Telecom Review August 2018

TH E T E L E C O M S I ND U S T RY M E D I A P L ATFORM

Virgin Mobile UAE is a business unit within EITC that was ‘born digital’ Karim Benkirane, MD, Virgin Mobile UAE

Where do regulations stand in the journey towards 5G?

Forget about internet of things, it’s about internet of thinking now

Technology revolutionizing healthcare

EDITORIAL

AUGUST 2018

Editor in Chief & Senior ICT Analyst Toni Eid toni.eid@tracemedia.info Senior Journalists Mark Forker mark@tracemedia.info Christine Ziadeh christine@tracemedia.info Editorial Team Shelley Beyak (Canada), Toni Eid (UAE), Mark Forker (UAE), Hadeel Karnib (Lebanon), Lacinan Ouattara (Ivory Coast), Jeff Seal (USA), Zane Small (New Zealand), Christine Ziadeh (Lebanon) Copy Editor Shelley Beyak Advertising Enquiries Mohammed Ershad ershad@tracemedia.info Graphic Designer Tatiana Issa Responsible Manager Joseph Bou Daher News Provided in cooperation with AFP, the global news agency Published by www.tracemedia.info Trace Media Ltd. Zouk Mikael, LEBANON Kaslik Sea Side Road, Badawi Group Building, 4th Floor, P.O. Box 90-2113, Jdeidet el Metn Tel. +961 9 211741 Fax +961 9 211742 Trace Media FZ.LLC. Dubai Media City, UAE Building 7, 3rd Floor., Office 341 P.O. Box 502498, Dubai, UAE Tel. +971 4 4474890 Fax +971 4 4474889 Printing Arab Printing Press © All rights reserved Publication of any of the contents is prohibited - Year 13 - Issue 140 -

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Toni Eid, founder editor in chief Telecom Review International

Future capacity: Better quality for voice and data Capacity and the traffic of voice and data are always focusing on volume - millions of minutes and lots of TB - while the most important thing is the quality of voice and data in order to avoid latency, queuing, calls being dropped or bad voice quality.

The network’s performance will drive good quality for poor traffic as many criteria are involved such as CPU, memory, buffering, speed, distance and pipe size.

Insufficient CPU can increase latency since the data must wait to be processed when there is no hardware switching without the main CPU. Memory plays an important role in providing good network quality and is another resource that has data plane and control plane requirements.

Memory is required for information such as routing tables, ARP tables and other data structures.

The pipe size depends on the amount of data that can be sent simultaneously on anyone’s connection. Data doesn’t really travel at different speeds from one device to another.

Queuing and latency also affect performance. If the queue is large, then the data waits longer. When queues are small, data is dropped. This is called tail drop and is acceptable for TCP applications. But the voice and video don’t perform well with queue drop or even significant queue latency (longtime buffering due to bandwidth or pipe sizes).

Speed and distance are also a factor in network performance. Data networks have a consistent data forwarding speed based on the speed of light. This is approximately 100 miles per millisecond. Speed and distance can be a tremendous factor in application performance.

CONTENTS

AUGUST 2018

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THE TELEC OMS IND U ST RY M E D I A P L AT F O R M

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Virgin Mobile UAE is a business unit within EITC that was ‘born digital’

KunLun SAP HANA Appliance: The right tool for digitalization

22 26 MTX CEO: “MEA operators represent the future of the wholesale market”

The three vital areas of a future smart city

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Where do regulations stand in the journey towards 5G?

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MTX 2018 cements its status as the niche event in the European wholesale industry

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“Women are now afforded the same opportunities as men” – Natalia Ellis

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ConnecTechAsia 2018 bridges digital divide for governments, cities and enterprises

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Forget about internet of things, it’s about internet of thinking now

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Etisalat will help EXPO 2020 become the most connected place on earth

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New acquisition by Ribbon will enable it to further creativity and innovationN

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Technology revolutionizing healthcare

Innovation for a smarter world: ITU Telecom World 2018

AUGUST 2018

Broadcom acquires US business software firm for $18.9bn Broadcom has announced that it has acquired New York-based software and services firm CA Technologies in a cash deal for $18.9bn.

Earlier this year, Broadcom failed in its bid to buy US rival Qualcomm in what was a protracted and lengthy process that was played out in public. In a press release issued by conglomerate, CEO Hock Tan expressed his delight at the acquisition deal and described it as a hugely important step towards enhancing its offerings.

The CEO said, “This transaction represents an important building block as we create one of the world’s leading infrastructure technology companies.”

According to sources close to Broadcom it has been disclosed that both boards agreed to the deal and that Broadcom will pay $44.50 per share of CA stock; about 20 percent over the closing price for common shares at the end of formal market trading recently.

CA Technologies CEO, Mike Gregoire, echoed the sentiments expressed by Hock Tan in relation to the acquisition deal.

He said, “We are excited to have reached this definitive agreement with Broadcom. This combination aligns our expertise in software with Broadcom’s leadership in the semiconductor industry.”

However, despite both boards agreeing to the acquisition, the deal is still subject to approval from shareholders and regulators.

Broadcom transferred its HQ from Singapore to the US during its attempt to purchase Qualcomm.

GLOBAL NEWS

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China Mobile signs one-year frame agreement worth €1bn with European vendor Nokia and China Mobile have signed a one-year frame agreement - valued at up to EUR 1 billion - to support the Chinese mobile operator’s transition to a future-oriented network infrastructure, while providing seamless connectivity to more efficiently meet growing data traffic demand.

Under the agreement, Nokia will provide China Mobile with best-inclass, end-to-end technology solutions to enable a next generation network for the age of the cloud and machine communications. Nokia will provide additional elements of its mobile radio access and core portfolio in addition to fixed access, IP routing and optical transport, customer experience management, as well as its services expertise delivering the quality, speed and reliability needed.

Going forward, Nokia and China Mobile will work closely to define the products and services that will enable the operator to explore new opportunities in vertical markets. Nokia and China

Mobile have signed a memorandum of understanding for research and testing of the artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning capabilities of next generation networks for the delivery of intelligent network optimization and radio resource management.

The frame agreement builds on a longstanding relationship between Nokia and China Mobile in developing, trialing and deploying new technologies to enable seamless cloud connectivity and faster, more affordable internet access, meeting new demand while evolving networks for the future.

Mike Wang, president of Nokia Shanghai Bell, said: “This is a highly significant agreement with our longstanding partner that consolidates Nokia’s position as a leading provider of next generation technologies and services in China. We are committed to delivering industry-leading, end-to-end capabilities that will allow operators to dramatically increase performance, which will introduce new possibilities for networks of the future.”

China Tower gets approval for IPO The world’s biggest telecom tower infrastructure company China Tower has confirmed that it has been given the seal of approval to proceed with the launch of its IPO. The company has been given the goahead for a $10bn listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange which would dwarf the IPO of global smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi.

Whilst the size and of Xiaomi’s listing remains unclear, many industry analysts have projected a figure of $4.7bn for its IPO, which is at the lower end of an expected range. China Tower is expected to embark on a robust marketing campaign ahead of its IPO, with the possibility it could begin taking orders on the day Xiaomi begins trading.

Bloomberg and Reuters have both reported that China Tower’s timings will be subject to how the Xiaomi IPO is received by investors; it will serve as a barometer and gauge for the forthcoming large-scale listings in the tech industry.

China Tower is a behemoth of an entity and operates more than 1.87 million sites. Formed with assets of the country’s operators, China Mobile will remain its largest shareholder after the listing. China Unicom and China Telecom are also significant shareholders.

In addition to its telecom sector customers, China Tower said it works with companies in the environmental protection, broadcasting, satellite positioning, energy, maritime and agriculture segments.

AUGUST 2018

GLOBAL NEWS

Indian operator looking to raise $1bn to expand its 4G network Indian telecommunications incumbent Bharti Airtel is actively exploring ways it can refinance its existing debt and raise capital for expanding its 4G network by opening negotiations with international investment banks. Reports circulating in India claim that the telecommunication behemoth is seeking to raise $1bn.

The reports claim that Bharti Airtel has launched the funding drive in an effort to enhance its cash position in response to huge investments being made by industry disruptor Reliance Jio who has aggressively expanded its own 4G network. Bharti will be replaced as the country’s telecommunications incumbent following the merger agreement between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.

Vodafone Group CFO and incoming CEO Nick Read told the Business Standard that the combination between Vodafone and Idea will make a formidable team and will become a strong investor in the Indian economy. This investment strategy adopted by the new market leader will only serve to crank more pressure on

Bharti Airtel, which has already suffered from the intense competition in the domestic market.

In its fiscal Q4 2017 – the operator’s latest financial results, which cover the period to end-March – Airtel reported its largest profit drop in 15 years which its representatives attributed to “artificially suppressed pricing”.

The company and India’s other operators have been under severe financial pressure since the entry of disruptor Reliance Jio in September 2016, and a subsequent price war ensued, with Reliance making a seismic impact with Indian customers by offering free voice calls for life.

In November 2017, Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal estimated Jio’s entry had caused the country’s other operators to write-off investments worth a staggering $40 billion to $50 billion. Several smaller operators and players in the country have either sold to rivals or been driven to the brink of insolvency in the face of market conditions.

NEC partners with Spanish city on innovation center to develop smart city solutions European mobile operators have blasted the decision by the EU to place a price cap on intra-EU phone calls. The decision has been hailed by MEPs as a victory for Brussels, but critics of the decision have labelled it a populist stunt and a political smokescreen.

European operators said the decision was being used to deflect attention away from the failure by politicians in Brussels to agree on far more critical measures that are required to be implemented in order to facilitate the much needed investment for 5G and other high-tech innovations.

Telecoms lobbying group ETNO said the European Commission had missed a ‘once in a decade’ opportunity. In a statement released to the press, ETNO

said, “The main aim of the original proposal by the European Commission was to significantly improve the investment climate for rolling out new networks and to empower users of all communication service. This ‘once in a decade’ opportunity has been missed.”

This latest decision by the EC comes just 12 months after the ‘free roaming’ revolution which allowed Europeans to be charged the same amount to call, text, or use the internet when travelling in other EU nations as they would be at home.

In the latest measure, it has been disclosed that mobile or fixed-line phone calls from an EU home country to another bloc member will now be capped at 19 euro cents ($0.22) per minute and six cents per text message.

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India’s richest man announces ambitious broadband plan The billionaire responsible for turning the Indian mobile industry on its head has unveiled an ambitious new broadband project.

India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, obliterated the Indian telecommunications segment by offering free voice calls for life.

However, his new project will see him zero in on a new market, broadband internet. The tycoon informed shareholders that Reliance Industries which is his oil-to-telecoms conglomerate will commence upon a rollout of fiber broadband in over 1,100 Indian cities. His ambitious foray into the broadband sector would be the ‘most advanced’ India has ever seen. He told investors, “We will now extend fiber connectivity to homes, merchants, small and medium enterprises and large enterprises simultaneously.”

Reliance sparked a price war and a rush to consolidation in India’s telecoms market when it launched its 4G Jio network in September 2016 by offering vastly cheaper tariffs and data plans.

Ambani said that Jio had amassed 215 million customers as he announced his plans to boost India’s fixed-line broadband coverage with the launch of Jio Giga Fiber on August 15.

“While India has pole-vaulted into global leadership in the mobile broadband space we still lag behind significantly in fixed-line broadband.

Jio is determined to move India to among the top 5 in fixed-line broadband, too,” he said.

Reliance’s telecoms rival Bharti Airtel currently provides broadband to Indian homes as does Tata Docomo and the state-owned BSNL among others.

AUGUST 2018

Planet pens deal with Thai space agency over national monitoring Planet, the leading geospatial data and analytics company, has signed a deal with the GeoInformatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), an agency under Thailand’s Ministry of Science and Technology, to provide satellite imagery to enable frequent monitoring in the country.

Planet will provide GISTDA with Planet base maps over the country on a quarterly basis. These base maps will provision the government with the most recent and cloud-free imagery for use by several ministries, including Agriculture, Rural Development, and Water and Irrigation.

“With persistent monitoring and analysis from Planet, Thailand will gain unprecedented insights, which will guide national priorities like sustainability and resource management, urban planning, food security and environmental stewardship, not only at a political level, but also grassroots level,” said Kandasri Limpakom, director of Business and Alliance Development Office.

“The partnership will bring significant social and economic benefits to the Thai community.

Planet will add value to its daily imagery with computer vision and machine learning in collaboration with GISTDA,” said Shankar Sivaprakasam, vice president, APAC and Japan, at Planet.

Thailand has increased its investment in its space program, particularly with plans to develop Earth observation capabilities.

Until these satellites are operational, Planet’s daily data will enable them to get seasonal base maps that are accurate and analysis-ready.

GLOBAL NEWS

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Plantronics announces acquisition of Polycom Plantronics announced that it has completed its acquisition of Polycom.

The acquisition of Polycom will accelerate and expand Plantronics’ vision and enable it to deliver the broadest portfolio of end points in the unified communications and collaboration (UCC) ecosystem.

UCC and team collaboration technology are unlocking human potential at work and at home. With this acquisition, Plantronics is focused on voice, video, content and cloud solutions for every place that technology touches people as they work, share, collaborate and play.

As trends in enterprise communications move toward open work spaces and flexible work arrangements, the ecosystem of platforms and devices continues to expand. With the addition of Polycom’s leading portfolio, Plantronics can offer a premium experience regardless of the UCC solutions selected by the customer.

Plantronics expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share and believes it can achieve annual run-rate cost synergies

of $75 million within 12 months.

Non-GAAP earnings per share may exclude charges related to stock-based compensation, purchase accounting adjustments, acquisition and integration costs, restructuring and other related charges, litigation settlements, as well as the tax impact of these items and any discrete tax adjustments.

Under terms of the acquisition agreement, Plantronics acquired Polycom at a $2.0 billion enterprise value with the total consideration consisting of approximately $1.638 billion in cash and 6.352 million Plantronics shares, resulting in Triangle Private Holdings II, LLC, which was Polycom’s sole shareholder, owning approximately 16.0% of Plantronics following the acquisition.

Under the terms of the transaction, Frank Baker, co-founder and managing partner, Siris Capital Group (an affiliate of Triangle Private Holdings II, LLC), and Daniel Moloney, executive partner, Siris Capital Group, were appointed to Plantronics board of directors and have been nominated for election by Plantronics’ stockholders at the 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

ZTE confirms appointment of new chairman as part of board overhaul Embattled Chinese telecommunications behemoth ZTE has announced the appointment of its new chairman as part of its ongoing overhaul of its management structures.

ZTE is desperately trying to get back on track after a recent import ban by the US Commerce Department had the telecommunications vendor teetering on the brink of collapse. In an official statement released by ZTE, it officially confirmed the appointments of eight new board members, including Li Zixue as its new chairman after concluding nominations in mid-June.

The former board, which consisted

of 14 members, resigned in order to make way for the downsized board.

The move complies with the strict terms and conditions set by the US following a settlement with ZTE to lift a seven year ban on US companies selling equipment to the vendor.

However, the decision by the US House of Representatives to overrule that decision means that ZTE remains in a precarious position financially.

The new board consists of five non-independent directors: Li Zixue, Li Buqing, Gu Junying, Zhu Weimin and Fang Rong. Three independent directors have also been appointed: Cai Manli, Yuming Bao and Gordon Ng.

AUGUST 2018

GLOBAL NEWS

South Korea’s major mobile operators agree to launch 5G networks together South Korea’s three major mobile operators have all formally agreed to work together and launch their 5G networks together at the same time next year, in an effort to avoid the inevitable excessive competition a deployment of this scale and magnitude would traditionally conjure up.

The South Korean Minister of Science and ICT Yoo Young-min noted the operators will also cooperate with small and midsized companies in the country to develop relevant 5G use cases for businesses. He said, “It is important for mobile carriers to avoid heated competition for the title of world’s first 5G service provider.”

In addition to this, it has been claimed that by combining its effort it will ensure that South Korea will become the first country in the world to launch next generation technology. South Korea is currently battling it out with the United States and China in the race for 5G.

