, special initiatives division at the ECA, said that mobile technology is enabling millions of people in Africa to access the Internet, even in the absence of developed broadband networks.

“The mobile-broadband penetration in Africa reaches close to 20 percent in 2014, up from two per cent in 2010 and although all regions continue to show double-digit growth rates in mobile broadband penetration, Africa stands out with a growth rate of over 40 percent twice as high as the global average."

Omobola Johnson, Nigerian Minister for Communication Technology of the stressed the catalytic effect of the internet in such sectors as finance and health. "In Nigeria's Ondo State, the Abiye programme links up pregnant mothers and infants up to age five with health centres or clinics near them and the Mother and Child Hospital (MCH) in Akure, the State capital. Key to these linkages is the availability and use of ICTs between patients, health works and health specialists; the impact has been better maternal and infant healthcare, safer deliveries and reductions in maternal and infant mortality.”

This, she stressed, is a notable achievement for a State that was ranked by the World Bank in 2008 as having the highest maternal deaths in South West Nigeria.

www.communicationsafrica.com

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AGENDA

Conference on customer retention and loyalty THE TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY is facing a storm with the introduction of new products and services, over-the-top communications, and emerging channels through social media.

Managing churn and retaining loyal customers is one of the major risks faced by operators.

Who is at risk and how is it all managed? What creates a loyal customer? Looking at the issue of efficiency versus effectiveness, does the customer or the operator come first?

All these questions were discussed by industry leaders and analysts at the 4th Annual Enhancing Customer Experience, Loyalty & Retention in Telecom Conference held in Johannesburg in August. The event was endorsed by the 4G African Broadband Forum and WAPA (Wireless Access Providers’ Association).

Customer is king, according to Megan Ashman, former GM customer management, MTN, in explaining the big data opportunity in measuring customer experience. The operator needs to look at the customer value chain.

What does the customer need? What is their lifestyle? How does one keep customer loyal?

“Data analytics are critical at looking at customer life stage, knowing the cost of churn and the focus on retention and who the underlying customer is,” she said.

“The churn management model shows that network issues are the biggest contributor to churn,” said Tinyiko Seane, executive head SME service portfolio management, Telkom SA. She explained that their network has experienced 30 per cent churn. “The answer lies in the high velocity continuous improvement process...what we will do for churn management is to go forward.”

Charlene Van Zyl, executive head strategy, customer experience at Vodacom, explained how extensive testing operationalises customer experience using a net promoter score (NPS) model as a key driver to measure customer loyalty and the usage of centralised versus decentralised CX implementation.

“We need to have the right people in place with the right skills,” she said.

There are four types of customers according

Rob van den Dam presented IBM research on Internet access

to Herve’ Atayi, manager marketing intelligence at Cable & Wireless, Seychelles, “Mercenaries, True Loyalty, Inertia Loyalty, Cult Loyalty” and different motivation techniques to attract and retain customers. Besides gamification as a powerful intrinsic motivation tool, he mentioned the ‘MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet’ fund-raising programs as one of the best CSR initiatives linked to loyalty.

“The key drivers to foster loyalty and CRM are brand trust, customer satisfaction, brand goodwill and perceived quality of brand,” said Dr Hanlie Smuts, general manager: digital at MTN SA. But the most dynamic segment of the market is the youth market or the “youth subtribes” as explained by Pauline Warui, director customer care at Safaricom, Kenya. The operator uses numerous campaigns involving the youth including Activ8.

“Africa claims to be the mobile continent, but the penetration is the lowest and the potential the highest,” said Rob van den Dam, IBM global telecommunication industry leader, in discussing the IBM Institute for Business Value consumer survey. This survey was conducted to 22,000 consumers in 35 countries in both mature and emerging markets

- including South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. The study covers spending priorities, adoption of communications services, sources of information customers’ attitudes towards CSPs, customer advocacy and customer trust.

Van den Dam said that for accessing the Internet, the mobile phone has been the most valuable device, and the daily usage communication channel, especially in Nigeria and South Africa, is Instant messaging, social networking and over-the-top (OTT) communication apps like WhatsApp, We Chat and Face Time. Because of these OTT channels, many respondents to the survey said they decreased or will decrease spending on traditional communications like conventional messaging voice calls and texting. He stressed the importance of word of mouth, as negative word of mouth can have a strong negative impact on a telco’s reputation and its business performance. ‘IBM’s ‘Advocacy Index’ measures the level of advocacy by analyzing responses relate to recommendation, buying and staying intent. An increasing number of telcos are implementing social business to understand customers and engage with them in a new and different way.

“Some telcos are even proactive in understanding service issues by trolling social networks to understand sources of dissatisfaction,” he said. “However most CSPs don’t get social, only a third of the respondents feel their providers use social media effectively to engage with them. The lack of a social media plan and problems with measuring ROI are the two biggest barriers to doing more in the digital space. CPSs should develop plans to contain ARPU erosion which might include bundling basic communication services with valueadded services and leveraging customer insights for cross and up sells.”

Bill Hearmon, chairman of the 4G African Broadband Forum outlined the strategies for operators to regain market share. These included “doing nothing”, which according to Hearmon is an option mainly for the operators who do not realise or care about revenue losses to OTT players; changing regulations to allow “discriminatory pricing for voice over data calls using deep packet inspection techniques”; offering Joyn communications messaging service and deploying an IP multimedia core network system (IMS); build in-house option, even though it requires a continuous and expensive return on investment effort; and OTT partnership .

“The riddle is can operators get back on top despite the OTT threat?” he said.

The way forward? “Do it step by step and learn from it,” said Eddie Moyce, chief customer experience officer at MTN SA.

Sara Frewen www.communicationsafrica.com

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AGENDA

Specifications on M2M/IoT communications open for comments ONEM2M, THE GLOBAL partnership developing standards for machine to machine (M2M) communications and the Internet of Things (IoT), has made the initial Candidate Release of Technical Specifications available for public comment. oneM2M actively encourages industry associations and forums with specific application requirements to participate in oneM2M, in order to ensure that the solutions developed support their specific needs. It is working with the European standards organisation ETSI - which ETSI produces globally-applicable standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), including fixed, mobile, radio, converged, aeronautical, broadcast and Internet technologies - to gain industry input on these foundation specifications for an M2M Service Layer which will enable scalable global deployment of M2M/IoT implementations and which aims at interoperability with existing standards. The Candidate Release documents are available for public download from oneM2M at: http://www.onem2m.org/candidate_release. oneM2M is working to ensure broad cross-industry segment applicability of the Service Layer specifications, and invites interested parties to review the Candidate Release documents and provide comments which will be reviewed and considered for inclusion in the initial Release by oneM2M. With the public comment phase scheduled to end 01 November 2014 the updated initial Release of oneM2M specifications will be approved by the oneM2M Technical Plenary in January 2015 for publication by the oneM2M Partner standards development organisations. oneM2M’s work coincides with developments represented at M2M

Source: Sam Churchill

Innovation World Congress in Nice, France, at which M2M/IoT specialists share best practices, strategic insights and exemplary business cases.

Key topics at the Nice event include smart cities, connected cars, retail, and smart homes - and the disruptions happening in business models and technologies, with reference to IoT models, Big Data, interoperability, connectivity, security, and other concerns.

BICS sets up point-of-presence in Johannesburg INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIVITY AND interoperability services provider BICS has established a point-ofpresence (POP) in Johannesburg, South Africa, to offer its operator customers assured quality of interconnect for traffic exchange in Africa, optimising transit routes and lowering latency.

The BICS PoP is located in facilities provided by South African data centre company Teraco, which works with major fixed-line and wireless carriers in the country. The deployment will not only improve interconnectivity to existing customers, but also increase the availability of the BICS MOSAIC suite of solutions to operators and ISPs within the region.

BICS’ portfolio of over 60 solutions addresses the connectivity and hubbing needs of

communications providers worldwide.

The Johannesburg PoP is the latest milestone marking BICS’ sustained investment to address the needs of African communications providers. It follows the establishment of its Dubai PoP with provider Equinix in March covering Northern Africa; and the foundation of its East Africa Gateway in Djibouti last year. BICS also enhanced its investment in the region during 2013 by opening three new offices in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

BICS SVP capacity business management Johan Wouters said, “Establishing the Johannesburg POP in partnership with Teraco is an important step in increasing transit efficiency in Southern Africa. We will continue to evolve our infrastructure to

provide the highest level of connectivity with the lowest latency to our customers.

“Africa is a key market for BICS and this agreement further emphasises our commitment to the region by offering market-leading connectivity services to communication providers across the continent.”

Lex van Wyk, CEO of Teraco added, “We are delighted to partner with BICS to host its POP in South Africa and help meet its expansion goals in Africa. Using infrastructure built on the networks of major carriers in the country, “BICS will be able to further enhance its ability to provide high speed interconnection with regional and global carriers.”

An affordable Cloud solution for African SMEs

SES and CWG launch digital TV platform for West Africa

SMALL AND MEDIUM enterprises (SMEs) in Africa are now given the opportunity to utilise a white label Cloud solution through BCX’s partnership with Parallels, with BCX’s world-class Tier IV Data Centers, the cloud software runs within a quality environment with tested security and risk aversion.

African expansion has created a need for affordable cloud solutions, especially for companies with no in-house IT resources. The BCX/Parallels solution will aid business profitability and competition in the SME market.

Already running in Nigeria and now South Africa, the benefits of the solution speak directly to the needs of SMEs. The solution is available on a month-to-month basis as well as a “try before you buy” option.

Furthermore, it provides SME’s a professional opportunity to connect employees to consumers by enabling collaboration on webpages through online chatting.

SATELLITE OPERATOR SES and Computer Warehouse Group have launched a new digital TV platform for West Africa on SES’s ASTRA 2F satellite at 28.2 degrees East. This independent and neutral TV platform in Nigeria will be the country’s first free-to-air (FTA) DTH digital TV platform and provide the opportunity for broadcasters to reach millions of satellite homes in West Africa which are pointing their dishes to 28.2 degrees East. Besides providing additional growth opportunities for local and international broadcasters, the platform could be used to quicken the pace of digital migration.

The platform provides end-to-end contribution, ground and space services to local, regional, national and international TV broadcasters across West Africa. SES will be providing the space segment and specific ground services, while CWG will be managing the teleport services as an SES partner teleport operator, providing high operational standards.

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AGENDA

De nouveaux partenaires pour l'initiative "Be He@lthy, Be Mobile" de l'UIT L'ENTREPRISE INTERNATIONALE DE soins de santé GSK et l'organisme public Public Health England (PHE) s'est associé à l'initiative "Be He@lthy, Be Mobile" ("La mobilité, c'est la santé"), qui est placée sous la conduite de l'UIT en collaboration avec l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS).

Ce nouveau partenariat et la progression constante de la cybersanté partout dans le monde sont au coeur des discussions tenues lors des manifestations organisées par les entreprises dans le cadre des Jeux du Commonwealth de 2014, qui se déroulé à Glasgow (Ecosse) du 23 juillet au 2 août. BUPA, Verizon, la Fédération internationale des associations et fabricants pharmaceutiques (IFPMA), la Banque africaine de développement et l'Alliance contre les maladies non transmissibles sont déjà partenaires de l'initiative "Be He@lthy, Be Mobile".

