Telecom Review January 2019

T HE T E L E CO M S I ND U S T RY ME D I A P L ATFORM

Ericsson:

The key enabler in helping operators achieve their 5G aspirations Rafiah Ibrahim, President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa

Two years of achievements put Lebanon back on track

Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit 2018: A resounding success

Is cloud getting edged out of IoT applications?

JANUARY 2019

CONTENTS

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

10 Ericsson: The key enabler in helping operators achieve their 5G aspirations

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22 Alfa’s CEO promises 5G rollout in H1 2019

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PM Trudeau focused not to turn Huawei 5G ban into a political matter 6

Global news

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Regional news

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“Accenture success has been our ability to transform ourselves in the digital space” – Matteo Maga

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“Women are stepping out of their comfort zone and are taking senior positions” – Wassan Athamina

Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit 2018: A resounding success

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Two years of achievements put Lebanon back on track

58

Operators’ news

60

Is cloud getting edged out of IoT applications?

62

Vendors’ news

EDITORIAL

JANUARY 2019

Editor in Chief & Senior ICT Analyst Toni Eid toni.eid@tracemedia.info

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Toni Eid, founder editor in chief Telecom Review International

Senior Journalists Mark Forker mark@tracemedia.info Christine Ziadeh christine@tracemedia.info Editorial Team Shelley Beyak (Canada), Toni Eid (UAE), Mark Forker (UAE), Martha Kassouf (Lebanon), Lacinan Ouattara (Ivory Coast), Jennifer Saade (Lebanon), 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

Drones for good, drones for bad.

Regulations are needed now.

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few years ago, my editor’s letter was about the danger of drones and the importance of regulations. Many colleagues and friends from the ICT industry and government didn’t like what I had to say, and thought I was opposed to the fast deployment of technology.

Published by

Right now, I’m writing this letter as I watch the news that Gatwick Airport is closed, the second largest airport in UK; over 800 flights have been cancelled this holiday season. It’s catastrophic! And it’s because sophisticated drones are flying near the airport and putting civil aviation at risk.

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 M. +961 70 519 666

So yes, drones can be used for bad purposes, including the disruption of civil aviation which puts many people at risk and has a huge negative impact on the economy. And don’t forget that drones can be used for spying and for terrorist attacks.

Trace Media FZ.LLC. Dubai Media City, UAE Building 7, 3rd Floor, Office 341 P.O. Box 502498, Dubai, UAE Tel. +971 4 4474890 M. +971 55 639 7080 Printing Arab Printing Press © All rights reserved Publication of any of the contents is prohibited - Year 14 - Issue 145 -

And yes, regulations for drones all over the world should start now.

Further delays will cause economic losses, disruption and damage at a time when “being sorry” will not help at all. Drones for good are only good in a regulated environment – a tough one – with limited flying zones.

This is a call to all governments to act ASAP before the worst happens!

JANUARY 2019

5G hotspot expected for 2019 Verizon will launch its first 5G hotspot device to consumers in 2019, it has been announced. The American telecommunications company collaborated with Inseego and features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 chip and Snapdragon X50 5G modem.

The hotspot is expected to be demonstrated at Qualcomm’s technology summit in Hawaii this week, which will conduct tests of 5G networks for Verizon and AT &T. They will perform live virtual reality telemedicine demonstrations, and will showcase the hotspot running on a very small-scale deployment of Verizon’s actual 5G NR network, highlighting the incredibly low latency delivered by fifthgeneration wireless.

Inseego says its device has achieved more than 2Gbps of speed and sub-10 milliseconds of latency in multiple component carrier aggregation (CA) scenarios and claims these tests to be “realworld trial data that marks a major milestone.” The hotspot device will be available from Verizon in the US and other carriers internationally.

The hotspot will also offer compatibility with Wi-Fi 6 which is also expected for next year.

Verizon has already launched 5G Home in a few markets.

It follows an announcement that Samsung and Verizon are launching a 5G Smartphone on the network for 2019, which will be powered by the upcoming flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile Platform, Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem and antenna modules with integrated RF transceiver, RF front-end and antenna elements. Verizon 5G mobility service is expected to go live in early 2019 and will “expand rapidly.”

GLOBAL NEWS

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Ariane 5 lifts off with two satellites for Asia Arianespace completed its final Ariane 5 launch of 2018 and penultimate overall mission for the year. The rocket lifted off from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana (CSG) carrying a telecommunication satellite for India and a meteorological one for South Korea.

The mission lasted approximately 34 minutes from takeoff to separation of satellites.

GSAT-11 is a telecommunication satellite designed and manufactured by the Indian Space Agency. It is “the largest satellite ever built” by the Indian

Space Research Organization (ISRO), said a statement from Arianespace.

GSAT-11 will reduce the digital divide in the Indian subcontinent. Its lifespan is estimated at more than 15 years.

GEO-KOMPSAT-2A, developed by the Korea Space Research Institute for the South Korean Government, will provide data for weather forecasting and monitoring of space weather. Its life is estimated at 10 years.

This is the sixth and final launch of an Ariane 5 of the year 2018 since French Guiana.

Nokia and Telenor Group to deploy AirGile core to transform mobile network in Scandinavia Nokia made Telenor Group’s key cloud core supplier in Scandinavia to drive network efficiency after it simplified the telecom operator’s Asian hub networks. Deployment in Denmark, Norway and Sweden will enable new capabilities in service agility, scalability, automation and network slicing as Telenor evolves toward 5G. Telenor will leverage Nokia AirFrame datacenter and Cloud Packet Core solutions, Nuage Networks SDN technologies, CloudBand Management and Orchestration Software and third-party security solutions.

Nokia is to provide program management, deployment, integration, migration and operational support services, and facilitate on boarding of other virtual network core functions.

Nokia and Telenor Group are to deploy a cloud-native core solution based on Nokia AirGile technology, including the AirFrame datacenter and Cloud Packet Core, in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The deployment will enhance performance and reliability and drive mobile broadband service agility as Telenor prepares for the introduction of 5G.

The cloud-native core solution will deliver new flexibilities and capabilities in automation, enabling Telenor’s networks to instantly adapt and scale services to meet the changing demands of people and connected things. The ability to quickly onboard virtualized network functions across a cloud-based infrastructure will reduce time-to-market for new services. With the introduction of 5G, the solution will enable network slicing, allowing Telenor to further expand its service offerings to meet the ever-growing and diverse demands of people and industries.

Nokia will deliver an AirGile cloudnative core and deploy its AirFrame datacenter and Cloud Packet Core solutions, including its Cloud Mobility Manager and Cloud Mobile Gateway, Nuage Networks SDN technologies, the CloudBand Management and Orchestration Software and thirdparty security solutions. Leveraging Nokia’s open approach to architecture and collaboration, Telenor will be able take advantage of a rich ecosystem of Nokia and third-party applications.

Nokia will provide its services expertise and use its Cloud Collaboration Hubs to optimize the deployment and support network operations.

JANUARY 2019

GLOBAL NEWS

China Mobile partners with Nokia to launch 5G hybrid indoor radio solution Nokia and China Mobile Research Institute launched the industry’s first hybrid indoor radio solution with location services to meet 5G connectivity demands inside busy large buildings such as business campuses and shopping malls. The jointly developed 5G hybrid distributed indoor system is aimed at lowering operators’ deployment costs.

Research conducted by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) shows that consumption of 70% of 5G business applications will take place indoors, with high-value customers likely to spend 80% of their working hours in an indoor environment. As a result, indoor coverage has become a key area for operators to develop new 5G services. China Mobile has long utilized distributed access systems (DAS) for 4G indoor coverage and wanted a solution that would meet the demands of 5G while reducing costs as it introduces innovative new services. Nokia and China Mobile jointly developed the industry-first 5G low-cost hybrid distributed indoor system to meet these challenges. This active smart indoor coverage system

leverages the Nokia 5G Pico RRH system together with passive DAS antennas and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology.

With fewer active elements to deploy compared to Pico systems, the solution reduces deployment costs to the levels associated with traditional passive-only DAS systems, while delivering greater capacity than DAS. The ability to leverage both active and passive indoor distribution technologies enables the delivery of intelligent operations and maintenance services, making it easier to monitor, locate and correct any disconnected elements.

The new services enabled include weak coverage analysis, indoor positioning, traffic flow analysis, easy expansion and elastic scalability. In a shopping mall, the location services can enable functions such as remote security monitoring and the ability to send shoppers information about busy locations to avoid congestion. Additionally, the integration of third-party services such as geofencing and hot-spot identification will enable retailers to send coupons and store information to customers in a mall who have opted in to the service.

Chinese telecom provider loses major European contract ZTE has lost a major contract with network provider Telefonica.

The Chinese telecom company will cease to maintain mobile operator O2’s network in Germany - a subsidiary of Spain’s Telefonica - as of next year.

Telefonica Deutschland chief executive Markus Haas said the disjoin was a decision to elect a local service to maintain its masts and infrastructure. It is expected to work with GfTD - a smaller, German firm.

The contract loss is just one example of Western telecom companies parting ways with Chinese manufactures in recent months. It follows British Telecom’s decision to strip Beijing-

based Huawei equipment from its 4G mobile network, after the US government advised telecom operators not to purchase the firm’s products earlier this year.

Western countries are growing increasingly wary of Beijing’s involvement in telecoms infrastructure, with alleged links to Chinese intelligence services.

Australia, New Zealand and Japan have chosen not to involve rival firm Huawei in their 5G rollout, amid security fears.

ZTE is hoping to a secure another big German contract with network provider United Internet, as the European company prepares to auction licenses for upcoming 5G mobile internet frequencies.

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Cuba finally to receive 3G mobile Cuba will finally receive 3G mobile internet services although it will be too costly for many citizens to afford it.

The communist-run island is one of the last countries in the world to get the service after telecom provider Etecsa succumbed to public demand.

Previously, 3G had only been available to foreign businesses and state-employed journalists.

Cubans have relied on WiFi hot spots and internet cafes throughout cities, normally charging around 1 dollar an hour to access web pages.

It will cost users an average monthly wage – 30 dollars – for 4 gigabytes a month.

According to government figures, it is believed that less than half of the people on the island own a mobile phone.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel called the rollout an “advance on the computerization of our country” in a congratulatory message he posted to his Twitter account.

It follows the relaxation of government restrictions on online activity, after an agreement was signed with Google in 2016 to ensure Cuba had a faster connection to its content. DiazCanel visited the United States in September and held meetings with tech giants Google, AirBnB and Twitter on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.

Etecsa servers were overwhelmed when 3G services were tested in recent months, disrupted by “connection problems and significant congestion of voice and data services due to the instability of part of the network.”

JANUARY 2019

Disappointing debut for Japanese giant’s mobile unit Shares in Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank’s mobile unit traded well below its IPO price in a disappointing debut on the Tokyo stock market despite raising a record amount.

A spokesman for the firm confirmed it had raised around 2.65 trillion yen via the unit’s IPO, making it Japan’s largest as expected, but the stock opened at 1,463 yen ($13), down from the 1,500 yen IPO price.

The blockbuster IPO is seen as part of boss Masayoshi Son’s strategy of transforming SoftBank from a Japan-based telecoms company to a global hi-tech investment firm. The IPO will help raise cash for Son, whose SoftBank Vision Fund is worth an estimated $100 billion and has taken stakes in some of the hottest tech firms, including Uber, Slack, WeWork and Nvidia.

GLOBAL NEWS

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Germany bans the sale of iPhones A German court ruled in favor of US chipmaker Qualcomm in a patent dispute case against Apple, which could lead to a ban on sales of iPhones in Germany. This marks a second major win for Qualcomm in a month after a court in China on December 10 ordered a prohibition on iPhone sales over a separate patent dispute there.

Qualcomm Incorporated announced that the District Court of Munich found that Apple is infringing Qualcomm’s intellectual property for power savings in smartphones and granted Qualcomm’s request for a permanent injunction, ordering Apple to cease the sale, offer for sale and importation for sale in Germany of infringing iPhones.

The injunction covers all models of iPhones that contain the infringing functionalities and apply to Apple’s European Union entities as well as Apple Incorporated. The judgment is immediately enforceable once Qualcomm posts bonds covering potential damages incurred by Apple should the judgment be overturned or amended on appeal. Apple’s

request to the court for a stay of the injunction was denied. The court has also determined that Apple is liable for monetary damages in an amount to be determined at a later time.

“Two respected courts in two different jurisdictions just in the past two weeks have now confirmed the value of Qualcomm’s patents and declared Apple an infringer, ordering a ban on iPhones in the important markets of Germany and China,” said Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel, Qualcomm Incorporated.

The court also granted Qualcomm’s request for an accounting of the details associated with all sales, including revenues and profits of the accused devices in Germany and a recall and destruction of all accused devices from all retailers in Germany.

Qualcomm’s infringed patent provides a way to mitigate power amplifier power consumption which enables the device to use power more efficiently and extend battery life in smartphones.

One market player from a securities company, who declined to be named, added that the timing of the IPO was tricky.

US Congress passes bill to protect customer data

Analysts at S&P Ratings have said the IPO “would further underline SoftBank’s transition to an investment holding company.”

Another ratings agency, Moody’s, said the IPO would “enhance transparency” in the parent company’s investment portfolio because the mobile unit’s “share price and daily market value will be available to the public.”

Fifteen Democratic senators have proposed a new bill for protecting online information.

The SoftBank parent company itself has said the listing would give the mobile unit “greater managerial autonomy to develop its own growth strategy.” It has also said the listing would help clarify the roles of the parent company and its mobile unit.

