ITU Secretary General - Teletimes

ITU Secretary General 

Dr. Hamadoun Toure 

speaks on ITRs & Future of ICTs 

December 2012 

www.teletimesinternational.com

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A PROJECT OF PPA PUBLICATIONS

In this edition 

Interviews 

13 

ITU Secretary General speaks on ITRs 

& Future of ICTs 

Khalid Athar 

19 

29 

“We are ‘the mobile satellite operator’ used in 

most countries on the planet” 

Drew Brandy ,VP, Industry Enterprise - inmarsat 

Gulraiz Khalid 

The main purpose of State Foundation is 

Involvement of investments ... 

Dr. Ali Abbasov - Minister of Communications & IT, 

Republic of Azerbaijan 

Research & Analyses 

21 

23 

33 

41 

48 

Articles 

39 

61 

Purchase mobile computers wisely 

not to lose productivity 

Jerker Hellstrom 

Catching the Smart Home Opportunity 

Dr. Karim Taga, Didier Levy, Omar Saadoun 

and Lars Riegel (Arthur D. Little) 

The new reality of cyber war 

James P. Farwell & Rafal Rohozinski 

The Global ICT 50: 

The Supply Side of Digitization 

Olaf Acker, Florian Gröne, Germar Schröder 

Booz&Co. 

Europe should choose future-proof broadband 

NOW! 

Karin Ahl 

Special Reports 

09 WCIT - What happened for the revision of 

International Telecom Regulations? 

16 

International Conference on new approaches 

in Electronics communication and information 

technologies 

Yasemin Saygi 

Branding in ICT and telecom sector 

Hanan Rafique Dahar 

How technology can enable a Literate Pakistan 

in 24 months - A self experience 

Rehan Allahwala 

09 09 

58 

59 

04 December 2012 


In this edition 

16 

37 

Reports & News 

29 

19 

56 

28 

37 

49 

50 

51 

53 

54 

55 

56 

57 

57 

58 

59 

21st Convergence India 2013 Expo - Enriching a billion lives 

Pawan Dixit 

Mobilink to invest USD 1 billion to enhance nationwide mobile network 

du launches in-house contest at the UAE’s 41st National Day 

Frost & Sulivan: Regulatory compliance to be one of the key drivers ... 

Deepshri Iyer 

Huawei: Customer experience - 

The future benchmarking in Telecom innovation 

Comguard unveils irresistible bundle offer 


Etisalat accompanies media representatives to visit Huawei in China 

Nawras installs high speed enterprise connectivity at GUtech campus in Halban 

Julie Amann 

PCCW Teleservices receives 5 contact center awards 

Ivan Ho 

Thuraya recognized as the Satellite Communications Player of the Year award 

Mini Sree Narayanan 

Making copies of data – Better media options 

Khawar Nehal 

PTCL celebrates 41st National Day of UAE 

Aqeel Shigri 

ZONG and Huawei establish state-of-the-art GSM laboratory at NUST 

and much more .... 

December 2012 


05

Media partner: 

Online partner:

Letter to readers 

Khalid Athar 

Chief Editor 

Dear Reader, 

Welcome to the December edition of 

Teletimes International. 

The Emirate of Dubai, UAE hosted one of 

the most significant telecommunication 

events connected with future shape of the 

International telecommunication regulations. 

World Conference on International 

Telecommunications (WCIT) conveyed 

by ITU in Dubai hosted some intense two 

weeks of late night deliberations between 

Governments of ITU’s member states. 

Teletimes International was covering 

this important conference over the 

past four months in the form of articles, 

news and available information of the 

proposed amendments and revisions in 

the ITR (International Telecommunication 

Regulations) document. In this edition, we 

are also featuring an exclusive Interview of 

Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré, Secretary General 

of the ITU arranged just before the start of 

WCIT. A detailed conference summary is 

also available with this edition narrating the 

proceedings and outcomes of WCIT. 

It may be kept in mind that International 

Telecommunication Regulations have not 

been updated since 1988. Some of the most 

significant happenings at the WCIT were the 

presence of ICANN’s President and the CEO 

Fadi Chehadé, approval of a resolution aimed 

at fast-tracking connectivity for Land Locked 

Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small 

Island Developing States (SIDSs) and global 

agreement on the need for the next phase of 

ICT development to prioritize environmental 

sustainability. 

The second week of the event brought 

some high observance of uncertainty 

and disagreement on the issue of 

including ‘Internet’ as a part of revised 

International regulations. Most countries 

at the conference agreed that a United 

Nations agency should play an active but 

not dominant role in Internet governance. 

Delegates from United States, United 

Kingdom, Canada and Australia refused to 

sign the document. 

This month we are also featuring interview 

of his Excellency, Prof. Dr. Ali Abbasov, 

Minister of Communications and Information 

Technologies, Republic of Azerbaijan. Mr. 

Drew Brandy, Vice President - Industry 

Enterprise at inmarsat is also presented in 

this edition in an exclusive interview held 

recently. 

Our research and analyses section for this 

month brings ‘The Global 50: the supply side 

of digitization’ ,‘Purchase mobile computers 

wisely’, ‘Branding in ICT & Telecom’, ‘Europe 

should choose future proof broadband 

now’ and a post conference summary 

on ‘International conference on new 

approaches in electronic communication’ 

by our correspondent at Istanbul. We are 

also brining a conclusive report model for 

telecom operators to catch the smart home 

opportunities prepared by Arthur D. Little. 

This month’s online survey inquired the 

respondents to tell us If they believe that 

‘Government control inhibit the growth of 

Internet innovation?’ results show that 45% 

of the respondent were of the view that 

Government control does restrict innovation 

over the Internet while the rest said it 

doesn’t. Readers will also enjoy latest news 

and reports from Thuraya, Nokia, PTCL, 

Comguard, PCCW, Huawei, Etisalat, Nawras, 

Zong and VimpelCom. As a regular feature, 

the edition also present “Teletoons” and 

upcoming events calendar for Global ICT and 

Telecom events. 

We would look forward to receive your 

comments and suggestions to assist 

us in bringing more value to Teletimes 

International. 

Wish you a very happy and prosperous 2013! 

Enjoy Your Reading. 

December 2012 


07

WCIT – 

What happened for the revision of International 

Telecommunication Regulations? 

Teletimes Special Report 

The last month of the year 

2012 brought together decision 

makers from around the world 

in Dubai for the World Conference 

on International Telecommunications, 

or WCIT. The 

conference held an inimitable 

importance to renegotiate the 

International Telecommunication 

Regulations (ITRs) that was 

agreed upon in 1988 to promote 

global interconnectivity and 

interoperability of telecommunication 

facilities and availability 

of services to the public. WCIT 

2012 welcomed almost 1600 delegates 

from 151 Member States, 

including almost 70 ministers, 

deputy ministers and ambassadors. 

ITU’s member states 

were invited to revise and set a 

future treaty for International 

Telecommunications, a total of 

1275 proposals were submitted 

by Member States during the 

proceedings. The event hosted 2 

weeks of intense, long and late 

night deliberations between 

Government representatives, 

concluded with 89 of the 

participating states signing the 

updated international telecommunications 

treaty. 55 of the 

144 participating economies 

reserved their rights to sign at 

a later stage or refused to sign 

the treaty. 

A number of high ranking officials 

and dignitaries attended 

the conference, including 

Mohamed Nasser Al-Ghanim, 

Director-General of the UAE 

Dr. Hamadoun Touré 

Telecommunications Regulatory 

Authority and Chairman of 

the Conference; Fadi Chehadé, 

President and CEO of the Internet 

Corporation for Assigned 

Muhamed Nasser Al-Ghanim 

Names and Numbers (ICANN); 

and ITU Secretary-General, Dr. 

Hamadoun I. Touré. UN Secretary-General 

Ban Ki-moon in his 

opening remarks thanked UAE 

December 2012 


09

for hosting WCIT and stressed 

that the conference is focused 

to facilitate in providing a multilateral, 

bottom-up stakeholder 

approach while reviewing the 

agreements. 

Over the past several months, 

the babble surrounding WCIT 

had been nothing short of fear. 

Public advocacy groups like the 

Electronic Frontier Foundation 

and other organizations issued 

several warnings that WCIT 

could be the end of the Internet 

world as we know it. The largest 

scaremongering came by 

Google through campaigns 

organized; Google had been the 

leader of a conspiracy theory 

posted before WCIT stating that 

ITR process is primarily focused 

to take over governance of the 

Internet and supply to member 

states a power to censor and 

filter Internet content. Though 

at the later part of these campaigns, 

some analyst concluded 

them to be ill-informed and selfserving. 

An analysis posted in 

the Huffington Post argued that 

Google’s real motivation behind 

its WCIT campaign revolved 

around shared payment system 

among service providers, it may 

be noted that presently the 

requesting operator pays the 

sending operator for requested 

content. Mr. Nothias in his post 

concluded that, under such a 

system, Google “would be unable 

to continue using freely the 

worldwide infrastructure network 

for which it did not spend 

a penny.” As recognition to calls 

for greater transparency, ITU 

kept the sessions of the review 

committee and plenary meetings 

opened to the public. 

It was heartening and appropriate 

that the first Resolution to 

be approved during the WCIT-12 

was all about connecting those 

who are still not connected. 

It was a Resolution aimed at 

fast-tracking connectivity for 

Landlocked Developing Countries 

(LLDCs) and Small Island 

Developing States (SIDSS). The 

agreed resolution reaffirms 

the right of access for landlocked 

countries to the sea and 

freedom of passage through 

the territory of transit countries 

by all means of transport, in accordance 

with applicable rules 

of international law. 

During the first week, ITU member 

states also approved a new 

ITU standard on Deep Packet 

Inspection (DPI) that will enable 

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 

to manage network traffic more 

efficiently and thereby ensuring 

users’ quality of service 

and experience. The standard 

‘ITU-T Y.2770, Requirements for 

Deep Packet Inspection in Next 

Generation Networks’, is an 

outcome of ITU-T Study Group 

13 approved by WTSA. 

The first week of WCIT did had 

few grim moments but a very 

little indication as what the final 

document will actually look like 

and who will sign the new treaty 

on the last day. 

A major difference was 

observed among the member 

states on the buzz word of 

the ‘Internet’. For example, 

the proposed revisions asked 

the Members States to ensure 

that administrations/operating 

agencies cooperate within 

the framework of ITRs to 

provide by mutual agreement, 

a wide range of international 

telecommunication services 

including services for carrying 

Internet traffic and data 

transmission. They also asked 

Members States shall ensure 

As recognition to calls for greater 

transparency, ITU kept the sessions 

of the review committee and plenary 

meetings opened to the public. 

that operating agencies provide 

and maintain a minimum 

an agreed quality of service 

with respect to access to the 

international network by users 

using terminals which are 

permitted to be connected 

to the network and which do 

not cause harm to technical 

facilities and personnel; harm 

to technical facilities and 

personnel shall be construed 

to include spam, malware, etc. 

as defined in relevant ITU-T 

Recommendations (as the case 

may be), as well as malicious 

code transmitted by any 

telecommunication facility or 

technology, including Internet 

and Internet Protocol. Draft 

Article 4 also asked Member 

States to take measures to 

ensure Internet stability and 

security, to fight [cybercrime] 

and to counter spam, while 

protecting and respecting 

the provisions for privacy and 

freedom of expression as 

contained in the relevant parts 

of the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights. 

During initial deliberations, United 

States and some countries 

from European region called for 

keeping ‘Internet’ and its governance 

out of revised treaty, 

while others—like Russia, China, 

and Saudi Arabia pushed to 

include clauses addressing Internet. 

However, a far more conciliatory 

approach was adopted by 

majority of the delegates by the 

end of first week. 

Week two started with an 

agreement to adopt three new 

proposed Regulations in Article 

5 of the ITR’s recognizing the 

absolute priority for safety 

of life telecommunications, 

including distress telecommunications, 

emergency telecommunications 

services and telecommunications 

for disaster relief. 

A new provision was also approved 

on “Energy Efficiency/ 

e-Waste” encouraging Member 

States to adopt energy efficiency 

and e-waste best practices, 

taking into account relevant 

ITU-T recommendations. A new 

provision on “Accessibility” was 

also approved calling on Member 

States to promote access 

for persons with disabilities to 

international telecommunication 

services taking into account 

relevant ITU-T recommendations. 

During the mid time of week 

two proceedings, WCIT ap- 



proved new provisions on mobile 

“roaming” that intended to 

ensure transparency of end-user 

prices for international mobile 

services, allowing users to receive 

full information promptly 

whenever they cross a border. 

Another resolution passed 

during this time recognizing the 

Internet as a central element of 

the infrastructure of the information 

society, saying that it 

has evolved from a research and 

academic facility into a global 

facility available to the public. 

The resolution also recognizes 

the importance of broadband 

capacity to facilitate the delivery 

of a broader range of services 

and applications, promote investment 

and provide Internet 

access at affordable prices to 

both existing and new users. 

As the conference entered into 

its last two days, the key issue 

of whether the new treaty text 

will include the Internet was 

yet to be resolved. The United 

States and a number of allies opposition 

expanded on, whereas 

Russia and others supported it. 

The conference also witnessed 

locked clauses number 3.7 and 

3.8, and coffee wasn’t helping 

the opposing sides reach any 

kind of consensus. 

U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer 

tweeted that work would 

continue around the clock, but 

added: “The U.S. remains committed 

to keeping the Internet 

out of the ITRs (treaty).” 

The later part of the day claimed 

some consensus on these issues 

but it seemed clear that even 

a compromise is not possible 

from US, Canada, and the UK 

side. The day ended with 

representatives from countries 

from Denmark to New Zealand 

consulting home offices to determine 

their signing status. 

The last day of WCIT brought 

approval of provision addressing 

security and robustness of 

networks, the approved provision 

states: “Member States 

shall individually and collectively 

endeavor to ensure the security 

and robustness of international 

telecommunication networks in 

order to achieve effective use 

thereof and avoidance of technical 

harm thereto, as well as the 

harmonious development of international 

telecommunication 

services offered to the public.” 

The hot debated issue of 

recognized operating agencies 

(ROAs) versus operating agencies 

(OAs) was also resolved on 

the last day under Article 1 dealing 

with the purpose and scope 

of the treaty. In this article, “authorized 

operating agencies” 

now refer to those operating 

agencies, authorized or recognized 

by a Member State, to 

establish, operate and engage 

in international telecommunication 

services to the public. 

The last few hours of WCIT 

brought more uncertainty; the 

puzzle word of ‘Internet’ made 

Australia to join the US, Canada 

and the UK in refusing to sign 

the proposed international telecommunications 

treaty. 

The United States ambassador 

to WCIT, Terry Kramer, said 

The hot debated issue of 

recognized operating agencies 

(ROAs) versus operating agencies 

(OAs) was resolved on the last day. 

“The US cannot sign revised 

telecommunications regulations 

in their current form,” he said. 

“ITRs should be a high-level 

document, and the scope of 

treaty does not extend to the 

internet.” 

Negotiators from Denmark, Italy, 

the Czech Republic, Sweden, 

Greece, Portugal, Finland, Chile, 

the Netherlands, New Zealand, 

Costa Rica and Kenya also said 

that they would need to consult 

with their national governments 

about how to proceed and 

would also not be able to sign 

the treaty at present. 

WCIT concluded in Dubai with 

89 countries having signed the 

updated International Telecommunication 

Regulations. Those 

who signed include China, 

Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Singapore, 

Malaysia, Egypt, Kuwait, 

Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa, 

Brazil and Turkey. 

In a post conference, the ITU 

noted that while one of the 

treaty’s appendices does say 

that “all governments should 

have an equal role and responsibility 

for international internet 

governance,” this text was 

non-binding and should not be 

viewed as part of the agreement’s 

formal regulations. Another 

provision states that the 

ITRs do not address contentrelated 

telecommunications. 

ITU Secretary-General, Dr. 

Hamadoun I. Touré said that 

the drafting of the text for the 

newly revised International 

Telecommunication Regulations 

treaty contains many gains and 

achievements including increased 

transparency in international 

mobile roaming charges 

and competition, an extremely 

important win for consumers. 

He further said that this conference 

was not about governing 

the Internet. I repeat that the 

conference did not include 

provisions on the Internet in 

the treaty text. Annexed to the 

treaty is a non-binding Resolution 

which aims at fostering the 

development and growth of the 

Internet – a task that ITU has 

contributed significantly to since 

the beginning of the Internet 

era, and a task that is central to 

the ITU’s mandate to connect 

the world, a world that today 

still has two thirds of its population 

without Internet access. 

History will show that WCIT has 

achieved something extremely 

important. It has succeeded in 

bringing unprecedented public 

attention to the different and 

important perspectives that 

govern global communications. 

There is not one single 

world view but several, 

and these views need to be 

accommodated and engaged. 

December 2012 


11

Interview: Khalid Athar 

ITU secretary General speaks to Teletimes 

on ITRs & Future of ICTs 

December 2012 

Dr. Hamadoun Touré 


13

Teletimes - How has been your 

experience as Secretary-General 

of ITU, given the vast set of 

responsibilities and challenges 

in supporting the Union and its 

members? 

Dr. Hamadoun Touré - It is six 

years since I was first elected as 

ITU Secretary-General. In that 

short space of time, the landscape 

of telecommunications 

and information and communication 

technologies (ICTs) has 

continued to change dramatically. 

Every shift and new advance 

brings new challenges for ITU’s 

membership, and for the world 

as a whole. But I am pleased to 

say that ITU’s dedicated staff 

has been more than able to 

meet these challenges, offering 

an expert, neutral space where 

crucial issues can be examined, 

while dealing with the core matters 

that are the responsibility 

of ITU. 

With my re-election as Secretary- 

General in 2010, I renewed my 

determination to lead the organization 

forward in engaging our 

membership and providing what 

they need, using ITU’s central 

position in the area of telecommunications 

and ICTs to give a 

timely response to emerging 

issues. 

TT - How would you rate the 

success of recently concluded 

ITU World Telecom 2012 conference 

with the theme of shaping 

the global ICT future? 

HT - ITU Telecom World is going 

from strength to strength as 

a venue for high-level leaders 

of industry and government to 

network and share their knowledge. 

I am delighted to say that 

our 2012 event, held in Dubai, 

UAE, 14-18 October, was a great 

success. 

We heard visionary keynote addresses 

from such figures as Eugene 

Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky 

Lab, and, with the BBC and 

Telecom TV, we took part in 

what were called ‘Big Conversations’ 

on the central topics of 

online privacy and the role of socalled 

‘OTT’ players. Participants 

joined in from all parts of world, 

online and through social media. 

In Dubai itself, we welcomed 

delegates from across the globe 

and examined a wide range of 

themes. Such bringing together 

of diversity is, I believe, the great 

strength of ITU Telecom World. 

Through coming together we 

become a powerful force in 

shaping the future of ICTs. 

“We need 

to focus on 

communicating 

ITU’s message to 

the wider world.” 

TT - The event hosted debates 

on the role of ICTs in emergency 

services as well as on nextgeneration 

mobile broadband 

networks. How do you see this 

transformative technology being 

used in future? 

HT - From my experience not 

only as ITU Secretary-General, 

but also previously as Director 

of ITU’s Telecommunications 

Development Bureau, I know 

that nothing is more important 

than harnessing ICTs to protect 

people’s lives and livelihoods, 

particularly as we enter a period 

of global climate change. This 

was the focus of the ‘Saving 

Lives Platform’ at ITU Telecom 

World 2012, where we launched 

two new initiatives that tap 

into the immense potential 

of mobile broadband. The ‘M- 

Powering Development’ project 

will be a catalyst to achieve 

sustainability while boosting 

economic growth. And ITU’s 

‘Smart Sustainable Development 

Model’ will show how linking ICT 

for Development (ICT4D) with 

ICT for Disaster Management 

(ICT4DM) can make best use of 

resources. 

It is clear that smart ICT solutions 

can create affordable 

models for the expansion of 

infrastructure and mitigation of 

climate-change effects, as well 

as for strengthening emergency 

telecommunications and disaster 

preparedness. I believe that 

these solutions are the answer 

to bringing vital services – and 

economic opportunities – to 

people everywhere. We must 

seize the chance to promote 

them, now that there are more 

than six billion mobile subscriptions 

worldwide, including a 

fast-rising number that are 

broadband. Mobile broadband is 

truly M-powering! 

TT - What is the most important 

and immediate undertaking for 

ITU’s management team? 

HT - There are so many important 

tasks it is difficult to specify 

just one! But I would say that, in 

addition to our core work, we 

need to focus on communicating 

ITU’s message to the wider 

world, while also continuing to 

encourage the engagement of 

diverse players in ITU activities. 

We are an innovative organization 

at the cutting edge of 

technological issues and developments, 

and that is something 

that the public needs to know 

better. 

Of course, the management 

team is also focused on the 

proceedings of the next big 

event on the horizon: the World 

Conference on International 

Telecommunications, or WCIT- 

12, taking place in Dubai 3-14 

December 2012. 

TT - How do you envisage revision 

of International Telecommunication 

Regulations (ITRs)? 

HT - WCIT-12 has the job of 

examining the International 

Telecommunication Regulations 

(ITRs), which were last defined 

way back in 1988. That’s almost 

ancient history, as far as the 

world of technology goes! Mobile 

phones were the size and 

weight of bricks at that time, 

and few people had them. The 

Internet was in its infancy. 

So what should be done with 

the ITRs that underpin international 

connectivity, including the 

networks that deliver Internet 

access? Stakeholders representing 

various interests have been 

suggesting a number of possibilities, 

from leaving the ITRs 

as they are, to rewriting them 

completely. We have consulted 

very widely on the issues, and 

received many contributions. All 

our Member States (and industry 

and civil society representatives 

among their delegations) 

will have an equal chance to participate 

in the debate at WCIT-12. 

It will then be for the conference 

to decide what happens. 

As the neutral convener of 

WCIT-12, we at ITU can only 

reiterate that we fully support 

the basic purpose of the ITRs: to 

facilitate international interconnection 

and interoperability so 

as to ensure the free flow of 

communications worldwide, 

accessible to all. WCIT-12 is a key 

opportunity to help countries 

reach new levels of economic 

and social development through 

efficient telecommunication 

services. It is vital that we grasp 

that opportunity. 

TT - With reference to revising 

the ITRs, there have been 

certain suggestions that ITU is 

seeking to take over the Internet. 

How do you respond? 

HT - I respond with disappointment 

and a degree of frustration! 

ITU has made great efforts 

to put out full and correct information 

about the issues that 

concern WCIT-12 and the ITRs. 

All that information is freely 

available at the ITU website 

(http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/ 

Pages/default.aspx), where 

there is also a space for anyone 

to comment. 

ITU pioneered the multi-stake- 



holder approach to ICTs with the 

holding of the World Summit on 

the Information Society in 2003 

and 2005. That approach has 

not changed; in fact, it is more 

important than ever. I think that 

even the lobbyists behind suggestions 

about ITU managing 

the Internet have now admitted 

that the notion is nonsense. ITU 

has neither the mandate nor the 

resources nor the desire to ‘take 

over’ the Internet. 

TT - ITU is giving a specific focus 

on ICTs and climate change. 

What are the key highlights of 

this initiative? 

HT - Climate change is perhaps 

the biggest challenge the world 

faces today, so of course we 

give it prominence at ITU. We 

know that ICTs are among the 

most powerful tools we have for 

mitigating the effects of climate 

change and reducing carbon 

emissions. They can save a lot 

more energy than they themselves 

consume, and communications 

are literally vital in the 

midst of natural disasters resulting 

from extreme weather. 

Many ITU activities are carried 

out within our focus on 

climate change. For example, 

we organize symposia and other 

events that gather together key 

specialists in the field, from top 

decision-makers to engineers, 

and from regulators to standards 

experts. The promotion of 

a ‘green’ ICT sector is our target, 

and already practical steps have 

resulted, such as the new Universal 

Power Adapter standard 

– meaning that only one adapter 

is needed for whole host of 

electronic devices. Not only will 

this help do away with some of 

the clutter we all experience, it 

has been estimated that it will 

save 300,000 tonnes of e-waste 

annually. 

ITU’s work concerning satellites 

plays an important part in monitoring 

the environment. In the 

sphere of telecommunication 

development we create toolkits 

and training programmes that 

can help countries most at risk 

of the results of climate change. 

As I mentioned before, this is 

all part of sustainable development, 

and I am very pleased that 

Rio+20 (the UN Conference on 

Sustainable Development) recognized 

in its output document 

that ICTs have a critical role in 

achieving this. 

TT - What are the key concerns 

at ITU with regards to global 

management of the radio-frequency 

spectrum and satellite 

orbits? 

