The Sky is the limit

Issue 131
November
2016
AfricaCom
Special
The Sky is the limit
Stephen Spengler, CEO Intelsat
speaks to Teletimes

11
11
November 2016
11 th year of publication
Managing Editor
Nasreen Akhtar
info@teletimesinternational.com
Assistant Editors
Technology Writer
Ken Herron
Haroon Rashid, Camilla Urdahl
Farwa Al Khayal, Fakher Dawar
Scan to download PDF version
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12 16
Omantel Wholesale connects
Africa to Asia with the G2A and SRG-1 Cable Systems
Etisalat Group reports net profit of
AED 6.2 Billion for the first nine months of 2016
Interviews
13 The Sky is the limit
Stephen Spengler, CEO - Intelsat
23 Our vision is to make Dubai the happiest city
Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr, Director General, Smart Dubai Office
31 Specializing in Wireless Mobile Access Network Solutions
Moonsik Kim, Senior Vice President - SOLiD
34 Re-defining collaboration in the Workplace
Marco Landi, President - Polycom EMEA
36 The journey towards a global data economy
Bocar A. BA, CEO - SAMENA Telecom Council
39 The one-stop shop for SMS
Mohammad Bani Hani, GM - Viahub
Telecom, IoT and AI
21 Dr. Khaled Biyari, STC Group CEO
named Teletimes’ CEO of the Year during GITEX
30 Huawei sees 5G as the road to connectivity
43 Ericsson’s Board names Börje Ekholm
new President and CEO
49 Batelco and Ericsson bring 5G and IoT
use cases to Bahrain
Re-defining collaboration in the Workplace
Marco Landi, President - Polycom EMEA
34

Letter to Readers
Dear Reader
Welcome to the latest edition of Teletimes International.
First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to once again,
congratulate Dr. Khaled Biyari, CEO – STC Group on becoming
the Teletimes’ CEO of the Year 2016. Empowered by one of the
best teams in the industry, Dr. Khaled Biyari has led STC Group
into a new era of commendable success.
The journey towards a global data economy
Bocar A. BA, CEO - SAMENA Telecom Council
28
28
Thuraya, Ooredoo Maldives sign deal
to provide fisheries with satellite connectivity
Andrew Jordan appointed new
President and CEO of AsiaSat
36
29 Yahsat’s vision for region-wide satellite
connectivity furthered by signing of Eutelsat
multi-year capacity agreement
As we head towards the end of the year, I can safely say this
year has been a fantastic year for Teletimes and the industry.
We have taken many leaps forward as move into a Smart Future
filled with Smart Cities and broadband economies. Taking
the lead in Smart Cities, Dubai has been at the forefront of
technology implementation. Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr, Director General
of the Smart Dubai Office was kind enough to give an exclusive
interview to Teletimes in which she spoke about the vision behind
this Smart City and where it’s currently heading.
Taking the promise of broadband beyond the reach of traditional
networks – Intelsat has emerged as a leader in satellite
communications worldwide over the past years. With the recent
launch of two satellites, it was the right time to catch up with
CEO Stephen Spengler about Intelsat’s current operations
and future plans. I would like to tell you that Stephen seldom
speaks out in such details, and hence this feature is definitely
recommended for all.
As always, you will find the latest news & updates inside. Please
enjoy reading this edition of Teletimes International.
Your feedback is welcome on info@teletimesinternational.com
29
Yahsat appoints Farhad Khan as CCO
Event Reports
08
10
17
20
41
45
Africa Com 2016: Economic Development
and social Empowerment through
digital connectivity
ITU Telecom World 2016: Connectivity and
collaboration in the ICT industry
GITEX gets Bigger and Better !
H.H. Sheikh Hamdan launches UAE AEO program
GSMA announces keynote speakers for MWC 2017
World Space Risk Forum
Scan to download PDF version
Follow @TeletimesIntl on Twitter

EVENT
18519 Africa Com 4pp Brochure v2_Layout 1 17/08/2016 12:42 Page 1
19th Annual
Festival: 14 - 18 November 2016
Exhibition: 15 - 17 November 2016
Cape Town International Convention
Centre, South Africa
Platinum Media Partner
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
AND SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT
THROUGH DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY
A BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY INCUBATOR FOR THE ARCHITECTS OF AFRICA’S DIGITAL FUTURE
10,000+
For those in this African tech and telco
sectors, however, November is clearly
designated as AfricaCom month.
For the past 19 years, AfricaCom has
been the highlight of the telco and tech
professional’s calendar, both here and
abroad, and is undoubtedly the biggest and
leading event of its kind on the continent.
Like the region and sectors it serves,
AfricaCom has gone through a massive
transformation in recent years, looking to
remain at the forefront of the most unique
and dynamic markets and trends in the
world.
350+
AfricaCom the largest and has grabbed the attention of the world’s
most influential Africa
greatest tech leaders, from Zuckerberg 375+ to
ENGAGED, focused ENTHUSIASTIC tech event in the INSPIRATIONAL, Gates. VISIONARY
EXHIBITORS
ATTENDEES
world – a meeting place for SPEAKERS
those driving Africa’s digital Africa is proving to be fertile ground where
tmt.knect365.com/africacom
transformation.
opportunity, investment and innovation
are concerned and the African telco sector
The event is now a week-long festival of alone is projected to be worth $65bn by
thought provoking content, immersive 2018. AfricaCom is looking to elevate these
satellite events, and unique networking sectors further, showcase successes and
experiences.
growth, debate solutions and best practice
and enable a more cohesive ecosystem for
collaboration between both private and
public entities.
To this end, the event has been extended
and revolutionised from the usual two-day
model, to a week-long festival of informative
sessions, immersive satellite events and
unique networking opportunities which the
African tech space has never seen before.
The setting for this year’s AfricaCom is The
Telegraph’s Best City in the World, Cape
Town, South Africa - it’s the African Mother
City with the international reputation and
is also home to the continent’s highest
number of tech hubs.
The event will see over 10,000 attendees
walk through its doors to hear over 350
visionary speakers deliver their keynote
addresses, insights, discussions and
showcases centring around Africa’s most
pressing topics, challenges and CLICK trends. HERE
The agenda is a thorough exploration of
all the sector has to offer the region, from
embracing IoT and Smart Cities in an African
context, to the potentials of monetising
data through analytics and customer
insights.
The event will also serve to shine a light
on greater financial inclusion through
mobile innovations and digital
transformation and agile IT for enterprises.
The development of engaging digital
entertainment content in an African context,
from television to music, gaming and apps,
will also be discussed through a host of case
studies and keynote panels. AfricaCom also
sees a dedicated SDN and NFV Proof of
Concept stream focussing on key solutions
for African connectivity service providers,
the essential phases of migration to NFV, as
well as leveraging the synergies of SND and
NFV.
Africa has been the home to a multitude of
home-grown and perfected innovations that
has sown the seeds for the region to become
a truly digital continent. Already termed the
‘Mobile Continent’, Africa has developed
in leaps and bounds in the areas of mobile
money, M-Health initiatives, apps and local
digital entertainment, and in the process
Taking place between the 14th-18th of
November 2016 at the world renowned
Cape Town International Convention Centre,
the focus of this year’s event is the economic
development and social empowerment of
Africa through digital connectivity and seeks
to be a bolder event that encompasses the
entire tech ecosystem.
One of the most exciting additions to
this year’s event is the AFest, a one-day
festival with performances by Africa’s most
prominent musicians and bands. Taking
place at Shimmy Beach Club on Cape Town’s
V&A Waterfront on the 15 November 2016,
AFest is an evening of networking and a
celebration of African technology.
8 November 2016

EVENT
ITU Telecom World 2016
Connectivity and
collaboration in the
ICT industry: The key
to socio-economic
development
Why is it so important
to ensure that as
many people in the
world as possible have
access to information
and communication
technologies? And why does collaboration
within and across the ICT industry matter
so much in driving socio-economic
development?
These questions are at the very heart of ITU
Telecom World 2016, the annual platform
for governments, corporates and small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) within
the ICT industry. Organized by ITU, the
United Nation’s specialized agency for
ICT matters, and taking place this year in
Bangkok, Thailand, from 14 – 17 November,
ITU Telecom World features an international
exhibition of digital solutions, a worldclass
forum of debates, a programme of
targeted networking activities and an
Awards programme recognizing the best in
innovative ICT solutions with social impact.
On the agenda in the forum, on the stands
and pavilions in the exhibition and amongst
the networking leaders of governments and
businesses big and small, the focus will be
on working together to speed up innovation
in ICTs to improve lives everywhere.
ICTs are the cross-cutting enablers behind
sustainable development throughout
the world, in emerging and developed
markets alike. This means, quite simply,
that ICTs are the essential backbone, the
infrastructure behind development in
economies, businesses, societies and homes
everywhere. The transformative potential
for ICTs is unprecedented: from e-health
to e-education, digital financial services to
e-government, agriculture and transport,
there is not one vertical sector or field of
activity which does not both rely on and
benefit from ICTs.
The Sustainable Development Goals,
adopted by the global community in
September 2015, set a new international
agenda for the period up to 2030 – and
recognize the enormous potential of ICTs
in improving development outcomes
worldwide. Not just by measuring progress
and enhancing the effectiveness of
initiatives designed to meet the SDGs, but
by providing access to a whole range of new
digital products and services which can grow
local economies, build on local innovation
and strengthen local communities.
Millions of children currently without access
10 November 2016

to primary level schooling; millions of deaths
from easily-preventable non-communicable
diseases; millions of unbanked or underbanked
living outside national economies; those
without adequate basic sanitation, without
access to water or electricity, let alone to
government services – innovative ICT-based
solutions can meet all of these challenges.
Getting everyone connected, however, is not
so straightforward. More than half the world’s
people are still offline, and the ICT sector’s
commitment to connecting an additional
1.5 billion by 2020 is highly ambitious. It
calls for innovative approaches to universal
connectivity to tackle the multiple barriers of
access, affordability, education and relevance.
The importance of collaboration
in the digital economy
What’s the future for the connected car, for
digital financial services, or for smart and
sustainable cities in the new industrial reality?
How are innovations and technical
developments in 5G, the Internet of Things
and spectrum management impacting on
future networks and future businesses?
And if meaningful, affordable connectivity
is the single best bet for accelerating socioeconomic
development and meeting the
UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs),
how can we ensure we reach the billions of
unconnected most in need?
These are some of the key questions at the
heart of the agenda at ITU Telecom World
2016, four days of debate, networking and
exhibition on the theme of “Collaborating in
the Digital Ecosystem”. In an industry and era
of intense transformation, collaboration is
essential to make sense of the possibilities –
and make a success of it for us all.
Rapid technological developments, societal
changes and radical new business models are
enriching and enlarging the ICT ecosystem.
Never before has connectivity offered so much
potential for economic growth and social
development in the digital economy. And
never before have the challenges of extending
that connectivity to all been so pressing, from
providing universal access to technology
to meaningful local content, fair and open
competition, up-to-date regulation, security
and education.
More and new stakeholders are involved in
making it happen. Governments decide policy
and shape regulation. Major ICT companies
face competition from new internet players
and innovative small and medium enterprises
(SMEs). New technologies open up new
markets, often involving new partners in
vertical sectors such as transport, health or
agriculture. The borderless world of the digital
economy opens up business in developed and
emerging markets across the globe.
A good example is 5G. As the technology
evolves and develops to meet the growing
demands of societies and economies, so does
the potential for new opportunities. Delivering
on the promise of effective future networks
won’t be possible, however, without some
form of collaboration on the standards that
take solutions to scale and at speed.
The mix of players, established and new,
manufacturers, vendors and application
developers, may lead to interesting joint
ventures to streamline investment. The longheralded
convergence of fixed broadcast
and mobile may be given a boost by the new
technology. But then again, competition and
entrenched mindsets may kill off any new form
of shared investment or working together.
Launchpad for SME
success: The ITU Telecom
World Awards 2016
A small Japanese business focused
on producing an innovative, very
niche product; a large established
logistics firm with national reach
and a long tradition, also based
in Japan; and an international
ICT event in Budapest, Hungary.
These are the ingredients for
just one of the success stories
to emerge from a new awards
scheme launched last year.
Flexible, adaptable, scalable
and responsive, SMEs are a
fundamental source of new jobs in
the knowledge economy. Small,
micro and local businesses are
critical to ensuring economic
growth that is sustainable and
inclusive in both developed and
emerging markets. But they also
face a number of specific, ongoing
challenges, from access to funding
to the urgent need for human
capacity building, from regulatory
barriers to lack of business skills.
Drawing on the expertise,
experience and connections of
ITU, and its own success as a
leading international networking
event, ITU Telecom World is
ideally positioned to bring SMEs
to the table as important new
stakeholders in the ICT ecosystem
alongside ministers, regulators,
consultants, international
organizations, and CEOs from
established major companies.
Which is just what it did last
year, with the introduction of
the inaugural ITU Telecom World
Awards.
The Awards are designed to
recognize and reward the best in
innovative SMEs using ICTs with
a clear social impact – celebrating
the critical role of creative ICTbased
applications and initiatives
in improving lives around the
world.
November 2016
11

