Africa Telecoms - Issue 15

issue 15

Satellite & Fibre in aFrica

thought leadership interview

Scott Sprague,

ZAR 29.95 us$ 3.50 uk£ 2.25 Eu€ 2.95 Rest of Africa us$ 2.95

Senior Vice President of Global Sales,

SeS World Skies

REGULARS regulars

CONTENTS

22 04 Guest Editorial

ISSUE 15

Thought Leadership

An exclusive interview with Scott Sprague, Senior Vice President - Global Sales, SES World Skies.

Jon Osler, Managing Director of Intelsat’s African Sales

06 News

The latest local and global telecoms news.

18 Gadgets

Want the next big thing in portable devices? Our gadget review is here to help you choose.

32 Statistics

Africa Telecoms presents statistics and data relating to the African telecoms market.

40 Calendar

Upcoming events, shows and conferences which you can’t afford to miss.

2 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

34 Satellite

and Fibre in Africa Comment by Dimitri Diliani, Head of Nokia Siemens Networks, Africa Region.

44 Enhanced

Fibre-Optic Connectivity Could transform how operators compete in Africa.

Case Study: 54 Vodacom Helps

issue 15

Satellite & Fibre in aFrica

eTutor SA Achieve 100% Pass Rate For Maths.

thought leadership interview

Scott Sprague,

ZAR 29.95 us$ 3.50 uk£ 2.25 Eu€ 2.95 Rest of Africa us$ 2.95

Senior Vice President of Global Sales,

SeS World Skies

FOR AFRICA TELECOMS

62

To Skype or Not To Skype...

Steven Ambrose discusses Microsoft’s decision to purchase the company.

50 Q&A

with Jabulani Dhliwayo, Director of Marketing Development, Corning.

70 Job Listing 66 Satellites: Connecting Africa to the World. Mike van den Bergh discusses the progress and new technologies available.

A list of the latest telecoms positions from across Africa.

72 Last Word

The Birds are Coming, and They’re None Too Pleased.

Executive Editor Mohammed Khan mkhan@3ipublishing.co.za Managing Editor Bradley Shaw bshaw@3ipublishing.co.za Sales Director Sarah Theron stheron@3ipublishing.co.za Sales Manager Thuli Mdletshe nmdletshe@3ipublishing.co.za Design Team: Hayley Davis hdavis@3ipublishing.co.za Gretha Hanekom ghanekom@3ipublishing.co.za Sub-Editor Niki Sampson Printing Tandym Press Contributors: Bradley Shaw, Brett Haggard, Mike van den Bergh, Steven Ambrose, Dimitri Diliani, Mike Last, Mohammed Khan.

Africa Telecoms and Africa Telecoms Online are published by: 3i Publishing Unit 9 & 10, Planet Art 2, 32 Jamieson Street, Cape Town 8001 T: +27 21 426 5590 E: info@3ipublishing.co.za www.3ipublishing.co.za www.africatelecomsonline.com

BPA Audited Average Qualified Circulation from Nov 10 – Jan 11, 9989 per edition.

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 3

Guest Editorial

Jon Osler

Managing Director of Intelsat’s African Sales

The Vital Role of Satellite in Growing the Hybrid African Network Africa has been one of the fastest growing regions for fixed satellite services in recent years, fuelled by demand for critical infrastructure from communications providers and television programmers. Satellite provides the ability to reach almost anywhere, linking the most remote parts of the continent to major centres where fibre may be available, via an affordable and reliable communication infrastructure that is easy to install and maintain. Considering Africa’s size and population, opportunities to expand mobile, data and DTH services are enormous.

The tremendous growth rate of telecommunications across Africa means that the complementarity of satellite and fibre connectivity is essential to meet the existing demand and ensure greater reach, diverse routing and continuity of service.

Satellites can do anything that fibre can, with the ability to provide it anywhere on a reliable basis. Satellite networks are extremely predictable, allowing constant and uniform quality of service to thousands of locations, regardless of geography.

Unlike most terrestrial alternatives, satellite networks can be rolled out quickly to multiple locations, connecting cities with remote areas across a large landmass where terrestrial fibre is insufficient or non-existent.

Intelsat was the first to introduce satellite-enabled services to Africa in 1965. As demand for data and voice services grew, Intelsat also was the first to provide satellite-enabled, panregional broadband networks, and to offer wireless operators a backhaul solution to extend their cellular networks.

Meeting Africa’s demand for advanced connectivity and a reliable, high-quality service will require satellite and fibre providers to work together and offer hybrid service delivery models that ensure continuity of service during fibre service interruptions. Reliable, redundant and diverse routing options to terrestrial services is essential for critical business operations, and the combination of satellite and fibre offers

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users the ultimate redundant solution.

Satellite is immune to natural disasters and accidents such as the cutting of in-ground cables that can interrupt service. This makes satellite service a perfect backup solution for networks that demand uninterrupted, quality service. A great example of satellite’s strength to provide critical backup was witnessed in Nigeria, when Nigeria’s SAT3 submarine cable system suffered a cut on one of its landing cables which connects the interior grid with the international undersea line. One of Nigeria’s primary Internet Service Providers immediately switched operations to its backup satellite service, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity for customers.

Recent examples of satellite’s critical role in business continuity also can be found in Japan and Haiti.

After devastating earthquakes struck these countries, telecommunication companies were able to restore and connect voice and video services within 24 hours thanks to their use of satellite communications for redundancy.

Overall, mobile penetration in Africa is still less than 55% and fibre connectivity is limited to the urban population areas. That translates into huge business opportunities for both network operators and backhaul connectivity providers.

Limited access to financial services also provides creative growth opportunities to use mobile handsets in non-traditional ways.

Because of its design and functionality, satellite-based connectivity is a viable economic solution for extending and adding diverse reliability to any connection. Although the cost of satellite backhaul rises when bandwidth is increased, satellite remains a cost-effective solution when properly engineered to transmit voice and broadband data.

Intelsat is uniquely positioned to form alliances with the fibre operators to deliver satellite hybrid services to this demanding and growing marketplace. Intelsat delivers services to nearly 60 mobile telecom operators in more than 40 countries; representing 64% of the region’s subscribers.

Working together, satellite and fibre operators will play a pivotal role in answering the continent’s demand for reliable data services that will fuel economic and societal growth in homes, offices and schools. AT

news

ACER LAUNCH ICONIA A500 TAB & W500 HYBRID TABLET/PC

In the first of the new wave of tablet competitors for Apple’s iPad, Acer Group have launched the Iconia A500 tab and W500 hybrid tablet/pc.

The new Acer ICONIA A500, sports a 10.1-inch tablet designed to maximize content enjoyment, providing the same rich multimedia, gaming and Web experience you can enjoy on your home PC with the added user-friendliness of multi-touch technology.

Sleek, smart and full of innovative features, the A500 is equipped with the latest, highly intuitive Google Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” operating system, the new version of the Android platform specifically optimized for tablets, combined with Acer UI to reach a whole new level of interactivity. The A500 is the first device launch using the Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” OS. Designed for rich multimedia entertainment, this tablet comes with a high resolution, high colour contrast 10.1” display with wide viewing angle providing higher colour accuracy for better visuals from different perspective, allowing users to play or share HD video with friends on the go. Complete with a built-in HDMI port and 1080p output, it may also be used to enjoy HD content in full HD on a big screen TV or monitor.

The 10.1” full capacitive multi-touch screen ensures an optimal on-screen experience from every angle. Aluminum casing provides a cool look and feel, while its high gloss finish anodizing decorated with laser engraved textures demonstrates subtle sophistication. And despite being just 13.3mm thick, it’s powerful enough to provide fun and productivity in any location.

One of the tablet’s most impressive features is its ability to run and play premium HD arcade games and complex online 3D games, thanks to the multi-touch screen and gyro meter control, which guarantees an entertainment experience on par with the best game consoles.

The Acer ICONIA TAB A500 is equipped with the dual-core NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2,

the first mobile dual core CPU, that delivers up to two time faster browsing, for the best web experience ever, and amazing graphics, for optimized HD viewing, 3D and console-quality gaming, and multimedia playback anywhere thanks to the ultra-low power (ULP) NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU with Flash 10.1 support.

What’s more you can relish movies, photos and more on your big screen TV in full HD glory thanks to 1080p HD video playback.

The ICONIA W500 TAB, combines the best of two worlds: a tablet and the PC. The W500 brings together the user-friendliness of the tablet with the familiarity of the PC, letting users enjoy the greatest entertainment or be productive, creating a bridge between the worlds of entertainment and productivity.

The W500 is a 10.1-inch multi-touch screen tablet that is complemented by a full-size chiclet docking keyboard that doubles as a docking station providing optimal ergonomics and extended connectivity; plus it features the Acer FineTrack™ pointing device with two buttons for convenient navigation, an Ethernet port for fast Internet connections, and a USB port for external devices.

This is the beauty of having a multi-touch screen tablet that seamlessly transforms into a PC simply by docking it!

Running on Windows 7 OS, Acer ICONIA TAB is equipped with AMD C-50 processor and AMD Radeon™ HD6250 graphics, for excellent visuals and gaming. Easy communication is a given with the ICONIA TAB W500, thanks to multiple connectivity options including Wi-Fi, 3G (on selected models) or Bluetooth® 3.0. To top it off, the dual, back and front, Acer Crystal Eye 1.3MP webcam, not only allows you to engage in video chats or video calls with your friends, it also enables you to record HD videos and share them on Facebook or YouTube. AT

>> Vodacom has written down its Nigerian Gateway operation by a further R1.5 billion, after the unit underperformed, having already impaired it by R3.2 billion in the previous financial year. >> Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS

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UK SUPERFAST BROADBAND FACES SETBACK Britain’s ambitions to have the best superfast broadband in Europe have been hit by a double blow over the past six months according to leading broadband analysts Point Topic. The roll-out of next-generation broadband technology by BT and alternative networks has lagged a long way behind plans and take-up of the services where they are available has been sluggish.

Research by Point Topic shows that its “Broadband Infrastructure Index”, an overall measure of broadband coverage and prospects, has actually gone backwards, falling from 55% to 53% in the period. Meanwhile the number of customers signing up for superfast broadband has been below target in many areas.

Point Topic believes that BT will catch up on its plans over the next year or two and forecasts that superfast broadband will be available to twothirds of all the homes and businesses in the UK by the end of 2015. But the forecast for superfast broadband lines in use by then has been cut from 8.8m to 6.7m. (These figures are for superfast broadband over existing telephone networks or new fibre ones. They do not include superfast services over Virgin Media’s cable network.)

Tim Johnson, Chief Analyst at Point Topic, suggests that in these circumstances community initiatives to provide better broadband can play a very important role. He said: “Alternative networks are finding the going quite hard at the moment. They’re in danger of being sidelined

by BT and the big ISPs. But these initiatives could play a vital part in creating demand for superfast broadband to the great benefit of local communities.”

The reasons for the setback are clear. BT’s rollout of next-generation access services (“superfast broadband”) reached only 182 exchanges by the end of 2010 rather than the 343 which had been projected. Fibrecity’s ambitious plans to provide Bournemouth and Dundee with fibre-to-thepremises (FTTP) collapsed. Many more firmly-founded alternative networks (altnets) cut back on their own roll-out plans, faced with the economic realities of providing superfast broadband.

At the same time, experience with actual demand where services are available, or likely to be, showed the huge potential importance of community initiatives for raising interest in superfast broadband. The “Race to Infinity” competition, where people could vote to get BT’s superfast broadband in their area, got an excellent response where there was a strong community campaign but little or nothing elsewhere. Six exchange areas got a 100% vote for having superfast, and a handful more over 60%, but this was a tiny proportion of the thousands of exchange areas concerned.

The same experience is being repeated in BT exchange areas where superfast services are already available. In areas where there is special interest for some reason, take-up is high. In many more the level is rather disappointing.

“This shows the key role which community initiatives have to play in getting the UK wired up to superfast broadband,” Mr Johnson added.