HT - The hundreds of satellites 

that now circle Earth must be 

kept in safe orbits and at safe 

distances from each other; the 

limited natural resource of radiofrequency 

spectrum must be 

distributed fairly and efficiently. 

Helping to achieve these tasks 

is a fundamental role of ITU. 

Of course, there is competition 

among players that want to use 

these resources, especially given 

the very dramatic growth in mobile 

communications. This need 

must be met alongside those 

of broadcasting, other space 

services, and so on. 

Our job at ITU is to provide 

the place where issues can be 

resolved. We held our latest 

Radiocommunication Assembly 

and World Radiocommunication 

Conference in January and February 

this year. Together, they 

were a massive event, attended 

by hundreds of experts from 

around the globe. International 

agreements forged at these and 

other gatherings are the cooperative 

– and effective -- way to 

make progress. 

TT- What do you rate as the top 

ICT opportunity for policy makers, 

regulators and the industry? 

HT - As you know, ITU brings 

together governments and 

industry in its membership. 

Together they can form partnerships 

to generate the increased 

investment that is needed in 

the expansion of telecommunications 

and ICTs. As well as 

fair competition, cooperation 

among players that provide and 

use infrastructure will lead to a 

win-win situation for all. Quite 

simply, the demand is out there: 

we encourage all players to fulfill 

it, and further extend affordable 

access to all. 

TT - You have a focused 

audience among our readers, 

belonging in the telecommunications 

value chain. What would 

be your message to them? 

HT - For most people on the 

planet, telecommunications and 

ICTs are now an essential part of 

life. They are not just a means 

of communication, but also a 

source of information, entertainment, 

education and employment. 

But we are only just at the 

very beginning of this new era of 

unlimited possibilities. 

Everywhere I go I come across 

new – usually young – entrepreneurs 

who are creating new 

careers for themselves in ICTs, 

while serving their wider communities. 

Connectivity is key. 

We still must work hard to bring 

everyone into the information 

society, wherever they live and 

whatever their level of income, 

their gender or their abilities. By 

putting the power of ICTs into 

people’s hands, we will move 

forward to a brighter future. Social 

and economic development 

can germinate and flourish from 

the grassroots level, rather than 

relying on outside assistance. 

That is the special power of ICTs, 

and that is where I believe we 

all – and ITU in particular -- can 

make a difference. 

December 2012 


15

International Conference 

on new approaches in Electronics 

communication and information technologies 

Yasemin Saygi 

Teletimes Correspondent 

at Istanbul 

The President and the 

Commission Members of the 

Information Technologies and 

Communication Authority 

and the representatives of 

the industry, Dr. Hamadoun 

Toure, the Secretary 

General of International 

Telecommunication Union 

(ITU) met in the international 

conference arranged in 

Sarajevo University. 

An international conference 

titled “New Approaches in 

Electronics Communication and 

Information Technologies” was 

arranged in International Sarajevo 

University (IUS), founded 

by Turkish entrepreneurs. The 

event, sponsored essentially 

by Türksat, was attended by Information 

and Communication 

Technologies Authority’s (BTK) 

President Dr. Tayfun Acarer 

together with a delegation 

composing of the Authority 

members, civil society organizations, 

academicians and a lot 

of business representatives. 

The guests of the conference 

were including the Secretary 

General of (International Telecommunication 

Union) ITU, Dr. 

Hamadoun Toure, the Turkish 

Ambassador of Sarajevo, Mr. 

Ahmet Yıldız, Bosnia-Herzegovina 

State Communication 

Authority (CRA) Director Dr. 

Kemal Huseynovich, IUS Rector 

Prof. Dr. Özer Çınar, Georgia 

(USA) Technology Institute 

President Prof. Dr. İlhan Fuat 

Akyıldız. Dr. Tayfun Acarer explained 

their aim for arranging 

such a conference as increasing 

the activity of Sarajevo 

University (founded by Turkish 

entrepreneurs) and other Turkish 

universities and emphasized 

that the conference also holds 

a great importance for the 

local academicians as well. Dr. 

Acarer, as pointing out the 

valuable profile composed by 

the participants, spoke as such: 

“The Secretary General of 

International Telecom Union 

(ITU) Hamadoun Toure was 

also one of the attenders of 

the conference. In our previous 

talk with him he had said 

that he wanted to attend and 

support this event in Sarajevo 

if he could find time. Although 

he was hardly having time to 

breath, he attended to this 

conference. This is a favorable 

indication of our recogni- 

Dr. Hamadoun Toure 

tion and his sensitivity about 

Bosnia-Herzegovina. Actually, 

this is a clear indication of the 

value given to Turkey. Similarly, 

Prof. Dr. İlhan Fuat Akyıldız, 

President of Georgia (USA) 

Technology Institute came here 

from America for this conference. 

Mr. Akyıldız is a Turkish 

academician with considerably 

successful and popular works, 

by the way. He has a lot of 

academic personnel trained by 

him. He is rather popular and 

well known in the informatics 

environment. 

The Secretary General of ITU, 

Hamadoun Toure, although 

he was hardly having time to 

breath, attended to this conference. 

This is a favorable indication 

of our recognition and 

his sensitivity about Bosnia- 

Herzegovina. 

Dr. Acarer also points out 

that another important 

benefit of such meetings is 

that they provide a base for 

coming together to discuss 

the macro problems, bringing 

the international and national 

industry authorities together. 

BTK President Dr. Acarer also 

said that Turkish companies are 

willing to find solution to the 

Dr. Tayfun Acarer 

training course problems of the 

university students of Bosnia- 

Herzegovina. 

International struggle on cyber 

security 

At the meeting, Dr. Acarer added 

that ITU Secretary General 

Hamadoun Toure emphasizes 

that cyber security requires 

serious efforts especially in the 

near future, and the subject 

should be considered together 

internationally. He said that, in 

the special session of information 

technologies for the 

Turkish participants composing 

of civil society organizations 

and business representatives, 

they exchanged information 

and experience with Sarajevo 

telecommunication authorities, 

and added: “BTK already has 

a policy of arranging common 

works and cooperation about 

the regulation issues with 

either Balkan, or Turkish Republics 

and African countries. 

To provide the base for moving 

together with the international 

organizations is a part of our 

present policy and these meetings. 

In this context, we plan 

to continue these meetings in 

case of a need in the forthcoming 

period.” 



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Exclusive Interview: Gulraiz Khalid 

“We are ‘the mobile satellite operator’ 

used in most countries on the planet” 

Drew Brandy 

Vice President, Industry Enterprise - inmarsat 

speaks to Teletimes 

Gulraiz Khalid: How was the 

GITEX 2012 experience for 

inmarsat? 

Drew Brandy: It’s been good. 

We exhibit here every year. 

We’ve been here for certainly 

over the last 7 years because 

it’s an important show. It’s 

important for us to be present 

in the region because so many 

of our partners are based 

here, also because a lot of the 

purchase decisions and the 

product is sold from this region 

going out into other regions 

around the world, typically 

serving North African Market 

and the Middle East markets. 

GK: Is it financially profitable 

to participate in such events 

for you? 

DB: Well, for us it’s about 

supporting our partners in 

region. 

December 2012 


19

GK: So it is about presence? 

DB: It is absolutely about 

presence. Reinforcing and 

reestablishing our brand 

and also making sure that 

customers and partners who 

want to have interaction with 

us have visibility of us here. 

GK: There are a lot of satellite 

companies at GITEX, how 

would you differentiate 

inmarsat from the other ones? 

DB: Firstly, we are a global 

satellite operator. So what 

that means for organizations 

is whether you’re delivering 

your service in North America 

or South East Asia and you’re 

getting the same quality and 

the same service from us. 

We’ve been at the forefront 

of the satellite industry for 

over 30 years. And we are ‘the 

mobile satellite operator’. 

We’re used by customers 

across most sectors around 

the globe. Our services are 

used in most countries on the 

planet. 

GK: Globally, what are the 

most profitable markets? 

Firstly which regions are you 

operating in? 

DB: When I say global, I 

truly mean global with the 

exception of just some areas 

and when we launched 

our new service in 2005, it 

was used in almost every 

country around the world. 

We launched our I-Sat phone 

service two years ago, we 

sold more than a hundred 

thousand handsets and we’ve 

seen the service used in 

every licensed country on the 

planet. But then you asked 

about sectors. 

We operate across land, 

air and sea so we’ve got a 

maritime business that is the 

mainstay of the inmarsat 

business. We provide 

aeronautical services for 

commercial airlines and for 

business jets and also for 

military and government use 

as well. And the land business 

is which I’m responsible for. 

We provide services to the 

majority of broadcasters 

around the world; the BBCs, 

the Aljazeeras, organizations 

like that but also oil and gas 

and other multinationals. 

GK: That would make things 

different for you as compared 

to other companies in the 

ICT center because normally 

people are making more 

profits from the emerging 

markets. 

DB: Yes. But it’s not just that, 

I mean though if I look at the 

majority where our services 

are used extensively is in parts 

of the Middle East and North 

Africa and those are regions to 

a large extent where there’s 

a lot of investment coming 

from outside of those regions 

to help develop some of those 

markets for various education 

initiatives, for healthcare 

obligations and for social 

aspects. 

GK: When you talk about 

satellite, how do you see the 

future of just the Middle East 

market? And how do you see 

inmarsat as a player in the 

market in the Middle East? 

DB: There always is 

competition in every market. 

I think completion makes you 

better or makes you sharper 

in terms of the services and 

solutions you bring to market 

because it focuses you on 

how to better address your 

customer’s requirements. 

So the competition, I think 

is healthy in the market. The 

Middle East market has been 

an important market for us 

and hence we have presence 

“The key piece in all this is that 

we’re not rusting on our laurels. 

We as an organization continue to 

innovate and our portfolio continues 

to grow. We have the broadest 

portfolio in the satellite industry” 

in this region, we have an 

office here which continues 

to grow, our channel in this 

region continues to grow 

and it’s just support, not 

just the UAE but the region 

surrounding it where the 

services are used extensively. 

GK: Are you planning on 

introducing any new services? 

DB: We’ve introduced a 

few new services this year 

but in 2013 we’ll increase 

our streaming capability 

on our BIGAM portfolio. 

But later in 2013 we’ll also 

launch our global express 

program which is a brand 

new service, launched on 

three new satellites call the 

I-5’s, deploying cave end 

technology and offers much 

greater throughout to Ng’s. 

GK: How are you planning to 

increase capacity? 

DB: We will increase our 

capacity through I-4 satellite in 

2013 and that’s a joint initiative 

for the European Space 

Agency called Alphasat. 

GK: How are you adding 

value to or making better the 

communication experience 

for the customers? 

DB: We are continuing to 

evolve our portfolio in line 

with customer’s expectations. 

We’re increasing the 

throughput available to 

them on our existing services 

and we’re moving beyond 

the mobile satellite into 

the broader satellite space 

to deliver unparalleled 

throughout in the fixed space 

with our new offerings in 2013. 

GK: Is there anything else you 

would like to add on? 

DB: I think for me, the key 

piece in all this is that we’re 

not rusting on our laurels. We 

as an organization continue 

to innovate and our portfolio 

continues to grow. We have 

the broadest portfolio in the 

satellite industry. 



Purchase mobile computers wisely 

not to lose productivity 

Jerker Hellström 

CEO, Handheld Group 

Higher productivity, increased 

labor costs and a strong trends 

towards true mobility in the 

work place are all factors that 

have put the spotlight firmly 

on ‘total costs of ownership’ 

for computers and devices. 

Organizations will have to start 

spending more on durable and 

reliable mobile computers rather 

than looking for bargains, if 

they want to avoid losing valuable 

productive time. 

20 years ago, a laptop 

could cost the equivalent 

of a month’s salary for the 

employee who was supposed 

to use it. Since then, prices of 

mobile computers have been 

slashed. Great news, isn’t it?! 

Let us just continue to buy the 

cheapest computers available. 

They are so cheap to replace! 

Not so fast. Yes, mobile 

computers have become much 

more inexpensive, and much 

more advanced, in the last 

decade or two. But there has 

also been other major changes 

in the workplace. 

One such is the trend towards 

true mobility. Smaller and better 

devices, better software 

solutions for mobile work, 

and increasing availability 

and affordability of wireless 

broadband have made people 

less confined to the traditional 

office environment. Traditional 

field workers and many white 

collar workers now spend 

much of their time out of 

the office and on the go. But 

consumer, or commercial, 

computers are simply too 

fragile to withstand mobile 

work even in moderately tough 

environments. They might last 

one year, or two at the most. 

Rugged computers, on the 

other hand, are more expensive 

but they are built for tough 

environments and can last five 

years or more. They also have 

much lower failure rates, simply 

because they are rugged. 

Another strong development 

has been the steady rise in 

wages and productivity for 

e.g. professional field workers. 

A tablet or a smartphone 

now costs the equivalent 

of maybe only a few hours’ 

salary for an employee. In the 

old days it was important to 

get the best possible price 

for mobile devices. Today it 

is more important to not lose 

productivity. A field worker 

who sits idly for four hours 

because his or her computer 

is malfunctioning, has wasted 

the entire cost of the computer 

in lost productivity. Also, 

everything is connected these 

days – one broken computer 

can affect the work of many 

people. 

It all boils down to the magic of 

Total Cost of Ownership TCO. 

The total cost of ownership 

includes all direct and indirect 

costs associated with the 

purchase of an asset over its 

entire lifecycle. A TCO analysis 

includes the total cost of acquisition 

and the subsequent operating 

costs. Acquisition costs 

are quite straightforward: they 

include the costs for computer 

hardware and programs, Installation 

and integration, and 

migration expenses. 

Ofter overlooked are the 

subsequent operating 

expenses during the lifespan 

of the computers. They are 

usually much higher than the 

purchase costs and include 

downtime, outage and failure 

expenses, backup and recovery 

process, and replacement 

costs. Downtime is the most 

serious, and costly, of these 

expenses. 

Independent research firm 

VDC estimates that mobile 

workers lose an average of 75 

minutes each time their mobile 

devices fail. In a study focused 

on rugged computers, VDC has 

performed TCO computations 

across four levels of computers, 

from non-rugged to fully 

rugged, across a number of 

common mobile applications. 

The total cost for each type of 

computer has been calculated 

over a five-year lifespan. The 

results show that using a commercial 

or non-rugged device 

will cost you about 65 per cent 

more per year than using a fully 

rugged device. 

Generally speaking TCO studies 

show that over a 3-5 year 

period of use, the more rugged 

devices will carry a lower total 

cost of ownership, meaning 

that over that period they are 

actually cheaper than the less 

rugged devices, even though 

they are usually more expensive 

to purchase. 

With the complexity of today’s 

technology configurations, 

the cost of deployment and 

downtime is high if something 

breaks down. The upfront cost 

of a piece of mobile technology 

pales in comparison to the 

potential cost of downtime and 

redeployment. Organizations 

would be well advised to start 

increasing the costs for their 

mobile devices, in the name of 

productivity. 

December 2012 


21

Tech titans go to war 

Just in time for the holidays, 

Microsoft and Google have 

become embroiled in a bitter 

dispute over who is the fairest 

of them all for online shopping, 

stepping up the battle between 

the tech giants. 

Microsoft threw the first punch 

when it launched a campaign 

for its Bing search engine “to 

highlight Bing’s commitment to 

honest search results.” 

The campaign also seeks “to 

help explain to consumers the 

risks of Google Shopping’s 

newly announced ‘pay-to-rank’ 

practice,” a Microsoft statement 

said. Microsoft created a Web 

page called “Scroogled,” which 

points out that its rival has 

reversed course on its pledge 

at the time of the Google 

stock offering to avoid paid ad 

inclusion for search results. 

“Google Shopping is nothing 

more than a list of targeted ads 

that unsuspecting customers 

assume are search results,” 

Microsoft claims. 

Google announced earlier this 

year it would revamp its product 

search to become a shopping 

service with paid listings. This 

eliminated merchants which 

opted not to pay, including 

some notable ones like Amazon. 

Google said it completed the 

transition in October in the US, 

and will be rolling out the same 

model in Britain, Germany, 

France, Japan, Italy, Spain, 

Netherlands, Brazil, Australia 

and Switzerland. 

“We think this will bring the 

same high-quality shopping 

experience to people — and 

positive results to merchants 

— around the world,” a Google 

blog posting said. 

Microsoft is promoting its 

campaign online and offline 

with ads “demonstrating why 

consumers should be concerned 

and helping them take action” 

on the Google shift, a Microsoft 

statement said. “We’re also 

calling on Google to stop this 

‘pay-to-rank’ system for their 

shopping results and give 

shoppers what they expect 

— an honest search.” Google 

maintains that merchants 

cannot improve their rank 

simply by paying more, and 

that sellers who have a financial 

stake in the results will keep 

their information up to date. 

“Google Shopping makes it 

easier for shoppers to quickly 

find what they’re looking for, 

compare different products 

and connect with merchants to 

make a purchase,” said an email 

from a Google spokeswoman. 

But some analysts say both 

companies are less than 

transparent about how their 

shopping engines work, and 

that Microsoft is not without 

blame. Danny Sullivan, analyst 

with the website Search Engine 

Land, said of the Microsoft 

effort: “Great campaign, if it 

were true. It’s not. Bing itself 

does the same things it accuses 

Google of.” Sullivan said that “at 

least Google has the fine print 

that you can read; Microsoft 

doesn’t have it at all.” 

Microsoft, according to Sullivan, 

excludes new merchants from 

Bing search results if they 

don’t pay for inclusion with 

its partner, Shopping.com, 

even though this is not fully 

transparent to consumers. 

“Payment is a factor for 

ranking,” in Bing, said Sullivan, 

who maintains that Microsoft’s 

campaign is misleading. 

Microsoft said its own shopping 

results through Bing are not 

influenced by payment. 

“Bing includes millions of free 

listings from merchants and 

rankings are determined entirely 

by which products are most 

relevant to your query,” said 

Stefan Weitz, senior director at 

Bing, in an emailed statement. 

“While merchants can pay fees 

for inclusion on our third party 

shopping sites and subsequently 

may appear in Bing Shopping 

through partnerships we have, 

we do not rank merchants 

higher based on who pays us, 

nor do we let merchants pay to 

have their product offers placed 

higher in Bing Shopping’s search 

results.” 

Sullivan argues that Google, 

ironically, may have moved to 

paid listings to deflect attention 

from regulators and others who 

complain it had been skewing its 

search results. 

“If you have people complaining 

you search results are unfair, 

you can turn them into ads,” 

he said. But Sullivan noted that 

Google merely adopted the 

same policies of most shopping 

sites, which use paid listings 

even if they appear to be an 

impartial search. 

The overall message from the 

latest row, according to Sullivan: 

“You need to shop around. Use 

multiple search engines. All of 

them that suggest that they 

are gathering stuff from across 

the Web but may not be doing 

that.” 



Catching the Smart Home 

Opportunity 

Room for Growth for Telecom Operators 

Dr. Karim Taga 

Didier Levy 

Omar Saadoun 

Lars Riegel 

Smart Home services are 

poised for strong growth 

and represent an attractive 

opportunity for telecom 

operators to expand their 

services and revenue 

streams. Telcos have several 

competitive advantages, 

including their internet 

gateways, strong customer 

relationships, and sales and 

support networks. However, 

partnerships are essential and 

timing is critical. 

In this report, Arthur D. 

Little reviews the key trends 

driving the potential for Smart 

Home solutions, presents 

an overview of four main 

segments and provides 

December 2012 


23

ecommendations for telecom 

operators in the launch of 

Smart Home services. 

A Smart Home is a home or 

building that is equipped with 

a special connected platform 

enabling its occupants to 

remotely control and program 

an array of automated home 

electronic devices. The Smart 

Home becomes “intelligent” 

as it offers a wide array of 

new applications from home 

automation (home security, 

comfort and entertainment), 

home cloud (management of 

content, productivity, sensors 

data used or produced at 

home), and e-Health services. 

Major electronics and software 

companies have offered Smart 

Home products since the first 

home automation products 

in the 1980s. These were 

followed by integrated media 

systems, such as Microsoft’s 

Home Media Center in the 

1990s, and then with the first 

connected appliances, such as 

the Electrolux Screenfridge, 

in the 2000s. These solutions 

initially met with limited 

success, so why is the Smart 

Home a hot topic again today? 

And how should telecom 

operators position themselves 

in this growing market? 

Key Trends are Creating 

Opportunities for Smart Home 

Services 

Homes, and the way we live 

and behave in them, have 

changed dramatically in 

the past ten years. Today, 

fundamental trends have 

emerged to drive the take-up 

of Smart Homes: 

● Societal trends – Society is 

ageing; in 2020, a fifth of the 

European population will be 

over 65 years old and single 

parent families are expected 

to represent 21 percent of 

total families, increasing 

demand for new services in 

the home. 

● Digital addiction – Forecasts 

predict there will be on average 

3.6 screens per person 

in Europe in 2015 (including 

smartphones and tablets) 

versus 1.7 in 2000. This 

develop¬ment is a strong 

enabler for Smart Home 

applications as portable 

devices are the perfect 

counterparts (as controllers) 

for smart applications in the 

home. 

● Strong push by large 

players positioning homes 

at the center of the digital 

ecosystem – A wide range 

of leading players are 

entering the Smart Home 

market, including Over-thetop 

players (such as Google 

and Microsoft) offering 

applications and operating 

systems, telecom and utility 

service providers (such 

as Telefonica, E.ON and 

GDF Suez) managing the 

customer relationship, and 

appliance manufacturers 

(such as Philips, and LG with 

the LG Homnet) providing 

Smart Home devices (see 

Figure 1). 

There is a window of 

opportunity today, as these 

trends are developed enough 

to make Smart Home a 

potential business. Based on 

various projects, Arthur D. 

Little estimates that Smart 

Home revenues will grow by 

12 percent a year until 2020 in 

Europe. This revenue sizing 

includes both direct revenues, 

such as home automation 

services/products, and 

indirect revenues, such as 

the maintenance of the new 

devices/services. 

It should be recognized that 

Smart Home markets are still 

in an embryonic phase and 



many players are entering 

the market. Telcos are one 

of them, and should act now 

in order to capitalize on the 

opportunity. 

The Smart Home market 

is composed of four major 

segments, which we will 

explore in the following 

sections: 

● Home automation/security 

● Home assistance 

● Home cloud 

● e-Health 

Home Automation – When the 

House Becomes Smarter 

Home automation refers to 

the centralization on a unique 

user interface of five main 

home systems: home security, 

home energy and utility 

management (smart meters), 

home motorization (remote 

control of devices such as 

alarm systems or thermostats), 

lighting and entertainment. 

The main drivers of this 

segment are comfort, 

modularity and peace of mind, 

especially when it comes 

to security, while energy 

management emphasizes cost 

savings. Security and energy 

management are the more 

advanced systems in terms 

of integration, while home 

automation is still at the early 

stages of development. Arthur 

D. Little forecasts a 6 percent 

annual growth rate for these 

services to 2020. 

The primary challenge 

for home automation is 

the existing disparity of 

technologies (e.g. power line 

versus wireless networks, 

diversity of protocols and 

platforms). Players are 

developing alliances and 

partnerships along the value 

chain to promote and develop 

their platform. Telecom 

operators’ main entry points 

are their primary assets, 

namely the home network 

(broadband access, set-top 

boxes, cloud storage and 

other connectivity layers) 

and related services, such as 

field service staff and network 

management capabilities 

(i.e. field staff capable of 

supporting a home network). 

They could also extend to 

home security and alerting, 

often with the objective of 

developing a presence in home 

control and automation (see 

Figure 2). 

Smart Home Assistance – 

Required by the Increasing 

Complexity of the Ecosystem 

Home assistance refers to 

configuration, maintenance, 

repair and support services 

available for digital home 

devices, such as PCs, TVs, 

audio sets, video players, game 

consoles and networks. Home 

assistance can be divided into 

two sub-segments: in-home 

assistance, through the 

physical presence of support 

staff, and remote assistance, 

which is managed through the 

remote control of the device 

by a off-site technician. This 

market is expected to grow 

at a pace of 5 percent per 

year to 2020. Despite strong 

market drivers, such as home 

digitization, tele¬working 

and “home shoring” (homebased 

employees), there 

are still barriers to further 

development, such as privacy 

concerns, poor offers and few 

successful business models 

(Figure 3). 

The Home assistance 

ecosystem is very fragmented 

with a wealth of solutions 

offered. Successful players are 

primarily making partnerships, 

with each one focusing on 

specific aspects of the value 

chain, such as personnel 

qualification, sales, service 

delivery, billing and CRM. For 

example, in the United States, 

OnForce works as a technician 

network aggregator and open 

marketplace. In North America 

and Europe, the Geek Squad 

December 2012 


25

generates more than $1.5 

billion in revenues, and other 

players are emerging such as 

iYogi or Virgin Digital Help. 