NEWS
Omantel Wholesale connects Africa to Asia
with the G2A and SRG-1 Cable Systems
The cable systems connect some of the fastest growing markets
in the world with robust and geographically diverse terrestrial
and undersea cable infrastructure.
Omantel Wholesale, the world-leader
in ultra-low latency networking, is
interconnecting the Gulf to Africa (G2A)
and Silk Road Gateway - 1 (SRG-1) cable
systems to deliver ultra-low latency
networking between Asia and Africa. The
cable systems connect some of the fastest
growing markets in the world with robust
and geographically diverse terrestrial and
undersea cable infrastructure.
Omantel Wholesale has deployed these
cable systems to create new ultra-low
latency route options for customers and
offer global connectivity in these rapidly
developing regions. It is supporting the
economic growth of Central Asia and Africa
while finding new ways to connect end users
around the globe. SRG-1 connects Oman
to Pakistan with onwards connectivity to
Afghanistan, China, Iran, Turkmenistan and
Tajikistan. G2A connects Oman to Somalia
via two redundant landing stations in
Puntland (Bosaso) and Somaliland (Berbera).
The system provides onward connectivity to
Ethiopia and will connect Kenya, Mogadishu
and South Africa in later phases.
“We are the only provider in the world that is
able to offer rapid access between Asia and
Africa via geographically diverse routes. The
development and interconnection of G2A
and SRG-1 demonstrates our commitment
to delivering ultra-low latency networking
in unique and challenging markets. We are
supporting the growth of trade between
China and Africa with new diversity and high
performance networks,” said Talal Said AL
Mamari, CEO of Omantel.
G2A and SRG-1 add to Omantel Wholesale’s
more than 20 undersea cable investments.
They support its vision for ultra-low latency
networking, leveraging Oman as a natural
meeting point for global cable systems.
Oman is one of the most connected places
on earth with five redundant landing
stations and four terrestrial networks
Talal Said AL Mamari
Cheif Executive Officer - Omantel
We are the only provider
in the world that is
able to offer rapid access
between Asia
and Africa via
geographically diverse
routes”
Talal Said AL Mamari,
CEO – Omantel
connecting it via border crossings.
“Users in high-growth markets in Central
Asia and Africa gain access to global
connectivity. End users will experience
more robust and reliable communications
services, accelerating local development
and support the growth of their digital
economies,” said Sohail Qadir, Vice
President, Omantel Wholesale. “We’re
excited to be a part of delivering greater
connectivity to these regions and changing
how they experience mobile, broadband and
Sohail Qadir
VP - Wholesale Business Unit - Omantel
End users will experience
more robust and reliable
communications
services, accelerating
local development and
support the growth of
their digital economies”
Sohail Qadir, VP
Omantel Wholesale
other communications services. This is a big
step forward.”
Omantel Wholesale already provides
a unique high-speed link between
Singapore and Frankfurt with only 160ms
via the Bay of Europe Persian Express
Gateway (EPEG) and Bengal Gateway
(BBG) cable systems. It is the only operator
with two landing stations in two different
countries on the Asia Africa Europe – 1
(AAE-1) cable systems (Marseille, France
and Muscat, Oman).
12 November 2016

INTERVIEW
The Sky is the limit
Stephen Spengler
CEO Intelsat speaks to Teletimes
Exclusive Interview - Khalid Athar
Khalid Athar: Over the past few years,
we have seen major changes in the
global satellite industry space that are
reflected in the changed strategies of
many satellite companies. Can you please
talk us through Intelsat’s evolution and
growth over the past few years and the
vision you have for the future?
Stephen Spengler: The satellite industry
is in transition right now as it moves from
simply offering wideband capacity to a
focus on building infrastructure to support
the data environment of tomorrow. It
is estimated that there will be over 12
billion connected devices by the end of
this decade. The monthly internet traffic is
expected to multiply three times to reach
21 Gbps for every man, woman and child
on the planet. I have worked in the satellite
sector for many years, but I can’t remember
a time when our prospects were more
promising — it is a great opportunity for all
of us that provide connectivity solutions.
At Intelsat, we anticipated these changes,
and is why we are introducing highthroughput
satellites (HTS), known as
Intelsat EpicNG, that use spot beams to
cover high-traffic areas. The traditional
boundaries of fixed and mobile satellite
services have dissolved, and our customers
need broadband everywhere.
We launched our first two Intelsat EpicNG
satellites in 2016 and we have five more in
production that will launch in the next few
years. At the same time, we are investing
to support innovation in other parts of
the sector. New antennas are coming to
market, such as the flat-panel arrays from
Kymeta and Phasor. As these innovations
and others become commercially available,
we will experience simplified network
access to enable applications involving the
connected car, the Internet of things and
machine-to-machine communications with
mobile platforms.
KA: Congratulations on the successful
launch of Intelsat 33e and 36. How is the
feedback so far?
SS: Intelsat 36 has entered service and
is operating as expected — meaning
Africans are already enjoying more high
definition content! The satellite’s Kuband
transponders primarily provide
broadcasting and direct-to-home (DTH)
services for Africa’s MultiChoice, the leading
DTH platform in South Africa. The C-band
payload on Intelsat 36 provides backup
for Intelsat 17 and Intelsat 20, giving
resilience to our media customers in the
Indian Ocean region from Africa to western
Australia.
Intelsat 33e, our second EpicNG satellite,
will enter service in early 2017. It will
offer HTS spot-beam services to our
enterprise and wireless operator customers
throughout Africa and the Middle East.
Intelsat 33e will open up a range of services
and capabilities that were not possible
before by offering higher-performance
data connectivity at lower cost per megabit
than previous spacecraft. Our technology is
designed to ‘close the business case’ for our
customers — whether deploying 3G wireless
services in sparsely populated regions or
new broadband networks for businesses
and governments. Customer tests of our
first Intelsat EpicNG satellite, IS-29e, found
November 2016
13

that bandwidth efficiency improved 165%
using existing ground equipment, and up to
330% using the next generation of ground
antennas. This same benefit will be available
to our African and Middle East customers on
IS-33e.
KA: Would you like to comment on the
Financial Results of Third Quarter 2016?
SS: On 27 October 2016 we reported our
financial results, including $543 million
in revenue and $405 million in Adjusted
EBITDA, on track with our guidance
for 2016. Operationally, an important
accomplishment in the third quarter was
our successful dual launch of Intelsat 36 and
Intelsat 33e—it was a critical milestone in
our year, and also essential to positioning to
meet our 2017 goals.
KA: How does Intelsat plan to tackle the
increasing competition in Africa as a result
of factors such as oversupply environment
and fiber alternatives?
SS: There is not a single answer to this
question given the vast size and diversity
of the African continent. We have some
regions in Africa where customers can get
the bandwidth they need, and others where
the right service with the right price point is
not available.
The Intelsat EpicNG satellites are the first to
market with continent-wide HTS capability.
These satellites are backward compatible
with existing ground equipment, so our
customers don’t have to make additional
investments to use Intelsat 33e once it goes
into service early next year.
The transition will be seamless. And while
more fiber will be installed to serve African
customers, the complexity of the continent
– more than 50 countries, people speaking
hundreds of languages and dialects – means
no single technology or company can reach
all the possible markets.
Communications solutions going forward
will increasingly be a hybrid solution
combining fiber, wireless networks and
satellite. Add to this the fact that less than
half of Africans have mobile phone service,
and we see tremendous opportunity to bring
satellite services to enterprise, wireless
and mobility customers on the continent,
typically in conjunction with terrestrial
technology.
Of the innovative solutions coming to market,
we made a strategic decision to invest in OneWeb
because we believe in its technological and business
approach”
KA: Google, SpaceX, Facebook and
OneWeb plan to launch satellites, drones,
balloons and other Internet-delivery
platforms. How will these developments
evolve the satellite broadband market
as it is today and how does Intelsat plan
to become part of these development
worldwide?
SS: We certainly have seen a lot of
announcements of plans to use many
different types of technology to deliver the
Internet to underserved markets. Some of
these plans will come to fruition, and some
probably won’t.
I think it’s easy to underestimate the
complexity of starting a connectivity
business from scratch. Just the process of
getting regulatory rights in every country
where a company wants to deliver a signal is
very challenging. This is one of the reasons
why we strive to build on our relationships
with over 60 wireless operators serving the
region — we think they are in an excellent
position to connect the unconnected. But
because of the vastness of the challenge,
there will be many solutions required.
Of the innovative solutions coming to
market, we made a strategic decision to
invest in OneWeb because we believe in its
technological and business approach. The
OneWeb constellation will use Ku-band
and be another layer of capability on top of
our network. Once launched, the OneWeb
satellites will be fully inter-operable with
ours, meaning customers will be able to
access both the Intelsat and OneWeb
satellites from the same ground terminal.
OneWeb’s focus of leveraging consumerscale
technology for their satellite-based
solution is the right direction, and why we
are working alongside them to capture
innovation for the sector.
KA: Please tell us about your relationship
with Saudi Telecom Company.
SS: Saudi Telecommunication Company
is the largest telecom operator in Saudi
Arabia and has long been an Intelsat
customer. They are noted for their highly
reliable networks and expertise in delivering
enterprise-grade solutions to far-flung
locations. STC recently expanded its
relationship with us and entered into a new
contract for satellite services on our Intelsat
10-02 satellite. The additional connectivity
supports the private data network that STC
provides for the largest oil and gas producer
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
KA: Please tell us about your services in
the Aviation and Maritime sector? How do
you see the potential in these verticals?
SS: If you’ll pardon my pun, the sky is the
limit for these applications. Today, 80%
of commercial flights have no broadband
connectivity, and only a fraction of the
50,000 ships in the maritime sector have
broadband connectivity. Our serviceprovider
customers are focused on giving
consumers a broadband experience that
rivals what they get at home. Beyond
that, machine-to-machine applications
in the aeronautical and maritime sectors
offer much, much more potential for
providers of connectivity solutions. For
example, a new Pratt Whitney engine has
5,000 sensors that can generate up to 10
gigabytes of data per second. The capture,
transmission and analysis of this data can
cut fuel consumption by as much as 10-15%
and allow predictive maintenance — which
means fewer delayed flights, and more time
in the air. These potential cost savings dwarf
that of the consumer-based connectivity.
Intelsat recognized the need for broadband
mobility services back in 2011, so we built
an early lead in these sectors — at the end
of 2015, a 60% share in aero and 31% share
in maritime, based upon market data. We
were first to market with a mobility solution.
When we started building our satellites and
the beams, we assumed it would be for the
maritime mobility sector, but by the time we
marketed the services, aeronautical mobility
providers were demanding connectivity
14 November 2016

as well. We quickly achieved a very high
utilization of our global mobility network
and then followed quickly with the Intelsat
EpicNG fleet, for which the anchor orders
are highly weighted to the mobility sector.
For instance, Intelsat’s service providers
already deliver satellite connectivity to 298
of the world’s 316 largest cruise ships — and
a growing number of those are serviced
from the Intelsat EpicNG beams.
High-throughput satellites alone will
not be the magic that unlocks these two
opportunities. We are introducing managed
services that provide aeronautical and
maritime services providers the flexibility
to use our high-throughput spot beams
and wide beams depending upon routes
and seasonality of demand. Our managed
services simplify the complex networking
considerations, but still allow for the basics
of enterprise-grade solutions, such as the
ability to provide a service level agreement
(SLA) or contract to specific Quality of
Service commitments.
KA: Strategically, what will be your focus
in terms of service and geographical
markets for the coming years?
SS: We operate the world’s first Globalized
Network—from our inception, we have
been a fully global company. We don’t focus
on any one geographic market, but we do
seek to provide regionalized services that
address the most important needs in the
geographies we serve.
Our move toward managed-service models,
such as IntelsatOne Flex and IntelsatOne
Prism, will expand hybrid network solutions
that include satellite, wireless and fiber
infrastructure. This approach will allow
our customers to reduce their capital
expenditures and redirect resources and
manpower toward application development
that will bring new traffic on their networks.
As we roll out more managed services in our
product lineup, and access the innovations
in ground hardware and new antennas, we
will be able to address the opportunities in
the sector such as Internet of Things and the
connected car.
KA: How do you think will satellite
communications contribute to the
Internet of Things? Are you planning to
target this market with any solutions?
SS: We are investing and collaborating on
As we roll out more managed services in our product
lineup, and access the innovations in ground
hardware and new antennas, we will be able to
address the opportunities in the sector such as
Internet of Things and the connected car”
developing services for the Internet
of Things. Start with connected
vehicles, which include cars, trucks,
trains and any moving platform. We
believe that the billions of dollars spent
each year by car manufacturers to recall
vehicles for software upgrades could
be avoided by implementing broadcast
software updates via satellite. We think
broadcast capabilities, and the vastly
superior security aspects, give satellite a
real edge in delivering both operating and
navigation software updates that will be
essential as we move into the next decade.
Earlier this year, we participated in a
demonstration of the technology
with Toyota and Kymeta at the Detroit
Auto Show. This is an exciting application
to develop.
KA:Would you like to comment
on Teletimes International (which
is the only magazine focused
towards the satellite and telecom
sectors of the Middle East,
Asia and Africa)?
SS: Publications like Teletimes International
play a vital role in our business. We have
become a data-driven global economy,
and publications like yours help people
better understand the role that satellite,
as well as all communications networks,
play in keeping us connected. By profiling
different technologies and companies,
you open the discourse on some of the
biggest challenges and opportunities
facing the sector - and this ultimately
provides better solutions for our end
markets
November 2016
15