Satisfait de la création de ce partenariat, le Secrétaire général de l'UIT, Hamadoun I. Touré, a déclaré: "Les maladies non transmissibles sont à elles seules le plus grand facteur de mortalité et de la charge de morbidité dans le monde, dans les pays développés comme dans les pays émergents. Dans le domaine de la santé sur mobile, l'UIT collabore avec l'OMS, afin de lui

faire partager sa longue expérience et ses compétences en matière de technologies mobiles et de soins de santé, ainsi que son réseau de partenaires. Nous nous réjouissons énormément des possibilités offertes par ces nouveaux partenariats avec GSK et Public Health England pour accélérer le développement de la santé sur mobile dans le monde".

Ramil Burden, Vice-Président de GSK pour les pays en développement, a déclaré: "Les technologies mobiles sont de plus en plus importantes pour aider les populations du monde entier à accéder à l'information et aux services dans le domaine de la santé. Nous étudions actuellement plusieurs solutions pour exploiter ce potentiel et sommes heureux de pouvoir soutenir l'initiative "Be He@lthy, Be Mobile". Il s'agit d'une formidable occasion de travailler en collaboration avec différents partenaires pour contribuer à mettre en place et à développer des programmes innovants qui aident à la fois les professionnels de la santé et les patients".

Lancée en octobre 2012 pour une durée initiale de quatre ans, l'initiative "Be He@lthy, Be Mobile" vise à définir de bonnes pratiques et à les mettre en oeuvre à grande échelle.

La première phase de l'initiative porte sur la mise en place de programmes de santé sur

mobile dans des domaines comme le diabète, l'arrêt du tabagisme, l'hypertension, le cancer, le bien‑être et la formation d'agents de santé. Plus de 35 pays ont déjà fait savoir qu'ils étaient intéressés pour participer. Un programme national d'arrêt du tabagisme basé sur l'utilisation des téléphones mobiles s'adressant à l'ensemble de la population est actuellement mené au Costa Rica, tandis qu'en juin 2014, le Sénégal a lancé une campagne nationale d'utilisation du mobile pendant le Ramadan pour aider les diabétiques à gérer leur diabète pendant cette période de jeûne. La Zambie prévoit elle aussi de lancer un programme national sur mobile de prévention du cancer du col de l'utérus.

Le professeur Kevin Fenton, Directeur national du Département de la santé et du bien-être de PHE, agent d'exécution du Ministère de la santé, a insisté: "Au sein de Public Health England, nous avons déjà constaté les effets des programmes de santé sur mobile et support numérique. Je suis ravi que l'initiative "Be He@lthy, Be Mobile" réussisse à rassembler un si grand nombre de partenaires de premier plan.

Nous nous réjouissons de travailler ensemble pour soutenir ces activités en pleine expansion dans le domaine de la santé publique".

Orange améliore la connectivité internet en Afrique de l'Ouest

Rabat accueillera le 2e Forum ministériel sur la science, la technologie et l’innovation en Afrique

ORANGE A OUVERT le premier Point de Présence (PoP) IP de très grande capacité en Afrique de l'Ouest. Ce service, situé à Abidjan en Côte d'Ivoire, va apporter une meilleure connectivité internet dans la sousrégion en offrant des vitesses de connexion plus rapides et une sécurité accrue pour les clients sur le marché de gros. Un Point de Présence IP est une infrastructure technique qui abrite l'équipement nécessaire pour permettre aux réseaux locaux d'accéder à internet via un point d'interconnexion avec les réseaux des opérateurs longue distance.

Abidjan accueille également un point d'atterrissement pour le câble sous-marin ACE, qui longe la côte de l’ouest de l'Afrique depuis l'Europe sur 17.000 km. Cela est en fait l’endroit idéal pour l'installation de ce PoP IP et permet une connectivité optimale avec les réseaux sur toute la région.

LA BANQUE AFRICAINE de développement (BAD) et ses partenaires organisent la deuxième édition du Forum ministériel sur la science, la technologie et l’innovation (STI) en Afrique, qui se déroulera, du 14 au 17 octobre 2014, à Rabat, au Maroc, au sein de l’Académie Hassan II des Sciences et Techniques.

Placé sous l’égide du gouvernement marocain et coorganisé par la BAD et le gouvernement finlandais, ce forum sera composé d’un pré-forum (14 octobre), de deux journées techniques (15-16 octobre) et d’un forum ministériel (17 octobre). Il vise à ce que les ministres africains chargés de l’Enseignement supérieur, des Sciences et des Technologies ainsi que de l’Industrie, engagent un dialogue avec le secteur privé, le monde universitaire, la diaspora, la société civile et les communautés scientifiques à l’échelle mondiale, sur les moyens de promouvoir la croissance inclusive et verte grâce à l’innovation scientifique et technologique en Afrique.

Le service va apporter une meilleure connectivité internet dans la sousrégion Ce nouveau hub d’interconnexion propose une voie alternative aux solutions actuelles et permet à Orange d'offrir des connexions directes sécurisées sur le marché de gros à destination des pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest. À moyen et long terme, le PoP IP d’Abidjan accompagnera l'expansion des activités sur le marché IP Africain, qui est en croissance économique rapide et qui voit son trafic internet augmenter de 41% par an (Telegeography 2013).

En se connectant à ce PoP de très grande capacité, les clients, opérateurs régionaux et fournisseurs d’accès à l’internet, bénéficieront d’une solution compétitive d’accès à un opérateur Tier 1. En outre, l’expérience client sera améliorée grâce à ce point de présence qui rapprochera les fournisseurs de contenu aux internautes.

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Ce forum fait suite à la première Conférence ministérielle sur la science, la technologie et l’innovation, que le gouvernement kenyan avait accueillie en 2012.

Conçue pour accroître la prise de conscience politique en faveur des sciences et des technologies en Afrique, celle-ci visait à promouvoir l’emploi des jeunes, le développement du capital humain et la croissance inclusive.

Réunissant plus de 40 ministres chargés de l’Enseignement supérieur, des Sciences et des Technologies, cette première édition avait réussi à inscrire les STI au cœur du dialogue politique en Afrique.

Compte tenu de la dimension multisectorielle des sciences, des technologies et de l’innovation, le Forum mettra l’accent sur les secteurs clés suivants : la gestion des ressources en eau, l’énergie et la croissance verte, l’agriculture et la sécurité alimentaire, les ressources naturelles, le changement climatique, la jeunesse, la question de genre, l’éducation et la santé.

www.communicationsafrica.com

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IT

Managed Services

Integrating and optimising to meet demand Managed services can enable integration and optimisation of corporate systems to make the most of traditional, hybrid, and cloud environments and assets

ANY COMPANIES MAY try to pull together managed communications services from different suppliers to address markets more efficiently through their unique mix of legacy systems and new solutions. However, integrating disparate technologies, managing complex architectures, juggling multiple commercial and consumer relationships can be overwhelming. The top challenges facing African organisations today include the need to reduce operational expenditures, to strengthen customer relationships, to improve financial management, innovate products and services, and to improve market position. Underpinning these imperatives is the need to strategise structure, to manage internal operations and external relations.

In this regard, the need to focus on recruiting and developing the right people and resources is a high priority.

However, firms lack available investment funds and resources and are challenged with inadequate linkages between their IT environment and how business processes are managed. Companies want a way to move cost savings gained in one part of the business to another part of the business. Furthermore, firms seek the means to manage how IT interacts with business processes and with critical application environments.

Enter managed services. There are many reasons why companies use managed services to support their businesses, but the following are among the most significant:

M

Lower costs: The use of managed services is driven by internal costsaving mandates and the potential high costs of upgrading to new infrastructure technologies.

Optimise resource utilisation: Managed services enhance current capabilities, by mining existing processes and technologies and/or adding functionality, and by supporting fundamental redesign or transformation of existing architecture to help organisations incorporate new technologies (such as virtualisation, or cloud computing) more efficiently.

Better use of human capital: Buyers believe that managed services provide them with access to resources, staff, capacity, and industry knowledge and expertise.

Expanding investments in mobility, social media and analytics: The deployment of social media as part of doing business is placing increasing stress on how to enhance customer service, optimise sales opportunities, meet key regulations and ensure that brand value and image are maintained. Additionally, analytics, also referred to as Big Data, are becoming a strategic means of helping enterprises not only to optimise the

When it comes to cloud, businesses are increasingly investing in building private clouds and using public clouds, such as infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), to support critical business needs 16 Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

IBM Integrated Managed Infrastructure services help organisations to drive growth by reducing downtime, scaling operations and improving application availability

value of these emerging business models and associated business processes, but also to mitigate the many risks across organisations.

Transformation to cloud-based delivery: When it comes to cloud, businesses are increasingly investing in building private clouds and using public clouds, such as infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), to support critical business needs such as lowering costs, accelerating time to market and increasing agility. However, these capabilities are placing greater pressure on organisations to ensure security requirements, while meeting key regulatory needs, including data portability. Given that most businesses indicated a lack of resources to manage a fully mature cloud environment, enterprises need to determine how they will mitigate the risks of moving select applications or services to an outside provider as they transform their IT to a cloudbased model of consumption.

Financial benefits: Overall, organisations adopting managed services generally gain financial benefits in the following areas: Optimised user productivity: The most significant benefit can be from increasing user productivity by speeding up business processes. In addition, organisations can reduce unplanned downtime, which also enhances user productivity.

Reduced IT infrastructure cost: The main driver for migrating from traditional in-house management of IT infrastructure to managed services is the need to reduce capital expenditure and deliver better services.

Amongst vendors, and vendor offerings, IBM’s managed services are centred on mitigating business risks for organisations as they evolve their IT environments based on corporate objectives and strategic priorities, with the goal of optimising returns on investment (ROI). To this end, IBM helps organisations to drive growth by eliminating downtime, scaling operations and improving application availability, reducing complexity by enhancing management of a multivendor and increasingly virtualised environment, and optimising expenses and investments through improved efficiencies and automation, proactive management of IT resources and simplified hosting options. ✆ www.communicationsafrica.com

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INTERNET

A4AI

Innovating West African access to Internet Following on from her presentation at NigeriaCom, Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) executive director Sonia Jorge responds to concerns over connectivity and inclusion in West Africa Communications Africa/Afrique: How is your organisation positioned in Nigeria and what are its future objectives?

Sonia Jorge: The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) is working directly with the Government of Nigeria to strengthen its efforts towards the delivery of affordable Internet to Nigerian citizens. Nigeria publicly committed to develop and implement the policy and regulatory changes needed to drive down the cost of broadband access when it formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Alliance in October 2013, becoming the first country to take this progressive step.

It has since been followed by Ghana and Mozambique.

As a key element of this work, A4AI has brought together a wide range of actors, including representatives from the Nigerian government, private sector and civil society, to identify policy and regulatory barriers to affordable Internet in the country, and to put into place a plan to overcome these obstacles. A national coalition has been formed, and is actively working to produce concrete solutions to the challenges.