“Even if they never get to build an independent network they can prod BT into taking action and make them offer cheaper solutions. But it may be even more important that they turn people on to the benefits of superfast broadband, and get them interested and using it.” AT

>> The Drifta decoder for DStv mobile is set to receive a BlackBerry application, but development has been delayed. >>

8 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

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SAMSUNG - BUILT FOR AFRICA Samsung demonstrates commitment to the continent during Africa Forum 2011 Samsung has shown its continued commitment to Africa by holding an African Forum 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The company hopes to grow the African market size to that of China by 2015. Samsung Electronics Africa’s President, Mr. K.K. Park, disclosed that as part of the firm’s continental growth strategy, Samsung will be focusing on Africa’s top 10 economies, which together generate 79% of the continent’s wealth and house almost 47% of the population. “Our aim is to promote co-operation, innovation and the exchange of new ideas in technology so that our products and technologies continue to respond to the real needs and conditions of the continent,” he added.

And the company has done just that.

Samsung have undertaken extensive research and development (R&D) to develop technology innovations, specific to the African consumers’ needs. These include, TVs with built in power surge protectors, triple protector technology for air conditioners to ensure durability, power surge protection and safeguarding against high temperatures and humidity, deep foam washing machines that are 70% energy efficient - saving up to 30% water use, dura-cool refrigerators with cool pack - allowing the refrigerators to stay cool without power, as well as dual-sim technology and long battery life phones with battery standby times of up to 25 days.

Such technology innovation has been developed over time as not only has Samsung dispatched Korean Headquarter resources in Africa to fully understand the continent and its people, but also has African Country

MDs to ensure local flavour and insight is added into every element of the company’s operations in Africa.

“In line with our key value of co-prosperity, coupled with our Business and development sector partnerships, we have a vision of developing technology that is built in Africa, for Africa, by Africa and as such, we will over the next few years be allocating more local R&D investment for further local product planning, design and development,” added George Ferreira, COO of Samsung Electronics SA. Samsung demonstrated their commitment to this vision when they teamed up with the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa and Strathmore University in Kenya this year to develop unique mobile phone applications that will satisfy the needs of people living in Africa.

“Samsung has a large Pan African investment in Corporate Social Responsibility programs as we are focused on developing young African leaders through sustainable skills development and employability programs.

Africa has indeed developed a vast appetite for the latest electronics, and this is being fuelled in part by the rapid roll out of more affordable broadband connections – opening up a plethora of opportunities for Samsung, its partners and of course, the nation itself.

We are using this opportunity to inspire new directions and provide the technologies and gadgets that Africa requires. It’s about listening to the market, building partnerships and really committing to Africa and its people,” concludes Mr K.K Park. AT

>> 2.8% growth in African Mobile Ad Impressions in first 3 Months of 2011 says InMobi. Over 3.6 billion Mobile Advertising Impressions a Month in Africa on InMobi’s Network Alone. >> 10 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

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LEADING ANALYST PREDICTS ROBUST GROWTH IN SATELLITE BROADCASTING BUSINESS AT NEWTEC SEMINAR Satellite industry leaders and Newtec experts brief delegates at a twoday seminar in Miami Speaking at a Newtec-hosted seminar in Miami, Susan Irwin, President of Euroconsult USA, predicted robust growth in emerging markets for satellite broadcasting in the next decade.

“By 2019 we expect an additional 10,000 television channels will be

delivered via satellite, largely thanks to growth in HD and additional DTH platforms,” said Irwin during her presentation to the industry experts. “Digital TV will continue to grow and there will be a need for affordable offerings and low cost business models, especially in emerging markets where there is significant growth potential,” Irwin concluded.

During the seminar, Newtec, a global leader in broadcast and telecoms solutions for the satellite industry, presented alongside other experts on a variety of subjects focused on keeping satellite services profitable, ranging from telecoms & IP trunking to business decision-making in the broadcast industry.

Serge Van Herck, CEO of Newtec, said the company hosted the twoday event to share best practices and to help in their efforts to develop technologies and products that make a real difference in the way broadcasters, telecom companies, ISPs and others use satellite communications.

“This is the fourth in a series of successful seminars. We were presenting new technologies developed by Newtec but delegates did not experience a sales pitch or an advanced technical training course,” Van Herck said. “Our intention has been to explain how technologies have helped other customers to increase their business and reduce their costs. This has, for the last 25 years, been Newtec’s main objective.”

In addition to Euroconsult; WTA, Intelsat, GlobeCast, TV2GO, Northern Sky Research, and the Kativik Regional Government were among the organisations speaking. AT

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 11

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Asia Broadcast Satellite Completes US$215m Bank Loan Financing Kingsbridge Ltd, the holding company of Asia Broadcast Satellite’s (“ABS”) group of operating companies, announced today that it has successfully closed a US$215m five year senior bank loan from a financial consortium comprising Goldman Sachs, HSBC, ING, Société Générale and Standard Chartered Bank.

The financing will be used to fully fund the capital expenditure program for ABS-2, a state-of-the-art high powered satellite to be launched at 75°E in 2013, as well as to provide funds for future strategic initiatives and acquisitions.

Founded in 2006 by CEO Thomas Choi, ABS is one of the fastest growing fixed satellite services operators in the world. It supplies bandwidth connectivity to broadcasting and telecom customers, serving over 80 customers in around 30 countries. ABS’ prime orbital locations cover 80% of the world’s population, targeting high growth markets in Asia, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. It currently has five satellites in the fleet and ABS-2 satellite in the pipeline.

Thomas Choi, Founder and CEO of Asia Broadcast Satellite, said: “The financing has been completed at a highly attractive structure and terms for ABS. It is a strong endorsement of both the current performance and growth potential at ABS. The banks involved represent a strong mix of global, European and regional banks with significant satellite experience, providing an excellent match with ABS’ global footprint. This injection of capital will also enable ABS to further strengthen its service offering to existing and new clients.”

Richard Sanders, Partner and Head of TMT at Permira and Director on the ABS board, added: “Since the Permira funds invested in ABS in November 2010, we have worked with Tom Choi and his team to bring together this financing. The financing was completed at an extremely favorable single digit interest cost and is a resounding endorsement of the group’s future growth strategy.” AT

INTERSEC RAISES EUR 4 MILLION WITH INNOVACOM, VENTURE CAPITAL SUBSIDIARY OF FRANCE TELECOMORANGE, AND CM-CIC CAPITAL INNOVATION Intersec, the French software editor providing value-added services platforms to mobile operators announced an investment of 4 million Euros from Innovacom (venture capital of France Telecom Orange group) and CM-CIC Capital Innovation.

This investment is made to accelerate Intersec’s international expansion particularly with the opening of several representations abroad on 5 continents.

According to Yann Chevalier, CEO of Intersec, “[T]his investment is a new statement of trust from the market after the investment of SFR Developpement last year. We are going global as our customers are now located all around the world and it is now time that we open representations abroad! Of course, Africa will be a major territory for us to set up a subsidiary. Our objective is to be closer to our clients, and having a regional presence will help us acquire new ones! The market evolves at a very fast pace and a local representation of Intersec appears as a necessity to acquire a real insight of the African market. As we want to continue developing new innovative services for emerging markets, this footprint will help us understand better the mobile issues of the future!

Intersec, created in 2004, has been continuously growing and enriching its portfolio with exclusive solutions for mobile operators (loyalty, messaging and location-based solutions). AT

>> Bharti Airtel reported a worse-than-expected 31% dive in quarterly net profit. >>

12 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

news BPC BANKING TECHNOLOGIES SELECTED BY AFRILAND FIRST BANK FOR E-PAYMENTS INFRASTRUCTURE First implementations in Cameroon and Switzerland Banking Technologies, the leading provider of Open System e-payment solutions for the global financial industry, announced that it has inked a deal to implement its award winning SmartVista suite as a new e-payments platform for Afriland First Bank Group.

The first implementations are taking place in Cameroon and at the Group’s head office in Geneva, Switzerland. The Bank, which currently issues domestic debit cards and an i-card payment product (an electronic purse based on chip card technology) has begun to migrate its payment business to SmartVista. Thanks to the flexibility, scalability and configurability of SmartVista the Group will be able to broaden its range of card products for domestic and international payments, increase the security of transactions, enhance the management of its ATM network, and develop value added services like loyalty programs. In Cameroon, Afriland First Bank will be issuing Visa and MasterCard products and BPC will support the Bank in its certification with these international payment schemes.

A key component in the Bank’s new infrastructure is the creation of a central switch in the Group head office in Geneva, Switzerland. The implementation of SmartSwitch, one of the core products in the SmartVista suite will drive on-line transaction switching and routing for the Afriland Group. The Group’s Cameroon operation will be the first to be connected to the Geneva switch.

SmartSwitch manages the complete end-to-end requirements of authorization switching by delivering the core areas of

functionality including authorization routing and stand-in processing. SmartSwitch provides an online interface to link external devices, such as POS terminals or ATMs, then routes card transaction data to the issuer. SmartSwitch is developed to empower the card business by increasing efficiency and product innovation while significantly reducing TCO. “We made an important strategic decision for our card business to create a new state-of-the-art infrastructure based on SmartVista,” said Jean Paulin Fonkoua Kake, Executive Vice President Afriland First Bank Group. “SmartVista is a powerful comprehensive e-payments processing solution that will allow us to transform our card business and enhance our market competitiveness”.

“We are proud to have been selected to provide Afriland First Bank Group’s payment system infrastructure. We are enjoying a growing reputation and market share globally for major projects such as this. Our success is built on world beating technology coupled with a strong focus on customer delivery and support,” commented Vasily Grigoriev, CEO, BPC Banking Technologies.

“MEA is an exciting market evidenced by dynamic growth in e-payments business. SmartVista represents a compelling solution for the continent’s financial services industry and our win with the Afriland First Bank Group underscores our ability to create a complete e-payments infrastructure across diverse markets,” added Daryl Berg, Managing Director MEA BPC Banking Technologies. AT

>> VOD:TV is being launched in South Africa by telecoms entrepreneur Oscar Dube through his company SouthTel Group which will launch on the 1 September 2011. >> Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 13

news NEW MTN GHANA CEO CALLS ON PRESIDENT MILLS The Metropolitan Telecommunications Network (MTN) Ghana, on Monday said it would continue to work with the Government of Ghana and participate fully in relevant policy and legislative issues.

It is also poised to improve standard of living in its host communities through the MTN Ghana Foundation and investment in telecommunication technology.

Mr Michael Ikpoki, the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, announced the drive when he paid a courtesy call on President John Evans Atta Mills at the Government House, in Osu, Accra, on Monday to formally introduce himself to the President.

Until his new appointment, Mr Ikpoki was the Sales and Distribution Executive for MTN Nigeria, having risen through the ranks since 2001, starting with the position of Regulatory Advisor.

According to the CEO of MTN, the company presently has an investment of over one billion dollars in Ghana, and had recently installed a $90 million sea fibre optic in Accra to link Ghana to Europe and the Americas.

The MTN Ghana is also engaged in international job rotations for its Ghanaian staff, and has over 120,000 points of selling MTN products.

Mr Ikpoki said the MTN would also continue with its social responsibility programmes. President Mills assured the company that Government would continue to provide the enabling environment for the growth of business and investment. He urged business entities to reciprocate the gesture of government by operating within the country’s laws and pay their taxes.

President Mills assured investors of good returns on their investment, adding Government would cooperate with them for the success of their businesses. AT

MICROSOFT TO ACQUIRE SKYPE Microsoft Corp. and Skype Global S.à r.l have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype, the leading Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype.

The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination will extend Skype’s world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services.

With 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010, Skype has been a pioneer in creating rich, meaningful connections among friends, families and business colleagues globally.

Microsoft has a long-standing focus and investment in realtime communications across its various platforms, including Lync (which saw 30 percent revenue growth in Q3), Outlook, Messenger, Hotmail and Xbox LIVE. Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.

“Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”

Skype will become a new business division within Microsoft, and Skype CEO Tony Bates will assume the title of president of the Microsoft Skype Division, reporting directly to Ballmer.

“Microsoft and Skype share the vision of bringing software innovation and

>> Microsoft had agreed to buy Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion (R60bn) in cash to acquire the most popular internet calling service and its 663 million customers. >> 14 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

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products to our customers,” said Tony Bates. “Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype’s plans to extend our global community and introduce new ways for everyone to communicate and collaborate,” Bates said.

“Tony Bates has a great track record as a leader and will strengthen the Microsoft management team. I’m looking forward to Skype’s talented global workforce bringing its insights, ideas and experience to Microsoft,” Ballmer said.