NEWS
Etisalat Group reports net profit of
AED 6.2 Billion for the first nine months of 2016
Etisalat Group announced its consolidated
financial statements for the nine months
ending 30 September 2016.
Eng. Saleh Al Abdooli, CEO, Etisalat Group
has said that the robust and constant
growth of Etisalat Group is underpinned
by our continued investments in nextgeneration
services and solutions that add
tremendous value to the communities
we serve and enhance the customer
experience. He said, “As a leading ICT
provider in emerging markets, we are
pushing our boundaries consistently,
by not only responding swiftly to digital
advancements, but also in proactively
delivering cutting-edge services and
solutions to our customers. Our first-mover
accomplishments set us apart and make
us the go-to overall service provider for
customers, businesses and governments.”
“We understand the aspirations of our
customers, and that drives us to deliver
innovative solutions to meet the demands
of today’s digital age. Today, we deliver the
fastest speeds in the region through our
4G LTE network, and we are contributing
to transforming the UAE as a global
leader in Fibre-To-The-Home deployment
by delivering high quality, high-speed
connectivity for nearly 90 percent of the
country’s populated homes. We have also
made good progress on trials of our 5G
network in the UAE, an investment that
will enable our nation and our businesses
to achieve transformational growth by
leveraging the Internet of Things and The
Cloud,” he added.
Mr. Saleh Al Abdooli further said, “Investing
in state-of-the-art infrastructure for the
future and building intellectual capital,
we are honored to be one of the partners
contributing in delivering the vision of our
leadership. We are demonstrating our nextgeneration
capabilities through our role
as Premium Partner of Expo 2020 Dubai,
making the Expo site one of the fastest,
smartest and best-connected places in the
world. We will continue to focus on creating
the world’s best networks in all the markets
that we operate, and in delivering long-term
value for all our stakeholders.”
Etisalat Group aggregate subscribers as at
30 September 2016 reached 162 million. In
the UAE, the active subscriber base grew
to 12.2 million subscribers, representing
a year on year growth of 5%. Subscriber
growth continued to be driven by strong
performance of mobile and eLife segments.
The mobile subscriber base grew year on
year by 7%. Maroc Telecom subscriber
base reached 52.3 million customers,
representing a year over year growth of
3%.Etisalat Group’s consolidated revenue
for the third quarter of 2016 amounted
to AED 13.2 billion with growth of 3% in
comparison to the same period last year.
In the UAE, revenue in the third quarter
increased year on year by 4% to AED
7.5 billion. Maroc Telecom consolidated
revenue for the third quarter of 2016
amounted to AED 3.3 billion representing a
year over year growth of 2%. Consolidated
net profit after Federal Royalty reached
AED 1.9 billion in the third quarter of 2016.
Adjusted consolidated net profit for the sale
of Canar increased by 16% year on year.
Earnings per share (EPS) amounted to AED
0.22 in the third quarter of 2016.
Consolidated EBITDA amounted to AED
6.8 billion, representing an increase of
3% year on year and resulting in EBITDA
margin of 51%. In the UAE, EBITDA in the
third quarter of 2016 was AED 4.1 billion
leading to an EBITDA margin of 55%. Maroc
Telecom’s consolidated EBITDA for the
third quarter of 2016 amounted to AED 1.7
billion, an increase of 1% year over year and
resulting in EBITDA margin of 51%. EBITDA
of International consolidated operations
increased year over year by 3% to AED 2.5
billion.
16 November 2016

EVENT
GITEX gets Bigger and Better !
Huawei held its inaugural ME Innovation Day
The Gulf Information Technology
Exhibition, hosted at the Dubai
World Trade Center, gets bigger
and better every year. This year’s
36th GITEX Technology Week
hosted the Global Startup Movement, in
response to the need for an industry hub
for investors, incubators and accelerators to
identify the world’s next great startups
and support youth empowerment.
Dubai’s Crown Prince and Chairman
of Dubai Executive Council, His Highness
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, opened GITEX
2016, which ran for five days from 16 to
20 October. Sheikh Hamdan stopped at
the stand of UAE telecoms heavyweight
Etisalat, as well as other leading tech
companies from the region and around
the world, to kick-start the most highly
anticipated technology event in the Middle
East.
November 2016
17

Setting off GITEX 2016 on a high note,
Huawei held its inaugural Middle East
Innovation Day on October 16. It was a
conference organized on the sidelines of
GITEX, which saw participation of key
decision makers from the local, regional
and international ICT and enterprise
organizations who came together to discuss
how ICT is shaping the future of the region.
Under the theme ‘Leading New ICT - Shape
David Harmon
VP Global Public Affairs - Huawei
the Future’, industry leaders discussed
the role of ICT innovation in driving the
digital transformation agenda, supporting
the development of key sectors and
contributing to the achievement of national
initiatives and visions across the region.
The event began with a welcome address
by David Harmon, vice president of Global
Public Affairs at Huawei, in which he praised
GCC governments for setting a clear
priority to encourage an entrepreneurial
society that helps drive GDP growth, job
prosperity and innovative services that
solve everyday problems for their citizens.
Huawei ME Innovation Day also saw the
launch of Huawei’s Smart City Index,
which was developed in collaboration
with Navigant Research and provided an
assessment on the state of smart readiness
across Gulf States. The study looked at ICT
infrastructure in major cities and evaluated
their readiness for the next level of smart
city adoption.
Smart Dubai highlighted its smart city
progress at GITEX, where it showcased
more than 300 smart city innovations,
across 11 experiences and six smart city
dimensions, in line with the Happiness
Agenda. “Smart Dubai participation at
GITEX Technology Week this year sets a
new standard in showcasing our efforts to
transform Dubai to a smart city to a large
audience of decision makers, businesses
and government representatives from all
over the world,” said Her Excellency
Dr. Aisha Butti bin Bishr, Director General
of Smart Dubai.
Visitors experienced Smart Dubai’s
innovations across land, sea and air outlets,
public services, smart homes, smart
shopping, health, education, business and
judicial services - from connected cars to
augmented reality homes. For example,
at Saeed Hall, a ground-breaking artificial
intelligence service for the commercial
sector, launched in collaboration with
Smart Dubai, the Dubai Smart Government,
the Dubai Department of Economic
Development and IBM. The Dubai Health
Department launched a new smart
ambulance system, while Dubai Police
launched 15 new smart services including an
interactive fingerprint.
One of the most exciting developments at
GITEX 2016 was when Dubai World Trade
Center successfully achieved a Guinness
World Record for most participants riding
18 November 2016

in a virtual reality roller coaster in one hour,
putting Dubai on the map as a global hub
for VR innovation and earning a place in
the history books. VR was a hot topic at
this year’s event. Powered by Samsung,
461 GITEX participants strapped on
Samsung’s Gear virtual reality headsets
powered by Oculus, while being thrilled
by a visual roller coaster presented in a
4DX theatre. Organizers had expected 250
people, and smashed through the record
overwhelmingly with nearly double the
number.
“Virtual reality has rapidly advanced to
enter the mainstream in transforming
experiences in entertainment, education
and healthcare. Attempting this virtual
reality world record underlines Dubai’s
commitment to innovation and GITEX
Technology Week as one of the world’s
leading events for immersive technologies,”
said C. Purushothaman, head of marketing
(Smartphones & Tablets), IT & Mobile
Division at Samsung Gulf Electronics.
Carrying on the virtual reality movement
at GITEX, Nokia and UAE-based
telecommunications service provider, du,
demonstrated the Middle East’s first 4K 3D
360 virtual reality video streaming using a
5G-ready network. Nokia and du used Nokia
AirScale Radio Access to showcase 360
degree virtual reality (VR) video streaming.
KSA recognized for its largest-ever participation at GITEX
Eng. Ahmed bin Jamil Al-Maiman, VP of the supervising committee of Saudi
Ministry of Interior’s participation at GITEX 2016 and the PR and Media Director of
the National Information Centre (left) receiving trophy from Ahmed Al Khaja, SVP,
Dubai World Trade Centre (right) in recognition of the Kingdom’s largest-ever Saudi
participation as the Official Country Partner for GITEX Technology Week 2016.
In the demonstration, 3D 360 VR content
created with the Nokia OZO VR camera was
streamed to head-mounted displays using
Nokia’s 5G-ready network, delivering a fully
immersive VR experience for attendees. The
demonstration was yet another milestone
for du on its path to 5G technology and
taking 5G beyond speed and connectivity by
demonstrating real 5G use cases.
“Smart cities of tomorrow would require
high speed and low latency connectivity
to connect internet of things applications.
The demonstration of 3D 360 VR video
streaming over a 5G-ready system
provides a glimpse into the future of one
such application,” said Saleem Al Blooshi,
executive vice president - Network
Development and Operations, du. “It
underscores our commitment to go beyond
connectivity and speed and providing end
to end real use cases for 5G. Nokia is our
partner for UAE 5G innovation Gate (U5GIG)
that will enable UAE to participate in the
development and standardization of 5G
system. Nokia will continue to be a strategic
partner for 5G network that we will offer in
Dubai Expo 2020.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) was another
hot topic showcased at this year’s GITEX
Technology Week. For instance, visitors to
Microsoft’s stand were surprised to learn
just how far cognitive reasoning, naturallanguage
processing and bot AI have
come, as they wandered through specially
constructed Experience Zones at Microsoft’s
stand.
November 2016
19

H.H. Sheikh Hamdan launches UAE AEO program
Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive
Council, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, has officially launched the
Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program during
Gitex 2016. The AEO program will connect UAE with
the rest of the world in terms of trade and customs.
The CEO and Chairman of DP World and Chairman of Ports, Customs
and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC), Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem,
gave H.H. Sheikh Hamdan a closer insight into the program, as H.H.
toured the PCFC stand, in the presence of H.E. Commissioner Ali Al
Kaabi, Head of the Federal Customs Authority, Mohammad Juma
Buossaiba Director-General of the UAE Federal Customs Authority,
and Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs.
Designed under the supervision of the Federal Customs Authority,
the AEO program delivers a comprehensive set of benefits to
certified partners, including faster clearance, preferential customs
treatment and a dedicated Key Account Manager.
Operators could include manufacturers, importers, exporters,
brokers, carriers, consolidators, intermediaries, ports, airports
terminal operators, integrated operators, warehouses and
distributors.
His Excellency Commissioner Ali Al Kaabi, Head of the Federal
Customs authority, praised the initiatives being showcased by Dubai
Customs at Gitex 2016. He said “Dubai Customs is a world-class role
model in Customs work, particularly when it comes to facilitating
trade and plugging security gaps internationally.”
H.E. Al Kaabi affirmed that the Authorized Economic Operator
program is a quantum leap in Customs work, as such platform will
efficiently serve trade flow in the UAE bringing global and home
companies real added value in terms of risk record and security
profile. “The UAE, represented by the FCA, has recently signed a
Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with South Korea during a
federal delegation visit to the country.”
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, said, “The pilot phase proved to be a
huge success. We know that we are ready to take this into the next
level. Certified AEOs will be able to make inroads into new markets
thanks to the Mutual Recognition Agreements.
Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs, said “The
AEO program will back nationwide integrated efforts towards
marking history in Expo 2020.”
He further noted that the new facility provides local and
international businesses a strong competitive edge as authorised
economic operators (AEOs), which positively impacts on the
national economy and increases growth.
Dubai Customs showcased 8 out-of-the-box, smart initiatives at
this Gitex including Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) Program,
Smart Workspace, Smart Inspection Glasses, Smart Inspection Lab,
Smart Virtual Agent, Endangered Species Exhibit, Smart Customs
Route, and Bags Smart Customs Inspection System.
20 November 2016

EVENT
Dr. Khaled Biyari, STC Group CEO
named Teletimes’ CEO of the Year during GITEX
Dr. Khaled Biyari, Group CEO of STC has
been awarded the title of Teletimes’ CEO
of the Year 2016 by Teletimes International
on the inaugural day of GITEX Technology
Week in Dubai.
The award was presented to Dr. Khaled
by Mr. Bocar Ba, CEO of SAMENA Council
along with Mr. Khalid Athar, Chief Editor,
Teletimes International during a ceremony
at GITEX Technology Week.
Dr. Khaled H. Al Biyari joined STC in May
2013 as Senior Vice President of Technology
and Operations, and then served as COO
as well. Currently, Dr. Biyari also serves as
the Vice Chairman of VIVA Kuwait amongst
other positions he holds in addition to his
role at STC. He is a member of a number
of professional organizations and has
lectured and published numerous papers on
communication and information systems.
Dr. Biyari has also lectured on technology
management and innovation as well as
issues related to the ICT industry. Dr. Biyari
holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from
the University of Southern California and
Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical
Engineering from KFUPM.
Since his appointment as CEO in early
2015, Dr. Biyari has led STC into a new era
of success. His initiatives have included a
key focus on expansion, introduction and
incubation of new technologies as well as
CSR amongst other things. He has led the
company towards increasing its customer
base, introducing new solutions for these
customers and achieving greater overall
customer satisfaction. His vigilant and dynamic
leadership has also helped create an
environment and culture that grooms talent
and innovation to create value.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Bocar Ba
said, “I am honored to present the Teletimes’
CEO of the Year award to Dr. Khaled
Biyari. The award comes as a recognition
of his great services to the company and
the telecom industry at large. His dynamic
leadership has led STC to huge success and
we wish that he will continue his great work
in the coming future”.
While receiving the award, Dr. Biyari said,
“I am grateful to the Teletimes team for
this honor. I want to share that this journey
has always been a team effort and the
successful results are the outcome of a
great performance by the great team at
STC. The entire team deserves credit for the
outstanding performance and I am glad to
receive this award on behalf of them.”
November 2016
21