The main success factor in the 

Smart Home Assistance market 

is the legitimacy perceived by 

customers, mainly retained 

today by manufacturers, but 

telecom operators are also 

well positioned among trusted 

companies for technical 

support. 

Home Cloud – High Growth 

Perspectives 

Home cloud covers three main 

types of digital data: content 

(video, music, and pictures), 

productivity (email, documents 

and contacts) and sensors 

(data collected through Smart 

Home devices, such as smart 

meters and e-Health devices) 

(Figure 4). 

Home cloud solutions 

allow new ubiquitous and 

collaborative usages, but 

raise concerns about the 

management of data. This 

market is driven by the 

increasing amount of data, 

mainly video, leading to a 

strong demand for remote 

storage and access. Despite 

some inhibitors, such as 

privacy and trust, the market is 

expected to grow at a strong 

pace of 50 percent per year. 

There is a vast array of offers 

pushing interactivity, service 

personalization and multiscreen 

usage, such as Hulu 

Plus and Spotify, which up-sell 

their viewers to multi-screen 

services for a monthly fee, or 

Boxee, which is integrating 

all kinds of locally-stored 

and online content, such as 

video, music, and photos, and 

allowing users to share their 

preferences and content with 

friends using social network 

integration. Over-The-Top 

players, such as Apple or 

Google, also offer multidevice, 

cloud-based solutions 

for Personal Information 

Management. 

e-Health – Long-term 

Opportunity for Telecom 

Operators 

Health expenditures of 

most developed countries 

are growing steadily due 

to the aging of societies 

and developments in 

medical technology. 

e-Health, the application 

of telecommunication 

technologies in the health 

sector, offers a unique 

cost control lever for 

health stakeholders by 

dematerializing some 

healthcare components. 

Switzerland, for example, 

launched the e-Health Strategy 

Switzerland program, with 

potential cost savings of 5 

percent of total expenditures, 

thanks to telemedicine. New 

companies are also emerging, 

with innovative e-Health 

solutions, such as Cardiocom, 

which provides a complete 

solution for telemedicine, 

including connected sensors. 

A wide variety of actors, 

such as telecom operators, 

device manufacturers and big 

pharmaceutical companies, are 

playing in the e-Health market 

with two market strategies: 

a mass market approach, 

such as Wii Fit or Withings – a 

WiFi body scale, addressing 

mainly B2C markets, and a 

niche market strategy, such as 

electronic patient records and 

patient remote monitoring, as 

a B2B (or B2B2C) market. 

While market players are 

entering e-Health according 

to their natural position in 

the consumer electronics 

or medical device industry, 

several telecom operators are 

addressing both (Figure 5). 

However, the value sharing 

mechanism among actors 

is uncertain, as it is highly 



dependent on standardization 

scenarios, making the 

market potential for telecom 

operators uncertain 

Telecom Operators Have Key 

Assets to Capture a Significant 

Part of the Smart Home 

Value… 

Thanks to their broadband 

Internet gateways, telecom 

operators are the leading 

players by several hundred 

percentage points in terms 

of penetration of households 

with Smart Home solutions. 

The broadband box has 

evolved from a mere internet 

connection device to a 

highly innovative platform 

connecting various devices. 

As shown on Figure 5, the 

Freebox Revolution broadband 

box or the Bbox Sensation 

by Bouygues Telecom offers 

a wide range of multi-media 

applications, such as Internet, 

TV, music and gaming, 

combined with innovative 

remote storage services. 

In addition, telecom operators 

offer interoperable solutions 

based on open models that 

can allow heterogeneous 

Smart Home solutions to 

interconnect, contrary to 

closed OTT ecosystems. 

Good examples are the 

“beywatch.eu” and “Energy@ 

home” initiatives, the home 

automation alliances of 

Telefonica and Telecom Italia, 

respectively, with a large 

number of partners, such as 

utilities or household appliance 

manufacturers. However, this 

openness could also be seen 

as a threat since it allows other 

players to bypass operators 

(Figure 6). 

Another significant asset of 

telecom operators in the Smart 

Home environment is the 

central role they play in the 

customer relationship. Unlike 

home appliance manufacturers 

or some OTT players, operators 

are continuously in contact 

with their customers, and 

can thus capture great value 

by promoting, distributing 

and managing future Smart 

Home services. They also 

have a secure, regular billing 

relationship with customers 

that can be leveraged. 

Other key assets that telcos 

could leverage include their 

sales force, shop networks 

and support capacity, as well 

as network management 

capabilities. In any case, 

telecom operators will need 

a strong emphasis on staff 

training in order to correctly 

address Smart Home’s specific 

needs. 

… and Need to Place Their 

Bets Now and Promote Open 

Platforms 

As the Smart Home market is 

still emerging, players need 

to consider and prepare for 

various scenarios. Arthur D. 

Little anticipates two possible 

market configurations: 

Market configuration 1: The 

Smart Home market is captured 

and aggregated into 

large ecosystems driven by 

global players 

This model is clearly favored 

by OTT players, which have 

already developed solutions 

that can bypass the operators. 

For example, Google has 

explored various solutions, 

such as Google Health, Google 

Powermeter and Google docs, 

some of which have nevertheless 

been discontinued. 

Dedicated Smart Home 

players have also emerged, 

such as Control4 or iControl, 

in the United States. With a 

revenue growth of more than 

45 percent a year, Control4 is 

building an ecosystem with 

leading vendors, such as Black 

& Decker or LG Electronics, to 

ensure the interoperability of 

its platform with the largest 

number of home devices. 

In this concentrated model, 

telecom operators will face 

the risk of being circumvented 

as in the case of smartphone 

application store. Operators 

are actually amplifying this risk, 

as most still favor proprietary 

solutions in order to capture a 

maximum share of revenues, 

but with limited success so far. 

Indeed such models imply long 

development cycles and a limited 

number of applications, as 

operators fail to find developers 

to build the ecosystem on 

verticals. 

On the contrary, Arthur D. 

Little believes that to mitigate 

this risk telecom operators 

should participate in alliances 

when available and should also 

promote hybrid Smart Home 

platforms with applications 

close to their core business 

but also other services offered 

by external providers. An 

example is PCCW in Hong 

Kong, which has built its digital 

home solutions around open 

models enabling a whole range 

of innovative functions from 

other players, such as MOOV, 

Android, etc. 

Market configuration 2: The 

Smart Home market grows 

strongly, but with a patchwork 

of solutions and standards 

In this second scenario with a 

patchwork of standards, the 

ecosystem will remain highly 

fragmented with numerous 

heterogeneous competitors 

trying to capture value from 

the Smart Home market. In this 

case, which we see actually as 

an opportunity, operators will 

be in a position to leverage 

not only their assets to offer 

their own solutions, but also 

to integrate external solutions 

and facilitate the digital life 

of their customers. By doing 

so, they would generate new 

revenue streams and also 

improve the stickiness of 

customers to their existing 

services. 

Conclusion 

The Smart Home is a significant 

growth opportunity for many 

players including telecom 

operators, thanks to favorable 

societal trends, growing 

demand and the acceleration 

of the innovation. 

Thanks to strategic assets, 

such as the internet gateway, 

control of the customer relationship, 

and sales and support 

capability, telecom operators 

are well positioned to capture 

value from Smart Home 

services. Despite the fact that 

payback will materialize in the 

medium term, they should act 

now and establish footholds or 

they will face a similar fate as 

what happened in the smartphone 

application market. 

To benefit from this coming 

growth, telecom operators 

should promote hybrid platforms 

where they can offer 

their own solutions as well as 

a myriad of external solutions 

and position themselves as 

digital life facilitators. 

Finally, the future Smart 

Home needs also to be seen 

in a broader context than 

just within the home space. 

Platforms will also connect 

the home to various other 

locations, such as school, 

office, shopping malls or cars. 

This will broaden the type 

of actors in the ecosystem, 

and will give the opportunity 

to telecom operators to 

strengthen their central 

position as the integrator of 

Smart Home services. It will be 

up to them to define to what 

extent. 

December 2012 


27

21st Convergence India 2013 Expo 

The Information and Communication 

Technology sector has 

been recognized the world-over 

as an important tool for socio 

economic development for a 

nation. It enables the societies 

to produce and apply information 

in greater amounts, more 

rapidly and at reduced costs 

and offer enormous opportunities 

for enhancing business and 

economic viability. Being one of 

the prime support services, this 

industry helps in rapid growth 

and modernization of various 

sectors of the economy. Driven 

by various policy initiatives, the 

Indian ICT sector witnessed a 

complete transformation in the 

last decade and is poised to take 

a big leap in the future also. 

The Indian telecommunication 

industry is the second largest 

Enriching a billion lives 

series of Convergence India 

Expos have been recognized as 

South Asia’s largest Information 

and Communications Technology 

(ICT) event. The three day 

international exhibition and 

conference is the preferred 

B2B platform for companies 

to showcase cutting-edge 

technologies and interact with 

the policy-makers, key decision 

takers, research analysts, academia, 

media and industry peers 

to promote brand and generate 

business. 

With the support from the 

Government of India, Ministry of 

Communications and Information 

Technology, Department 

of Telecommunications (DoT) 

and Department of Information 

Technology (DiT), and Ministry 

of Information and Broadcast- 

inclusion and enrich the lives of 

people. 

Developed around the theme 

of “Enriching a billion lives”, the 

rich format of the event will feature 

a wide range of Information 

and Communications Technologies 

(ICT) including broadband, 

broadcasting, cable and satellite, 

data centre virtualization, 

digital money, Green ICT, IT & 

info security, mobility, security 

& surveillance, telecom, unified 

communications, VAS, WiMAX, 

etc. A host of leading domestic 

and international associations 

and media have extended their 

support for promotion and success 

of the forthcoming event. 

The forthcoming expo will 

showcase leading devices 

and innovations to enhance 

e-Development at all levels and 

Pawan Dixit 

Fulfilling its long-standing mandate 

as a premier knowledge 

sharing forum, the milestone 

edition of Convergence India 

Expo will play a key role in 

facilitating trade & commerce, 

technology transfers, collaborations 

and new launches that will 

provide further impetus to the 

growth of the sector. 

Spread over a gross area of 

12000sqm, the event has received 

a robust response from 

the domestic and international 

industry. Over 375 exhibitors, 

100 speakers, 2,000 delegates 

and 15,000 trade visitors from 

over 25 countries will participate 

at the 3 day-expo. 

Some of the key services like 

business matching and interactive 

Client Presentations allow 

the participants at the Expo to 

telecommunication network in 

the world in terms of number 

of wireless connections after 

China. According to Centre for 

Monitoring Indian Economy 

(CMIE), an economic research 

agency, the total subscriber 

base is expected to reach 1,042 

million by March 2013. 

Held every year, and organized 

by the Exhibitions India Group, 

one of India’s finest trade 

promotion organization, the 

ing, Government of India, 20 

editions of Convergence India 

Expos have been successfully 

hosted at New Delhi. 

As we move towards a world 

of connected economies, the 

milestone 21st edition of Convergence 

India 2013 Expo is being 

held from 16-18 January, 2013 

at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. 

The event will focus on new-age 

technologies and merging business 

solutions, which will enable 

drive the growth of urban usage. 

Focused business-matching 

will provide the perfect opportunity 

to network with industry 

executives and establish new 

partnerships. 

Attracting global leaders, the 

concurrent conferences will 

serve as an ideal platform for 

knowledge-experts to share 

industry insights and successful 

case studies from across the 

globe. 

extract maximum benefit from 

the proceedings and harness 

the full potential of global wireless 

technologies. A continuous 

flow of high profile trade visitors 

include government officials, 

trade associations, regulatory 

bodies and media, the 21st Convergence 

India 2013 promises to 

be an exciting event for the ICT 

industry, buzzing with entrepreneurship, 

innovation and 

expansion. 



The main purpose of State Foundation is 

Involvement of investments and new financial 

resources to the perspective and rapidly 

developing ICT companies 

Interview with 

Dr. Ali Abbasov, 

Minister of Communications & IT, Azerbaijan 

Q: ICT has 2.5-3 times revenue 

growth during 2004-2011. At 

the same time, share of private 

companies in the market 

reached 80%. How did the state 

policy contribute to obtaining 

these achievements? 

A: Development of ICT 

sector in the country has 

been fulfilling in accordance 

with the “National Strategy 

on information and 

Communication Technologies 

for the Development of the 

Republic of Azerbaijan in the 

years of 2003-2012” and State 

Programs of “E-Azerbaijan” 

covering the years of 2005- 

2008 and 2010-2012, which was 

accepted for implementation 

of the National Strategy. 

Activities considered for wide 

application of ICT in different 

fields are also underway within 

the framework of about 20 

State Programs. 

In the recent years ICT sector 

has been developed and 

supported, and it has been 

achieved due to the state 

care. In order to stimulate 

development of this sector, 

important documents have 

been signed by H.E. President 

llham Aliyev in 2012. “State 

Foundation of Information 

Technologies Development” 

has been established and new 

tasks have been put forward 

before the Government. 

The main purpose of State 

Foundation is involvement of 

investments and new financial 

resources to the perspective 

and rapidly developing ICT 

companies. Facilitating 

implementation of public 

policy in the field of ICT, 

December 2012 


29

supporting ownership activity, 

stimulating innovation and 

scientific-research projects and 

development of state-of-theart 

infrastructure, providing 

financial assistance for small 

and medium-size entrepreneurs 

and involving local and foreign 

investments to this field 

are also listed among main 

purposes of the Foundation. 

Due to the measures, 

undertaken by the State 

Foundation, it will be possible 

to develop production-oriented 

activity in the field of ICT. 

As a result of future activity 

of State Foundation and 

Regional Innovation Zone 

(RIZ), which is underway to be 

established, ICT sector will be 

diversified, new companies will 

be emerged and revenues of 

the companies, operating in 

this field, will be increased for 

several folds. 

Another event, as important 

as establishment of the State 

Foundation, will be creation 

of techno-park for ICT field. It 

is planned to realize creation 

of new techno-park within 

the framework of RIZ project. 

Successful implementation 

of the mentioned activities 

will stimulate intellectual 

business and innovative 

entrepreneurship. As a result 

of joint activity of State 

Foundation and technopart 

in the field of ICT, it 

will be possible to bring 

high quality ICT sector in a 

new arena. The documents 

that have been adopted 

so far set forth provisions 

on main development 

trends of ICT: liberalization 

and creation of effective 

regulation mechanisms in 

the, modernization of ICT 

infrastructure on e basis of new 

technologies; development of 

e-government and e-services, 

as well as, provisions state 

policy has been formed and 

canned out in the country 

according to these directions. 

Main purpose of public policy 

in the field of ICT is to provide 

transition to the information 

society, create and develop 

information and knowledgebased, 

competitive economy 

and arrange participation of 

citizens and social institutions 

in the management process. 

At the same time, creation of 

RIZ and special regime for this 

field and implementation of 

regional projects are the main 

components of ICT policy. 

The measures undertaken 

are yielding results according 

to the above-mentioned 

directions. Thus, ICT sector of 

the country is expanding for 

two times in every three year, 

average growth rate is 25-30%. 

Volume of the incomes in the 

sector has been increased 13% 

in 2011 and was approximately 

1,7 billion USD. 65 % of 

the population is internet 

users and more than 30% is 

broadband internet users. 

The number of computers per 

100 in habitants is 20 units. 

Mobile sector has been rapidly 

developing; application of new 

technologies, as well as 3G and 

4G services are expanding. 

Currently there are 110 mobile 

subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 

Special weight of the private 

sector in development of ICT 

sector has been increasing year 

by year. As you noted, now the 

share of the private sec tor in 

development of ICT is equal to 

80%. 

Naturally, great public support, 

properly defined long-term 

strategy and well-grounded 

public policy play important 

role in achievement of these 

successions. 

Q: In the last 10 years 2.3 billion 

USD was invested to ICT sector. 

21% of it belongs to foreign 

investments. Why is Azerbaijan 

market so attractive for 

foreign investors? 

A: Today I can say with 

certainty that a legal base 

regarding protection of foreign 

investments is existing in 

Azerbaijan, favorable business 

environment has been created 

in all spheres of the economy. 

State registration of the 

entrepreneurs began to be 

Implemented by “one stop 

shop” system and the period 

of state registration of the 

business enterprises was 

reduced to 20 times by this 

application and it is provided 

during 3 business days. As 

well as, number of registration 

procedures of the legal 

entities has been reduced 13 

to 5. Currently, this process 

takes up to 15-20 minutes with 

application of e-services. It is 

an example of special care, 

shown to the development of 

business. There is mature bank, 

transport and other service 

infrastructure for foreign 

investors’ and companies flies’ 

activities in the country. 

Certainly, application of 

innovations, state-of-theart 

technologies advanced 

experienced and effective 

business models, created in 

the European countries are 

important for us; because 

application of innovations 

will fully meet the interests of 

consumers by rendering high 

quality services. 

Azerbaijan’s forcing its way 

through integration into 

Europe in the policy and 

measures are undertaken 

in this regard as performing 

institutional reforms in this 

direction, conformance of 

legislation and expedient 

events, performed in 

application of modern 

standards under legislation, 

application of European 

standards in the field of ICT 

and involvement of European 

companies and investments to 

this sector. Thus, information 

is provided in the world arena 

and request of proposals is 

submitted to the advanced 

companies in order to 

create transparency about 

procurement procedures 

concerning implementation 

of projects and support 

participation of foreign 

companies. 

Today, 10 ICT high rating 

companies of the world’s 

top 20 companies such as 

Microsoft, Cisco Systems, 

Hewlett Packard, IBM, Apple 

Computer, Intel, Oracle, 

Google, Nokia-Siemens 

Networks and Ericsson are 

operating in Azerbaijan and 

this process stimulates direct 

foreign investment stream 

to the country. As a result, 

Azerbaijan holds 39th place 

among 144 countries for 

the rating of “Capacity for 

innovation” according to 

the estimations of the “ICT 

Development Index” report of 

Davos World Economic Forum. 

Also according to the “Global 

Competitiveness Index” our 

country has improved 9 point 

and reached to the 46th place 

and preserved its leadership 

among CIS countries. 

It is the result of activities, 

performed in propagation of 

investments in the country 

that investment in the amount 

of 525.5 million USD has been 

put to this sector in 2011 alone 

for the first time during last 10 

years and this figure is 2 folds 

more than the previous year, 

and share of investments in the 

total investment, put to the 

economy of the country, varies 

approximately 3-3, 5%. 

Q: What will be the 

contribution of Azerbaijan’s 

joining to the projects 



“Trans-Eurasia Super In 

formation Highway” (TASIM) 

and “Europe-Persia Express 

Gateway”? How do you assess 

the potential of Azerbaijan as a 

“technological hub”? 

A: The project of “Trans-Asia 

Super Information Highway” 

(TASIM) is an important 

regional initiative and its 

purpose is to lay transnational 

fiber-optic cable line covering 

the Eurasian countries mainly 

from the Western Europe till 

the Eastern Asia. 

Implementation of the TASIM 

project from the strategic 

point of view will consist of 

two stages. In the first stage 

the leading regional countries 

and operators will create 

the main internet transit 

infrastructure connecting the 

West and the East. This transit 

infrastructure will enable 

TASIM to be the project which 

will meet the requirements of 

the commercially beneficial and 

highly growing international 

IP internet transit market. It is 

considered to complete this 

process by the end of 2013. 

In the second stage the TASIM 

will provide connection at a 

suitable price to the Central 

Asian countries, as well as the 

Eurasian as that have no access 

to the sea, by using transit 

infrastructure. There will be 

established new fiber-optic 

cable lines according to the 

plans for development of the 

national telecom infrastructure. 

However, existing lines 

will be improved from the 

technological f of view and 

connected to the TASIM n In 

the second stage the TASIM 

project will be realized in 

accordance with the mandate 

of the UN. 

The project takes into account 

laying of the main transit line 

routed from Frankfurt to Hong 

Kong. This line will connect the 

biggest information exchange 

centers of Europe and Asia. The 

transit line pass to Germany via 

China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, 

Georgia and Turkey. Reserve No 

Transit Line will pass through 

Russia, Ukraine and Poland. 

The Ministry of 

Communications and In 

formation Technologies of 

the Republic of Azerbaijan 

initiated the TASIM project du 

ring the ministerial meeting 

held in Baku on November 14, 

2008 within the framework 

of the 14th International 

Telecommunication and 

Information Technologies 

Exhibition and Conference. 

On December21, 2009 there 

was adopted Resolution on 

the TASIM project at the 

64th session of the General 

Assembly of the UN. Special 

role of the Republic of 

Azerbaijan is highly appreciated 

in coordination of project in 

the Resolution which was 

supported and adopted by 

consensus of 30 countries. It 

is planned to adopt the new 

Resolution at the end of 2012. 

On July, 2011 there was held 

the 1st International Seminar 

on TASTM in Azerbaijan 

with the participation of the 

leading telecom companies 

like China Telecom (China), 

Kaztranscom (Kazakhstan), 

Rostelecom (Russia), Turk 

Telecom (Turkey) and Pantel 

(European Union). As a result 

of event the Secretary of 

project has been established 

and operators have agreed 

to work out Memorandum 

of understanding which gave 

detailed information about 

the establishment of TASIM 

Consortium. 

The participation of Azerbaijan 

in “Europe-Persia Express 

Gateway” (EPEG) project 

enables to use Azerbaijan 

for establishment of transit 

route as a part of the strategy 

to evolve our country into a 

techno logical hub. We suppose 

that participation of Azerbaijan 

in this project will improve 

connection of our country with 

international internet. The 

participation in this project 

indicates the high technological 

level of Delta Telecom operator 

of Azerbaijan. 

Generally, Azerbaijan has great 

geographical and commercial 

potential which increases 

evolving the potential of our 

country into technological hub. 

TASIM, EPEG, Azercosmos and 

Regional Innovation Zones will 

sup port the implementation 

of these plans Projects, 

implemented all together, will 

connect vast territories with 

reliable, high-speed Internet 

and all other communications 

Q: Azerbaijan will launch its 

first communications satellite 

at the end of 2012. What does 

this achievement represent 

for the development of the 

country? 

A: One of the strategic projects 

carried out by the government 

of Azerbaijan, as a part of 

a wider plan of economic 

diversification and introduction 

to new industry fields, is the 

launch of a telecommunications 

satellite into upcoming years. 

Information and 

communications technologies 

have been declared to be the 

second priority area in the 

national economy after the 

oil industry. Consequently 

the share of this field in the 

economy is growing at an 

increasing rate, arid satellitebased 

communications are 

coming to play an ever-greater 

role in this respect. As such, it 

can confidently be stated that 

the current and forthcoming 

satellite projects cannot 

be regarded as having only 

political or purely commercial 

aspirations, but they are 

also sustainable and viable 

projects aimed at the longterm 

economic and social 

development of the country. 

Therefore, Azerbaijan has 

decided to ad dress these 

challenges by harnessing space 

tools since it possesses huge 

economic and intellectual potential 

for sustainable viability 

of space industry. By integrating 

the advantages of space 

capabilities to the national 

development program, the 

government of Azerbaijan aims 

to bring the country into new 

heights in terms of its economic 

power, intellectual capacity and 

information security. Economic 

benefits and information security 

brought about by utilization 

of satellite-based technologies 

will further enhance Azerbaijan’s 

contribution to regional 

development. 

The development and use 

of satellite communication 

services in the country has 

been promoted an accelerated 

through various legal and 

implementation measures. 

The State Program for the 

creation and development 

of the space industry, signed 

by the President in 2009, 

laid the foundation for 

the commencement and 

development of activities in 

this sphere. To materialize this 

political aspiration, Azercosmos 

was incorporated for 

commercialization of the space 

projects. Azercosmos is the 

first satellite operator in both 

Azerbaijan and Caucasus. It 

will provide satellite-delivered 

communication services 

and highly reliable satellite 

platforms to broadcasting, 

broadband, and government 

customers after the launch of 

Azerspace-1. 

Azerspace-1 which is planned 

to he launched in early 2013 

December 2012 


31

and is expected to stay in 

orbit for 1 5 years, is being 

manufactured by the Orbital 

Sciences Corporation of the 

U.S. on a flight-proven Star-2 

platform. The launch vehicle 

for the satellite is the highly 

reliable Arien-5 of the French 

Arianespace. Azerspace-1 will 

be placed in the orbital slot, 

at 46 degrees east longitude 

and will have a wide coverage 

area including Europe, Africa, 

Central Asia, Caucasian 

countries and the Middle East. 