The Data Care Act creates new rules around how companies handle the data of customers. Data collectors would be required to ‘reasonably secure’ information and to ‘not use individual identifying data in ways that harm users’. It requires data collectors to give adequate notice to consumers about breaches of sensitive information. If data collectors share or sell data with a third party, it would give the FTC the authority to fine companies that act deceptively.

It is just one of many proposals that members of Congress have put

forward to regulate the tech industry.

Earlier this year, Sen. Ron Wyden proposed a bill that would send executives who mishandle data to prison.

Privacy activists have welcomed the bill, believing online personal data should be handled in the same regard as bank or medical records.

EFF legislative analyst India McKinney said in a statement that the organization will “look forward to working with the Senator to improve his bill and to advance information fiduciary protections that will meet the needs of internet users and adequately safeguard consumer data privacy as a part of comprehensive privacy legislation.”

JANUARY 2019

GLOBAL NEWS

Nokia and Ooredoo set up 5G centre in Myanmar University Nokia and Ooredoo have set up the first 5G-ready Technology Centre in Myanmar. The centre is the result of a successful collaboration with Yangon Technological University (YTU) that will be utilized by the students of Myanmar’s first diploma program in telecommunications.

The curriculum, steered by the University of Oulu in Finland, will benefit tremendously from the new Nokia Technology Centre, which is equipped with end-to-end radio, any haul transport and a core network solution that supports the latest 5G technology in addition to 4G/3G/2G .

Designed for post graduates, the new diploma program launched earlier this year in March by the two universities

required a robust lab to enhance its curriculum and enable students to apply their theoretical knowledge in a testbed environment. The syllabus was developed based on Nokia’s technology and, in a welcome move, Nokia and Ooredoo decided to join forces to create the Nokia Technology Center as a key enabler for the program.

In addition, Nokia and Ooredoo will be providing an intensive internship program for students to work as technology developers and service providers, enabling them with a 360-degree exposure to the industry.

The collaboration will also offer students an internship program enabling a unique and holistic exposure to 5G.

Korean operators collaborate to launch world’s first commercial 5G services Telecommunication operators in South Korea pooled together all their resources and simultaneously turned on their 5G networks at midnight on December 1st to claim that they’re the first country in the world to launch commercial 5G services that are based on 3GPP standards.

SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus were all encouraged by the Korea Ministry of Science and ICT to work together in an effort to avoid excessive competition and help South Korea become the first country in the world to introduce the next-generation technology commercially.

It has been hailed as a major coup by ICT business leaders in South Korea, although it has been pointed out that the services have very limited coverage and are only initially available for businesses using mobile routers.

In addition to this, it has been disclosed that the operators are aiming to target consumers with nationwide coverage in March. 5G handsets are expected to become available after MWC 2019, so

operators are aiming for a timeline in March to rollout nationwide 5G services.

SK Telecom released a statement following the official announcement and claimed that its 5G network now covers the main areas of 13 cities and counties, which includes the capital city of Seoul.

The first call over SKT’s commercial 5G network was made by its CEO Park Jungho in Bundang, Gyeonggi to manager Park Sook-hee in Myeongdong. The call was made using a Samsung 5G smartphone prototype.

LG Uplus vice chairman Ha Hyunhwoi made the first video call on its 5G network from a notebook PC connected to a Samsung 5G router in Daejeon Technical Centre to an office in Seoul.

The operator said it installed 4,100 5G basestations and plans to roll out more than 7,000 by end-December, with coverage expanding to 85 cities.

KT declined to make an announcement, but Yonhap News Agency said it launched 5G services in parts of Seoul and the surrounding area.

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Japanese government bans Huawei and ZTE products The Japanese government has announced that it will ban telecommunications equipment manufactured by Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE amidst fears about cybersecurity.

Huawei has already been prevented from participating in the rollout of 5G in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom after intelligence agencies claimed that the companies posed a risk to national security.

US lobbyists have also been proactively advising their allies not to use telecoms equipment being supplied by Huawei and ZTE in their on-going offensive against China.

The Japanese government has said that it plans to revise internal procurement rules to exclude products made by Huawei and ZTE as early as now. Domestic products that use parts made by the two Chinese firms will also be excluded from government use, it said.

The Yomiuri said the government was not expected to name the companies directly, so as to avoid angering China. Asked about the report, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga declined to comment, adding Japan was “closely cooperating with the United States” on cybersecurity issues.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said, “We hope that Japan will provide a level playing field for Chinese companies to operate in Japan.

Do not do anything that would undermine mutual trust and cooperation.”

JANUARY 2019

COVER STORY

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Ericsson: The key enabler in helping operators achieve their 5G aspirations The Swedish telecommunications giant, Ericsson, is positioning itself as the partner of choice for operators in their efforts to accelerate the commercial deployment of 5G networks. Ericsson has been a pioneering force in the ICT industry for decades, and has established itself as a global brand visible in almost every major market worldwide.

Rafiah Ibrahim, President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa

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ricsson is playing a key role globally and has signed a number of 5G commercial contracts and already announced some of those with 10 operators globally: T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and AT&T in the USA, Vodafone

JANUARY 2019

UK, Swisscom, Wind3 and Telenor in Europe, and SK Telecom and Telstra.

The company endured some difficult years from a financial perspective but bounced back to lead the way towards a 5G future. Ericsson has enjoyed phenomenal growth and success in the Middle East and Africa region, largely driven by the dynamic leadership skills of Rafiah Ibrahim, who has been the president of Ericsson Middle East and Africa since 2017.

Telecom Review managed to secure an exclusive interview with Ibrahim in a bid to understand the reasons behind the resurgence Ericsson has had over the last 12 months.

In a brilliant and engaging interview, Ibrahim highlights how Ericsson is

COVER STORY

helping operators achieve digital transformation, its overall strategy regarding 5G in the region, what differentiates the vendor from its competitors and what its plans are in 2019.

Ericsson compiled a comprehensive report that suggested UAE operators who leverage 5G and internet of things can benefit from revenues of $3.3bn by 2026. Can you tell us more about this report and how Ericsson will be a key enabler in helping operators achieve their digital transformation goals?

This report is entitled ‘5G Industry Digitalization Business Potential’ which is a sequel to a report which we published earlier last year. In this report, we highlight 10 specific areas in which operators can work with industries to be able to maximize

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Ericsson’s network technology enables evolution to full 5G deployment through natural, step-wise implementation

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their revenue potential. Some of these areas include industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, public safety and healthcare.

Take agriculture as an example. How can operators benefit from having the agriculture sector as a vertical for them to explore on digitalization? If you look at a country where there is a lot of agriculture, it could be Lebanon or Turkey, sensors or connected devices can be used to make sure the agricultural farms are at their peak. Also, some of these areas are very remote, and devices will send a lot of information through operators’ networks, which will enable farmers to have a dialog about best ways to export their products. From one form of application, it is using digitalization, and at Ericsson, this is one example of what we’re trying to enable.

COVER STORY

We work with industries, and we partner with them to understand how to support this form of digitalization and make use cases out of it. We also work with operators to see how they can implement those use cases in their networks and take it to enterprises.

How can Ericsson’s cutting-edge solutions and innovations help operators cope with the explosive traffic growth expected in the 5G revolution?

Where Ericsson comes in, it’s not just the radio basestations. It looks at 5G end-to-end platform and that will require the radio basestations, the core network and the business support systems. By having a comprehensive portfolio, you can understand when traffic comes in and how that is processed towards different parts of the network to

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We are working with operators to support those priorities and we believe 5G will enable that

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capitalize and maximize the output for the end customers.

Ericsson’s end-to-end 5G platform, across radio, core and transport networks enables operators to evolve to new 5G capabilities at a speed that matches their own business strategy, while enhancing current 4G business by reducing risk and making best use of current infrastructure.

With 5G, telecom operators have a new opportunity to maximize use of their spectrum. Operators will need to develop their spectrum strategies based on their own business focus, and the frequencies available to them, today and in the future.

Ericsson’s network technology enables evolution to full 5G deployment through natural, stepwise implementation – one that balances investment, new revenue streams and competitiveness. When we had 4G, we had the Ericsson radio systems, and we started looking at how we could increase the speed, reduce latency and examine possible use cases for industries. For example, on the consumer part, we examined the youth population and identified that video and online gaming are growing exponentially.

How can we make sure that the network is able to handle both consumers and industries? This is where we consider network slicing.

We consider this, and continuously work on creating technology products that are easy to adopt, easy to use and scale to help operators tap into new revenue streams, go fully digital and continuously become more efficient in response to skyrocketing data traffic on their networks.

We have identified three common key priorities for all operators: cost leadership, customer experience and finding new revenue streams. We are working with operators to support those priorities and we believe 5G will enable that.

Ericsson and Etisalat Misr recently launched Egypt’s first VoLTE services. What sort of flexibility

Ericsson is leading the race in 3GPP 5G standardization with its active contribution

and enhanced connectivity quality do VoLTE calls powered by Ericsson provide mobile users with?

As I mentioned earlier, it’s all about customer experience. When a large amount of data is being pumped on the same bandwidth, operators need to have the technology that caters for voice without impacting data user experience. VoLTE connects in less than two seconds compared to 10 seconds over legacy technologies and delivers sound quality with reduced background noise.

Subscribers will have the flexibility to make calls and use 4G mobile data services simultaneously without compromising 4G data connectivity speed.

Ericsson recently announced that it had signed an agreement with Mobily in an effort to enhance the quality of services the operator can provide to its customers. Can you tell us more about the significance of this partnership?

We have a long-standing relationship

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technology and thought leadership in 5G. We have been conducting trials for quite some time now and have trialed 5G for speed, mobility, beamforming, etc., with multiple operators across the region. Operators in our region are leading from the front when it comes to 5G trials and commercial rollout plans. They have conducted trials with Ericsson, not only in mid band (3.5 Ghz) but also in high band (millimeter wave).

One recent example is 5G launch

by MTN in 28 Ghz band; this was announced in AfricaCom in November 2018.

with Mobily, and that stems from our partnership with Etisalat. Throughout the years, we’ve been providing our latest products and services to Mobily, and recently we partnered for IT managed services. We will manage Mobily’s IT operation services, first-level end user support, information systems and applications, and infrastructure management services. This will complement our managed services offering with IT managed services and provide their subscribers with speed, security and reliability leading to a differentiated customer experience. The project also includes business support system (BSS), network and customer support systems as well as more than 100 technical applications and 2,000 IT infrastructure servers spread across several datacenters.

As the president of market area in MEA for Ericsson, you’ve overseen a number of 5G tests and trials all over the region. How have these trials progressed from a commercial perspective over the last 12 months?

We started conducting 5G trials in the past two years. We were very progressive in terms of our approach to 5G and were one of the first vendors globally to start signing 5G MoUs with operators, now we have 10 commercial 5G deals signed already

with leading operators globally and regional operators are pushing to soon announce the same.

Operators have their current networks but how do they evolve from 4G to 5G? It is a stepwise approach. It is also looking at whether they can benefit in certain areas of a country or consider countrywide. We also look at the details of the network architecture, the evolution, the roadmap and examine use cases.

Let me share with you some global examples. Earlier in July 2018, and together with Telstra and Intel, we completed the first end-to-end 5G non-standalone (NSA) 3GPP data call on a commercial mobile network.

In September 2018, we achieved a standard-based, over-the-air, nonstandalone (NSA) 5G NR lab data call on 28 GHz band.

Most recently, we’ve taken yet another step to drive 5G commercial readiness by contracting Wistron NeWeb Corporation (WNC) to deliver 5G mobile hotspot routers to be used in customer trials starting in November 2018.

Those are a few examples on global level, and here in the region, we have been working closely with leading operators to keep them ahead in

And to help increase the level of engagement further, we have established Innovation Hubs in the region. The hubs will engage not only the telecom operators but also key stakeholders in the market such as academics and students who are willing to try new applications and SMEs who want to form partnerships.

These cross-industry collaborations are very important and our role is to facilitate this ecosystem.

Globally, Ericsson has expanded its 4G LTE collaboration with Verizon in preparation for 5G. When will Verizon and Ericsson commercially launch 5G services in the US? Ericsson and Verizon have already conducted a series of launches of commercial 5G in selected cities across the United States. Our extended partnership with Verizon includes Ericsson Radio System 4G LTE equipment which, in addition to enabling the latest advances in 4G LTE capabilities, will provide a 5G-ready platform that will allow Verizon to rapidly transition sites to 5G when they deploy the service in those markets.

To prepare for 5G, Ericsson has released its first commercial 5G RAN software, allowing operators to turn on 5G in commercial networks when ready. In addition, the installed base of Ericsson Radio System radios from 2015 onwards can run 5G NR technology with a simple remote software installation. Another area to consider is the spectrum for 5G which is quite different. There is a low band and a high band. The US is starting with the high band, which is

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the millimeter wave, 28GHz. However, if you want to go into the lower band, where you will need smartphones, then you need to wait for the right time when the devices become available in large volumes, so it becomes affordable.

Ericsson has been a pioneering force in ICT industry for decades and is positioning itself to be a leader in 5G. In your expert opinion, what is it that differentiates Ericsson from other vendors?

Thanks to Ericsson’s research, Ericsson is leading the race in 3GPP 5G standardization with its active contribution. Operators with Ericsson will have a major TTM advantage as they will be able to launch 5G over a wider geography as all Ericsson radio system (ERS) sites can be upgraded to support 5G with software only. The existing network build with ERS can be upgraded to support 5G with software.