NEWS
STC, SAP partner to empower public sector and SME scalability
clouds running on STC’s data centers in the
Kingdom. SAP is seeing strong interest for
the S/4HANA real-time business suite, the
Digital Boardroom, Business Intelligence,
and Customer Relationship Management.
“With STC’s world-class network
infrastructure and a cloud-based
subscription model, Saudi organizations of
all sizes and industries can easily adopt the
solutions that will drive Saudi Vision 2030’s
digital transformation goals,” said Ahmed
Al-Faifi, Managing Director, SAP Saudi
Arabia, Yemen and Bahrain.
Dr. Sultan Bin Saeed, CEO of STC Advanced Solutions (left) and Ahmed Al-Faifi,
Managing Director, SAP Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Bahrain (right) announce a
partnership on cloud solutions.
Cyber security partnerships
keep smart cities safe, say
GITEX experts
STC and SAP announced a strategic
partnership agreement at GITEX to
cooperate on the provision of cloud-based
subscription model enterprise software
solutions to organizations of all sizes in
the public and private sector in the
Kingdom.
As per the agreement and arrangements
between STC and SAP, most SAP solutions
and workloads are now supported on
the STC Cloud, allowing new and existing
customers to rollout or expand current
SAP based solutions without the need for
CAPEX based investments in hardware or
software.
“Saudi organizations need smooth running
digitized services to scale and remain
competitive and contribute effectively to
meeting the objectives of the National
Transformational Program 2020, key to
achieving on Vision 2030. Applying SAP
based solutions structured on STC’s cloud
gives decision makers at public and private
sector organizations real-time insights
for faster and higher impact decisions
needed to scale up quickly,” said Sultan Bin
Saeed, CEO of STC Solutions, the national
operator’s system integration focused arm.
The solutions will run on the SAP HANA
in-memory platform via secure private
Global Smart Cities will be kept safe
by public-private partnerships in cyber
security, agreed tech players during GITEX
Technology Week.
Faisal Al Bannai, CEO of DarkMatter,
an international cyber security firm
headquartered in the UAE, and the event’s
official Cyber Security Innovation Partner,
launched the first-of-its-kind Cyber
Resilience Platform to visualise cyber
security readiness, and the first-of-its-kind
enterprise-ready blockchain offerings for
Smart Cities and smart systems.
Protecting citizen data, DarkMatter
announced partnerships with NetApp for
secure storage and Big Data analytics, and
with vArmour for end-to-end data centre
and cloud security.
22 November 2016

INTERVIEW
Our vision is to make Dubai the happiest city
Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr, Director General, Smart Dubai Office
Interview: Gulraiz Khalid
H.E. DR. Aisha Butti Bin Bishr is the Director General of the Smart Dubai Office, the government entity charged with overseeing
Dubai’s citywide smart transformation, engaging with leadership in the public and private sector to make Dubai a global benchmark
smart city.
Prior to that, Dr. Aisha worked as Assistant Director General of the Executive Office of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai. The Executive Office role is to implement
the vision of HH (to make Dubai #1 globally) as well as to be the source of the best futuristic initiatives. Part of her role was leading
the Smart Dubai task force team from the time of the announcement of the Smart Dubai initiative in March 2014, to the formation of
the Smart Dubai Office.
Dr. Aisha also worked in the Ministry of Labor as an Assistant Undersecretary for support services responsible for developing and
implementing strategic management, partnership development and change management policies. She holds a PHD in Management,
Science, Technology and Innovation and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Policy and Research on Engineering, Science and Technology
from Manchester Business School. A Bachelor of Science (BS) in Applied Science (Business Information Technology) from Higher
Colleges of Technology , and a degree in Public Finance Management from Dubai School of Government as well as a graduate of
Orchestrating Winning Performance Diploma from IMD.
November 2016
23

What is the Smart Dubai initiative?
Is it about connectivity, is it about
applications or is it about better
infrastructure?
For us, the Smart Dubai initiative is not
about applications, it’s about experiences
and hence what we really want is to create
happier experiences for people. Our vision is
to make Dubai the happiest city on earth.
We already have
achieved more than 100
initiatives and more
than 100,000 smart
services covering all
dimensions in our city”
Dubai has been a world leader with
reference to its smart city initiative.
Please share with us the vision and
objective behind this program.
We started in 2014 when we launched Smart
Dubai with the mandate to make Dubai
the smartest and the happiest city in three
years and to develop 100 initiatives and
1000 smart initiatives across six dimensions
that are Mobility, Economy, Living,
Environment, Governance and People.
Our main goal is to develop a seamless,
impactful, safe and efficient smart city
experience and within two and a half years,
we have already managed to achieve most
of our goals. Very soon we will have the
Smart Dubai Platform up and running which
will also be known as the digital backbone
in Dubai.
When we talk about government entities,
for the last 15 years they have developed
many smart solutions, so what we are
doing at Smart Dubai is eliminating all silos
across all verticals, ranging from Health
to Energy to Education by opening and
sharing data across the government. We are
working with different, specialized players
so that we are smart in every vertical but
holistically we need to bring this together
as one connected ecosystem. That is why
we are working on every level to ensure
we have the infrastructure as a backbone
ready for such transformation. Governing
data initiatives and policies around data
are in place and a full city roadmap for our
city transformation is also in place already.
I think we are right on time and very well
prepared to take the next step.
What is the timeline for this project and
where do we stand today?
Our planned timeline, which spanned over
three years will reach its end in March 2017.
We call these 3 years “The Enablement
Years” and have already achieved more than
100 initiatives and more than 100 thousand
smart services covering all dimensions
in our city. We are leading the Smart City
movement globally with ITU. They have
selected Dubai to be the Pilot City to design
and implement the first International Smart
City KPIs so we are talking progress that is
beyond our basic plans, and that too well
beyond the end of this project.
As we move forward in a connected
environment full of IoT devices powered
by AI and more, there are certain
concerns raised regarding security, legal
responsibility and privacy, a very possible
example could be a driverless car getting
into an accident. How do you plan to
tackle these concerns?
Actually that’s something our strategic
partners in Dubai are working on. We are
building a comprehensive strategy for
the mobility dimension of Smart Dubai.
By 2030, 25% of our cars will be driverless
cars and that puts a lot of pressure on not
only transferability but also on the Police
Department and Insurance companies to
24 November 2016

ensure the proper framework to manage
and govern these aspects, whether it
be traffic management or catering to
accidents. Our partners plan to come
back to us with a proper framework which
defines how they will tackle all these
challenges that include security, policies
around insurance, policies around the traffic
and more.
The privacy issue from a data perspective
is being handled by the Dubai Data
Establishment. We have a set of around
31 policies that tackle privacy, security,
commercialization, sharing, opening and
other aspects that fall under this domain.
This is from a governing perspective but
when we look from a physical perspective
we make sure that security is a priority
on every level of infrastructure. Our Chief
Security Officer at the Dubai Electronic
Security Centre is helping us ensure that we
are covering the security and privacy of data
completely.
Which initiative is the current on-going
focus of the project?
Currently, we are piloting a “City Leader
Dashboard” wherein city leaders can see
different data sets put together. The idea
is to have two dashboards; one is for city
leaders so that they can see all activity
happening live in the city and the second
one is for people so that they can manage
transactions and services around them
in the most efficient manner. We plan
to launch the City Leader Dashboard by
March. As for the Personal Dashboard, we
have already launched our first beta version
for Dubai in which you can access over 55
services from 24 public and private entities
via one application, more commonly known
as Dubai Now.
As you move forward ahead of your
timeline and we are not looking forward to
any delays, what is your plan for after the
achievement of the initial goal? Is there a
United Arab Emirates will be 50 years old as a nation
in 2021 and before we reach that time, we wish to
reach our goal of making Dubai the happiest city for
people around the world”
plan beyond the Enablement Years?
We have already started to develop a plan
for the next phase. Smart Dubai is not a
project with an end to it, it’s a journey.
Our first phase was to enable the city, our
second phase is to make sure that the city
is impacted once it is enabled, and the next
phase is where we start to see how all these
layers will impact different experiences.
We have already identified several KPIs and
our KPI for the city is “Happiness”. Earlier
this year we measured the city’s happiness
levels to be at 89% and we want to increase
it to 95% by 2021. Our next phase is for
five years where we will celebrate our
targets with our country’s Golden Jubilee
Anniversary. United Arab Emirates will be 50
years old as a nation in 2021 and before we
reach that time, we wish to reach our goal
of making Dubai the happiest city in the
world.
November 2016
25

Arabsat BADR-7 @ 26˚E, with
unparalleled market specific beams
covering the Middle East and Africa
with unrivaled Ku and Ka-band payload and a special
Ka-band mission tailored to deliver broadband services
from satellite.
26 November 2016

30
November 2016
27

NEWS
Thuraya, Ooredoo Maldives sign deal
to provide fisheries with satellite connectivity
Thuraya Telecommunications and Ooredoo
Maldives have announced an agreement
to supply resorts and fisheries with mobile
satellite products and services across the
archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The initial
phase of the agreement will provision
fisheries and anglers with voice products
and broadband connectivity over Thuraya’s
satellite network.
The agreement addresses a mandate issued
by the Maldives government, progressively
requiring commercial fishing operators to fit
their vessels with satellite communication
equipment and to supply anglers with
satellite phones. This is in line with the
approach adopted by other fisheries
management authorities throughout the
world. By equipping their fishing vessels
with Thuraya’s products, operators will have
access to monitoring systems and services
that address multiple requirements such as
issues of distress and safety.
Commencing from October 19, Ooredoo
Maldives will sell Thuraya SatSleeve+ and
SatSleeve Hotspot devices as well as data
packages at their retail outlets and through
their enterprise account teams.
Thuraya SatSleeve+ and SatSleeve
Hotspot are sleek adaptors that transform
smartphones into satellite phones. They
offer fast, simple connectivity on the move,
especially in remote areas where terrestrial
networks have become unavailable or
unreliable. They allow the user to make
calls, use messaging applications, send and
receive email and SMS, and access apps.
They also come with an additional safety
feature - a programmable SOS button
that works even if the smartphone isn’t
connected.
Bilal El Hamoui, Chief Commercial Officer
at Thuraya said, “Fishing is one of the
most dangerous occupations in the world,
and more stringent safety measures
are required. Up until now, the lack of
accessibility and affordability have placed
reliable satellite communications outside
the reach of many fishermen. It’s time
to re-evaluate, because we are offering
unprecedented value. Thuraya equipment
is small, and is quick and easy to install. We
offer unlimited data plans, fast speeds and
access to a reliable network. Thuraya can
drive your communication costs down by an
average of 40%. More affordable technology
means it’s easier to keep satellite equipment
onboard even on the smallest vessel,
making it safer for fishermen to do their
jobs and stay in touch with shore. Thuraya’s
purpose is to save and improve lives, and
this agreement will allow fishermen to be
connected when and where they need it.”
Andrew Jordan appointed new President and CEO of AsiaSat
AsiaSat announced that William Wade has
retired as Executive Director, President and
CEO from November 1, and will remain as
Senior Advisor until 31 March 2017.
Andrew Jordan has been appointed by
the Board to succeed Mr. Wade as
Executive Director, President and CEO
with effect from 1 November 2016. Mr.
Jordan, aged 56, has over 25 years of
experience in the satellite industry. He
was the General Manager in the Marketing
Department of AsiaSat from 1991 to 1993.
Mr. Jordan has held executive positions
with several satellite operators, and has led
complex deal negotiations in China, Hong
Kong SAR, Australia, Italy and the United
Kingdom. He obtained a Bachelor’s
degree in Chinese from London University’s
School of Oriental and African Studies.
AsiaSat’s Chairman, JU Wei Min, said, “On
behalf of the Board of Directors, I would
like to express my sincere gratitude
to William Wade for his many years
of dedicated and exceptional service.
AsiaSat’s solid reputation in the industry
and its strong commitment to quality and
reliability are a credit to his leadership.
We look forward to his contributions as
Senior Advisor to assist in the leadership
transition.”
“I would like to welcome back Mr. Jordan,
who is an industry veteran with extensive
experience, knowledge and contacts across
the satellite communications, broadcast
and telecom industries. We are confident
that he has the strategic vision and
experience to drive AsiaSat’s next phase of
growth,” Mr. Ju added.
28 November 2016

NEWS
Yahsat’s vision for regionwide
satellite connectivity
furthered by signing
of Eutelsat multi-year
capacity agreement
Yahsat and Eutelsat Communications have
signed a multi-year capacity agreement
giving Broadband for Africa, Eutelsat’s
African broadband venture, access to
high-performance commercial Ka-band
capacity for broadband services across
Sub-Saharan Africa. The move represents
a significant milestone for Yahsat as
the company actively seeks to further
industry collaboration to expand satellite
connectivity region-wide.
Masood M. Sharif Mahmood, CEO of
Yahsat said, “This agreement is important
to our overall vision of providing global
satellite connectivity solutions for unserved
and underserved communities. At Yahsat
we firmly believe that by partnering with
our industry peers, the satellite community
will be able to jointly help connect markets
that face infrastructure and connectivity
challenges. Our collaboration with
Broadband for Africa is a great example
of how partnerships can work for the
greater good of regional socio-economic
development.”
According to the terms of the agreement,
Broadband for Africa will use capacity on
up to 16 Ka-band spotbeams on the Yahsat
1B satellite to roll out broadband services
during the first half of 2017. Further
expansion will be supported later in the
year using capacity on 18 spotbeams on
Yahsat’s Al Yah 3 satellite, scheduled for
launch in early 2017.
Both Yahsat 1B and Al Yah 3 are equipped
with high powered spotbeams with
Sub-Saharan African coverage, ideal for
community and Direct-to-User Internet
access using affordable, off-the-shelf
customer premises equipment.
Laurent Grimaldi, Chief Executive Officer
of Broadband for Africa, said: “We are
delighted to initiate this relationship with
Yahsat and fully share their conviction in
the long-term role satellites will play in
wireless connectivity and in the need for
high-quality infrastructure to transform
Africa’s broadband landscape.”
In addition to Yahsat’s collaboration with
Eutelsat to drive connectivity across
Africa, the company also provides costeffective
satellite broadband services via
its YahClick satellite broadband internet
service .Currently the number one satellite
broadband service in Africa, subscribers
including government, businesses and
individuals are able to gain access to
uninterrupted, high-speed internet across
the continent.
Yahsat appoints Farhad Khan as CCO
Yahsat has appointed Farhad Khan as its
chief commercial officer (CCO). Farhad will
assume the position and will be responsible
for the overall customer operations,
marketing and sales management activities
of Yahsat
Commenting on the executive appointment
Masood M. Sharif Mahmood, chief executive
officer said: “After careful selection, we are
pleased to have found the best individual for
the job. Farhad has a proven record in the
telecommunications industry combined with
strong leadership skills and deep industry
knowledge. I wish Farhad every success in
his new role and have full confidence that
with his leadership we will continue our
growth trajectory.”
Farhad Khan, newly appointed chief
commercial officer, Yahsat said: “I am
delighted to be joining Yahsat at such an
exciting time. Yahsat’s achievements in
less than five years of operations, with the
launch of two satellites and serving many
communities across the Middle East, Africa,
Central and South West Asia, has been
nothing short of remarkable. During this
next critical growth phase I will concentrate
on establishing new partnerships, work on
the launch of Yahsat’s third satellite Al Yah
3 and drive the business as we enter more
than 20 additional markets.”
November 2016
29