The loan agreement for 

the funding of the launch 

ofAzerspace-1 was included 

in the list of Best Financial 

Deals for 2011” by the 

magazine ‘Global Trade 

Review”. Azercosmos was 

also able to secure a robust 

insurance coverage and highly 

competitive premium rate 

for Azerspace-1, at the lowest 

rate in the satellite insurance 

market since 1999. 

Azerconsmos also pays close 

attention to introducing 

remote-sensing programs and 

launching Earth-observation 

satellites, which carry great 

importance and value for 

national security and economic 

infrastructure. As a low Earthorbiting 

satellite, the application 

fields of remote-sensing 

satellites in Azerbaijan have 

been studied in detail based on 

both local and foreign market 

research. Consequently, the 

relevant work has commenced 

on building the satellite based 

on the existent demand and 

within the required technical 

parameters. 

Azercosmos has embarked 

upon a variety of space-related 

activities which will boost 

the innovation and scientific 

research cape city in the 

country, but also lead to the 

development of manufacturing 

capacity in space technologies, 

and expand international 

integration. 

Q: Development of broad band 

internet is the one of main tar 

gets of several governments. 

Which achievements does 

Azerbaijan want to reach in 

this field by 2015? 

A: In the recent years internet 

services have also been 

dynamically developing 

according to the process in 

the ICT sector. Now, license 

for internet services is not 

required and this condition 

for development of small and 

medium-size entrepreneurship. 

With a view to provide high 

qualified fixed network 

services for population and 

organizations, reconstruction 

of Automatic Switching 

Centre has been done and full 

digitalization of fixed network 

in the country has successfully 

been completed. “AzData 

corn”, “Deltatelecom” and 

“Azertelecom” networks were 

linked to all regional centres of 

the country and approximately 

35% of rural areas with highspeed 

internet, and this 

opens wide opportunities 

for increasing the coverage 

level of ICT in the society and 

application of e-services in the 

regions. 

More than 40 ISPs operate 

Azerbaijan in severe market 

competition condition. 

Substantially, broadband 

internet services are provided 

by “Aztelecornnet” and 

“AzDataCom” state providers 

and several other private 

providers in other cities and 

regional centers of country. 

Currently, the number of 

internet users, computers and 

broadband internet subscribers 

per 100 inhabitants is 65, 20 and 

30 respectively. In the resent 

years, prices of broadband 

ADSL internet services have 

been decreased in multiple 

times and monthly payment for 

unlimited internet services with 

1 Mb/s speed by connecting to 

ADSL techno logy is less than 5 

AZN (around 5 Euros). 

Based on international 

institutions in the field, 

development directions 

and the recommendation 

of European Commission, 

Broad band Commission on 

Digital Development of UN 

about broadband internet 

services for 2015 on the basis 

of international practice, the 

development target has been 

chosen in this field. With a view 

to avoid the existing problems, 

as well as reach mentioned 

targets the main activity 

directions have been generally 

defined. 

Currently MC&IT and Azerbaijan 

State Oil Fund are preparing 

development of broadband 

inter in Azerbaijan. Under the 

strategy it is planned to reach 

broadband internet subs 20 

per 100 inhabitants in 2015. The 

strategy also plans to reach 

internet access speed to 30 

Mb/s, 10 Mb/s and 5 Mb in Baku 

city, the regional centers and 

rural areas respectively. 90% of 

households, in this strategy, are 

planned to get internet access 

too. 

Q: Azerbaijan re presented 

with the great number of staffs 

and overwhelming majority 

of private companies in Dubai 

at the event of International 

Telecommunication Union. 

How do you think, why the 

event was significant? 

A: You are right that Azerbaijan 

represented with 30 leading 

companies of country in the 

“ITU Telecom 2012”. They are 

the companies gained great 

achievements on e-government, 

program provision, mobile 

and fixed communication, 

computer production, space 

industry and other directions 

of ICT. L am delighted to note 

that additional program provision 

in ICT field and export to 

local computers produced are 

fulfilled. Simultaneously, the 

representatives of Cybernetic 

Institute of National Scientific 

Academy determined the scientifically-technical 

perspectives 

of this field, Information Technologies 

Institute and Research 

Centre on High Technologies of 

our Ministry participated in this 

event besides the mentioned 

companies. The increasing 

political-economic reputation 

and investment involvement, 

as well as reports of reliable 

international centers of Azerbaijan 

to the region is the great 

example. 

An official Baku has been added 

to the list of countries implementing 

the most reforms of 

the world in the “Doing Business-2009” 

re port of World 

Bank. Simultaneously, our 

country has shown the best 

result in “Global Competitiveness 

Index” of World Economic 

Forum formed for the period 

of 2010-2011 years in CIS region. 

Azerbaijan could keep its position 

in 2012-2013. 

Generally, ICT sector of country 

is being speedily developed 

during the last 7 years (2004- 

2011), noted field was increased 

6 folds, average annual growth 

race is 25-30%. 

Deliberate long-termed 

development strategy, 

adopted state programs, and 

implemented projects, suitable 

competitive-investment 

environment established in 

the sector and mainly state 

support play the great role 

in this increase. The number 

of Azerbaijani companies 

participated in “ITU Telecom 

2012” this year and the space of 

Azerbaijan’s national pavilion 

was 2 times larger than they 

were last year. 



James P. Farwell & Rafal Rohozinski 

The new reality of cyber war 

The June 2012 report by New 

York Times chief Washington 

correspondent David Sanger that 

the Stuxnet cyber worm was 

only part of a broader operation, 

Olympic Games, launched 

against Iran by the United States 

and Israel affirmed what many 

suspected: cyber attack is not a 

distant theoretical probability. 

Stuxnet was the first alleged 

identified instance of weaponised 

computer code or 

malware employed as a ‘use of 

force’. But it was not alone. Two 

other targeted computer viruses 

for espionage have surfaced: 

Duqu in September 2011, followed 

by Flame in May 2012. 

Media reports allege that both 

also targeted Iran. 

As tools of espionage, use of 

neither would qualify as a use of 

force, but reflect new emphasis 

on cyber tools. Of the two, Flame 

drew wider attention. Apparently 

20 times more complex than 

Stuxnet, Flame affected computers 

in Lebanon, the United Arab 

Emirates, the West Bank and 

Iran. It is said to have gathered 

intelligence by logging keyboard 

strokes, recording conversations 

by activating microphones, and 

taking screen shots. At Iran’s oil 

ministry and oil-export terminal, 

the virus also erased information 

on hard discs while gathering 

information. 

Many attribute it to the United 

States and Israel. These allegations 

remained unconfirmed by 

either government. 

A new era 

These developments put the 

spotlight on a new era of international 

engagement. Israeli 

sources have long boasted about 

Israel’s involvement in Stuxnet. 

The US/Israeli use of Stuxnet as 

reported in detail by Sanger has 

arguably created a new de facto 

norm for the conduct of cyber 

engagements other nations can 

follow or imitate. Previously, a 

key constraint on the use of software 

as a weapon has been the 

potential for legal liability arising 

out of collateral damage inflicted 

upon innocent parties not targeted. 

In practice, software can be 

narrowly targeted to surmount 

that challenge. 

What Stuxnet shows is that it 

is possible to have the specific 

intended effect while avoiding 

or minimising unplanned side 

effects by clearly differentiating 

between the propagator, or 

boost-phase code that disseminates 

the program, and the 

actual payload code that creates 

the physical effect on a target 

(the distinction between the 

gift wrapping and the gift). The 

reported operation did apparently 

limit the scope of damage. 

Stuxnet shows that one can 

surmount concerns that malware 

would take down the global network, 

not just a specific target. 

The lesson is that cyber weapons 

are in a different category from 

nuclear devices, which have 

little practical use except as a 

deterrent. 

The rules of conduct for the use 

of code are evolving. As parties 

develop more sophisticated capabilities 

and acquire experience 

in their use, the picture will grow 

more complicated and nuanced. 

The strategic situation contains 

echoes of the period between 

the two world wars, when rapid 

developments in new technologies 

and domains of war-fighting 

preceded an understanding of 

how effectively to employ them 

operationally. Tanks changed the 

way armies engaged in battle. 

But despite British and German 

experimentation with armour in 

the inter-war period, armoured 

December 2012 


33

tactics could only be proven and 

fully developed on the battlefield 

from 1939 onwards. There are, 

moreover, significant differences 

of view about whether 

the Germans, renowned for 

their blitzkrieg tactics, properly 

understood the strategic use of 

armour for manoeuvre warfare. 

Reports that two states have 

employed code against another 

state against which war has not 

been declared undercuts the 

common view that risks of escalation 

render state-to-state cyber 

war implausible. Sanger reported 

that President George W. Bush, 

under whom Olympic Games was 

apparently initiated, desired that 

use of Stuxnet not violate the 

rules of armed conflict. 

The Law of Armed Conflict does 

not prohibit damage to such 

critical infrastructure. But a 

strength of using code is that the 

targeting process can manage 

the risks. 

Stuxnet may appear as embryonic 

as the British Mk.1 tanks 

that made their debut at the 

Battle of the Somme in 1916. 

But technology moves quickly. 

Modern states rightly fear cyber 

war. Evolving technology is accelerating 

the flow of information, 

placing unique pressures on 

decision-making. Responding to 

cyber attack may require making 

decisions at network speed using 

systems that are themselves 

targeted. The potential for cascading 

effects is amplified by the 

interconnectedness of cyberspace. 

Stuxnet worked leisurely. 

Future combat in cyberspace 

may be more akin to the global 

trading system than existing 

forms of kinetic engagement, 

and present a different strategic 

calculus. 

Active defence versus first strike 

As described by Sanger, Olympic 

Games puts into question the 

existing discourse over US doctrines 

of active defence versus 

offensive use of malware and 

the strategic communication 

employed to explain US actions. 

Nations have been rightfully unwilling 

to disclose their doctrines 

for the offensive use of cyber 

weapons. Open-source discourse 

has centred on delineating 

passive and active defence. 

No nation has been willing to 

declare its intent to use cyber 

weapons offensively for a first 

strike. But Stuxnet blurs the lines 

between what might constitute 

active defence and offense. It 

also moves the impact from the 

strictly cyber realm to one that 

may entail mechanical or physical 

damage. 

Passive cyber defence is easiest 

to grasp. The notion includes 

firewalls, cyber ‘hygiene’ that 

trains an educated workforce to 

guard against errors or transgressions 

that can lead to cyber 

intrusion, detection technology, 

‘honey pots ‘ or decoys that 

serve as diversions, and managing 

cyberspace risk through 

collective defence, smart partnerships, 

information training, 

greater situation awareness, 

and establishing secure, resilient 

network environments. 

Active cyber defence is a more 

elusive notion. Industry operates 

under different legal constraints 

than the military and they view 

the notion of active defence differently. 

For industry, the notion 

includes working actively with 

private-sector partners to identify 

and interdict cyber intrusions. 

Action beyond that raises real 

concerns. Under US law causing 

more than $5,000 of damage to 

another computer is a felony. 

US anti-trust and privacy laws 

raise other concerns. Yet private 

industry owns and operates 90% 

of US civilian critical infrastructure. 

Its concerns will grow as 

future malware come into play, 

for current laws and operational 

capabilities provide inadequate 

defences. 

The public sector operates 

under different rules. While 

private parties can take action 

unless prohibited by law, the 

military can act only within its 

prescribed authority. As a result, 

the military’s notion of active 

defence remains unformed: no 

one is certain what it means or 

how to apply it. The Pentagon 

has made clear it would employ 

force to defend against cyber 

attacks. But who has the authority 

to launch what actions, and 

under what circumstances? If 

a hostile force targets a naval 

cruiser for imminent attack, does 

the captain hold the authority to 

launch a preemptive attack? If he 

doesn’t, who does? Should he try 

to move his vessel out of danger? 

What if he cannot? How can he 

‘actively’ mount a defence? 

US Cyber Command Chief General 

Keith Alexander has declared 

that ‘a Commander’s right to 

self-defence is clearly established 

in both U.S. and international 

law’. He did not define what 

that entails. Would it include hot 

pursuit? Former US Air Force 

Secretary Michael Wynne has 

stated that 

US law allows ‘hot pursuit’ of 

criminals, enabling law enforcement 

to track and address cyber 

crime through the digital world. 

That doctrine is well accepted in 

crime fighting, but where it applies 

may hang on the status of 

an attacker. What rules govern 

may depend upon the status 

of an event as criminal activity, 

a military attack or a terrorist 

action. 

Hot pursuit may well apply in 

cyberspace. Many concur that 

the law of the sea sanctions the 

use of the doctrine in the maritime 

domain, which along with 

air, land, and space is viewed as 

a global commons. President 

Barack Obama has declared that 

cyberspace is also a ‘recognized 

strategic commons’. 

A use of force? 

For the most part the US discussion 

on cyber war has revolved 

around these notions of defence. 

But Olympic Games has apparently 

shown that the United 

States and Israel will use cyber 

weapons offensively. 

The United States has previously 

said that its cyber strategies 

would respect international law. 

The key normative standards 

nest in United Nations Charter 

articles 2(4) and 51. Article 2(4) 

prohibits the ‘threat or use of 

force against the territorial 

integrity or independence of any 

state’. Article 51 states that nothing 

‘in the present Charter shall 

impair the inherent right of individual 

or collective self-defense if 

an armed attack occurs against a 

Member of the United Nations’. 

But ‘force’ is not defined. There 

is no international convention 

that defines whether the use 

of software code should be 

deemed equivalent to the use of 

force. Cyber expert Herbert Lin 

has argued that the term almost 

certainly covers conventionalweapon 

attacks that injuring 

persons or irreparably damage 

property, but excludes economic 

or political acts (such as sanctions) 

that do not. In that view, 

Stuxnet would have constituted 

a use of force only if it had 

inflicted damage comparable 

to a kinetic attack, but it injured 

no one and the Iranians make 

no claim of irreparable physical 

damage. 

But the US government apparently 

did view Olympic Games 

as a use of force. The strategic 

objective was not only to retard 

Iran’s progress in developing nuclear 

weapons but to persuade 

Israel that using cyber weapons 



mooted the need for a kinetic 

attack on Tehran’s nuclear institutions. 

Both the G.W. Bush and 

Obama administrations strongly 

believed that Iran’s nuclearweapons 

programme had to be 

stopped. The United States has 

clearly felt a need to communicate 

that it would not tolerate 

Iranian intransigence. Former 

CIA Director Michael Hayden 

stated that: 

This is the first attack of a major 

nature in which a cyberattack 

was used to effect physical 

destruction. And no matter what 

you think of the effects – and I 

think destroying a cascade of 

Iranian centrifuges is an unalloyed 

good – you can’t help but 

describe it as an attack on critical 

infrastructure. 

This implies that the Obama 

administration was willing in 

this case to affirm G.W. Bush’s 

policy of pre-emption to deal 

with a threat deemed vital to 

national security interests, was 

willing to act in concert with a 

‘coalition of the willing’ (even 

if the United States and Israel 

were the sole partners) to keep 

weapons of mass destruction 

out of the hands of rogue states, 

and that this concern trumps 

commitments – including those 

expressed in the US 2011 Cyber 

Strategy, to embrace multilateralism 

and partnership for cyber 

strategy. 

It seems evident that the 

intent of Olympic Games was 

to irreparably damage critical 

infrastructure. The tenor of the 

operation and strategic intent – 

and Hayden’s words – strongly 

imply that White House and 

Department of Defense lawyers 

considered the operation a 

use of force. The issue must 

have been considered. One can 

presume the answer the lawyers 

provided was affirmative. 

Legally, did the White House exceed 

its jurisdiction either under 

the Constitution, which reserves 

to Congress the right to declare 

war, or under the War Powers 

Resolution of 1973? It is hard to 

qualify Olympic Games as an act 

of war. US statute defines that as 

armed conflict, whether or not 

war has been declared, between 

two more nations or between 

military forces of any origin. It 

is significant that Iran has not 

suggested the use of Stuxnet 

constituted an act of war. 

The War Powers Resolution 

offers a more nuanced issue. 

The resolution applies to the 

introduction of ‘United States 

Armed Forces into hostilities or 

into situations where imminent 

involvement in hostilities is 

clearly indicated by the circumstances’. 

How does a nation use force 

except through military means? 

One can debate whether nonuniformed 

Stuxnet operations 

personnel qualify under the 

notion of distinction as combatants, 

but one can make a strong 

argument that Olympic Games 

fell under the ambit of the resolution. 

Presumably the response 

is that it constituted a covert 

action that did not trigger the 

operation of the law. 

Given that the objective was to 

destroy an enemy’s critical warfighting 

capacity, though, one 

might wonder whether the logic 

in avoiding the jurisdiction of the 

resolution – or Congress’s power 

to declare war – would apply to a 

modern Pearl Harbor. The air war 

in Libya may offer a clue to policy 

mindsets. Denying any obligation 

to ask Congress for authorisation 

to act, the Obama administration 

argued that ‘U.S. operations do 

not involve sustained fighting 

or active exchanges of fire 

with hostile forces, nor do they 

involve ground troops’. 

Similarly, Stuxnet did not involve 

armed fighting or exchanges of 

fire with hostile forces, although 

future engagements may focus 

debate on what constitutes 

armed forces. That cyber weapons 

often do not entail uniformed 

individuals firing rockets, 

dropping bombs, or firing guns 

does not, looking over the horizon, 

inherently render its users 

non-combatants. 

What if Iran decided to respond 

kinetically? How does that alter 

the authority of the White House 

to continue a programme? 

Stuxnet was a fire-and-forget 

weapon. Although code can be 

designed to hit a specific target, 

in practice, once launched, there 

was no control over the consequences 

it inflicted – or upon 

whom. Indeed, Sanger reported 

that American officials were 

quite unhappy when Stuxnet 

got loose on the Internet. The 

operational environment in war 

is random. The collateral effects 

of a cyber weapon add a new 

dimension to that challenge. 

One must think beyond the Iranian 

situation. What if Congress 

wanted a president to cease 

an operation that could not be 

terminated? Olympic Games sidestepped 

the problem, but hardly 

obscures the need for future 

strategic thinking. 

Whether there was use of force 

raises other issues. Olympic 

Games involved a pattern of engagements. 

One must consider 

the larger implications of an 

individual event. Does a pattern 

convert employment of cyber 

weapons into a use of force? The 

answer isn’t clear. The unpredictable 

nature of damage that cyber 

attack can inflict may require 

a new definition of war. 

Intent may also matter in determining 

whether an engagement 

constituted a use of force. 

Open-source reporting indicates 

that any damage inflicted on the 

Natanz uranium-enrichment facility 

was temporary and reparable. 

But that was not the intent. 

What if someone dropped a 

bomb on London or New York 

that failed to detonate? Isn’t 

that a use of force – or possibly, 

depending on the facts, an act 

of war? Deciphering intent may 

pose a challenge, but in law it 

may be objectively inferred. The 

case of unexploded ordinance 

seems easier to grasp, but how 

deep is the distinction between 

that and a cyber worm that fails? 

This issue needs debate and 

should enter future strategic 

calculations. 

Finally, did Article 51 of the UN 

Charter justify Olympic Games? 

Like ‘force’, ‘armed attack’ 

remains undefined, even where 

force is clearly employed. Certainly 

the implications of new 

technologies for Article 51 or 

other international conventions 

remain unclear. This consideration 

matters enormously to 

December 2012 


35

Israel, which contends that a 

nuclear first strike would destroy 

the nation, preventing or mooting 

a response. Washington worries 

about Israeli security, but 

also a potential and de-stabilising 

Middle East arms race should 

Iran acquire a nuclear weapon. 

Strategic implications 

The use of malware by state 

actors has altered the realities 

of cyber attack. History teaches 

that once weapons technology 

becomes feasible, states deploy 

it. Today the world may confront 

a dangerous technology race 

characterised by rapidly evolving 

and lethal weapons. 

Clausewitz believed that in 

warfare, the advantage rested 

with the defence. Cyber reverses 

that equation. It also offers the 

potential to build the fog of 

war through the ability to effect 

disruption, deception, confusion 

and surprise. We are only beginning 

to envisage the potential 

for different forms of malware, 

or the strategies or tactics employed 

to use it. 

A cyber-security tool may 

require millions of lines of code 

and a complex system to track 

and identify events. Malware 

requires a lot less. Computer 

code can be designed to evolve 

rapidly, mutating faster than 

defences can be mustered. Code 

can be highly targeted. It can 

leverage social and technological 

vectors. It can render a cyber 

defence obsolete within seconds. 

It can overwhelm a system 

that may have taken years to 

construct. Clausewitz believed 

that the advantages enjoyed by 

defence required that an offense 

employ greater resources. Cyber 

reverses that equation. Nations 

may now shift away from a 

refusal to use cyber weapons for 

first strike. That in and of itself 

complicates both offensive and 

defensive strategies. 

Although some have argued 

that Olympic Games lowered the 

threshold for the use of cyber 

weapons, it may in fact actually 

raise it. States may recognise a 

higher responsibility to design 

weapons that offer strong 

assurance of striking only the 

intended targets. That was the 

intent of Stuxnet’s planners and 

designers. But matters could 

have worked out much differently. 

Robert Burns was right: 

the best laid plans of mice and 

men often go awry. 

Stuxnet shows that creating effective 

malware turns on imagination, 

technical expertise and 

ingenuity. But to deliver code as 

a warhead also requires highly 

specific domain experience and 

superior intelligence capabilities 

that often only states possess. 

Our view is that malware is not a 

wide-area weapon. As it evolves, 

it will be used narrowly to attack 

particular targets and to generate 

specific shaping effects. 

Olympic Games raises the veil 

on key strategic implications. 

Stuxnet aimed to destroy a specific 

capability. But it importantly 

illustrates the political nature of 

war. Achieving a strategic political 

objective does not necessarily 

require destroying an enemy. 

Olympic Games was devised 

when G.W. Bush pushed for an 

alternative to the unpleasant 

choice between allowing Iran to 

develop a nuclear-weapons capability 

or halting the programme 

through kinetic attack. The cyber 

programme bought time in 

which to employ punishing sanctions 

and to signal to Iran that 

other nations would not tolerate 

an Iranian nuclear-arms programme. 

The lesson is that cyber 

weapons may offer non-kinetic 

ways to disrupt an operational 

capability of an adversary. 

Future cyber weapons will similarly 

aim to constrain the ability 

of an adversary to manoeuvre, 

coordinate or synchronise, and 

to divert enemy commanders 

from focusing on the achievement 

of their own objectives. 

Stuxnet succeeded splendidly 

in creating confusion. Sanger 

reports that Iranians came to distrust 

their own instruments. The 

idea, he quotes one source, ‘was 

to mess with Iran’s best scientific 

minds’ and ‘make them feel they 

were stupid’. 

Conceptually, unsettling the 

consciousness of an adversarial 

commander, or a CEO or government 

official, causing a loss of 

belief in his ability to control 

events and depriving him of control, 

helps disrupt an adversary’s 

ability to fulfil its objectives. 

Stuxnet’s creators merit high 

marks for recognising the value 

of that goal. While the final result 

fell short, open-source reporting 

indicates that Stuxnet did retard 

Iranian progress. 

As reported in open sources, 

Olympic Games exemplified an 

operation intended to reduce 

the resistance of a rival system 

and to inflict attrition upon 

its resources. Destruction 

of an asset is one of many 

potential objectives that cyber 

weapons can achieve. Future 

cyber weapons may disrupt 

communications systems or 

the ability of adversaries to 

cohesively operate air, naval 

or ground forces. They could 

slow the speed at which an 

adversary is able to mass forces 

or deploy assets, destroying 

precious momentum vital for 

an adversary’s offense.Indeed, 

smart strategy is often less 

about destroying an enemy 

than paralysing command and 

control, and neutralising an 

adversary’s operational ability. 

One unfortunate development 

has been the leaks from 

Washington and Israel (where 

sources have long claimed 

credit for Stuxnet) about 

Olympic Games. These present a 

strategic challenge. An obstacle 

confronting any nation that 

wishes to retaliate against a 

cyber intrusion is the need 

to identify the intruder. The 

leaks solved that problem for 

Iran, and opened the United 

States and Israel to potential 

counterpunches that would 

entail far less stigma for Tehran 

than action against a putative 

attacker whose guilt could not 

be confirmed. 

Finally, it is worth noting that 

the weapons employed by 

Olympic Games are largely 

indistinguishable from the 

technology that cyber criminals 

employ. That will make 

international treaties and 

conventions aimed at limiting 

cyber crime more difficult 

to secure. The utility and 

effectiveness of these weapons 

for national-security interests 

may trump policy considerations 

that favour better global policing 

of cyber crime. 

There has been a widespread 

view that criminal entrepreneurs 

or state-sponsored proxies, 

acting at arm’s length to insulate 

states from culpability for their 

policies, would emerge as the 

real challenges in a cyber era in 

which one individual can change 

the way the world does business. 