It was just a little over a month ago that the government raised KRW3.61 trillion ($3.3 billion) in one of the world’s first 5G auctions, with the country’s three mobile operators acquiring 280MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum and 2,400MHz of airwaves in the 28GHz band.

SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus all universally agreed to jointly introduce 5G services on “Korea 5G Day”, which is expected to be in March 2019, according to local media sources in South Korea.

In January, Yoo asked the country’s three major wireless operators to collaborate on 5G technology to meet a previously agreed timeline for commercial operations in 2019.

Telenor Group appoints new EVP Telenor Group announced that Anne Kvam has been appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, effective latest 1 November 2018.

Kvam succeeds Wenche Agerup, who is heading up a new unit in Telenor Group.

Anne Kvam, 50, is joining from KLP, and will become a member of Telenor’s Group executive management team, reporting to President and Chief Executive Officer Sigve Brekke.

“Anne has a professional background that is a good fit with the role as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer in Telenor Group. Her extensive experience from both the public and private sector within corporate responsibility and sustainability, coupled with a solid legal understanding and experience from stakeholder management will bring great value to Telenor,” said Sigve Brekke, president and CEO of Telenor Group.

“Telenor is a solid and well-run international company whose market situation is facing rapid and continuous change. I look forward to joining their highly experienced and skilled corporate affairs team, and using my expertise and

background to solve exciting challenges and contribute to creating future growth for the company,” says Anne Kvam.

Kvam comes from the position as head of Responsible Investments at KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS, where she was also part of the management team. Prior to this, she worked at DNV GL as Principal Consultant Sustainability, Global Head of Ownership Policies at Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), as well as various managerial positions at Norske Skogindustrier ASA, including General Counsel. Kvam has significant board experience and has served two years as member of Telenor’s Corporate Assembly. She holds a Masters of Business Administration from University College Dublin and a law degree from the University of Oslo, specialising in international human rights.

Wenche Agerup is heading up a new unit, Group Holdings, which will be responsible for strengthening the follow-up and development of Telenor’s investments in digital growth areas, telco-adjacent businesses and other areas like real estate and global wholesale.

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Taiwan semiconductor colossus introduces new AI-enhanced smartphones Taiwanese semiconductor behemoth MediaTek has officially unveiled its Helio A series, expanding its Helio family of feature-packed and power-efficient chipsets with the company’s new Helio A22 system-on-chip (SoC).

MediaTek’s commitment to continuing to change everything can be seen throughout the “Advanced” Helio A series and its mission to power more innovative and more capable smartphones designed to meet the demands of today’s mid-market consumer.

MediaTek paved the way for New Premium devices smartphones with high-end features at affordable prices with the expansion of its Helio P family. Building on the success of the Helio P20, P22, P23 and P60 chipsets, MediaTek is introducing the Helio A series, bringing an even greater number of consumers access to high performance devices without a premium price tag. With powerful quad-core performance, incredible camera features, AI enhancements and remarkable power efficiency, the Helio A series is optimized for devices that offer a great value without sacrificing modern capabilities and features.

The Helio A22 is built with advanced 12nm FinFET fabrication technology to deliver high performance with greater power efficiency. Equipped with MediaTek’s CorePilot technology, the chipset optimizes power for each task to extend device battery life, enabling users to do more with their devices for longer.

AUGUST 2018

COVER STORY

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Virgin Mobile UAE

is a business unit within

EITC that was ‘born digital’

Virgin Mobile, the second mobile brand to operate under EITC, has done well since entering the telecommunications industry in the UAE almost 12 months ago. Telecom Review managed to secure an exclusive interview with the charismatic figurehead for Virgin Mobile UAE, Karim Benkirane, in an effort to find out his reflections on its first year in the market, its strategic vision for the future, its recent partnership agreements with Samsung and Careem, industry challenges and why the Virgin Mobile brand has been embraced by today’s digitally savvy consumer.

AUGUST 2018

V

irgin Mobile has made an impact since its introduction and has resonated resoundingly with customers across the UAE. Its innovative app allows users to seamlessly personalize and customize their activities on their smartphones which ultimately delivers enhanced customer experiences.

Virgin Mobile has positioned itself as the prominent mobile brand for the nation’s tech savvy customer, and with a huge emphasis being placed on continuous innovation within the business unit.

It’s been almost a year since Virgin Mobile was officially launched in the UAE and the Business Unit has enjoyed great success. Can you give us your reflections on Virgin Mobile’s first 12 months in the UAE? The first year here in the UAE has been a great journey for Virgin Mobile.

We’re obviously new to the UAE market, but in a short period of time we’ve positioned ourselves as the premium brand in digital on-boarding and customer experience - which are both fundamental components in our DNA. We’ve taken the market to the next level by creating incredible experiences with our app and all the new innovations we’ve released to the market. These represent key achievements for us in the UAE market, but when you perform a benchmark analysis at the industry level, it’s evident that we’re also inspiring the industry with the introduction of our home delivery under one hour service.

The industry has attempted to copy what we’ve achieved at Virgin Mobile in relation to our home delivery service, but has thus far been unable to replicate it. They can deliver within the same day, but the one hour delivery remains out of reach for them, so this represents a great milestone for us and is something we’re very proud of.

COVER STORY In addition to this, the experience through the app has been another major success for us. The way we interact with our customers and provide them with flexibility to choose their mobile number through the app, and provide them with access to all the features and functionalities we offer, ensures we deliver an unrivalled customer experience which key differentiator.

We also have a recommend feature on the app which enables us to measure the usage of the customer and we can then recommend to them at the end of the month if they need to upgrade or downgrade their plan in order to optimize their experience and save money. So all these aspects combined create a new level of experiences for customers.

When Virgin Mobile first entered to UAE market last year, you declared that the Business Unit was a ‘research lab’ and not a ‘telco’. Has that vision remained the same, or have you altered your strategic approach?

No, our vision remains definitely the same. We’re an innovation lab of EITC, and we are releasing via our app new features and new functionalities every month. We’ve established an operating model which really allows us to release innovations on a regular basis. The vision remains the same and it’s in our DNA to innovate and make sure we’re continuously bringing new solutions to the market.

We’ve recently launched our gamechanging yearly plans which allow Virgin Mobile users to customize their data as well as local and international minutes from 125 different plan options which can then be bought with a one-time payment for a period of 6 or 12 months. It will allow customers to save up to 50% and is a really innovative concept in terms of savings for the customer.

The experience through the app also offers our customers a really seamless journey and we want to continue to improve these experiences, so the vision will

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remain the same. Our main focus is the feedback from our customers because this is ultimately how we create our innovation roadmap. The customers are providing us with excellent recommendations, and we’re taking all of the information that is being relayed back to us by the customers very seriously in order to translate it into new features and functionalities as part of our overall effort to innovate on behalf our customers.

Virgin Mobile has deliberately targeted millennials. However, why do you think the app has resonated so much with millennials and do you expect to see further growth amongst millennials in the UAE as you improve your digital services?

The Virgin Mobile app in the UAE is appealing for the digital generation and those who are looking for an allaround amazing mobile experience.

In a short period of time we’ve positioned ourselves as the premium brand in digital on-boarding and customer experience

AUGUST 2018

COVER STORY

It’s in our DNA to innovate and make sure we’re continuously bringing new solutions to the market

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Today, we’re attracting customers that live their lives on their handsets and devices, and we believe that we are serving the modern tech savvy segment, which is the fastest growing segment in the market. This is where we are positioning the brand and we’re getting the right feedback from the right segment to continue to improve our services and innovate.

It’s definitely the right positioning for us to target millennials as our product is tailored perfectly for them to engage in their daily interactions on their handsets.

Can you elaborate on how the recent partnership between Virgin Mobile UAE and ride-hailing app Careem will improve your services?

The partnership is definitely part of

AUGUST 2018

our future roadmap and Careem is one of our strategic partners. It’s a fantastic partnership for us at Virgin Mobile to engage in, and Careem has a fantastic network and great coverage. Together, we’ve been able to deliver services within 10 minutes which is truly amazing.

In terms of systems and ecosystems, we’re succeeding in relation to implementing the right integration and the right operating model to deliver these services. It is really complex from a technological point of view, but at the end, we’re able to make the lives of customers much easier - and this is one of the pillars of our strategy. We want to deliver these on-demand services to facilitate the needs of our customers. Virgin Mobile and

COVER STORY

Careem are both app-based and digitally-based business models, and we share the same vision which is to create incredible experiences for our customers, so in that respect, it’s a perfect partnership for both enterprises.

Virgin Mobile also recently entered into an agreement with South Korean conglomerate Samsung.

Can you outline to us what the main benefits of this collaboration will entail?

The collaboration with Samsung is a very special partnership. Customers who purchase a new Samsung device and join Virgin Mobile will receive 5GB additional data on top of their plan for the first three months. This partnership reflects the shared vision of Samsung and Virgin Mobile, with

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We believe that we are serving the modern tech savvy segment

AUGUST 2018

COVER STORY

The main challenge is how to make things simple and easier for customers to understand

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both brands constantly looking for new ways to innovate and improve mobile experience. By working with a brand like Samsung, we’re offering consumers a truly unique proposition that combines the flexibility and convenience of our groundbreaking app, with the cutting-edge technology and features of the Samsung device.

Virgin Mobile’s recent auction for coveted phone numbers sparked an online scramble by customers.

Was this initiative to allow users to personalize their mobile experience a success?

The VIP numbers in general are intended for a category that is really focused and interested in acquiring coveted mobile numbers. There are many different ways to attract these types of customers, but one way is to

COVER STORY

AUGUST 2018

We want to continue to inspire the industry

go to auction because there are highvalue plans on the auction which you can’t sell online or in retail stores.

Another example of our cutting-edge innovation is a feature that allows customers to buy a plan, such as VIP numbers through the app. We introduced Red plan and Silver plan via our App in order to avoid going through any offline experience - it’s online and direct to consumer. So these are two ways in which we’re trying to bundle VIP numbers with the plan. It is also pushing the VIP customers to go through our digital experience and discover something different than just your typical traditional experience in the mobile space. We believe that in this segment, Virgin Mobile will continue to achieve success.

What are the challenges MNOs face in terms of making mobile experiences better following the pressure that has been placed on them by OTTs? When you’re an innovation lab, or you’re a niche segment within the industry, I think the focus has got to be on simplifying things and making everything easier for your customer base. However, when you’re mass market, and this is the case for the MNOs, then you’re after so many different segments and things get more complex.

I think the main challenge they have is how to make things simple and easier for customers to understand.

This will enable customers to understand clearly what they are buying and avoid encountering any surprises. So I think the most challenging part from a worldwide industry level viewpoint is how to simplify offers and provide customers with better experiences.

In your expert opinion, what is currently the biggest challenge for telecommunication operators in the Middle East?

I think the challenges are very similar everywhere in the telco industry from the Middle East to the rest of the world.

The objective has to be about how you upgrade the operating model and move towards digital transformation without completely destroying the existing infrastructure. You can focus on the impact of OTTs and other services, but for me, it’s all about the operating model. You can have new systems and you can integrate different ecosystems, but the operating model gets impacted and then it needs to be upgraded stepby-step to make sure that we can absorb new technology, new services and new systems that are being introduced that we’d like to offer.

In terms of emerging technologies, I think the internet of things will change our daily lives. The introduction of IoT will be good for the customer and the industry overall and will definitely improve customer experiences much better than they are today.

Can you outline to uswhat your primary objectives are for Virgin Mobile in the next 12 months?

Virgin Mobile was born digital.

We don’t talk about digital transformation because we were born digital. We’re talking more about innovation in terms of experience: what’s our next innovation and what is our innovation roadmap? This is our main focus. It is all about what are we going to release next month, what are we going to release in the

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next three months, six months and 12 months and so on. The entire business unit is focused on how to deliver all our services through the app and digitalize in order to create better experiences for our customers.

We want to continue to inspire the industry.

Over the next 12 months, we will continue to release new features, new functionalities, new services and new partnerships in order to make sure that we can meet the three pillars of our customer needs which are with our app customer get what he wants now, add new services and deliver better value.

Virgin Mobile’s business unit will always deliver on these three things to ensure it provides its customers with the best experiences that make their lives easier. Innovation is in the DNA of our people, we’re part of EITC, and we believe we have the right people, systems and agile operating model to further grow. We’ve got all the ingredients to move to the next level.

We believe we have the right people, systems and agile operating model to further grow

AUGUST 2018

REGIONAL NEWS

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AI expected to boost UAE GDP by $96bn

Rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions will increase the UAE’s GDP by USD 96 billion by 2030, enabling organizations to better meet and predict customer and citizen trends and drive digital business innovation.

As the UAE Strategy for AI guides nationwide transformation, AI and machine learning are entering the mainstream. PwC predicts that AI will contribute USD 96 billion in UAE GDP 2030. By industry, Accenture says finance (USD 37 billion), healthcare (USD

22 billion) and transport and storage (USD 19 billion) will see the biggest growth by 2035.

massive data sets and uncover patterns that are largely beyond what people could uncover themselves.

“Artificial intelligence solutions can enable new innovations that can augment the existing workforce, optimizing costs, efficiency and innovation. Banks can analyze credit and loan repayments, hospitals can predict patient treatment success and government agencies can enhance mega-events management,” said Savitha Bhaskar, COO at Condo Protego, the UAE-based IT infrastructure and information management consultancy and solutions provider.

“AI and machine learning solutions should meet business needs and not merely have futuristic technology for technology’s sake. The massive computing power needed for AI and machine learning also means that organizations need to invest in highperformance information management infrastructure,” added Savitha Bhaskar.

Condo Protego is seeing strong UAE demand for Dell EMC high performance computing solutions, for faster, better and deeper insights. Specialized channel partners can help organizations choose the infrastructure solutions that best meet their needs across workstations, servers, networking, storage, software and services.

However, AI on its own is not enough.

Organizations also need to have in place the next step, machine learning, where machines or applications learn from

Dubai to become digital financial inclusion hub traditional and digital financial services for the currently financially excluded population.

According to a report published by Oliver Wyman in collaboration with Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the UAE is likely to serve as the “beating heart” of a regional innovation hub. Dubai, in particular, has a strategic position that helps with the development of digitally enabled financial solutions for the region.

Financial inclusion has been a hot topic lately all over the world, given the fact that 1.7 billion of the world’s global active population is still lacking access to formal financial services.

The Middle East, Africa and South Africa (MEASA) region accounted for about 50% of all financially excluded and underserved individuals. The average of working adults owning a financial account is considerably low (48%) comparing to a global average of 69%. Yet, conditions across MEASA keep complicating the access to both

“In a financially inclusive environment, individuals and businesses can conveniently access a variety of financial services at low cost and are offered products that are tailored to their specific needs. For a significant share of the population across MEASA, this is currently not possible. While many existing efforts are underway across the region, these are often heavily fragmented and make a large-scale advancement challenging,” said Greg Rung, partner, Financial Services. One of the main drivers of financial inclusion is digital technologies. This is why the proposed hub aims to strengthen efforts and identify opportunities for scalable solutions. Dubai didn’t become the center of the innovation hub by accident.

The emirate gathers a unique set of features and is already recognized as a global and regional economic and financial hub with strong financial expertise. Moreover, Dubai’s financial services and national visions such as Smart Dubai and Dubai Plan 2021 reflect Dubai’s commitment to financial innovation.

“With an approximate population of 3 billion, the MEASA region sits on a large pool of opportunities that are still untapped for the lack of financial access.

Delivering financial services to more people across the region has become a necessity that Dubai, and the UAE as a whole, are perfectly positioned to contribute to,” commented Arif Amiri, chief executive officer at the DIFC Authority.

DIFC is the leading financial center and FinTech hub in the MEASA region, with over 1,853 active registered companies and a FinTech community of over 50 firms and numerous FinTech-related clients.

“At DIFC, financial inclusion remains a key focus for us in our ongoing efforts to shape the future of finance in MEASA. We have already made important strides towards nurturing an integrated ecosystem that can unlock the potential of emerging trends such as FinTech and InsurTech in the region. We believe that this will not only transform the way the financial services industry operates but will also create a positive wave of social impact and economic gains across the MEASA countries,” said Amiri.