Speaking on behalf of the investor group that sold Skype to Microsoft, Egon Durban, managing director of Silver Lake, said: “We are thrilled with Skype’s transformation during the period of our ownership and grateful for the extraordinary commitment of its management team and employees. We are excited about Skype’s long-term future with Microsoft, as it is poised to become one of the world’s most dynamic and comprehensive communications platforms.”

Founded in 2003, Skype was acquired by eBay in September 2005, and then acquired by an investment group led by Silver Lake in November 2009. Skype has made impressive progress over the past 18 months under Silver Lake’s leadership, increasing monthly calling minutes by 150 percent, developing new revenue streams and strategic partnerships, acquiring the intellectual property powering its peer-to-peer network, and recruiting an outstanding senior management team.

Other members of the selling investor group led by Silver Lake include eBay International AG, CPP Investment Board, Joltid Limited in partnership with Europlay Capital Advisors; and Andreessen Horowitz.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The parties hope to obtain all required regulatory clearances during the course of this calendar year. AT

Y1A ON ITS WAY TO ORBIT Yahsat’s Y1A has successfully launched from the European Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

“I would like to express my pride and gratitude during this moment of achievement,” said Jassem Mohamed Al Zaabi, CEO of Yahsat and Executive Director of Mubadala Information, Communications and Technology. “This success is the direct result of the unwavering vision, dedication and hard work of our leadership, Mubadala, the UAE Armed Forces and the entire Yahsat team. As a result of this work, we have not only stepped into space, but taken a significant stride in driving economic diversification and progress with our partners across the UAE.” Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, Chairman of Yahsat and Chief Operating Officer of Mubadala Development Company, said: “The launch of Y1A is hugely important for Mubadala and Abu Dhabi.

Satellite communications are an integral component in establishing the world-class information and communication infrastructure that will support the continued economic diversification of the Emirate.

The successful launch of Y1A is a tremendous step forward in delivering an advanced technology and communications offering based here in Abu Dhabi.”

Y1A will undertook a series of maneuvers before arriving at its final point of operation, 52.5 degrees east, above the UAE. After arriving in position, control of the satellite has been managed by a team of UAEnational satellite engineers based out of the Yahsat control station in Al Falah, Abu Dhabi.

Yahsat is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, the Abu Dhabi-based investment and development company.

Yahsat has commissioned two satellites to create regionally-focused capacity to manage the expanding requirements for government, commercial and consumer satellite communication services. AT

>> The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced plans to deploy mobile SIM Registration Units to major markets, motor parks and other public places that attract high volumes of human traffic. >> Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 15

news SIERRA LEONE RURAL ACCESS GAP STUDY TO HELP PROMOTE INVESTMENT IN RURAL CONNECTIVITY The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation’s (CTO) has presented the results of a Rural ICT Access Gap Study to the management of the Sierra Leone ICT regulator NATCOM and a number of key stakeholders, including the country’s mobile and fixed line operators.

The Rural ICT Access Gap Study was initiated in October, 2011, when NATCOM contracted the CTO and its partner David Townsend Associates, to develop an Access Gap Model to enable it to understand what ICT Access Gaps exist in the country and the level of investment required to fill them. Ultimately, NATCOM and Sierra Leone’s Universal Access Development Fund (UDAF) hope to use the findings of the Rural ICT Access Gap Study to catalyse the necessary investment and achieve Universal Access. The presentation in Freetown was made by the CTO’s Research and Consultancy Division.

In addition to identifying those gaps that are likely to require public-private partnerships to fill them, possibly using funds from UDAF, the study identified the market gaps, those underserved areas that will provide Sierra Leone’s ICT operators with commercially profitable and sustainable markets. The use of the model will facilitate more focused investment by the private sector who may have been unaware that particular underserved or unserved areas were profitable.

The Model was developed using data from a range of sources including NATCOM, other government agencies, and Sierra Leone’s ICT operators. Over the next four weeks, the CTO team will refine the Model before passing it to NATCOM. Speaking at end of the Mission, the CTO’s Programme Manager, Mr. Kojo Boakye said: “I am pleased NATCOM and Sierra Leone’s operators, including Africell, Airtel, Conium and Sierratel, have commended our team on its work. The Model should stimulate the private sector’s investment, as

well as the development of public private partnerships between Sierra Leone’s Universal Access Development Fund and those operators who want to invest in those areas within the country’s Access Gap.” Throughout the project the CTO has focused on ensuring that NATCOM develops the Human Capacity that will enable it to update and use the model in future. The Mission gave the team the opportunity to train key NATCOM staff so the Commission can use the model to monitor and identify the country’s Market and Access Gaps in the years and months ahead.

Speaking after the final consultation between ICT operators, NATCOM and the CTO, Ms Michala Mackay, Head of Legal and Licensing at NATCOM, and co-ordinator for conduct of the study, said, “We are extremely pleased with the results of this consultancy project. The use of the model will contribute towards NATCOM’s continuing development of an enabled environment that

will help all Sierra Leoneans gain the benefits of affordable ICT access. It will also provide the new Universal Access Development Fund (UDAF) with the necessary information to make effective decisions about where best to disburse its resources in order to close our country’s Access Gaps. The management of NATCOM and UADF is committed to taking an evidenced based approach to our work, and this model will help us do that”.

After the model is refined and passed to NATCOM, along with a final report and User Manual, the CTO team will develop the policy recommendations and institutional requirements that will enable NATCOM to optimise the use of the Access Gap Model and its findings. AT

>> Big-screen devices (laptops, netbooks and tablets) lag behind with 554 million connections by 2015. >>

16 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

news

Epson EH-DM3 Projector

H Uncool HH Poor HHH Average HHHH Excellent

>>

>>

Gadgets

HHHHH Awesome

Olympus XZ-1

Rating: HHHH PRICE: R 7 000

Rating: HHHH PRICE: R 5 400

The Lowdown: Home theatre projector, HDMI input, Up to 300-inch display Home projectors offer really good value, nowadays. Back when CRT television sets were cheap a projector was a luxury, but with prices dropping and tech advancing it makes sense to consider a home theatre projector for occasional use.

Epson’s EH-DM3, an entry-level home theatre projector that offers 540P resolution – not quite HD, but a bit better than the standard DVD resolution. The native resolution has a proper widescreen aspect ratio, so no scaling and loss of picture quality will occur here.

That said, it will happily take input sources from 1080P devices, including gaming consoles and Blu-ray players. Those sources are scaled properly, and if displayed on a high-gain projection screen the relatively underpowered lamp will not struggle in a room that isn’t perfectly dark.

Quiet operation is also essential, and while the DM3 isn’t ghostly silent, you won’t hear it over the sound in your movies or games.

Despite having fans that run so quietly, it still manages to boast an instant-off function (where most other projectors need a cool-down period). The DM3 won’t be a replacement for your 60-inch LCD TV, but if you want a big display for the entertainment room, to watch some live sports, this will be ideal.

The Lowdown: 10-megapixel photos, f/1.8 low-light lens, HD video recording Powerful point-and-shoot cameras don’t always have to be those that have terrible photo quality in low light or lack adjustable options.

Point in case: the Olympus XZ-1. This is a premium pocket camera with a few nifty tricks up its sleeve.

The first of those is its impressive f/1.8 lens, endowing it with two advantages. Firstly, a low aperture number means a bigger lens opening, so photos taken in less-than-optimal lighting conditions stand a better chance of coming out with less blur.

Secondly, photos taken in normal lighting with a large aperture have a better depth of field – that effect with the background is all blurry but the subject remains in crisp focus.

Pics from the 10-megapixel sensor are remarkably crisp, too. Picture quality is better, in general, than some snaps taken with pocket cameras that have 14- or 16-megapixel sensors.

One of the other impressive features on the Olympus is its Art modes. These are presets that apply certain effects to photos, saving a lot of Photoshop processing.

Art modes do tend to take a lot of processing power, though, so the camera becomes sluggish to use and can drain the battery in half the time – so use it sparingly.

18 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

Gadgets

Africa Telecoms is always in the know when it comes to the hottest gadgets and devices.

>>

>>

Mede8er MED-200X

HTC Flyer Tablet

Rating: HHH PRICE: R 1 000

Rating: HHHH PRICE: R 6 400

The Lowdown: Multimedia player, HDMI output, USB connections Mede8er is a local brand of media player, and it’s seen enormous success abroad. The MED500X player was its first offering, with powerful media playback options and an internal hard drive for storage.

The MED200X, though, lacks an internal hard drive and a network connection, too. In fact, it’s a pared-down version of its bigger brother with a bargain price for those people who already have a bunch of media files on external hard drives.

To that end, the MED200X has two USB ports, along with the obligatory HDMI output and analogue video outputs for connecting it to most TV sets out there.

It played any file format we threw at it, and if there’s something it won’t play there guys at Mede8er are constantly working on adding support for new file formats.

We’ll be honest, though: the lack of network functionality does mean it suffers when compared to players that are only slightly more expensive. But unless you’re going to take advantage of web streaming (such as YouTube or online radio) it isn’t an essential feature to have.

The Lowdown: Magic Pen input, Android 2.3, 7-inch display It was only a matter of time before HTC named its horse in the tablet race – after all, the company has a huge selection of touchbased Android phones, and the HTC Sense user interface could easily be customised for some swish usability on larger displays.

Thankfully, HTC hasn’t disappointed. Sense comes into its own on the Flyer’s 7-inch capacitive display. Not content with just fingerbased touch usability, there’s also a Magic Pen stylus that brings a whole new dimension to accurate, handwritten note taking. It’s also helped along by the high resolution for such a display: 1024 x 600.

Everything looks sexy, but it’s also responsive. The 1.5GHz singlecore processor does an admirable job of keeping things, err, flying, and the 1GB of RAM is definitely welcome.

It might only be running Android 2.3 at the moment – and everything works beautifully as is – but there are plans to have the Flyer running on the tablet-optimised Android 3.0 some time in the near future. There are some premium apps bundled with the Flyer, too. Some are optimised for its Magic Pen stylus, and others are just plain useful as they are.

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 19

Crumpler iPad Hard Suit

H Uncool HH Poor HHH Average HHHH Excellent

HHHHH Awesome

>>

>>

Gadgets

Logitech C310 HD Webcam

Rating: HH PRICE: R 500

Rating: HHH PRICE: R 400

The Lowdown: Fits either iPad or iPad 2, Carry handle, Sturdy panels to prevent damage If you’re passionate about keeping your tech in pristine condition, Crumpler makes a whole bunch of accessories that’ll let you keep it in scratch-free condition. One such protective case is its Hard Suit line, which also features an iPad carrycase.

Now most of the bags Crumpler bags we’ve seen are heavy duty, yet practical. Sadly, the iPad Hard Suit isn’t quite as versatile as the other bags bearing the big C label. It’s designed for an iPad, and that alone. No extras, such as chargers or sync cables. Those will have to be left behind, or in a laptop bag. Thankfully the iPad does have an excellent battery.

For all its protective glory the Hard Suit takes up nearly as much space as three iPads stacked, or roughly the volume of a large novel.

This kinda negates the portability of Apple’s device. Crumpler did add a carry handle to the Hard Suit, but it’s a bit comical carrying around what looks like a miniature briefcase.

Ultimately, you’ll probably be better off with one of those slip-on covers or leather folios.

The Lowdown: High-def video chatting, USB 2.0 interface, Support for Skype and Logitech Vid HD Logitech’s been making webcams since the mid-90s, so it’s no surprise to see it with something new in the era of high-definition video conferencing.

Skype has had high-def video chatting for a while now, but it’s not the only player in town. Logitech also has a video chat service, simply called Vid, and support for high-definition video has been announced for both Windows and Mac users.

Image quality from the C310 is good in high-def mode. It only supports 720P, though to be honest, most Internet connections barely have enough throughput for this, nevermind 1080P. Used in standard-definition mode (on older video chat services) there’s still a remarkable increase in image quality when compared to integrated webcams on notebooks, or older devices from a few years ago.

Of course, Logitech’s driver software includes a few fun video filters that let you modify the background of your video feed, or even add props to the scene – great fun if the kids use it to keep in touch with friends and family.

20 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

Gadgets

Africa Telecoms is always in the know when it comes to the hottest gadgets and devices.

>>

>>

Canon EOS 1100D

Bacup Charger

Rating: HHHH PRICE: R 4 500

Rating: HHH PRICE: R 600

The Lowdown: Entry-level dSLR, 12-megapixel photos, HD video.