But now it seems that state-tostate 

engagement, whether or 

not it meets the conventional 

definitions of the use of force or 

an act of war, will define a new 

reality and require new strategic 

calculations. The discourse 

arising out of reports about 

Olympic Games underscores 

why the United States and 

other countries should engage 

in a transparent debate over 

whether or how cyber weapons 

should be employed. Every nation 

– including civilian as well as 

government institutions – must 

develop strategies to address 

these new realities. 



Mobilink to invest USD 1 billion 

to enhance nationwide mobile network 

Jo Lunder, Group CEO, VimpelCom briefs PM on preparations for 3G services 

PM Raja Pervez Ashraf in a meeting with Mr. Jo Lunder, Group CEO of VimpelCom. Mr. Ahmed Abou Doma, Group CEO of Orascom Telecom, 

Mr. Robert Conway, Chief International Affairs Officer, VimpelCom and Mr. Rashid Khan, President & CEO of Mobilink are also seen. 

A delegation comprising senior 

management from VimpelCom, 

the parent company of 

Mobilink, called on Prime 

Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at 

Prime Minister House recently. 

The delegation was headed 

by Jo Lunder, Group CEO, 

VimpelCom who apprised the 

Prime Minister on VimpelCom’s 

global operations and the 

significance of the Pakistani 

market for VimpelCom’s 

growth strategy. 

Mobilink will be investing 

over USD 1 billion towards 

the enhancement of its voice 

and data services, paving the 

way towards introducing 3G 

services as soon as it is licensed 

in Pakistan. This was shared 

with the Honorable Raja Pervez 

Ashraf, Prime Minister of 

Pakistan by Jo Lunder, Group 

CEO, VimpelCom, during the 

meeting. 

VimpelCom continues to have 

a positive outlook on its operations 

in Pakistan, with Mobilink 

already having invested over 

USD 3.9 billion till date as part 

of its vision to reshape lives 

through connectivity. The 

additional investment of USD 

1 billion is part of VimpelCom’s 

aggressive plans to further consolidate 

its leadership position 

in Pakistan with the deployment 

of state-of-the-art nextgeneration 

mobile network 

equipment. 

Jo Lunder, Group CEO of 

Vimpelcom, highlighted, “The 

investment on our mobile 

network is a continuation of 

Mobilink’s promise made at 

the start of 2012 to create a 

paradigm shift in Pakistan’s cellular 

environment. Mobilink will 

sustain its focus on infrastructure 

investment, increased 

coverage and great customer 

relationship management to 

provide our valued customers 

with the best cellular experience 

in Pakistan!” 

Ahmed Abou Doma, Group 

Chief Executive Officer of 

Orascom Telecom, added, “This 

strategic investment is part of 

our commitment to provide 

leading-edge, high-quality 

mobile broadband and voice 

services to our customers in 

Pakistan.” 

Mobilink has announced 

the signing of a five year 

agreement with Huawei and 

Alcatel-Lucent for the design, 

purchase, deployment, and 

maintenance of state-of-the-art 

next-generation mobile network 

equipment. In addition 

to a superior network performance, 

Mobilink also expects 

that the improved capabilities 

will allow the company to 

significantly increase network 

efficiency to enhance customer 

experience. 

The year 2012 has been another 

landmark year for Mobilink, 

with the investment on the 

mobile network upgrade being 

a continuation of Mobilink’s 

focus on the enhancement 

of infrastructure and 

coverage footprint as well 

as on developing superior 

customer relationships. The 

investment plans follows the 

implementation of Mobilink’s 

Intelligent Network (IN), which 

has enabled subscribers more 

control and freedom over 

their services, and provided a 

consumer experience that is 

the best in business. 

Mobilink has witnessed 

unparalleled growth over the 

last few years as a result of a 

continued focus on investing in 

cutting edge technology, which 

has brought uninterrupted 

connectivity to over 36 million 

customers of Mobilink in 

20,000 cities, towns and 

villages across Pakistan. 

December 2012 


37

Samsung demands 

Apple retrial 

Apple and Samsung will once 

again square up over rounded 

corners and other elements 

of smartphone design, as a 

US judge considers whether 

to overturn or enlarge the 

$1bn verdict against the South 

Korean group. 

Judge Lucy Koh and legal teams 

from the two leading smartphone 

makers will meet in San 

Jose, California on Thursday 

to consider arguments, in the 

most vigorously fought case in 

the long-running global patent 

battle. 

After a jury found that most 

of its asserted patents 

and that its trade dress, 

or product characteristics, 

had been infringed, Apple is 

seeking to ban eight Samsung 

smartphones from sale in the 

US, ahead of the Christmas 

trading season. It is also 

looking for an additional $707m 

in damages from Samsung 

for patent infringement and 

dilution, on top of the $1.05bn it 

was awarded by the jury. 

Samsung, however, has alleged 

jury misconduct and demanded 

a retrial. It maintains that 

Velvin Hogan, the San Jose 

jury foreman, failed to disclose 

his involvement in a 1990s 

court battle with Seagate, an 

IT company in which Samsung 

owns a significant stake, raising 

questions of potential bias. 

The Korean technology group 

has also argued that the jury’s 

verdict was inconsistent and 

its methodology for awarding 

damages “unclear”. 

In its response, Apple’s filings 

characterised Samsung’s 

position as an “attack 

on the jury and the jury 

process . . . waged in the 

press worldwide”, which it 

described as “baseless” and 

“unwarranted”. 

Despite August’s landmark 

verdict in California, Apple has 

not found the same degree of 

success in its patent cases in 

other markets, with an ugly 

argument in the UK over its 

fumbled “apology” to Samsung 

after a court in London ruled 

that the Galaxy Tab did not 

infringe the iPad’s designs. 

Last month, Apple struck a 

surprise patent settlement with 

HTC, a smaller smartphone 

maker. Despite protests 

from HTC, Samsung’s legal 

team has been allowed to 

see the financial terms of the 

agreement with Apple. 

Although hostilities continue 

against Samsung, some 

intellectual-property observers 

see Apple’s HTC agreement as 

a sign that peace across the 

industry is possible. 

Professor Michael Meurer of 

the Boston University School 

of Law says that patents no 

longer provide “predictable 

property rights” and predicts 

settlements among “all the 

players”. 

“This holy war that [Apple 

co-founder] Steve Jobs wanted 

to start was a strategically 

bad choice for Apple,” Prof 

Meurer said. “I think that 

Apple under [CEO] Tim Cook is 

recognising that . . . I think Jobs 

overestimated what IP could do 

for him.” 

Even if Apple wins injunctions 

against several Samsung 

smartphones, analysts say it is 

unlikely to have a major effect 

on Christmas sales. 

Sobia Pervaz 

Korek– 

A subsidiary of France Telecom 

opted for Genesys Call Center 

Solution 

With a vision to become stateof-the 

art multi-channel contact 

center, Korek Telecom, 

Iraq awarded their Call Center 

implementation to C Square 

Consulting. Korekaimsto 

have quick implementation 

of world’s number one call 

center software that is fully 

supported by C Square. The 

solution delivery is unique as 

it includes End to End Genesys 

with High Availability, IVR, 

Workforce Management, Call 

Recording, Screen Capture and 

Agent Desktop. 

As C Square Consulting 

focuses on delivering the 

highest quality solutions to 

its customers tailored to their 

needs, this has become the 

most trustable and dominant 

solution provider globally with 

special recommendation from 

Genesys itself. 

Korek offers the largest and 

most reliable mobile network 

and dominates in the country 

with its cutting edge technology. 

Providing customers 

with best quality network and 

services with best value is 

the main aspiration of Korek 

Telecom. To further strengthen 

and expand its network and 

to improve the quality of its 

services in all 18 provinces, the 

implementation of Genesysbased 

contact centre and 

solutions is a good step. 

Korek already possesses GSM 

and with the implementation 

and integration of Multisite 

Contact Centre in Erbil 

and Baghdad, Korek will 

be able to provide an 

enhanced, continuous, and 

speedy communication to 

its customers. Thus, the 

solutions provided by C 

Square Consulting will help 

Korekto reinforce customer 

relationship by facilitating 

improved communication and 

by providing quality services. 

Although, it is a challenge 

for C Square Consulting, but 

the implementation of so 

many solutions at the same 

time explains the reliability 

and strength of C Square 

Consulting. Also, this is 

another big venture of C 

Square Consulting in the 

Middle-Easter Region. Having 

Genesys-based solutions 

enables Korek to enhance 

interaction internally as well as 

externally. 

“We know Genesys is the leading 

software solution, we just 

need a company like C Square 

to implement it, which will 

enable us to provide best in 

class customer service to our 

subscribers. We also plan to 

launchMulti Channels like Chat, 

SMS and Social Media in next 

phase,” says Francis Nassif, 

Project Manager CIS Commenting 

on the achievement, 

Ahsan Mashkoor, Co-Founder 

of C Square Consulting noted, 

“While we continue to expand 

our presence in the Middle 

Eastern region, it is equally 

important for us to be mindful 

of our client’s priorities and 

to work with each, on the company’s 

individual needs. The 

technology solutions we offer 

are then mapped onto the 

company’s business blueprint 

which differs for each client. 



Tools to manage large 

file transfers 

The managed file transfer 

(MFT) industry has a players 

ranging from big-name tech 

titans to up-and-coming 

next-generation cloud-based 

vendors. Below is a list of 

some, but not all, players in this 

industry and a brief description. 

Axway 

A leading competitor in the 

managed file transfer industry, 

Axway says it specializes in not 

only B2B (business to business) 

MFT, but also A2A (application 

to application), and ad hoc 

transfers. Axway is a French 

company that is popular in the 

U.S. enterprise market, priding 

itself on baked-in visibility and 

monitoring tools that provide 

both technical and businessoriented 

dashboards to track 

which data is being transferred. 

Axway recently beefed up its 

security policies too with its 

acquisition of Vordel, which 

specializes in API security 

compatibility for mobile and 

cloud services. This could fit 

in with Axway’s Communities 

service, in which businesses 

can set up policies for different 

groups within an enterprise.  

Citrix ShareFile 

Citrix, a trusted name in IT 

management tools, has its own 

line of file transfer products, 

headlined by ShareFile, which 

is what the company calls 

a “follow-me data” tool. 

ShareFile allows users to 

store and synchronize files 

across multiple devices and 

platforms, from mobile, tablet 

and desktop, with optional 

integration with Microsoft 

Outlook and centralized 

management, such as running 

audit reports, conducting 

remote wipes and linking 

in with an existing active 

directory. It supports transfers 

of files up to 100GB and also 

features Storage Zones, which 

is basically a fancy way of Citrix 

saying data can be stored 

on a customer’s premise, or 

in a Citrix cloud. Last week, 

the company announced a 

partnership with NetApp 

where that company’s storage 

operating system, NetApp Data 

OnTap 8, will be optimized to 

run as the on-premise platform 

in ShareFile environments. 

IBM 

Seen by some as the market 

leader in this category for 

enterprise MFT, IBM’s product 

is based on the Sterling 

Managed File platform. 

Optimized for high-volume 

traffic within and between 

enterprises, IBM’s MFT is 

a portfolio that includes 

additional bolt-on features. 

WebSphere MQ, for example, 

is an optional file transfer 

automation software, while File 

Gateway allows for integration 

with enterprise resource 

planning (ERP) and business 

process management (BPM) 

platforms. IBM also has a series 

of customizable Web-based 

interfaces, and a control center 

for IT management of the 

system. 

Ipswitch File Transfer 

Perhaps no company better 

epitomizes the transitions 

occurring in this broader 

industry better than Ipswitch. 

The company has a history of 

competing in the MFT space, 

but has recently launched a 

new, completely cloud-based 

version of its file transfer tool 

named MOVEit. It supports 

system-to-system, person-toperson 

file transfers, all with 

fast on-boarding and the ability 

to dynamically scale resources 

as needed through the cloud. 

Ipswitch has complementary 

tools such as MessageWay, 

which integrates with existing 

message platforms, and for 

customers that want an onpremise 

tool instead, Ipswitch 

sells its WS_FTP file transfer 

server. 

Tibco 

Tibco’s file transfer system is 

part of the company’s broader 

strategy around information 

management. Its MFT line 

includes both platform and 

Internet servers, for onpremise 

or public Internetfacing 

MFT applications 

respectively, plus it includes 

Command Center, a centralized 

dashboard with reporting 

and auditing features. Tibco’s 

Slingshot product is also used 

Brandon Butler 

on-premise as an integration 

tool with Microsoft Outlook 

and other messaging platforms 

that provides compression and 

encryption for files that will be 

transferred.  

YouSendIt 

YouSendIt represents the 

up-and-coming crop of startup 

competitors looking to take 

on the legacy names in this 

business. A cloud-based 

service, YouSendIt emphasizes 

easy onboarding, including a 

free 14-day trial, and access 

to YouSendIt services from 

desktops, tablets and mobile 

devices. File transfers are 

capped at 2MB, but the service 

provides for synchronization 

of files across devices. An 

enterprise-geared product 

named Workstream starts at 

$12.99 per month for up to 50 

users, while a premium version 

of that with customized 

pricing includes active directly 

integration, single sign-on and 

monitoring and management 

tools. 



The Global ICT 50: 

The Supply Side of Digitization 

Olaf Acker 

Florian Gröne 

Germar Schröder 

The top 50 companies providing IT and telecom hardware, software, and 

services are facing dramatic change and convergence. Their response will 

transform life for the rest of us. 

Driven by a combination of 

consumer demand and the development 

of new information 

and communications technology 

(ICT), the world is rapidly transforming. 

This process, called 

digitization, has been happening 

since the arrival of the computer 

60 years ago, but in the past few 

years it has accelerated, altering 

everyday life in unprecedented 

ways. Technological developments 

such as handheld devices, 

pervasive sensors, “big data” 

analytics, digital supply chains, 

search engines, social networks, 

satellite-based geographic tracking, 

interconnected real-time 

digital infrastructure, and massive 

server farms have fundamentally 

altered our society. The 

2010s are arguably as different 

from, say, the 1980s as 1950, 

with ubiquitous electricity, automobiles, 

and broadcast radio, 

was from 1850. 

Digitization is being driven in 

part by the companies that make 

use of digital infrastructure and 

in part by consumers around the 

world. The enterprise market 

for online IT and digital telecom 

is booming — corporate sales 

worldwide grew 6 percent annually 

in 2010 and 2011 — while the 

market for consumer-oriented 

devices and services (including 

cloud-based online IT services) 

grew even more rapidly. At the 

forefront of change is Generation 

C, people born after 1990 

who expect to be connected to 

everyone, everywhere, at home 

and at work. As members of 

this group come of age, moving 

into managerial ranks or starting 

their own businesses, the tools 

and habits of digitization will 

become second nature. 

One might expect that because 

society is increasingly dependent 

on digital products and services, 

the producers of digitization 

would be affluent, assured of 

success, and complacent. But 

their industry is undergoing a 

December 2012 


41

parallel transformation, and it is 

not clear how many companies 

will last in their current form. 

The traditional sectors of the 

ICT ecosystem — a multi-trilliondollar 

industry whose members 

include enterprise service 

providers, hardware producers, 

telecom companies, and software 

developers (including the 

purveyors of Internet services 

and social media) — are blurring 

and converging. For example, 

telecom, hardware, and software 

companies are moving into 

IT services. Offshore IT service 

providers are developing enterprise 

software, often in the form 

of low-cost, highly standardized 

systems delivered via the 

Internet, designed to take over 

large portions of the work of 

traditional corporate IT departments. 

The industry is also being 

invaded by a host of hungry 

new Internet players, who offer 

innovative Web-based solutions 

that bypass the systems of the 

past. In this context, even the 

wealthiest, most successful ICT 

providers, like Microsoft in the 

1990s, Google in the 2000s, and 

Apple today, cannot be certain 

of sustaining their success. The 

title of the first book by former 

Intel CEO Andrew Grove — Only 

the Paranoid Survive — has 

never seemed so telling a comment 

on this industry. 

How will the process of digitization 

play out? How will it affect 

the companies vying to supply 

these technologies, particularly 

in the business-to-business domain? 

The answers are essential 

for decision makers in any company, 

no matter its industry. The 

choice of ICT goods and services 

is a critical strategic factor: It 

deeply influences the quality and 

distinctiveness of a company’s 

capabilities. That choice, in turn, 

depends on a clear assessment 

of the future of these providers. 

It is all too easy to get locked 

into a technology system that 

will not be sustained in the 

marketplace. 

At a more exalted level, the 

leading digitization providers 

are among the most influential 

companies of our time, and their 

influence is increasing. Their 

digital channels shape behavior 

for all other businesses and, indeed, 

for a great deal of human 

interaction. 

Finally, these companies are a 

fascinating group in their own 

right. Some, like Hewlett-Packard 

(HP) and IBM, have existed 

for many decades, continually 

reinventing themselves; others 

are relative newcomers. Each, in 

its own way, has mastered innovation 

and struggled with disruption. 

Their story is our story. 

Anatomy of the ICT 50 

In early 2012, a group of Booz & 

Company researchers evaluated 

the 50 largest publicly traded 

global suppliers of information 

and communications technology 

products and services to 

enterprise: the “Global ICT 50.” 

We assessed how well they are 

doing now and how prepared 

they are for the changes that 

lie ahead, and then we ranked 

them according to their enterprise 

relevance: their potential 

importance to company value 

chains, in the present and the 

near future. Four qualities come 

together to make up this score: 

● Financial performance: Which 

companies can best sustain 

the profitability needed to 

make the investments that 

will help them win the digitization 

race? 

● Portfolio strength: Which 

companies possess the best 

mix of business-to-business 

products and services, given 

the demands of digitization? 

● Go-to-market footprint: 

Which companies have 

established sales and delivery 

capabilities in the top markets 

for ICT? 

● Growth potential: Which companies 

have the three factors 

needed today for expansion in 

this industry: prowess in innovation, 

presence in emerging 

economies, and the ability to 

attract new customers? 

With assessments of these 

four qualities based on publicly 

available information, we ranked 

the trajectory of performance 

for the leading companies in 

the four main sectors in this 

industry. 

1. Hardware and infrastructure 

companies. This sector, which 

includes Apple, Hewlett- 

Packard, Dell, Cisco Systems, 

and Xerox, has traditionally 

been the core of the technology 

industry. Although their 

hardware systems have 

often been complementary 

(Cisco produces the routers 

that connect HP’s printers 

to Apple’s tablets and Dell’s 

computers), these companies 

have long been perceived as 

being in the same business. 

Now they are striving to build 

more differentiated businesses, 

branching out into 

software and services, while 

retaining core businesses 

built around ever more powerful 

and affordable equipment. 

2. Software and Internet companies. 

This sector includes 

Microsoft, Google, Oracle, 

and SAP, and it is positioned 

to do well in a highly digitized 

world. Some of these 

companies are very large, 

giving them the strength to 

compete successfully in digitization 

(and in many cases, as 

with Microsoft and Google, 

to branch out into hardware). 

Others are smaller, but focused 

and capitalized enough 

to lead the industry. The 

small players’ products tend 

to be specialized or distinctive, 

giving them relatively 

protected platforms from 

which to expand. 

3. IT service providers. Having 

established themselves over 

the past 30 years as technology 

concierges to large- and 



medium-scale enterprises, 

these companies offer a 

variety of services: hosting 

computers and networks, 

managing computer applications 

such as databases, and 

integrating hardware and 

software. This sector has 

three subgroups, each with 

its own business dynamic. 

The first is global companies, 

such as IBM, Accenture, and 

CSC. They have parlayed their 

scale into industry leadership 

positions. Second is 

regional service providers, 

such as Atos in France, Logica 

in the U.K., and Unisys in 

the U.S., which face a more 

challenging future. Some 

are using M&A to increase 

their scale and market share; 

for example, Atos bought 

Siemens IT Solutions and Services 

in 2011, to create what 

the announcement called a 

“European IT champion.” The 

third subgroup consists of 

offshore IT service providers 

based in India, including HCL, 

Infosys, and Wipro. Starting 

from a relatively low base, 

these companies have shown 

the strongest growth of all 

the ICT 50 in recent years — 

more than 15 percent annually, 

even through the global 

economic downturn. 

4. Telecom operators. Hundreds 

of companies bring telecommunications 

— a combination 

of mobile, landline, Internet, 

and television — to homes 

and offices around the world. 

The most prominent include 

NTT, Telefónica/O2, and 

Verizon. This sector faces the 

largest challenge of the four: 

Many companies still have 

significant amounts of cash 

on hand, but much of it is 

being consumed by ongoing 

investments in network 

infrastructure and in dividend 

commitments. And not all of 

them are funneling investment 

into innovation and 

new capabilities, such as IT 

services. 

Each of these sectors has its own 

combination of qualities, with 

different competitive strengths 

and weaknesses. (See Exhibit 1.) 

Despite their differences, however, 

all the members of the ICT 50 

have one thing in common: They 

share a context that has shifted 

markedly during the past few 

years, and not just because of 

the global economic downturn. 

Earlier waves of information and 

communications technology, 

during which businesses fulfilled 

their basic needs for connectivity 

and computing power, have 

effectively run their course. The 

two critical infrastructure elements 

required for digital media 

— computer power and Internet 

access — were established in 

the 1990s, were rolled out across 

the world in the 2000s, and are 

now commodities throughout 

most industries. 

The most recent wave of 

digitization began around the 

time the iPhone was introduced 

(in 2007), and has picked up 

speed since 2010. With the basic 

infrastructure in place, both 

businesses and consumers are 

demanding more from software 

and services. The mobile 

handheld device has become 

an all-purpose digital gateway; 

employees increasingly demand 

to use their own devices for 

work, which gives them the flexibility 

to mix their personal and 

working lives, and the continued 

expansion of their personal and 

social networks. As digitization 

takes hold, the boundaries 

between departments — and 

between companies — become 

looser and more permeable than 

they have ever been before. Supply 

chains integrate using cloudbased 

applications; marketers 

aggregate data from online 

sources, including social media. 

In all these ways, and more, 

sophisticated new services have 

rapidly and offhandedly moved 

into the business world, where 

they are disrupting the ICT 

market. 

The changing nature of the 

demand for ICT products and 

services helps explain why the 

supply side of digitization is in 

flux — with more volatility than 

at any time since the collapse 

of the dot-com bubble in 2000. 

The Global ICT 50 study was 

designed to provide an analytical 

portrait of that volatility. To our 

knowledge, it is the first study 

to examine enterprise relevance 

for all four sectors together. If 

some of the rankings seem counterintuitive, 

that’s because the 

December 2012 


43

usiness-to-business emphasis 

leads to assessments very different 

from those of the typical 

technology press. For example, 

Apple, with its notable success 

and high market capitalization, 

is ranked below HP and Cisco 

Systems. Google is not even included 

in the top 10. (See Exhibit 

2.) Apple and Google are both 

remarkable, extraordinarily capable 

companies, but their impact 

on corporate ICT purchasing 

remains relatively low, no matter 

how many iPads or search engine 

advertisements are sold. If 

you are a CIO or an ICT decision 

maker designing your organization’s 

approach to digitization, 

the companies at the top of each 

category are the ones that are 

likely to be most relevant to you. 

(See Exhibit 3.) 

Financial Performance 

Where financial performance is 

concerned, the ICT 50 analysis 

confirms that one prevailing 

assumption of the past decade 

— “service rules” — no longer 

holds true. None of the top five 

financial performers were IT service 

providers or telecom operators. 

The software and Internet 

companies Microsoft, Google, 

and Oracle had the greatest 

overall financial health, followed 

by the hardware and infrastructure 

companies Apple and Cisco 

Systems. (The score combines 

several published measures: 

profitability, revenue growth, 

and investment capability.) 

The hardware and infrastructure 

sector experienced a slump during 

the economic downturn, but 

it has recovered since 2010, with 

three-year revenue growth of 

more than 11 percent. Margins, 

however, are comparatively 

low, at just 12 percent on average, 

and these companies face 

tremendous pressure as digitization 

expands. This pressure was 

highlighted in May 2012 when 

Hewlett-Packard announced it 

would cut more than 7 percent 

of its workforce and reinvest 

the savings in cloud-based businesses. 

As a whole, the software companies 

have the most enviable 

financial performance, at least 

for the moment. They have 

seen overall three-year revenue 

growth of more than 10 percent, 

and their margins have long 

been higher than 30 percent — 

higher than those of any other 

group. But they may soon face 

global rivals among the offshore 

service providers, who have by 

far the fastest growth rate and 

impressive EBIT (earnings before 

interest and taxes) margins of 

more than 20 percent, on average. 

Global service providers are also 

doing well; they maintain margins 

around 15 percent, and IBM 

generates more than US$15 billion 

in free cash flow each year. 