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REGIONAL NEWS

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RIPE NCC inaugurates IPv6 deployment in Lebanon for Internet services and to provide their customers with up to date services.

Chafic Chaya, Regional Communications Manager at RIPE NCC said in his opening address, “The RIPE NCC is enthusiastic about empowering the Lebanese Internet community, which comes within our strategic partnership with the Ministry of Telecommunication and OGERO. The RIPE Network Coordination Centre (NCC), the Ministry of telecommunications in Lebanon and OGERO, the public operator, successfully held “Lebanon IPv6 Week” in Beirut, inaugurating the deployment of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in Lebanon and supporting Internet stakeholders with the necessary technical expertise. The IPv6 training activities and the national IPv6 meeting were held as part of the collaborative efforts of OGERO, the RIPE NCC and the American University of Beirut (AUB) to raise awareness about the importance of shifting to IPv6. Additionally, the meeting aims to support ISPs and telecom operators with the technical expertise to meet the growing demand

We applaud the encouraging progress achieved by Lebanon towards IPv6 deployment, and we renew our commitment towards supporting and helping our members and network operators in the country and the whole Arab region.”

He also explained how this process is supported by expert trainings and provides ISPs with analytical and measurement tools such as RIPE Atlas and RIPEstat. RIPE NCC’s trainings, which are offered to companies through workshops and also online via the RIPE NCC Academy, address many technical topics, including Internet Protocol and technologies like IPv6. Imad Kreidieh, Chairman and CEO of OGERO declared

at the ‘Lebanon IPv6 Meeting’ in Beirut that traffic over IPv6 was now open for ISPs and mobile operators and asserted that efforts were being made at all levels to ensure future readiness.

OGERO is striving towards meeting Lebanon’s needs through collaboration with international organizations such as the RIPE NCC. He added that OGERO’s numerous efforts and activities include the deployment of fiber optic networks and IPv6 in order to stimulate the digital economy in Lebanon.

The IPv6 training, which was held from July 2 to 4 at the American University of Beirut, equipped the Lebanese technical experts with the necessary tools for IPv6 deployment and increased their capabilities in dealing with the eventual transfer to the new system. The training forms part of the Memorandum of Understanding between RIPE NCC and AUB signed last year to enhance the skills and capabilities for the development of Internet services in Lebanon and its neighboring countries and deepen cooperation in this area.

STC launches cybersecurity initiative

His Excellency Abdullah Al-Sawaha, Minister of CIT launched Cyber Craft, the Cybersecurity program for beginners that was organized by STC, in the Presence of Nasser Al Nasser, STC Group CEO, and Abdulaziz Alruwais Governor of CITC. Al-Sawah valued STC initiative of launching such a program, which seeks to build local and professional capabilities in cybersecurity based on

best practices and global standards to lead the Kingdom to the ranks of developed countries in modern technical knowledge.

huge demand. In addition, it is one of the growth tracks at STC according to the strategic growth plan and the digital transformation.

“Objectives of the programs are compatible with the increasing demand for specialists in cybersecurity, as the services in the Kingdom witness an accelerating digital transformation in line with the Kingdom`s vision 2030”, Al-Sawah said.

Omar Alnomany, STC Solutions CEO, mentioned that the initiative is the first of its kind because it focuses on the young people, as their training on cybersecurity will give them the chance to determine their educational and vocational track and use their energies in the right place.

After the launching, Nasser Al Nasser confirmed that STC plays a pivotal role in the Kingdom’s vision 2030 as an enabler for digital transformation in the public and private sector. He highlighted how STC Solutions work through this program to train Saudi talents in cybersecurity that witness

Cyber Craft program aims to train more than 150 students in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Khobar, in collaboration with two global leading companies in cybersecurity learning. The students will go through summer training for a month, and they will have certified certificates at the end of the training.

AUGUST 2018

OPINIONS

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As the Middle East undergoes rapid digital transformation, the regional leadership is putting strategies in place to accelerate their digital agendas as a part of their national visions. The reason is simple: investing in digitalization pays. To cope with market demands and maintain a competitive edge, organizations are moving to the cloud and adopting machine learning and AI technologies to enhance their performance and are becoming smarter in the way they operate.

All this requires a reliable, cost-effective and agile ICT infrastructure. This, perhaps, is the defining line between success and failure of a business or a country’s economy in todays’ world.

KunLun SAP HANA Appliance: The right tool for digitalization

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his is where the SAP HANA appliance comes in. It was created by Professor Hasso Plattner, a technological zealot who personally funded the establishment of the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in 1998 with a commitment to promote academic research in software system engineering and industrial applications.

For nearly two decades, HPI’s biggest achievement has been the development and successful application of SAP

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HANA, a high performance analytic appliance that uses in-memory computing technology to enable the processing of massive amounts of realtime data in a short time.

Huawei KunLun: A natural fit with SAP HANA software features Huawei KunLun has been certified for integration with a full range of SAP HANA appliance solutions. The KunLun SAP HANA appliance is based on the KunLun Mission Critical Server, which is engineered for businesscritical workloads such as enterprise databases, decision support and business processing. Supporting 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 or 32 Intel® processors with an ultra-large memory of up to 32 TB, the KunLun server is capable of efficiently processing massive amounts of data in large-scale in-memory computing systems. In fact, a single KunLun server can support a larger in-memory database than any existing 8-socket x86 server and, in so doing, greatly improve enterprise IT resource utilization and reduce management expenditures.

At present, the improvements in CPU performance have shifted from a sole reliance on faster clock frequencies to the use of multi-core parallel technologies. For example, each Intel® Broadwell processor supports up to 24 cores and 48 threads, and Huawei’s KunLun server provides a physical platform capable of supporting up to 768 cores and 1,536 threads. In accordance with the primary goal of SAP HANA appliances to keep data as close as possible to the CPU, KunLun servers are perfectly suited to supporting the SAP HANA software features for meeting customer demand for the ultimate in database performance.

For customers’ intent on selecting an in-memory appliance solution, SAP’s proposition is that the appliance be able to deliver best-in-class performance to customers. Based on this principle, SAP’s advice to customers is ‘scale-up first’, which translates to a preference to meet memory capacity requirements in single-node configurations instead of cluster configurations. The implication of this principle is that cluster

OPINIONS configurations cannot provide the best performance. In practical terms, if the memory required by a customer exceeds the capabilities of a single server (for example, a requirement for 100 TB cannot be met by any single x86 server), the customer system will have to be installed as a cluster. This is also when the experts in enterprise databases come into play with techniques such as dividing database tables into cluster nodes, or distributing data through the use of built-in algorithms.

For SAP HANA, differences in access modes lead to drastically different performance results between a single, high performance node and a cluster of nodes that involve cross-node (cross-OS) I/O or remote direct memory access (RDMA) operations. Though not currently available, the roadmap is prepared for SAP HANA to support InfiniBand or RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE). As detailed above, the latency when reading 64 bytes of data from the local memory of an Intel® E7 v4 processor is 110 nanoseconds.

Using an InfiniBand interface supporting RDMA, the typical latency for reading 64 bytes from the memory of another node is 1.5 microseconds at a 40 Gbit/s InfiniBand Quadruple Data Rate (QDR). There is a 15x difference between the two modes. If a 10 GE interface is used (10 Gbit/s line rate and 1 Gbit/s effective bandwidth), there is at least a 60x difference between the two modes.

There is an obvious necessity to avoid such cross-node data reads whenever possible, which requires databases or tables to be precisely divided. Though, in practical terms, making cross-node data reads is inevitable as the crossnode data accessed by enterprise applications is often correlated by nature. This makes the huge difference in the performance of single nodes versus clusters of nodes commonplace.

At present, the Huawei SAP HANA solution based on the KunLun Mission Critical Server supports up to 32 sockets with 32 TB of memory capacity on a single node. The 16 TB memory model is certified, the 20 TB model is planned for certification,

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and any specification above 20 TB will be certified on a case-by-case basis. KunLun single-node solutions - that experience shows meet the requirements for the majority of customers - support capacity expansion from four sockets to 32 sockets as may be needed to grow the customer’s business based on business need. KunLun provides a unique logical partitioning function that further divides resources. With the KunLun logical partitioning function, multiple SAP applications and HANA databases can be consolidated onto KunLun, meanwhile ensuring high performance and fault isolation. This feature is in the process of planning. For customers, the memory capacity and computing capability of the deployed Huawei SAP HANA appliance can be gradually expanded based on the actual service development requirements. In addition, the excellent performance of the singlenode solution is always maintained.

KunLun’s 32 TB memory capacity on a single node can meet most customers’ requirements. For hyper-scale applications requiring more than 32 TB of memory, Huawei can provide cluster solutions today and is well on track to providing next generation KunLun-SAP HANA appliances capable of larger scales and higher performance.

Huawei: Best SAP practitioner and best choice for enterprise digital transformation Used and trusted by many customers all over the world, solutions are serving more than 1,000 customers in over 40 countries and regions worldwide.

As the experience of delivering tangible benefits to enterprises with the SAP HANA system deepens, Huawei has risen to become the world’s best practitioner of SAP system infrastructure solutions and the best partner for enterprises undergoing their digital transformation. Huawei aims to bring cutting-edge products and solutions from around the world to the Middle East, to help equip our partners and customers with the tools they need to succeed on their digitalization journey, and Build a Better Connected World.

By Anjian, President of Carrier Network Business Group, Huawei Middle East

AUGUST 2018

ICT FEATURE

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Where do regulations stand in the journey towards 5G? Developments in the telecommunications industry in terms of fifth generation networks are happening at an accelerated pace now that we’re getting closer to the end of 2018 – a deadline that some telcos gave for 5G deployment. The successful completion of the first implementable Release 15 5G New Radio (NR) specifications was announced in December 2017 at the 3GPP TSG RAN Plenary Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, and last June, industry players announced the official approval of the “5G standalone” specifications.

AUGUST 2018

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he completion of SA specifications which complements the NSA specifications not only gives 5G NR the ability of independent deployment, but also brings a brand new end-to-end network architecture, making 5G a facilitator and an accelerator during the intelligent information and communications technology improvement process of enterprise customers and vertical industries. New business models will be enabled and a new era where everything is interconnected will be opened up for both mobile operators and industrial partners.

“The freeze of standalone 5G NR radio specifications represents a major milestone in the quest of the wireless industry towards realizing the holistic 5G vision. 5G NR standalone systems not only dramatically increase the mobile broadband speeds and capacity, but also open the door for new industries beyond telecommunications that are looking to revolutionize their ecosystem through 5G,” said Balassa Bertényi, chairman of 3GPP TSG RAN at the announcement of the historic milestone.

Erik Guttman, chairman of 3GPP TSG SA, added, “The agreed completion of the stage 3 freeze milestone for the 5G standalone system has great significance. The 5G system specification has now reached its official stage of completion, thanks to the intense efforts of hundreds of engineers over the past three years. A special acknowledgment is due to those who led this remarkable effort in diverse committees.”

According to Guttman, 5G promises a broad expansion of telecommunications, as an ever more central component of our economies, societies and individual activities. The 5G system opens the way for commercialization of services based on the new radio and 5G core network and their advanced extensible capabilities. The new system provides the foundation for ongoing specialization for support of new business sectors, for unlike 4G and past generations, 5G supports the very specific requirements

ICT FEATURE and individual service characteristics of diverse communications.

3GPP activities have already begun to leverage the 5G system to realize opportunities in areas such as industrial automation. This activity will intensify in the months and years to come, in increasingly many sectors, all on the foundation of the work that has been achieved on this occasion.

However, amid all of this excitement, the importance and impact of regulations should be taken into consideration, for they can highly affect the benefits of 5G technology. The best regulatory framework is one that encourages new advancements while also protecting the environment. Instead of putting up barriers to a technology’s development that can have negative repercussions on the whole industry, regulations should help promote them while preserving the industry and environment.

A recent study commissioned by Accenture and CTIA states that curbing the current delays in installations of small cellular infrastructure could generate tens of billions in economic development - a 12 month reduction in current timelines would translate to an additional $100 billion for the US economy over the next three years.

In April 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted an order containing sweeping regulatory changes to accelerate the deployment of next generation wireless services. The order removes significant regulatory barriers to wireless infrastructure deployment and revises existing processes to expedite environmental and historic preservation review.

The order eliminates the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) for certain small wireless network facilities. Advanced 5G wireless networks will rely on a high quantity of small antenna systems deployed in close proximity to each other rather than on traditional cell towers or monopoles separated by great distances.

With this move, the FCC aims to accelerate 5G deployment by reducing

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impediments hampering the process, thus allowing telcos to move swiftly towards 5G capacity and insuring coverage in rural areas.

Small cells are the future of the next generation 5G wireless applications. That is why they have to be ubiquitous in order to provide reliable coverage and enable a new generation of connected devices.

The new 5G “small cell” systems can often be co-located with existing wireless facilities or placed on existing structures such as telephone poles or street lamps and do not pose the same degree of environmental or historic disruptions as larger facilities.

Further actions to alleviate deployment burdens might follow soon in order to expedite 5G deployment as soon as possible. These changes are intended to facilitate the introduction of advanced consumer and commercial devices, and services and systems that will rely on wireless connectivity, including a wide range of “smart” technologies, unmanned vehicles, internet of things, augmented reality and artificial intelligence-driven advancements.

The best regulatory framework is one that encourages new advancements while also protecting the environment

AUGUST 2018

INTERVIEW

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MTX CEO:

“MEA operators represent the future of the wholesale market�

Telecom Review was the official media partner for the third edition of the Mediterranean Telecoms Exchange (MTX) conference which was held in the stunning Italian capital city of Rome. The conference is the brainchild of Afinna One CEO, Massimo Lucera, who recognized a gap in the market for a conference which is specifically tailored for wholesale players in the Mediterranean telecommunications sector, and with one of his partners, he decided to create the Event MTX.

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assimo Lucera has enjoyed a decorated and distinguished career to date in the ICT industry and is the former managing director of an Italian branch of an international Tier 2 entity. He also enjoyed remarkable success in establishing an international carrier whilst working for an international investment company in Barcelona.

He set up Afinna One in 2010, and the enterprise has enjoyed phenomenal

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success and growth and has become one of the leading providers in international wholesale services.

Afinna One has also carved out a stellar reputation for delivering high quality standard voice services, and is a valued and trusted partner within the wholesale ecosystem on a global scale.

The Mediterranean Telecoms Exchange incorporates the entire telecommunications wholesale industry and attracted major players from mobile and wireless operators, to Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 carriers, internet service providers, VoIP providers and technical partners in voice, data and satellite. The unique event provides a fundamental opportunity for businesses that are keen to explore opportunities presented within the Mediterranean and emerging African wholesale markets.

Telecom Review managed to secure an exclusive interview with the charismatic CEO of MTX and Afinna One Massimo Lucera to find out his vision for the future growth of MTX; the challenges facing the wholesale industry globally, why Europe is lagging behind other regions in terms of integrating innovative new technologies, and his plans to solidify Afinna One’s position as a market leader in the wholesale sector.

Mediterranean Telecoms Exchange was your brainchild and is now in its third year. It has enjoyed phenomenal success since its inception and is continuing to grow.

Can you outline to us the primary reasons you had for creating MTX? As you know, in the ICT industry, there are so many events on the calendar; it is quite a saturated market. There’s a lot of competition in this space, and there are a lot of brilliant global events. However, we decided to start MTX because we recognized and identified that there was a gap in the market in relation to the Mediterranean and African telecommunications sector.

MTX is a niche and unique symposium that represents the

INTERVIEW first step for those involved in the wholesale space to explore nascent business opportunities in new growing markets that we currently have within the wholesale industry here in the Mediterranean. Our primary objective with MTX is to improve the interconnection between the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 data providers. We have enjoyed growth every year since we started in 2016, and we will continue to improve MTX year-on-year.