Through this multi-stakeholder process, A4AI hopes to help Nigeria increase its Internet penetration rate to 30% by 2017, as set out in the country’s National Broadband Plan.

Broadband Commission goal of entry-level broadband services priced at less than five per cent of average monthly income.

CA: How are smartphones/tablets and cloud services impacting mobile/internet service providers in Nigeria?

The diminishing cost of new technologies has caused a substantial uptake in the use of smart mobile technology in Nigeria, where currently around 25 percent of over 105 million mobile telephone subscribers use smartphones (TNS Global, 2012). The use of these devices and the number of people using them to connect to the Internet is expected to grow as more businesses based in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, use smartphones and tablets to link to the global economy and to efficiently conduct business. While the adoption of smartphones is increasing, the high cost of a mobile broadband connection, which hovers around 13% of average income, is restricting the ability of citizens throughout Nigeria to connect to and take advantage of information found on the Web. Only when the cost to connect to mobile broadband on these devices drops to a level that the

CA: What do you think are the top 3 major trends that are affecting your work in the region in 2014?

SJ: 1. Technological innovation: The rapid emergence of new and innovative technologies has the power to drive down the cost of broadband access, when combined with an updated regulatory and policy framework.

2. Spirit of collaboration: As sectors with seemingly divergent interests recognise the shared economic and social benefits of pursuing increased access to affordable Internet, the region has seen improved collaboration and a rise in effective partnerships.

3. Shared infrastructure access and development: The increased willingness of government and private telecommunications companies to enter into partnerships is leading to more opportunities for the development of open and shared infrastructure (e.g., fibre optic lines, base stations) on both a national and regional level. Resource sharing through these partnerships will allow the government, network operators, and other infrastructure providers to reduce and share capital and operational risks, which will, in turn, reduce the cost for consumers to come online.

CA: What are the remaining challenges in terms of connectivity and quality of services in the region and which technologies are most likely to resolve these issues?

SJ: New and innovative technological solutions to broadband affordability challenges - including innovative uses of spectrum, urban WiFi zones and data centres - are constantly emerging. While these technologies have shown promising early results in their ability to bring down the cost of Internet, all too often outdated and ill-conceived policies and regulations prevent the benefits of these technologies from being fully unlocked across the African continent. By working directly with national governments and a wide range of key stakeholders, A4AI aims to bring outdated policy and regulatory frameworks into the digital age, and to help to realise the UN www.communicationsafrica.com

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INTERNET

A4AI

average Nigerian can afford will the true impact of the use of these technologies be felt.

CA: In your opinion, which companies, governments and other players are spearheading innovation in the region and what can be learnt from them?

SJ: A number of companies working in Nigeria and throughout the continent are using modern technologies to bring more people online— Google’s Project Link is providing faster, more reliable Internet to underserved urban areas like Kampala, Uganda, by connecting local Internet service providers (ISPs) to existing long-distance fibre lines; Microsoft’s 4Afrika initiative is working to bring affordable broadband to rural communities via TV white spaces (i.e., vacant radio frequencies available for unlicensed use); and West African telecommunications company, Main One, has been working to construct and roll out a metro high-speed fibre network and data centre in Lagos, with the aim of reducing ICT costs and enhancing business profitability. Meanwhile,

Research ICT Africa has consistently been delivering robust, highquality research into communications issues across the region which helps to drive informed decision-making and debate.

Looking at national initiatives around the continent, Morocco emerges as a positive example of government innovation in the ICT sector. The country was ranked as the top developing country in A4AI’s 2013 Affordability Report, and is implementing a number of innovative policies in order to increase Internet penetration. These policies are encapsulated in “2013 Digital Morocco”, a plan aimed at intensifying usage through a focus on affordability of both devices and access.

However, with mobile broadband prices sitting at around 20 percent of per capita monthly incomes, and about 80 percent of monthly incomes for those living in poverty (less than $2 per day), Morocco’s government has much work to do. As well as working to drive prices down, the country plans to equip all schools in Morocco with broadband access and ICT training, and establish PPPs to offer devices to marginalised subsegments of the population. ✆

Rushed analog switch-off threatens African TV OVUM RESEARCH FINDS that most subSaharan countries – notably Nigeria and South Africa – will not achieve the ITUmandated 2015 deadline to switch off their analog terrestrial TV signals due to: a lack of awareness amongst the public that analog switch-off is impending; inadequate funds being made available by governments to roll out digital TV infrastructure; and insufficient supplies of settop boxes. This is despite the mindset, prevalent among many governments and regulators in the region, that the deadline must be met at all costs. As a consequence, numerous sub-Saharan TV markets are considering switching off analog TV signals before the audience has transitioned to digital. This would mean many homes will lose TV reception, leading to advertisers switching away from TV and, in turn, a decline in TV advertising revenue.

Adam Thomas, Ovum’s lead analyst for global TV markets, said, “In Tanzania, the switchover process was pushed through recklessly, with damaging results.

Thousands of homes lost their ability to watch TV and advertising revenue suffered as a result. But this mentality to rush the process persists, not least in Kenya which seems intent on repeating the same mistakes.”

Ovum research also found an understandable eagerness among regulators to raise revenue from the sale of

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

Digital terrestrial TV

40%

Analog terrestrial TV

30% 20% 10% 0% 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

the spectrum that will become available following analog switch-off and which will, most likely, be snapped up by mobile operators. This is another factor behind the rushed switchover. Ovum’s Ismail Patel, who tracks media and entertainment across the Asian, Middle Eastern, and African regions, noted, “While the sale of spectrum will benefit the mobile sector, regulators could harm the TV business if they act with undue haste to get their hands on potentially lucrative spectrum.

African governments and regulators need to accept that the 2015 deadline will be missed and shift their focus on to getting the process completed as quickly and efficiently as possible. Ovum believes that forcing through analog switch-off is ultimately counter-productive.”

There is an understandable eagerness among regulators to raise revenue from the sale of the spectrum that will become available following analog switch-off - which will, most likely, be snapped up by mobile operators

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Source : Ovum

Ovum also discovered that initial digital terrestrial TV (DTT) launches are dominated by the pay-DTT services of the operators StarTimes and Multichoice. This has created a sector where the paid-DTT option represents an artificially high percentage of total homes using DTT to receive TV – an issue because people will be less willing to transition from analog to digital TV if they believe this will mean they have to start paying for TV. The result is that more than 90 per cent of terrestrial TV was still analog at end-2013.

Thomas observed, “This early focus on pay DTT has created a misconception among the sub-Saharan audience that DTT is intrinsically a paid service. Once there is awareness that DTT can be received without payment then free-to-air DTT will be the overwhelming choice for most homes and the transition from analog to digital will be better placed to proceed.

This may mean StarTimes and Multichoice will be disappointed with the number of pay DTT subscribers that they can ultimately attract.”

www.communicationsafrica.com

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INTERNET

Data

Aux données à des sites d’exploration reculés au Cameroune Fiabilité et prestation haut de gamme, un solution rentable et flexible, et l'assistance client exceptionnelle

NE COMPAGNIE D’EXTRACTION et d’exploration minière opérant au Cameroun et une succursale locale d’une compagnie minière britannique avaient besoin d’un fournisseur de services satellite capable de leur proposer un système de communication fiable pour leurs divers chantiers d’exploration et de recherche disséminés dans le pays.

Même pour celui qui a découvert l’un des plus grands gisements de minerai de fer du pays, choisir une zone convenant à l’exploration minière constitue une tâche complexe.

Cette activité implique la prospection de ressources à de grandes profondeurs et le recours à des méthodes géophysiques et géochimiques.

Il est donc nécessaire de réaliser des études régionales, géologiques et de terrain, afin de sélectionner les meilleurs sites d’exploration pour la localisation rapide, facile et rentable des gisements de minerai.

U

Besoin crucial d’une connectivité professionnelle Sur les chantiers d’exploration, les camps sont montés par des équipes dans des zones où plusieurs sites-test ont déjà été installés.

Habituellement, ces chantiers sont situés à grande distance des réseaux de télécommunication standards et doivent donc largement compter sur la communication satellite. Cette liaison, d’une importance critique pour

« Nous recourons à l’accès Internet par satellite SkyVision pour les communications vocales, les conférences téléphoniques et l’accès à Internet » - Directeur informatique de la compagnie minière au Cameroun

www.communicationsafrica.com

l’établissement d’un camp de chantier, doit donc s’avérer fiable.

Quand le directeur informatique de la compagnie minière a dû choisir un fournisseur de services satellite pour doter les chantiers d’exploration d’un système de communication, il s’est tourné vers SkyVision : « J’ai découvert SkyVision il y a environ six ans. Je possédais antérieurement deux fournisseurs, mais ils n’ont satisfait ni à mes exigences ni à mes attentes sous l’angle de la qualité et de la disponibilité du service. »

Communication fiable La communication haut débit de SkyVision permet à la compagnie minière de disposer d’une connectivité voix et données de qualité, là où aucune infrastructure terrestre n’est disponible.

La fiabilité des liens de SkyVision permet aux équipes travaillant sur les chantiers d’exploration d’envoyer des fichiers au siège de la compagnie et de passer des appels ou d’organiser des conférences téléphoniques indispensables à l’analyse rapide de leurs données d’exploration.

Accélérer la phase d’exploration grâce au service à large bande Ces liens satellites permettent au personnel du camp sur le terrain de transférer des données en temps réel et d’accélérer ainsi les tests d’exploration.

De plus, les employés peuvent utiliser le lien satellite pour communiquer avec leur famille. « Si un problème survient sur l’un des liens satellites SkyVision, ce sont eux qui me préviennent en premier et me donnent une estimation du temps qu’il faudra pour rendre de nouvelle le service opérationnel. » Aujourd’hui, la compagnie minière opère sur plusieurs sites d’exploration en même temps, et tous ses camps sur le terrain sont desservis par SkyVision. ✆

Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

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NETWORK

LTE

The steady rise of LTE in Africa LTE has to offer in terms of bigger content for users and bigger revenues in return - but many factors will impact deployment and operation across the region

HE EXACT NUMBER of operational LTE networks currently rolled out across Africa varies a little depending on which industry specialist you speak to and the parameters used to qualify a network for inclusion; eg whether pilots are included, or just commercially operational networks. According to Business Monitor International, (BMI), for example, over 20 commercial LTE networks have so far been deployed in Africa with some 350,000 (Jul 2013) people having already subscribed to LTE services. Over the next five years they expect this figure to increase at least a 100 per cent. Frost & Sullivan, on the other hand, says 26 networks currently operate across Africa, but this figure includes both commercial networks and those at a pilot stage. There are others, too, such as IDC, which states there are currently 21 commercial LTE network deployments in 11 African countries, with another handful of African countries planning commercial LTE launches during 2014. The fact is that no one is exactly right and no one is exactly wrong; what is clear is that LTE is on the rise across this great continent and it is expected that during H2 of this year and into 2015, more networks will roll out and several of pilots currently underway should become full commercially operational networks.