NEWS
GSMA Mobile 360 ME Conference
Huawei sees 5G as the road to connectivity
Huawei shared its vision for a future of
connected possibilities that will be made
real with the advent of 5G technology
during the GSMA Mobile 360-Middle East
Conference, which was held on the sidelines
of GITEX 2016.
Addressing an audience of regional ICT
professionals at the event, Huawei’s
President of Wireless Marketing Operations
for Wireless Network Product Line, Qiu
Heng, highlighted a future where the
impact of 5G will extend beyond the
traditional ICT industry to touch on every
aspect of modern life as we know it,
with everything mobile and everything
connected.
“5G is being developed at just the right
time, when the world is demanding better,
faster, higher capacity connectivity to
accommodate the explosion of connected
devices that are poised to help us power
everything from autonomous cars and
industrial facilities, to enabling connected
education, healthcare and smart cities.
This demand is driving real innovation
in the telecoms space and has led to a
collaborative approach by global players to
define a new global network technology led
by 4 key success factors – unified standards,
spectrum availability on a global level,
key technologies development and global
collaboration,” said Heng.
“The development of 5G will enable a
host of advanced and new technologies
to become a part of everyday life,” Heng
added. “With speeds of up to 10Gbps,
Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) will
affect every aspect of modern day life, from
augmented and virtual reality to self-driving
vehicles, from smart homes and buildings,
to mission critical applications and smart
city technologies.”
Heng stressed the importance of adding
more connections and enabling digital
transformation prior to the introduction of
5G.
Huawei continues to work closely with
various operators across the region, in an
effort to drive 5G development forward in
the Middle East.
Huawei revolutionizes TV viewing with video cloud in the ME
During its participation at the TV Connect
MENA conference and exhibition held on
October 31-November 1 in Dubai Huawei,
showcased its Much TV solution, a video
ecosystem that enables streaming of TV
content through Huawei’s video cloud.
Much TV has already been rolled out by five
telecom operators across the Middle East
and is expected to reach over 3 million users
by year’s end, and a forecast user base of
8 million by end of 2017. The plug & play
solution enables telecom operators across
the region to launch TV platforms quickly
and at a low risk.
“Video consumption across the world has
changed drastically, with users consuming
more and more TV content online. The
MENA region ranked second globally in
YouTube viewership with daily views of
over 310 million videos . It is no surprise
that telecom operators are increasingly
launching internet-based TV services to
keep up with this growing demand,” said
Wang Bin, Chief Expert of Huawei Middle
East Video Service and keynote speaker
at Connect TV MENA. “As part of its new
video strategy, Huawei is collaborating
with industry players across the region to
help them achieve new revenue streams by
providing TV services as part of their core
offering. End-user will enjoy an unparalleled
TV viewing experience that allows them
to watch their favorite shows on-demand
which is possible thanks to Huawei’s video
cloud ecosystem.”
30 November 2016

INTERVIEW
We are a purely R&D based company specialising in
Wireless Mobile Access Network Solutions
Moonsik Kim, Senior Vice President - SOLiD
Interview - Gulraiz Khalid
Please give us a background on Solid.
Solid is an 18 year old company that was
started in South Korea during 1998, and
has grown into an international provider of
services through success in its local market
where it has been supplying its main solution
to major operators like KT and SKT for
some years now. SOLiD helps people stay
connected and safe in a rapidly changing
world through a portfolio of RF Amplifier,
RF Radio and Optical Transport solutions.
SOLiD enables indoor and outdoor cellular
and public-safety communications at
some of the world’s best-known and most
challenging venues including; leading
hospitals, professional, and college sports
venues, government, university and Fortune
500 corporate buildings and campuses,
international airports and metropolitan
subways, and other high-profile sites.
Our company is purely based on R&D which
enables us to provide the best services and
technologies. Our area of specialisation is
providing Wireless Mobile Access Network
solutions.
November 2016
31

What are your main products & solutions?
Our main products include the DAS system,
indoor connectivity solutions and the ICS
system which is useful in rural areas that
cannot be reached via base stations. We are
also providing our solutions to domestic
Korean and Japanese players for front-haul
and backhaul WDM based FTTx solutions as
well.
In
Our main products
include the DAS system,
indoor connectivity
solutions and the ICS
system which is useful in
rural areas that cannot
be reached via base
stations”
terms of geographical markets, in the past
we have focused on our domestic market in
Korea, but now we are expanding to North
America, CALA, Europe and other Asian
countries. We are working with Interconnect
Solutions in the Middle East and are also
expanding to Africa and parts of West Asia.
Could you please elaborate on your “In-
Building” solutions?
We are providing Wireless Mobile Access
Network solutions where there is a need for
“In-Building” connectivity such as hotels,
shopping malls, health care, university
campus, stadiums and metro which are large
venues with high mobile traffic.
SOLiD In-building DAS provides the multicarriers,
multi-band and sector service,
with high efficiency and versatile of power
module. Embedded POI and small form
factor are attractive to users and it is easy to
install and can be simply upgraded without
interruption of service.
How do you see Middle East market as a
potential market for your product and how
has your journey been so far?
We see ourselves as new entrants in the
Middle East market. Before we entered the
Middle East market, there was only one
Before we entered the Middle East market, there
was only one major, global and dominant, player in
the Middle East. Many customers wanted to have
a good second option and some were not satisfied
with the current service. This naturally created room
for us to enter and we came in just at the right time”
major, global and dominant player in the
Middle East. Many customers wanted to
have a good second option and some were
not satisfied with the current service. This
naturally created room for us to enter and
we came in just at the right time. Now we
feel that the customers enjoy having the
option which means we will stay active and
expand within the Middle East.
On a regional level, this area has been
affected by the drop in oil prices and the
slowing down of the growth rate in the
construction industry. However, we still
believe that the area has a lot of potential
for telecom services. We feel there is a
strong room for growth and will do our best
to capitalise on the opportunity that exists in
this region with our solution that is perfectly
tailored for present needs.
We plan to take our experience from this
area to other regions as well. So far, we have
been very successful due to our supportive
customers and our highly experienced
localised technology partner namely
32 November 2016

“Interconnect Solutions Ltd”, a leading
provider of network infrastructure and
power back-up solutions.
Please tell us about the key factors that
have played a role in your successful entry
into this market?
To successfully penetrate this market, we
had to focus on ensuring the highest quality
of products & solutions, a very competitive
price and instant on-site support, amongst
To successfully
penetrate this market,
we had to focus on
ensuring the highest
quality of products
& solutions, a very
competitive price and
instant on-site support,
amongst other things”
other things. A key factor in our customer
satisfaction is the partner-like relationship
we have built with them, where we provide
continuous technical training to our
customers and also the system integrators
who are handling new equipment. Our
focus is to ensure that the customer’s needs
are met with a price that really reflects
positively in a cost benefit analysis.
Another reason is the advantage of having
a technology partner like Interconnect
Solutions. With their strong distribution
network and in-country warehouses,
supplied from their regional inventory hub in
the UAE, they provide efficient supply chain
solutions and “just in time” deliveries which
help manage inventory costs.
Please tell us about your local technology
partner Interconnect Solutions Ltd?
Interconnect Solutions is our local partner
in the region and plays a strategic role
in helping us develop our business.
Interconnect Solutions has a solid foothold
in the GCC region and has a strong and
trustworthy relationship with customers and
system integrators.
We must say, Interconnect Solutions has
played a key role in our success in this
region, as to be successful you always need
to have the best partners and we feel that
Interconnect Solutions has played that role
day in and day out. Our competencies are
highly complementing and with a strong
alliance together, we feel that we can
increase our market share and become one
of the biggest players in this market heading
into the future.
November 2016
33

INTERVIEW
Re-defining collaboration
in the Workplace
Polycom’s Marco Landi, President,
EMEA and Glynn Jones, VP, EMEA
Channels & Advanced Technology
Group speak to Teletimes in
an exclusive interview at GITEX
Technology Week 2016
Please tell us about the background of
Polycom and its vision?
Marco: Basically we started with video
conferencing many years ago, our platform
was invented in a garage and that was
for conferences. I will fast forward 10-
15 years, then the company invested in
voice, like voice conferencing and then
in video conferencing. We used to call it
video conferencing or voice or unified
communications. What we are talking about
now is simply “Collaboration” - so all of our
strategies are based on collaborating.
The vision behind this is the way people
work - you have got different people,
people who are young that have more
flexibility or older generations that stay
longer at work, you have got people that
don’t go into office to work, you have got
global companies that operate in different
regions, you have got faster response time
because you know the decision is to be
taken quickly and a lot of more data is there
- so overall, it’s fair to say that the
way people work is changing. And people
at work really collaborate in a different
environment.
Our strategy really works around enabling
that collaboration so that they can
collaborate better, and if people can
collaborate better you know that they can
produce more, you can use resources better,
you can design products faster, you can train
people faster and you can educate people
better, etc.
Previously, we used to talk video in
particular, and by video you don’t need
to travel and that would save the travel
cost. Now it’s no longer the same case -
now it’s how do I communicate with more
people easily and how can we be the most
proactive in a meeting and hence we need
video, voice, content sharing and data
management altogether.
Which areas are you currently covering
from a Geographical point of view?
Glynn: Globally, I am trying to think of the
areas we are not in, and I can’t name one
place. If you look at Europe for example,
Polycom is present everywhere and I think
we have further presence through the
representation from our partners as well. We
are pretty well covered from a geographical
point of view on a global level.
Please tell us about the solutions you have
displayed at GITEX Technology Week,
Dubai.
Glynn: Some of the solutions we have
exhibited at GITEX include the following.
• Polycom® RealPresence Trio is a solution
transforms the iconic three-point conference
phone into a voice, content-sharing and
video system that can fit into any team
environment. Easy to deploy, RealPresence
Trio technology has broad interoperability
and deep integration across multiple UC
platforms including Skype for Business and
Microsoft Lync, BroadSoft and others.
• Polycom® RealPresence Centro is the
first solution purpose-built to put people
into the centre of collaboration, will be
available for demonstration during the
show. The RealPresence Centro solution
introduces a brand new paradigm for group
conferencing that drives deep engagement
and highly productive meetings by bringing
34 November 2016

people to the centre of collaboration.
• Polycom® RealPresence® Debut brings
enterprise grade video collaboration to
the huddle room with a focus on simplicity
and affordability. RealPresence Debut has
an easy, elegant design that enables high
quality visual collaboration for huddle and
smaller room environments, as well as for
small or medium sized businesses with
limited IT resources.
• Polycom® RealPresence® Media Suite is
an enterprise recording, webcasting and
portal solution that makes the creation and
delivery of higher quality videos possible.
A central management console enables
simple workflows to manage media nodes
remotely.
• Polycom® RealPresence ClaritiTM is a
collaboration infrastructure that delivers
Polycom’s powerful HD voice, content, video
and web collaboration to businesses of any
size is also available for demonstrations
during GITEX.
Please tell us about the RealPresence
Centro in more detail?
Glynn: The whole genesis is the design of the
Centro that supports video collaboration and
audio web collaboration in a way that people
already use to collaborate which is sitting
around in a table whereas the traditional
video conferencing tends to be hanging on
the wall in one room while everybody is up
to that moment so it really does support
this concept that people can collaborate
in a more natural way. The video is end to
end - with this solution you collaborate with
people with you as well as on the other end
of the video and supports several systems.
From a technology perspective, its touch
screen and works with Skype. Every product
that we have whether its mobile plans,
desktop solutions, Immersive studios which
you have seen in the past are all supporting
Skype for business. So it gives the customers
the option to decide which way they want
to go or both ways. But again, like all of
our other solutions when you use the
conjunction for our infrastructure you can
bring others into that collaboration on oneto-one
basis from smart phones, to tablets
to desktops or the room systems. So you
can actually use the opportunity to draw
in during a discussion for a subject of your
interest and then leave while rest of the
conference continues. With the full touch
screen, you have got options for data as
well, you can use high quality LED displays
that you can use to draw in, presenting and
other services.
Bandwidth plays a very important role in
Video Collaboration – could you please tell
us about your expertise in this area?
Marco: We constantly work to optimize
quality of the video and the audio to make
it better but we always use less and less
bandwidth so that we can reach more
possibilities. You can do video conferencing
on a phone in a 3G area. For example,
earlier an employee was in South Africa
he literally stopped on the roadside to do
video conferencing and even when he is
travelling by road, I am getting good quality
from an IPhone using RealPresence video
conferencing on 3G. So basically, without
getting into too much technical detail, what
we have is our own technology embedded
in our software and we are using end point
power so you will always get good quality
and high definition audio irrespective of
regular packet loss.
One of your key partners is Microsoft who
have Skype for Business – with Skype
providing video conferencing on its own,
where does Polycom come in?
Marco: It goes down to where we started
- it goes down to the quality of the video
and the flexibility we offer. We can connect
more devices and we can connect them with
higher quality so Microsoft needs us there.
And with such integrated software they can
reach more consumers. We bring in a lot of
specific expertise into this scenario. A lot
of things that add on to the basic video call
function – as I have said before, we are more
about Collaboration and video is just a part
of it.
Polycom recently conducted research on
“Examining Video Collaboration at the
Workplace”. Could you please tell us about
the findings?
Marco: The Polycom commissioned YouGov
survey highlights that employees across
the UAE have a positive outlook towards
video collaboration as it allows them to work
more effectively from anywhere and derive
the benefits of strong internal and external
business collaboration.
Employees in the UAE also believe that the
option of video collaboration in a workplace
allows for flexible working and working from
anywhere. 90% of employees say that the
ability to video helps them enjoy the main
benefits of flexible working, which includes
the ability to balance work and family
responsibilities, be more productive and be
more satisfied with their jobs.
How is the company evolving overtime
with respect to strategy?
Glynn: We have been acquired by a private
organization called Siris Capital Group LLC
on September 27th and from the strategic
perspective we are still focusing on growing.
The key drive is to continue to develop our
relationship with Microsoft.
We are aiming to bring new audio, content
and video innovations to the market so we
can bring the collaboration capability closer
to a much wider audience. If you look at
video collaboration market from a few years
ago, everything was very much positioned to
sell it as a boardroom solution. The need for
this boardroom solution is still strengthening
and in addition, we are making sure we
extend the video collaboration outwards
and downwards so it’s available to anybody,
whoever they are and wherever they are so
they can work from any location and at any
time. This is the future of work as work is no
longer a place you got to but a thing you do
and you should be able to do this thing from
anywhere.
November 2016
35