What is your future vision for the conference, and what are the key benefits and values participants are exposed to by attending MTX? In relation to our future vision of MTX, we’re keen to involve operators based in the Middle East and Africa, because we firmly believe that these are the kind of enterprises that represent the future of our market.

When we say it’s our objective to grow the event, it’s important to counter that by stressing that we’re acutely aware that the unique and niche aspect of MTX is in the quality of our attendees. So we don’t want to dilute that by just inviting anyone.

It’s vital for us that we don’t lose the quality of our participants. Obviously we’d like to see every one of our conference rooms full of people, but we don’t want to involve students or entrepreneurs that have no knowledge of our business just to fill a room.

Time is very important to us and our participants, and it’s critical that we maximize the time available during our meetings at MTX in order to facilitate and enable our participants to meet their partners and prospective new clients to finalize their targets and business opportunities. Our ability to do this is what differentiates MTX from other wholesale events.

I can confirm that MTX will expand next year by adding an SMS corner to the exhibition because we received a lot of requests to do this from those that have attended MTX since 2016.

We value the feedback we receive from our participants, and we use that information to improve the

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event overall. Data will be another step that we will add to our MTX portfolio next year. In addition to this, internet of things, B2B and M2M learning activities are the future, so it’s imperative for us to introduce this to MTX moving forward and is something we’re actively looking at.

You were a participant at MTX’s panel discussion which examined the impact of next generation technologies on the telecoms landscape from internet of things to smart cities. Can you share with us what you found to be some of the most interesting insights that emerged from the panel discussion?

In my experience of panel discussions at other industry leading ICT events, the main emphasis and focus was placed on the high-profile speakers that were participating on the particular panels. Whilst many of these speakers were top-level and very prominent executives within their own respective companies, they were in my opinion not related to reality.

We decided to start MTX because we recognized and identified that there was a gap in the market

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In many ways, they’re disconnected from the day to day operations involved. The insights offered by a CEO, CFO or CMO at these panel sessions are undoubtedly fascinating and thought-provoking, but at the end of it, the market doesn’t receive an update. Attendees want to be informed about something fresh in relation to the difficulties we face, or the opportunities that we’re presented with in the sector. The big transformation strategies are too big for most of the wholesale providers here at MTX. In the case of our panel, we had a moderator and a group of panelists that have amassed huge experience all across the ICT industry. Our panelists and moderator were able to offer participants an alternative vision of the same problem from a different perspective. The people that attended our panel discussion were interested to understand the industry trends from several different viewpoints, and the panel was diverse in terms of the topics it highlighted and the experiences they’ve encountered in the telecommunications industry. The panel discussion wasn’t specifically focused on the wholesale market exclusively, and this resulted in rich conversations being generated that had everybody in the room engaged.

In your expert opinion, what are the main challenges facing Afinna One and the entire wholesale industry in Europe?

I think one of the main challenges currently facing the wholesale industry, not just in Europe, but globally, is in relation to traditional voice services. Voice has become a commodity, and whilst I don’t think it will disappear, it’s very evident it has acquired an unstable role as a revenue generator in today’s shifting market.

Voice revenues are in decline and profits are also suffering from decreasing termination rates. Overthe-top (OTT) services such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger and Skype are fast replacing traditional voice and SMS as the primary method of

INTERVIEW communication for consumers and, increasingly, businesses. These services are underpinned by VoLTE and voice-over-IP (VoIP), both of which present new opportunities for players across the telecoms landscape.

Our priority at Afinna One is to support all of our wholesale activity as much as we can, whilst at the same time attempting to improve the interconnection of the relationships that we have with our Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 customers. We’ve also created a new division to support IoT and all the other services associated with emerging technologies which will be the future of our daily activities. In addition to this, it’s important for us to improve the experience for the final end user in our database in an effort to ensure that we improve our value and the portfolio of services that we provide to them.

During your panel discussion you highlighted that Europe was lagging behind the Middle East and Asia in relation to the integration and adoption of emerging technologies like IoT and AI. Why do you think Europe is falling behind other parts of the world?

Obviously it’s easier to commence transformation projects and new programs in a country that is relatively new. Singapore is a perfect example of that. It is a truly amazing place and is a global leader in terms of implementing technology into its services and systems to transform the lives of its citizens.

However, Europe is an old continent and that holds challenges in terms of overhauling existing infrastructure.

It can be very difficult to create new infrastructures in comparison to countries that can build things from scratch.

However, I think the biggest issue is mentality. I think the mentality in Europe has to change in order to embrace all these new technologies that have the revolutionary capabilities to transform and enhance the cities we live in. The Asian and Middle East markets are both

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totally new, and both regions have adopted very progressive and open minded views towards these new technologies and have witnessed firsthand the benefits they can create.

They’ve removed a lot of the red tape and regulatory barriers that would’ve have previously slowed down the integration and deployment of these technologies into their respective societies.

However, in Europe and South America, the mentality is very different, and it’s a mindset I believe we have to change quickly here in Europe – otherwise, we will be left lagging behind the rest of the world in relation to ICT and technology innovation.

Can you tell us about any forthcoming projects or partnerships Afinna One is set to announce in the second half of 2018?

We’re working on a great new relationship with M800, and we’re currently trying to finalize an agreement which would see us become their most important partner in Europe and Africa. We will be the

The main challenges currently facing the wholesale industry are in relation to traditional voice services

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arm of their commercial sector in both regions, but we will also be playing a very proactive role in the development side of the company. We don’t want to be just a reseller of their services.

It’s our ambition and objective to become a partner of the M800 project in their effort to expand their range of services in both the European and African markets. We feel we have the experience, knowledge and ability to help M800 penetrate these markets and we believe by combining our expertise, we can create a lasting partnership that will be beneficial for both entities.

We’re hoping to get the final details of the collaboration tied up in the next few weeks.

Can you outline to us your primary objectives and goals for the remainder of 2018?

We’ve got a number of objectives and targets that we’re on course to deliver on. One of the main projects that we’re hoping to commence in the

INTERVIEW

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forthcoming number of months is our new internet of things division, which is something, as an enterprise, we’re really excited about.

We’re also going to be appointing a new commercial director in enterprises and retail, in addition to offering new services to the final end user in an effort to expand the portfolio of solutions we offer. The new services will be high quality and focused on innovation.

Innovation is the key component for us to remain successful. We don’t want to necessarily get huge numbers; we want to be different and we want to be on the market for a very long time. In order for us to do this - and be successful in our efforts to solidify our position in the market- we have to invest further in research and development and create something that is different than what our competitors are offering to support the desire of our customers. We believe we can achieve this, we are focused to do it, and the future is an exciting one.

I believe we have to change the mindset quickly here in Europe, otherwise, we will be left lagging behind

AUGUST 2018

OPINIONS

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The three vital areas of a future smart city Cities across the world are transforming into smart cities and this is because smart products or internet of things (IoT) have become more prominent in our daily lives. Industry reports have stated that by 2022, there will be around 18 billion connected devices related to IoT worldwide. With an estimated 7.8 billion world population in 2022, that is close to 2.3 devices for every person in this world. present in many homes today. They are used for various reasons, like for homeowners to know when guests arrive at their homes or for parents to connect with their children at home when they are away.

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oT devices are related to smart cities because they enable those cities to make advances in multiple areas such as people’s live, transportation and the environment. Through IoT projects, a city becomes more efficient, progressive, and creates a connected and engaged community.

Supporting the capabilities of each IoT device is its network infrastructure. A strong and robust infrastructure that has a wide presence while being secure and reliable is vital in the progression of smart cities.

Looking towards the future, there are three areas that smart cities will be focused on.

Smart living IoT devices are a huge part of our daily lives and we can find them in public spaces as well as within our homes. The security cameras that look over us whenever we enter a public building are now already

According to an industry report, more than 66% of consumers plan to buy connected technology for their homes by 2019. Beyond security devices, smart homes will move from having just personal robots to functional robots that can take care of the elderly and their health. On top of this, there will be secure payments that are verified using fingerprints or eye scans and human implants that track our physical condition.

Smart mobility Easy transportation is an integral part of any successful city. Whether it is getting to work or simply getting from one place to another, being able to do so quickly and comfortably saves the time of citizens and make lives easier.

The connected cars that we have been seeing on the road lately will become automated and self-driving. Currently, there are already a few cities with airports that use IoT devices to make check-ins and boarding quick and seamless. Building on top of this, in the future, when you land at your destination you won’t need to go thru customs anymore since your passport

has already been digitally stamped after your face was scanned using facial biometrics technology when you exited the plane.

Smart environment Climate change is a serious topic. The capability to help preserve the health of the planet will soon become a key requirement for smart cities.

Smart cities will move forward to energy conservation. They will save electricity by having smart buildings that have better energy control.

Already today, we are seeing energy saving hotels and this will expand further to commercial buildings.

Smart cities will also be more environmentally friendly. Pollution will be monitored through remote sensing devices, and smart waste collection solutions will track waste levels for better collection automation.

It is without a doubt that leading cities around the world will eventually become smart cities. We can see how IoT plays an integral part in building smart cities. With this in mind, there will be a host of space for IoT developers to enter and demonstrate the capabilities of their IoT devices and help build these smart cities.

By Steven YAP, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of M800 Limited

AUGUST 2018

WOMEN IN ICT

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The world of ICT was once a male-dominated environment, but the landscape has changed significantly over the years. Telecom Review aims to celebrate that diversity - and the shifting of demographics in the telecommunications industry by conducting a special series of interviews, entitled ‘Women in ICT’. In today’s interview we speak to Natalia Ellis, chief financial officer at Speedflow Communications.

“Women are now afforded the same opportunities as men” – Natalia Ellis

It’s critically important for us to convey our strategic plans and vision to our partners

WOMEN IN ICT

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CFO highlighted the importance and unique opportunities presented by attending MTX, her roles and responsibilities at Speedflow Communications, the company’s move from Ukraine to Bulgaria, and gender equality in the workplace.

Our decision to move operations to Bulgaria has been a resounding success

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atalia Ellis has forged a stellar reputation for being one of the most prominent and successful female executives within the ICT industry after 14 successful years as CFO of Speedflow Communications. She has been a champion and pioneer for the empowerment of women in maledominated industries, and continues to serve as a great inspiration for those attempting to break through the ‘glass ceiling’.

Telecom Review managed to secure an exclusive interview with Ellis at the Mediterranean Telecoms Exchange (MTX) event in Rome.

In a fascinating, insightful and engaging interview, the dynamic

MTX is now in its third year. How important is it for Speedflow Communications to have visibility at MTX event and what value/ benefits does it provide for your company?

Speedflow Communications has attended the MTX conference from the very beginning. It represents a brilliant opportunity for us to see all of the European partners we work with, and it also provides us with the chance to network and meet potential new partners in the wholesale space. MTX is the perfect platform for industry leaders within the wholesale segment to discuss all the current trends, opportunities and challenges within the sector. Italy is a very interesting country, and business develops here very quickly.

The Italians are always proactively exploring new opportunities, and I think they’re very creative people.

The other appealing aspect of MTX for us is by networking with players from the local market and other European countries, you’re able to identify, determine and pinpoint what the next trend within the industry will be, which allows you to create new business strategies and targets. At MTX, you see the full range of services on offer within the wholesale space and this is a unique component of MTX which isn’t replicated elsewhere within the ICT industry space in relation to wholesale events and conferences.

The beauty of MTX is that you’re in the one room for the entire day, and you’re able to return to the same subject with the same people throughout the course of the day, but you’re approaching the subject from different aspects – and it results in much richer insights, relationship development and understanding.

At other larger conferences you’re running from floor to floor and are

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pressed for time, so that limits the quality of your interactions with partners and prospective clients.

MTX is held in a casual setting where all the players you want to speak to in relation to exchanging ideas and determining new trends are all under the one roof in one room, and this ultimately allows you to be more creative, and provides you with a better understanding and knowledge of all the challenges, opportunities and trends within the European and international wholesale sector.

You were in attendance at the panel discussion which examined the impact of next generation technologies on the telecoms landscape from internet of things to smart cities. Can you share with us what you found to be some of the most interesting insights that emerged from the panel discussion?

I found the panel discussion to be very interesting, and some of the insights that emerged in relation to the internet of things and the development of smart cities were fascinating. It was a perfect blend and balance on the panel in terms of the diversity of the experiences the panelists had in the ICT sector.

I think next year, MTX is planning to hold three panel discussions, and I think this is a great idea and will help strengthen the overall MTX event.

It’s a very important element within an event like MTX to have engaging panel discussions that are directly related to the industry.

It provokes rich conversations and leads to the creation of new ideas, and this is obviously beneficial for all in attendance. So, I think by extending the panel discussions next year, this will solidify and enhance the reputation MTX has as one of the leading wholesale events in Europe.

Can you outline to us your primary roles and responsibilities as the CFO of Speedflow Communications?

My main target and my primary

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WOMEN IN ICT

The business opportunities of being in the EU are monumental

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responsibilities as CFO of Speedflow Communications are to meet my business partners on a regular basis in order to determine what their future plans are in relation to their overall business development objectives.

It’s my task to understand what their plan and vision are, and this is very important because without a clear strategy and plan, there is simply no future.

It’s also critically important for us to convey our strategic plans and vision to our partners so they can find new business opportunities with us in the long-term. So it is a two-way street, but we’ve established ourselves in the last 15 years as a trusted brand

WOMEN IN ICT

AUGUST 2018

London, but we moved the majority of our operations to Bulgaria. It was a big move, but one that as I’ve already said has been a massive success for us thus far.

Women can adapt to a much wider range of roles within business than men

that delivers innovative solutions and services within the wholesale market, and we’re very confident that we can continue to expand and grow moving forward in the future.

We’re set to commence on a number of new projects and are actively enhancing our product portfolio in an effort to solidify our position as a market leader in voice-over-internet services for international telecom operators.

Since 2004, SpeedFlow Communications has established itself as a leading provider for customized billing software and voice over internet protocol services for international telecoms companies. Has the decision to move operations to Bulgaria been a success for the company, and what are the biggest challenges you face in the wholesale space?

Our decision to move operations to Bulgaria has been a resounding success. It has proved to be a great move for our enterprise and we’ve created a really strong team that consists of very experienced personnel.

I think managing that move to Bulgaria was one of our biggest challenges, but it was something we executed successfully. Our biggest office was in Ukraine, and we’ve still got an office in

Our initial task was to create a strong team and make the transition from the Ukraine to Bulgaria as seamless as possible, and the move has enabled us to create a whole host of new opportunities for the business that we wouldn’t have had access to if we remained outside of the EU. The EU is a very unique community that is comprised of different countries with different mentalities, but that shares the one idea in relation to allowing crosstrade without any borders. This idea is fantastic, and the removal of trade barriers and regulations within the EU allows those within the community to trade more openly and easier with other countries. I can speak from experience having been based outside of the EU when we were in the Ukraine, and the business opportunities of being in the EU are monumental. We’ve got access to new opportunities and a much, much larger market, so we’ve now been presented with the opportunity to showcase our products and solutions to a whole new raft of prospective partners.

The telecommunications industry has traditionally been a male-dominated environment. However, you’re one of the top female executives in the ICT industry and have previously spoken about the importance of empowering women in male-dominated industries.

How important is it to have gender equality in the ICT sector?

I believe that in today’s society, a man and a woman are afforded equal opportunities. I never felt throughout my career that men dominated, and I never felt that because I was a woman, I was at a disadvantage. I actually feel that women can adapt to a much wider range of roles within business than men because of our ability to utilize our feelings as well as our logic when making decisions. I think we have the ability to use our intuition and our internal feelings. Sometimes this is right, and other times it isn’t, but these traits still provide us with a wider range

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of skills to reach success in our career.

In our company we’ve got a 50/50 breakdown in relation to our employee demographics between men and women. However, that’s not some sort of special policy we’ve implemented to meet gender equality. It’s not our priority to balance our workforce; our target is to find the best people for the specific jobs within our company.

The reason I feel that it’s 50/50 within our company is because women are now afforded the same employment opportunities as men regardless of the industry.