We believe that along with FWA, eMBB will also be one of the critical use cases for 5G for operators and as we know, mobility is a must for eMBB use cases.

In view of that, Ericsson has always ensured that mobility is tested in all the 5G trials as a first step.

We are focusing on 5G, primarily from operators’ monetization perspective.

You will agree that in order to launch commercial services, operators need to ensure that deployed networks can work with a wide variety of devices in the market. Hence, we have been putting forward a lot of effort to ensure successful inter-operability tests with independent chipset suppliers like Intel and Qualcomm, so that uniform interpretation of 3GPP specs can be ensured and ecosystems can be built to help operators’ monetization.

The Middle East is considering the 3.5GHz band and is also mulling over the 26GHz, whilst in Africa, its considering 28GHz. So, there are many parts of the full spectrum that operators need to support for customers. I think what we’ve done well is to understand the customers’ requirements and the country’s requirements. We actively engaged directly with the regulators and

What we’ve done well is to understand the customers’ requirements and the country’s requirements

discussed ways to re-farm certain types of spectrum, so it is made available for specific operators.

Together with our partners, we are continuously testing, learning and pushing the boundaries of how 5G can meet the diverse needs of today and the future.

Can you outline to us what your primary objectives and goals are for 2019?

I’ve been in this role for over two years now, and I’ve developed a much better understanding of how the market is evolving and changing.

I’m always learning. In 2019, we will continue to focus on key customers

across Middle East and Africa, and nurture our partnerships by supporting their priorities. The strategies for each one will be very dependent on how they want to progress in their country and how we can fulfill their needs and requirements. We share knowledge and gain insights into how new technologies such as 5G can be leveraged as an innovation platform when industries go digital.

In conclusion, my primary objective this year is to focus on my key customers, look at the country requirements and then look at how we can help them grow from the strategies and plans they’ve already developed.

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REGIONAL NEWS

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RIPE NCC examines internet trends and opportunities with governments in the Middle East outcomes after the previous roundtable meeting in Bahrain in 2017.

The RIPE Network Coordination Centre (NCC) held recently a roundtable meeting in Saudi Arabia, hosted by the country’s Communications & Information Technology Commission (CITC). The meeting focused on the current opportunities and challenges across the Middle East in managing internet resources, including trends, statistics and recent developments in the region.

Themed ‘Managing Internet Resources in Arab Countries’, H.E. Dr. Abdul-Aziz Al-Ruwais, governor of CITC, opened the meeting with Mr. Paul Rendek, director of External Relations, RIPE NCC. The discussion took off with a review of the collaboration and

H.E. Al-Ruwais said: “The Communications & Information Technology Commission remains committed in boosting the engagement of government regulators in the discussions related to internet resources. He added that Saudi Arabia is keen to tap the developments in the internet sector to accelerate growth and continuously diversify the economy in the country and the region.”

Rendek noted: “At the RIPE NCC we’re committed to working with stakeholders in the Arab countries to help them advance their internet sectors. We commend the work of Saudi Arabia’s Communications & Information Technology Commission in taking a leadership role and developing new initiatives to support

the growth of networks in their country.

These meetings are an ideal platform to address some of the pressing challenges facing information sharing and Internet security today.”

The RIPE NCC explained how to leverage the opportunities that come from a growing internet sector and smart regulations and detailed how the not-for-profit group has worked with regulators in the region to promote development. Also discussed was the impact of the European Union’s recently-introduced General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which establishes protections surrounding the personal data of EU citizens and residents.

Among the countries participating in the meeting were the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen and Egypt.

STC Pay partners with Visa to offer customers international payment services Saudi Telecom Company’s investment arm STC Pay signed recently a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Visa in order to offer its customers international payment services and provide them with the opportunity to create a digital account free of charge that allows them to have control over their transactions in an easy and secure way.

STC Pay CEO Saleh Mosaibah said that customers will be able to send and receive money to and from family or friends the minute they create their digital account. Visa’s head of merchant sales and solutions for the MENA region, Mohanish Agni, expressed his delight at the cooperation with STC Pay and said that the main goal is to make customers’ transactions convenient, easy and

secure. STC Pay is a Saudi financial services firm entirely owned by STC. It provides Fintech services for companies and consumers alike, including funders and retailers, beginning with payments and remittances. It was established in 2017 to keep pace with Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation and transition to a non-monetary society as per Saudi Vision 2030 and SAMA regulations.

ITC records the least number of complaints for the 3rd quarter in a row Integrated Telecom Company (ITC) has achieved for the third quarter in a row the first rank in the CITC fixed internet services providers in KSA for Q3, 2018, for the least complaints recorded. The number of complaints in Q3 was 62 for every 100,000 customer. ITC is looking always to lower the number of complaints by providing customers with the best quality of fixed internet services and most

efficient cost along with most interactive after-sales service and customer support during the year. ITC, through a partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, is working on covering more than 640,000 households with fiber optic broadband services.

These experiments are part of ITC’s plan in developing communication services through FTTx and wireless networks.

JANUARY 2019

INTERVIEW

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Matteo Maga, managing director, Communications and Media Industry Lead (AAPAC)

“Accenture success has been our ability to transform ourselves in the digital space” – Matteo Maga

Accenture is a company that is renowned for its experience, knowledge and expertise in providing professional consulting services across a whole range of different industries worldwide. However, it has also now positioned itself as a leader in helping enterprises and organizations embrace digital transformation, as emerging technologies continue to majorly disrupt almost every industry on a global scale.

JANUARY 2019

M

atteo Maga, managing director, Communications and Media Industry Lead (AAPAC) at Accenture, has played a key role in the phenomenal success the company has enjoyed in the Middle East. Under his dynamic leadership and vision, Accenture has become the go-to consultancy player for enterprises and organizations seeking digital transformation.

As a keynote speaker at the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit 2018, which was held at The Meydan Hotel, Dubai from Dec 10th - 11th, Maga gave an insightful talk on the ability that telecommunication operators have to disrupt the consumer and business market at impressive speeds, leading to new economic and business models.

Telecom Review managed to secure an exclusive interview with the charismatic and engaging Accenture executive after his presentation in an effort to find out more about his own role, how Accenture would continue to shape the digital future for its clients, and what differentiates the company from other global consulting agencies.

During your keynote presentation you said it’s time to throw away the rulebook and invest in digital, and that telcos can disrupt the consumer and business market at an incredible speed. Can you elaborate on what you meant when you said this?

This was a key point that I wanted to convey during my presentation. I think the main point I was attempting to illustrate was that technology will always evolve. Innovation, transformation and disruption have been traditionally slow in the telecommunications industry, but the emergence of OTTs has disrupted the entire industry. Digital transformation is necessary for operators in order for them to survive, but it’s not about what we should do, it’s about how we do it.

Operators need to focus more on brand value and customer

INTERVIEW experience. I think delivering customer experiences is the new way to look at technology from an operators’ perspective. This will help telcos become a digital lifestyle enabler.

Becoming customer-centric and developing a digital platform that will transform the experiences it provides for its customers will generate new revenue streams for operators.

However, to achieve that you need to change the existing systems you have in place for how you operate.

What can operators here in the Middle East learn from operators in Asia who digitalized their operations in a hugely successful way as you highlighted in your presentation?

From my point of view I think Asia is one of the most interesting regions in terms of looking at disruption and innovation. I think in Asia there is a combination of very different markets, and I’ve been examining low value and high volume markets. That’s why during my detailed presentation I provided examples from Indonesia and Africa. I think it’s very important to learn from these markets, and I think it’s very useful for operators in the Middle East and in more mature markets globally to learn how Asia operators have embraced digitalization and transformed their entire business model and operations.

Can you outline to us what your primary roles and responsibilities are as managing director, communications and media industry lead for Accenture?

I’m responsible for the communications and media industry across Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Turkey. As I outlined during my keynote presentation, I consider this to be a personal success. I’ve been working in the Middle East for the last ten years now, and during that period of time Accenture has achieved great success here and consolidated its position as a leader in professional consulting services. Accenture has worked closely with all the major players from the telecommunications industry here in the Middle East, and I think the level of innovation we’ve achieved with our clients here in the region has been outstanding. It’s my

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primary role to export the innovation and what we’ve been working on here in an effort to translate it across to our African and Asian markets.

Accenture is a huge company and is a real global leader in terms of providing professional consulting services across a range of industries.

However, what is it about Accenture that differentiates it from its competitors?

I think the major success factor of Accenture and key differentiator between us and our rivals, is that we’ve been able to transform ourselves in the digital space very successfully over the last ten years.

We’re now exporting our expertise in the digital space to our clients, and they trust us because of our knowledge in helping them achieve their digital transformation aspirations and objectives. As I aforementioned in my panel discussion I think in the telecommunications market especially, we’re very successful in promoting two key components.

Digital transformation is necessary for operators in order for them to survive

JANUARY 2019

INTERVIEW

One of these is the digital factory, and the other is the brain. We work with our clients in relation to both these components in an effort to establish what the common goals are. The digital factory is all about fostering innovative skills that we merge together in an agile way with cloud, and the brain is about analytics, machine learning and AI. What is it about the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit that differentiates it from other ICT events?

It’s an absolute pleasure to be here at the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, and be amongst technology leaders from the telecommunications industry in the Middle East. Accenture attends this event every year in an effort to measure the pace of innovation in the ICT sector in the region. The event attracts ideas and expertise from global technology leaders. This year, as per-norm, the panel discussions and keynote presentations have been of a very high-quality. As a result, a lot of interesting insights and predictions has emerged around 5G and how to take the innovation components from new technologies and put them into business models.

You were in attendance for all the keynote presentations and panel discussions at the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit. However, from your perspective, what have been the most interesting insights and viewpoints that have emerged?

I found the whole discussion about 5G to be very interesting in terms of how operators need to find the right balance and compromise when leveraging their investment from a CAPEX perspective. Revenues for 5G are still to be proven, or let’s say defined, but it was very informative to hear the discussions around what are the key use cases that operators think will generate the most value. Is the value about latency or is about speed? There are many 5G use-cases, and as I said above there is no clear revenue stream established for 5G as of yet, but that was the same when 3G and 4G was first introduced. However, unlike 3G and 4G, I think that 5G will completely revolutionize and change our world.

We’re now exporting our expertise in the digital space to our clients

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JANUARY 2019

INTERVIEW

22

can uphold the country’s economy.

He stated that in Lebanon, digital transformation could potentially create an additional $2bn to the country’s GDP. You have attended almost every edition of Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit. How do you describe the 11th edition?

This is an event that none of the ICT experts and leaders should miss. It is a very well-organized event that offers great networking opportunities. We are also looking forward to the 12th edition of Telecom Review Summit that will be held on March 29th in Beirut and which will be a milestone for us because we will showcase what we can offer in terms of technology to the region. We promise you that the 12th edition is going to be very special.

Alfa’s CEO promises 5G rollout in H1 2019 5G will be deployed by Alfa in Lebanon in the first half of 2019, announced Marwan Hayek, CEO and Chairman of Alfa, managed by Orascom TMT, in an exclusive interview with Telecom Review during the 11th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit in Dubai.

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n the interview, Hayek spoke about the challenges that telcos face when trying to adapt to the digital era and transform. According to him, three main challenges have caused a slow down for operators, however each operator has to find its own way out. Alfa for example, chose to counter whatever comes in its way by becoming a true digital player in Lebanon and the region or what Hayek calls as

“happiness provider” since happiness of customers is directly related to the telco services and speeds offered.

During the Summit, Hayek participated in the Telecom Leaders Panel that outlined the opportunities presented to telcos in the digital era and how to seize them in order to spearhead digital transformation in the region.

In the panel discussion, Hayek explained how digital transformation

In the era of digital transformation, what are the challenges that telcos are facing, notably in the Middle East?

As ICT players, we are facing many challenges at the regional and global levels. The first challenge is the decline in revenues that is hitting our top-line and affecting the profitability of any organization due to the emergence of OTT players that are affecting part of our revenues. Another challenges lies in the regulations, especially in our region where there’s still a gap when it comes to this side. Finally, the biggest challenge we’re facing today is cybersecurity. Once we embark on digital transformation and with digital disruption, the cybersecurity and privacy of our customers becomes increasingly significant to us as operators. We need to safeguard their data and make sure that they are not being attacked or hacked by any external entity especially that frequent cyberattacks could result in a backlash against digitization.

At Alfa, we have been exerting every effort to counter those challenges especially that of the decrease of revenues with the launching of a number of products and offers that will help us stabilize the revenues as well as meet the growing needs of our customers for data and innovation.

JANUARY 2019

INTERVIEW

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One of the initiatives we started recently is focused on content and entertainment. Alfa has become today the exclusive broadcaster of the Alfa Lebanese Basketball Championship through the Alfa Sports app. This is a massive milestone for us because it puts us on the right track towards becoming a premium content provider in Lebanon. Alfa Sports is the first step in this journey and hopefully we will be covering other sports as well such as football and volleyball.

In addition, we have also launched a new VoIP application called “+961 Alfa” that targets the Lebanese diaspora abroad. Every Lebanese will have his/her own Lebanese number attached to this application once he/ she downloads it and he/she will be able to make and receive calls to and from Lebanon at local rates. All application users will be also able to call each other for free.

How do you describe Alfa’s role in achieving digital transformation in Lebanon?