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Driving forces Mobile operators have been the primary driving force behind many of the roll-outs, as you would expect, although BMI also states that regulators have also been getting stuck in and shoving LTE along. In Rwanda, for example, the government has partnered with KT Corporation to build a national LTE network, with the regulator actively encouraging LTE deployment. Similar is happening in Morocco, where preparations for the issuing of 4G licences are underway by the regulator.

One mobile operator, Smile, launched Africa’s first 4G LTE broadband internet service in Tanzania, in March 2012, and has the widest LTE reach of the African operators. Its Tanzanian customers have 4G LTE broadband internet services in Dar es Salaam and Arusha, Dodoma and Mwanza and in Uganda, the capital, Kampala (including Entebbe), Mukono, Jinja (the source of the Nile) and Mbale all have, or are soon to have, what the company describes as ‘superfast’ wireless broadband. A similar Smile scenario exists in Nigeria where Ibadan and Lagos have the country’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE broadband service, with Abuja and Port Harcourt recently connected or shortly to be. The average speeds are said to be 6Mb/s with some users experiencing 20Mb/s in Lagos.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is expected to see Smile LTE network deployments in major urban centres during 2014.

Expert Views According to BMI, the main driver behind LTE growth is the desire for wireless broadband across a region plagued by the scarcity of wireline due to, amongst other reasons, the ongoing and ever prevalent theft of copper and, nowadays, sometimes fibre, too. Hence, wireless is the only alternative form of broadband connectivity, and BMI says that LTE growth in Africa will predominantly be in the dedicated data market. That said, the high costs of LTE-enabled devices and limited network coverage will continue to restrict take-up between now and 2018 to 20 Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

Abegunde Oluwole, research analyst, telecoms and media (West Africa), IDC

professional users in urban settings, with 3G services being sufficient, for now, for most consumers’ current usage requirements.

IDC’s Abegunde Oluwole concurs with this view of the importance of the enterprise market, telling Communications Africa/Afrique that, “The enterprise market is an important part of the LTE ecosystem. For mobile operators, LTE with its technological advancements creates opportunities to explore new revenue streams and to offer high quality enterprise-grade services to its business customers, including unified communications (UC) suites”. He added that, “enterprises are constantly seeking avenues to cut costs and increase profitability. These are the merits unified communication brings to the business world. Businesses usually buy voice, data, IM and email services as standalone from different vendors.

Unified communication presents an all-in-one solution that caters for the voice, data, IM and email needs of a company. Video conferencing through UC also saves significant time and cost as meetings can be held between different locations without travel. However, UC runs over the internet, and with LTE technology expected to deliver better and more efficient UC service, the demand for increased data service to run enterprise solutions will drive the growth of LTE.” BMI, in its ‘Africa - Broadband To Drive LTE Growth In Africa’ white paper, says that it ‘expects the cost of LTE-enabled handsets to remain high until GSM operators in major markets such as Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya launch services and spark rising demand for low-cost LTE smartphones’. It adds that in Ghana and Nigeria, it believes mobile operators have deferred plans to develop LTE networks due to ongoing regulatory pressure to meet high quality of service standards on their www.communicationsafrica.com

S05 CAF 5 2014 - Report CA CB_Layout 1 8/28/2014 12:38 PM Page 21

Africa's premier ICT and broadcast magazine

Published bimonthly, the magazine features articles in both English and French for comprehensive market penetration.

The magazine is read by fixed and mobile operators, internet service providers, local integrators and resellers of hardware and software, broadcasters and regulators and is designed to help inform them of the latest technologies available to enhance their businesses.

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www.communicationsafrica.com

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NETWORK

LTE

existing voice and 3G data networks. In Kenya, for example, it says the deployment of LTE has been delayed due to disagreement between the government and mobile operators as to the terms of a national LTE network and licences.

One conundrum in the growth of LTE picture across Africa is the stance taken by regional operator Airtel, which, BMI confirms, has shown ‘no interest’ in deploying LTE networks across its operations in 17 African markets. The analysts say that this factor will limit competition in the race towards LTE and poses a downside risk to BMI’s own view of accelerating expansion of LTE networks in the region.

IDC’s Oluwole, however, makes the Airtel decision that much more perplexing when explaining that, “Telecom operators are indisputably looking for new growth areas. With a very low Internet penetration on the African continent and a very limited fixed broadband infrastructure, carriers have an opportunity to fill the gap in consumer and business demand. Introduction of LTE services also improves brand awareness of innovative technology leaders, supports growth in retention rates and new customer acquisition. From a long-term perspective, LTE is also seen as a way to address capacity concerns related to higher mobile data usage. Consumers are also demanding better QoS on data subscriptions; they want to do more with their mobile devices more than ever before, e.g. play games in real time online, download large files on their mobiles, make video calls. Just last year, Airtel Africa launched the Airtel Games Club in several countries across the continent. Airtel's customers can download premium mobile games such as FIFA 14, Need for Speed, Bejeweled, and many more. A vital key to the success of the Airtel Games Club is the ability to implement excellent customer experience when customers are trying to access the games. An LTE network can deliver speed and capacity that will guarantee that excellent customer experience.” So the fact that they have shown “no interest” in deploying LTE is a curious one.

Some Interesting Stats At Infonetics Research, principal analyst, Stéphane Téral, has been following LTE developments in Africa and told Communications Africa/Afrique that some of the LTE networks that their research shows are now live include Angola with Unitel, Ghana with Surfline Communications, Namibia with MTC, Nigeria with Spectrane, South Africa with Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, and Neotel, Tanzania and Uganda with

Stéphane Téral, principal analyst, Infonetics Research

22 Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

LTE NETWORKS IN AFRICA Operator Movicel MTC Emtel Orange Smile Vodacom Unitel MTN Smile MTN Smile Orange Neotel Econet Spectranet Telecom Namibia MTN Zamtel Swift YooMee Algerie Telecom

Country Angola Namibia Mauritius Mauritius Tanzania South Africa Angola South Africa Nigeria Uganda Uganda Uganda South Africa Zimbabwe Nigeria Namibia Zambia Zambia Nigeria Cote d'Ivoire Algeria

Service Voice & Data Voice & Data Voice & Data Voice & Data Data Voice & Data Voice & Data Voice & Data Data Voice & Data Data Voice & Data Data Data Data Voice & Data Voice & Data na Data Data Data

Launch Date Apr-12 May-12 May-12 Jun-12 Jun-12 Oct-12 Dec-12 Dec-12 Mar-13 Apr-13 Jun-13 Jul-13 Aug-13 Aug-13 Aug-13 Nov-13 Jan-14 Jan-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

Na = not available. Source: BMI

Smile and Zimbabwe with Econet. He told us that as of “March 31, 2014, Infonetics counts 2.6mn LTE subscribers, signifying a +18 per cent quarter-on-quarter and a +139 per cent year-on-year growth”. Of those subscribers, Téral said 90.7 per cent are in South Africa. As part of the BRICS group of nations, Téral told Communications Africa/Afrique that, “South Africa remains a developing nation acting the same way as China, Brazil and Russia with strong 3G networks and uptake and a real need for LTE to bring network operation efficiencies. Vodacom has 54 per cent of South Africa’s LTE subscriber base followed by MTN with 42 per cent”.

With the number of mobile subscribers in Africa approaching 1.5 billion over the next five years, Téral projected some ideas on the proportion expected to be LTE users, saying that as Nigeria is the most populous country with 170mn people, “I expect the country to fuel the bulk of the growth but if, and only if, infrastructural issues such as network power supply and stability of electrical grid are solved.” He added that he could not see any signs of these issues being solved at the moment. “However,” he added, “at current LTE uptake pace, with more affordable handsets our LTE subscriber forecast model for Africa points to 27.3mn subscribers in 2018.” He added that apart from South Africa, most of the other LTE networks being rolled out are greenfield with no legacy, so moving straight to LTE is the way forward for many new operators.

On the question as to whether bandwidth-hungry services were for the rich and urban classes and basic data needs in more rural and remote communities, even those supporting basic mobile health and mobile payment apps, were aimed more at the poor and less advantaged, Téral said, “I’ve seen lots of smart entrepreneurs in Africa who are actively working on mobile broadband-based micro-finance and apps for poor people, making sure they are not left behind. Also, lots of outdated smartphones from developed economies are getting recycled and flocking the continent at steep discount making them affordable to the masses. I strongly believe in great innovation that will enable poor people to be part of the African LTE bandwagon. I’m very positive.” He added that the first batches of first-generation LTE smartphones, ditched by Americans, Japanese, and Koreans, are also arriving on the scene.

As for the next phase of growth for LTE in Africa, Téral said, “I believe it will remain a game between South Africa and Nigeria for some time.” ✆

Tim Guest

www.communicationsafrica.com

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LTE

NETWORK

Ghana goes for local 4G Last year, Ghana’s National Communications Authority awarded three Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) licenses on the 2,500– 2,690MHz band to Surfline Ltd, GoldKey Ltd, and BLU Telecoms N JUNE 2013, Ghana’s National Communications Authority named the three companies that would be licensed to provide 4G LTE services across the country. But the 10-year licenses came with some tough pre-conditions. Not only were the successful telcos to have at least a 30 per cent indigenous ownership, which ruled out the existing six telco providers – Airtel, Expresso, Glo Ghana, MTN, Tigo and Vodafone (who are all foreign owned) – but they were obliged to start operations within 18-months and have a network that extended over half the country within five years.

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Surfline’s team were first to move on 4GGhana is rolling out new network architectures

Investing in a new network The first mover has been Surfline, which launched a live network covering the Accra and Tema regions in mid-August. The 100 per cent Ghanaian-owned company (wholly owned by chairman John Taylor) has invested more than US$100mn to complete the first phase of the network, which covers 300 cell sites.

In a company statement, Surfline both promised affordable payas-you-go tariffs and pledged to customers that they would be able to “load websites faster, send and receive large documents with ease, download music and movies quickly, watch videos online with no buffering, use Skype and video conferencing facilities with no interruption, and upload photos to social media profiles instantly”.

Shortly after being awarded one of the licenses, Surfline announced a partnership arrangement with Alcatel-Lucent to provide hardware, software, installation. optimisation and management services to the new 4G network. Later in the year, in October, Surfline confirmed it had also opted for IBM’s Tivoli Management and Smart Cloud Monitoring products to enable countrywide and eventually regional coverage.

At the network’s launch, that took place at the company’s flagship store in upmarket Osu in Accra, Dr Yaw Akoto, the company’s chief executive commented, “Ghanaians are disillusioned with the internet services that are currently on offer, because they have not experienced what was promised.

“Surfline’s 4G LTE service has been created with a single-minded focus on data, which means our network quality will not be compromised,” he added. “With our service, customers are always guaranteed a 4G LTE service and nothing less.”

www.communicationsafrica.com

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NETWORK

LTE

Surfline’s MD Rosy Fynn also said that the new technology was not only fast but accessible, efficient and affordable – and she also announced an offer of a free device and double-bonus airtime for life for all Surfline’s new customers.

However, the advantage of being a firstmover, and the tempting offers to new customers that are signing up, may not be an absolute trump card for Surfline as they have some resolute competition nipping at their heels

Competing for growth Speaking to Communications Africa/Afrique, Tara Squire of BLU, one of Surfline’s two 4G competitors discussed the possibility of three operators being able to earn sufficient revenues from what is essentially a fairly small African market.