Regional service providers are in 

a more daunting position: With 

only mild revenue growth in the 

last two years, and margins in 

the 5 to 8 percent range, they 

may soon find themselves with 

little room to maneuver. Telecom 

companies are also stressed 

financially, but for a different 

reason: Comparatively stable 

and with relatively high earnings, 

they find that their growth has 

leveled off since the financial crisis 

of 2008 and shows no sign of 

renewed liftoff. (See Exhibit 4.) 

Portfolio Strength 

In the past, each group of ICT 

suppliers stayed well within their 

closely guarded sector boundaries. 

Software companies sold 

software, and telecom operators 

built communications networks 

and sold phone services. The 

four groups are still distinct, but 

not necessarily for long. Both 

traditional and nontraditional 

ICT companies are consolidating, 

seeking to build integrated 

ecosystems that cut across 

established business models and 

help them manage convergence. 



The pattern of mergers and 

acquisitions provides a tangible 

clue to the direction in which 

companies are moving. In 2009, 

hardware company Xerox 

acquired Affiliated Computer 

Services, a business process outsourcing 

firm, thereby accelerating 

Xerox’s shift to IT services. 

Dell bought IT services provider 

Perot Systems the same year, 

with similar intent. Other acquisitions, 

like Oracle’s 2010 purchase 

of Sun Microsystems, represent 

moves toward more complete 

software integration (adding 

a little hardware to the mix as 

well). These types of consolidations 

allow software companies, 

which were formerly concentrated 

on specific applications, 

to internalize larger parts of 

systems integrators’ traditional 

home turf and hold the line 

against IT service providers. 

Launches of new products 

and services also frequently 

represent moves across sector 

boundaries. (See Exhibit 5.) 

Some telecom operators seek 

a foothold in cloud computing 

and IT services; Verizon’s cloudbased 

infrastructure-as-a-service 

offering is one example, as is 

KPN, which provides application 

management services to its customers. 

Software and Internet 

companies are also innovating 

across boundaries, albeit more 

selectively. Yahoo, for example, 

offers comprehensive Web 

hosting but has stayed out of 

data center services and desktop 

operations. 

The companies most likely 

to cross boundaries are the 

IT service providers. IBM, for 

example, offers its Sametime 

Unified Telephony service, which 

includes telephony features for 

individual users and multi-PBX 

telephony integration for telephony 

managers, and CSC offers 

Unified Communications as a 

Service as well as My Conference 

Space, an integrated audio and 

Web conferencing solution. 

Besides this ability to manage 

convergence, the score reflects 

the ability to provide next-generation 

products and services. 

Many companies are blending 

traditional offerings with new, 

highly advanced technological 

services, including radio frequency 

identification solutions for 

retail, near-field communications 

solutions, cloud computing, 

and mobile payment platform 

support. Unfortunately, the 

profits and growth expected 

from next-generation offerings 

have not yet materialized. Most 

companies still earn more from 

classic ICT products and services; 

the next few years will tell how 

rapidly their customers will shift 

to next-generation technologies. 

Two other capabilities figure in 

the score for portfolio strength. 

First is the development of 

horizontal digital offerings for 

particular functions. Companies 

in the ICT 50 offer such special- 

December 2012 


45

ized services as customer analytics, 

digital marketing, campaign 

management, billing services, 

sales-force automation, social 

network integration, supply 

chain logistics, and e-procurement 

to company after company. 

Second is the provision 

of vertical offerings: tailored, 

industry-specific technological 

solutions that work across 

functions. Current examples 

include outsourced network 

management for telecom; clinical 

information systems, digital 

health monitoring, and homecare 

products for healthcare 

companies; and smart metering 

systems for utilities. In both the 

horizontal and vertical cases, the 

key value proposition appears to 

be integration; large companies 

are looking for ICT providers that 

can weave many diverse services 

around a coherent, focused, 

interoperable core. 

Some might assume that the 

industry is moving toward a 

consolidated group of comprehensive 

“one-stop” ICT 

companies with diversified 

portfolios. In three categories 

out of four, however, the results 

suggest otherwise: Companies 

with higher levels of coherence, 

applying the same capabilities 

to all their offerings, have higher 

levels of growth and profitability 

than do more diversified companies. 

The exception, at least to 

date, is IT service providers; that 

may change as their category 

converges and matures. (See 

Exhibit 6.) 

Go-to-Market Footprint 

Commentators often overlook 

a company’s geographic profile 

— especially its ability to sell and 

deliver products and services 

in the industry’s top markets. 

But this capability is critical to 

the success of any ICT company 

with global aspirations. That’s 

especially evident in the five 

most highly developed ICT markets 

— the U.S., the U.K., Japan, 

Germany, and France. These 

countries saw combined sales 

of $1.2 trillion in 2011, more than 

60 percent of total global sales 

of ICT services. Being proficient 

in sales and delivery in these 

markets certifies the ability of 

ICT players to satisfy the needs 

of the largest corporations. And 

these markets offer a source of 

revenue and a profit pool that is 

too big to be ignored. 

The offshore IT service providers 

are pushing hard to establish a 

foothold in these markets, which 

have not necessarily been their 

natural operating environment 

in the past. Tata Consultancy Services 

already has more than 600 

employees in Germany alone. 

We expect to see more aggressive 

investment and acquisition 

activities by these companies, 

which will increasingly compete 

(or form strategic partnerships) 

with regional IT service providers. 

The go-to-market footprint score 

also takes into account the ability 

to manage production facilities 

around the world, drawing 

on inexpensive labor, as well as 

“follow the sun” delivery (where 

a project is handed off daily from 

one time zone to the next, thus 

providing 24-hour scheduling). 

This type of global production 

is particularly challenging for 

many telecom operators. They 

are bound to their local markets 

by their existing infrastructure 

investments, which severely 

limits the efficiencies they can 

gain in other locations, and 

by the inherent complexity of 

combining offshore and onshore 

operations. Telecom companies 

also face more regulatory restrictions 

than the other sectors. This 

explains a striking correlation in 

the data for telecom operators: 

The more offshore activity they 

engage in, the less profitable 

they are. 

The opposite is true for IT service 

providers. The more their 

operations move offshore, the 

higher their profitability. Regional 

IT service providers may 

feel some disadvantage; they 

lack the capabilities and capital 

to break into emerging markets. 

But the offshore providers 

are already familiar with many 

emerging markets, and they 

have been able to realize savings 

from lower workforce costs. 

Global providers also do well on 

this score; they have established 

successful production facilities 

(and the requisite talent practices 

to staff them) around the 

globe. Companies such as IBM, 

with delivery centers worldwide, 

and Capgemini, whose workforce 

is distributed among 40 

countries, are significantly more 

profitable than those whose 

production takes place primarily 

in high-wage countries. (We 

saw little or no correlation effect 

with the other two groups, 

presumably because hardware 

and infrastructure companies, 

and their software and Internet 

counterparts, have more flexible 

geographic and labor requirements.) 

Growth Potential 

For a digitization provider, the 

prospects for growth are as important 

as current-day financial 

performance. The growth potential 

score is heavily weighted 

by each company’s ability to 

innovate: to maintain an active 

pipeline of new ideas and bring 

them to market successfully. 

The most visible ICT 50 innovation 

leaders are found in two 

of the four sectors: software 

and Internet companies, and 

hardware and infrastructure 

companies. These companies 

typically spend a considerable 

portion of their revenues on 

research and development, 

and even those that spend well 

below their group average, most 

notably Apple, tend to spend 

their innovation dollars wisely. 

In addition to investing in its 

traditional devices and components 

business, Fujitsu spends 

almost half of its $2.8 billion R&D 

budget on IT products, solutions, 

and services. And Xerox has 

invested considerable funds in 

its Computing and Information 

Services Laboratory, where it 

investigates scalable computing 

for business process solutions 

and big data analytics. 

By contrast, most of the IT 

service providers do not have 

the margins needed to invest in 



R&D at high rates, and (with the 

notable exception of IBM) their 

innovation takes a more modest 

form. They see themselves as 

integrators, continually researching 

ways to link the products 

and services produced by other 

companies. As for the telecom 

operators, they continue to 

spend much of their funds on 

recurring infrastructure and 

network upgrade commitments, 

limiting the amount of capital 

available to innovate in more 

value-added services. 

The growth potential score also 

reflects each company’s ability 

to enter new markets — both 

within established geographies 

(such as selling to small and 

midsized enterprises or governments) 

and in new regions. 

Notwithstanding their current 

importance to the go-to-market 

footprint score, the five most 

highly developed ICT markets 

grew just 1 percent on average 

over the past three years, and 

their long-term growth prospects 

are not particularly strong. 

The BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, 

and China), on the other hand, 

currently account for only $186 

billion in ICT sales, but they grew 

13 percent on average per year 

from 2009 to 2011. By 2020, the 

BRICs will be markets in which 

every ICT player must operate. 

Predictions and Prescriptions 

For companies buying ICT 

services, the convergence of 

the ICT 50 promises to be very 

exciting. As the ICT 50 companies 

compete across boundaries, 

winners will emerge that are 

more innovative, more responsive 

to customers, and able to 

deliver more at lower costs. But 

how should the different sectors 

position themselves? 

In general, the hardware and 

infrastructure companies have 

demonstrated relatively strong 

financial performance, with a 

well-developed go-to-market 

footprint and robust growth 

potential. Their greatest priorities 

should be finding a business 

model that works for them 

and increasing their portfolio 

strength. Much will depend on 

how well these players capitalize 

on the next generation of 

on-demand services. They will be 

the providers of the underlying 

infrastructure that enables realtime 

computing, in-memory processing, 

and more; they will also 

need to forge differentiated, 

profitable offerings by acquiring 

or partnering with connectivity 

and network providers. Apple 

is currently developing a closely 

guarded closed-service ecosystem, 

but other, more open 

system approaches may also be 

viable. New types of challengers, 

such as Amazon, will probably 

enter the ICT 50 soon; Amazon’s 

Web services business is built on 

a highly flexible, scalable data 

center and computing infrastructure. 

The telecom operators 

boast consistently high financial 

performance and a strong 

portfolio of critical communications 

products and services, but 

their core business is maturing 

and faces commoditization. To 

sidestep this, they must expand 

their go-to-market footprint 

through acquisitions or strategic 

partnerships, push for operational 

excellence and efficiency 

within the constraints imposed 

by physical network assets and 

local regulation, and develop 

a truly differentiating portfolio 

of services that will take them 

beyond their traditional telecom 

offerings. Some companies, 

notably Verizon and NTT, with 

their strong cloud offerings, 

are beginning to make these 

moves. But after paying for the 

next generation of network 

infrastructure, they have limited 

funds for further innovation, 

and their growth potential is 

constrained. They may seek additional 

partnerships or mergers 

as a vehicle for growth. 

The strength of the IT service 

providers varies, depending on 

their size, financial performance, 

and go-to-market footprint. In 

the short term, consolidation 

within this sector will continue 

— as demonstrated by CGI’s 

recent acquisition of Logica. 

Market share and scale alone, 

however, will not differentiate 

these companies or guarantee 

profitability; the firms will need 

to bolster their growth potential 

through innovation and stand 

their ground in competition 

against the other ICT 50 sectors. 

The changing nature of system 

integration will keenly affect 

them; as custom-integrated enterprise 

software solutions lose 

ground to prepackaged cloudbased 

solutions and as software 

players absorb some of the 

traditional system integration 

business, IT service providers will 

need to build portfolio strength 

by developing their integration 

capabilities. 

Many offshore IT service companies 

are already moving in this 

direction. They are using their industrialized 

delivery capabilities 

and low-labor-cost advantages 

to compete against such global 

players as IBM, Accenture, and 

HP. They will seek aggressive 

expansion into the lucrative markets 

of mature economies; the 

challenge for them will be to do 

so while remaining true to their 

low-cost, offshore roots. 

Finally, the software and 

Internet companies on the ICT 

50 are financially sound and 

highly innovative, with generally 

strong portfolios and a great 

deal of growth potential. They 

should expand, but only into 

areas that differentiate them. 

Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP are in 

a strong position today, and they 

are working hard to stay there. 

But “digital native” players 

are pushing aggressively into 

the arena, especially in cloud 

computing and social media. 

Expect digital-centric players 

such as Google to move up in 

the software ranks, and look 

for more cloud-based software 

companies to follow older 

firms like Salesforce.com into 

prominence. 

In most industries, it takes a long 

time for companies to change 

the way they operate. But many 

members of the ICT 50 have 

already shown themselves to be 

fast-moving and flexible. Next 

year, when we look again at the 

industry, we suspect that much 

will have changed; we may well 

see 10 newcomers among the 

ICT 50. But the biggest winners 

will undoubtedly be those that, 

like IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle 

(this year’s top three), combine 

flexibility with a distinctive core 

identity that no one else can 

duplicate. 

December 2012 


47

Europe should choose 

future-proof broadband NOW! 

Karin Ahl 

President of the Board 

FTTH Council Europe 

Internet, broadband and 

next-generation information 

and telecommunications are 

the pillars upon which Europe 

will be built. We must make 

the right decisions today 

in order to create a futureoriented 

Europe. The EU can 

come out of the current crisis 

as a strong player on the 

global telecommunication 

and broadband services 

market, but getting there is 

challenging. Strong leadership 

is required to support decisionmakers 

in their choice for the 

only future-proof broadband 

access solution: Fibre to the 

Home! 

FTTH Council Europe is aware 

there is a long and difficult 

road ahead. Let me give you an 

example of what we’re facing 

today. The local government of 

Lower Austria - the country’s 

largest federal state with 

over 1.6 million inhabitants - 

recently sent a letter to rural 

municipalities, informing them 

that their broadband will be 

upgraded with the ‘latest 

wireless technology’, allowing 

‘up to 8 Mbps in downstream’. 

This means 5 million euros of 

public money will be spent 

on a technology that doesn’t 

even support the European 

Commission’s lowest Digital 

Agenda for Europe 2020 target! 

This is a prime example of 

how decision-makers across 

the European Union deal with 

ICT and broadband. Since 

the European Commission 

published the Digital Agenda 

(DAE) in 2010, there are voices 

that say the broadband targets 

are ambitious. But given the 

ambitions and plans of strong 

economies outside Europe, the 

targets are merely appropriate, 

or even low. 

After two years of escalating 

crisis, Europe’s governments 

and decision-makers are 

questioning the DAE targets, 

to delay steps and bring down 

targets, instead of facing the 

challenge and leading Europe 

into a competitive future. Let’s 

subject their main arguments 

to a reality check: 

There is no market evidence 

that higher speeds are needed 

Financing networks is not 

possible Europe has more 

urgent problems than 

broadband 

No evidence? 

Many larger operators admit 

Fibre to the Home is the ‘end 

game’ solution, yet claim that 

there is no proof of broadband 

demand. The FTTH Council 

Europe has investigated takeup 

rates of fibre networks that 

have existed for several years. 

The result? Consumers WILL 

subscribe to high-speed fibre 

products, even at a premium 

price. Take-up is a question of 

time and consumers who have 

experienced high bandwidth 

and quality of services are 

very loyal. However, many 

Europeans mistrust advertised 

bandwidth as studies show 

huge differences between 

promised ‘up to’ speeds and 

what is actually delivered. 

When someone tells you 

‘nobody will need 100 

Mbps in the next 10 years’, 

consider this: a century ago, 

governments claimed there 

was no evidence that more 

cars would ever be sold, and 

therefore no need for more 

roads. In 1958, IBM CEO Tom 

Watson stated “there is a 

world market for about 5 

computers”. Back in 1981, 

Bill Gates claimed that “no 

personal computer will ever 

need more than 640 kB of 

memory”. 

Just ten years ago, consumers 

didn’t know about HDTV on 

demand, big-screen LCD-TVs, 

tablets, smartphones, online 

business or digital cameras. The 

first 4k devices, with four times 

the resolution of HDTV, will be 

on sale in time for Christmas 

this year. European consumers 

will soon be demanding 

services widely available in 

many other parts of the world, 

but operators won’t be able to 

deliver. 

Impossible financing? 

A significant – albeit solvable 

– challenge is the investment 

size and lack of infrastructure 

project financing. We’ve 

conducted several studies on 

this topic and set up a special 

‘financing of fibre networks’ 

project to support making 

funds available. 

Many studies look at the 

European or national level 

and come up with terrifying 

figures - but without publishing 

the underlying model, making 

verification impossible. 

Therefore, FTTH Council Europe 

started its own ‘cost project’. 

Instead of extrapolating rough 

cost estimations, our model 

is based on bottom up cost 

calculations of existing fibre 

projects and real geographical 

information data. 

The surprising result: delivering 

fibre to nearly all European 

households will cost (less 

than) half of many other 

cost estimations, at just over 

200 billion euros! (Germany 

alone spent over 80 billion 

euros on telecommunications 

infrastructure over the last 10 

years...) 

Furthermore, over the last 18 

months, pension funds, institutional 

and private investors 

and regional investment banks 

have started examining the 

possibilities and making investments. 

A special ‘Investors Day’ 

during the February 2013 FTTH 

Conference in London will 

bring investors and fibre projects 

even closer together. In 

addition, the European Union’s 

‘Connected Europe Facility’ 

(CEF) in the 2014-2016 budget 

foresees 7 billion of a total of 

9.2 billion euros for broadband. 

Innovative financing tools and 

private-public-partnership models 

will leverage a much higher 

investment from this budget. 

More urgent matters than ICT? 

Although 9.2 billion isn’t that 

much compared to the total 

1,000 billion European Union 

budget, the CEF is under heavy 

attack. Decision-makers in several 

countries question even 

the smallest budget reservations 

for broadband, preferring 

to invest in streets, railways or 

airports - even though there’s 

already an infrastructure budget 

proposal four times larger 

than the CEF. 



du launches in-house contest at 

the UAE’s 41st National Day 

Ahmad bin Byat 

During the celebrations of 

the UAE’s 41st National Day, 

du launched an in-house, 

interdepartmental contest. 

Under the theme ‘Proud of the 

UAE’s culture’, the competition 

encouraged du employees 

to decorate their division to 

demonstrate their patriotism 

and pride in the UAE. The 

contest falls under the 

umbrella of du’s National Day 

initiatives, which aim to spur 

national pride amongst people 

in the UAE. 

Each department within du 

demonstrated its creativity and 

research talent, by decorating 

designated chill out areas, 

desks – and even themselves 

– to reflect a unique element 

of Emirati culture. Entries were 

judged on the educational 

element of their feature, 

based on new information 

shared about the UAE; the 

creativity of their decorations, 

and the levels of participation 

amongst team members. “The 

‘Proud of the UAE’s culture’ 

competition brings together 

every member of staff into 

a unified commemoration 

of the things we are most 

proud about in our country. 

Emirati culture is unique and 

something to be celebrated 

by itself. We encourage others 

across the nation to devise 

unique, creative ways to 

demonstrate their admiration 

of the country,” said Ahmad 

Bin Byat, Chairman, du. 

du presents Aviation Business Awards 2012 

Reka Sepsy 

At a recently held ceremony, 

du, presented Emirates Flight 

Catering with the Technology 

Implementation of Year award, 

Qatar Executive with the 

Business Aviation Operator 

award, and Emirates Aviation 

College with the Training and 

Education Provider of the 

Year award at the Aviation 

Business Awards 2012. The 

awards recognised the stars of 

the aviation industry for their 

dedication and achievements. 

“On behalf of my colleagues, I 

would like to congratulate all 

of the winners at the Aviation 

Business Awards 2012, and wish 

them every business success 

in the years to come. Aviation 

is a core sector and more so in 

the Middle East region, which 

in a short span of time has 

become an aviation hub and 

home to world’s best known 

brands in this sector. The 

awards are a well-deserved 

recognition of the innovation 

and ingenuity of the companies 

and their high standards of 

service excellence,” said Farid 

Faraidooni, Chief Commercial 

Officer, du. 

The event was attended by 

senior members of the du management 

including John Lincoln, 

Vice President - Enterprise 

Marketing Segment, among 

others. As a leading provider of 

telecommunications services 

for the aviation sector, du has 

a portfolio of business services 

that enables the sector to excel 

and achieve its goals. 

December 2012 


49

Deepshri Iyer 

Frost & Sullivan: 

Regulatory compliance to be one of the key drivers of the Enterprise 

Security Market in the Middle East 

With consumers and enterprises 

accessing more and more 

applications through the 

Internet globally, the computing 

industry is witnessing a 

paradigm shift. Enterprises are 

rapidly adopting and deploying 

applications and new services to 

gain operating efficiencies. As 

modern-day businesses become 

increasingly information-centric 

in the Middle East with changing 

technology trends, effective 

management of information 

security risks is of paramount 

importance for decision 

makers. To overcome this rising 

complexity of associated threats 

such as intellectual property, 

identity theft, unauthorised 

access, service interruption, and 

breakdown of internal controls, 

a shift in focus is necessary 

from threat management to risk 

management. To address these 

challenges, Frost & Sullivan 

will be hosting the Middle East 

Enterprise Security Summit 

2012 on 21st November, at 

Habtoor Grand Beach Resort, 

Dubai, U.A.E. This summit aims 

to convene the best minds in 

Enterprise Security under one 

roof to create an interactive 

milieu for exchange of 

knowledge and ideas. 

With the increased adoption of 

bring-your-own-device (BYOD), 

cloud and computing trends 

in business, the need for user 

based security has become even 

bigger. The adoption of these 

technologies has challenged the 

traditional security architecture, 

which has been unable to tackle 

increasingly sophisticated 

attacks in the Middle East. Also, 

due to increasing penetration 

of global companies in the 

region and Governments plans 

to spend more on security 

technologies, there has been a 

growing need amongst public 

and private sector companies 

to enhance their security 

infrastructure with IT becoming 

a critical component in their 

operational setups. Through 

this summit, Frost & Sullivan will 

address these emerging and 

continuing threats to Enterprise 

Security, as well as brainstorm 

on the innovative best practices 

in the increasingly competitive 

Enterprise Security sector to 

combat the increasing risk of 

security breaches and data 

leakage, cyber warfare, data 

center security, and more in the 

Middle East. 

Andy Baul Lewis, 

Director, Information and 

Communication Technologies 

Practice, Middle East and North 

Africa, Frost & Sullivan states, 

“The changing Enterprise 

landscape and paradigm 

shift in communications to 

collaborative technologies, 

coupled with increased Internet 

penetration and information 

sharing, network threats are 

making organisations review 

their security policies. Also, with 

the Government spending on 

IT, the Middle East Network 

Security market is expected to 

grow over the next five years, 

thereby opening up huge 

opportunities for vendors to 

identify and tap.” 

The key areas of discussion 

at the Summit would 

include Information Security 

Management, Evolving Role 

of the CIOs, Protecting IT 

Infrastructure from Future 

Threats, Efficient and Effective 

ways to protect Data and 

Applications, Ways to Manage 

Security Gaps in an Enterprise 

and Bridging the gap between 

Security and Operational 

Efficiency. 

NEC strengthens measures against cyber attacks 

on government offices and businesses 

NEC Corporation has established 

a new company structure, 

the “Cyber Security Factory” 

(CSF), for strengthening 

its support of the deployment 

and operation of solutions that 

protect against cyber attacks 

on government offices and 

businesses. CSF solutions are 

expected to be available in 

Japan in 2013. 

In recent years, there are a 

growing number of organizations 

and individuals who have 

lost confidential and personal 

information through targeted 

cyber attacks. Moreover, as 

these attacks become more sophisticated, 

they also become 

more difficult to detect, which 

slows the implementation of 

counter measures and allows 

the attacks to inflict greater 

damage. 

In order to expose this threat, 

and support the measures that 

organizations take against 

cyber attacks, NEC already 

provides its “Incident Visualization 

Solution,” “Targeted 

Attack Inspection Service,” and 

the “Utra-High-Speed Analysis 

Platform: InfoFrame DWH Appliance” 

in Japan. 

NEC is leveraging this experience 

in the development of 

decision support systems for 

the National Security field 

in order to build monitoring 

control technologies and to 

offer technologies for building 

highly confidential network systems. 

This has resulted in the 

creation of the CSF, a company 

structure that horizontally links 

the internal departments that 

manage security issues. The 

CSF allows NEC to provide its 

customers with a single service 

package that includes the 

installation of its cyber attack 

counter-measure systems as 

well as operational support. 

“NEC’s Cyber Security Factory 

cooperates with domestic 

security companies as part of 

analyzing cyber attack information 

that is constantly changing,” 

said Hironori Takahashi, 

National Security Solutions 

Division, NEC. “The Factory’s 

solutions capitalize on its 

structure of accumulated and 

shared technologies and knowhow 

(cyber test range, *2) in 

order to effectively respond to 

security related incidents and 

unauthorized access.” 