Alfa plays a major role in Lebanon because we are one of the few organizations that are capable of delivering the country’s digital transformation goals. We have the know-how when it comes to digital infrastructure and we are at the forefront of innovation and technology.

Our high speeds are accessible by every user in Lebanon and through our nationwide 4G LTE-A network, customers can enjoy speeds of 200-250 mbits/sec. This proudly puts Lebanon among the countries having the latest technological infrastructure and I am proud to say that Alfa and Lebanon have been listed again among the top 30 countries worldwide and 3rd in MENA region in terms of 4G speeds.

In 2019, we are going to commercially launch 5G which will be a major milestone for us and the cornerstone to the digital transformation of Lebanon. We have promised that it will be launched next year and we are keeping our promise with plans to have it available in the first

We are one of the few organizations that are capable of delivering the country’s digital transformation goals

half of 2019. This will enable us to be a provider of all kinds of digital technologies including IoT that will be massively deployed within the next couple of years. This will also enable us to be directly involved with the government and local authorities to enable optimization of the public infrastructure and resources through smart planning, and actively participate in finding solutions for challenges faced by Lebanese citizens and governmental institutions on the levels of lifestyle, security, mobility, manufacturing, utilities and health among others. In fact, digital transformation requires smart thinking and planning as well as people and consumers who think

in a smart way and who are equipped with the needed digital tools and a reliable network, hence they need an operator like Alfa.

Once launched, 5G’s coverage will surely be gradual and will not cover all Lebanese territories at once.

When do you expect a full coverage?

In the last few years, we were able to roll out 4G+ across Lebanon.

Of course, 5G will be deployed in a few hotspots next year and given the traffic and the capacity that we need in Lebanon, it is going to be nationwide in at least three to five years. Once fully covered, Lebanon will be able to leverage and fully embrace the IoT infrastructure.

JANUARY 2019

OPINIONS

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PM Trudeau focused not to turn Huawei 5G ban into a political matter

H

is words came amid heightened tensions with Beijing after three Canadians have been detained in China since the arrest of a top Huawei executive in Vancouver on a US extradition request.

The company is going above and beyond to develop 5G technology that could be 100 times faster than existing networks. However, Australia and New Zealand have effectively banned Huawei from their grids, while the UK and Germany are being pressed to act the same over concerns the gear could be exploited

by China’s spy agencies.

Canada’s decision on whether to allow Huawei Technologies Co. access to its next generation wireless network won’t be a political one. That’s what PM Justin Trudeau said at a year-end news conference in Ottawa.

“There are millions of dollars, billions of dollars at stake in technology and in communications infrastructure.

There is also the extraordinary imperative that Canadians and people around the world expect to be kept safe and free from interference and cyber-attacks,” Trudeau said.

“It shouldn’t at all be a political decision made on how we engage, but a decision made by experts and a decision based on recommendations by our intelligence and security agencies,” he said.

Back in October, US lawmakers advised Trudeau to block Huawei from 5G in Canada, and American officials ramped up pressure on Germany over the same issue. The

company rejects espionage concerns outright, saying that excluding it from the new networks will complicate the arrival of future wireless technologies worldwide.

Trudeau was also focused on keeping politics out of the cases of three Canadians captured by Chinese authorities. Michael Kovrig, a diplomat on leave from his post in Hong Kong, and Michael Spavor, entrepreneur who helped organize tourist trips to North Korea, were seized by Chinese state security officers nine days after Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was taken into custody on Canada’s Pacific coast. And the third detainee was Sarah McIver, Canadian woman arrested in China for working illegally.

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INTELLIGENT CONNECTIVITY MWCBARCELONA.COM MWC Barcelona 2019 is where over 100,000 of the tech industry’s innovators and influencers gather to explore how Intelligent Connectivity will shape the future of our digital experiences, our industry and our world.

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JANUARY 2019

WOMEN IN ICT

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Wassan Athamina, head of Alliance Management, ME, Africa & Balkans at PCCW Global

“Women are stepping out of their comfort zone and are taking senior positions” – Wassan Athamina 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 and technology industry by conducting a special series of interviews every month which are entitled ‘Women in ICT’.

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n this month’s feature, we managed to secure an exclusive interview with Wassan Athamina, head of Alliance Management, ME, Africa & Balkans at PCCW Global. We spoke to her at the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit 2018, where she was a moderator of a panel discussion that focused on the challenges emerging in the cybersecurity space.

JANUARY 2019

In a brilliant interview, the PCCW Global executive conceded that while the ICT industry had made great strides in terms of gender equality and fairness, it still had a lot of work to do. In addition to this, she spoke of her gratitude to PCCW Global for being afforded such a senior position within the organization, and outlined her objectives and goals within her role over the next 12 months.

At the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, you moderated a panel that examined the current challenges in relation to cybersecurity. Can you tell us what were some of the most interesting insights and viewpoints that emerged from the discussion?

I moderated a panel which was focused predominantly on cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is one of the hottest topics in the ICT industry.

The sophistication of the cyberattacks is increasing, which ultimately makes it more complex to detect and prevent.

We’re hearing with more and more regularity about cyberattacks and high profile breaches, so it’s a topic that is at the center of a lot of conversations within the ICT ecosystem. One of the things that I wanted to highlight during the panel discussion was that line between privacy and security, and how do we tackle that part?

With cybersecurity, there is always the fact that you have to disclose data. I think the panelists brilliantly explained their own point of view from their organizational perspective, as well as that of the end users. Another important element that was raised was security costs. As the attacks become more and more advanced that inevitably increases the cost of trying to keep your company protected.

It was the 11th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, what makes the event such a success and what differentiates it from other ICT events?

The Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit is proving to be year on year, a very successful event. I’ve been attending the event for the last three years, and it is undoubtedly getting better every year in terms of the seniority of executives in attendance, and the quality of panels and presentations.

WOMEN IN ICT All the panels were very interesting and interactive, and there was good debates between all the panelists.

It provides the perfect platform for leaders from the ICT ecosystem to gather under one roof to share insights and ideas in an effort to shape the future of the industry together. I was honored to moderate a panel, and I’m already looking forward to the next edition.

Can you outline to us what your primary roles and responsibilities are as head of Alliance Management, ME, Africa & Balkans at PCCW Global?

To put it simply, my primary role is all about alliances. What I do is set up opportunities in a bilateral manner where companies can buy and sell to PCCW Global, and we focus on extending the reach of both PCCW Global and also our partners. So in summary, my main responsibilities are to forge new collaborations and alliances, and foster a new ecosystem for us to conduct business in an effort to extend our reach and increase our visibility and footprint in new markets.

The telecommunications industry has traditionally been dominated by males, but more and more women are now in senior positions. You’re a testament to this. However, has the ICT industry come a long way in terms of equality or is there still work to be done?

There is always work to be done, but we’ve absolutely come a long way in terms of giving women opportunities to advance their careers in technology and telecommunications. I studied electrical engineering in Jordan and I completed my degree in 2004. I remember that there were only 15 women on the course and over 200 men, so that gives you an accurate snapshot of the gender unbalance that can exist within the ICT industry.

However, I must admit that I feel it has gotten a lot better, and more and more women are seeing a future in the technology and telecommunications industry, and as a result are actively pursuing careers in the ICT field.

Women are now being given more chances within the industry and more and more of us are stepping out of the comfort zone and are attaining senior

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positions with major players in the industry.

Women are now taking on more exciting and challenging roles that were previously looked at as being male only positions. I’m really grateful to PCCW Global for giving me an opportunity because ultimately you need somebody to give you a chance at a certain point in order to showcase your capabilities and talents. PCCW Global is a huge company within the telecommunications ecosystem and I’ll be forever grateful to them for giving me an opportunity.

What are your primary objectives and goals for 2019?

There’s going to be some organizational changes at PCCW Global in 2019, so I may have a more expanded role. It’s an exciting time for the company following the recent acquisition of Console Connect. We’ve got a number of major projects in the pipeline and as always it’s going to be demanding, but it is a challenge I’m looking forward to. My primary objective over the next 12 months is to keep doing what I’m doing, which is to continue to learn and grow within my role and do the best that I can for myself and the PCCW Global team.

We’ve come a long way in terms of giving women opportunities to advance their careers in technology and telecommunications

JANUARY 2019

ICT FEATURE

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Two years of achievements put Lebanon back on track

Lebanon has seen in the past couple of years its telecommunications sector take a giant leap forward which was translated on the ground with technological and ICT achievements. The Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications has committed to transforming the sector through the improvement of telecoms infrastructure and investment in ICT, and was able to honor a great part of its commitments.

T

he telecommunications sector is one of the key pillars of a country’s economy given its significant contribution to the Treasury. In Lebanon, an approximate of 1936 billion LBP ($1.3 million) was transferred to the Treasury in 2017, and 729 billion LBP ($486 million) was transferred to the Treasury in 2018.

Surplus revenues were also transferred to municipalities.

In a biennial report, the Ministry of Telecommunications shed light on the most important achievements and milestones that have contributed to transforming the country’s telecommunications services and played a significant role in fostering innovation and cutting-edge technologies.

H.E. Jamal Jarrah, Minister of Telecommunications of Lebanon, has undertaken reforms at the ministry the

minute he assumed his role and has overseen the implementation of projects covering the fixed and mobile segments and the ICT industry in general, including infrastructure-based investments and business and operating support systems.

“We started with these initiatives aiming, on the long term, to expedite the much needed telecommunication services expected by our citizens, the industry and the government, sustain growth in the ICT sector and attract international companies to invest in Lebanon, leading to a stimulus in job creation and placing Lebanon among its peers in the region and worldwide,” said H.E. Jamal Jarrah in the report issued by the Ministry to review the achievements made in 2017 and 2018.

Cooperation between the Ministry and its telecommunications arm bears fruit The Ministry has worked closely with Ogero, its telecommunications arm,

on several projects, focused mainly on infrastructure improvement, among others. The Ministry of Telecommunications has entered into contracts with suppliers and contractors chosen according to a tendering process, in order to expand and modernize the copper and fiber infrastructure in the country, thus paving the way to nationwide FTTH deployment which is what Ogero is aspiring to reach.

Ogero has been deploying tireless efforts to provide high speed internet services in collaboration with the Ministry of Telecommunications. In fact, through its broadband internet services project initiated in 2017, Ogero has been able to guarantee broadband dedicated services to corporate customers, SMEs, universities, schools, licensed digital service providers and internet service providers. Using traditional copper, this service is provided by deploying multi-service access nodes (MSAN) connected by fiber to the central office

JANUARY 2019

on one side and utilizing the existing copper infrastructure at the building to the customer premise.

In 2017, Ogero customers started to benefit from a cloud-based IPMultimedia Subsystem (IMS) that offered additional services such as VoIP, messaging services, voice and video conferencing services and PBX type services on the same platform. The IMS system replaced the end-of-life central office TDM switches and aimed to cover the back-log of demand for existing and new services.

In order to connect the central offices and provide the international internet capacity needed to address the increased demand for internet and data, Ogero had undertaken a Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) expansion and replacement in central offices across various regions in Lebanon. The deployment of an end-toend DWDM system was completed in 2017 for the international and domestic fiber routes.

The Ministry of Telecommunications has been preoccupied in the last two years with increasing international capacity, that is why it has improved the terms of the contract signed with Cypriot company CYTA to secure international capacity via the Alexandros Cable and increase it from 60 Gbps to 600 Gbps in the first phase and to twice this capacity within months depending on the availability of the necessary technologies.

In cooperation with CYTA, the Ministry has also begun studying the construction of a new submarine cable between Lebanon and Cyprus to replace the existing cable CADMOS. In 2018, the Ministry of Telecommunications announced it’s planning to launch a datacenter project for the government, private sector and international companies to benefit from hosting and to provide ICT services nationally and throughout the region.

Mobile operators’ role The Ministry of Telecommunications has collaborated with Lebanon’s mobile operator Alfa, managed by Orascom

ICT FEATURE TMT and touch, part of Zain Group, to improve subscribers’ experiences. The first step was the reduction of mobile broadband prices by an average of 12% for data packages. Additional discounts reaching 25% were introduced with the expansion of 4G coverage and the increase of data usage.

A major achievement made in 2018 was the launch of the 5G technology by both mobile operators. 5G was introduced for the first time in Lebanon which has put the country among the countries who have been pioneers in the 5G journey.

MoUs will be signed with the vendors for 5G trials in Lebanon as soon as the technology is available.

In an effort to promote innovation and value creation in the field of telecommunications, the Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications announced in 2018 the launch of MIC Ventures Holding SAL where the two mobile operators have committed to invest into the MIC Ventures Fund.

The main objective of this project is to provide companies and entrepreneurs with the required business support and global reach and transform startups into profitable businesses allowing for trade sales, mergers and even acquisition by the operators.

Both mobile operators have also launched in the past two years special offers and packages for students, armed forces, people with special needs and tourists in order to support them and address their needs.

New measures and regulations An important measure was taken by the Ministry in 2018 to relaunch the mobile identity registration system (MIRS) which was implemented in 2013. This step aims to halt the illegal import of mobile phones and devices that causes an annual loss in customs revenue of almost 40 million dollars. This system authorizes only mobile phones and devices with paid customs tariffs to operate using the Lebanese network by identifying the authentic IMEI which are allowed to have access to the mobile network.

The Ministry has implemented stateof-the-art fixed and mobile stations

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to monitor the use of spectrum which enables it to ensure the proper and legal use of spectrum and related frequencies to licensed entities and resolve interference issues.