INTERVIEW
The journey
towards
a global data
economy
Bocar A. BA
CEO - SAMENA Telecom Council
Teletimes Interview
Given SAMENA Council’s standing as an
international non-profit organization and,
practically, an advocacy body for telecom
operators in the SAMENA region, how has
its role evolved over the past decade?
SAMENA Council, while retaining its role
as an advocate for Telecom Operators,
has now also assumed the role of sector
development partner to private and
public sectors. This is evident from our
engagement with regulatory bodies and
ministries, and through CRO Meetings
of the ITU, which SAMENA Council has
been globally chairing since the 4th CRO
Meeting, held through out the world during
major ITU events.
However, SAMENA Council’s originally
envisioned role as that of an advocacy
body for telecom operators, facilitating
constructive communication and
collaboration with regulatory bodies,
and assisting in both assessing realities
of the regional marketplace and aligning
stakeholder priorities with grander goals,
remains integral to SAMENA Council’s
existential identity.
What is SAMENA Council aiming to
achieve and what drives your purpose and
mission in this very complex and everevolving
industry?
It is an imperative for us to define as
an industry, all together, the roadmap
for Data Economy. Ultimately, a major
requirement for the human society is
to benefit from the positive changes in
ICT policy and regulations in view of the
emerging digital life, to enjoy the benefits
of the digital dividend, for example. It is the
responsibility of the stakeholders to pave
the most efficient paths for fostering and
developing knowledge-based economies
for the future generation as a legacy. For
that, we all agree that we need connectivity
and ubiquity of the network. Hence we
must enable, facilitate, and maintain
sustainability in the way telecom operators
do their business while remaining within
reasonable policy and regulatory bounds.
It is of importance that such bounds be
conducive to doing business. As a sector
development partner, SAMENA Council
extends its resourcefulness and availability
to policy makers and regulatory bodies,
to help fulfill their own KPIs and national
agenda requirements.
SAMENA Council also drives its sense of
achievement by centering its focus on
playing an industry-wide accepted role of
enabling digitization and digital economic
development, encouraging broadband
investment, facilitating transparency and
good governance, and fostering multistakeholder
cooperation.
Please tell us about some of SAMENA
Council’s major contributions to the
industry.
For SAMENA Council to be perceived,
and be trusted, by policy makers and
regulators as a resource is a privilege.
Furthermore, to lead ITU’s Chief Regulatory
Officers Meetings, with the aim of better
articulating and representing the private
sector worldwide, is a major milestone
in SAMENA Council’s young history. In
the near future, SAMENA Council will be
engaging in more collaborative initiatives
with regional governments, and we also
look forward to contributing to leading
global initiatives, such as the global
m-Powering Development Initiative, which
aims to promote the benefits of mobile
communication technologies to help
increase digitization and accelerate the
attainment of the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), which have been defined as
global KPIs for stakeholders across sectors,
across continents.
In addition to being an industry advocate,
SAMENA Council has repeatedly called
for openness and collaboration among
36 November 2016

stakeholders. In many incidences,
SAMENA Council’s intervention and efforts
to fill communication gaps have been
instrumental in bringing stakeholders
together on unified platforms. An example
of this is the first-time closed-door meeting
of telecom operators’ CEOs and the
ITU’s leadership, which SAMENA Council
facilitated earlier this year in order to
elevate the private sector’s viewpoints to
Administration level consideration.
What do you consider to be the greatest
challenges that the telecom industry
currently faces?
The telecom industry has a lot to look
forward to, if we are able to address some
fundamental issues promptly and with
stakeholders’ much-needed cooperation
and collaboration with each other. SAMENA
regional countries need to quickly adapt to
the new broader data-centric ICT world that
is rapidly replacing the narrowly focused
telecoms environment.
There is a dire need to re-evaluate
the traditional regulatory approach to
communications services in view of
asymmetries that exist between telecom
services and over-the-top services. To
this effect, the wholesale and the retail
economic market structure has to be
revamped, which need to be backed up
by holistic ICT based national broadband
visions, policies and initiatives.
All stakeholders also need to ensure
confidence in the industry’s use of data.
Similarly, confidence needs to be ensured
on spectrum resources, which should be
made accessible as promptly as possible
and at moderate costs. Both the pricing and
the timing of the release of new bands for
4G and 5G are of paramount importance.
Lastly, among the most importat industry
issues, it is crucial to understand the
consequences of excessive taxation and
to take steps to reduce taxes, lessen the
burden on telecom-only industry, and
eliminate redundant regulatory fees.
So then what would you describe the
industry should really be focusing on at
the moment and over the foreseeable
future?
First of all, there is an urgency for removing
ambiguities of laws concerning data
management an aligning with the realities
There is a dire need to re-evaluate the traditional
regulatory approach to communications services in
view of asymmetries that exist between telecom
services and over-the-top services”
of the cross-border data world. Doing so is
necessary for economic growth and costreduction
efficiencies. Secondly, despite the
use of the acronym ICT, regulations remain
telecom – centric in an ever-converging
industry, causing an asymmetric effect:
that is, regulated (telecoms) versus nonregulated
(IT-based OTTs, IoT, etc.).
In our view, digital services, regulation of
data, spectrum, and taxation are the issues
that will have significant impact on how
the industry evolves and how it is enabled
by the stakeholders to play its ever-more
central role toward achieving the desired
digital economic impact. The market
must remain sustainable and fair both
for the largest investors of infrastructure
-- that is telecom operators -- and for the
smallest innovative disruptors. Addressing
these priority issues could also provide
good opportunities for both private
and government sector stakeholders
to refine their relationships with each
other, overcome traditional gaps in
communication and standpoints, and pave
a path for both industry growth and human
progress.
Is the industry prepared to truly benefit
from the IoT environment and bring the
benefit to the end-user?
Individually speaking, there are companies,
which are aggressively pursuing and making
good progress on IoT. However, for it to
succeed as a proper ecosystem, IoT requires
standardization, and, at this initial stage,
it may mean more to manufacturers and
vendors rather than to telecom operators.
Business models have to surface for
telecom operators to visualize real value
in IoT. In any case, we have to understand
IoT beyond what may simply meet the eye.
It is an entirely new paradigm shift within
the technological norms and capability that
we currently possess. IoT will be the most
complex ecosystem that we will have ever
witnessed, and it requires complex and
constructive stakeholder cooperation.
One of the immediate steps to accelerate
growth and foster development would be
to address the scarce resources challenge.
Many of the regional markets have opaque
or low grade spectrum management
planning. Spectrum policies need to be put
in place and applied in a timely manner
November 2016
37

to enable availability of sufficient and
appropriate frequencies to meet rising user
demand and face our upcoming data-driven
economies.
Given SAMENA Council’s eye on global
industry affairs, which parts of the world
will see the highest growth in the coming
years?
With no bias toward the region of SAMENA
Council’s presence, the markets of the
SAMENA region, and some markets of
Africa, are destined to experience very
strong growth. This in part is due to large
young populations, global focus on bringing
connectivity and advanced digital services
to the masses, and to new digital visions
being set by governments. Regional
initiatives and consensus on driving growth
through collaboration and on exploiting
commonalities that exist between the
markets support this assessment. The
markets of Asia-Pacific are already doing
well, and markets where regulatory
environments and issues like taxation will
be managed properly, we can expect to see
good levels of growth.
How do you see the future of the GCC
markets and SAMENA Council’s potential
contributions to new policy or regulatory
frameworks, or in establishing best
practices?
SAMENA Council is working very closely
with key stakeholders in the regional
government sectors, including with TRAs,
and other government bodies across
regional markets. With far-reaching ICT
visions set forth by the governments of the
UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, to name
a few, the future of the GCC is indeed smart
hyper-connectedness. We see a digital
society developing before our eyes, and are
excited that SAMENA Council’s involvement
is being sought by the government sectors
in the early planning stages, especially with
regard digital development enablement in
the modernized communications industry.
The future of the GCC markets also appears
bright, because policy-makers and regional
stakeholders are proactively seeking means
and ways to achieve collaboration, with
the purpose of utilizing ICT resources as
development generators for sustainable
development. The recently held 20th
Session of the Council of Arab Ministers
of Communication & Information has
The future of the GCC markets also appears
bright, because policy-makers and regional
stakeholders are proactively seeking means and
ways to achieve collaboration, with the purpose of
utilizing ICT resources as development generators
for sustainable development”
amply supported this, and helped reiterate
the importance of bringing telecom
operators on board in order to successfully
fulfill national digital development and
connectivity goals.
What role has ITU’s Telecom World
played in global telecommunication
development, and what are your
expectations this year in Bangkok?
The ITU must first be congratulated on
having established Telecom World as the
forum where the best minds, the most
far-reaching visions, and the synergistic
engagement of multiple stakeholders meet
the realities of life -- of the business, of
living standards of the citizens of the world,
and of the environment in which we want
ourselves and our children to thrive.
This major ITU forum, for nearly five
decades, has been accelerating ICT
innovation for social and economic
development through exhibiting solutions,
sharing knowledge and networking.
This year, we expect to discuss ways
to define new imperatives in collaboration
for growth, define new pathways to
success, address spectrum needs for the
industry’s transition from 4G to 5G,
discuss ways to monetize SDGs, witness
the launch of Smart Africa, discuss
incentives for investment, and set new
thresholds for reaching more people and
bringing digital financial services to the
unbanked.
SAMENA Councils wishes the ITU, Secretary
General Houlin Zhao and his entire team
much success in ITU Telecom World.
38 November 2016

INTERVIEW
The one-stop shop for SMS
Viahub’s General Manager Mohammad Bani Hani
speaks to Teletimes International
Please tell us about the vision and idea
behind the company?
Viahub provides SMS and Voice services
to mobile operators and enterprises
worldwide. With one single point of
connection we enable our clients with
reliable and secure connection to over 900
MNOs and MVNOs in over 200 countries
across 6 continents. Our high quality,
reliability and around the clock support
makes us number one choice when it comes
to SMS and Voice services.
Viahub holds the credibility of being the
most trusted and reliable SMS hubbing
and A2P monetization service provider in
the world, that strives to enhance MNO’s
subscribers experience and Mobile Operator
business performance at all times. Viahub
suite of products enables mobile operators
to offer seamless customer experience to its
subscribers.
With deep industry and technology
knowledge, Viahub provides the very best
consulting talent to monetize A2P traffic.
Viahub focused on working with Mobile
Operators to transform their network to be
a premium network provides its subscribers
with the highest satisfactions standards and
experience.
Viahub Vision is to be the globally preferred
supplier of the SMS services platform by
2020.
Our Mission is to be a single source to
our clients and to provide one solution to
all their SMS services needs in a reliable,
responsible and efficient manner that will
meet and exceed their expectations.
Please discuss a real world problem faced
by mobile users which the company aims
to address.
The problem that operators face in the SMS
business divided into two parts;
1. Subscribers protection from unwanted
and unsolicited SMS, that without the right
tool and control of the SMS traffic, will
result to deliver the unwanted massages
to subscriber, such as Sharing undesired
or excessive content (Sexting), unsolicited
text containing a unwanted commercial
message, for the purposes of advertising,
phishing, spreading malware..etc.
2. A great deal of Leak in revenues for
operators due to the lack of control on the
SMS traffic in the network
That lead to Fraudulent traffic flow,
Uncharged SMS, Network congestion,
Potential loss of revenue and Lack of SMS
traffic control.
ViaGuard technology is a tool that will
enable operators to control and to have
complete insight into what’s going on
in your network, find all the loopholes,
block grey routes, fraud attempts and
all unwanted traffic from their network,
Harness monitoring and filtering to
regain control over their network and
eventually to Boost their network
revenues with traffic just the way they
want it to be
Having our system integrated in the MNO
network, will result in blocking all fraudulent
traffic, SMS traffic charged correctly, normal
network load, maximum revenue achieved
and most importantly, provide total SMS
traffic control.
How does Viahub solve this problem?
ViaGuard is a state of the art technology
provided by Viahub to GSM operators, it is
an End-to-End protection platform that is
responsible to control and monitor the SMS
traffic and able to enhance the revenue of
the SMS and the A2P messages.
November 2016
39