The latest entry-level dSLR from Canon is here to replace the 1000D. It betters it in every way – such as a higher megapixel sensor - while making it significantly better in others (see: inclusion of HD video recording).

It’s well priced, too. Canon hopes that the 1100D will attract more users who are looking at moving away from powerful point-andshoot cameras by getting their hands dirty with something a bit more versatile. The 1100D has fully adjustable settings in manual mode, as you’d expect, but there are also assisted scene modes so that firsttimers don’t get lost in the complexity.

It does use the sensor from an older EOS 400-series camera, but picture quality is still miles ahead of anything you’ll see on a pocket camera. The body is really affordable and the kit lens is passable, but once you start buying more expensive glass you’ll be investing in equipment that can be used with any of the more expensive SLRs from Canon. So once you grow into this one, you don’t need to spend nearly as much as you think when you do eventually upgrade.

The Lowdown: Back up phone information, USB interface, Built-in battery If you’re a smartphone owner it’s safe to say that you’ve found yourself in a situation where the mobile device that runs your life has disappointed you with its dismal battery performance. Android devices, iPhones and BlackBerries are not immune to the battery boogeyman, but help is at hand.

The Bacup Charger is a nifty universal charger with a built in battery. So even if you’re not near a plug point to accommodate one of its interchangeable adapters, it’ll still have some juice to keep your phone going. The interface is universal: as long as you have a USB power cable for your mobile device you’ll be able to draw power.

That’s only one half of the story, though. The USB port also serves to back up address book information from your phone onto the charger’s built-in memory. It can store between 600 and 1200 fullydetailed contacts (with email, address, multiple phone numbers and so on), or roughly 2000 – 4000 regular address book entries. There’s a large (and growing) list of compatible devices, but most mainstream phones are supported.

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 21

thought leadership

Scott Sprague, Senior Vice President of Global Sales at SES World Skies 22 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

thought leadership

Satellite’s here to stay

By Brett Haggard

With the wealth of fibre optic cabling being laid along Africa’s coastline and the array of projects underway to connect landlocked countries to cables such as SEACOM, EASSY and WACS, you’d be forgiven for predicting a swift departure of the satellite communications services that have connected Africa to the rest of the world for so long.

However, in reality, satellite technology isn’t going anywhere. As fibre becomes a more prolific part of Africa’s infrastructural landscape, so the usage model for satellite will merely change.

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 23

thought leadership

F

ibre’s cheap … well, cheaper than satellite. And with all the fibre being laid – both undersea and at a local level – satellite will soon be on its way out.

Right? Wrong!

Scott Sprague, Senior Vice President of Global Sales at SES says that today satellite is still an intrinsic part of the communications infrastructure of countries in the developing world, regardless of how much fibre they have in the ground.

The difference is, where those countries classically relied on satellite for point-to-point communications, now fibre – a far more cost effective way of providing point-to-point connectivity – is the favoured technology.

And satellite has moved onto other applications.

“When I joined SES 10 years ago, fibre connectivity was making its way into the Indian market and the same predictions surfaced,” Sprague explains.

“Instead of satellite disappearing however, the business model changed from one that was focused on point-topoint applications, to one that favoured point-to-multipoint applications.

“Fast forward to today and we’re doing more satellite business in India than ever. The only difference is the business model,” he says.

Sprague believes the same will be true in Africa over the

24 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

coming decade.

After all, it’s no secret that fibre cabling is more competitive on a cost per megabyte, point-to-point basis.

And similarly, nothing competes with the cost efficiency satellite can offer in point-to-multipoint applications, such as Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) and Direct-toHome TV. But, when you’re faced with an expensive solution versus no solution at all, the expensive solution is better than nothing. And with a dearth of better options on the connectivity front, satellite has been somewhat of a godsend for Africa.

Perfect for failover

Aside from satellite beginning to take on a role that’s more centred on point-to-multipoint applications, Sprague says that satellite will continue to be a valuable failover for fibre connectivity.

“Because it’s not quite as reliant on other infrastructure (such as electricity supply) as fibre optic networks are, satellite tends to be more reliable,” Sprague says.

“And this in turn makes it a perfect backup solution for a fibre backbone,” he says.

A great example of this in practice, Sprague says, is French Polynesia where satellite technology was

thought leadership

Direct-to-HOME TV

Looking at the future, Sprague says there’s very little that’s capable of competing with satellite when one considers an entire continent like Africa can be covered with a single beam.

“It’s easy to deploy, cost effective to manage and above all, reliable,” he says.

And this is the primary reason Sprague says that SES currently has six customers in the Direct-to-Home TV space today.

“While they’re still in the early stages of their development, there’s interest in increasing the number of Direct-to-Home TV services available within both regional markets and the pan-African market,” he says.

And one of the most interesting changes this has effected in the market as a whole, Sprague says, is the amount of TV content being developed in Africa, and being consumed in Africa.

“Three or four years ago, Africa was pulling the vast majority of its content from other parts of the world. Now there’s a wealth of content being developed on the continent, for consumption on the continent,” he says.

26 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

“

Three or four years ago, Africa was pulling the vast majority of its content from other parts of the world. Now there’s a wealth of content being developed on the continent, for consumption on the continent

“

traditionally favoured because of its ability to connect all of the islands together.

“When a large fibre cable was run to the main island, there wasn’t any real need for the satellite to stay in service, but instead of it going away completely, the satellite technology was kept around as a failover,” he says.

“And considering a failure in the fibre cable results in all communications being interrupted, the satellite has been used from time to time,” he adds.

E SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBS UBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIB SCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE IBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZ GAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE NE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMSPHONE MAGAZINE SUBS s on: UBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCR country focuse ng.c o. z SUBSCRIBE ya en TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINEKSUBSCRIBE li s h i a ub p a d n uga SS IN, LE E TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO RIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE IR W T et h io p ia WaLLETS OU MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGA AGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZIN MAil BSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE .c o .z a/su li n e TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO RIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE bs T N on E IL S E H T N E TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE UTIO TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AF OLAFRICA RE VTO O AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRIC hen E lop StepTO AZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TELECOMS N O K Ia click MAGAZINE S CE O, AFRICA NE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUB 152011 TELECOMS MAGAZINE AZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE e code:AFRICA referencTO **Please quote NE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUB SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSC BSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIB OMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MA S MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGA RICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TE A TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELEC • The first fully integrated monthly publication aimed at ELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOM all stakeholders within the African ITC environment.

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RIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO The site is updated daily and features all the latest news TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFRICA TELECOMS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE TO AFR on the African Telecoms landscape.

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4

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issue 14

thought leadership And history shows that this is only the start.

As more consumers get their hands on the technology and devices begin making their way into the hands of the man in the street, this will scale upwards at a blistering pace.

Banking, rural telcos and more

Outside of entertainment, Sprague says SES looks after a number of banking institutions throughout Africa that rely heavily on the star configuration of their multipoint network when it comes to providing the backbone for very data intensive applications.

“Here we use satellite as the main mechanism for pushing and pulling large volumes of banking data from branches,” he says.

The same applies when it comes to enabling rural telco networks for villages throughout Africa.

Satellite provides an asymmetrical link, so it’s perfect for applications, such as browsing the Internet and downloading media, since the requests for the download are small but the downloads are exponentially bigger.

Sprague says that there’s also strong opportunity for

satellite when it comes to providing services to mobile telcos, especially if one considers the strong push underway for triple-play offerings in Africa.

“Mobile telcos are looking at hybrid networks that consist of both terrestrial and satellite infrastructure in providing for their customers,” he says.

“Also, this is often not just about companies that exist inside Africa,” he adds.

“In many cases we’re engaging with service providers outside of Africa – most commonly, from India and China – that are looking to take advantage of market dynamics here,” he says.

Still a fibre competitor

Satellite’s better suitability to point-to-multipoint doesn’t mean it’s completely out of the ballpark when it comes to point-to-point applications, however.

SES’s work with O3b Networks and its fleet of low orbiting satellites makes satellite a strong competitor to fibre.

O3b’s focus on a specific geographical area and the fact that coverage can be easily moved or reconfigured

“

Add to that the fact that some geographic regions and their harsh terrain just don’t lend themselves well to the rollout of fibre and it’s clear that low orbiting satellites have an important role to play

“

28 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

thought leadership as needs dictate makes it far more versatile than fibre.

“Add to that the fact that some geographic regions and their harsh terrain just don’t lend themselves well to the rollout of fibre and it’s clear that low orbiting satellites have an important role to play,” he says.

Sprague says the challenge for satellite operators is to keep costs as attractive as possible, while simultaneously replacing their assets often enough for reliability to be maintained.

“It’s a balancing act,” he says.

Onwards and upwards

Sprague says that SES sees a bright future for satellite on the African continent and out of the six launches it has scheduled for this year, two will be dedicated to Africa.

That will increase the number of satellites it has servicing Africa from seven to nine, on the backdrop of a current fleet that consists of 44 satellites in 30 orbital locations and will consist of 50 satellites by the end of this year.

30 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

At the end of 2011, 18% of SES’s satellite fleet will be dedicated to servicing the African market.

Outside of putting new satellite capacity in the sky, Sprague says that SES is increasing its focus on the ground too. It plans to add offices in East and South Central Africa to its office in South Africa over the course of the year.

“In reality, Africa consists of 52 very interesting and different markets with varying demands and opportunities,” he says.

“We are increasing our on-the-ground presence so it can understand these dynamics and stay close to our customers’ needs. We believe in understanding our target markets and that too many multinational companies have made the mistake of managing all of the countries within Africa in the same way. There’s a ton of opportunity for companies that are able to adapt to changing market conditions and assist their customers in their endeavors for growth.

We’re aiming to be one the companies at the core of that phenomenon,” Sprague concludes. AT

africa telecom stats The purpose of this page is to give readers of Africa Telecoms a brief overview as to the growth and statistics related to the Telecoms and ICT markets in Africa. What we will be doing on an annual basis is relooking at the statistics, this way over time Africa Telecoms will have a basis for tracking developments and growth in the Africa Market. Each Edition of Africa Telecoms will be focused on a specific area. This month we are focusing on predominantly the Satellite and Fibre sectors in Africa, to

this end we have tried to include a range of Backhaul related statistics relevant to the African Market I trust that you will find this information of value and interest, should you have comments on this page or statistics that you think would be relevant that we have not included (or that you have access to and would be of interest to our readership) the Africa Telecoms team would appreciate an e-mail to bshaw@3ipublishing.co.za

Global Mobile vs. desktop internet user projection, 2007-2015E

Morgan Stanley Research

2 000

Internet Users (MM)

1 600 1 200 800 mobile internet users 400 0

desktop internet users

2007E

2008E

2009E

2010E

2011E

2012E

2013E

2014E

2015E

construction cost of new submarine cables entering service by region, 2010-2012 Frost & Sullivan

Africa Asia europe Europe-asia latin america and caribbean mediterranean middle east oceania trans-atlantic trans-pacific $ 0.0

$ 0.5

$ i.0

$ 1.5

$ 2.0

construction costs (usd billions) 32 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

$ 2.5

$ 3.0

africa telecom stats comparison of reach between submarine and terrestrial fibre networks, sub-saharan africa % Popn 10-km % Popn 25-km % Popn 50-km

Popn 10-km

Popn 25-km

Popn 50-km

1.8 %

4.4 %

5.9 %

15,228,657

37,435,945

49,784,793

2.5 %

5.5 %

7.2 %

20,776,374

46,635,420

61,250,237

15.6 %

30.8 %

47.7 %

131,230,412

259,327,721

401,057,432

18.4 %

37.2 %

57.9 %

155,168,393

313,280,142

486,944,473

23.2 %

46.1 %

69.9 %

194,941,499

388,137,052

588,314,854

Submarine Cable Landing Point Operational Submarine Cable Landing Point Planned Terrestrial Fibre Node Operational Terrestrial Fibre Node Under Construction Terrestrial Fibre Node Planned or Proposed

Hamilton Research

net increase in ild and skype traffic, 2005-2012 annual growth (billions of minutes)

number of mobile voip users (m) 2010-2012 by 8 key regions Juniper Research

120

Telegeography

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2005

2006

2007

International Phone Traffic

2008

2010

2009

International Skype-to-Skype

mobile payment users by region 2009-2010 forecast 70

0 2011

2012

60

AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST REST OF ASIA PACIFIC INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT FAR EAST & CHINA

50

users (m)

2010

2010 (forecasts)

30 20

WESTERN EUROPE

10

NORTH AMERICA

2009

40

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

LATIN AMERICA

Telegeography

0 ASIA PACIFIC

FMFA

LATIN AMERICA

WESTERN EUROPE

NORTH AMERICA

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 33

Satellite

34 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

and Fibre in Africa Comment by Dimitri Diliani, Head of Nokia Siemens Networks, Africa Region

A

s global economies continue to recover from the worldwide recession of 2008 and 2009, with a number of developed economies still struggling, the emerging economies of the world have shown the strongest growth, especially in Africa.