Corporate social responsibility initiatives In 2017 and 2018, important corporate social responsibility initiatives and projects were initiated and supported by the Ministry of Telecommunications as part of the sector’s contribution to boosting the country’s ICT industry.

University students in the telecommunications and ICT fields were able to benefit from a great support and get international exposure by travelling abroad and taking part in trainings and competitions. In 2017, a team of five talented Lebanese students was selected to join the “Seeds for the Future” program along with teams from 80 other countries and was distinguished at the closing ceremony as the best performing team. In the same context, three top students participated in the “ICT Skill Competition” and won the first prize for the Middle East Level Competition in 2017 and then won the third prize globally in 2018. Furthermore, Lebanese “Robobuilders” team won the Lebanese Robotics Champions Award and represented Lebanon at the Robotics World Festival in Huston, Texas, and was selected among the top 10 performing teams.

As part of its CSR, the Ministry has also supported local NGOs with the cooperation of Alfa and touch that have launched throughout the two years many initiatives aiming at helping others who are in need and improving people’s lives.

In 2018, a Lebanese pavilion was created at the Mobile World Congress thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Ogero to support Lebanese companies and give them international exposure.

This biennial review has shown that 2017 and 2018 marked the Lebanese telecommunications with great achievements and proved that with dedication, commitment and effort, Lebanon can lead other countries in the region.

JANUARY 2019

TELECOM REVIEW LEADERS’ SUMMIT 2018

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Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit 2018:

A resounding success

Over 600 leaders from the global ICT industry were in attendance at the 11th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, which was held on December 10-11, 2018, at The Meydan Hotel, Dubai, UAE.

T

he two-day Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit that kicked off under the themes of ‘It’s all about Smart Networking’ and ‘Building the SMART Future’ attracted participants from over 35 countries which acutely illustrates the global reach of the conference.

The Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit is recognized as one of the most important symposiums in the global ICT calendar with attendees from Alfa, ABS, Accenture, Amazon Web Services, Al Khalijiah, APTelecom, Almadinah Almunawara Development Authority, Cisco, CommScope, ConsenSys, du, Etisalat, Ericsson, Governance Dynamics, Huawei, IBM, ITC, Inwi, MYCOM OSI, Mavenir,

MiCity, Microsoft, Nokia, NXN, Orange Egypt, Ripe NCC, Red Hat, PwC, PCCW Global, SES, Strategy&, Sofrecom, Stratanet, TELUS, Toda.

Network, Z-Park China in addition to government delegates from several countries and industry players.

Founder of Telecom Review and CEO of Trace Media, Toni Eid, officially opened the 11th edition of the conference and said the event represented the perfect platform for leaders within the ICT sector to share their insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging technologies as the industry prepares itself for The Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Toni Eid said, “We are proud that the Telecom Review Summits have

JANUARY 2019

TELECOM REVIEW LEADERS’ SUMMIT 2018

Mr. Toni Eid, Founder of Telecom Review & CEO of Trace Media

Debate: How is technology affecting our daily life: Outlook to 2025 Mr. Hatem Dowidar, CEO, Etisalat International Mr. Toni Eid, Founder of Telecom Review & CEO of Trace Media

Mr. Matteo Maga, Managing Director, Communications and Media Industry Lead (AAPAC), Accenture

Dr. Eesa Bastaki, President, University of Dubai

Mr. An Jian, President, Carrier Network Business Group, Huawei Middle East

Mr. Marc Halbfinger, CEO, PCCW Global

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JANUARY 2019

TELECOM REVIEW LEADERS’ SUMMIT 2018

Presentation: Building the future autonomic network with an open cloud ecosystem Mr. Mounir Ladki, President and CTO, MYCOM OSI Mr. Amir Rao, Head of Global Technologies AlliancesTelecommunications, Amazon Web Services

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Mr. Micheal Yeung, Head of Engineering for Elastic Services Controller, Cisco

The Telecom Leaders Panel: How do telcos address the digital transformation opportunity become an important event marked upon the agendas of most ICT leaders spanning the Middle East to Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.

Over the next two days we will share insights on the development of 5G and examine the key technologies required for smart cities. We will examine important topics such as key technologies for smart cities; how operators can find common understanding for technology; the future of smart cities; the need for data management and protection; and how to build a resilient smart city,” he added.

The official opening keynote was delivered by Dr. Eesa Bastaki, president, University of Dubai, who

explained in depth about technology’s role in education, research and innovation. According to him, quality education; research and business development; innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship centers; robust, secured, high-speed, seamless and reliable ICT Infrastructure are crucial to achieve a long-term sustainable, prosperous and productive lifestyle.

Dr. Bastaki said, “We need to introduce techno-edutainment that gets the attention of learners and stimulates them. Learn anywhere, anytime and by any means.”

How is technology affecting our daily life? This topic was debated by Eid and Hatem Dowidar, CEO, Etisalat.

The discussion revolved around the impact of several technologies that

Eid chose to present in a futuristic video explaining how our daily lives have transformed. The video laid the foundation for a very interactive discussion during which Eid raised a series of questions asking Dowidar about the changes that were brought on by mobile applications, autonomous cars and mobile health, to name a few.

On mobile applications, Dowidar described how they are now part of our lives. He emphasized the positive impact they’ve had and insisted on countering every argument claiming that mobile applications have negatively affected employment.

“Technology is making our lives easier. Applications are creating jobs, so

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TELECOM REVIEW LEADERS’ SUMMIT 2018

5G: Recalculating routes for new economic value

Cybersecurity: Anticipation measures and security challenges

Capacity and data traffic

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Mr. Osman Sultan, CEO, EITC

H.E Ghassan Hasbani, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Public Health, Lebanon

Mr. Farid Faraidooni, Deputy CEO, EITC

Mr. Hazem Galal, Partner, PwC

I don’t accept the suggestion that the advent of these technologies will have an adverse impact on employment,” he said.

When asked about his stance on autonomous cars, Dowidar hailed this particular technological development in the transportation sector, notably for its environmental benefits. “Selfdriving cars are going to completely revolutionize the transportation sector. Cars will become smarter.

They will have a positive impact on the environment too as it will reduce our carbon footprint and eliminate congestion.”

Another important topic discussed at this debate was mobile health. The CEO

of Trace Media tackled technology’s impact on the health sector and explained how it had made remote medicine possible, thus allowing patients to receive a fast and accurate diagnosis.

“The implementation of AI in healthcare can prevent and detect problems in a much more effective way, which makes it more efficient for both the doctor and patient,” commented Dowidar.

However, the two CEOs agreed on the importance of data protection when it comes to mobile health. Patients’ personal data is very critical and have to be protected. Patients need assurance that their data is safe online in order to trust mobile health providers.

The debate concluded with an outlook to the future and what direction should mobile operators take in order to get ready for the advent of further new technologies that will certainly disrupt industries and markets.

Etisalat’s CEO concluded, “Operators have different approaches which are dependent on the market requirements. For example, the two operators in the UAE are focused on smart cities and automation because they’re both a key focus of the vision of the UAE leadership.”

The first day covered topics ranging from 5G and cybersecurity to capacity, data traffic and cloud.

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Characteristics of leading smart cities

Smart health into digital transformation

Advanced technologies in smart cities

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Data governance and science in smart cities

The Future of smart cities & districts Industry experts took part in informative panels to explain more about those topics and put their companies’ strategies into words.

in the field of 5G technologies. “We can enable operators to be among the first wave of those deploying 5G in the world.”

An Jian, president, Carrier Network Business Group, Huawei Middle East, delivered a keynote entitled “5G inspiring the future”. He mainly focused on the benefits that 5G will bring to societies and economies and highlighted the fact that countries have already embarked upon their 5G journey. In fact, in his presentation, he explained that 154 carriers in 66 countries have already undertaken 5G tests and 110 markets are projected to deploy 5G in 2025.

Matteo Maga, managing director, Communications and Media Industry Lead (AAPAC) at Accenture, then delivered an insightful presentation in which he outlined how he believes that telecommunication operators have the ability to disrupt the consumer and business market at incredible speeds, and claimed they should be capable of enabling new economic and business models.

“We are operator’s best 5G partner,” said An Jian when talking about Huawei’s large experience and efforts

He also urged operators to throw away the rulebook and invest in digital now. “Digital revolution is not about 5G. It’s about how we apply new technologies. Telcos should be

capable of enabling new economic and business models,” he said.

Next on the agenda was the PCCW Global CEO Marc Halbfinger who gave a very interesting presentation in which he explained how to move forward into a cloud-certified ecosystem. He asked the audience an important question: How are new business models reshaping behaviors and how to educate an enterprise on being agile? Enterprise agility is a trending topic nowadays and Halbfinger emphasized the importance of learning how to be agile.

Leaders from the telecommunications industry examined and explored the opportunities presented by digital transformation at the 11th edition of

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H.E. Ghassan Hasbani, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Public Health, Lebanon H.E. Yasser El Kady, former Minister of ICT, Egypt and Government Advisor

Mr. Hatem Dowidar, CEO, Etisalat International

Mr. Marwan Hayek, Chairman and CEO, Alfa

Mr. Imad Kreidieh, Chairman and Director General, Ogero Mr. Toni Eid, Founder of Telecom Review & CEO of Trace Media

Mr. Saleem AlBlooshi, Chief Infrastructure, EITC

Mr. Ken Campbell, Director General, Inwi

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Dr. Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO, TELUS

Mr. Yasser Shaker, CEO, Orange Egypt

Mr. Toufi Saliba, CEO, Toda.Network

Mr. Labib Matta, CBO, NXN

Mr. Mohammed Al Marzooqi, Vice President-Technology Synergies, Etisalat International

Dr. Virtyt Koshi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, Mavenir

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Mr. Chafic Traboulsi, Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson Middle East and Africa

Mr. Ghazi Atallah, CEO, NXN

Dr. Mohamed Madkour, VP Global Wireless Networks Marketing and Solutions, Huawei

Mr. Fuad Siddiqui, Senior Partner for Strategy and New Markets Consulting, Nokia Bell Labs

the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit.

NXN’s chief business officer, Labib Matta, moderated a panel discussion entitled “The Telecom Leaders Panel: How do telcos address the digital transformation opportunity?”

Panelists included Hatem Dowidar, CEO, Etisalat International; Marwan Hayek, CEO and Chairman, Alfa; Yasser Shaker, CEO, Orange Egypt; Ken Campbell, director general, Inwi; and Anthony Shiner, chief digital & innovation officer, du.

Dowidar said that operators were a key enabler in terms of facilitating the digital transformation objectives of its enterprise customers. He said, “By going digital you can provide a better service that is more cost-efficient.

Operators are at the center of this new revolution that we call digital transformation, and it is providing us with the new revenue opportunities.

We have the capabilities to help deliver digital transformation for our customers.”

CEO and Chairman of Alfa, Marwan Hayek, echoed the sentiments of Dowidar and said that digital transformation offered operators the chance to create new revenue models.

He said, “There are tremendous opportunities presented by digital transformation. In Lebanon, we could potentially create an additional $2bn to our GDP by integrating new technologies in an effort to alleviate severe traffic congestion.”

Anthony Shiner, chief digital & lifestyle innovation officer at EITC (du), called for a mindset shift from operators in order to fully maximize the opportunities presented by digital transformation. He said, “You have to create a cultural change along with digital transformation. We see significant value in improving the experiences of our customers.”

According to Yasser Shaker, CEO, Orange Egypt, establishing strong partnerships with governments were fundamentally critical in terms of accelerating digital transformation.

He said, “Digital transformation is not something new for us. Customer experience is important, but so too is our relationship with governments.

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Any transformation comes with regulation. So it’s fundamentally critical to have governments on-board.”

In the same context, director general of Inwi, Ken Campbell said that operators need to embrace digital transformation now in a bid to enhance the experiences it provides for its customers. “We need to accelerate quicker towards digital transformation.

We want to create brilliant digital experiences for our customers and digital transformation is very important to that,” Campbell said.

Mounir Ladki, president and CTO, MYCOM OSI and Amir Rao, head of Global Technology Alliances – Telecommunications, Amazon Web

TELECOM REVIEW LEADERS’ SUMMIT 2018

Services delivered a joint presentation entitled “Building the future autonomic network with an open, cloud ecosystem”.

Ladki highlighted that networks are already approaching a point where it will be impossible for human beings to control them manually, notably with the emergence of real time, on-demand digital services. He emphasized the importance of intelligence and software as a key driver of autonomic network. He said, “If automation was written by people, what happens when new devices will become connected?

We need intelligence and software.”

Amir Rao then talked about how the cloud is core to the DSP strategy.

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According to him, transforming into a DSP rests on 6 key pillars, enabled by the public cloud: rapid innovation, rapid scalability, new attitudes to risks, ecosystem native, real-time automated and subscription model.

During the first day of the event, different panels were organized to discuss a range of topics including 5G’s role in generating new economic value, cybersecurity measure in light of the digital era and capacity and data traffic.

Michael Yeung, Head of Software Engineering, Cisco, delivered the closing keynote of day 1, in which he focused on automation and how it has become a necessity nowadays

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citing different trends that are driving the need to automate.

Day 2 of the conference focused on smart cities and examined the characteristics and technologies that are required to create leading smart cities on a global scale.

CEO of EITC, Osman Sultan gave the opening keynote presentation which was entitled: From smart to SMART. Sultan delivered an engaging and interactive presentation that had the large crowd in attendance captivated as he explored the potential opportunities for operators in the smart city space.