So to conclude, I believe that today, women have the same opportunities as men because they can apply for any position within any industry, and they don’t hesitate to ask questions or to challenge men within the work environment. They’ve got no fear. Equal employment opportunities for women didn’t exist 50 years ago, but I firmly believe that today we’re on an equal footing, and in many instances have access to even more opportunities.

Today we’re on an equal footing, and in many instances have access to even more opportunities

AUGUST 2018

ICT FEATURE

Forget about internet of things, it’s about internet of thinking now New digital scenarios have emerged since the development of the very first smartphone, with data being at their heart. Robotics, artificial intelligence and connected devices have introduced a whole new era that requires overhauled infrastructure and a digital shift for businesses to keep pace with emerging trends.

A new approach capable of embedding businesses into the new world appears to be crucial with the sole purpose of driving intelligence everywhere. We introduce to you the internet of thinking.

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ICT FEATURE

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ext generation intelligent solutions are being integrated into the physical world, which is demonstrated by the adoption of smart cities solutions, telemedicine and data prediction and analytics. The first thing that comes to mind is the massive amount of data generated by such solutions. That is why companies should, first and foremost, consider improving their infrastructure.

as collecting a large body of historic data to drive better decision-making.

Meanwhile, data intended only for short-lived decisions at the edge can be discarded.”

example of early success for the internet of thinking, with worldwide revenues for the augmented reality and virtual reality market forecasted to reach nearly $215 billion by 2021.”

New technologies are bringing a new level of sophistication in which more decisions have to be made all of the time. This is the case of traffic flows in smart cities, or e-health where patients have to be continuously monitored. This is what triggered the need to have more processing power out of the cloud and into the edge of an IT system.

What differentiates the internet of thinking from the internet of things is its ability to accelerate the insights gathered from data inputs without referring to a core cloud-based IT structure, given that with the increase of the number and volumes of data, these systems won’t be able to keep up.

Extended infrastructure is the backbone of the internet of thinking and its maturity depends on delivering sufficient computing power where intelligent environments need it. Infrastructure modernization is key given the fact that the current infrastructure doesn’t allow for having intelligence everywhere and doesn’t support unlimited data.

Therefore, companies have to focus more on hardware instead of on the software-driven solutions.

By leveraging custom hardware, businesses are shifting from the “one-size-fits-all-tasks” approach that was adopted by the majority of enterprises during the last decade. This shift drives integrated, sophisticated experiences at the edge. For instance, Google decided to build its own computer chip instead of doubling its data footprint in order to run deep neural networks. The tensor processing unit is between 30 and 80 times more efficient than standard processors and is used to run AI models.

According to Accenture’s Technology Vision 2018 report which identifies the internet of thinking as a major 2018 trend, predictions suggest that by 2020, smart sensors and other internet of things devices will generate at least 507.5 zettabytes of data.

The prevalence of intelligence in our physical world requires that data be analyzed where it is generated to accelerate processes, which means moving closer to the edge of the networks. While data is processed to provide instant actions, businesses will leave resources in the cloud to crunch macro data for a larger picture, or what we call “meta insights”.

According to Accenture’s report, “Designing systems to leverage the power of both device-driven instant insights and meta-insights from the cloud means new considerations around storage. Companies must differentiate data assets that are critical to keep versus those that can be discarded once a decision has been made. Data assets tagged for backhauling to the cloud should have an explicit need for retention, such

A survey undertaken by Accenture in the framework of Technology Vision 2018 indicates that 63% of executives believe it will be critical over the next two years to leverage custom hardware and hardware accelerators to meet the computing demands of intelligent environments.

“Businesses must act today to incorporate these hardware-focused skills into their workforce - an added challenge for those whose cloud-first mentality may have de-emphasized this need,” the reports states.

Companies have long attempted to fully benefit from graphics processing units (GPUs) with the aim of accelerating their hardware, thus bringing greater intelligence to the edge of an IT system. However, sometimes, due to the existence of demanding conditions, hardware acceleration isn’t enough, which calls for custom hardware. The report highlights the example of extended reality experiences that “requires tremendous computing power to operate in real time; it’s also a prime

Creating the internet of thinking means companies must extend compute beyond the cloud, toward the edge of networks, says the report. At the same time, companies must explore custom hardware solutions and hardware accelerators that let systems circumvent latency and compute limitations. Cloud processing remains appealing for high-value learning, predictions, AI-model generation, and storage in situations that are not time-critical.

But for real-time, intelligent action, processing must happen at the edge of networks, where the event is occurring.

In order to benefit from AI, robotics, IoT and other revolutionary technologies, businesses should take into account the importance of focusing on certain key areas such as service design, infrastructure transformation and hardware considerations. An intelligent environment will be the fruit that they will reap from all of the effort they’ve deployed in this regard.

Overcoming infrastructure challenges can be made possible if businesses drive intelligence across businesses’ network by integrating intelligent tools into every aspect of their activities, balancing the cloud vs. the edge formula and leveraging custom hardware.

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INTERVIEW

New acquisition by Ribbon will enable it to further creativity and innovation

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he company transforms fixed, mobile and enterprise networks from legacy environments to secure IP and cloudbased architectures, enabling highly productive communications for consumers and businesses.

In a brilliant, engaging and forthright interview, the CMO and EVP of Business Development at the real-time communications enterprise outlined how the recent acquisition of Edgewater Networks will solidify its position as

a market leader, highlighted what differentiates the company from its rival and explained the benefits and capabilities provided by its flagship Kandy platform.

Can you outline to us what your primary responsibilities and goals are as the chief marketing officer and EVP of Business Development for Ribbon Communications?

Ribbon is a very exciting company on the move including consolidating leading companies, with the combination last year of Sonus and GENBAND, and the recent acquisition of Edgewater Networks. I like to describe my role as

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Ribbon Communications is a global technology company with more than two decades of leadership in real-time communications. Built on world-class technology and intellectual property, the enterprise delivers secure, embedded and engaging real-time communications for today’s world. Telecom Review managed to secure an exclusive interview with one of the most experienced and dynamic executives in the ICT industry, Patrick Joggerst, CMO and EVP, Business Development, at Ribbon Communications.

Joggerst has enjoyed a distinguished and decorated career in the ICT and telecommunications industry.

CMO and EVP of business development as “chief listening officer” – having spent most of my adult life working with the largest and most innovative service providers on the planet, adventuring through waves of creativity and disruption.

I’m responsible for developing and articulating the global business strategy for Ribbon, working with my colleagues on the leadership team to ensure we are fully understanding and meeting the evolving needs of our service provider and enterprise customers. Part of my job is also making sure that these customer insights are integrated into our product

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marketing and communications teams so that our products and messaging are aligned.

In the business development category, I work with a team of experts who interface with technology ecosystem partners and more, growing our partner network, and participating in open telecom and technology communities.

Ribbon Communications is set to acquire Edgewater Networks in an effort to expand its unified communications portfolio. Can you elaborate on how this acquisition will provide entry for Ribbon into the SD-WAN market?

Edgewater Networks is a perfect addition to the Ribbon family, and we expect to close this transaction in Q3. A market leader in network edge orchestration for the small and medium enterprise and unified communications (UC) market, Edgewater brings us a leading enterprise session border controller and network edge orchestration capabilities.

This acquisition will allow Ribbon to offer its global customer base a complete core-to-edge product portfolio, unrivaled end-to-end service assurance and analytics solutions, and a fully integrated SD-WAN service.

This transaction demonstrates how we are extending our market reach to the enterprise edge. Bringing our service provider base a complete platform will, in turn, extend its leadership position in the SBC, cloud UC, security and analytics markets.

Ribbon has become a global leader in creating secure real-time communications for today’s digital world. In your expert opinion, what is it that differentiates Ribbon from its competitors?

We’ve got a number of differentiators.

One is our ability to engage with our customers and partners. While some companies build solutions and hope the market will come, we have the opposite approach. We work closely with our customers, systems integrators, managed service providers, and technology partners to solve real-world problems and open new doors with new services and revenue opportunities.

INTERVIEW Another is our broad intellectual property portfolio. We’ve invested significantly in R&D over the years and that approach has paid off. We have real science backing our products and we’re able to give service providers and enterprises the reliability, scalability and security that many new market entrants cannot. Our customers are mostly big businesses who want to leverage today’s innovation but without compromising on quality of service – we’re uniquely positioned to enable that.

Can you outline to us in detail the benefits of Ribbon’s disruptive cloud communications platform Kandy CPaaS? Kandy is a cloud-based, real-time communications platform that enables enterprises and enterprise application developers to rapidly create and deploy high value communications services.

Built from our foundation of carrier-grade communications technology, Kandy services can be delivered as turnkey services (such as Kandy Business Solutions UCaaS services), pre-packaged applications (Kandy Wrappers), SIP Trunking services (connectivity and enhanced services), or as a platform with a set of APIs and SDK that developers can embed in business processes to communication enable web services and mobile apps. We also offer cloud PBX and UC as a Service, as part of our business solutions portfolio, which our service provider channels sell directly into business.

Kandy is disruptive based on technology and economics. Here’s a quick list of benefits: • Elastic scalability - pay only for what you use • Rich PBX services that simplify transitions • Anywhere access from mobile devices, PCs and Macs • Integrated collaboration tools that eliminate pricey 3rd party services We’re exceptionally proud of the Kandy platform, and the progress we have made as a pioneer in this space since 2014 when we first launched.

Can you talk to us about some of the customers you work with in the

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Middle East, and how important is the Middle East market to Ribbon Communications?

There’s a tremendous amount of innovation in the Middle East, including in verticals such as e-government and mobile health, and it’s a key geography for us. We work with a number of major brands in the region including du, Etisalat, STC and Zain.

We are currently implementing our network functions virtualization (NFV) session border controller (SBC) with major Tier 1 service providers in the Middle East, helping them establish seamless connectivity between disparate communications networks, delivering high scale interconnect applications and network resiliency in the cloud. We have also executed a proof of concept (POC) in the labs of another major Middle East service provider.

Additionally, we are in the process of implementing a private cloud instance of Kandy in the Middle East in partnership with a leading telecom group. This deployment will enable it to roll out unified communications as a service (UCaaS) coupled with CPaaS (communications platform as a service) to service large and small enterprises in the region.

What are the company’s main goals and objectives for the remainder of 2018?

Our overarching goal is always to bring our customers and partners the communications software and solutions they need to be successful. This is our key focus: what do our clients need, why do they need it and how can we help? We create and deliver value by engaging with the community in creative ways. While our software solutions are repeatable, scalable and marketproven, we recognize that the real-time communications (RTC) industry is a competitive one and that our customers win when they can innovate. Our job is to enable that creativity and innovation.

Of course, we’ll be spending time and energy making sure that we successfully integrate Edgewater Networks later this year. We want to deliver a comprehensive solutions portfolio to partners and prospects while staying abreast of further opportunities in a consolidating marketplace.

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Technology revolutionizing healthcare Healthcare has had its share of the digital revolution that has created a whole new world where things are connected and devices are smart. It was the need to reinforce the health sector for patients to get enhanced care that drove technological development towards this particular area.

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oday, e-health and electronic medical records (EMRs) are helping patients around the world to get the health care they deserve.

The healthcare industry has to create smarter workplaces that incorporate mobile, cloud and IoT technology, and explore the ways in which this will transform the patient’s experience and improve clinical care. To that end, new trends will emerge within the industry:

rate, temperature and respiratory rate from the moment you walk in, followed by sensors that can perform a blood pressure and ECG test within 10 seconds, and lead to an automatic triage or even diagnosis right there and then.

A report commissioned by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, entitled “Building the Hospital of 2030�, emphasized that within 10 years, medical check-ups will involve more interaction with sensors, cameras and robotic scanning devices than human doctors and nurses, as healthcare organizations re-build services around the internet of things (IoT).

Patient self-diagnosis: Using appbased and wearable tools to monitor your health and even carry out your own scans, patients will finally have the ability to self-diagnose a wide number of conditions at home without needing to visit a surgery or hospital.

Health professionals double their free time: Doctors and nurses, who are currently spending up to 70% of their time on administrative work, will be able to quickly analyze scans or patient records via their mobile device, freeing up huge amounts of their day to focus on patient care.

The automated hospital: Hospital check-in will feature imaging technology that can assess your heart

Digital data repositories: Devices will automatically integrate with your digital

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patient records, automatically updating on your condition and treatment, giving caregivers a richer, real-time, readily-accessible data to make better decisions.

Acceptance of AI: As artificial intelligence (AI) starts to play an increasing role in diagnosis and treatments, public support will grow to the extent that you will be willing to be diagnosed by machine – provided that services are designed and implemented around patients, the benefits are explained and permission is sought.

“We’re in for a massive transformation and disruption in the next five to 10

ICT FEATURE

years for two reasons,” said Hugh Montgomery. “Firstly, the technology’s changing that fast, and secondly, there’s this massive pressure to get it out there. Because if we don’t, health services are going to fall over.”

EMR: The first step towards digital healthcare Electronic Medical Records are one of the main important aspects of e-health given their important advantages and very few disadvantages. They are basically the equivalent of paper records that a doctor has in his office and contain general information about the medical history of a patient.

EMR allow health practitioners to

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track patients’ data over an extended period of time by multiple healthcare providers.

Patients will have one electronic record that any healthcare facility can access using EMR software instead of having different records at different facilities.

Implementing EMR instead of paper records will result in a positive return on financial investment. According to a study elaborated by the American Journal of Medicine, with EMR, healthcare providers saved on drugs expenditure, improved in radiologic diagnostics, upgraded the recording and reporting of billing services and decreased billing errors.

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COVERAGE

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MTX 2018 cements its status as the niche event in the European wholesale industry The third edition of the Mediterranean Telecoms Exchange (MTX) attracted a number of major players from the international wholesale industry for an intensive, forthright and engaging two-day seminar which was held in the beautiful and historic city of Rome in Italy.

M

TX primarily focuses on the opportunities and challenges presented in the Mediterranean and European wholesale industry, as well as the emerging markets in Africa. In a relatively short space of time, MTX has made a seismic impact within the international wholesale community. MTX has grown year on year, and as the subsequent success of MTX continues to circulate amongst the wholesale fraternity, the demand to participate and attend at the event is ever increasing.

The conference is the brainchild of Afinna One CEO, Massimo Lucera, who decided to create the symposium in 2016. Lucera conceded that there is a huge number of international wholesale events throughout the calendar year in the ICT industry that it is a saturated market. However, he claimed that he recognized there was a gap in the market in relation to the Mediterranean and Africa wholesale sector, and said the niche nature of MTX has resonated with wholesale players all over Europe.

Telecom Review was the official media partner for MTX 2018. Lucera who is the CEO of MTX and international wholesale services provider Afinna One told

Telecom Review that the primary focus of MTX is to improve the interconnection between the major data providers.

He said, “MTX is a niche and unique symposium that represents the first step for those involved in the wholesale space to explore nascent business opportunities in new growing markets that we currently have within the wholesale industry here in the Mediterranean. Our primary objective with MTX is to improve the interconnection between the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 data providers. We have enjoyed growth every year since we started in 2016, and we will continue to improve MTX year on year.�

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AUGUST 2018

MTX creates an environment which enables you to be creative

The CFO of Speedflow Communications, Natalia Ellis, echoed the sentiments of MTX’s CEO and highlighted how the intimate nature of the event provided her enterprise with exposure to priceless interactions between the prominent thought leaders in the European and African wholesale space.

Ellis told Telecom Review, “MTX is one of the key events for us in our calendar every year. It provides us with unique opportunity to solidify the relationships we have with our partners that are present at the event every year. It also enables us to potentially generate new business opportunities with some of the entities that use MTX as a platform to showcase the solutions and services they offer. At other ICT conferences related to the wholesale segment, the size and scale of the event can be off-putting. You’re running from venue to venue, and you’ve only got a short allocated window of opportunity to speak to current or prospective partners and customers, and it’s far from ideal. However, MTX is designed in an intimate way which eliminates these issues.