One area where this is most evident is the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector. This sector is a key socio-economic driver, as it has a huge beneficial impact on social and economic development and contributes significantly to GDP growth. The vast investment going into fixed-line and wireless communication technologies in Africa, South America and parts of Asia is helping to open up these economies and accelerate growth and development more rapidly than in developed nations.

These trends are clearly illustrated in the annual Connectivity Scorecard study commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks and conducted by Professor Leonard Waverman, Dean of the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary in Canada, in conjunction with the economic consulting group LECG. The Connectivity Scorecard is the first study to rank 50 countries around the world in terms of useful connectivity: that is, the extent to which governments, businesses and consumers make use of ICT to enhance a country’s social and economic prosperity.

The study groups economies into two separate indexes, to account for differences in the level of their development. The indexes rank economies according to the World Economic Forum’s definition of innovation, resource and efficiencydriven economies. Developed economies, which are driven largely by the intersection of technological innovation, globalisation and deregulation, fall into the innovation-driven economy index; developing and emerging economies are classified as resource and efficiencydriven economies, and are grouped together for the purpose of the study.

The scores are determined by the measurement of a series of indicators for each country in two areas –infrastructure and usage, plus skills – in the categories of business, government and consumer markets. Individual weightings are allocated to each sub-category of the country, with a larger weighting applied to business, since it is a key contributor to productivity growth.

The Connectivity Scorecard therefore measures countries on a relative basis rather than on an absolute basis, with low scores reflecting gaps in a country’s infrastructure and/or usage.

Historically, African countries have done well in the study, with South Africa leading the pack in 2009 and 2010.

Other key African nations that feature

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 35

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South Africa has done particularly well in the study, placing fourth in 2009 and second in 2010, due largely to the robust spending and investments being made into ICT by the business and public sector, as well as the high level of business usage and ICT skills in the market.

prominently in the study include Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Kenya and Botswana.

This is mainly due to the large scale investment going into fixed-line and wireless connectivity infrastructure, as service providers look to expand reach and market share in these burgeoning markets.

South Africa has done particularly well in the study, placing fourth in 2009 and second in 2010, due largely to the robust spending and investments being made into ICT by the business and public sector, as well as the high level of business usage and ICT skills in the market. This reflects the fact that the larger South African corporations are sophisticated IT users, especially compared with other resource and efficiency-driven economies. However, there is room for improvement in the consumer segment, as the country displays low Internet subscription levels, as well as usage.

The case is different in the mobile sector as South Africa’s mobile telephony penetration and coverage range from good to very good, with high level SMS usage; but it is lacking voice minute usage when compared with other resource and efficiency-driven economies.

This robust investment is being driven mainly by large-scale fibre infrastructure

36 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

projects aimed at harnessing the massive amounts of international bandwidth available from a number of undersea fibre optic cable systems that have come online in recent years. The SEACOM and Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) along the East coast of Africa, along with the West African Cable System (WACS) and the incumbent SAT-3 cable system along the West coast, has increased international broadband capacity exponentially, to the point where it is now cheaper than local bandwidth capacity.

The major hurdle in the advancement of the local connectivity market has been the widespread inability of service providers to access the incumbent operator’s local loop, as well as a lack of suitable infrastructure to deliver all this capacity to the door of businesses and consumers. This has resulted in some level of fixed-mobile substitution, where home users adopt mobile data as their primary source of connectivity. However, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has experienced a great deal of demand for our 40G technology on fibre, and there are a number of new fibre infrastructure projects rolling out in South Africa, driven either by government or consortiums of service providers and network operators. Due to the restraints of the local loop in the country, NSN

also expects that the broadband access market for home use will be dominated by wireless and DSL services for some time to come.

From a satellite perspective, large bluechip corporates – for whom connectivity is mission critical – still rely on satellite services to provide an essential level of redundancy. A number of projects aimed at providing connectivity services to rural and remote areas are also using a combination of satellite services and next generation wireless networks to reach these untapped markets. Satellite projects such as the Google-backed O3b and Intelsat SA’s New Dawn satellite will benefit both South Africa and Africa, as more high capacity broadband services will be provisioned to the African continent in the near future.

Despite these factors, South Africa dropped down the Connectivity Scorecard rankings in 2011, but this was mainly due to the more robust data and methodology used – specifically, a re-weighting that affected the business components of the scorecard; and also the use of new data and indicators, such as usage, that adversely affected South Africa. In 2011 South Africa fell seven places to rank ninth among the resource and efficiency-driven economies.

However, when these fibre and satellite services come online we can expect a

38 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

into fibre and satellite capacity can greatly enhance its capabilities.

Tunisia has a strong consumer segment as a result of heavy investments in the telecom sector since the mid-1990s, which has created one of the most developed telecommunications infrastructures in Northern Africa. A high penetration rate driven by nearly 100% mobile network coverage is the country’s biggest advantage.

However, the country is held back by mediocre to low performances across the business and government segments and will do well to focus on a supportive regulatory framework, while developing basic human capital to boost overall ICT development.

Supported by a strong showing in mobile telephony, Nigeria’s relative strengths lie in the consumer segment.

Poor performance across business and government is holding back its overall ICT development. Lastly, Egypt remains at the lower end of Africa’s resource and efficiency-driven economies due to its weak business and consumer categories. Its relative strength lies in the government segment, but it needs sustained growth across all sectors to see real advancement.

It is clear that significant investment into the provisioning of fibre infrastructure will greatly assist the majority of Africa’s strongest resource and efficiency-driven economies in the Connectivity Scorecard study. This should see them improve their rankings in years to come, especially as it will allow them to tap into the wealth of international bandwidth capacity running up and down the African coastline.

For land-locked nations, satellite services will greatly boost ICT capabilities in the short term; as they build out more sustainable, lower cost connectivity capabilities, such as fibre and next generation wireless networks. AT

“

It is clear that significant investment into the provisioning of fibre infrastructure will greatly assist the majority of Africa’s strongest resource and efficiency-driven economies in the Connectivity Scorecard study.

“

marked increase in the connectivity capabilities of a number of African countries, including South Africa, as they will bypass the barriers currently in place around the provisioning of ICT services, specifically high speed connectivity.

This will make the Internet a part of everyone’s life and will increase capacity from Kbits per second to Mbits per seconds. The key element, relating to the Connectivity Scorecard, is a country’s ability to utilise these services to improve its level of socio-economic growth.

Taking a closer look at the scorecard, a similar pattern can be seen in the performance of all the other African nations discussed, with the exception of South Africa. They display a satisfactory performance in the consumer segment, driven by adequate mobile network penetration.

However, focused development in areas such as human capital and regulatory frameworks needs the most work, as these areas will enable the countries to look beyond the mobile sector for growth.

The challenges and potential are evenly matched, thereby calling for sustained efforts across all segments to harness existing potential, with fixed-line fibre infrastructure playing the primary role in provisioning affordable high speed connectivity services.

More specifically, Botswana has moderate consumer and weak business infrastructure, yet it has strong business usage of ICT. The country needs to further develop ICT infrastructure, especially fibre infrastructure, to improve measures like broadband penetration and Internet connectivity. Despite its high mobile penetration, Kenya’s low ICT investments by businesses and the government affect its overall ICT development. However, the telecommunications sector is progressive and increased investment

EVENTS CALENDAR june

july

01-02

05-06

20-21

VAS Africa

Management World Africa 2011

06-07

25-28

broadcast & film africa 2011

Submarine Networks World Africa 2011

apps world africa

Michael Panes: 01179 468870 www.apps-world.net/africa/

08-09 aitec banking & mobile money west africa Accra, GHANA Helen Moroney: +44 148 088 0774 AITEC Africa www.aitecafrica.com

15-16 West & Central Africa Com Dakar, Senegal Caroline Wiezien +44 (0)20 7017 5605 Informa Telecoms & Media www.comworldseries.com

27-30 telecoms world africa 2011 Cape Town, South Africa Tatum Willis: +27 11 516 4059 Terrapin www.terrapinn.com/2011

Johannesburg, South Africa Caroline Wiezien +44 (0)20 7017 5605 Informa Telecoms & Media www.nafrica.comworldseries.com

Nairobi, KENYA Helen Moroney: +44 148 088 0774 AITEC Africa www.aitecafrica.com

06-09 MOBILE HEAlth summit GSMA www.mobilehealthsummit.com

13-14 africa communications & satellite summit Nairobi, KENYA Claire Garrett: +27 (0) 87 820 7106 www.acssummit.com

Johannesburg, South Africa Jamie Rudolph: +1 973-944-5100 TM Forum www.tmforum.org

Johannesburg, South Africa Tatum Willis: +27 11 516 4059 Terrapinn www.terrapinn.com/2011

august 01-04 social media world africa 2011 Johannesburg, South Africa Tatum Willis: +27 11 516 4059 Terrapin www.terrapinn.com/2011

02-03 The internet show africa 2011 Johannesburg, South Africa Tatum Willis: +27 11 516 4059 Terrapinn www.terrapinn.com/2011

If you would like Africa Telecoms to add an event to the calendar, please contact Mr. Bradley Shaw at: bshaw@3ipublishin g.co.za 40 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

MAY 2011 - FEBRUARY 2012 24-26

6th Annual CRC Africa Forum 2011 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Rumana Bukht: +44 208 600 3800 C.T.O www.cto.int

september 13-15 NGT africa summit

Jake Mazan: +44 117 921 4000 www.ngtafricasummit.com/

20-21

12-13 AItec mozambique ict congress 2011

Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE Helen Moroney: +44 148 088 0774 AITEC Africa www.aitecafrica.com

18-19 ICT LEADERS SUMMIT

Luanda, angola Marcella Caciolato: +34 91 700 49 57 www.iirangola.com

20-21

24-27 4g world

Chicago, ILLINOIS Kate Mitchell: 617 259 2320 www.4gworld.com

management world africa 2011 Jamie Rudolph: +1 973-944-5100 TM Forum www.tmforum.org

09-10 africa com

nigeria com

Lagos, Nigeria Caroline Wiezien: +44 (0) 207 017 5605 www.comworldseries.com

november

24-27 itu telecom world

Cape Town, South Africa Caroline Wiezien: +44 (0) 207 017 5605 www.comworldseries.com

16-17 AFRIHEALTH

Nairobi, KENYA Helen Moroney: +44 148 088 0774 AITEC Africa www.aitecafrica.com

october

Ledia Ariza: +41 22 730 52 07 www.itu.int/world2011

february

11-12

26-27

north africa com

AITEC EAST AFRICA ICT SUMMIT 2011

7TH Annual Digital Broadcasting Switchover Forum 2012

Tunis, Tunisia Caroline Wiezien +44 (0)20 7017 5605 Informa Telecoms & Media www.nafrica.comworldseries.com

Nairobi, KENYA Helen Moroney: +44 148 088 0774 AITEC Africa www.aitecafrica.com

07-09

Johannesburg, South Africa Rumana Bukht: +44 208 600 3800 C.T.O www.cto.int

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 41

advertorial

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the high-speed, high-capacity international bandwidth needed to connect to the most- demanded internet content in Africa (sites like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, MSN, YouTube, Wikipedia) either wasn’t available or was prohibitively expensive.

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Enhanced fibre-optic connectivity could transform how operators compete Mike Last, Marketing and International Business Development Director at WIOCC, takes a look at the significant recent increases in Africa’s fibre-optic connectivity and how this could influence the competition between telcos, ISPs and mobile operators.

44 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

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apid growth in fibre-optic connectivity is helping take the world’s second largest and third most populous continent on an exciting journey to becoming a major ‘connected’ player on the world stage, making Africa a place of increasing opportunity for many businesses, including telecommunications service providers.