“I think if you look at it, yes it’s not an easy question because it’s a small country,” Squires said, “however, Ghana’s data penetration currently is quite low and only breeched double digits a couple of years ago [it’s thought to currently stand at around 20 per cent].

“So there is a lot of headroom for growth when it comes to data. And if you look at the growth in the market so far, it has largely been on the back of high-speed broadband access. So the market has grown in leaps and bounds since 3G was introduced.

“That tells you that 4G has the opportunity to carry the market into another wave of growth. Now the reason I say it’s a tricky question is the investment required for 4G across the all three telcos, the three companies that have their licenses, is massive. And therefore it will take very smart business models and efficiencies to reduce cost to ensure that we breakeven and be profitable.”

However, Squires is reasonably confident in the 4G proposition. “The revenue will come, but you have to be careful about your cost base to ensure that you can be a profitable business. That’s where it’s tricky.”

An element of consolidation would obviously help, but the regulatory landscape might make that problematic.

Because the issue of local ownership was not simply a precondition of the licence, but is an ongoing commitment.

Yet, as Squire’s observes, “Consolidation would obviously help to make profitability an easier journey because the 3G companies that might be able to buy into the 4G companies if they can meet the regulatory requirement [say, by listing subsidiaries on the Ghana stock market to reach the 30 per cent local

24 Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

Ghanaians are getting 4G for their devices

ownership rule] have a certain capital infrastructure that a 4G-based network could just latch one to.

“And that would definitely dramatically spread the cost across a larger subscriber base, and therefore the profitability chain is a shorter one,” Squires notes. He added, “As I said, that might be a possibility and my company believes it’s well placed to take the right decisions with a view to exactly what I’m talking about – attaining profitability.”

Investment is quite heavy in setting up a new telco. But there is one element of capital expenditure where initial costs might be cut, although there does seem to be some confusion as to what the regulator stipulated in its licensing rules. Some have interpreted the regulations as saying that the new 4G networks will need to build its own base station towers while others, like Squires, seem to think that tower sharing is to be permitted, even encouraged.

Squires puts it this way, “The only difference in establishing a new network today is there are a lot of towers around, and therefore tower sharing is the model that everybody is going for, Whilst tower sharing from a capital investment perspective reduces your costs, your operating expenses are high because you pay rentals for space on a monthly basis.

So from a capital investment perspective you have a breather, you have more profitability pressure because you have higher operating expenses from day one that you cannot amortize.”

Encouraging signs for local business Communications Africa/Afrique next spoke to an industry expert, who has been assessing the introduction of LTE, and analysing the third licencee, Goldkey Telecoms, a subsidiary of the CH Group that has a number of businesses in the oil and gas sector, real estate, agri business and telecoms. He first explained the Ghanaian government’s position regarding local

ownership, as he saw it, in this way.

He said, “I think there are a number of reasons. for government policy to encourage local content, and they had realised that all the successful incumbent telcos operating 3G networks were all owned by foreign entities, and a significant proportion of their earnings were being repatriated.

“What that has done is put a lot of pressure on the local currency, the Cedi, as companies bought up US dollars. If these 4G companies had significant Ghanaian ownership, as Goldkey Telecoms does, then at least they would know that the company would be retaining a certain percentage of those earnings in the local economy and help address the Cedi’s devaluation problems.”

But putting to him the same question I had posed to the companies I had already spoken to, I asked him about the viability of three 4G operators all serving the demands of the Ghanian market. He responded by saying: “What each one of them has to do is to be convince the consumer of the need to switch to 4G for data service rather than use existing 3G. I think that the company that is successful in doing that is likely to stay in business for a long time.

“They also need to decide on how to view the 4G license; I would suggest that they should look at it as a motorway where all sorts of different cars can ride on the road from one point to another. I don’t see the three companies competing with each other, at each others throats determined to get ahead, as being a particularly useful strategy; rather, if they see themselves as platforms, reaching the right network quality to enable different business and different consumers to use data communications for all their various reasons, this whole 4G exercise will be worthwhile and serve the country's interests as a whole." ✆

Stephen Williams

www.communicationsafrica.com

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INNOVATIONS

NFC

Future of cashless transactions Why South Africa has become a polarised market for mPOS deployment

OUTH AFRICA IS focused on driving financial inclusion with 75 per cent of its population now banked, up from 67 per cent in 2012 and beating the government target of 70 per cent. However, South Africa remains a country polarised between rural and urban with those in rural areas lacking access to banking services and places to use their payment cards. Indeed, 31 per cent of banked South Africans withdraw all their cash at once when they’ve been paid (Finmark Trust Research, 2013), as finding an ATM is difficult and the majority of merchants will only accept cash.

The value of mobile point of sale (mPOS) technology is that it allows commerce to take place where it usually cannot. Mobility allows merchants and businesses to take the till to the customer. mPOS, a technology usually associated with up-market boutiques in western countries, has a great deal of potential in South Africa. But, what is the application and how could mPOS benefit retailers, consumers, and the government, on both sides of the cultural divide?

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Queue busting to clienteling The growth of retail spending in South Africa slowed to a low of just 2.2 per cent YoY in February, down from 6.4 per cent in 2013, according to Statistics South Africa. As consumers continue to be conscious of their income and limited to locations where cards are accepted, mPOS has the potential to drive retail spending. mPOS enables large and medium sized retailers to offer better customer service. The payment function is usually integrated into a tablet which allows customer service agents to do everything from look up inventory in stock, to taking full payment, and reducing queue time in store. By having a wealth of information at their fingertips retail employees can more effectively up-sell and cross-sell, turning the point of sale into a point of interaction.

In western markets, we have seen mPOS gather traction quickly with several companies, including VeriFone, launching products successfully. In fact, ABI Research (2014) estimates that by 2019, the global mPOS market will grow fivefold to a total installed base of 51mn devices – representing 46 per cent of the total POS device segment.

As a result of its success, retailers in other markets including South Africa are planning to implement mPOS technology to enhance customer service and ultimately drive revenue. India, in particular, has seen a recent surge in the launch of mPOS terminals. With more than 300mn plastic cards in circulation in India, various mPOS start-ups are looking to enable card acceptance in undeveloped areas and take advantage of the potential revenue opportunities in a diverse market.

mPOS for financial inclusion South Africa’s social security system, SASSA, which facilitates the payment of social benefits electronically, is a key driver in growing the countries banked population. Only through a bank account and an associated card can users access their funds. This means that more consumers are now banked, and have payment cards.

Despite card ownership, cash is still prevalent. In rural areas mPOS could be the missing link to truly driving financial inclusion and removing the need for cash completely.

The current problem is that there is a lack of infrastructure. Merchants www.communicationsafrica.com

and small businesses simply do not have access to fixed line telephony services. As a result they cannot use traditional electronic points of sale.

This means that consumers who want to pay by card cannot do so, and are forced to use cash instead.

Putting payment cards in consumers’ hands is half the battle.

Ensuring they have places to use them is the other. Without payment acceptance, consumers will continue to rely on cash which is inefficient and insecure. Those at the bottom of the pyramid will continue to put cash under the mattress and be unable to save.

With telecom operators extending the mobile network infrastructure across Africa, mPOS technology could be the solution to enabling small/medium merchants in rural areas to take card payments. This potential is enhanced by the availability of devices that are rugged, have long battery life, and generally better equipped for rural life.

As the South African government moves to reduce the reliance on cash and the proportion of the population that has access to a bank account continues to rise, mPOS can alleviate the reliance on cash as a function of commerce and make life easier and simpler for both retailers and users.

mPOS – the future for retail in South Africa South Africa represents a unique opportunity for mPOS. The benefits of the technology for large retailers in urban environments are well publicised and largely understood. Unfortunately, the application in rural environments where the number of banked individuals is increasing rapidly is largely unknown and underappreciated.

As retail spending continues to drop and cash remains prevalent in rural environments, consumers, retailers, banks and the South African government can all benefit from the technology. However, it will require investment, marketing and education as part of a cooperative effort to explore the potential of mPOS to contribute to the economy as a whole. ✆ Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

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INNOVATIONS

Satellite

Connecting the continent better The challenges of satellite network operators in Africa, reducing the total cost of ownership while ensuring quality connections in any situation

HE ADVENT OF submarine cables into sub-Saharan Africa enabled stakeholders to connect the continent by fibre and to broaden the scope of connectivity opportunities in the region, while dropping down the costs of traffic delivery.

However, the increased number of submarine wires have not improved the throughput for end users in Africa dramatically. This reduced the price of the IP trunking channel only, making ISPs migrating from satellite to fibre. As for the rest of the communications infrastructure from backbone to end user, it remained unchanged. If you’d get deeper into the continent, outside capitals and big cities, you can rely on wireless technologies alone. The vast geography of Africa and poor infrastructure development has given satellite a chance to use its strength there.

Satellite is supplementing fibre and other terrestrial solutions by eliminating the bottleneck on the way of broadband connection to the end user – a channel between the remote site or village and the nearest fibre connection.

At the same time, the cost of satellite-based solutions has decreased. Invasion of fibre has ruined the business of traditional satellite operators, which used their transponders for large trunking circuits. Satellite operators were responding to the demand oversupply that existed four to five years ago. Since the satellite pre-launch period from design to IOT is approximately the same, we see the capacity oversupply as a result, when almost all global and regional satellite operators have got beams covering Africa. In addition to that, the price of the entry ticket to satellite industry has been reduced, so we see the rise of many national birds as well.

Such oversupply and increased fibre connectivity

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Satcom network TCO challenges

26 Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

lead to lower prices, which are now the lowest in Africa compared to other regions.

Rising demand for connectivity Oversupply always leads to price reduction and this is bad for satellite operators in the near future, but for service providers this is good news. For end user, its even better. It makes the service via satellite more affordable, leads to adoption of new technologies and increasing ICT development in African countries. According to World Bank research for developing countries, a 10 per cent rise in broadband penetration provides 1.5 per cent GDP growth. This means development of broadband Internet access stimulates economic growth and is not a result of it. Africa is one of the fastest Internet growing regions – it occupies second place after Asia with an annual economic growth of six per cent. At the same time, more than 300mn people live at least 50km from the nearest broadband connection point – this is a great opportunity for satellite.

Opportunities for satellite Satellite, having lost the trunking market, remains a primary tool for delivering traffic to remote regions and settlements. Besides that, reliability of newly wired submarine cables are far from target figures, due to numerous cuts and maintenance issues, and satellite is facing new opportunities to back up terrestrial networks. Another solid and traditional market for satellite are corporate networks. It is the satellite that allows to arrange a seamless communication channel to remote corporate site with minimum switching and shortest

deployment time. It also provides wide geographical coverage as well as very high availability, because satellite channel does not depend on the local terrestrial service providers. All this is still highly valued by enterprise customers. For oil and gas, and mining companies, which work predominantly inland or offshore, satellite connectivity is the only possible solution. This is because satellite alone can meet required service level agreements, which are set at a very high level in this industry, while other available terrestrial connections are not reliable.