Huawei: Customer experience 

The future benchmarking in Telecom innovation 

Teletimes Report 

During Middle East Telco World Summit 2012, company outlines how local service providers can shift focus 

from the network to the end user for better quality of services 

Huawei, a leading global 

information and communications 

technology (ICT) solutions 

provider, teamed up early this 

month with leading telecom 

operators and regulators across 

the Middle East to illustrate how 

a renewed focus on improving 

the customer experience will 

drive holistic changes in service 

marketing & loyalty models 

being deployed over the coming 

year. 

According to Huawei regional 

executives speaking at the 

recently held Middle East Telco 

World Summit, concerns over 

the rapid growth of mobile 

broadband traffic are encouraging 

operators to look not only at 

technology upgrades, but how 

service packages can be customized 

to meet the very specific requirements 

of subscribers in the 

Middle East. Huawei’s keynote 

on ‘Customer Experience Management’ 

(CEM) showed that 

much of these changes shall be 

introduced as proactive actions 

to improve consumer engagement 

and redesign processes 

of call centers; enabling service 

providers to better measure 

and retain the loyalty of their 

customers. 

“Heightened competition has 

certainly encouraged a lot of 

innovation on both the services 

and infrastructure layer,” notes 

Khalid Attia, VP Professional 

Services Consultancy at Huawei 

Middle East. “Moving into 

2013, one of the industry’s core 

priorities will be to understand 

the multitude of financial and 

technical choices that enable 

service providers to maximize 

benefits and at the same time 

differentiate their portfolio from 

competitors.” 

This is of heightened significance 

in the region today as 

telecoms services have become 

less defined by the types of 

technology used and instead 

are being benchmarked more 

closely to the customer’s actual 

quality of service experience on 

a daily basis. Huawei believes 

that while there are many different 

features within the field 

of CEM, operators in the Middle 

East today can start by magnifying 

their focus on three areas 

in particular: Retention and 

Loyalty, Service Assurance and 

Policy Control. 

“The industry as a whole must 

transform its management style 

from one that focuses on the 

network to one that focuses on 

the user,” adds Khalid. “Getting 

closer to the actual experience 

of the end users can help the 

service providers to expedite 

the process of discovering areas 

in which performance can be improved, 

dramatically increasing 

the total value of ownership.” 

In line with this approach, 

Huawei has been developing its 

SmartCare® service solution to 

enable service providers with 

real-time monitoring and quality 

assurance on the user experience. 

A strategic component of 

Huawei’s professional service 

portfolio, the award-winning 

service solution has already 

been deployed by several tier-1 

global operators and is currently 

under implementation by many 

of the leading service providers 

in the Middle East. 

In addition to Huawei’s CEM session, 

the company was also active 

in other forums within the 

Middle East Telco World Summit 

including the dedicated ‘LTE 

Focus Day’ on Day 2. Huawei has 

become one of the world’s most 

important contributors to LTE 

standards and patents whilst 

gaining the lead in global LTE 

commercialization as the top 

ranked brand worldwide with 

more than 50% market share. 

Now in its 17th year, the Middle 

East Telco World Summit was 

held in Dubai on December 4 & 

5 and is the longest established 

and largest annual Middle 

Eastern telecoms event. Huawei 

was both an Event Partner for 

this year’s summit as well as 

the Silver Sponsor for the ‘LTE 

Focus Day’. 

December 2012 


51

Tadiran Telecom enhances its offerings in China: 

Aeonix, the new UC&C solution, 

was approved by the Chinese State Grid Power 

Tadiran Telecom, a leader in 

communications solutions, 

announced that the Chinese 

State Grid power has certified 

the company’s Aeonix solution 

for use in China. Recently 

launched globally, Aeonix is 

a new, UC&C solution that 

consolidates disparate business 

applications into a single 

communications platform 

and is designed to grow and 

adapt intelligently to changing 

customer needs. 

Aeonix’s scalability can extend 

customer networks based on 

current demand and changing 

needs. 

Its open architecture allows 

customers the flexibility to 

buy and install only what they 

currently need, and to add 

users, remote locations, and 

additional applications as they 

become necessary, by just 

acquiring software licenses. 

Aeonix delivers unmatched 

versatility, simplicity, and 

adaptability for customers 

ranging from 10 to 25K users. 

“This recognition by the 

Chinese State Grid Power, 

in one of Tadiran Telecom’s 

most important markets, is an 

acknowledgment of Aeonix’s 

innovative technology and 

flexibility. We are looking 

forward to working with 

this prestigious customer to 

implement Tadiran Telecom’s 

comprehensive UC&C 

technology” said Eldad Barak, 

President and CEO of Tadiran 

Telecom. 

Tadiran Telecom has been 

involved with many large 

projects in China over the past 

few years in vertical markets 

such as: Power and Energy, 

Subway and Operators. In 

the power industry, Tadiran 

Telecom is one of the leading 

providers for the State Grid 

Power and South Grid Power. 

Tadiran Telecom’s projects in 

China include: Three Gorges 

and Moda pipeline, telephony 

solutions in Beijing, Daxing 

and Yizhuang subway lines, 

and the airport express for the 

2008 Beijing Olympic Games. 

Recent projects include: 

Kunming, Chongqing, Chengdu, 

Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Harbin 

and Changsha subway lines. In 

2012 Tadiran Telecom became 

a qualified supplier of Beijing 

Unicom. 

MTN Afghanistan selects AIRCOM International’s 

AIQ to improve network performance 

Zoe Davies 

AIRCOM International, the 

leading independent network 

planning and optimisation 

solutions provider, has been 

selected by MTN Afghanistan 

to improve the quality of its 

network using its AIQ intelligent 

optimisation managed 

services and consultancy. AIQ 

is a managed service solution 

that targets the improvement 

of network KPIs and network 

auditing. Key benefits of AIQ 

derive from the state of the art 

methodology, data collection 

and structure workflow. 

MTN Afghanistan’s selection of 

AIQ follows an extensive endto-end 

network audit carried 

out by AIRCOM. In this audit, 

AIRCOM comprehensively 

examined MTN Afghanistan’s 

network performance and 

optimisation requirements, 

assessing its radio access network, 

transmission network, 

circuit switching core, billing 

system and packet switching 

core. This audit was intended 

to identify existing network 

glitches, with AIQ then recommending 

a series of ongoing 

techniques to improve 

network quality of service, 

increase subscriber numbers, 

and improve revenues. 

AIRCOM will be instrumental 

in identifying and resolving 

areas of MTN Afghanistan’s 

network that might be over 

or under-dimensioned. This 

will enable the operator to 

improve transmission and 

RAN quality of service and 

maximise spectrum efficiency. 

AIRCOM will be able to identify 

the bottlenecks affecting 

network performance, where 

routing can be improved, and 

where additional capacity may 

be needed. This will reduce 

dropped call rates, improve 

areas of low signal strength – 

especially indoors – and ensure 

that roaming revenues are 

captured. 

“Network performance is of 

critical importance in ensuring 

we continue to meet our 

customer’s growing expectations,” 

said Hassan Jaber, CEO 

at MTNA. “We’re delighted to 

be benefiting from AIRCOM’s 

expertise in maintaining the 

highest possible standards as 

we look to continue to capture 

growing market share.” 

“MTN Afghanistan is continuing 

in its wide-ranging project 

to improve and optimise every 

part of its network, and we’re 

very proud to be part of that,” 

said Alwyn Welch, CEO, AIR- 

COM. “This is our third major 

project in Afghanistan and 

we’re very pleased to be extending 

our working relationship 

with MTN Afghanistan.” 

MTN Afghanistan was awarded 

the second GSM licence in Afghanistan, 

entering the market 

in 2006. In July 2012, the company 

was awarded a license to 

deploy 3G services. 



Comguard unveils irresistible bundle offer 


Comguard, a Dubai based 

leading value added distributor 

for IT security products in the 

Middle East and North Africa 

region and the part of Spectrum 

group in association with 

gateProtect and Kaspersky Lab 

has announced an irresistible 

bundle offer for its channel 

partners spread across the 

Middle East region. 

The latest promotional offer 

from Comguard brings two of 

the best technologies together 

and offers an irresistible bundle 

for channel partners to gain 

maximum value by getting two 

products while just spending 

for one. 

The irresistible bundle deal offers 

a free license of Kaspersky 

Small Office Security software 

suite on every purchase of any 

gateProtect firewall. Channel 

Partners spread across GCC 

and West Asia including UAE, 

Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, 

Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan 

can avail the benefits from this 

bundle offer. The offer is valid 

till 31st December 2012. 

Gateprotect is a leading manufacturer 

of Next Generation 

firewalls and the only manufacturer 

worldwide to implement 

the ISO NORM 9241 standard. 

The Next Generation Firewall 

Appliances fromgateprotect 

combine state-of-the-art security 

and network features such 

as firewalls, bridging, VLAN, 

single sign-on, traffic shaping, 

QoS, IPSec/SSL (X.509), IDS/ 

IPS, web filters, virus filters, 

real-time spam detection, 

HTTPs proxy, and VPN Crypto 

acceleration in a single unified 

system. 

Kaspersky Small Office Security 

is exclusively designed for 

small businesses. It delivers 

highly affordable world-class 

PC and server protection that 

is quick and simple to install, 

configure and use. You can 

manage your entire business 

network security from a single 

PC – performing all the tasks 

needed to keep your business 

reputation safe and your confidential 

information secure, 

without leaving your desk. 

Kaspersky Small Office Security 

takes care of your network’s 

Amarjot Dhanjal 

protection so you can take care 

of your business. 

Amarjot Dhanjal, Senior business 

development manager at 

Comguard, said, “This bundle 

offer is in line with our strategy 

to encourage our partners 

to do more business at good 

margins. We expect that this 

irresistible bundle deal for 

gateProtect and Kaspersky Lab 

will help our partners secure 

more business opportunities 

and gain maximum benefit.” 

Comguard releases version 9.2 with application filter for 

gateProtect next-generation firewall in the Middle East 

ComGuard has announced the 

availability of Version 9.2 of 

gateProtect next-generation 

firewall solution with an 

extended set of features. This is 

the first time that an application 

filter has been integrated in 

addition to the latest security 

and network features. Version 

9.2 will now offer customers 

a sustainable solution to cope 

with changing conditions and 

future challenges in IT security 

and data protection, along with 

its usual reliable performance, 

security and stability. 

This upgrade is gateProtect’s 

response to the fact that these 

days companies must follow an 

entirely 

different approach to managing 

security risks in IT networks. 

“Unlike just a few years ago, it is 

no longer 

sufficient today to filter data on 

the basis of ports and protocols 

and to block individual pages”, 

says. 

Stephan Ziegler, CTO at 

gateProtect, when explaining 

the need for an application 

filter. “Next-generation firewalls 

must now exercise stricter 

control over data packages and 

the information provided in 

them.” 

These days, cyber-attacks are 

based on highly specialised 

software, with complex 

programming, constant 

updates and numerous means 

of penetrating a company’s 

network. Web-based user 

programs and social networks, 

microblogging and streaming 

all offer an ideal target for 

malware. This type of software 

makes use of the existing 

communication structure of 

the corporate network or 

the architecture of individual 

applications and is extremely 

difficult to trace. 

While URL and content filters 

can only prevent or limit the 

download of unacceptable 

pages and content, application 

filters are able to go into more 

detail and only block certain 

aspects of a service or website. 

An application filter records the 

data traffic, evaluates it and 

analyses the data packages. The 

company’s 

IT security administrator 

compiles rules for the network 

environment on the basis of 

these results, ensuring that 

these rules are in keeping with 

corporate policy and are able 

to offer maximum protection 

against possible attacks. 

Amarjot Dhanjal, Senior 

business development manager, 

Comguard said, “With addition 

of application filter to URL & 

Content filters, version 9.2 of 

gateProtect next generation 

UTM firewall will deliver a 

most comprehensive security 

solutions that can safeguard 

businesses against the growing 

menace of security breaches 

and concerns of in the region. 

December 2012 


53

Etisalat accompanies media representatives to 

visit Huawei in China to keep them updated on the 

technology sector 

Etisalat UAE has organized 

a delegation visit to Huawei 

headquarters in China 

which included officials 

from Etisalat’s Corporate 

Communications Department 

and a large group of media 

representatives from the UAE. 

During the week- long visit, 

they attended high level 

meetings and undertook 

various field tours to the 

Huawei headquarters and 

many of its plants, research 

centers and labs. The visit 

aimed to view closely the work 

details and phases related to 

the development of solutions, 

services and products that 

Huawei provides to the ICT 

sector in general and to the 

Etisalat network in particular. 

Travelling between the 

Chinese cities of Shenzhen and 

Shanghai, the visiting members 

were given exclusive access to 

a number of Huawei’s stateof-the-art 

global facilities. 

Amongst the locations 

visited were Huawei’s Global 

Headquarters, the company’s 

largest global R&D center, as 

well as Huawei’s showrooms 

featuring the brand’s 

subsidiaries. The meeting 

with Huawei senior executives 

provided an overview about 

the company’s plans of 

expansion within the Middle 

East over the coming years— 

focusing on its strategic 

partnerships with industry 

leaders in the region like 

Etisalat. 

“This initiative is a significant 

part of Etisalat and Huawei’s 

close cooperation in 

pioneering the world’s most 

advanced ICT products and 

services, which in turn can 

deliver faster and more 

accessible telecom services to 

our customers across the UAE. 

There is no doubt that the new 

generation of communications 

will have a vital role in 

enhancing the development 

process in all communities,” 

noted Mr. Jaber Al Janahi, 

Vice President of Corporate 

Communications at Etisalat. 

“While the ICT industry is 

widely recognized as an 

immense driver of national 

competitiveness and economic 

development, Huawei also 

acknowledges that the technology 

involved in network 

planning has many different 

facets. We thus feel that it is 

important to work with entities 

like Etisalat and the media 

to showcase to the public 

how innovations happening in 

places as far off as China are 

interconnected with concurrent 

research around the 

world, and how these collective 

advancements are in turn 

delivered to individuals each 

and every day,” notes Mr. Leo 

Xu, Vice President of Huawei 

Middle East. “This is especially 

relevant in today’s global 

economy where companies 

like Etisalat and Huawei need 

to stay in constant dialogue on 

how new technologies can better 

serve users worldwide—regardless 

of where the technology 

originates. It is best if the 

media representatives to have 

this direct knowledge in order 

to reach the public.” 

Over the years Etisalat and 

Huawei have set many regional 

firsts within the telecom sector 

including several in the UAE. 

In 2011, Etisalat and Huawei 

announced the signing of a 

contract to commence deployment 

of the region’s widest 4G 

LTE network in the UAE, which 

was realized last September 

and is now expected to fully 

cover the nation’s populated 

areas within the next two 

years. Earlier this year, Etisalat 

Academy also signed a memorandum 

of understanding with 

Huawei to introduce the first 

certified LTE training programs 

in the region. 

Other notable collaborations 

include the Arab world’s first 

commercial deployment of 

a 3G UMTS network in 2003, 

the launch of the region’s first 

HSPA+ network in 2006, and 

the building of the world’s 

largest GPON FTTH fiber 

network during 2008 in UAE. 

The Middle East is one of 

the fastest growing regions 

worldwide for Huawei with 

regional contract sales 

across the Middle East in 2011 

totaling USD3.22 billion, a 20% 

increase from the previous 

year. Through the company’s 

140,000-plus employees 

and 20-plus years in the ICT 

field, Huawei has established 

end-to-end capabilities across 

the telecom, enterprise and 

consumer markets which 

have been deployed in over 

140 countries serving more 

than one-third of the world’s 

population. 



Nawras installs high speed enterprise 

connectivity at GUtech campus in Halban 

Nawras has successfully 

installed a fibre optic connectivity 

solution at the German 

University of Technology in 

Oman (GUtech) to provide 

voice and high speed internet 

across the entire new campus 

in Halban. 

The new voice installation 

uses SIP Trunk (Session Initiation 

Protocol). This service is 

uniquely offered by Nawras in 

Oman and gives customers access 

to significantly more voice 

channels than currently available 

through legacy systems. 

In addition, it provides capacity 

for growth to match future 

expansion. The use of a Nawras 

Internet Enterprise (NIE) gives 

an uninterrupted and secured 

internet connection to handle 

data requirements. 

Vikash Vardhan Sharma, Key 

Account Manager at Nawras 

Business, said, “This was an exciting 

project for Nawras that 

required innovative solutions 

for the new university campus 

as it is situated two kilometres 

across rough terrain from the 

nearest fibre ring. We installed 

a dedicated connection from 

the ring to the university which 

will ensure fast and uninterrupted 

internet access as well 

as accommodate unlimited 

additional lines. This future 

proofs the campus, as a vital 

Julie Amann 

part of the university’s communications 

network.” 

Jiji Tom Verghese, Head of IT 

department at GUtech, said, 

“We are incredibly excited to 

have Nawras as our communications 

provider. The product 

designed and delivered will 

benefit both existing and 

future students as we continue 

to grow as a university with 

a diverse range of courses to 

meet current trends and interests 

in the academic realm.” 

GUtech offers a range of postsecondary 

courses. The new fibre 

optic connection will serve 

over 800 students and faculty 

across the campus by delivering 

the latest technology to 

meet their growing communications 

requirements. 

Nawras has been working 

closely with various educational 

institutions to support their 

communication needs through 

customised services and pricing 

solutions. The company’s 

recent solution to the Ministry 

of Education enabled a faster 

access to their central web 

portal. This gives parents and 

students a better web browsing 

and data connectivity experience 

while enhancing study 

support by connecting over a 

hundred local schools through 

its internet server. 

Nawras launches Bulk SMS packages for SMEs with free trial and setup 

Nawras, Oman’s customer 

friendly communications 

provider, has introduced 

convenient Bulk SMS services 

in a wider range of bundle sizes 

specifically to suit the needs of 

small and medium sized businesses 

(SMEs). Nawras Bulk 

SMS now offers customers 

cost effective messaging packages 

with just 1,000 or 3,000 

messages each month and no 

setup cost or monthly fee. 

The service is now rechargeable 

online and provides a 

simple and easy online tool for 

SMEs to dispatch messages 

directly to their own customers. 

Businesses can easily 

purchase new bundles using 

any local credit or internet card 

and most debit cards. Customers 

can also visit any of the 27 

Nawras stores for an immediate 

recharge. 

Besides the new recharge 

channels, Nawras has also 

redesigned the web-based 

access with many new features 

including a Microsoft Outlook® 

plug-in which makes sending 

an SMS as simple as sending an 

e-mail giving more options to 

help entrepreneurs grow their 

business. Message templates 

and groups can be created 

and activity reports generated 

whenever needed. 

Nawras is currently offering 

customers the chance to try 

the service for free before 

buying any SMS credit. After 

registering at any Nawras 

store, customers get a free trial 

and gain access to a dedicated 

and secure website where SMS 

Bundles can be purchased in 

one, three, six or twelve month 

packages with messages costing 

as little as 3.7 Baisa. 

Mohammed bin Jaffar Al 

Najwani, Nawras Business Data 

and Internet Products Manager, 

said, “We have listened 

to the requests of our customers 

to offer a more versatile 

messaging package that ideally 

caters for small businesses, 

entrepreneurs and home office 

ventures. 

December 2012 


55

PCCW Teleservices receives 

5 contact center awards 

PCCW Teleservices has swept 

five awards at the 13th Annual 

Hong Kong Call Centre 

Association Awards. PCCW 

Teleservices has won two 

gold medal awards for Best 

Inbound Contact Centre Quality 

Assurance Professional 

and Best Inbound Contact 

Centre of Team Leader 

(Southern China), and three 

bronze medal awards for 

Best Offshore Contact Centre, 

Best Contact Centre in Training 

& People Development, 

A Mexican court has awarded 

damages of $2.7 billion (Dh9.9 

billion) against Yahoo in a contract 

dispute with its former 

partners on a directories business 

in the country. Yahoo announced 

the “non-final” judgment, 

saying it believed the 

claims against it were “without 

merit” and it would “vigorously 

pursue all appeals”. The 

web company said the case 

and Best Outbound Contact 

Centre Manager. 

The event, organized by 

the Hong Kong Call Centre 

Association (HKCCA), aims 

to recognize the best of 

the best within the contact 

center industry in Hong Kong. 

This is the 12th year in a row 

that PCCW Teleservices has 

been honored. The judges 

from HKCCA recognized 

that a PCCW Teleservices 

contact center tailored for a 

leading online travel agency 

Court awardes damages of $2.7 billion against Yahoo 

was brought by Worldwide 

Directories and Ideas Interactivas, 

which in the early 2000s 

produced Yahoo! Paginas tiles, 

a printed and digital phone 

book in Mexico. The two Mexican 

companies allege breach 

of contract, breach of promise 

and lost profits from contracts 

relating to the yellow-pages 

listings service. The ruling was 

made by the 49th civil court of 

Ivan Ho 

has become a showcase of 

offshore account management 

implementation. Ms. 

Grace Liang, Vice President 

of PCCW Teleservices, said, 

“The Awards are solid proof 

of PCCW Teleservices’ dedication 

and edge in providing 

world-class solutions that 

meet the interaction needs 

between our clients and their 

customers. We will keep up 

the momentum and strive to 

offer even better services in 

the future.” 

Russia drops lawsuit against Telenor over VimpelCom 

shareholding 

Russia’s Federal Anti-Monopoly 

Service has dropped its 

lawsuit against Telenor after 

the Norwegian firm raised its 

stake in Russia based Vimpelcom 

early last month. 

The dropping of the lawsuit 

was expected though after 

Vimpelcom’s main shareholder, 

Altimo Group raised its 

own holding in the company 

above Telenor’s last month. 

The FAS said that it has 

asked the Arbitration Court 

in Moscow to reverse the 

injunctions it had previously 

passed, which will also enable 

Vimpelcom to make blocked 

dividend payments to its 

shareholders. 

At the beginning of October, 

Telenor increased its holding 

in VimpelCom to 42.95%, 

compared to Altimo’s 41.85%. 

Telenor’s recent decision to 

increase its holding in the 

company was being opposed 

by the regulators who wanted 

to see the largest shareholder 

remain Russian. 

A few weeks later, Altimo purchased 

just under 6 percent 

of Vimpelcom shares from 

Ukrainian businessman Viktor 

Pinchuk - raising its stake to 

47.85% and giving it effective 

control of the company. 

Telenor had long argued that 

Altimo effectively controlled 

the Ukrainian stake anyway, 

and the purchase simply formalized 

a long held suspicion. 

Subject to the court approval 

of the request by the FAS to 

drop its lawsuit, Vimplecom 

will be able to hold its first 

shareholder meeting on over 

a year next month. 

the federal district of Mexico 

City. Yahoo declined to comment 

beyond its statement. 

Worldwide Directories and 

Ideas Interactivas could not be 

reached for comment. Court 

documents relating to the case 

are unavailable, and no mention 

of it was made in Yahoo’s 

most recent 10-! filing, which is 

required to list major outstanding 

legal risks. 

Gegenheimer 

joins Zain as CEO 

Kuwait’s Zain appointed Scott 

Gegenheimer as group chief 

executive on Sunday, the 

former monopoly said in a 

bourse statement, six months 

after he quit as CEO of rival 

telecom operator Wataniya. 

Gegenheimer will start his new 

role immediately, Zain said, 

replacing Nabeel Bin Salama, 

who in October announced he 

would step down as group CEO 

at the end of his contract in 

February 2013. 

Gegenheimer joined Qatar 

Telecom (Qtel) subsidiary 

Wataniya in 2002, became CEO 

in 2008 and resigned from the 

company in June this year. 

Kuwait is a lucrative telecom 

market, with its wealthy citizens 

heavy consumers of mobile 

data, but stiffening competition, 

tax changes and a lack of an 

independent regulator has 

darkened the sector’s outlook. 

Zain is the market leader 

with an estimated 41 per cent 

share of the country’s mobile 

subscribers at 2011-end, also 

operating in Saudi Arabia, 

Sudan, South Sudan, Iraq, 

Bahrain, Lebanon and Jordan. 

Wataniya is the No 2 operator, 

claiming 39 per cent of Kuwait’s 

mobile subscribers. It also has 

units in Tunisia, Algeria, the 

Palestinian Territories, Saudi 

Arabia and the Maldives. 

Saudi Telecom’s (STC) lossmaking 

affiliate Viva is Kuwait’s 

third mobile operator. 



Thuraya recognized 

as the Satellite Communications Player of the Year award 

Industry leading Mobile 

Satellite Services operator, 

Thuraya Telecommunications 

Company, today announced 

it was recognized as Satellite 

Communications Player of 

the Year by the Arab States 

Broadcasting Union (ASBU) at 

the BroadcastPro Middle East 

2012 Awards event held in Dubai 

on November 12. Thuraya was 

given the award for supporting 

Journalism on-the-move and 

providing connectivity to those 

who are putting their 

lives on the line to 

report on important 

events across the 

region. 