The charismatic CEO began his presentation by focusing on talent,

TELECOM REVIEW LEADERS’ SUMMIT 2018

and said that recruiting the right talent and creating the right environment for them to prosper was critically important, as the telecommunication industry continues to undergo huge digital transformation in its efforts to create new business models. He said operators’ needed to think differently.

The CEO of EITC said, “Culture is the only thing that can’t be replicated. This will force us to think differently, and as a result we will create a holistic workforce ecosystem. Talent will take your company from strategy to execution to culture.”

In relation to smart cities, Sultan claimed that Dubai has always been ‘smart’, and that it has served as a benchmark for

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technological progress over the last 20 years. However, he stressed that Dubai was more a city of ‘smart applications’ as oppose to being a cohesive allencompassing smart city.

Sultan said, “Dubai has always been smart and it has always been was a city of smart applications. However, these smart applications existed in separate verticals. The real transformation is taking this graph and turning it horizontal. Everything is going to be connected.”

Sultan then turned his attentions to that of governance and said that the speed of legislation was lagging behind with regards to the speed of technological development. He also noted that every

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communication service provider is now providing digital services.

EITC’s CEO highlighted that after The Industrial Revolution, the focus switched to automation, then we transitioned towards digital and then the focus became making digital ‘smarter’. Now we’re developing AIpowered robots, but warned that the objective behind every new technology should be people-centric.

“Technology is amazing and can transform industries and society, but it has to be focused on benefiting the lives of mankind.”

He concluded a brilliant presentation by calling upon those within the ICT

TELECOM REVIEW LEADERS’ SUMMIT 2018

ecosystem to be brave and to seize the opportunities that are going to be presented by 5G and other emerging technologies.

Sultan said, “In the current ICT ecosystem we’re now sharing uncertainties. We need to move from the right answer to the right question.

The future is now. If we look at it with fear then we will lose, and if we look at it with greed then we will also lose. We need to be brave.”

Smart health was also discussed during the 2nd edition of ‘Building the SMART Future’ conference. H.E. Ghassan Hasbani, deputy prime minister and Minister of Public Health in Lebanon, delivered a keynote on how technology

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has revolutionized the health sector and what the future holds for patients willing to embrace digital in health.

Our Summit is always about exchanging ideas

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JANUARY 2019

TELECOM REVIEW EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2018

Telecom Review’s 11th Leaders’ Summit honors the best of the ICT and telecom industry

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Best Nonprofit Organization: RIPENCC

T

elecom Review continued its dedication & commitment to the ICT industry and exceeded all expectations with holding the best and largest high-level executives of ICT gathering.

These awards recognize industry leaders for their efficient and hard work in 2018, and are a special way for Telecom Review to help celebrate the winner’s success. This year there were 367 nominations for the Telecom Review Excellence Awards. We want to thank all of the judges who worked tirelessly on reviewing and judging the nominees.

Winners were chosen based on recognized and demonstrated capabilities in their specific sector by an independent panel of 15 experienced industry veterans.

Recipient: Paul Rendek, Director of External Relations, RIPE NCC

Best VAS Provider: StrataNet

Best Digital BSS Provider: Accenture

Recipient: Chris de Josselin, CEO, StrataNet

Recipient: Abdallah Touhami, Managing Director, Accenture

Best Customer Service Provider: Tata Communications

Best Carrier Enterprise Service: Nokia and Etisalat

Recipient: Radwan Moussalli, Senior Vice President, Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, Tata Communications

Recipient: Amin Nafa, Head of the Etisalat Customer Team at Nokia - Khalid Khaja, VP Business Network, Etisalat

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TELECOM REVIEW EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2018

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Best Asian Operator: PTCL

Best Cloud Provider: Ericsson

Recipient: Daniel Ritz, CEO, PTCL

Recipient: Indranil Das, VP and Head of Digital Services, Ericsson Middle East and Africa

Most Innovative Product/ServiceOperator: du

Most innovative Product/Solution: TELUS, Cisco and SAUGA 360

Recipient: Jihad Tayara, VP ICT Business Development, EITC

Recipient: Walter Miron, director, technology strategy, TELUS - Dr. Ali Chehab, MD, Sauga 360 - Michael Yeung, Head of Engineering for Elastic Services Controller, Cisco

Best Middle Eastern Operator: Etisalat

Best African Operator: Maroc Telecom

Recipient: Dr. Ahmed Bin Ali, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Etisalat

Recipient: Fanou Messaoudden, Media director, Maroc Telecom

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TELECOM REVIEW EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2018

Best 5G Innovation: Huawei

Best Smart City Initiative: du

Recipient: An Jian, President, Carrier Network Business Group, Huawei Middle East

Recipient: Jihad Tayara, VP ICT Business Development, EITC

Best Middle Eastern Wholesale Operator: Etisalat

Best Smart City MENA: SMART DUBAI

Recipient: Ali Amiri, Chief Carrier & Wholesale Officer Etisalat Group

Recipient: Moza Suwaidan, Director of Strategy & Innovation Dept., Smart Dubai

World’s Best Smart City: Toronto

Best Industry Vendor: Huawei

Recipient: Charles Yang, President Huawei Middle East

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TELECOM REVIEW EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2018

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Best Smart City Platform: NXN

Best Telecom Brand: Nokia

Recipient: Ghazi Atallah, CEO, NXN

Recipient: Bernard Najem, Head of Business for Middle East and Africa and Vice President, Nokia

Best Infrastructure Deployment: StrataNet

Best International Wholesale Operator: gtt

Recipient: Chris de Josselin, CEO, StrataNet

Woman of the Year in ICTÂ : Catherine Michel, CTO Sigma Systems

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TELECOM REVIEW LEADERS’ SUMMIT TESTIMONIALS

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Hatem Dowidar, CEO, Etisalat International

Marc Halbfinger, CEO, PCCW Global

I think Telecom Review is the standard for telecom journalism in the region. Many leaders from the ICT ecosystem and I attend the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit every year, because it provides us with the opportunity to engage in robust debates in a shared effort to improve the industry overall.

I enjoy coming and getting a view of what’s happening in the region. The content in substance of what the Telecom Review team delivers is just spot on and I just enjoy listening and taking part.

Eric Handa, CEO, APTelecom

Mounir Ladki, President and CTO, MYCOM OSI

The quality of the people at this summit is just fantastic. C-Level executives from the ICT industry globally attend every year, and the quality of the Telecom Review team are they key differentiating factors for me when compared to other events.

Dr. Eesa Bastaki, President, University of Dubai Telecom Review has always tried its best to gather all the constituents of the ICT industry and it has done a wonderful job. The program is also very beautiful and allows you to get information and knowledge from every other speaker with different backgrounds.

Hazem Galal, Partner, PwC I attend conferences all over the world and what I find unique about this specific event is that it’s a good combination of both a regional focus and a global outlook. It also combines the perspective from the ICT industry looking at smart cities in a more holistic matter.

Marwan Hayek, CEO and Chairman, Alfa This is an event that none of the ICT experts and leaders should miss. It is a very well organized event that offers great networking opportunities. We are also looking forward to the 12th edition of Telecom Review Summit that will be held in March 29th in Beirut and which will be a milestone for us because we will showcase what we can offer to the region.

I think the Telecom Review team has now acquired world-class expertise in organizing these brilliant ICT events.

The conference is second to none in this region, where you have by far the largest gathering of C-Level executives and influencers from across the entire telecommunications industry. One other key aspect of the event is the networking opportunity provided.

Chris de Josselin, CEO, StrataNet Our main business is focused in Asia and the US and it is very important for me to have a broader view of what is happening in the Middle East market. This event has given me the opportunity to meet potential customers and partners. I have heard a lot about the industry and what is happening in the region.

Ken Campbell, Director General, Inwi I think Toni and the team have done an excellent job in organizing it. It’s a great opportunity to join together with people from across the region and talk about the current issues and some of the things that are coming up. It’s a unique kind of forum that brings people from the Middle East and North Africa from the entire ecosystem.

Marwan Bindalmook, SVP ICT Solutions & Smart City Operations, EITC What I like the most about Telecom Review Summit is the time. It happens at the end of each year which allows the leaders of the telecommunications sector to tell us about their experience for the past year and about their future plans that focus mainly on digital transformation. For us, this is a great experience and we learn a lot from this event.

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TELECOM REVIEW LEADERS’ SUMMIT TESTIMONIALS Matteo Maga, Managing Director, Accenture Accenture attends this event every year in an effort to measure the pace of innovation in the ICT sector in the region. The event also attracts ideas and expertise from global technology leaders. This year, as per-norm, the panel discussions and keynote presentations have been of a high-quality.

Dr. Mohamed Madkour, VP Global Wireless Networks Marketing and Solutions, Huawei At Huawei, we believe in the power of innovation and collaboration as a fundamental way to get ready for the 5G era. This summit summarizes these two aspects in terms of the innovation and collaboration. This is the kind of value we’re looking at to enrich the 5G era, not just for Huawei but for all the operators in the Middle East.

Eng. Mohammed Alsharif, Program Director Madinah Smart City, Almadinah Almunawara Development Authority We chose to participate in this year’s Telecom Review Summit to showcase the experience of Almadinah Almunawara Development Authority and its contribution to Vision 2030.

The level of international and regional VIP attendees exceeded expectations.

Dr. Muneer Zudhi, Director, Head of Smart City Solution, Nokia It has been a fantastic event and I think it was very well organized. The organizers have done a fantastic job in being able to bring the right people and the right speakers to touch upon the hot topics, major talking points and some of the challenges that we’re facing in the ICT industry relative to technologies.

Ammar Sabbagh, Head of Business Development - Technology and IOT Solution, Ericsson Middle East and Africa The nice thing about the Smart Cities World Forums and Telecom Review Summit is that they bring together the industry leaders in telecoms and governments so we see a lot of collaboration and it’s very good to meet everybody year-on-year. We are always excited to come every year and to be a partner of Telecom Review.

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Dr. Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO, TELUS They tend to focus on the C-suite.

This event is not only unique to the ICT summits but to all the summits I attend. I like that fact that it’s contained, a lot of time is given for networking and the topics are very relevant.

Jihad Tayara, VP ICT Business Development, EITC We are very happy and proud to participate in this event as the Smart ICT partner. It’s one of the best networking events that take place in the UAE and the region. The most impressive thing about it is that it is transforming from a traditional telco event to an ICT and smart city event.

Yousef Khalili, Head of Smart City & Smart Government Practice & the UAE General Manager, NXN I always attend Telecom Review Summits because they’re always full of great content, exchange of ideas and a wonderful way to network within the industry.

Sameh Sobhy, Vice President of the Middle East and Africa Region, PCCW Global This year’s edition is more dynamic and the presence of senior-level executives is impressive. We met a lot of new faces and high-level experts from different industries. This makes it even more successful than last year. I wish you continue on the same path in the years to come.

Michael Yeung, Head of Engineering for Elastic Services Controller, Cisco This is my first time attending the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit and the experience has been fantastic. I think being able to connect with various leaders from different companies, organization and governmental department agencies has been fantastic.

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OPERATORS’ NEWS

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China Mobile International joins Etisalat’s SmartHub to expand its ME services Etisalat and China Mobile International Limited (CMI) have come together to establish point of presence at Etisalat’s SmartHub Data Centre in UAE, improving CMI’s reach across partners in the region and meeting the increasing demand for content and connectivity.

As part of the Etisalat SmartHub, CMI will have presence in the Middle East to support its global infrastructure, interconnections, capacity and expand its reach into the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. The datacenter collocation partnership agreement will enable the company to further

support global telecom infrastructure requirement of its existing customers as well as tap new markets with its specialized telecom services and solutions.

Ali Amiri, group chief carrier & wholesale officer, Etisalat, said: “We are delighted to have China Mobile International join Etisalat’s SmartHub as a member of our growing SmartHub community. Our SmartHub stands out as an innovative regional content, capacity and mobility platform to drive future growth. Over the years, the hub has successfully proved its capability in providing consistency

and best-in-class connectivity in the region.

We, at Etisalat, are committed to deliver the highest quality and innovative international services. The continuous flow of partnerships with SmartHub signify Etisalat’s position as a central hub of regional connectivity in the telecom market. China Mobile International’s decision to join Etisalat’s Smarthub community will enable them to cater to global connectivity requirements of their end customer and also extend their core infrastructure in the Middle East.”

Etisalat Misr and Huawei Egypt achieve a new milestone in the MENA region

Recently, Etisalat Misr and Huawei Egypt have completed MENA’s first commercial deployment for FDD Massive MIMO solution over Etisalat 4G networks. Massive MIMO is one of the basic requirements for 5G as well. The peak cell throughput in trials has reached 516 Mbps using 15 MHz bandwidth, which it is 5 times faster if compared to the traditional 2T2R network. In view of the excellent results of FDD Massive MIMO, Etisalat Misr will cooperate with Huawei Egypt to deploy the FDD Massive MIMO in more traffic hotspot areas to deliver the best user experience in the region.

such as video and social applications, LTE network traffic grows at an average annual rate of 170%. Building an ultimate capacity layer became a major challenge for network development. FDD Massive MIMO uses a large-scale antenna array and the space division multiplexing technology to share the same timefrequency resources to multiple users, maximizing spectrum efficiency and improving user experience in hotspot areas. With the popularization of TM9 terminals, the capacity can be increased to 3~5 times. In addition, this solution is one of the key technologies in the future network.

Etisalat Misr has the widest LTE coverage in Egypt, providing the best LTE experience for 3.5 million users.