MTX creates an environment which enables you to be creative, and you can engage properly in conversations with your partners in order to examine the current opportunities in the market. That ability to allow you to be creative produces results that are truly beneficial to your enterprise, and this is what differentiates MTX from other events in the international wholesale industry,” she added.

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One of the other main attractions at MTX this year was the panel discussion which set out to examine the impact of next generation technologies on the telecoms landscape from internet of things to smart cities.

The panel discussion was moderated

by CEO of Trace Media International and founder of Telecom Review, Toni Eid, and the panelists included CEO of NexNet Solutions, Amer Salem, CCO of M800, Dino Civitarese, Francesco Massone, head of Enterprise, ICT and partners at Telecom Italia and CEO of Afinna One and CEO of MTX, Massimo Lucera.

The panel was superbly orchestrated by the moderator, Toni Eid, who probed the panel with a series of thoughtprovoking questions. The discussion captivated the audience in attendance and had the entire room fully engaged.

In relation to smart cities, the panelists were asked to offer their insights into why smart regions like Singapore and other parts of Asia and the Middle East were leading the way in terms of implementing technologies that are fundamentally transforming their cities in comparison to cities based in Europe.

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According to Amer Salem, governments need to take autonomy on this issue and become the central players in accelerating smart city development.

The CEO of NexNet solutions said, “Governments need to drive the integration of smart technologies into their respective cities. In my opinion, one of the biggest drivers of IoT is the government. It’s critical that they take leadership on the integration and subsequent deployment of IoT. Governments can accelerate the process much quicker than public or private entities can, but they need to have a vision and blueprint mapped out if they’re going to execute this successfully.”

Dino Civitarese agreed with the sentiments expressed by Salem, and illustrated how the Hong Kong government has adopted an approach and strategy that facilitates the integration of cutting-edge innovation designed to make Hong Kong a worldleading smart city.

The CCO at M800, who is currently based in Hong Kong and who has lived in Singapore, said, “The Hong Kong government has reserved $1bn for its smart city development. Its progressive and strategic approach towards its smart city program will ensure it will become a benchmark

COVERAGE region for other smart cities to aspire to. It has a strategic vision and it is investing significantly in ensuring that its smart city development program is a success.”

The CEO of Afinna One and MTX, Massimo Lucera, criticized the mentality in Europe in relation to emerging technologies and smart cities, and stated that the continent has to change its thinking or it will be left lagging behind other cities and regions all over the world.

Lucera said, “In terms of smart city development, Europe is a little complicated. Our government has no organic strategy like Hong Kong or Singapore. We need to start thinking differently to realize the vast opportunities that are presented by the smart city segment. It’s critical that governments all over Europe embrace change, and step outside of their traditional thinking in relation to city development.”

In relation to the opportunities presented by the internet of things for telcos, the panel was asked to highlight the potential IoT has on the industry.

Amer Salem urged telecommunications operators to seize the opportunity of IoT to offset the

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disruption that has been caused to their traditional revenue models by OTTs. Salem said, “Telcos can take advantage in data analytics and IoT represents a golden opportunity for the telco to leverage the disruption caused by OTTs to create new business models.

However, they must move fast, the opportunity is clearly there for them, but need to grasp that opportunity quickly or risk seeing the opportunity slip away.”

Head of Enterprise, ICT and Partners at Telecom Italia, Francesco Massone, said that he felt telecommunication operators globally needed to become much more forward thinking, and said that Telecom Italia had already utilized IoT to create a new smart application.

Massone said, “I think the key element in IoT is to create true integration. At Telecom Italia, we firmly believe this and we recently introduced a new application related to the smart home.

It allows your smartphone to control your home. In relation to the role of telcos in IoT, they need to be, in my opinion, much more forward. Operators shouldn’t always be the vocal point for connectivity. They need to extend beyond connectivity to capabilities and services higher up the value chain in order to meet the growing needs and demands of their customers.”

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ConnecTechAsia 2018 bridges digital divide for governments, cities and enterprises

ConnecTechAsia, the inaugural mega technology event comprising BroadcastAsia, CommunicAsia and the new NXTAsia attracted huge numbers from the global ICT industry for an intensive three days of exhibitions and a summit covering the latest innovations in cloud, blockchain, AI, VR/AR, IoT, robotics, 5G, IP broadcasting, OTT and smart cities, among others.

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his year, under the new brand, ConnecTechAsia, drew close to 40,000 attendees from 96 countries/regions, and 1,800 exhibitors from 52 countries/regions. Emerging technologies and digital disruption were hot topics, amid the convergence of the telecoms, media and technology (TMT) industries in an evolving business landscape. The welcome address at the opening ceremony was delivered by Vice President of UBM, Mr. M Gandhi, who declared that the accelerating pace of technology in recent years was heralding a new era.

Gandhi said, “With the rise of the digital enterprise, we are now in an age of convergence where the lines between industries, particularly that of telecoms,

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media and technology have become increasingly blurred.”

The VP of UBM highlighted that whilst new technologies were causing major disruption across all major industries, its emergence is also presenting an array of exciting new opportunities.

Gandhi added, “Emerging technologies such as AI, internet of things, VR and robotics are bringing about a combination of disruption and opportunity – a trend that now cuts across industries like never before. The ability to innovate and mitigate digital disruption is critical to succeed in a fast evolving settling like Asia, and is a core premise driving the evolution of our shows.”

The keynote address at the official opening ceremony was given by Mr. S Iswaran, Minister of Communications and Information (MCI). The Minister illustrated how Singapore is a global benchmark in terms of its efforts to become a fully-fledged digital economy and smart nation – and outlined how the region was growing exponentially.

The Minister for Communications and Information said, “This is truly an exciting time to be in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, which remains one of the fastest growing regions in the world.

Over the last decade, we have achieved an average annual growth rate of over 6%, higher than the global average of 4%.

This trajectory is expected to continue, with an annual growth forecast of around 5% - with ASEAN predicted to be the fourth largest economy in the world.”

In addition to this, the Singaporean Minister stressed that whilst disruptive technologies has completely transformed major industries, it has also led to vast new possibilities from both an economic and enterprise perspective.

He added, “The advent of disruptive technologies has revolutionized the global economy, altered industries and business models, and changed the nature of jobs. However, it has also created many new possibilities for our people, for our business and for our economies. The challenge for us now is to navigate this new digital terrain successfully for mutual benefit.”

“We are pleased to hold the first edition of ConnecTechAsia, which has a renewed format for a more immersive experience with insightful sessions and displays for our attendees that reflect the latest industry trends and technologies that are impacting governments, cities and businesses. We hope that the many partnerships and friendships forged will serve as a foundation for an even more diverse ecosystem and empower Asia as it evolves digitally,” said Victor Wong, event director for ConnecTechAsia, UBM. Gateway to Asia – a fast growing, digital powerhouse The Asia-Pacific region today accounts for 44% of global GDP and its shift towards digital is powering the region towards a new era of economic growth and redefining the region’s social landscape.

Echoing this, Paul Marriott, senior vice president of Digital Core Solutions, SAP and ConnecTechAsia Summit speaker, said, “Asia is an exciting region with its rapid digitalisation and growth. Enabling enterprises in their journey towards digital evolution to be at the frontier of their respective industries is a core focus for us at SAP. ConnecTechAsia has been a great platform for us to build key relationships with governments

and global businesses to foster greater collaboration and innovation.”

Using ConnecTechAsia as a gateway to the region, the exhibition saw several Asian launches. PepperStack Global, with the support of the Victorian Government of Australia, launched their new NeatStreets Around Me and Microcompensation feature-sets into the Southeast Asian markets, which allow the public to serve as “human sensors” and report on safety-related matters using their mobile devices, enhancing the uptime and efficiency of public utilities.

Forsway, a Swedish technology provider, announced the launch of the new Odin F-50 hybrid satellite router to the Asian market, which combines mobile networks with satellites to enable operators to provide highly affordable broadband internet to consumers in regions lacking reliable internet access.

AsiaSat, a leading satellite operator in Asia, also announced its collaboration with KBZ to provide OTT satellite video service in Myanmar, enabling audiences across the country to enjoy video content and TV programs wherever they are, be it in rural areas or while on-thego on trains or planes.

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The inaugural Thailand Connect seminar, co-organised with Thailand’s Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa), saw the announcement of five core themes that are a focal point for the Thai government, namely big data, digital manpower, cybersecurity, income inequality gap and digital transformation 4.0, which will enable businesses for digital transformation in its next stage of economic growth.

“There is a pressing need for businesses and the workforce in general to transform themselves digitally, in order to keep our competitive edge here in a fastevolving region. Thailand presents huge opportunities for investors with our rapidly expanding economy and skilled workforce,” said Mr. Teeranun Srihong, chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa). “Over the next five years, we are embarking on new initiatives such as the development of 500,000 skilled digital professionals and the Digital Park Thailand, a new economic zone to drive digital business innovation and investment with global digital players.”

The need to cater to a growing, digital audience is also pushing the boundaries of “live” production for broadcasters. Charles Sevior, chief technology officer, Unstructured Data Solutions, Dell EMC, exhibitor and Summit speaker, highlighted the need for traditional broadcasters to evolve in a transforming media landscape and be agile, shifting beyond traditional singleuse solutions towards virtualised, flexible IP-based solutions.

LiveU showcased its LiveU Matrix for the first time in Asia, its next generation platform for live contribution over IP, enabling broadcasters to view, manage and distribute live content quickly and efficiently.

London-based Kino-mo showcased its new HYPERVSN solution, a hitech retail display that generates holographic 3D visuals of products that are true to life and appear to float in the air. Kino-mo also signed four agreements that were witnessed by trade representatives from the British

Embassy, including one with Profoto Digital Services to provide HYPERVSN solutions for events in Singapore.

“In an era where mobile devices are drawing attention from outdoor advertising, brands need to innovate further to engage the digital consumer in an impactful way. We look forward to working with our partners to maximise their brand exposure in Asia, whose fast growing economies are driving growing demand for consumer goods,” said Vadzim Tsitou, Kino-mo Partner in Asia.

Showcasing Singapore’s innovation – from smart cities to smart apparel ST Engineering and SP Group announced Singapore’s first payper-use IoT-as-a-service platform trial, which will enable organisations to move into the IoT space and bring their services faster and closer to their customers without costly investment on infrastructure, connectivity and data analytics.

Potential applications include building smart, green buildings to public safety systems, transport, and public amenities such as street lighting, energy and water resource management.

Returning for the third year, OTSAW Digital unveiled the production version

of its outdoor OR-3 autonomous robot, which leverages on AI, 3D mapping and self-driving technologies to patrol the streets and augment security patrols.

OR-3 is set to undergo trials with government agencies in the coming months in Singapore.

KaHa, an end-to-end smart wearable technology company, unveiled its range of smart body and wellness-monitoring apparel that leverage on smart sensors and IoT monitor one’s heart rate, VO2 Max and ECG via a smartphone application, offering possibilities for applications such as athlete training and sectors such as construction and the military.

“IoT is revolutionizing our world, and today, it is at the favourable intersection of affordability and availability, thus driving innovation. KaHa’s smart apparel range is the first to seamlessly integrate such sensors invisibly within a comfortable, washable fabric and allow people to realise their fitness and health goals through real-time monitoring of their vital stats,” said Pawan Gandhi, founder & CEO of KaHa and Summit speaker.

ConnecTechAsia will return for its 2019 edition from 18-20 June at Marina Bay Sands and Suntec Singapore.

INDUSTRY CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2018

BECOME A PART OF

THE 5G FUTURE!

6 - 8 NOVEMBER 2018 JW Marriott Parq, Vancouver, Canada

NGMN is thrilled to announce the 7th NGMN Industry Conference & Exhibition that will bring together executives, influencers, industry transformers and tech stars from across the globe, providing attendees with a fresh perspective on the future of mobile broadband.

The latest updates from NGMN will also make their international debut, following months of work on key 5G project areas.

Hear viewpoints, insights and the latest outlooks from leading industry players and thought leaders, including: Darren Entwistle, CEO at TELUS

The event will provide a unique networking platform in an outstanding conference and exhibition environment, bringing together key players from the entire mobile ecosystem. The exhibition will showcase world premier demonstrations of 5G systems and solutions from international NGMN partners.

Stephen Howe, CTO at Bell Mobility Karri Kuoppamaki, VP Technology Development and Strategy at T-Mobile US Emmanuel Lugagne-Delpon, SVP at Orange Labs Networks Luke Ibbetson, Head of R&D Technology at Vodafone Huang Yuhong, Deputy GM at China Mobile Research Institute Mikio Iwamura, Executive Research Engineer at NTT DOCOMO ‌and many more!

REGISTER TODAY! There’s no better time to secure your pass for the biggest 5G event of the year. Receive FULL ACCESS to the event, including the conference, exhibition and networking sessions. https://ice2018.ngmn.org/

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Etisalat will help EXPO 2020 become the most connected place on earth

The UAE has set another benchmark for the early adoption of advanced new technology, with Expo 2020 Dubai becoming the first major commercial customer in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region to access 5G services, through its partnership with Etisalat.

T

he leading UAE telecom provider connected Expo 2020 Dubai to its 5G network, making the site of the next World Expo the first commercial location in the MEASA region to experience 5G. The milestone reinforces the reputation of both UAE and Dubai as leaders in innovation and infrastructure.

At around 20 times faster than 4G and with ultra-low latency, 5G technology will enable users

to stream live 4K resolution video anywhere at any time, with virtually no lag.

Etisalat’s network will provide the most advanced digital and telecom services to Expo 2020 Dubai and its millions of visitors, supporting an expected 300,000 users on peak days.

It will be a key component of the Expo 2020 ‘smart site’ that will deliver a unique and memorable experience for the millions of visitors and 200 participants, while also enabling business and raising public awareness of sustainability.

Telecom Review was in attendance at the media roundtable which was chaired by Jon Bramley, interim vice president of communications at EXPO 2020. The briefing and 5G demo was held onsite at EXPO 2020 which is still under significant construction.

Those in attendance at the media debrief heard how Expo 2020 Dubai will become the first major commercial 5G customer in MEASA through its partnership with Etisalat.

Etisalat’s 5G network will provide state-of-the-art services to Expo’s millions of visitors and its cutting-edge 5G technology will be a key component

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of the Expo 2020 Dubai smart site.

This incredible milestone only serves to enhance and further affirm the reputations of the UAE and Dubai as being leaders in innovation and stateof-the-art infrastructure.

Mohammed Alhashmi, senior vice president, Innovation and Future Technology at Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “Becoming the first major 5G commercial customer in the MEASA region is a major milestone for UAE and Dubai, and supports Expo 2020’s goal to be one of the most connected places on Earth, both physically and virtually.

“At Expo 2020, we plan to optimize every visitor’s experience by digitally connecting them with their surrounding environment and enriching their interactions throughout the Expo journey. Etisalat’s 5G network will play a significant role in supporting this overall goal and providing a seamless digital experience to all visitors.”

Today’s milestone announcement further supports and enhances the reputations of both the UAE and Dubai as leaders in innovation, infrastructure and development.

The introduction of the new technology takes forward the Smart Dubai vision of a digital and interconnected city and provides further impetus to its aspirations to be the world’s smartest city.

Through its Smart Dubai initiative, Dubai aims to empower, deliver and promote an efficient, seamless, safe and impactful experience for residents and visitors. Expo 2020, and the experience it delivers through collaboration with partners including Etisalat, will play an important role in contributing to this.

Saeed Al Zarouni, senior vice president, Mobile Network at Etisalat, said: “Today’s announcement is significant, with Etisalat setting a global benchmark that supports UAE’s 2021 Vision which identifies digital technology as one of the top seven primary national sectors.

“Our ability to provide 5G services to Expo 2020 is only possible due to our commitment to invest in line with our strategy to ‘Drive the Digital future to empower the society’ with solutions and services that are at the forefront of the digital journey.”

International standardization of 5G parameters is expected to be announced later this year. 5G is anticipated to support advancements in applications such as networking vehicles, including autonomous driving, the internet of things (IoT) and industrial automation.