BroadcastPro Middle 

East noted the 

significant contribution 

of Thuraya’s flagship 

product for reporters 

in the field, the Thuraya 

IP, which is an ultraportable 

broadband 

terminal allowing 

Mini Sree Narayanan 

broadcasters to link up 

to their studios across 

Thuraya’s congestionfree 

satellite network 

using convenient uplink/ 

downlink streaming 

speed packages. 

Thuraya’s Vice President 

of Marketing, Mr. 

Sanford Jewett, 

participated in the 

ceremony and accepted 

the award on behalf of 

the Company. 

Shereen Hanafi heads up Corporate 

Communications at Thuraya 

Thuraya has announced that 

Shereen Hanafi has been 

appointed Director of Communications 

at Thuraya. In 

the newly created role, she 

reports to T. Sanford Jewett, 

Vice President of Marketing at 

Thuraya. She is responsible for 

the Company’s global communications 

strategy including 

media relations and corporate 

communications. 

Shereen brings nearly 15 years 

of experience in the fields 

of corporate communications, 

marketing and product 

management in satellite and 

telecoms industries. Her prior 

roles were with SES, Xantic, 

Fenestrae and KPN. During her 

9 year tenure at SES, she was 

responsible for launching and 

raising the Company’s brand 

profile, in addition to leading 

the team responsible for executing 

its marketing communications 

activities across media 

and enterprise markets in the 

Americas, Europe, the Middle 

East, Africa and Asia Pacific. 

“We welcome Shereen to the 

Thuraya Marketing team. This 

marks another step to raise our 

brand visibility in key market 

sectors including Media, 

Energy, Maritime, Government 

and NGOs.” T. Sanford Jewett 

said in a statement. “2013 will 

be a year of innovation for 

Thuraya, as we are gearing 

up for a number of product 

launches. We are pleased to 

have a seasoned professional 

like Shereen on board to create 

a strong communications 

function that supports our 

growth ambitions with 

consistent sector and solutions 

focus. 

Making copies of data – Better media options 

Recently I delivered a desktop 

with dual boot operating 

system options including 

Windows and Linux to a client. 

I booted windows XP first and 

the client asked “Is it Linux?” 

probably the Linux GUI made 

him consider this. This shows 

that that many users do not 

need to care about the type of 

technology. 

The year is 2012. USB drives 

are available along with CD/ 

DVD/DL/BluRay writers. While 

writing DVDs, people do follow 

a multisession that may cause 

loss of files in some cases. USB 

is considered as a better option 

than multisession. 

I have noticed that Windows 

machines also do multisession, 

and the formats or options 

are not transparent. Also the 

user is not even informed that 

writing multiple times to a CD/ 

DVD medium shall cause a 

multisession to be created. So 

here are some suggestions for 

users. 

Avoid multisession writing as 

it is likely to cause data loss. 

Make sure your software is set 

to close all disks written and 

write only once. For RW disks, 

you need to format the disk 

before writing again. To add 

more material to an RW disk, 

do the following. Copy data 

from the CD/DVD onto the hard 

disk. Format the CD/DVD. Add 

the old and new data as a new 

closed single session. Use USB 

Khawar Nehal 

media for data which changes 

many times. 

Hard disks can fail any time and 

usually last about 3 years. Data 

saved on a CD/DVD may last 

about 5 years. The toughest 

media for physical survival is 

the USB flash drive. Though it is 

still not sure how many years a 

USB can retain the data. 

I would suggest the readers to 

take copies of data on USB or 

DVDs; it cost a lot less and is 

more reliable. 

December 2012 


57

PTCL celebrates 41st National Day of UAE 

H.E. Essa Abdullah Al Basha Al Noaimi (Middle), Ambassador of UAE along with PTCL President and CEO, 

Mr. Walid Irshaid (2nd Right) and SEVP Commercial, Mr. Naveed Saeed (1st Right) along with other PTCL 

officials at PTCL stall on 41st National Day of UAE. 

PTCL holds Annual Sales Conference 

Pakistan Telecommunication 

Company Limited (PTCL) held a 

day long Annual Sales Conference 

2012 in Islamabad. Senior 

(SEVP) Commercial PTCL, Naveed 

Saeed and Senior Executive 

Vice President (SEVP) Human 

Resources PTCL, Syed Mazhar 

Hussain led the conference by 

sharing valuable insights and 

holding brainstorming sessions, 

focusing on improving the processes 

and methodologies determining 

the customer experience. 

“Our people empower our 

business by conceiving ideas, 

sharing insights, and working together 

to create solutions with 

a single minded focus i.e. boosting 

our customers confidence 

for the offered products and 

services”, said Senior Executive 

Vice President Commercial PTCL, 

Naveed Saeed, while chairing 

the conference. “Innovative 

thinking and out of the box business 

ideas are vital to remain 

competitive in the ever changing 

telecom industry”, he added 

further. Themed “It matters not 

how far your goal is, but how far 

you are ready to go”, the conference 

was attended by PTCL’s 

countrywide sales management 

teams comprising consumer 

sales, direct and indirect sales, 

corporate sales, contact centers, 

one-stop shops, wire-line and 

wireless departments. 

Aqeel Shigri 

PTCL connects 

remote 

Balochistan 

through Vfone 

Wireless 

Service 

As part of its vision to 

bring latest Information 

and Communication 

Technologies (ICT) to 

the remotest areas of 

the country, Pakistan 

Telecommunications 

Company Limited (PTCL) 

has extended its Vfone 

wireless service to isolated 

Mekhtar, Bard and Murgha 

Kibzai areas of Balochistan. 

Part of Loralai region of 

Balochistan, Mekhtar, Bard 

and Murgha Qibzai areas 

are one of the remotest 

areas of the country. 

PTCL aims to facilitate 

the people of the region 

with the launch of Vfone 

service. 

PTCL Vfone has the 

country’s largest WLL 

coverage and is available 

with both prepaid 

and postpaid options. 

Supported by high-speed 

CDMA technology, Vfone 

also offers SMS and 

internet connectivity at 

affordable rates. 

“Our vision is to bring 

latest telecommunications 

infrastructure to every city 

and village of Pakistan,” 

said PTCL Executive Vice 

President (EVP) Wireless, 

Omer Khalid. “Provision 

of Vfone services in the 

area will go a long way in 

fulfilling the communications 

needs of the people 

of Balochistan.” 



ZONG and Huawei establish state-of-the-art 

GSM laboratory at NUST 

ZONG, the international brand 

of China Mobile and Huawei - a 

leading global information and 

communications technology 

(ICT) solutions provider have 

established a state-of-the-art 

GSM laboratory and training 

center at National University 

of Science and Technology 

(NUST) to liaison with the 

telecom industry’s needs by 

creating a bridge between the 

academia and the corporate 

world. 

With the expertise of China 

Mobile Pakistan and Huawei’s 

investment of US$ 1.3 million in 

hardware, the GSM laboratory 

will be providing exposure 

and hands-on experience 

of operating high-tech GSM 

equipments which can be 

used as platform for further 

Research and Development 

(R&D) for Value Added Services 

(VAS). 

This lab is to be used for study 

purposes; the lab is a complete 

telephone network including a 

GSM mobile infrastructure with 

one MSC, one BSC and one 

BTS, HLR and media gateway. 

The lab will also provide the 

platform for development of 

software, tools and patches 

to remove discrepancies. 

It will familiarize students 

(From 3rd left) Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Mr. Liu Jian; Eng. Mohammed Ashar, Rector, NUST; 

Dr. Fan Yunjun, CEO, ZONG and Geng Simeng, CEO, Huawei and (1st left) Dr. Arshad Ali, DG-SEECS. 

with the fault, configuration, 

security, network performance 

management of telecom 

infrastructure. 

Dr. Fan Yunjun, CEO, ZONG 

said that the GSM lab created 

by ZONG is a fundamental 

part of their corporate social 

responsibility as helping 

young people access quality 

technological education 

will lay the foundation of 

cultivating talent necessary for 

the advancement of industry 

and development in Pakistan. 

Speaking at the launch Chinese 

Ambassador to Pakistan Mr. Liu 

Jian said “I am pleased to learn 

that ZONG has initiated such a 

marvelous project to help the 

talented students accomplish 

their goals. And with Huawei’s 

laudable investment of 1.3 

million dollars, I am confident 

that this lab is furnished with 

the latest technology where 

students will be able to gain 

experience related to practical 

application of communication 

standards.” 

He further added, “Moreover, 

ZONG’s and Huawei’s efforts 

do not only represent 

promotion of technological 

education; they also symbolize 

the commitment of China 

to Pakistan.” ZONG is China 

Mobile’s first venture outside 

of China. China Mobile has 

made the largest investment 

among all the Chinese 

investment in Pakistan and 

is considered an emissary of 

friendship between Pakistan 

and China. 

Teletimes Online Survey Report 

Government control inhibit the growth of 

Internet innovation? 

This month’s online survey inquired the respondents to tell us 

If they believe that ‘Government control inhibit the growth of 

Internet innovation?’ results show that 45% of the respondent were 

of the view that Government control does restrict innovation over 

the Internet while the rest said it doesn’t. 

Yes 45% 

No 50% 

Don’t Know 5% 

December 2012 


59

Telecom infrastructure specialist Flexenclosure opens 

new office in Islamabad 

Flexenclosure, a specialist 

developer of intelligent 

power management systems 

and modular data centres 

for the telecom industry has 

announced the opening of a 

new office in Islamabad. The 

new office will serve Pakistan 

and Central Asia and is fastgrowing 

Flexenclosure’s 

fourth new office in 2012, after 

Gurgaon, India, Lagos, Nigeria, 

and Dubai, UAE. 

Flexenclosure has made 

great inroads in Africa and 

Asia with its award-winning 

power management solution 

eSite and its energy efficient 

modular data centre eCentre. 

Driven by the need for 

intelligent, green, advanced 

energy efficient solutions 

to power base stations, 

Flexenclosure’s solutions have 

become sought after by global 

mobile operators looking for 

reliable green solutions to 

lower their operating expenses 

and reduce their dependency 

on diesel fuel to power base 

stations. 

eSite is a power solution for 

off-grid and unreliable grid 

base station sites that cuts 

diesel-related costs by up 

to 90 percent. Powered by 

renewable energy sources 

or the grid and a backup 

genset, eSite can deliver a 90 

percent reduction in diesel fuel 

consumption, CO2 emissions, 

and energy related OPEX 

compared to traditional diesel 

based systems. 

eCentre is a complete, prefabricated, 

modular solution 

to house and power data and 

telecom equipment. Optimised 

for energy efficiency and 

low total cost of ownership, 

eCentre is specifically designed 

to be fast to deploy and fully 

future proof. 

The new office in Islamabad, 

Pakistan, will cover Pakistan 

and Central Asia. In Pakistan 

alone, there is a market of at 

least 35,000 telecom towers, 

of which majority are without a 

reliable grid connection. 

“Central Asia is a region with 

severe challenges related to 

power generation,” said David 

King, CEO, Flexenclosure. 

“Pakistan is a country with 

a growing telecom market, 

but the gap between power 

generation and power 

requirement is widening at 

a phenomenal rate, with 

demand for electricity 

increasing faster than the 

power companies’ ability to 

generate it. In Afghanistan 

about 70 percent of the base 

station sites are off-grid and 

most of the on-grid sites 

have highly unreliable grid 

connections.” 

“So the challenges are huge, 

and this is where eSite and 

eCentre fit in perfectly. eSite, 

with its ability to power base 

stations in areas off the grid or 

with unreliable grid, can help 

mobile operators reach target 

groups that would otherwise 

have been uneconomical to 

serve.” 

Flexenclosure already has 

experience working in 

Pakistan and the company has 

previously deployed thousands 

of telecom site solutions to 

Pakistan alone. Establishing 

an office in Islamabad gives 

the company a stronger focus 

on the region and ensures 

that it is present in all relevant 

markets for its eSite solution. 

Flexenclosure’s new office 

is located in the Islamabad 

area F-6/1. It will be headed 

by Nadeem Chaudry, who 

will lead Flexenclosure’s 

sales efforts in Pakistan and 

Central Asia. Mr. Chaudry has 

previously held managerial 

positions in the telecoms 

industry with Malaysian data 

services company Dancom, 

and Acision, world leader 

in text messaging software 

selling into the telecom sector. 

“A local office is important to 

show our customers that we 

are serious in our commitment 

to deliver reliable and sustainable 

power solutions in the region. 

This is another important 

step in Flexenclosure’s quest 

to become the world leader in 

energy economy off the grid,” 

concludes Mr. King. 

Microsoft has emerging marketplace in Pakistan: Sherif Morsi 

Pakistan is important to Microsoft 

in the world as there are 

huge opportunities in Pakistan 

due to huge population, 

computer users and significant 

developer community, which 

shows its plan to introduce 

Urdu as a language option on 

Windows 8. 

This was stated by Microsoft 

North Africa, East Mediterranean 

and Pakistan Business 

Group Lead Sherif Morsi. Microsoft 

has lunched Windows 8 in 

Pakistan same time it unveiled 

it in other part of the world. 

Whenever we have upgraded offers 

we want to make sure these 

are available in Pakistan also so 

that consumers here can benefit 

from such offers timely. 

Pakistan is also big in terms of 

PC shipments, which presents 

us with a huge opportunity 

with current installed base, he 

said. The number internet users 

are on the rise besides people 

are very avid having advanced 

laptop, Tablet PCs and Smartphones, 

Morsi said. 

Microsoft has emerging marketplace 

in Pakistan. Microsoft 

ensures support to local community 

to build local apps. For 

this reason, we are engaging 

with developers on regular basis 

to guide them to develop locally 

relevant apps. 

Pakistani developers can build 

and develop applications for 

Windows 8 because the GMaps 

developed by a Pakistani developer 

has the highest number of 

downloads in Middle East and 

Africa region. Popcorn Time is 

one of the hit movie-based apps 

developed by Pakistani developers 

and Microsoft anticipated 

that more developers in the 

country will make the difference 

through its platform across the 

world. We will be featuring a 

lot more apps developed by 

Pakistani developers in near 

future. The apps are being designed 

keeping in mind different 

needs of customers worldwide 

however Microsoft has made 

its priority to develop apps to 

be relevant to the local market, 

Morsi said. 



How technology can enable a Literate 

Pakistan in 24 months – A self experience 

Today I tried out Google Now in 

English, It is a search software 

similar to SIRI on iPhone, that 

allows most of the work to be 

done via voice. http://www. 

google.com/landing/now/ 

shows an introduction video 

on how this works. I think that 

in near future this will become 

a platform for all commands 

on the phone and on the 

computer to give instructions 

on, and it will allow all other 

software’s to connect to it to 

take input from and will be 

used as a major input source of 

command. 

After using it for a little while 

I remembered how in 1989 I 

had made a similar device for 

Commodore 64 computer, 

where I could say 3 commands, 

pre recorded in my voice only 

and it will do the action of 

changing colors on my screen. 

And how in 2000 I had a phone 

that allowed me to speak the 

name of the person and the 

phone will dial the number, 

and the amazing part was the 

accuracy of the new Google 

now input method and how it 

was able to understand not just 

me but all my family. 

When I offered it to my father 

he also remembered my 24 

year old device and said, how 

will it know my voice since 

you made it, first I did not 

understand, but then now I 

realize that he may have been 

thinking of the same voice 

master made for Commodore 

64 by me before. 

Thinking of this, I was thinking 

that we need to invest time 

to make the same system 

understand Urdu/Hindi , so 

that the 1.5 billion people in 

India, Pakistan, Nepal and 

Bangladesh who speak the 

same language can start 

communicating the world and 

request the information via 

voice. 

Then I thought, where will we 

find the money to fund this 

project? and then I thought 

of the USF - Universal Service 

Fund. USF is made for creation 

of Technology and providing 

technology to the masses, and 

what better use of it to create 

a technology that will allow the 

masses computer literate over 

night. 

Let me Give you some 

background on why I think this 

is possible, For many years I 

have been viewing technology 

evolve. I had been saying now 

for 1 year that in 3 years prices 

of android will be 2000 rupees. 

Few days ago, I met the CEO 

of Advance Telecom in Karachi, 

and he showed me a iPhone 

sized Chines phone for 2000 

rupees retail price, I asked him, 

when can we expect Android 

in this, he said 6 to 9 months, 

I asked do you think by 18 

months it will be a common 

device in 2000 rupee with 

android inside, and he said yes. 

Now remind yourselves that In 

Pakistan 200 rupees buy’s you 

Zong Unlimited Internet, and 

in 18 months 3G or 4G may be 

available in similar prices on 

the phone. Now Imagine a very 

Rehan Allahwalla 

poor man, who does not know 

how to read and write, but 

does know how to view, and 

speak, He will pick up his phone 

and say “Achi kapaas kaisay 

ugaatay gain” and he will get a 

Youtube video explaining that 

to him? 

The only obstacle I see for now 

is this voice input software 

does not understand Urdu 

at this time, and if we can 

work with Google to create 

an engine that will allow us 

to be able to speak Urdu to 

the phone, that will change 

everything. I certainly believe 

that in near future some more 

serious work will be performed 

on this technology to enable a 

more literate Pakistan in next 

24 months. 

Nokia Pakistan becomes the top brand 

on Facebook with 1 million fans 

Having been launched in February 

this year, Nokia Pakistan 

Facebook page beats all the 

other brands on Facebook to 

become the most liked brand 

in Pakistan with 1 million fans. 

This record achievement 

became possible in only a short 

span of 9 months. 

Nokia entered the Facebook 

with a clear strategy to share 

interesting information, engage 

consumers with the latest 

Nokia devices and to make 

Nokia experience more fun for 

everyone. Soon after Nokia 

Facebook page was launched, 

it became the fastest growing 

brand on the social network. 

More than 6 million Pakistanis 

are currently using Facebook 

and one can safely infer that 

majority of them are Nokia users 

and fans. With its Facebook 

page, Nokia Pakistan aims to 

connect with its millions of fans 

in Pakistan on a more personal 

level. Nokia Pakistan has today 

become the most happening 

Facebook page with exciting 

games and activities that give 

everyone a chance to win and 

stay updated with the latest 

that Nokia has to offer on: 

http://www.facebook.com/ 

NokiaPakistan. 

“We are thoroughly pleased 

with the growing excitement 

around Nokia Pakistan on 

Facebook. For us, achieving 1 

million fans of our Facebook 

page is a proof that Nokia 

Teletimes Report 

continues to deliver an 

exceptional communications 

experience to consumers. It 

also reflects the fact that Nokia 

has been able to successfully 

connect with Nokia fans across 

Pakistan on a personal level,” 

said Haseeb Ihtisham, head of 

marketing, Nokia Near East. 

With so much buzz around 

it, Nokia Pakistan Facebook 

page has evidently become the 

iconic social media brand in 

Pakistan. 

December 2012 


61

Global Telecom events 2012-13 

December 2012 

Cloud Middle East 

04 - 05 Dec - Dubai, UAE 

Middle East Com 

04 - 05 Dec - Marriot Magquis Hotel, Dubai 

Digital TV Summit 2012 

04 - 05 Dec - London, UK 

MVNO Industry Summit Middle East 

04 - 05 Dec - Dubai, UAE 

6th Pakistan Microfinance Forum 

05 Dec - Karachi, Pakistan 

China Carriers Forum 2012 

06 - 07 Dec - Shanghai, China 

4th edition of FTTH Council MENA annual conference 

12 - 13 Dec - Doha, Qatar 

India Telecom 2012 

13 – 15 Dec – New Delhi, India 

January 2013 

OPASTCO’s 50th Annual Winter Convention 

05 - 09 Jan - Kauai, HI 

Convergence India 2013 

16 - 18 Jan - New Delhi, India 

Wireless Symposium 

16 - 18 Jan - San Antonio, TX 

PTC conference 

20 - 23 Jan - Honolulu Hawaii, USA 

Customer Experience Management in Telecoms 

21 – 24 Jan - London, UK 

Big Data Monetisation in Telecoms 

22 – 24 Jan - Venue to be confirmed, UK 

WHIR Networking Event 

24 Jan - TX, USA 

Smart Metering and Grids Cyber Security Summit 13 

24 - 25 Jan - London, UK 

Alaska Telephone Association Winter Conference 

27 - 30 Jan - Ka’anapali, HI 

WDM Asia 2013 

28 - 30 Jan - Singapore, Asia 

APAC WDM and Next Generation Optical Networking 

28 - 30 Jan - Singapore, Asia 

Roaming MENA 2013 

29 - 30 Jan - Dubai, UAE 

DECT & CAT-iq World 2013 

29 - 30 Jan - Barcelona, Spain 

TelecomFinance 2013 

30 - 31 - Jan - London, UK 

CDN Asia 2013 

29 - 30 Jan - Singapore 

February 2013 

World Summit Award 2013 

03 - 05 Feb - Abu Dhabi 

LTA Annual Convention 

06 - 08 Feb - New Orleans, LA 

Mobile Number Portability Forum 2013 

11 - 12 Feb - Dubai, UAE 

TELSA 

17 - 19 Feb - Riyadh, KSA 

STO Europe 2013 

18 - 20 Feb - Aberdeen, UK 

FTTH Council Europe 

19 - 21 FEb - London, UK 

APRICOT 

19 Feb - 1 Mar - Shangri-la Hotel, Singapore 

Mobile World Congress 

25 - 28 Feb - Barcelona, Spain 



March 2013 

Cable Congress 2013 

5 - 7 March - London, UK 

MENA ICT Forum 2013 

06 - 07 Mar - Dead Sea, Jordan 

COMTEL 

10 - 13 Mar - Las Vegas, NV 

Cards and Payments Africa 

11 - 13 Mar - Johannesburg, South Africa 

CABSAT 2013 

12 - 14 Mar - DWTC Dubai, UAE 

IT & Software Excellence Awards 2013 

13 Mar - London, UK 

IT Leaders Africa Summit 

13 - 14 Mar - Johannesburg, South Africa 

OFC/NFOEC 

17 - 21 Mar - Anaheim, CA 

Cyber Security UAE Summit 2013 

18 - 19 Mar - Dubai, UAE 

Broadband MEA 2013 

19 - 20 Mar - Marriott, Marquis - Dubai 

COMEX 2013 

25 - 29 Mar - Muscat 

TV Connect 2013 

19 - 21 Mar - London, UK, Europe 

April 2013 

Western Telecom Alliance Spring Meeting 

07 - 10 Apr - Las Vegas, NV 

CONNECT 2013 

09 - 11 Apr - Karachi, Pakistan 

International ICT Expo 

13 - 16 Apr - Hong Kong, China 

4th Telco Cloud Summit 

15 - 17 Apr - London, UK 

Big Data in Telecoms 2013 

15-17 Apr - London 

Caspian Telecoms 2013 

18 - 19 Apr - Intanbul, Turkey 

Telecom Cloud Services Summit 2013 

22 - 24 Apr - London, UK 

FTTx Summit Europe 2013 

23 – 25 Apr - Berlin, Germany 

Telecom CEM World Congress 2013 

23 - 24 Apr - Grand Connaught Rooms, London 

TD-LTE Summit 

23 - 24 Apr - Singapore 

Telecoms Regulation Forum 2013 

23 - 24 Apr - Venue TBC 

Transport Networks for Mobile Operators 2013 

23 - 25 Apr - Hotel Russell, London 

4G World India 

25 - 26 Apr - Delhi, India 

Data Center World 

28 April - 02 May - Las Vegas, NV 

May - June 2013 

LTE MENA 2013 

13 - 14 May JW, Marriott, Marquis - Dubai 

The Mobile Show ME-2013 

14 - 15 May - Dubai, UAE 

QITCOM Exb. & Conference 

14 - 16 May - Qatar 

IIR Telecoms Critical Communications World 

21 - 24 May - Paris, France 

KITEL 2013 

28 - 30 May - Almaty, Kazakhstan 

WDM & Next Generation Optical Networking 2013 

17 - 20 June - Grimaldi Forum, Monaco 

Hosting Con 

17 - 19 June - Austin, TX 

CommunicAsia 2013 

18 - 21 June - Singapore 

December 2012 


63

Teletoons 

Download at 20% 

Download at 85%, nearly there I 

just hope this storm doesn’t knock 

out the modem. 

#%&@!!! 

Didn’t you get the memo about 

the paperless office of the future? 

I did! I’m making copies 

for everyone right now! 

I’m going to 

give you some 

tablets... 

Do they run 

on android? 

Mobile data is so cheap now, I 

need something extra to keep 

them coming here.

ITU Secretary General - Teletimes

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