The lack of reliable and affordable, high-speed infrastructure – both domestic and international – combined with limited telecommunications network diversity, has until recently limited companies’ ability to meet the aspirations of increasingly demanding customers.

Historically, the high-speed, highcapacity international bandwidth needed to connect to the most- demanded internet content in Africa (sites like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, MSN, YouTube, Wikipedia) either wasn’t available or was prohibitively expensive.

Similarly the terrestrial networks necessary to bring this content to endusers were either incumbent owned and expensive, or were characterised by low-capacity, high-cost backhaul links offering low levels of scalability. The result was limited internet penetration and a lack of diversity that left users vulnerable to system downtime caused by outages, making the business case for high-speed ‘last mile’ deployments very difficult to justify.

However, the arrival of international fibre-optic submarine cables such as EASSy – the highest-capacity submarine cable serving sub-Saharan Africa – and WACS, due to be fully operational along the west coast of Africa in 2012, provides a growing choice of affordable international capacity supply. This offers service providers the network diversity necessary not only to meet the 24/7 connectivity needs of the demanding new data services now being used by consumers and business customers, but also to satisfy their increasingly data-rich content requirements.

The arrival of new submarine cables

is also spurring massive investment in the construction of optical fibrebased terrestrial connectivity.

EASSy shareholders and other local operators are building, extending and interconnecting domestic fibre-optic networks, increasing diversity and taking advantage of cost-efficient, scalable, high-capacity backhaul. Furthermore, the past two years have brought increasingly widespread deployment of broadband ‘last mile’ connectivity options.

The improving connectivity situation has been accompanied by a fall in the cost of high-performance mobile devices.

An estimated 15.1 million smartphones were sold in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 – 10% of all handset sales in the region – and by 2014 this figure is expected to rise to 30-40% (Deon Liebenburg, RIM – Africa Telecoms, Issue 11).

Little wonder then that mobile penetration across most of the continent continues to grow rapidly. According to the GSMA (www.gsmworld.com), penetration across the whole of Africa has risen to just over 50%, from around 28% in 2008 and 21% in 2007. In contrast, mobile penetration in South Africa – which got its first submarine cable (SAT3) back in 2003 and is the continent’s most mature telecoms market – is slightly more than 100%.

Meanwhile, in Europe the corresponding figure for mobile penetration is 130%. At the same time, the use of data services (as opposed to voice) is seeing huge growth, with Informa Telecoms & Media predicting 265 million mobile broadband subscribers in Africa by 2015, up from the present 12 million. By that time, these will represent almost a third of total mobile subscribers.

Quality to be the new differentiator for competing operators

Let us consider the situation in South Africa in a little more detail. Here competition, particularly in the internet access market, has become very focused on cost per MB/GB. Highpriced, low-speed, capped services

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 45

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Speed, capacity and – perhaps most importantly – reliability of service are already starting to become key differentiating factors for the more discerning customers

are being superseded by a wide range of lower-cost, high-cap or uncapped broadband offerings from the likes of MWEB, Internet Solutions and Cell C. The existing 3.4 million broadband subscribers (as of June 2010, OECD) and those looking to sign up are able to take advantage of a new cut-price offer almost every month. The result is rising broadband penetration, accompanied by a huge growth in capacity demand, both domestic and international.

All the major players have invested in one or more of the existing submarine systems – either directly as consortium members, or through indirect capacity purchases. However, maintaining sufficient capacity and diversity to meet the data requirements of existing and future customers over the coming period will require ongoing investment in alternative systems.

Competition is also increasing as alternative long-distance backhaul and local access networks become

46 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

established. Neotel is supplementing its existing infrastructure, which includes a 10,000 km national optical fibre network and more than 4,000 km of metropolitan fibre, with a 5,000 km national fibre network in partnership with Vodacom and MTN. Broadband Infraco has already deployed over 12,250 km of fibre-optic network countrywide.

The recently announced partnership between Internet Solutions, Cell C and Convergence Partners (known as FibreCo) will bring another alternative national transmission network – 12,000 km of long-distance terrestrial optical fibre delivering an open-access, broadband network throughout the country. These networks will inevitably result in lower backhaul costs and improved terrestrial diversity, helping niche players in their battle with the incumbents.

Although South Africa’s recent converged licensing regime has created hundreds of ISPs, the market

is still dominated by the larger players.

However, smaller players will continue to expand consumer choice, bringing more unbundled packages and a wider range of offering to the market.

Whilst the current battleground in many of Africa’s markets is price, it will become increasingly difficult and then unsustainable for ISPs and telcos to compete purely on price. In common with international markets, other forms of differentiation will become increasingly important and the battleground for customers will shift.

Speed, capacity and – perhaps most importantly – reliability of service are already starting to become key differentiating factors for the more discerning customers, and the mass market will follow as prices level out.

Hedging against system outages by acquiring capacity on alternative systems, and/or purchasing additional capacity to meet predicted future demands on more reliable networks,

Terrestrial connectivity in Africa

will give operators a quality-based competitive advantage over rivals which lack sufficient network diversity to maintain connectivity for customers when faced with an outage.

New international cables offer increased resilience

With the most popular internet content and applications located outside Africa, cost-effective, scalable, highperformance access to the global internet is vital to the development of mobile broadband across the continent.

Africa is in the midst of a three-year phase of fibre-optic submarine cable deployment, by the end of which the continent will be on a par with the rest of the world in terms of high-speed international connectivity.

Since it went live in July 2010, EASSy – the most recent and highest-capacity fibre-optic submarine cable serving subSaharan Africa – has proved extremely popular with national and international carriers, telcos and ISPs. With landing stations along the coastline from South Africa to Port Sudan and excellent onward international connectivity to Europe and the rest of the world, the system’s 4.72Tbps design capacity represents more than 70% of all the international fibre-optic inventory on Africa’s east coast (the international capacity of alternatives TEAMS and SEACOM is 1.2 and 0.6Tbps respectively).

Connectivity for the rest of Africa is

48 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

also improving. The West Africa Cable System (WACS) is under construction and when launched in 2012 will provide reliable, cost-effective high-speed connectivity between southern and western Africa and Europe. The EuropeIndia Gateway (EIG) will enable the closing of a complete ring around Africa, linking EASSy and WACS through the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea. The EIG system is partially live now, with completion of its route across Egypt expected before year-end. Further submarine cable investments are also being proposed, with deployments planned over the next two years.

The existence of multiple submarine cable systems, together with the growing availability of alternative terrestrial backhaul infrastructures and costeffective ‘last mile’ solutions, is giving telcos and ISPs the opportunity to differentiate their services in a new and more sustainable way – retaining and attracting customers based on service quality and reliability, rather than pure price per GB. Whilst this requires investment to minimise the impact of outages on international and domestic infrastructure, taking advantage of all available cost-effective alternatives, the ‘early movers’ in many sub-Saharan markets are already securing their position by purchasing on all available east and west coast systems.

In its quest to meet the requirements of an increasingly demanding market, WIOCC has developed an ‘East plus

Recent research (Hamilton Research Ltd., 2010) revealed that the operational terrestrial transmission network in the whole of Africa increased by 26% (to 585,471 km) in the 12 months to July 2010. This growth is set to continue, with well over 150,000 km of further fibre currently either already under construction (45,391 km), planned (83,406 km) or proposed (28,629 km).

Some of this deployment has been government led, with countries such as Rwanda and Kenya constructing national fibre networks where none had previously existed. However, most is being driven by the private sector, with incumbents, mobile operators and other players all racing to install and extend fibreoptic networks to replace legacy satellite and microwave solutions.

WIOCC’s shareholders – 14 telcos from across Africa – are major contributors to this terrestrial expansion, rolling out and interconnecting highcapacity, fibre-optic backhaul networks to carry mobile and fixed-line voice, data and internet traffic domestically and across national borders. These networks are extending reach to EASSy’s coastal landing stations from business locations throughout eastern and southern Africa.

West coast’ connectivity package that makes it easier for telcos and ISPs in Africa to create the cost-effective, high-quality infrastructure that may be the key to retaining and attracting customers through service quality differentiation. AT

with Jabulani Dhliwayo, Director of Marketing Development, Corning

Optical fibre has become the cornerstone of the telecommunications industry. From Corning’s perspective, where do you see this industry going?

Many communities throughout the world, including Africa, are now connected by optical fibre, which transmits optical telecommunication signals at the speed of light. As individual homes are connected and as fibre reaches the desktop in office buildings, there is a bottleneck inside the home and within computing devices themselves. Current in-home networks will not cope with the ever increasing number of bandwidth hungry devices such as game consoles, HDTVs, IP phones, and other emerging devices.

In the computer, the copper or aluminium interconnects that connect processing chips to one another, and the computer to peripheral devices, present a severe bottleneck. There will be a focus in the industry on developing next generation in-home networks and optical interconnects to replace the copper or aluminium. We also continue innovating new or enhanced optical fibre for submarine, terrestrial long-haul, and access networks to meet the insatiable bandwidth demand as the industry looks to 100 Gb/s transmission and beyond.

What makes Corning optical fibre different from fibre manufactured by other providers to the industry?

Corning fibre is synonymous with quality, which is critical for network reliability. Corning invented both processes used for manufacturing optical fibre today: the outside vapour deposition (OVD) and inside vapour deposition (IVD) processes. Corning uses the OVD process because of its ability to give the fibre superior geometrical consistency. Corning optical fibre quality has achieved recognition through the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award given to it by the

52 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

United States Department of Commerce. The Baldrige award is the only formal recognition of the performance excellence of both public and private US organizations given by the United States government. The fact that Corning is the most widely deployed brand of optical fibre in the world is further testimony to the quality of Corning fibre. Corning terrestrial long-haul fibre has the lowest attenuation and PMD of any, which is critical for upgrades to higher data rates. Corning® LEAF®, a non-zero dispersion shifted fibre, has the highest effective area, making it possible to launch more power in the fibre and transmit many channels without encountering undesirable non-linear effects.

Corning is offering a bendable fibre solution that is revolutionary in its own right. Has Corning seen good demand for this kind of fibre, and where has most of this demand been seen?

Corning has observed strong demand for its bendable fibre product portfolio from operators deploying Fibre to the Home (FTTH) networks and new data centres throughout the world.

This demand has been most prevalent in North America, Western Europe, and Japan. We are also starting to see demand growing in China and a few African countries where FTTH is being deployed in large estates and gated communities.

Corning offers several low-loss fibre products. Is this not generally the benefit of fibre over other solutions like copper?

Or are there various levels of loss that are acceptable within the fibre industry?

In general, fibre has very low loss compared to copper.

However, the loss of fibre varies significantly between fibre types and from one manufacturer to another.

For example, the attenuation specification offered on standard single-mode fibre from different manufacturers has a range of 0.05 dB/km. This may look like a small number but it can translate to a 200 km difference in network link length that is possible before expensive regenerators are required; therefore, by selecting the lowest-loss fibre, operators can save on the overall cost of the network. Corning’s low-loss fibre is critical for operators who will migrate to higher data rates (40 Gb/s or 100 Gb/s) over the 20 to 30-year lifetime of the network, without the need to install new fibre.

What current deployments in Africa are using Corning optical fibre? And what is the current market that Corning holds in Africa?

All submarine cables already deployed or being deployed in Africa use Corning fibre. Many terrestrial long-haul networks being deployed throughout the continent are also being built with Corning optical fibre.

The more operators understand the impact of the quality of fibre on network longevity and overall cost of ownership the more they turn to Corning for their fibre supply. In the past, some operators chose the cheapest and lower-quality fibre and transmission equipment but after frequent network failures

and the high costs associated with repairing networks, quality is becoming an important factor for them. Quality is critical – and for operators that embrace this knowledge, Corning becomes the preferred supplier.

Corning still offers copper solutions. Have you seen a massive shift of business from copper to fibre optics, and are you seeing any growth in the copper business at all?

Today, copper is mostly deployed in short-distance applications such as data centres and local area networks (LAN). As transmission speeds increase, the distance possible with copper is reduced significantly.

For example, at 10GBase-T, copper twisted-pair cabling is capable of transmitting only up to 100m. Fibre will therefore continue to displace copper over time. The table below shows that fibre has overtaken copper in enterprise network applications and continues to gain.