As Expo 2020 Dubai’s Official Telecommunications Partner and

Official Digital Services Partner, Etisalat’s 5G network will help attract top tier companies to District 2020, the mixed purpose development that will carry on Expo 2020’s legacy as a place to connect, create and innovate.

5G connectivity will enhance District 2020’s plans to be one of the most connected and tech-enabled destinations for working, living and relaxing.

Expo 2020 will run from October 20, 2020, to April 10, 2021, and expects to attract 25 million visits. About 70 percent of visitors are expected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion in the 167-year history of World Expos.

OPERATORS’ NEWS

AUGUST 2018

50

REDEFINING POWER SOLUTIONS

Etisalat introduces regional first for annual data packages

Hybrid Solutions Guaranteeing OPEX Reduction

www.iptpowertech.com

Etisalat announced the launch of the region’s first ‘Annual Add-on’ packs, offering postpaid customers bulk data allowances on a 12-month instalment scheme starting from AED100/month.

With the new Annual Add-on, postpaid customers no longer have to worry about running out of their monthly mobile allowance by choosing from a variety of options ranging from 50GB to 1TB. Currently, all Etisalat data packs come with a one-month validity, while the new Annual Add-on is valid for one year from the date of subscription, a first of its kind in the region. Etisalat is the first operator to introduce 1TB & 500GB in the UAE. Khaled ElKhouly, chief consumer officer at Etisalat, said: “With growth levels for mobile penetration reaching its peak in the country and highly connected lifestyle of consumers, there is an exponential need for data to use high performance

applications and smarter devices. Etisalat is focused on driving innovation to empower the lives of our customers by giving them flexibility and seamless data services on our high speed network.

We continuously pursue these goals by delivering greater value offers and introducing best-in-value propositions that meet these growing and changing usage trends. Etisalat’s new Annual Addon packs provide customers the freedom to use their bulk add-on allowances for the whole year, offering them complete peace of mind.”

Full allowance will be granted upfront from the subscription date. For AED 100 per month, subscribers get 50GB and 2,000 flexible minutes or 100GB, while heavy data users can opt for 500GB for AED 500 per month or 1TB for AED 1,000 per month.

Omantel announces plan to construct new datacenter Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and datacenter company, and Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel, a MSM listed company: OTEL), announced the companies have entered into a joint venture to deliver datacenter and interconnection services to customers in the Middle East through the development of a new network-dense datacenter that will be located in Barka, near Muscat, the capital of Oman. This joint venture will establish the first world-class, carrierneutral hub in Oman where carriers, content providers and cloud providers co-locate critical IT infrastructure.

Oman is strategically positioned between Asia, Africa and Europe, and the new Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) datacenter will create a regional interconnection hub with ultra-low latencies between global business markets. Based on demand and requirements, customers in the GCC and wider MENA region can also leverage other Equinix datacenters in the region

for dual access to content providers, allowing carriers, content providers and cloud providers to further build resilience into their IT and network infrastructure.

The new IBX datacenter in Oman will benefit from connectivity to strategic cable landing stations (CLS) and subsea cable systems that terminate directly inside the facility. It will also benefit from the investments by Omantel in multiple strategic subsea cable systems throughout the region and world. This subsea cable connectivity will provide customers with significant cost savings and an increase in performance and security.

Under the terms of the agreement, Equinix and Omantel will both fund equity contributions in an amount of US$10 million for the joint venture representing a 50% shareholding each, and additional funds will be raised through debt financing assumed by the joint venture company.

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Saudi telecommunications behemoth STC (Saudi Telecom Company) has officially announced it has signed strategic agreements with three major global vendors.

The KSA operator has agreed to enter into strategic partnerships with Chinese telecommunications colossus Huawei, Finnish vendor Nokia and Swedish vendor Ericsson.

In the presence of the STC group CEO, Nasser AL Nasser, STC celebrated the signing of the mega agreement with its strategic partners Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia.

This deal considered as a major progress in regards to the strategic partnership with the three global companies.

Al Nasser said, “It will lead to a new step of investments for future projects.

It is a very important for the strategic partnership and will take STC to the next level of investment in the future projects.”

The agreement includes major projects from different sectors and the expansion of Aljawwal network 2018, cloud computing project, IT and cybersecurity projects, in addition to several projects for STC subsidiaries: (STC Specialized, VIVA Kuwait and Viva Bahrain).

Moreover, all of the strategic partners CEOs confirmed that STC is counted to be the major operator in the MENA region, and they are looking forward to improve the relationship with STC for the interest of all parties.

Virgin Mobile launches exciting new application for customers

Virgin Mobile has announced the launch of their new in-app customer support chat service which is designed to make it easier for customers to get the help they need.

Customers can get quick answers to their questions in real-time by simply tapping the chat option in the app. A digital in-app chat session will immediately open and link them to a customer care champion– no need to make a call anymore.

To add a personal touch and make it easy for customers, each Virgin Mobile team member has created their own unique bitmoji to represent themselves in the app.

Karim Benkirane, managing director, Virgin Mobile UAE, commented: “Everything we do at Virgin Mobile is designed to make our customers’ lives as simple as possible and allow them to manage everything from sign-up to customising their plans via our award-winning app. Launching our new in-app chat service was the next step in providing total control to our customers, allowing them to connect with us in an easy, fast and convenient way.

“We wanted to reflect our fun, light hearted personality with this feature, and invited the team to design their own bitmoji to express their individual characters and create a more personal touch for our customers,” he concluded.

New Virgin Mobile customers can chat by tapping on the question mark icon at the top right of the screen.

Existing users can access the feature by tapping the ‘more’ section and selecting ‘chat with us’.

REINVENTING TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE

Saudi operator signs strategic agreement with major global vendors

Building & Renovating Telecom Infrastructure

www.iptpowertech.com

OPERATORS’ NEWS

LEADING T-ESCO GLOBALLY

AUGUST 2018

The Ultimate Combination of Energy Savings Solutions,

with Telecom Infrastructure and field Managed Services

www.iptpowertech.com

52

Telecom Egypt and Etisalat Misr collaborate on national roaming and mobile termination Telecom Egypt and Etisalat Misr announced the signing of an amendment of the national roaming agreement sealed in June 2017. The amendment provides better financial and service quality terms availing improved commercial conditions for Telecom Egypt. The latter is a result of the development of the volume of Telecom Egypt’s data traffic.

The new agreement involves national roaming services on Etisalat’s

network for Telecom Egypt voice and data traffic. The agreement ends in December 2022.

The two companies also signed a letter of intent (LoI) for mobile termination rates, which included a preferential termination rate for Telecom Egypt.

The LoI aims to put a framework for the interconnection rate between both operators and is considered the first arrangement on mobile interconnection for Telecom Egypt.

Telecom Egypt and Orange consolidate their partnership with three agreements Telecom Egypt and Orange Egypt announced the signing of a renewal of the international telecom services agreement, which was signed in January 2015 for a period of four years. The new agreement will end in December 2022 and is expected to contribute cEGP 4bn to Telecom Egypt’s top-line over the tenure of the agreement. It will also enable Orange Egypt to continue providing the best offers and international services to its customers.

Our model of long-term agreements with the domestic MNOs in the field of transmission and international telecom services aims to secure our revenue stream from these segments, while providing the MNOs with competitive offers commercially and technically that meet their needs. The mobile termination agreement is also an important milestone, which provides visibility on mobile termination rates and improves our gross margin for this segment.”

The two companies also signed a new transmission services agreement for 3.5 years ending December 2021. The agreement is expected to contribute cEGP1.5bn to Telecom Egypt’s revenue and support Orange Egypt in enhancing the services offered to its customers.

Finally, the two companies signed a binding letter of agreement for mobile termination rates. The agreement formalizes the framework for interconnection between both operators and is a major step for Telecom Egypt towards finalizing all mobile termination agreements.

Commenting on the announcement, Yasser Shaker, Orange Egypt chief executive officer, said, “We are pleased to have reached a long-term agreement with Telecom Egypt regarding transmission, international telecom and mobile termination services, which we expect to positively affect the company’s KPIs. The three agreements will support Orange in its leadership of providing telecom services of high quality and speed to its customers in the Egyptian market.”

Ahmed El Beheiry, Telecom Egypt’s managing director and chief executive officer, commented, “The signing of these agreements with Orange Egypt supports our long-term relationship with the company as a strategic partner.

“This comes in line with the company’s strategy especially after recently launching the 4G network, which we were the first to introduce. Orange is proud to have solid relationships with all companies and entities in the telecom sector, and Telecom Egypt in particular as it is the main provider of infrastructure services,” he added.

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am delighted that Tunisie Telecom has joined our Partner Market network. I am looking forward to bringing the best of Vodafone’s services and expertise to Tunisia, and building a strong, lasting relationship that will benefit customers of both companies. Vodafone will also gain from Tunisie Telecom’s expertise and deep understanding of the region.”

Vodafone and Tunisie Telecom jointly announced a new Partner Market agreement for Tunisia. This will be Vodafone’s first partnership of its kind in North Africa.

Under the non-equity agreement, effective as of 10 July 2018, Vodafone will provide strategic and operational support in a range of areas, including enterprise, consumer, technology and procurement.

The three-year partnership will include roaming and carrier services agreements, and will see the businesses collaborate on further potential opportunities to benefit customers as well as the two companies. Vodafone Partner Markets Chief Executive Diego Massidda said: “I

Mohamed Fadhel Kraiem, CEO and chairman of Tunisie Telecom, comments: “We are very excited by this partnership, which will provide Tunisie Telecom with efficient solutions for multinationals with a presence in Tunisia in addition to the corporate sector in the country. Tunisie Telecom will be able to offer competitive services for roaming, both for the benefit of customers travelling to countries where Vodafone and its partners are present and for Vodafone customers visiting Tunisia. The agreement also gives Tunisie Telecom the opportunity to access Vodafone’s global knowledge base and benefit from economies of scale when purchasing telecoms equipment.”

FLEXIBLE OPERATING OFFERINGS

Vodafone and Tunisie Telecom announce partnership agreement

Virgin Mobile UAE introduces gamechanging yearly data plans of AED 149.50 per month with this limited time offer.

Virgin Mobile has launched its latest innovation: yearly plan options, designed to make customers mobile life simpler by offering savings of up to 50%, available exclusively via the Virgin Mobile App. With a one-time payment, customers’ have the opportunity to cut their bill in half getting the best value for a 12-month subscription. For example, a plan at AED 299.00 per month inclusive of 10GB and 500 local minutes now only costs the equivalent

In an effort to continuously offer more choice and flexibility, Virgin Mobile users can customise their data as well as local and international minutes from 125 different plan options which can then be bought with a one-time payment for a period of 6 or 12 months.

You can join Virgin Mobile in only a few minutes and from the comfort of your home. Simply download the Virgin Mobile app via the Play store or App store, or visit www.virginmobile. ae, choose your own number or transfer your current one, customize your mobile plan and have your Virgin Mobile SIM delivered to your home or office within an hour.

The Guaranteed Savings Model and T-ESCO Model

www.iptpowertech.com

AUGUST 2018

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Innovation for a smarter world:

ITU Telecom World 2018

Creativity and innovation have driven human development throughout the course of history. From agriculture to industry to the information age, revolutionary innovations in technology have marked major leaps forward in the development of our societies. As the pace of technological innovation increases, the gaps between those revolutions decrease, so that today, just 10 years after the arrival of the smartphone, we are already on the cusp of the next major leap: the smart revolution.

T

wo aspects of the smart revolution stand out as significantly different. It provides the possibility for less developed markets and nations to leapfrog in developmental terms, not just to leap forward. And the creativity and innovation driving it will not only be human.

machine learning applications which can perform processes or actions that would traditionally require human intelligence – and at an often greatly accelerated pace.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the great enablers of smart society. AI is a blend of advanced analytical and

One key aspect is AI’s ability to swiftly and effectively analyse the everincreasing wealth of sensor data

The use cases and benefits of AI are multiple, varied - and developing rapidly, with tremendous potential to serve purposes and provide solutions to problems we are not yet aware of, in ways we cannot yet imagine.

available as the growing power and falling costs of computing provides for much faster and richer data analysis.

Practical outcomes include identifying and treating disease, accelerating financial and machine to machine transactions, enhancing public safety and improving city services, from provision of utilities to driverless public transport and city management. The aim is to save energy, time and lives through AI-enabled smart solutions.

AI will not be working alone, however.

The data it feeds from is set to grow

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exponentially in volume as the internet of things continues to connect billions of sensors and devices to each other, to the internet and to humans. As the IoT develops and refines, it opens the door to innovation across all vertical sectors, including health, media, transport and energy – and manufacturing, as the paradox of personalized mass production increasingly becomes a reality.

Innovation needs new tools to thrive, and 5G software-defined networks promise a rich playing field for creative minds.

The exponential increases in bandwidth, speed, reliability and flexibility offered by 5G will create a powerful critical infrastructure capable of providing solutions to the economic, social and environmental needs of an expanding and increasingly urbanised global population.

Our smarter world will be enabled by these three key technological developments, in parallel and in overlap: AI, IoT and 5G. Three acronyms are driving innovation, with the potential to drive human development at a greater speed and with greater impact than ever before. In developing markets and nations in particular, smart can power the leapfrog effect, bypassing earlier stages of development, taking villages in Asia or Africa straight from no connectivity to 3G or 4G networks, from no access to education or health to world-class professionals available online, providing entry to the knowledge economy for the millions of digitally disenfranchised. But for innovation to flourish, it needs to work in a supportive and positive environment.

And for innovation to be fair, it – and the services, applications and products it ultimately produces – must be open to all.

Providing modern and fit-for-purpose regulatory frameworks as far as possible throughout the world of tech is critical to the success of smart innovation. Taking ideas to scale and maximising impact can only happen with international standardization. Privacy, security, trust and reliability are all huge issues when discussing or dealing with data as the life blood of innovative products and services. And the debate on ethical and regulatory frameworks for AI has only just begun.

Making a smarter world for all, not just for the elite minority, is an even greater, multi-faceted challenge. It starts, of course, with connectivity for all as a basic human right. Just providing access to the internet and the benefits of the services, applications and knowledge it offers, is not enough, however, even if this can be done at affordable prices, with available devices. There is an urgent need to create awareness of, and demand for, the internet; to provide apps and services in local languages, with local contexts and the needs of local communities at the forefront; and to train, educate and develop the skills to use the internet and bring whole new populations and generations online, releasing untapped human potential for innovation across the world.

Exploring the innovations in technology, policy and strategy that are driving a smarter world – and the challenges we face in getting there - is at the heart of ITU Telecom World 2018. The leading tech event for governments, large businesses and SMEs, is organized each year by ITU, the UN’s key agency for ICT matters. This year’s event will be held at the Durban International Conference Centre, Durban, South Africa, from 10 – 13 September, 2018.

The event features an international exhibition of tech solutions and projects, a world-class forum of interactive, expert-led debates, a networking program connecting organizations,

individuals and ideas, and an acclaimed awards program recognizing innovative ICT-based solutions with real social impact.

As an important regional commercial hub with a diverse, multicultural outlook and a dynamic, growing economy, Durban offers an invaluable perspective as a venue for experts and leaders from public and private sectors around the world. Given ITU’s key role in allocating spectrum and establishing international consensus on industry standards, as well as supporting the critical role of ICTs and smart technologies in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the event is certain to provide informed, interesting and valuable input on the power of innovation to drive a smarter world.

ITU’s authority and expertise enable it to convene a unique and influential global audience. Heads of state and government will come together with ministers, regulators, leading industry CEOs from major players and SMEs, organizations, associations and consultants. As a UN event, it delivers a truly international perspective on innovation in technology, policy and regulation from emerging and developed markets from all around the world.

Visit telecomworld.itu.int to find out more about ITU Telecom World 2018 and how to take part in Durban this September.

AUGUST 2018

VENDORS’ NEWS

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A new media brand sees the light

Ericsson Media Solutions will be rebranded as MediaKind in an attempt for Ericsson to revamp the unit.