In summary, satellite still has many important missions in Africa like back up for terrestrial channels, connecting remote areas and networks with high availability requirements.

There is also a strong trend in terminating traffic and installing VSAT hubs in Africa rather than in Europe. Now traffic does not need to go across continent to Europe for local connectivity. African traffic stays in Africa. That is why there are more requirements for coverage of a certain country from a teleport located in an African capital, rather than for a wide coverage of an entire continent from a European teleport. Another trend is combining the teleport and data centre facilities to provide managed services for cloud computing, outsourcing IT infrastructure and media content aggregation. This means that the business of satellite service provider is moving directly into Africa.

Satellite network – total cost of ownership Africa’s connectivity has been increased recently, driving up customer’s requirements.

They are different in quality, applications and geographical parameters. In current market conditions, a satellite service provider should be able to provide any kind of service and support multiple applications, while being profitable. So Africa needs cost effective solutions with minimum initial expenditures. A satellite network operator should combine equipment, technologies (terrestrial, wireless and satellite), various business models and satellite coverages, with an opportunity to provide multiple services to multiple customers. That is why a successful satellite service provider needs a flexible VSAT network with minimum Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), which can help him to win the competition over other satellite providers or www.communicationsafrica.com

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INNOVATIONS

Satellite

terrestrial wireless solutions.

Satellite network TCO is comprised of CapEx (VSAT equipment, teleport, NMS, OSS/BSS, installs) and OpEx (bandwidth, terrestrial backhaul, electricity, premises lease and etc.)

Costs at the customer’s site shall be also included (VSAT terminal and the cost of delivering it to the remote site, as logistics across Africa is a challenging issue).

When deploying a satellite network service, a provider shall be confident that such network can provide: • All satcom applications ranging from consumer broadband Internet access and simple circuits for remote sites, to complex solutions for back up, cellular backhaul and high-end enterprise. This allows to diversify revenue streams.

• All satellite network topologies (Star/Mesh/SCPC) and flexible switching between them. This allows to reduce CapEx. • Most advanced MODCODes ensuring most efficient use of satellite bandwidth available.

This reduces OpEx for satellite capacity.

• Various business models, including involvement of vendors and satellite operators in subsidising remotes, as the cost of user terminal is very price sensitive in Africa.

This allows to minimise CapEx at the start-up.

www.communicationsafrica.com

• Optimal coverage zones with maximum power over specific regions from satellites available in the market, and using right footprints and bands for right applications.

This allows to enhance competitive advantage and benefit from more efficient bandwidth usage.

• Maximum flexibility of remote equipment.

One modem for all feasible applications and remote upgrade of functionality, as modem replacement leads to additional time and cost spending. This allows to reduce CapEx.

Selecting the right satellite footprint It is very essential for VSAT operator to choose the right satellite capacity provider. Since the footprints of certain African countries differ, satellite service providers, teleport and VSAT operators work on many satellites simultaneously, in order to benefit from the best coverage of specific region. But not all footprints are equal, because it is impossible to cover entire Africa in C and Ku-bands with highest power levels. West Africa with Nigeria and oil-rich Guinea, East Africa with Kenya and Tanzania, as well as South Africa – the most solvent region. Besides, Angola is rich in oil and gas, DR Congo has a high demand for cellular backhaul and South Sudan – a new country with no terrestrial telecom infrastructure at all.

For each region, the difference in footprints matters. 2dB difference can reduce the total cost of ownership for the satellite network. This allows network operators to use smaller antennae, less powerful BUCs and provide higher throughput with better availability by using advanced MODCODs. This could squeeze more information from each hertz of satellite capacity. Finally, satellite connectivity is made more affordable for end users. A good example of such high power regionally focused beams are C- and Ku-band spot steerable beams of Express-AM7 satellite planned for launch to 40 in Q1 2015. Let’s use powerful spot steerable C and Ku band beams of Express-AM7 satellite as an example. This bird is planned for launch to 40E in Q1 2015 – ideal to operate in West Africa and South Africa, for supporting cellular backhaul, corporate VSAT and DTH applications, offshore communications, civil government, first responders, tele-medicine, distance learning and USO networks.

Careful planning as well as right choice of VSAT technology and satellite can provide African satellite network operator with a huge competitive advantage. That is why it is very important for service provider and satellite operator to find the right balance between the components mentioned above to minimise the TCO. ✆

Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

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BROADCAST

Digital Transmission Technology

No limits for future of broadcasting in Africa Satellite operator SES supports creative approaches to digital connectivity issues across the continent

HE DAWN OF digitalisation (or digital migration) will provide more and better opportunities for Africans to excel. Digital migration has the potential to increase stability across the continent through an increase in access to information for the general population. And, as television is a visual medium —even the illiterate are able to access it.

It will also provide further opportunities for locally produced content and content developers. The film industry in Africa is bound to grow and migration will mean that more local ‘African’ content is created. Not only will these developers have access to wider audiences but at the same time this may lead to new job opportunities. Indeed a recent KPMG study suggests that digitalisation will also positively impact GDP growth, unemployment rates and literacy levels.

Africa is filled with creative people who excel at finding solutions. Think of the stories you’ve read of people (often with little formal education) building windmills to electrify their village. Or, the teams who are building computers and tablets from scrap components.

However a key challenge to this growth remains the slow transition by many countries and the concerns around the digital migration deadline of June 2015 being missed. I believe this deadline is unachievable at current pace, unless extraordinary measures are taken soon.

What is needed is co-operation. If similar standards can be agreed upon by Africa countries, even regionally, this will help with the easy sharing of content. This, in turn, would translate into cost savings for both the countries and the end-users in terms of settop-boxes (STB).

There is a misconception that digital migration is expensive but we have a different take on this. For the past couple of years, SES has traversed the continent through our caravans or customer workshops

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Information and communications technology (ICT) is a blessing for the continent, according to SES 28 Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

SES is a world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of 55 geostationary satellites

to talk to stakeholders and government to demonstrate the power of satellite and how we have successfully assisted other countries to digitally migrate.

SES is dedicated to the African continent.

We have three regional offices with local teams in South Africa, Ghana and Ethiopia, as well as three teleport networks partners in Ghana, Nigeria and Djibouti. We also hold specialised training programmes for installers and broadcasters and bigger, knowledge-sharing workshops, designed to build local expertise in the media and broadcasting industry across the continent.

Top broadcasters in Africa are already partnering with SES to grow their audiences in Africa. With nine satellites over Africa, and another to launch in 2014, our satellite capacity brings new opportunities to connect customers, employees and TV audiences, enabling operators to deliver thousands of hours of the latest TV content every day.

To achieve the digital migration deadline, it will be very important to ensure that there are sufficient STBs and points of distribution in country. Countries should consider both formal and informal distribution channels and subsidisation of the STBs. I also think that non-urban areas need to be made a key focus for the roll out. People in these areas

will be limited in their ability to travel to main centres, and because of their remote location, they are the perfect beneficiaries of satellite technology. Focusing on converting these constituents — and positioning them as early adopters — will be important in obtaining the buy-in of the wider population.

Information and communications technology (ICT) is a blessing for the continent. One only has to look at the uptake of mobile — and how Africa has overtaken the rest of the world in terms of number of users (nearly one billion people and counting) — to see how easier access to television and radio will usher in a significant positive change.

Some of the best examples are taking place in Kenya and South Africa. There is significant growth in the number of bloggers — and those of them who are making this their career.

Improved access to internet infrastructure has meant that they are able to share their content with a wider audience and in turn help to inform and educate a wider population. The mobile phone will also become an even more valuable tool as it is used increasingly for TV, internet access and connecting Africans to each other and the world. ✆

Ibrahima Guimba-Saidou, SVP Africa, SES www.communicationsafrica.com

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BROADCAST

IPTV

Edge packaging: the future of OTT delivery How Edge packaging technology affords a route to sustainable broadcasting infrastructure

VER-THE-TOP' IN ITS modern context refers to the delivery of video, audio and related data over the Internet. Overthe-top streaming relates to the delivery of broadband video streams via the Internet to devices such as desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smart phones, smart television receivers and IP-compatible settop-boxes. Unlike traditional IPTV, this approach does not require a dedicated network or operator-specific infrastructure.

The content is transported as regular Internet data protocols and travels over the public Internet.

The launch of the Apple iPhone in 2007 was an important event in the popularisation of mobile television viewing. It is nowadays synonymous with the convergence of video infrastructures, spear-heading the proliferation of devices which allow television programmes to be enjoyed practically anywhere.

'O

Strategise to monetise From a television-industry perspective, Overthe-top (OTT) has become a central element for everyone involved in the business, including pay television operators, Internet service providers and content owners. Inbound OTT allows an operator’s subscribers to access an external service provided by third parties, with or without the operator’s blessing. Outbound OTT is a more recent phenomenon where content and service providers endeavour to make their own offering available as widely as possible, beyond the reach of their traditional distribution network. The technologies used for outbound streaming originating mainly from the web, also give greater reach to operators’ own services within subscriber homes.

Inbound streaming is becoming predominant as it allows operators to control and monetise

access to premium video content. Four key factors are influencing operators in their technical investment and deployment strategy: • The exploding number of viewing devices.

• Along with this growing number of devices, the increasing number of streaming protocols such as HLS, HDS, Smooth Streaming and MPEG Dash, each one in multiple versions.

• The exploding number of external infrastructure components such as content management systems to manage publication and digital rights management to protect content security.

• TV delinearisation. An increasing proportion of video content is scheduled and nPVR services (network personal video recording) will become a central part of the video service in the very near future.

Sustainable infrastructure Why has packaging become the key element which enables operators to deploy sustainable infrastructures and cost-efficient OTT strategies?

A packager is a software component that turns a pivot format into the desired OTT format at the origin server. It is inherently modular to cope with the multiplicity of encoders, CMS and DRMs with which it will co-exist. It affords modularity and flexibility to the infrastructure to support existing and future data distribution formats, as well as derivative versions.

Packagers have moved from the former position ahead of the origin server to being integrated with the origin server and more recently to being positioned after the origin server. The current trend that we have started seeing in 2014 is for the packager to move into the CDN. Packaging is performed on-the-fly as close as possible to the viewers for costefficient reasons; benchmarked data from an

Anevia client demonstrates a tenfold saving in OTT storage and bandwidth requirements.

Scalability is a key reason why edge processing is the future of OTT delivery.

Network operators set up the packager in their head-end, connected to the network core in order to deliver the content to devices.

Packaging operated in the edge gives them the flexibility required to scale up the service as the number of devices increases without any limitation from the existing infrastructure. The pivot format can be encrypted, packaged and transcoded on the fly. This is also the best way to guarantee the ability to handle new protocols as these arise in the future.

Edge packaging offers additional features such as session-based encryption and token authentification.

For session-based encryption, the edge servers encrypt video content with a key which is unique to device and each item of content.

Session-based encryption brings additional security necessary for premium and high quality content such as 4K or ultra HD videos.

Token authentification is an additional feature of edge processing to prevent DDoS attacks (Distributed Denial of service). The delivery of content is based on a token which authentifies the user and confirms to the edge serve that the user is valid. The attacks can be deflected before they compromise the entire network or even a single origin server, so that they cannot bring down the services supported.