With the rapid development of services

Khalid Murshed, chief technology officer of Etisalat Misr, said, “The rapid development of mobile network traffic is an opportunity and a challenge in

the same time for operators but we are committed to providing the best mobile network experience for the Egyptian community. I’m glad to see the excellent performance of FDD Massive MIMO in the commercial network. The customers can enjoy very high throughput and network capacity can be tripled without new site and new spectrum. We will deploy this solution in more sites to enhance customers experience and cope with the challenges of future traffic growth.”

Chen Chuanfei, president of Huawei FDD LTE Product Line, said, “The Massive MIMO multi-antenna technology is one of the key solutions to improve the network capacity. It has high requirements for the overall structure design, power amplifier, heat dissipation, chips and algorithms. With the continuous accumulation in these fields, Huawei takes the lead in putting the solution into commercial use in the industry and matching operator’s network development requirements.

We hope to cooperate with global operators to build a high-quality network with ultimate capacity and excellent user experience, maximize the value of spectrum, and embrace the golden age of rapid MBB development with operators together.”

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OPERATORS’ NEWS

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Etisalat wins four major accolades at the Telecom Review Excellence Awards 2018 telecom companies for its success in the wholesale business as the Best Middle East Wholesale Operator due to its capabilities to serve as a gateway to the world for the UAE ,the regional operators and customers serving as a platform for ME region’s credible peering and transit hub.

Etisalat won four prestigious awards at the Telecom Review Excellence Awards 2018, a prestigious award ceremony that recognizes the achievement of global telecom carriers across the region. At the Telecom Review Excellence Awards 2018 held in Dubai, Dr. Ahmed bin Ali, senior vice president, Corporate Communications, Etisalat, collected the ‘Best Middle Eastern Operator’ award.

Etisalat was shortlisted among top

The Best Middle Eastern Operator award recognized Etisalat as an operator that has achieved growth across its operators, shown innovation in its service portfolio and infrastructure and continuously developed its network capabilities.

Daniel Ritz, CEO, PTCL Group, picked up the Best Asian Operator award, Fanou Messaouden, corporate communications director, Maroc Telecom, received the Best African Operator award and Khalid Alkhaja, vice president, Network Analysis

& Planning-Business, Etisalat, accepted the award for Best Carrier Enterprise Service.

Winners were chosen based on recognized and demonstrated capabilities in their specific sector by an independent panel of experienced industry veterans. Both operators were awarded for their efforts in driving business agility and efficiency, technological innovations and expanding business and network in their markets.

The award ceremony took place during the 11th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders Summit. The exclusive regional event held from December 10-11 brought together the best telecom and ICT industry leaders on one platform to debate and discuss about the future developments in the regional and global telecom industry.

Zain Kuwait becomes first operator in MENA to use drones for cell tower automation Zain Kuwait, the leading digital service provider in Kuwait announces entering an agreement with Zain Drone to undertake inspections of its tower infrastructure.

The agreement sees Zain Kuwait as one of the first operators in the MENA region to deploy drone technology to inspect and maintain its cell tower infrastructure, demonstrating the operator’s drive to become a more agile and cost-efficient operator. The agreement also represents the first commercial deal for Zain Drone.

In a growing trend globally for the telecom sector, progressive mobile operators have identified the need to constantly monitor their towers to ensure smooth and hassle-free relay of signals between devices and infrastructure to ensure a great mobile experience for customers. Drone cell tower inspection reduces costs and the time taken to detect any flaws considerably, as well as providing companies with complete details of defects through visual imagery, making it easier to develop lasting solutions for the problems that are identified.

Commenting on the agreement, Zain Kuwait Chief Technology Officer Nawaf Al Gharabally said, “Zain Kuwait is a flagship operation within the Group, and as such it is important for us to lead the way with regards to developments related to efficiency and infrastructure maintenance. Zain Group has always benefited from its broad portfolio of operations, be it from a geographic perspective or a technological one, and tying up with Zain Drone is another example of how strong synergies are being driven within the Group to significant positive effect.”

AbdulAziz Jawad, CEO of Zain Drone, said, “We are pleased to announce our first commercial agreement with Zain Kuwait, one of the most innovative and forward-looking telecom operators in the region. Our business case is based on providing tools to our partners that help them optimize their operations and maximize gains from the efficient running of infrastructure. Kuwait will be a great showcase market for the capabilities of Zain Drone-as-a-Service, and we look

forward to winning further business in Kuwait and other markets across the region from Zain operations as well as from non-Zain affiliated organizations.”

Jawad continued, “Automation will play a key role in the cell tower inspection industry where automated workflows have proven their potential by helping cut inspection costs by as much as 50%, given that Drone hardware and software technologies have developed to the level that the entire inspection process can be streamlined and automated. The valuable benefits of Drone technology in this instance includes, higherresolution visual inspections than ground-based inspections; a significant reduction of man hours and costs; safely assess the condition and alignment of all components of cell towers with inspections done from a safe distance; an increase in efficiency due to data accuracy, live streaming and zoom or thermal capabilities; and importantly, no network downtime time as the cell towers remain functional during inspection.”

ICT FEATURE

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can be moved around among the cloud provider’s various facilities for load balancing.

On the other hand, edge computing is a form of cloud computing, but unlike traditional cloud computing architectures that centralize compute and storage in a single datacenter, edge computing pushes the compute - or data processing power - out to the edge devices to handle. Thus, only the results of the data processing need to be transported over networks. This provides precise results and consumes far less network bandwidth.

There are mainly four vital drivers pushing us towards the edge computing:

Is cloud getting edged out of IoT applications?

Cloud computing has been a trending topic for a good number of years. But recently, many are under the impression that edge computing will eventually replace traditional cloud architectures. This is almost certainly not the case. There are use cases, such as the internet of things, where edge computing architectures provide advantages over fully-centralized cloud designs, especially when talking from a networking and data storage standpoint.

O

n one hand, cloud computing was developed to reduce the equipment and operational costs of deploying a

datacenter. It also provides flexibility in that computing, and storage resources can be added or removed as needed.

The term cloud came about as an image of a cloud which was used to signify that the true location of the resources was unknown. In fact, the resources

• Evolving customer expectations from their own business • Optimum use of data to explore new possibilities • Upcoming technologies in networking and software which offers opportunities in edge computing • Application on edge platforms like IoT devices which processes and transforms data through a network for better customer experience and better delivery of data.

Today, we are connecting more devices and crunching more data quicker than ever before, knowing that some of the data may unnecessary to keep for a long time, which creates a bulk of unnecessary data if stored on the cloud. There will be a time when the cloud won’t be able to contain all data transferred there, and analogously, what happens when the clouds in the sky get full? It rains. It requires you to make alternative plans. Same in computing.

This is where the edge comes in to take some of the burden off.

In fact, adopting the edge platform represents many advantages that one may be unaware of. Edge computing happens closer to the action it’s recording which leads to a faster communication between two ends, better data management, lower connectivity costs and uninterrupted connection - they work even when your connection to the cloud is affected. In addition, it reduces latency and jitter, improves the reliability of the network and has the added benefit of increased security.

JANUARY 2019

The latency of hosted solutions demands a new approach, especially for time-critical processing – in some smart city or connected/driverless transport applications or healthcare devices, for example, where splitsecond reactions may be essential.

In order to describe the importance of milli-seconds, the Independent magazine gives the following example: Time travel to the UK in 2025. Harry is a teenager with a smartphone and Pauline is a senior citizen with Alzheimer’s who relies on smart glasses for independent living. Harry is frustrated his favorite online game is slow, and Pauline is anxious because her healthcare app is unresponsive.

Forbes predicts that by 2025, more than 80 billion devices, from wearables and smartphones, to factory and smart-city sensors, will be connected to the internet. Something like 180 trillion gigabytes of data will be generated that year and this will cause delays due to congested networks.

Harry and Pauline’s frustrations will be the norm as apps communicate with distant clouds over a busy internet, becoming slower and less responsive.

After all, seconds matter. Harry will have a poor gaming experience if there is a 50-millisecond delay on his smartphone. Even a 10-millisecond lag between the movement of Pauline’s head and the appearance of processed information on the smart glasses will cause motion sickness.

To imagine another futuristic scenario, a delay of one-tenth of a second could prove disastrous for an autonomous car driving at 70 miles per hour. It is not inconceivable, therefore, those limitations in cloud provisions could lead to life-or-death scenarios.

If there was any doubt about the increasing popularity of edge computing, you only need to look at the influx of major announcements and partnerships in the space for confirmation.

Two early adopter of edge services for the IoT, Dell Technologies and Microsoft, recently joined forces to create an integrated IoT offering to

ICT FEATURE help vertical customers simplify IoT management, and enhance security between the edge and the cloud.

The new hardware and software platform unites Microsoft’s Azure IoT Edge offering with Dell edge gateways and VMWare’s Pulse IoT Center. This enables centralized monitoring and helps lower the cost of running IoT networks at the edge.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged the company’s burgeoning edge business in its latest financial results, “Our early investments in the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge are paying off, and we will continue to expand our reach in large and growing markets with differentiated innovation,” he told Wall Street analysts.

“We reorganized our engineering teams to break free of the categories of the past and better align with the emerging tech stack from silicon to AI to experiences, to better serve the needs of our customers today and long into the future. And, most importantly, we drove innovation to deliver differentiated value across the cloud and the edge.”

Cisco is another networking giant that’s taking edge computing very seriously, with a host of routers, access points, and more. They unveiled a new IoT networking solution that addresses scalability, data control, and security challenges. The new Cisco Industrial Compute Gateway IC3000 offers builtin security and manageability at scale, enabling faster decision making at the edge by processing and normalizing data from various sensors.

Enterprises across vertical industries like transportation, manufacturing, oil & gas, smart cities, and utilities need to be able to make faster decisions at the edge. But when leveraging data from highly distributed and disparate systems and sensors, this can create operational challenges and slow down critical decision making. By utilizing Cisco’s IC3000 gateway, enterprises can process data at the edge without having to send it to a cloud environment or to an on-premise data center.

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The gateway can be combined with Cisco software including Cisco Kinetic Edge Fog Module to extract, compute, and move data from all sensors to the right applications at the right time; and Cisco IoT Field Network Director (FND) to enable zero-touch deployment of the compute gateways and edge applications at scale.

Processing data at the edge requires the utilization of security and privacy best practices, which is where Cisco IOx comes in. With Cisco IOx, the IC3000 delivers four pillars of security for edge computing environments: Access control, integrity, data confidentiality and privacy, and threat and mitigation.

However, not every sector needs to rush to the edge, as Laz Vekiarides, CTO and co-founder of enterprise hybrid cloud storage provider ClearSky Data, explained. “Anything that doesn’t require real-time interactions can potentially run smoothly without edge computing.

It really depends on how responsive your device needs to be, and whether or not it can live with the delays of going to and from the cloud. For example, I don’t need my smart thermostat to respond to me instantaneously. I can wait an extra 30 milliseconds for it to complete my request.”

To sum up, as we start to see more smart devices, drones, AI systems and machine intelligence taking hold, we’ll see a future in which the edge takes on more and more computing workloads. And as more endpoints become significant generators of data and as 5G networks expand, edge computing will come to the forefront.

Yet, cloud computing will always play a significant role in the enterprise, particularly as hybrid computing networks become better able to leverage edge technology where suitable and, likewise, utilize the benefits of the cloud for less urgent workloads. Ultimately, it’s a case of recognizing that cloud computing is no longer the answer to all of our data processing and storage needs. The edge is leaving its mark.

JANUARY 2019

VENDORS’ NEWS

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Cisco brings its intent-based capabilities to the Middle East networks, but for wireless and simple branch deployments too.”

For over two decades, the Catalyst family of switches has been known for pushing the limits of what the network could do. Last year, Cisco’s Catalyst 9000 switches pushed those limits even further by introducing the world to intent-based networking, helping big networks learn, adapt and evolve.

Now, Cisco is expanding its iconic Catalyst portfolio, giving access to all organizations including their branches in the Middle East, across wired and wireless. It is bringing intent-based networking to deployments of all sizes, delivering a smarter, simpler and more secure network to more customers than ever before.

“We’re excited to bring the full power of Cisco’s intent-based capabilities to everyone in this region,” said Osama Al-Zoubi, chief technology officer, Cisco Middle East and Africa. “We want to give IT the tools they need to automate and see the network end-to-end. Our expanded Catalyst 9000 portfolio lets customers do this not only for large wired

Intent-based networking represents a fundamental shift in the way that networks are built and managed. One that does away with the old manual, time-intensive, error-prone way of doing things. Instead, these modern networks capture business intent and translate it into network policies. This allows the network to be automatically configured in minutes, with the assurance that it has happened correctly.

New Catalyst products The Cisco Catalyst 9000 Series was built from the ground up for intent-based networking. It runs on a single, open, programmable OS that powers all access and WAN products. This allows Cisco customers to turn on new software innovations faster, simplify IT operations and lower costs. A single software controller automates the entire network, while programmable ASICs provide unmatched investment protection. In addition, security is embedded into the network, instead of bolted on.

By extending the Catalyst 9000 Family to wireless deployments and mid-market

customers, Cisco is bringing the new era of networking to even more customers.

New products include: • New Wireless Controller: For the first time, customers can run consistent security, automation and analytics services across wired and wireless environments by leveraging the same OS. The Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller can be run anywhere—on premise, in any cloud, or embedded virtually on Catalyst 9000 switches. It supports today’s wireless standards and is ready for the 802.11ax standard. It also elevates wireless services with software updates without disruption, new threat defense and advanced programmability.