Without such an essential tool, operators
and subscribers, will be facing fraudulent
traffic flow, uncharged SMS, network
congestion, potential loss of revenue and
Lack of SMS traffic control.
With this platform and its technology, it
will enable operators to control and to
have complete insight into what’s going
on in their network, find all the loopholes,
block grey routes, fraud attempts and all
unwanted traffic, complete monitoring and
filtering to regain control over the network
and eventually to boost their network
revenues
Having our system integrated in the MNO
network, will result in blocking all fraudulent
traffic, SMS traffic charged correctly,
normal network load, maximum revenue
achieved and most importantly total SMS
traffic control
Please discuss the monetary costs and
benefits of using Viahub to solve this
problem?
Our solution platform is designed on
the philosophy of Transparency, No
network exposure, No Re – configuration/
engineering.
The solution is deliberate to support certain
mandatory actions to control the traffic
such as ALLOW, BLOCK and MONITOR.
In general, different rule cases can have
different actions.
Our business model is based on that
we will also consumes all ROI (Return
of investment) delays in revenue, thus
enabling the operator to book new net
revenues immediately. In general, we aim
to offer highly competitive service that
combines technology and know-how, in
order to capture maximal market potential
of the SMS services.
Does Viahub provide any other solutions
besides this?
Viahub provides SMS and Voice services
to mobile operators and enterprises
worldwide. With one single point of
connection we enable our clients with
reliable and secure connection to over
900 MNOs and MVNOs in over 200
countries across 6 continents.
Our high quality, reliability and around the
clock support makes us number one choice
when it comes to SMS and Voice services.
Voice: Premium quality voice with advanced
features such as CLI and Fax over IP or TDM
networks.
SMS: Single connectivity access point to
P2P and A2P SMS market, providing global
reach to Mobile operators, OTT providers
and enterprise clients with real-time
monitoring and reporting capabilities.
Network Security and Revenue Assurance:
Viahub’s SMS Firewall is a sophisticated
filtering system which allows the Operator
to monitor, detect, report and block on
SMS spam and fraud. Viahub SMS solution
provides Revenue Assurance to MNO’s.
Our solution platform
is designed on
the philosophy of
transparency, No
network exposure,
No re – configuration/
engineering”
Which markets are you currently
working in?
Our Head Office is located in New York,
USA, and we have branches operating
from Germany, Croatia and Middle East, in
addition to our representative offices from
the Netherlands and Jordan. We are serving
different clients/ Operators in MEA, Europe
and East Aisa.
Please talk about the importance of SMS
in a growing market of OTTs and Internet
messaging.
The first SMS was in December 1992,
British mobile engineer Neil Papworth
sent the first ever text message: a quick
“Merry Christmas” to Vodafone’s Richard
Jarvis. The technology has been growing in
popularity ever since, until now it became
the first choice of millions of people across
the world.
SMS has changed the world, and the stats
prove it. Almost 7.5 trillion texts were sent
in 2014 according to Portio Research, –
that’s the equivalent of almost 1,000 for
every person on the planet.
OTT is a new challenger has entered
the messaging market, that resulted a
considerable drop in the SMS, any search
for the reasons behind this decline will be
short. Over the past couple of years, we
have witnessed real growth in the use of
over-the-top (OTT) messaging services.
The rise of OTT has been driven once again
by the evolution of mobile technology, and
most of these programs are free, meaning
users only have to pay for their internet
connection and the device they use.
As with most technologies, however, there
are downsides. The many different internetbased
messaging applications availability
out there and the market is expanding
rapidly with new players and applications
isn’t necessarily a good thing, as very few
– if any – of the platforms out there are
compatible with others; instead, they are
in competition. That means one group of
friends is likely to use one platform, while
another group will be relying on something
else completely.
Being these applications are internet-reliant
technologies, security is also an issue to
consider. Most messages will be encrypted
but flaws have been exposed in even the
biggest applications. With these programs
often given access to full contact lists as
well, it’s not just the main user at risk – it
could be their friends and family members
too.
Whereas the SMS have been around much
longer, it solves all of the issues mentioned
above, while also offering users and
marketers plenty of other benefits.
SMS is a standard service which is
different from services offered by different
companies. It’s used in handsets made by all
manufacturers, and doesn’t require the user
to download any applications. This opens
the audience up massively.
OTT still has a long way to go before it can
match the reach of SMS. Mainly because
messaging apps can only be used on
smartphones with internet connectivity.
Text messaging, can be carried out on any
standard mobile phone. This means it’s
possible to reach the demographic groups
and emerging markets.
40 November 2016

EVENT
GSMA announces first keynote speakers for MWC 2017
Teletimes Report
Chang-Gyu Hwang Arnaud de Puyfontaine Eugene Kaspersky John Stankey
José María Álvarez-Pallete
Mats Granryd
John Hanke
Rajeev Suri
The GSMA has provided an update on the
2017 Mobile World Congress, including the
first keynote speakers for the conference,
as well as new programmes, events and
sponsors. Mobile World Congress will be
held 27 February – 2 March 2017 at Fira Gran
Via in Barcelona, with events also taking
place at Fira Montjuïc.
“We are focused on continually evolving
Mobile World Congress to reflect the
transformative impact that mobile has
on individuals, economies and societies
around the globe,” said Michael O’Hara,
Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. “As part
of this evolution, we have developed
focused initiatives to better address the
requirements of specific audiences, such
as the new Women4Tech programme that
we are launching, or the Youth Mobile
Festival. We’re excited about these new
programmes and look forward to engaging
with attendees through these platforms.”
The GSMA has announced the first
confirmed keynote speakers for the fourday
Mobile World Congress conference
programme, including:
• John Stankey, CEO–AT&T Entertainment
Group, AT&T Services Inc.
• Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA
• Eugene Kaspersky, Chairman and CEO,
Kaspersky Lab
• Chang-Gyu Hwang, Chairman and CEO,
KT Corporation
• John Hanke, Founder and CEO, Niantic
• Rajeev Suri, President and CEO, Nokia
• José María Álvarez-Pallete López,
Chairman and CEO, Telefónica
• Arnaud de Puyfontaine, CEO of Vivendi
Group
Across the keynotes and track sessions,
the conference will examine topics such
as connecting the unconnected, digital
commerce, digital content, disruptive
technologies, enterprise mobility, financial
services, IoT and connected living, mobile
identity and privacy, next-generation
networks and security, among others.
The GSMA unveiled an important new
programme designed to address the
persistent gender gap in the mobile
industry: Women4Tech (W4T). Comprising
a series of events and activities over the
four days of Mobile World Congress,
Women4Tech focuses on increasing
the inclusion of women in the mobile
industry and showcasing best practices
and industry action for female leadership
in the digital age. Women4Tech supports
the UN Sustainable Development Goals,
particularly SDG 5 (Gender Equality).
A central element of the programme is
the Women4Tech Summit, which is
scheduled for Thursday, 2 March and
will explore four key themes: “Women
Empowering Technology”, which looks at
gender equality and career development;
“Women Encouraging Technology”, which
centres on mentoring and youth education;
“Women Transforming Technology”, which
focuses on women in communication
and vertical sectors; and “Women
Innovating in Technology”, which examines
women as entrepreneurs and innovators.
Accenture has been confirmed as the
Headline Sponsor for the W4T
Summit.
November 2016
41

NEWS
GSMA elects new Chairman and Deputy Chair
GSM Association has elected Sunil
Bharti Mittal, Founder Chairman, Bharti
Enterprises, as Chairman of GSMA for the
period of two-years from January 2017
through December 2018.
As GSMA Chairman, Mittal will oversee
the strategic direction of the organisation,
which represents nearly 800 of the world’s
mobile operators, as well as more than
300 companies in the broader mobile
ecosystem. Bharti Airtel was the host of the
inaugural GSMA Mobile 360 India event in
New Delhi recently, as well as a meeting of
the GSMA Board.
GSMA Chair-elect Mittal led the GSMA
Board delegation at a meeting with the
Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
In a broad-ranging discussion, the meeting
highlighted the pivotal role of mobile in
delivering the government’s Digital India
vision of broadband as a utility for every
citizen, bringing digital and financial
inclusion to every corner of the country.
The GSMA also elected the new members
of the 26-member Board and re-elected
Mari-Noëlle Jego-Laveissiere, Executive
Vice President, Innovation, Orange Group as
Deputy Chair for the two-year period.
Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “I am delighted
to be elected as Chairman of the GSMA,
and look forward to working closely
with the rest of the Board, the GSMA
leadership team and our entire membership
to address the critical issues facing our
industry and our customers.
In a relatively brief period of time, mobile
has had a transformational impact on
individuals, businesses, industries and
societies, contributing significantly to
local economies and improving the lives of
billions around the world. I am excited about
what the next chapter holds for us, as we
work to connect everyone and everything to
a better future.”
“In my new global role, I am excited to
support the ongoing mobile broadband
revolution in India to boost the
Government’s Digital India Program and its
vision of broadband access for all”, added
Mittal.
Sunil Mittal
The first Indian to be elected as Chairman
of the prestigious global telecom industry
board, Sunil Bharti Mittal took over as
Chairman of the International Chamber
of Commerce (ICC) early this year.
He already serves on the Boards and
Councils of several reputed international
bodies and think-tanks like the World
Economic Forum (WEF), Telecom Board
of International Telecommunication Union
(ITU), the Broadband Commission, Harvard
University’s Global Advisory Council – Board
of Dean’s Advisors at HBS, International
Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of
Singapore and Prime Minister of Singapore’s
Research, Innovation and Enterprise
Council. He is also a Trustee of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace and on
the Board of Qatar Foundation Endowment.
The GSMA Board has 26 members, including
25 operator representatives from the
world’s largest operator groups as well
as smaller, independent operators with
global representation. The GSMA’s Director
General Mats Granryd also serves on the
GSMA Board. The GSMA Board for the 2017-
2018 term comprises:
•Juan Carlos Archila, EVP, International
Relationships, América Móvil •Bill Hague,
EVP-Global Connection Management, AT&T
Mobility •Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and
Chairman, Bharti Enterprises
Mari-Noëlle
•Sha Yuejia, Executive Director and VP,
China Mobile •Sun Kangmin, Executive
Director and EVP, China Telecom
•Lu Yimin, President and Vice Chairman,
China Unicom •Wolfgang Kopf, SVP, Public
and Regulatory Affairs, Deutsche Telekom
•Hatem Dowidar, CEO International, Etisalat
•Mats Granryd, DG, GSMA •Christian
Salbaing, Deputy Chairman, Europe,
Hutchison •Takashi Tanaka, President, KDDI
•Eelco Blok, CEO, KPN •Chang-Gyu Hwang,
Chairman and CEO, KT Corporation
•Mauricio Ramos, CEO, Millicom
•Phuthuma Nhleko, Chairman and Acting
CEO, MTN Group •Andrei Dubovskov,
President, MTS •Kazuhiro Yoshizawa,
President and CEO, NTT DOCOMO
•Mari-Noëlle Jego-Laveissiere, EVP,
Innovation, Orange Group •Dong-Hyun
Jang, President and CEO, SK Telecom
•Julio Linares López, VP of the Board,
Telefónica •Sigve Brekke, President and
CEO, Telenor Group •Johan Dennelind,
President and CEO, Telia Company
•Kaan Terzioğlu, CEO, Turkcell •Roy
Chestnutt, CSO, Verizon •Serpil Timuray,
Group CCO and Strategy Officer, Vodafone
•Scott Gegenheimer, CEO, Zain Group
GSMA Chairman Jon Fredrik Baksaas will
step down from the Board at the end of
2016, after holding this position for the
past three years. Baksaas was elected as a
member of the GSMA Board in 2008.
42 November 2016