Data centres In-building backbone Campus backbonE

Copper 40% 20% 5%

Fibre 60% 80% 95%

Comment Fibre is increasing

All submarine cables already deployed or being deployed in Africa use Corning fibre.

Many terrestrial long-haul networks being deployed throughout the continent are also being built with Corning optical fibre.

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 53

Once installed, networks should be able to be upgraded to higher data rates over the life of the network (20-30 years) by upgrading the electronics and not reinstalling new fibre A number of African operators still have copper in their metropolitan networks, but when they make network upgrades they replace the copper with fibre.

Can you briefly describe the differences between the Corning Cable Systems and Corning Optical Fiber business units?

Corning Optical Fiber develops and manufactures optical fibre, the glass strands that are used to make fibre optic cable.

Corning Optical Fiber supplies Corning Cable Systems and many other fibre optic cable makers throughout the world with optical fibre. Corning Cable Systems, on the other hand, uses fibre from Corning Optical Fiber to manufacture optical fibre cable that can be installed in a network by putting the necessary protecting materials around the fibre. Corning Cable Systems also manufactures passive optical equipment used in optical networks, such as connectors, splitters, closures and optical assemblies as well as hardware and equipment.

What are the main factors African operators should consider when selecting fibre for their telecommunication networks?

Is it not enough for operators to specify cable based on International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standards?

It is important for operators to understand that while the cost of fibre constitutes a very small proportion of the network (2-6%), fibre is the most important. Once installed, networks should be able to be upgraded to higher data rates over the life of the network (20-30 years) by upgrading the electronics and not

54 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 13

reinstalling new fibre. Some of the key attributes operators should pay attention to are loss (or attenuation), PMD, and chromatic dispersion.

The ITU guidelines are a minimum requirement that every manufacturer should achieve. Operators specify fibre based on their network requirements, and in many cases specifications for key attributes are tighter than the ITU guidelines. Operators should have the capability to test incoming cable to verify the manufacturer’s test results.

Many operators in Africa experience a lot of cable cuts, leading to long down times and loss of revenue. What is Corning’s advice to these operators?

Our understanding is that most fibre cuts are a result of people stealing cable, believing it to be copper cable. The public has to be made aware that most cable being installed today is fibre and it has no value to them. Some operators have put signs along cable lines informing people that there is no copper in the cable. Even after the problem of cable stealing is eliminated, cables links can receive frequent cuts through ground excavation by mechanical digging vehicles. As a fibre manufacturer, our contribution is to offer low-loss optical fibre. Low-loss fibre can enable the operator to make more repairs on the fibre. The difference between a 100 km span of 0.18 dB/km attenuation fibre and 0.22 dB/km attenuation fibre, for example, is at least 10 additional repairs. AT

case study

54 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

case study

Vodacom helps eTutor SA achieve 100% pass rate for Maths • Failing students improve scores to pass National Senior Certificate Maths Literacy and Pure Maths • eTutor SA project moves beyond pilot phase to fully converged implementation plan • Vodacom converged satellite and mobile business solutions delivers the goods via the cloud

I

t’s no secret that South Africa has severe challenges when it comes to delivering education equally to all learners across the country. Many of our schools are in rural areas, and are in need of infrastructure – both physical and technological – and resources, including suitably trained teachers, text books, and extra tuition. eTutor SA, from Cape Town-based IT Business Campus (ITBC), is a teacher-mediated, curriculum-driven platform produced in multimedia format which encourages learners to learn the curriculum, study, monitor their performance and plan for exams.

96 Grade 12 learners from disadvantaged areas were selected for the pilot phase and attended the ITBC lab in Claremont. Most of the learners did not have access to a computer lab, dedicated mathematics teacher or extra tuition. Some were failing the subject but eager to learn.

Each student was given unlimited access to eTutor in the initial lab at Claremont and put on a learning schedule of three hours a week. They accessed their learning, prepared for the exams and familiarised themselves with the examination environment and time requirements.

100% of the learners in the pilot phase

passed their Mathematics Literacy and Pure Mathematics.

“The results have exceeded expectations and we now have a framework that we can build on,” says Toni Cavanagh, General Manager, IT Business Campus (Pty) Ltd. “The next two labs are already being set up with a 60-terminal lab at Groenvlei and another 60 terminal lab at Groenberg Hoorskool.”

The costs of this programme are extremely affordable for those parents who can afford the R895.00 for full access for one year per child.

Otherwise the Department of Education is providing subsidies for those who can’t afford this sum so that all Grade 12s in the vicinity can have access.

“We want to move eTutor to be available all the way down from Grade 12 to Grade 7 for supplemental maths teaching, and eventually for numeracy and literacy from Grade 6 down,” says Cavanagh. “We have to give all kids the same opportunities, and the fact that satellite technology allows us to deliver virtually anywhere in the country, especially in rural areas, means we’ll be able to deliver on that promise no matter where these kids are.” eTutor SA is built on the Moodle platform

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 55

case study

(open source learning), noted for its usability and intuitive interface, and it supports various automated personalised services that are easy for faculty and learners to access, create, deliver and present. eTutor SA adopts the SAVI accelerated learning model.

SAVI is the acronym for: Somatic - Learning by Doing - Learning by Hearing Audio Visual - Learning by Seeing - Learning by Thinking Intellectual The SAVI methodology allows learners to use all their senses during the learning experience. Simply put, following the approved curriculum and text books, learners experience the lessons in a virtual classroom, test themselves and repeat lessons until they feel competent.

The platform is live and interactive. Also, teachers and administrators can check up on each learner’s progress constantly by accessing the saved information hosted in the Vodacom Business data centre, via satellite Cloud computing. eTutor recognised that both learners and educators in South Africa need access to high-quality education in other formats, such as a multi-media format that uses and enhances existing ICT technology in schools. They also recognised that new delivery mechanisms were required and would have to use a medium that is effective, sustainable and widely acceptable.

Examining the current formats for education delivery

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across the country, eTutor’s primary objectives were to: • Enhance educator aptitude and efficiency • Dramatically improve the quality of learning in the classroom • Improve the Senior Certificate and FET results • Increase the number of learners taking mathematics and science • Demystify mathematics and science by introducing assessments, rubrics and a Learner Management System • Upgrade existing technology in schools • Empower educators and school administrators • Harness technology to deliver curriculum content All satellite connectivity was provided by Vodacom and used to assist ITBC to deliver their eTutor Grade 12 Mathematics modules to the 32 terminals at the Claremont centre. “We felt that Vodacom was the ideal provider for us due to their national coverage via different media and the strength of their business satellite solutions and mobile applications,” says Cavanagh. “The relationship has grown as their Public Sector team has an excellent understanding of education’s shortcomings and needs.”

Sean Victor, Principal Specialist, Converged Satellite at Vodacom Business Services, says: “Satellite technology inherently supports multicasting of information very efficiently. This makes it ideal for distance education solutions where quality of service and quality in delivery of the same content, at the same time, across the country (not

case study

Leading convergence in an increasingly connected Africa.

Vodacom is a leading provider of total communication solutions; a Next Generation Network provider operating on a single business driver that understands business voice, video and data requirements. Vodacom’s business services division delivers end-to-end converged solutions, extending from mobile to fixed-line access mediums, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions, hosted facilities, data storage, back up, security and application solutions.

The business services division was launched in February 2008 and has invested in significant infrastructure. It has a Tier 1 internet network capability as well as a corporate grade national MPLS VPN. These services include next-generation IP voice, managed networks and infrastructure, internet access, hosting and storage. Recently launched solutions include a Premium Business ADSL service, Virtual Hosted Call Centres, and a rounded, feature-rich suite of Hosted services used in Cloud Computing.

Passionate about Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Vodacom offers a comprehensive portfolio of business solutions across their state-of-theart converged network platform, which is built on worldclass infrastructure.

By understanding exactly what companies expect from a voice and data communications service provider, through extensive global experience, skills and knowledge delivering holistic solutions that address these needs, Vodacom provides businesses with service, technology and value propositions that are costeffective, reliable, secure and scalable.

Visit us at www.vodacom.co.za/busines 58 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

only in rural areas) is a requirement. This ensures equal opportunity in terms of access to the content/curricula for all schools and educational institutions – regardless of type and geographic location.

Satellite technology enables both an efficient push and pull mode: for example, for multicasting of content to sites on a store-and-forward basis and live multicast of lessons, on-line examinations or live lesson interaction as well as IPTV sessions can be made available when required. This in turn allows for content collaboration among educators, authors etc.”

Vodacom assisted ITBC with key areas to ensure a successful project implementation: • Project Management and Administration • Needs Analysis • Curriculum • Educator Education • Technology Deployment • Project Staffing • Project Funding • Partnerships Some of the most remarkable results and some comments from the learners speak for themselves: Lilian: Starting mark - 29%

Pass (NSC) - 47% “It was like having my own private teacher. I learnt better than I ever learnt in class” Hadley: Starting mark - 38%

Pass (NSC) - 52% “I wasn’t shy to go back and learn again when I didn’t understand. No-one knew I was doing the work over so noone laughed at me. It was great.”

All South African learners and educators are ready to embrace learning in a digital era. AT

BY Bradley Shaw

Egoli to Dijithali T

Johannesburg is being transformed from the Place of Gold (Egoli) to a Digital City (Dijithali) through an innovative project spearheaded by the City of Johannesburg and Ericsson.

he Johannesburg Broadband Network Project (JBNP) is being implemented by Bwired, an Ericsson initiative.

Overall, the JBNP is worth R1,2 billion, and will deploy between 940 km and 1 000 km of fibre-optic cable in the city over the next three years, with the aim of linking municipal offices and entities such as schools, utilities, clinics and hospitals, to improve service delivery and communication between the facilities.

At a recent update event held at Westbury Secondary School in Martindale, south of Johannesburg, Bwired announced that to date 300 km of optical fibre is already in the ground. The actual fibre itself will have a capacity of 1,2TB; the public sector will probably use less than a third of this capacity, with the excess capacity being made available to the private sector.

City of Johannesburg Mayor Amos Masondo said: “We are excited about this initiative with Ericsson and the immense opportunities and benefits it provides to our citizens. We are delighted with the quality of the deployment to date and are looking forward to the new era of enormous socio-economic growth that this project will lead our city to.”

Upon completion in 2013, the project will cover all eight regions in Johannesburg – providing broadband technologies to city offices and enabling, alongside a variety of relevant access solutions, a true triple play initiative (data, voice and video).

The socio-economic benefit of this project was displayed

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very aptly at the update with a private school in northern Johannesburg, St Stithians – by way of a broadband connection using a fibre link to Westbury Secondary School – being able to assist via Interactive Video Conferencing. This was done using an interactive smartboard screen, each student having access to a tablet computer and being guided by a teacher who happened to be about 30 km away.

For an area where the schooling system is under strain due to lack of resources and adequately trained teachers, the possibilities of using technologies like this are understandably making educators in Johannesburg very excited.

CEO of BWired Musa Nkosi said: “We believe that the network will signify a momentous development for this city and will go a long way in bridging the digital divide. In the past, we have had several conferences discussing how to close this gap between rich and poor that yielded no great result.

Now we can say with confidence that Bwired has that answer and this initiative is that bridge.” He added: “Most companies talk about bridging the digital divide. BWired is the company that crosses that bridge.”

Lars Linden, Ericsson CEO in sub-Saharan Africa, said that the network would give the city broadband services for 25 years, with Ericsson operating the network for the first 12 years. “The City of Johannesburg, through this project, will be elevated from a world-class African city to a world-class electronic city,” said Linden, adding that the partnership was a source of great pleasure and pride to Ericsson. AT

To Skype or not to

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Skype …

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he markets were abuzz with rumour and speculation.

Skype had been on the market for a bit and many were rumoured as suitors. Google was mentioned, as well as Facebook; both were well credentialed as purchasers of smart companies in the past. It was however another large tech company that did the deed in the end – one many considered the most unlikely. Microsoft finally bought Skype for a whopping US$8.5 billion and put paid to all the rumourmongering.

Skype had revenue of $860 million and operating profits of only $264 million, which after expenses resulted in a small loss of US$7 million for the year 2010. What was of more concern to many was its long-term debt of US$686 million.

The question that had to be asked was why Microsoft would buy a loss-making company with huge debt. And of even more importance was why Microsoft would pay an amount that made Skype its largest single acquisition ever.