Anevia has demonstrated the practicality and advantages of edge packaging as a basis for cost-efficient OTT delivery with customers such as Canal Plus and TrueVision. ✆

To read Anevia’s white paper on Edge packaging and OTT distribution, visit www.vnet.tv/edge-packaging-will-be-the-key-forguaranteed-live-ott-distribution-with-cdns.

Edge packaging supports operators’ efforts to ensure networks can serve subscriber populations more sustainably (Photo: Jim Sher)

www.communicationsafrica.com

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EQUIPMENT

Aeroflex’s new analog and digital radio test set THE 8800 RADIO test set from Aeroflex Incorporated is a high performance, economical radio test system for Analog AM and FM, digital P25, DMR, dPMR, NXDN, and ARIB T98 technologies. The 8800 is equipped with the industry’s largest touchscreen colour display, and a new hybrid The Aeroflex 8800 analog and digital radio test set portable design that provides bench-level test features while maintaining the low-weight, ruggedness, and 2.5 hour internal battery required for field testing. With a measurement range of -140 dBm to 500 W, the 8800 is a breakthrough in radio test technology.

Designed for maximum test efficiency, the 8800 allows multiple meters and analysis functions to be viewed simultaneously. The 8800 also introduces an all-new capability known as ‘fast stack’, which speeds access to meters and analysis functions by allowing meters and analysis functions to be stacked and then instantly accessed at the press of a button. Innovative features, such as user-configurable presets and frequency lists, as well as colour meters with graphical indicators for pass/fail results allow ultra-fast test of analog and digital radios by performing transmit and receive tests over multiple frequencies in just seconds.

CommVault’s Simpana sets feature automated cloud data management THE SIMPANA CLOUD management capabilities and Simpana Solution Sets have been designed by CommVault to transform how companies of all sizes protect, manage and maximise the value of business information amidst a rising tide of data and compliance requirements.

As enterprises deploy private and hybrid clouds to increase business agility, the new Simpana solution sets are designed to speed cloud adoption and data centre modernisation by delivering next-generation software innovations.

Supporting mobile productivity and improved self-service access, the Simpana Solution Sets help customers lower cost and reduce risk with enhanced data and information management for all leading cloud, hypervisor and storage platforms.

With its industry-leading support of the most cloud storage platforms, CommVault has added capabilities for Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure that include robust cloud reporting as well as end user self-service provisioning, recovery, software snapshots and virtual machine resource management.

“CommVault recognised the trend toward cloud computing very early on and has made significant investments in cloud computing over the past seven years. Today, we are the leading supplier for over 200 managed service and cloud providers,” said CommVault CEO Bob Hammer.

“Our extensive experience providing leading data and information management capabilities helps our customers as they transition to cloud-based and managed service-based environments. We make it easier and more cost effective for businesses to achieve data management, compliance and mobile computing objectives.”

Uniting the worlds of digital and analog KVM CHANGING GENERATIONS OF computer signals can lead to high follow-up costs. To guar-antee a long operating life of existing systems, G&D developed the Bridge function to bridge the gap between analog and digital worlds.

When extending and switching computer signals via KVM, the main focus is always on the video signal, the most critical component during transmission.

Transmission, however, de-pends on the video signal since high resolutions and crystal clear images without any laten-cies are extremely important.

In the world of computers, the analog video signal VGA has been playing a leading role for more than two decades. Any resolutions based on VGA were optimised for CRT displays. After the introduction of LCD displays, the analogue signal had to be converted into a digital signal.

Following VGA, the digital DVI signal didn't need to be converted and allows for much higher resolutions than VGA. Changing signal standards within the world of computers, however, can cause immensely high follow-up costs.

KVM outlives generations of signals Analogue KVM matrix systems from Guntermann & Drunck GmbH run over years, since they are known for being robust, solid and reliable. Therefore, it wouldn't be wise to replace the system while their return on investment is still active not to mention the effort required by a new installation. Yet, up-to-date, DVI-based computers must be integrated into KVM sys-tems.

Luckily, G&D products even survive changing generations of signals. To be able to continue using VGA-based KVM matrix systems and to integrate digital state-ofthe-art solutions, German KVM pioneers G&D now offers their customers the Bridge function. The function figuratively bridges the gap between and unites existing analogue and digital matrix systems.

Simplifying complicated switching The theoretical concept of the Bridge function is similar to setting up a cascade.

The analog matrix (CATCenter NEO) is integrated into the digital system (ControlCenter-Digital or DVICenter). A computer module with analog-to-digital

30 Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

G&D’s Bridge function unites analogue and digital worlds in one list

converter (VGA-CPU) integrates the CATCenter NEO's analog user module (UCON) into the digital matrix.

And as always G&D puts usability first. The logical connection between both systems saves the users from clicking through various different OSDs. Users don't even realise the physical and technical processes running in the background. They simply use their VGA computers in their digital working environment. The video signal becomes secondary. Every source is only one keypress away. All accessible computers are displayed in a clearly-arranged list so that users can focus on their actual work.

Advantages of the Bridge function In addition to accessing analogue and digital worlds with one single system, the Bridge func-tion offers further advantages for all affected:

www.communicationsafrica.com

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EQUIPMENT

Intelsat’s five decades of critical communications provision OVER 50 YEARS, Intelsat has provided critical telecommunications and video content distribution infrastructure for businesses, organisations and governments around the world. In honour of its anniversary, the company created a video library featuring 50 interviews with contributors to the earliest days of the commercial space sector, as well as the business leaders responsible for today’s innovations. The video gallery also includes the stories of Intelsat’s customers and employees who have witnessed firsthand the vital role of satellite communications in connecting the world.

"I can think of no better way to honour Intelsat’s 50th year and those early pioneers of space than by looking to the future and the advances that are taking place in space-based communications that will transform how people, machines, and businesses connect to one another," stated Dave McGlade, Chairman and CEO, Intelsat.

"The advent of high throughput satellite technology, such as Intelsat EpicNG, and innovation occurring at all levels of our ecosystem will ensure that communities and businesses around the world have the information and content they need to progress and thrive. That was our mission in 1964 and remains critically important at Intelsat today as we endeavor to connect people of the world."

Five decades of critical connectivity The International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) was established on the basis of agreements signed by governments and operating entities in August 1964. INTELSAT’s sole purpose was to provide the necessary communications infrastructure that would aid in the socioeconomic development of nations around the world.

Since then, Intelsat has played a crucial role in enabling the vast progression of telecommunications over the past half century. The company’s global satellite network has provided critical connectivity and content delivery that has transformed businesses, driven economic development and productivity and brought people

Intelsat’s IS-20 connects Sub-Saharan Africa

together during global events.

Since Intelsat’s global satellite broadcast of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon in 1969, Intelsat’s satellites have allowed the world to share in real time some of modern history’s most historic moments and iconic entertainment events. As important, Intelsat has served as the critical link for news organizations and humanitarian workers by providing near-instant communications infrastructure during times of crisis.

50 years, 50 satellites, and millions of people connected by satellite communications, Intelsat remains the world’s leading provider of satellite communications. The company's commitment to innovation, its customers and ensuring that businesses and people wherever they are around the world have access to content and connectivity that will enable them to thrive and grow continues to be at the core of Intelsat’s success.

Digigram’s new low-latency, high-density LX-MADI PCIe sound card POSITIONED AT THE convergence of professional audio and video with IT, Digigram offers IP-based solutions that enable users worldwide to increase their competitiveness through change. The company's products enable the reliable capture, production and delivery of high-quality audio and video over IP networks.

Its innovative IP audio codecs, professional sound cards, and audio processing software are used by thousands of journalists, broadcasters, and audio engineers worldwide. Digigram's all-IP video product line provides advanced contribution and distribution solutions to broadcast, IPTV, Web TV, and OTT operators. The company also delivers key audio/video technologies and OEM solutions to software vendors and manufacturers.

Featured at Digigram’s showcase at IBC 2014 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the new LX-MADI PCI Express (PCIe) sound card is the latest addition to the company's range of sound cards engineered for broadcast applications.

Digigram designed this card to provide radio and television broadcasters with low-latency performance and reliable multichannel synchronous audio PC connectivity in high-density audio production and automation applications.

"With the new LX-MADI PCIe card, users can establish a high permanence-of-service bridge between the PC-based content management world

www.communicationsafrica.com

of digital audio workstations and automation systems and the legacy synchronous audio world based on AES10 standard multichannel audio digital interface (MADI)," said Pascal Malgouyard, head of product marketing at Digigram.

"This approach simplifies the systems required to support key broadcast processes while ensuring the continued quality and reliability of audio signals."

Equipped with an optical MADI interface, Digigram's new LX-MADI PCIe sound card supports a 64/64 I/O channel count with low roundtrip latency down to three milliseconds.

An embedded 64x64 matrix gives users routing and direct monitoring capabilities, along with record and play functions. Because the LX-MADI PCIe sound card is a hardware solution, it offers high stability regardless of the computational load presented by other applications running on the host system, The LX-MADI PCIe sound card such as editing, processing, ingest, and playout.

The new Digigram LX-MADI PCIe sound card will be shipping by the end of 2014.

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A compact Windows tablet for business FUJITSU HAS DEVELOPED a new tablet, the Arrows Tab Q335/K, an easy-tohold and operate eight-inch Windows tablet for enterprise customers. The new model is planned to be rolled out in stages worldwide from October 2014.

Compact and lightweight, the Arrows Tab Q335/K, eight-inch tablet, is ideal for business use as it comes with the latest Intel Atom processor Z3735F and the latest Windows 8.1 Pro operating system. While being portable, it can also come with Microsoft Office as an option enabling users to read documents or create materials on the go.

Fujitsu’S Arrows Tab Q335/K

Erwin Visser, general manager, Windows & Windows Phone Commercial Marketing, said, "Microsoft welcomes Fujitsu's new 8-inch tablet into the global business market. Designed for Windows 8.1 Pro, it's a great fit for business customers looking for a thin, light-weight device that can also allow them to be incredibly productive. Fujitsu is also a global Microsoft partner in the systems integration space, and an early adopter of our Project Siena (Beta) app, a tool that allows for easy and rapid modern app development for Windows. We are thrilled that Fujitsu is leveraging the power of Siena-based SI solutions to further enhance the value of its new eight-inch tablet."

Vizrt showcases new control room system and studio multiscreen tool THE CENTREPIECE OF the IBC showcase by Vizrt, a new control room tool combines the digital content production tools provider ’s graphics, video and studio automation capabilities.

Vizrt’s latest version of the powerful Viz Mosart studio automation system includes tools for directors to access content instantly from any source and output to any location, making easy on-the-fly decisions in an automated control room. The latest version includes a new GUI that is touch-friendly, while a new rundown view shows all items as buttons and can be sent to preview, on air or to a video wall.