• New Mid-Market Switch: The Catalyst 9200 switches extend intent-based networking to simple branch deployments and mid-market customers. For the first time, the midmarket gets access to the full suite of enterprise services, all at a similar price point as the previous generation of Cisco switches. Simplicity without compromise. And with the security and resiliency customers have come to expect from the Catalyst family.

Nokia signs €250m financing agreement with NIB for 5G will especially concentrate on developing new 5G-related end-to-end product offerings for different business areas.

Nokia today signed a EUR 250 million loan transaction with the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) to finance research and development activities related to 5G technology.

The loan, which has an average maturity of approximately 5 years after disbursement, will finance Nokia’s extensive research and development program focused on 5G activities in Europe in 2018-2020. The investment

electronics, being able to exchange data wirelessly.

5G is the next generation of wireless systems beyond the current 4G standards, providing a substantial increase in network capacity, reducing latency delays and enabling network slicing. Network slicing gives network operators greater ability to differentiate their services to match clients’ needs.

“The business opportunities of 5G are numerous, as it will be the first mobile generation designed from the beginning for machine-type communication.

Nokia’s research and development is likely to benefit not just the telecom sector, but also several high-technology operators in our member countries,” says Henrik Normann, NIB president & CEO.

Nokia’s 5G research and development program also focuses on the implementation of the internet of things, machine-type communication between the things humans have invented. In practice, this means a network of different devices, such as home appliances, vehicles and other

“We are pleased to receive this financing commitment from the NIB, which shares our view of the revolutionary nature of 5G. This financing will further support 5G research and development in Europe and it bolsters the momentum we have already seen this year as the era of 5G begins,” says Kristian Pullola, CFO, Nokia.

JANUARY 2019

VENDORS’ NEWS

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Ericsson releases its top ten consumer trends for 2019 European telecommunications behemoth Ericsson has released the eighth edition of its ConsumerLab trend report, 10 Hot Consumer Trends 2019 representing predictions of 34 million early technology adopters. The latest edition of the annual report evaluates consumer thoughts and predictions on near-future technology including AI, VR, 5G and automation.

The report reveals that autonomous and mood-predictive technology could soon play a bigger role in people’s everyday lives.

Dr. Michael Björn, head of Research Agenda at Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab, and main author of the report, says: “Imagine a smartphone that not only knows what you do but also knows who you are. Today, artificial intelligence can understand your personality just by looking into your eyes.

It’s clear that technology adopters see a future where our devices know us better than we know them.”

The 10 hot consumer trends for 2019 and beyond are: 1. Awareables More than 60 percent of virtual assistant users think devices that understand our

moods, will become mainstream in three years.

2. Smart quarrels Over 65 percent of virtual assistant users think smart speakers will argue like family members in three years.

3. Spying apps Over 45 percent of consumers think apps collect data about them even when they don’t use the app.

4. Enforced agreement Always have to accept data collection cookies annoys 51 percent of consumers.

5. Internet of skills More than 50 percent of AR or VR users want apps, glasses and gloves that give virtual guidance for practical, everyday tasks such as cooking or carrying out repairs.

6. Zero-touch consumption Around half of virtual assistant users want automated bills and subscriptions, as well as self-restocking household supplies.

7. Mental obesity 31 percent of consumers soon expect to

go to ‘mind gyms’ to practice thinking, as everyday decision-making becomes increasingly automated.

8. Eco Me 39 percent of consumers want an eco-watch that measures their carbon footprint.

9. My digital twin 48 percent of AR or VR users want online avatars that mimic them exactly, so they can be in two places at once.

10. 5G automates society Around 20 percent of smartphone users believe 5G will better connect IoT devices, such as household appliances and utility meters.

On whether we should see this nearfuture technology as a threat or an opportunity, Dr. Pernilla Jonsson, head of Consumer & IndustryLab, says, “We have already entered the age when humans and intelligent machines are interacting and working together. So far, we’ve only taken small steps into the future. Most of the zero-touch future is yet to be developed – and how we create that future is still in our hands.”

Huawei’s first Experience Store in the Levant will open soon in Lebanon Lebanese market, Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) recently announced plans to inaugurate the first new experience store (HES) in Beirut, Lebanon. The store will be designed with futuristic space and aims at offering an intelligent hightech experience for consumers to have access to Huawei’s latest products and services under one roof.

Following the remarkable success the brand has been achieving in the

Located in the heart of the city, specifically in Beirut-Souks, the Huawei experience store was scheduled to open around the 21st December 2018, just before the holidays for customers to get their hands on Huawei’s ultimate intelligent products. The Huawei experience store will house the company’s

achievements in artificial intelligence and showcase all their long- awaited devices that will now be available in Lebanon such as HUAWEI Watch GT, the industry-leading Matebook X Pro and other products including tablets, fitness trackers and connected accessories.

The Huawei experience store in Beirut will be the first to open in the Levant region and represents the main hub for Huawei’s fans and consumers to get their hands-on the latest innovative products.

Following the opening, the brand will be launching a series of promotions and offers to celebrate this remarkable milestone.

JANUARY 2019

VENDORS’ NEWS

64

Huawei to invest $2bn over the next five years in effort to improve software capabilities Huawei Rotating Chairman Ken Hu held a press conference with leading global media at the company’s new campus in Dongguan on December 18. The journalists visited R&D labs showcasing materials and thermal management technologies developed for 5G equipment, as well as an independent cybersecurity lab.

Hu delivered strong messages of confidence in Huawei’s business growth and prospects, citing the trust of hundreds of network operators, nearly half of the world’s Fortune 500 companies, and hundreds of millions of consumers. Huawei’s 2018 revenue, he said, was expected to exceed US$100 billion.

He also directly addressed recent allegations against Huawei, stating that it is best to let facts speak for themselves, while emphasizing repeatedly that the company’s security record was clean. Hu noted that there have been no serious cybersecurity incidents in 30 years.

On 5G, Hu mentioned that Huawei has secured 25 commercial contracts,

ranking number one among all ICT equipment providers, having already shipped more than 10,000 base stations to markets around the world.

Almost all network customers have indicated they want Huawei, which is currently the market leader with the best equipment and will remain so for at least the next 12 to 18 months, for faster and more cost-effective upgrades to 5G. Some security concerns based on the technology for 5G were very legitimate, noted Hu, but able to be clarified or mitigated through collaboration with operators and governments.

“Rare cases” have arisen where some countries are using 5G issues as an excuse for groundless speculation based on “ideological or geopolitical considerations”. Security concerns disingenuously raised as excuses to block market competition would slow adoption of new technology, increase costs for network deployment, and raise prices for consumers. If Huawei were allowed to compete in the US for 5G deployment from 2017 to 2020, around US$20 billion of capital expenditure in wireless infrastructure

would be saved, according to some economists.

Hu emphasized that Security is Huawei’s highest priority and it overarches everything. Hu was open to a question about building cyber security evaluation centers in places such as the US and Australia, pointing to similar centers in the UK, Canada, and Germany that are designed to directly identify, address, and mitigate concerns. Huawei has subjected itself to the strictest reviews and screening by regulators and customers, while expressing understanding of legitimate concerns that some stakeholders might have. However, no evidence indicates that Huawei equipment poses a security threat. Regarding often-quoted concerns over Chinese law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China had formally clarified that no law requires companies to install mandatory backdoors. Huawei remains open to concerns about its openness, transparency, and independence as well as dialogue. Any proof or evidence could be shared with telecom operators, if not to Huawei or the public at large.

US chipmaker introduces revolutionary IoT-enabling product Qualcomm Technologies, Inc announced its next generation modem purpose-built for internet of things (IoT) applications such as asset trackers, health monitors, security systems, smart city sensors and smart meters, as well as a range of wearable trackers.

The new Qualcomm® 9205 LTE modem is unique in bringing together key innovations required to build cellular-enabled IoT products and services in a single chipset, including global multimode LTE category M1 (eMTC) and NB2 (NB-IoT) as well as 2G/E-GPRS connectivity, application processing, geolocation, hardwarebased security, support for cloud services and accompanying developer tools.

Compared to its predecessor, the modem is engineered to reduce power consumption by up to 70% in idle mode, a critical consideration for batterypowered IoT devices that need to operate for 10 years or longer in the field.

The Qualcomm 9205 LTE modem is also 50% smaller and more cost-effective than its predecessor – making it ideal for IoT applications requiring lowpower, wide-area connectivity in a small form factor device. The new modem is also software-compatible with the company’s prior LTE IoT solutions which allows module manufacturers to reuse software investments to develop new module solutions.

“The innovations included in the Qualcomm 9205 LTE modem are critical

to support many of the 6 billion IoT devices expected to use low-power, wide-area connectivity by 2026,” said Vieri Vanghi, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Europe, Inc. “LTE IoT technologies are the foundation of how 5G will help connect the massive IoT, and we are making these technologies available to customers worldwide to help them build innovative solutions that can help transform industries and improve people’s lives.”

“The new Qualcomm 9205 LTE modem is unique in integrating the critical technologies that our customers would need to create cellular-connected IoT solutions,” said Doron Zhang, senior vice president, Quectel.

CO-LOCATED EVENTS

1 – 3 APRIL 2019

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SECURITY FOR DIGITAL INNOVATION The Largest cyber security exhibition & conference in Middle East, Africa and Asia.

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JANUARY 2019

GLOSSARY-E-

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e-GMS

The E-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) is a metadata standard for making data handling consistent, in order to promote efficient use of Web pages and documents. It is a standard of the U.K. government, under the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, and is part of the E-government Interoperability Framework set up in the early years of the millennium to promote universal standards across national lines.

Embedded analytics

It is the process of embedding analytics and reporting capabilities within a device or information system. It provides data and process analysis capabilities natively into the underlying information system. It is generally embedded with transactional process systems and applications.

Encryption algorithm

An encryption algorithm is a component for electronic data transport security.

Actual mathematical steps are taken and enlisted when developing algorithms for encryption purposes, and varying block ciphers are used to encrypt electronic data or numbers. Encryption algorithms help prevent data fraud, such as that perpetrated by hackers who illegally obtain electronic financial information.

EDGE

Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) is a high-speed wireless data service that can deliver speeds of up to 384kbps using all GSM channels. This speed now enables the possibility of the delivery of multimedia and other broadband application to mobile phones and computer users. The EDGE standard is still built on the GSM standard, but is more specifically enhancements on the general packet radio system (GPRS) and high-speed circuit switched data (HSCSD) technologies

Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

is a framework standardized in Release 8 of the 3GPP for giving data and converged voice on a network based on 4G LTE. Evolved Packet Core is based on a constant network connection or an always-on connection. Evolved Packet Core helps in combining voice and data on an Internet Protocol service architecture.

This helps service operators in operations as well as deploying one packet network for 2G, 3G, LTE, WLAN or fixed access such as cable or DSL.

CABSAT.COM

12 - 14 MAR 2019 DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE

POWER TO CREATE INSPIRATION - ACTION - REACTION With a rapidly evolving media and entertainment industry, are you thriving in the face of disruption?

As the MENA region’s leading broadcast, satellite and content event, CABSAT 2019 gathers the global players in media creation, production and distribution together to power your growth in the rapidly changing digital economy.

Over US$ 64 billion will be invested by Saudi Arabia alone on its entertainment industry as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 programme* Want to grab your slice? Head over to learn how at CABSAT and network with visitor communities from the media & entertainment industry including TV & Film | Audio | Satellite | Digital Media | Photography | Esports *Source: Saudi General Entertainment Authority (GEA) Announcement – Feb 2018

CABSAT OFFERS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES ACROSS THE CONTENT CREATION, PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION CHAIN To book your stand, contact the CABSAT Team on +971 4 308 6552/6433 or email CABSAT@DWTC.COM Organised by

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EVENTS’ CALENDAR

CABSAT 2019 The entire content, satellite, broadcast, digital media and entertainment ecosystem will be hosted under 3 key sectors – Content Creation, Content Production & Post-Production and Content Distribution & Delivery. CABSAT 2019 is the place to be to power your growth in the digital economy.

12 14

Telecoms World Asia 2019

25 27

For 20 years, Telecoms World Asia has been an annual platform for leading international carriers, operators, authorities and suppliers to meet, learn and create fruitful business partnerships for the betterment of wholesale revenue and growth.

Place: Centara Grand at Centralworld, Bangkok

Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit Lebanon 2019 The 12th edition of Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit will gather ICT leaders, governments, CEOs and experts from Lebanon and abroad.

Interesting topics will be discussed to shed light on the telecoms sector and its most recent trends.

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MARCH

MARCH

Place: Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai, UAE

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MARCH

JANUARY 2019

GISEC 2019

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In its 7th edition, GISEC has already grown to one of the world’s largest and easily outstrips other events in footfall, seniority of speakers and variety of exhibitors. With over 7,000 cyber-specific visitors, it is collocated with IoTX and Future Blockchain Summit which collectively deliver over 12,000 visitors.

Place: Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai, UAE

SmartEx 2019 Lebanon’s leading international technology exhibition will be back in April. In its last edition, SmartEx attracted thousands of local and regional business executives, presenting a wide range of Industries, looking for the latest technological innovations for their business Place: Seaside Arena, Beirut, Lebanon

Latest updates on: www.telecomreview.com

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APRIL

APRIL

Place: Phoenicia Hotel, Beirut, Lebanon