Skype has an interesting and, for some, rather chequered history. The creators of the Skype software were the founders of Kazaa, which was a peer-to-peer file-sharing application that was used to share MP3 music files, much to the horror of music companies worldwide. The founders of Skype, Niklas Zennström from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark, sold the company to eBay for around US$3 billion and shortly thereafter Skype reached 100 million users in early 2006.

Skype became the technology of choice for anyone with loved ones overseas or who welcomed a simple and inexpensive way to communicate with anyone else who had a computer and a reasonable internet connection.

The cracks began to show in 2008 with the Skype founders and eBay not seeing eye to eye on many issues, not least that the number of subscribers had plateaued, and financial metrics had not been met. In late 2007 eBay had taken a so-called “impairment”, essentially a write-off, of its investment in Skype of US$1.4 billion. The marketing and the Skype product were revamped with greater focus on premium services aimed at business and consumers. These efforts resulted in solid growth throughout 2009. At this point eBay announced it would spin off Skype through an initial public offering or IPO. To cut a long story short, much legal wrangling ensued and the IPO looked somewhat uncertain. The key issue at that point was that Skype was valued at around US$2.4 billion and then they hit the big time. Microsoft bought Skype for three times its value 18 months ago.

Microsoft has been in the news a lot lately and it is perhaps in this context that the purchase of Skype may make some sense. In my opinion it was an extremely strategic and well thought-out purchase. Microsoft is on a bit of a roll and has not been seen to put a foot wrong since its launch of Windows 7. After the huge failure of Windows Vista and the publicity nightmare that caused for Microsoft, the Windows 7 series – both the desktop and the new Mobile OS – have been a breath

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Skype actually has around 120 million active users at any point in time, with a lower number of concurrent users than Windows Live messenger.

of fresh air. More fundamentally, along with the new software came a new outlook from Microsoft. Gone were the days of closed techie-based software, and in came an era of openness and apparent concern for what customers wanted from Microsoft, and what they wanted from its software.

It is also clear that Microsoft realised that the future of communication was increasingly mobile and would become more and more integrated and converged. Microsoft already had a huge Skype-type service called Windows Live messenger, which offers free voice and video chat services to around 330 million active users on a monthly basis. Skype actually has around 120 million active users at any point in time, with a lower number of concurrent users than Windows Live messenger.

The key differentiation here is that Skype has around 8.5 million paying users of the service whilst Windows has none. Skype also has outbound and inbound points of presence globally, allowing users to break out into traditional telecommunication networks on a global basis. In fact Skype currently is a major player in international call minutes across all networks, both mobile and fixed. These attributes alone would make Skype an attractive addition to the services that Microsoft currently offers, such as Lync, Live Messenger and various Exchange services.

The other key issue is that the Skype service was predominantly a video service and with 180 million people actively using Skype to make video calls from all manner of computers and devices it was a compelling and attractive proposition, especially as more and more users are migrating to faster flexed landline and mobile platforms such as fibre to the

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home, and 4G LTE for mobile. Internet-based video calling is becoming one of the fastest growing sectors in communication.

Microsoft is currently a bit of a slumbering giant: the bottom line is if Microsoft switched off all its current licences for all the servers and desktops out there worldwide, the world as we know it would stop. The same can’t be said for Google or Apple. Microsoft has a huge portfolio of products and patents that run the entire gamut of technology, and almost all companies involved in tech today owe it some of their success – and may in fact be paying Microsoft for some technology in use in their offerings. What Microsoft currently lacks is a coherent – and may I say ‘cool’ – consumer strategy. The elements are there: Windows 7 on the desktop, Xbox in the lounge, Windows phone 7 emerging from your pockets, Bing pretty much everywhere, and much of the behind the scenes server technology that runs all the above.

Skype represents another building block in Microsoft’s determination to become globally cool and dominant once again. Mobility and converged communication is a given going forward, and despite the price Microsoft paid for Skype, and taking into account that much of Skype’s technology is already owned by or could easily be replicated by Microsoft, the purchase of Skype was a canny one for Microsoft.

Skype is a well-known and respected service. In the words of a noted magazine publisher: “It is personally, I think, the single most useful work tool I use in my daily life … (It) just makes comms so easy.” In a nutshell, that is why Microsoft paid what it did. Once we see Skype on our Xbox, TV, mobile phone, office phone, public phone, in fact everywhere, we will finally understand why Microsoft needed to buy Skype. AT

BY: Mike van den Bergh, CEO, Gateway Communications 66 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

Satellites: Connecting Africa to the World Africa is more connected to the rest of the world than ever before, following years of unprecedented change in the telecoms landscape. We have seen ICT infrastructure deployment prioritised by governments and private sector alike with a common recognition of the role connectivity plays in both country and continental ability to compete intra and ex-Africa. There has also been much excitement generated by the landing of the new fibre-optic cables on Africa’s coasts, bringing more affordable and faster international connectivity to the continent. With so much progress and new technologies available it is sometimes easy to overlook the obvious: the fact that despite the surge of activity in the African telecoms sector in recent months, there is still a fundamental need for satellite communications to reach unconnected parts of Africa.

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he reality is that in hard-to-reach rural areas, cables are not practical, and sometimes not possible to install thousands of miles from the landing site on the coast.

For this reason, networks using very small aperture terminals (V-SAT) that transmit and receive voice and data via satellite are still the most common and reliable form of connectivity.

To put this in perspective, there is probably still 70% of the African continent, in terms of landmass, that for the foreseeable future is only going to be accessible by satellite.

Reliability, quality and coverage are key factors for mobile operators and ISPs, making satellite infrastructure still the ideal communications technology on the continent. In many emerging markets across the world, it is common to find instances where one or two handsets are shared between 500 or more users. In some instances, day-long trips take villagers kilometres across country on a weekly basis, just to make a single call from a village with such a facility. Others have no way of making calls at all. But when satellites are combined with modern, low-cost mobile base stations, often using independent sustainable primary power supplies, we can eliminate these hardships by providing mobile network operators with connectivity solutions for thousands of communities of 100-1500 subscribers. The use of ‘keep it local’ connectivity eliminates transmission delays and improves call quality, and affordable access also has a very positive effect on local economies.

Satellite and mobile communication has also shown its growing power as a voice for society. Nowhere more so

of late than in North African countries such as Tunisia and Egypt. When traditional media was regulated by government, access to information about civilian-led political activity and agendas was driven through social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and other mobile technologies. We may see more uses of technology in social-political change as more and more Africans get connected.

What the recent events in North Africa illustrate is the power of connecting people. It has also heightened awareness and desire in Africa for connectivity as a means of not just staying in touch or doing business, but also accessing information critical to everyday existence. With this drive to ‘get digital’ there is likely to be an increased strain placed on current bandwidth allocations in Africa.

In light of this, the New Dawn satellite is a welcome and much needed addition to the capacity already available over the continent. New Dawn, a joint venture between Intelsat, the global leader in fixed satellite services, and an African consortium led by Convergence Partners, is also a ‘proudly African’ triumph. It is a first-of-its-kind venture, involving a 25% African shareholding, with more than 90% of the cost being financed by African institutions including Nedbank, the African Development Bank and the Industrial Development Corporation. The satellite is positioned 36 000 km above the African continent and is currently providing media services and broadband and telephony, helping to connect the previously unconnected.

Issue 15 AFRICA TELECOMS 67

The bigger picture also making a big drive to connect towns and There are a number cities outside their of other trends which capital cities to the are driving Africa’s national backbone; telecommunications given the number of needs, leading to countries without a rapid increases in significant terrestrial requirements for new network, microwave infrastructure, including and satellite are still the both terrestrial and most effective ways to satellite capacity. connect these locations The biggest need at and carry the network present is for crosstraffic. border connectivity.

Another change that With a large number will impact demand is of new subsea cables the increase in media landing along the coast and multi-media of Africa, including enabled devices on the WACS (the West African continent. There African Cable System), are now around 300 the new challenge is to African TV channels, facilitate the delivery of which 75-80% is in of data (and voice) the private sector, and traffic from the coastal this figure is growing all landing stations across the time. There is also thousands of kilometres Satellite will remain hugely important across increasing engagement of difficult terrain, to with social media and landlocked countries Africa, because a number of countries depend online radio, indicating and others that don’t substantially on satellite for their voice and data that Africans want have landing stations to create as well as of their own. There traffic, whether calling city to city, country to consume content, which are now several fibre country, or browsing the web. is also driving growing networks which connect capacity needs. across the borders between various African countries. However, given the opportunities to transform the Still swinging on a star lives of millions of Africans by providing access to the new Satellite will remain hugely important across Africa, because undersea cable projects, the need to focus on delivering the a number of countries depend substantially on satellite for new high-speed capacity to where it’s most needed requires their voice and data traffic, whether calling city to city, renewed focus by operators and service providers. country to country, or browsing the web. Satellite covers the Building terrestrial networks involves a significant entire continent, so there is the possibility of connectivity investment in time and resources, particularly financial everywhere, not just along the coast or in the CBDs. resources. Fibre is always the preferred, but not always the In everywhere but the smallest island country, the cost of most viable, connectivity solution. Being a pan-African manufacturing, providing and maintaining fibre, and the time operator means that a blend of all transmission technologies it takes to deploy fibre-based infrastructure, means that there is often needed in order to construct the network. Obtaining comes a point where other types of transmission capacity have permission to dig up a road to lay fibre takes a lot longer to be used. than it does to erect a tower every 50 km with a radio Understanding the fundamentals of communication in Africa transceiver on top. But if you compare satellite transmission is what we do and with so many new uses of satellite-enabled with microwave networks, satellite connectivity is generally technologies on the way, we’re confident that satellite services much quicker to implement, ready to be directed to the area will continue to play a pivotal role in pan-African connectivity of need almost instantly. Countries across the continent are for many years to come. AT 68 AFRICA TELECOMS Issue 15

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THE last word

THE BIRDS ARE COMING, AND THEY’RE NONE TOO PLEASED

In a confirmation of what we already knew, it has been calculated that globally, people spend around 200 million minutes per day playing the App game, Crazy Birds.

Rovio, the Danish company behind the ubiquitious game, have even suggested that a move into movies and theme parks is not inconceivable.

We have all heard of theme park rides being turned into movies (Pirates of the Caribbean), and even video game titles such as Final Fantasy, Tekken and Prince of Persia, but as yet, there have been no apps or app-based games worthy of this ignoble accolade. Slingshoot into sight Angry Birds.

Having passed over 200 million paid downloads, Angry Birds has already extended its feathery wing to a crosspromotion with the animated movie from 20th Century Fox, Rio, released earlier this year.

The final piece of the Angry Bird jigsaw will take place when Rovio launch Angry Birds for Facebook. This will complete the journey to mainstream acceptance.

Rovio Mobile was founded in 2003 by 3 students, as a small start-up focusing on games development. Their primary target was mobile development.

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Over 6 years, the company produced over 50 games for third parties. At the time, their main customers were big publishers, mobile operators and device manufacturers.

With the launch of the iPhone in 2007, the entire gaming dynamic was set to change. Little did we know then how dramatically, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Suddenly, anyone with a smartphone became a possible gamer. In this new ‘app’ environment, Rovio decided to create a title that would stand out and be distinct from any other offering in the bourgeoning app market. Angry Birds was born. It was Rovio’s 52nd game, and is the icon of the app revolution For anyone unfamiliar with the game, its premise is simple. In a land far far away, inhabited by birds, pigs and other generally loveable creatures, the birds spend their days protecting their eggs.

The slightest disturbance to their eggs and the once sweet birds become rather and peculiarly ANGRY. This was learnt the hard way by a little butterfly that with a flutter of its wing, slightly nudged an egg. Needless to say, said butterfly was duly dealt with.

Whilst in the fit of anger bestowed on the butterfly, the aforementioned pigs took the opportunity to steal the birds’ eggs, and so the Angry Birds saga was born. With the help of a slingshot, the birds become weapons to destroy the pigs, across multiple levels and difficulties, and with different birds having distinct destructive powers, to destroy their adversaries. Today, there are over 250 levels.

So what’s next for Rovio? Angry Birdland. Its not unfeasible according to company’s CEO. A certain mouse better watch out.

The birds are coming, and they’re pissed!!! AT

THE AUTHOR: Mohammed Khan writes exclusively for Africa Telecoms Magazine