A new interface to organise active rundowns has been added as well as a new audio file player. Video wall control with Viz Multiplay Vizrt also offers Viz Multiplay, a system that gives broadcasters an easy way of controlling studio screens and video walls. Viz Multiplay is capable of controlling many Viz Engines at once, giving broadcasters unlimited flexibility for studio screen configurations. Viz Engine is one of today’s most powerful rendering engines and real-time compositors of graphics and video. It renders animated 2D and 3D scenes in real-time, producing high-end animations in SD, HD and 4k. Viz Engine is the rendering and compositing platform Vizrt products, including Viz Trio, Viz Pilot, Viz Weather, Viz Virtual Studio and many others control for live broadcasts, preview and IP streaming.

Globalstar equips FindMySheep with transmitters for satellite-based tracking M2M ANIMAL TRACKING firm FindMySheep AS has purchased 12,000 Globalstar STXII simplex transmitters and associated data services for its revolutionary animal tracking collars.

Findmysheep is also involved in trials where the collar is used to monitor cattle in Brazil and endangered species in North Africa.

FindMySheep chose Globalstar’s widely deployed M2M STXII chipset for its size, ruggedness, good battery life, ease of integration and competitive price point. The company is also trialing Globalstar’s new STXIII chipset, which is a third of the size of the STXII and delivers the lowest power consumption in the M2M industry.

FindMySheep plans to migrate to the STXIII chipset, which will result in a more sleek design, in time for the 2015 grazing season.

FindMySheep’s tracking collar uses Globalstar’s satellite network to geo-fence livestock, helping farmers find animals that are close to the edge of a designated area or have escaped. It also gives farmers the opportunity to take a more informed and proactive approach to herding so that they lose fewer animals to predators. When it is apparent that a sheep has not moved in some

32 Communications Africa Issue 5 2014

Globalstar satellite M2M tracking endangered species N Africa

time, the farmer is now able to send herders to the exact location of the animal, saving valuable time and resources.

Farmers deploying the collars have already experienced a significant reduction in the number of animals lost to illness or predators, which has a direct impact on their income.

Over time, the FindMySheep system provides a data trail - based on tracking where the animals that produced the best quality meat were grazing - which can be used to determine the best grazing areas for future years.

“With each animal worth hundreds or even

thousands of Euros, losing livestock to predators, or through illness, not only affects that year’s revenue, but can also have a profound impact on the quality of a farmer’s breeding foundation for years to come,” said Halvor Mjoen, FindMySheep’s founder.

“Globalstar’s simplex transmitters and unrivalled satellite network make it possible to offer farmers an affordable and reliable livestock tracking solution that makes it easy to keep tabs on their animals during the grazing season in areas where there is little or no cellphone coverage.”

www.communicationsafrica.com

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ÉQUIPEMENT

L'optimisation des coûts de distribution avec Commissions de CallidusCloud MOBINIL, UN OPÉRATEUR de télécommunications majeur en Égypte, a choisi Commissions de CallidusCloud pour optimiser les rémunérations incitatives sur l’ensemble de son réseau de distributeurs. « Commissions de CallidusCloud est le leader du marché pour tous les fournisseurs de télécommunications en Égypte, en Europe, au Moyen-Orient, en Afrique et dans le monde », a déclaré Paul Cooper, vice-président des ventes pour la région EMEA. « Mobinil se joint à une liste croissante de fournisseurs de télécommunications qui bénéficient des avantages d'une solution qui non seulement réduit le coût de l'indemnisation, mais utilise également la rémunération incitative comme un outil pour générer d’importantes augmentations des revenus, grâce à des commissions claires et précises ».

Commissions de CallidusCloud permet aux entreprises de déployer des programmes de mesures incitatives et de commissions ciblés pour dynamiser les ventes. Cela offre aux entreprises la

Commissions de CallidusCloud permet aux entreprises de déployer des programmes de mesures incitatives et de commissions ciblés pour dynamiser les ventes

possibilité d'automatiser le calcul et le paiement des commissions sur les ventes internes et externes. Avec de vastes capacités de modélisation et d'analyse, la solution fournit une vision claire des performances des programmes en cours, ainsi que des prévisions très précises sur les performances futures. Les opérations de vente et les finances bénéficient d’importantes économies de temps et de coûts, tandis que les équipes de vente bénéficient de paiements de commissions plus rapides, plus précis et plus transparents.

Callidus Software Inc est société connue commercialement des logiciels d’optimisation des ventes et du marketing. CallidusCloud permet aux entreprises d’accélérer et de maximiser leur processus de conversion de prospects en opportunités commerciales, grâce à sa suite complète de solutions qui identifient les prospects idéaux, assurent une distribution géographique efficace et quantitative, outillent les forces de vente, automatisent l’élaboration des devis et des offres et simplifient la rémunération des ventes, ce qui se traduit par la réalisation de ventes plus conséquentes, plus rapidement.

Plus de 2 500 grandes entreprises, dans tous les secteurs d’activité, s'appuient sur CallidusCloud pour optimiser leurs processus financiers afin de conclure davantage de contrats pour plus de gains en un temps record.

SES fournit des services de télévision directe par satellite dans des pays de l’Afriquede l’Ouest SES A SIGNÉ un contrat pluriannuel avec une plate-forme gérée par un consortium de diffuseurs d’Afrique de l’Ouest basé à Lomé et dirigé par Africable et Media Plus, visant à fournir des services de télévision directe par satellite dans les pays francophones d’Afrique sub-saharienne.

Le contrat, portant sur deux répéteurs, permettra à la nouvelle plateforme de proposer la télévision directe par satellite depuis son téléport de Bamako à destination des pays membres de l'Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine (UEMOA). Le déploiement débutera le 1er octobre 2014 au Mali, au Burkina Faso, en Côte d'Ivoire et au Niger.

SES fournira la capacité satellitaire sur son satellite SES-4 situé à 22 degrés Ouest, le principal créneau orbital de la société pour l’Afrique francophone sub-saharienne, procurant une pénétration de 100 % dans les zones urbaines comme non-urbaines.

SES fournira la capacité satellitaire sur son satellite SES-4 situé à 22 degrés Ouest

SES dispose au total de plus de 50 satellites au niveau mondial, dont neuf couvrant l’Afrique. De ce fait, nous sommes bien positionnés pour accroître le choix de chaînes de diffusion pour les communautés locales Le service offrira un bouquet de 80 chaînes, en clair et cryptées, et aidera les pays membres à respecter la date limite générale de migration vers le numérique fixée à juin 2015. Les téléspectateurs pourront à la fois se connecter aux réseaux nationaux existants de télévision numérique terrestre et recevoir des contenus par satellite en utilisant un récepteur à double tuner (MPEG4 et DVBS2/T2) inclus dans l’offre. « En tant qu’opérateur satellitaire mondial, SES est bien positionné pour faciliter la migration vers le numérique, en particulier en Afrique où

www.communicationsafrica.com

les difficultés géographiques sont importantes pour les diffuseurs », a déclaré Ibrahima Guimba-Saidou, vice-président directeur de SES pour l’Afrique. « SES dispose au total de plus de 50 satellites au niveau mondial, dont neuf couvrant l’Afrique. De ce fait, nous sommes bien positionnés pour accroître le choix de chaînes de diffusion pour les communautés locales. » Ismaïla Sidibé, PDG d’Africable, a affirmé : « Notre slogan est 'Right to TV' (Le droit à la télévision). Avec plus de 20 années d’expérience en tant que l’un des principaux opérateurs radio et de câblodistribution (MMDS) et fournisseurs de contenu en Afrique, nous comprenons l’importance de soutenir la migration vers le numérique sur le continent afin de toucher 100 % du public. Notre objectif est de proposer une télévision de qualité à l'ensemble de la population pour un coût abordable, et nous pensons que la technologie de la télévision directe par satellite peut nous aider à y parvenir. »

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ÉQUIPEMENT

Toshiba lance une carte mémoire SDHC avec communications LAN sans fil intégrées

Limelight Networks répond aux attentes des clients de radiodiffusion de StreamOn

L’ENTREPRISE SEMI-CONDUCTEUR de Toshiba Corporation a lancé des ventes de cartes mémoire SDHC avec communications LAN sans fil intégrées pour les fournisseurs de solution tiers.

Toshiba Corporation, une société de Fortune Global 500, canalise dans cinq domaines d’affaires stratégiques ses capacités de niveau mondial en produits et systèmes électroniques et électriques de pointe : Énergie et infrastructure, Solutions à l’intention de la collectivité, Systèmes et services de soins de santé, Appareils et composants électroniques, et enfin Produits et services « mode de vie ».

STREAMON AVAIT MIS en service Limelight Orchestrate, la plateforme de diffusion de contenu et de stockage dans le Cloud de Limelight Networks, Inc. StreamOn, une entreprise basée à Edmonton, au Canada, fournit aux radiodiffuseurs les outils et la technologie leur permettant d'étendre leur audience en ligne par le biais des médias sociaux. Cette entreprise de streaming audio en direct utilisera la plateforme Orchestrate pour permettre à ses clients de diffuser en streaming des émissions audio avec temps de latence faible sur les serveurs de StreamOn. « StreamOn répond aux besoins d'un ensemble exigeant de radiodiffuseurs du monde entier. Même la plus légère baisse de performance ou de disponibilité peut affecter la réputation et l'image de marque d'une station », a déclaré Kirby Wadsworth, directeur du marketing chez Limelight.

Le dispositif de StreamOn exige une connectivité fiable pour ses stations de radio clientes, au nombre de plus de 300 dans le monde. Le service Listen Later de StreamOn permet aux stations de radio de répondre aux besoins des audiences du streaming en direct et aussi à la demande, avec pour conséquence des possibilités de revenus supplémentaires et de nouvelles exigences pour une diffusion de contenu harmonieuse. « Notre streaming en ligne doit être de « qualité FM » – toute autre solution est simplement inacceptable. Il n'est pas acceptable non plus que nos clients de radiodiffusion soient mis hors ligne, aussi fallait-il que nous soyons assurés que la solution que nous avons retenue soit hautement fiable », a déclaré Andrew Snook, directeur de la technologie chez StreamOn.

Ce nouveau produit, le THNSW008GAAB(QB6), a la même composition matérielle que « FlashAir » Au cœur d’un réseau mondial Fondée à Tokyo en 1875, Toshiba se situe au cœur d’un réseau mondial de plus de 590 sociétés consolidées employant plus de 200 000 personnes à travers le monde, avec des ventes annuelles dépassant les 6,5 billions de yens (63 milliards USD).

Ce nouveau produit, le THNSW008GAA-B(QB6) a la même composition matérielle que « FlashAir », la carte mémoire SDHC avec communications LAN sans fil intégrées, actuellement disponibles sur le marché de la consommation.

Dans la mesure où la carte elle-même dispose des fonctions LAN sans fil intégrées et serveur Web, son insertion dans une fente pour carte mémoire SDHC ajoute des fonctions sans fil à différents appareils.

Il n’y a pas d’étiquette ou de marquage au recto pour que les fournisseurs de solutions puissent concevoir librement l’étiquette, tandis que le verso est imprimé avec les informations de certification sans fil des États-Unis, du Canada, de l’Europe et du Japon.

En ce moment, la carte est disponible en Afrique du Sud. Pour vendre la carte dans des pays, territoires ou régions où l’utilisation n’est pas certifiée, les fournisseurs de solutions doivent faire une demande de certification.

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