MediaKind is “designed to embody the concept that media should inspire and unite humankind,” said Ericsson Media Solutions, and will have Angel Ruiz as

CEO in addition to a new management team of 11 executives. According to Ericsson, which held a 49% stake in its media business, MediaKind will lead “the future of global media technology” and will be “first choice for service providers, operators, content owners and broadcasters looking to create and deliver immersive media experiences.”

The customer base of MediaKind consists of more than 900 cable, satellite, telecoms service providers and broadcasters from around the world.

According to Paolo Pescatore,

technology, media and telecoms analyst, the rebrand represents a “new start” for the business following recent struggles and emphasized that the unit should seize every opportunity because there will be no second chances.

“Arguably, the unit should be well placed to exploit the opportunities in convergence underpinned by the growing demand for video usage. The equity firm can ensure a commercially minded focus, while it can still rely on Ericsson’s vast technical expertise and huge connections to thrive,” he said.

Ericsson will continue investment in 5G despite revenues remaining flat in Q2 Swedish telecommunications colossus Ericsson has claimed that the metrics disclosed in its Q2 financial report do not accurately reflect the underlying improvements being made by the vendor.

our 2020 target of an operating margin1) of at least 10%. The investments in technology leadership have resulted in increased gross margin1) to 37% (31%) and growth in segment networks.

Ericsson has claimed that the company has steadied the ship from a financial perspective, executed its strategy, and is developing momentum and interest from new customers around its enhanced product portfolio.

We have good market traction in Networks, with a sales growth of 2%, particularly in North America where all major operators are preparing for 5G. Networks gross margin1) improved to 40% (36%). Digital Services is tracking towards a turnaround and gross margin1) improved to 43% (36%) YoY, and was stable QoQ. However, while losses decreased both YoY and QoQ, we still have a lot of work to do. The top priority is to turn around performance in the segment, but we are in parallel accelerating investments to make the portfolio 5G ready and cloud native.

However, it appears the vendor is attempting to divert scrutiny away from its Q2 earnings, which when examined indicates that revenue has remained broadly flat year on year and has encountered a steep widening in net loss.

In an official statement on the results, Ericsson President and CEO, Borje Ekholm, said the company remains committed to its business strategy and added that the vendor was well on track in relation to its 2020 operating margin target.

In addition to this, the CEO of the struggling vendor said that it will continue to invest significantly in 5G in an effort to solidify its 5G portfolio. The full statement from the CEO about Ericsson’s Q2 results is outlined below: Borje Ekholm said, “We continue to execute on our focused business strategy and are tracking well towards

In Managed Services, gross margin1) improved to 14% (2%) supported by continued efficiency gains and customer contract reviews, resulting in a positive operating income. We have also onboarded several new contracts in the quarter,” he added.

In segment Emerging Business and Other, we invest in strategic future growth areas such as internet of things (IoT).

We see increasing momentum with several important customer wins with

our connectivity platform in the quarter.

However, sales are still low. Our media business generated a loss of SEK -0.4 b. in the quarter. We expect to close the announced divestment of Media Solutions, recently renamed MediaKind, by the end of the third quarter.

The SEK 10 b. cost reduction program, launched in Q2 2017, has been successfully completed. We reduced the total workforce by more than 2,000 in the quarter and by 20,500 in total as part of the program. These are tough but necessary actions to ensure competitiveness. Run-rate savings to date amount to more than SEK 10 b., and the effect is gradually becoming visible in the earnings, mainly through lower service delivery costs and common costs. Even though the cost reduction program is completed, our estimate for restructuring charges of SEK 5-7 b. for the full year remains, as we will continue our efficiency activities throughout the year.

We see strengthened momentum for 5G in the quarter and it is clear that our 5G-ready portfolio is attractive and competitive in the market. We have gradually improved the cost position and will continue to have a strict cost focus in order to further increase competitiveness and efficiency. We are confident in reaching our long-term target of at least 12% operating margin1) beyond 2020.”

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Huawei expects to avoid US trade sanctions

Chinese telecommunications behemoth Huawei has expressed its belief that it will not be the subject of trade sanctions by the United States. The Chinese vendor has faced criticism in the US in recent months over alleged claims by intelligence officials and congressman that the company posed a threat to national security. Huawei vehemently refuted the allegations and highlighted its security record both in the United States and globally. US

lawmakers have encouraged Google to reconsider working with Huawei, and it is been claimed that that a combination of regulatory and government pressure forced the deal between the Chinese company and US telecommunications incumbent AT&T to distribute their smartphones to collapse at the eleventh hour.

However, despite this sustained assault on the Chinese telecommunications vendor, representatives for the enterprise are expecting to avoid trade sanctions being imposed by the US Department of Commerce. Its domestic rival ZTE has been crippled by trade sanctions imposed by US officials and contributed to the escalation of tensions regarding the ensuing trade

negotiations between Beijing and Washington.

Asked if he feared his company could also be hit by sanctions, Ken Hu, one of Huawei’s rotating chairmen, told a French publication, “It would be hard to imagine. Ten years ago we put in place a system to control our exports, which has become very efficient. Our policy is to closely implement all laws and regulations introduced by Europe, the United Nations and the United States.”

Quizzed on when Huawei could do without US components, Hu said the company’s logistical chain was international. “We must be open and choose the best technologies, the best products. We will therefore keep buying American chips this year.”

Huawei says continuous bandwidth key driver for future 5G success

Chinese telecommunications behemoth Huawei has announced that continuous large bandwidth (100 MHz per operator) has become the key trend to drive future 5G business success. Huawei made the declaration at the Fourth Annual Asia-Pacific Spectrum Management Conference.

In a conference keynote, Du Yeqing, vice president of Huawei’s 5G Product Line, said, “C-band is the golden spectrum for 5G. It has been released or will be released for operators in countries worldwide. Continuous large bandwidth (100 MHz per operator) will be the cornerstone for 5G business success.”

He noted that continuous large bandwidth will improve both investment efficiency and user experience by 10 times and promote MBB to new heights, so users can enjoy high quality services anytime and anywhere.

Du said that the current focus of 5G is to coordinate C-band spectrum planning, but that other key technologies and requirements must not be overlooked.

For example, uplink-downlink decoupling can reduce the number of sites and associated costs by enabling 5G deployment on existing 2G/3G/4G spectrums and allow continuous coverage on C-band. On top of that, 5G networks require precise synchronization, reduced interference, less spectrum isolation and higher spectral efficiency.

Countries with insufficient C-band spectrum can allocate 100 MHz of continuous large bandwidth on TDD 2.6/2.3 GHz to each operator. This will improve investment efficiency while helping to prepare for an evolution towards high bandwidth 5G. MBB underpinned by spectrum resources is a driving force for GDP growth. Huawei’s 2018 Global Connectivity Index (GCI) indicates that countries prioritizing the construction of ICT infrastructure enjoy substantial economic benefits. It is estimated that by 2025, the digital economy will account for a market value of US $6.4 trillion.

Mobile broadband (MBB) is booming whereas spectrum resources are growingly scarce. Huawei, as a worldclass provider of ICT infrastructure and intelligent terminals, is fully committed to maximizing spectral efficiency by pursuing new and innovative technologies. Such solutions aim to help Asia-Pacific operators in addressing capacity challenges - including SingleRAN Pro based 4T6S, Massive MIMO, site densification and spectrum evolution. In addition, the introduction of Huawei CloudAIR 2.0 will support flexible demand-based spectrum allocation between GSM, UMTS, LTE, and 5G NR, and increase spectral efficiency.

In terms of spectrum and technology selection and capacity requirements, Asia Pacific operators in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia believe that spectrum combination (low frequency, intermediate frequency and high frequency) is the correct response to 4G and 4.5G coverage/capacity/ service layer requirements. This will effectively improve user experience and spur operators’ growth. The solution should prove to be the prevailing method for deploying LTE networks and spectrums in the upcoming 5G era.

AUGUST 2018

VENDORS’ NEWS

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Huawei identifies ICT technologies as a key enabler of global sustainable development innovation and connection,” said Huawei Chairman Dr. Howard Liang.

“As we encourage more inclusive and sustainable global economic growth, we sincerely hope to contribute more to our world and the future.”

Huawei released its 2017 Sustainability Report demonstrating the initiatives undertaken in the year across four areas: Bridging the Digital Divide; Supporting Network Stability and Security and Protecting Privacy; Promoting Environmental Protection; and Building a Healthy Ecosystem. Over the past year, Huawei has actively benchmarked its operations against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to achieve its strategic goals in sustainability.

“At Huawei, we wish to leverage our expertise to build a sustainable, fully connected and intelligent world. We see a future where every person, home and organization enjoys the benefits of

ICT technologies have become a key enabler of global sustainability. As part of Huawei’s contribution to sustainable development, it continues to increase its R&D investment, innovate in ICT and bring the fruits of this innovation to more people.

In 2017, Huawei’s innovative WTTx solution helped resolve last-mile access issues in both densely populated cities and sparsely populated rural areas.

This solution reduces connectivity costs by 75% and makes network rollout 90% faster. The company also deployed RuralStar 2.0, a solution for rural networks, for 12 carriers in eight countries, including Thailand, Ghana

and Mexico. This solution helps increase network coverage in rural areas, allowing more people, especially those in underdeveloped regions, to access the online world.

Huawei’s Mobile Money solution enables carriers and banks to deliver innovative, reliable mobile banking services without adding too much to their asset base.

It has been deployed in 19 countries and serves over 152 million users. This solution makes financial services simpler and more accessible, driving financial inclusion.

“We actively benchmark our operations against best industry practices to keep ourselves up-to-date. We now intend to set more aggressive goals and pursue innovation in sustainability practices, as this can help improve the sustainability of the whole industry,” said Kevin Tao, board member and Chairman of Huawei’s Sustainable Development Committee, when discussing Huawei’s future plans for sustainability.

Nokia partners with Globe Telecom to bring cloud-native services to Philippines Nokia announced that Globe Telecom of the Philippines has partnered with Nuage Networks from Nokia to provide a nationwide SD-WAN service to both large enterprise customers and SMBs. The Nuage Networks Virtualized Network Services (VNS) SD-WAN solution automates branch site connectivity to help Globe Telecom’s customers create a single, secure cloud environment across multiple sites and access technologies.

Having invested substantially to build out connectivity in the Philippines, Globe is leveraging on its enhanced network connectivity to deliver cloud-based business services across the country.

Evolving from the IP-VPN services of the past, which often took months to deploy, the Nuage Networks VNS solution leverages any kind of network

connectivity, including mobile. This makes it especially suited to challenging geographies such as the Philippines, an archipelago with over 7,100 islands.

With the Nuage Networks VNS, Globe will differentiate itself by adding automation, improved flexibility, application-aware routing and per-application security, while offering a managed, self-service VPN portal to its customers.

The Globe SD-WAN business service will enable enterprise customers to quickly and securely connect branch employees with central cloud-based applications and services, nationwide.

Gil B. Genio, chief technology and information officer (CTIO), and chief strategy officer (CSO) of Globe Telecom, said: “We are excited to partner with Nuage Networks to bring the first fully

operationalized SD-WAN service to the Philippines. The policy-driven automation will simplify our operations and enable us to cost-effectively expand our service footprint.

The Globe SD-WAN service will enable our business customers to fully leverage the power of the cloud to connect with their customers and grow their businesses right across the country.”

Sunil Khandekar, founder and chief executive officer of Nuage Networks from Nokia, said: “Globe Telecom is leading in delivering cloud-native business services to the enterprise market in the Philippines. Our technology provides a flexible and open SD-WAN infrastructure that will serve as a foundation for Globe to deliver the business services that allow enterprises to move to the cloud with the agility and visibility they need.”

AUGUST 2018

GLOSSARY-D-

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Data

Computer data is information processed or stored by a computer. This information may be in the form of text documents, images, audio clips, software programs, or other types of data. Computer data may be processed by the computer’s CPU and is stored in files and folders on the computer’s hard disk.

Digital footprint

A digital footprint is a trail of data you create while using the i nternet.

It includes the websites you visit, emails you send, and information you submit to online services. A “passive digital footprint” is a data trail you unintentionally leave online.

Deep learning

It is a collection of algorithms used in machine learning, used to model high-level abstractions in data through the use of model architectures, which are composed of multiple nonlinear transformations. It is part of a broad family of methods used for machine learning that are based on learning representations of data.

Digital subscriber line (DSL)

A technology that transports high-bandwidth data over a simple telephone line that is directly connected to a modem. This allows for file-sharing, and the transmission of pictures and graphics, multimedia data, audio and video conferencing and much more. DSL uses the analog medium, which is reliable and prevents interruptions and heavy packet loss. DSL is fast and provides low user subscription rates.

Disruptive technology

It refers to any enhanced or completely new technology that replaces and disrupts an existing technology, rendering it obsolete. It is designed to succeed similar technology that is already in use. Disruptive technology applies to hardware, software, networks and combined technologies.

Domain

A domain, in the context of networking, refers to any group of users, workstations, devices, printers, computers and database servers that share different types of data via network resources. There are also many types of subdomains. A domain has a domain controller that governs all basic domain functions and manages network security. Thus, a domain is used to manage all user functions, including username/password and shared system resource authentication and access. A domain is also used to assign specific resource privileges, such as user accounts.

EVENTS’ CALENDAR

4 7

Asian Carriers Conference 2018 With the theme “Eyes on 2020: Turning Vision into Action”, ACC 2018 sets our sights to explore and define the longterm direction and goals of the industry, as well as provide a glimpse of what the future of communication technology holds.

SEPTEMBER

Place: Shangri-la’s Mactan Resort and Spa Cebu, Philippines

10 13

ITU Telecom World 2018 This leading international platform enables influential figures from government and industry to connect with tech SMEs, exhibit, explore partnership solutions, debate and share ideas. Join ITU Telecom World in Durban in 2018 to be a part of it.

Place: Durban, South Africa

Telecoms World Middle East 2018

17 18

n 2018, Telecoms World Middle East will bring together the entire TMT ecosystem to discuss the digital revolution, technology developments and the future landscape for MNOs, MVNOs, OTTs, suppliers and the wider industry.

OCTOBER

Place: The Ritz-Carlton DIFC, Dubai, UAE

14 18

SEPTEMBER

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SEPTEMBER

AUGUST 2018

Gitex 2018 With over 100K visitors, key players from every industry, government decision-makers, corporate buyers, innovators and futurists, the largest meeting platform of MENA government entities, global corporates and startups will take place again this year.

Place: Dubai World Trade Center

Latest updates on: www.telecomreview.com

EVENTS’ CALENDAR

Ground breaking event for the ICT industry in Indonesia, CommunicIndonesia 2018 will gather 204 exhibitors from Asia and beyond. The event attracts leading industry professionals from Indonesia’s lucrative tourism and hospitality sector, making it the recognized platform to network and meet potential buyer.

OCTOBER

Place: Jakarta International Expo, Indonesias

29 31

MEF 2018 MEF18 focuses on enabling agile, assured and orchestrated communications services for the digital economy. It uniquely empowers industry stakeholders with high-quality content, extraordinary peer-to-peer networking opportunities, and valuable insight into cuttingedge services and technologies.

Date: 29 October – 2 November Place: Los Angeles, USA

DECEMBER

10 11

24 26

OCTOBER

CommunicIndonesia 2018

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FTTH MENA conference and expo The FTTH Council MENA will build on the success of the previous editions with a high-quality conference program under the theme “FTTH, connecting the nation”. The three-day event will highlight the key role of FTTH in building stateof-the-art digital societies as well as the benefits of FTTH deployment for fixed/mobile operators, governments and consumers.

Place: Hilton Habtoor Hotel, Beirut, Lebanon

29 2

OCTOBER NOVEMBER

AUGUST 2018

Telecom Review Summit Dubai 2018 Telecom Review will hold the 11th edition of its summit for two consecutive years. The first day will be under the theme “It’s All About SMART Networking” and the second day will be under the theme “Building the SMART Future”.

Date: 10-11 December 2018 Place: The Meydan Hotel, Dubai, UAE

Latest updates on: www.telecomreview.com