NEWS
Ericsson’s Board names Börje Ekholm
new President and CEO
Ericsson’s Board of Directors has
appointed Börje Ekholm President
and CEO, effective January 16, 2017.
Börje Ekholm will also remain a member
of the Board of Directors of Ericsson.
Chairman of the Board Leif Johansson
says: “I am very pleased to announce
the appointment of Börje Ekholm. He
has a solid understanding of both the
technology and business implications of
the ongoing convergence of telecoms, IT
and media. Having served on Ericsson’s
Board of Directors for the past ten years,
Börje Ekholm has full understanding of the
challenges and the opportunities Ericsson
currently faces.”
Börje Ekholm joins Ericsson from his current
position as CEO of Patricia Industries, a
division within Investor. Prior to assuming
this position in 2015, Börje Ekholm held the
position as President and CEO of Investor
AB between 2005 and 2015. Previous
positions also include President of Investor
Growth Capital Inc., as well as positions with
Novare Kapital AB and McKinsey & Co Inc.
Johansson continues: “In the middle of
a significant company transformation I
am confident that Ericsson will benefit
from Börje Ekholm’s world-class ability to
forcefully execute on strategic direction
and plans. Börje Ekholm brings years of
experience from leading a publicly listed
company with a strong track record of
driving shareholder value.”
Börje Ekholm says: ”I am very excited about
this opportunity. As the networks and
applications become even more important
in a 5G connected world, our customers,
and the industry, look for continuous
innovation. I look forward to joining the
great team at Ericsson and work closely
with existing and new customers around the
world in shaping the future of our industry.”
Jan Frykhammar will remain interim CEO
until January 16, 2017.
Ericsson’s Rafiah Ibrahim recognized
as “Woman Game Changer” of the year
Women in Leadership (WIL) Achievement
Awards have selected Rafiah Ibrahim,
Ericsson’s Head of Region Middle East and
East Africa, as the ‘Woman Game Changer’
of the year.
The award recognizes Ibrahim’s leadership
and achievements in the Information
and Communication Technology (ICT)
sector. Throughout her career journey,
Ibrahim believed in the positive power
that technology has on people, business
and society. As a change maker and a
leader, she believes that in times of digital
transformation, where both companies
and industries are transforming, leaders
have to engage their teams and drive their
customers’ transformation agenda.
Ibrahim has always been an advocate
for women in leadership, believing that
women are resourceful enough to tackle
any challenges. The award ceremony
highlighted Ibrahim’s leadership, talent and
forward-thinking attitude to technology and
business presenting her as a true role model
for aspiring young leaders everywhere.
The 18th Global WIL Economic Forum
gathered around 500 global male and
female business leaders, policy makers, as
well as young female professionals
and entrepreneurs, to dissect the
challenge of diversity, share experiences
and produce actionable strategies to
strive for women’s economic
empowerment.
During the event, an awards ceremony
took place under the title of Women in
Leadership awards and Ibrahim received
the ’Woman Game Changer’ award which
recognises a leading business leader for
her advocacy in supporting and developing
women talent and women in business.
The awards was presented by Mohammed
Al Shihhi, the Undersecretary for Economic
Affairs, Ministry of Economy for the UAE.
November 2016
43

NEWS
Expresso Group and Etisalat’s EDCH to bring
mobile financial services to West Africa
Expresso Telecom Group (ETG) and
Etisalat’s Emirates Data Clearing House
(EDCH) announced the imminent launch
of a new family of mobile financial services
for its customers in West Africa; Senegal,
Mauritania and Guinea Conakry.
ETG’s rollout of Mobile Financial Services
is not only aimed at improving financial
inclusion levels and providing a complete
system for the unbanked, but also delivering
non-traditional transformational services
to the banked population and businesses
requiring more flexible services.
EDCH was granted multiple awards from the
GSMA, FT/IFC and GTB innovation awards
for delivering truly innovative services in this
field and its award-winning Mobile Financial
Services systems have been deployed across
Etisalat and Maroc Telecom subsidiaries in
more than 14 countries.
ETG will be providing customers with a
variety of services including:
• m-wallets (cash-in, cash-out services)
• m-payments (merchants, utility,
transportation, etc)
• money transfer (domestic and
international remittances)
• bank accounts/payment cards
management
• secure access and ticketing
• merchant payment acceptance.
Most importantly, customers will be able
to use the ETG’s Mobile Financial Services
outside the ETG network, for example,
they will be able to recharge their mobile
accounts via other networks when they are
abroad.
In particular, ETG is anticipating that the
ability to transfer money between countries
will be very popular due to the widespread
diaspora in West Africa and growing crossborder
trade.
Eng. Tarig Zain Elabdein, Chairman of
ETG said: “We know that the majority of
our customers in West Africa are unbanked.
We are investing heavily in our mobile
money service because it will help them
better manage their finances, save and
invest.”
He continued: “Our partnership with EDCH
provides us with a market-proven back-end
that will enable us to roll out the service
rapidly over the next few months. Together
we will ensure that the people of West
Africa have the tools needed for sustained
economic growth - and that this region has
the capability to be Africa’s gateway to the
world.”
Mr. Nasser Salim, CEO of EDCH, said: “ETG
will help West Africa emulate the success
of Mobile Financial Services across East
Africa. ETG’s customers and regulatory
bodies can be assured that our systems have
been developed to address all security and
identity issues.”
QuarkSe and Etisalat demonstrated eSIM-enabled car at GITEX
QuarkSe, an eSIM solutions and niche
application provider for the Internet
of Things (IoT), has launched the first
eSIM enabled electric car in the world in
partnership with Rimac and Etisalat in UEA.
This is will also be the first time a supercar
has been eSIM-enabled too. The supercar
with the eSIM download and its activation
process was demonstrated at GITEX 2016.
“Etisalat is a market innovator and is
pleased to work with partners such as
RIMAC and QuarkSe to develop the new
generation of connected cars.
Etisalat is always in the forefront of
innovation” said Rashed Majed Al Abbar,
Vice President Consumer Innovations
of Etisalat.
eSIM will gradually replace the classic
physical SIM card. It will enable a quick
and easy activation process for a much
wider array of devices than before – such
as wearables, smart metering, smart city
elements and cars as well as mobile phones,
laptops and tablets.
“By adopting the new eSIM Phase 2
GSMA standard of, Etisalat, QuarkSe and
Rimac are leaders in the next generation
of mobile services. We are in the frontiers
of technology adoption aiming to deliver
outstanding customer experience with
our local profile assistant (LPA) software
module” said Luiz C. G. Silva, CEO of
QuarkSe.
44 November 2016

Unlocking Business In Space
World Space Risk Forum 2016 ends on ‘High’ Note
The World Space Risk Forum (WSRF
2016) concluded yesterday in Dubai
with wide-ranging discussions related to
innovation within the space sector and risk
management with an emphasis on learning
from the past, sharing ideas and looking to
the future.
The conference also coincided with Dubai
becoming the ninth nation on the planet
with a mission to explore Mars as per the
final design endorsed by His Highness
Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
Vice-President and Prime Minister of the
UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
As the leading global forum for space
risks, WSRF brought together under
one roof nearly 400 satellite operators,
manufacturers, launch providers, space
agencies, risk managers, insurance brokers,
underwriters, lawyers, and capital providers
in an atmosphere that was creative and
cordial and lent itself to in-depth discussion
and networking.
The space insurance sector has played
a major role in the growth of the space
industry by facilitating investment capital.
As the industry has evolved, the nature
of risks has also changed. High on the
agenda at this global space industry meet,
now in its 4th edition, was the need to
understand and mitigate these evolving
risks, share thoughts on promoting business
development and exploration in Space. This
year the WSRF was further strengthened by
strategic partnerships with the Mohammed
Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) and
Euroconsult, the leading global consulting
firm specializing in space markets.
“With space changing so rapidly, it is
essential that risk is handled the right way.
And not just from an insurance perspective
but technical, financial and regulatory
elements are equally important. Evaluation
is the key and points of view from all along
the value chain have to be considered
to synthesize a vision that will promote
successful programs for the future,” said
WSRF 2016 Chairman Chris Kunstadter.
One of the highlights of this year’s forum
was the special awards that were presented
to the industry over the course of the three
days. John Celli, President of SSL was
recognized for Outstanding Service to the
Industry, whilst Eutelsat received the award
for Industry Innovation.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre
(MBRSC) was honoured for Industry
Inspiration, a timely accolade on a day when
the final design of the Hope Probe, the
region’s first-of-its-kind mission to explore
Mars, has just been approved,
“What’s impressive is that there is such a
strong focus on getting young people to
get involved in the sector. This seems to
be unique to the UAE and the MBRSC in
particular has found a way to ignite interest
in the sector in a way that is great for the
future of the satellite industry,” added
Kunstadter.
Day one of the three-day conference set
the stage. Keynote speeches included the
2016 WSRF Chairman’s opening speech on
mitigating risks and Dr. Michael Menhart,
Munich Re Chief Economist’s keynote
address on the global economic outlook.
Day two and three were equally in-depth
with keynote speeches from John Celli,
President of SSL on the forces that drive
today’s commercial satellite market, Dr.
Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX VP Mission
Assurance on the future of re-using rockets
and Stéphane Israël, Chairman and CEO
of Arianespace on leveraging a culture
of experience, reliability and gradual
innovation at Arianespace.
Day 2 also included the CEO Future
Panel, moderated by Carissa Christensen,
managing partner at the Tauri group.
Along with John Celli and Stéphane
Israël, Mark Spiwak, President of Boeing
Satellite Systems International Inc. and
Khaled Balkheyour CEO of Arabsat shared
their thoughts on the future of the space
industry. The panel discussed the challenges
they foresee and their responses, in
addition to the innovations they plan to
employ to stay competitive, all making for
an interactive and engaging session.
In keeping with its innovative approach, the
WSRF launched a new dynamic short talk
lecture series this year. With a duration of
less than 15 minutes and on topics ranging
from “The Mean is Meaningless” to “Is the
Moon still there if we close our eyes?” Space
Powwows!, hosted by Swiss Re Corporate
Solutions were incredibly well-received by
the delegates.
The next edition of the conference will
take place in Dubai in 2018. Looking to the
future Kunstadter concluded, “The world
will be a different place by 2018. Space
activity will be well beyond where it is now
and it would be safe to say that many of our
current dreams will be a reality by then. It’s
exciting to anticipate that by then we will be
discussing things such as space mining and
new rockets as realities.”
November 2016
45

NEWS
Veeam reports 49 percent
year-over-year growth in
enterprise deals
Veeam named leader
in Data Availability
and Protection for the
Cloud Era
Veeam® Software, has announced a 31
percent year-over-year (YoY) growth in total
bookings revenue for Q3 2016.
With 71 percent of Fortune 500 and 51
percent of the Global 2000 now Veeam
customers, the company reported a
49 percent YoY increase in new license
bookings from large enterprise deals,
solidifying the increasing demand for
24.7.365 Availability as enterprises embrace
digital transformation.
Exponential growth in applications and
data, and advances in cloud and mobile
technologies are all propelling enterprises
to transform from organizations that simply
use digital technology, to full-fledged digital
organizations.
IDC has predicted that digital
transformation initiatives will more than
double by 2020, and will act as a primary
driver for IT spending worldwide.
“Digital transformation isn’t just a trend.
It’s a do-or-die business reality to transform
the customer experience and unlock new
levels of enterprise productivity which is
now at the top of the agenda for CIOs and
IT decision-makers,” said Peter McKay,
President and COO at Veeam. “Veeam is
playing a key role in this transformation, as
our strong Q3 results demonstrate. Without
24.7.365 Availability, all the advantages
received by digital transformation are
lost. Enterprises are rapidly embracing our
Availability solutions and abandoning legacy
technologies that cannot provide an alwayson
environment.”
Veeam has also appointed Paul Mattes,
most recently General Manager of Cloud
and Enterprise Sales, Americas with
Microsoft, as its Vice President of Global
Cloud Group. Enterprise adoption of cloud
technologies continues to accelerate as
businesses capitalize on the costs savings,
flexibilty and scale that it offers. To further
meet the demands of customers, Veeam
recently introduced the next generation
of comprehensive Availability: Veeam
Peter McKay
Availability Platform for the Hybrid Cloud.
This solution enables businesses and
enterprises of all sizes to ensure Availability
for virtual, physical, and cloud-based
workloads in the Hybrid Cloud. Mattes will
further develop Veeam’s rapidly growing
presence in the Cloud market and support
its position as the leading vendor of Backup
as a Service (BaaS) and Disaster Recovery
as a Service (DRaaS) solutions for Cloud and
Service Providers.
“A hybrid cloud infrastructure offers
organizations the best of both on-premises
and cloud, enabling IT to choose the best
platform to meet the needs of
each workload,” Mattes said. “Veeam
recognizes, however, that these
advantages are of little use if the hybrid
cloud infrastructure is not Always-On.
In today’s fast-paced environment,
nothing less than 24.7.365 access to data
is acceptable, and Veeam is enabling
organizations to meet that challenge.
Our goal is to define the BaaS and DRaaS
markets by offering the best solutions our
customers are requesting.
With a 100 percent channel focused
strategy, we’ll provide Veeam Cloud and
Service Providers (VCSPs) and our channel
partners with the technology platform to
build and deliver those services to our joint
customers.”
Veeam® Software has announced
industry analyst Ovum’s latest report
ranks Veeam the top provider for
Cloud era availability and protection
technology.
The Ovum Decision Matrix: Data
Availability and Protection Solution
for the Cloud Era, 2016-17 is a highly
respected evaluation of future-looking
business challenges and the technology
solutions that underpin today’s 24.7.365
enterprises. The report focuses on how
non-stop access to data and applications
is central to the digital enterprise
transformation made possible by the
wide adoption of cloud-based computing
strategies.
The criteria for inclusion in the latest
Ovum Decision Matrix is based on a
number of factors: global footprint;
ability to offer data availability and
protection capabilities that enable
management of data across all different
types of media; having more than 500
customers (a mixture of mid-sized
enterprises and large enterprises).
Based on this, Veeam is the market
leader in terms of market impact and
technology innovation, with a mean
score of 8/10, out-scoring all others in
this area. Ovum recognized Veeam’s
specific strength in operational
management, security, backup and
recovery, performance and scalability,
and reporting and integration, and called
this out in the report.
“One of the most significant
developments made by Veeam is how
it is supporting organizations with
their digital transformation,” said Roy
Illsley, Analyst at Ovum. “In expanding
its portfolio to include agent-based
technologies for Windows and Linux
server instances, either in the cloud or
on-premises, Veeam perfectly rounds out
their solution to cover virtual, physical
and cloud-based workloads.”
46 November 2016

NEWS
TRA Bahrain hosts
strategic workshop
on the future of
mobile markets
The Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority (TRA),
Kingdom of Bahrain held a
one-day workshop for its staff
members at its headquarters
in Seef area on the mobile
market competition, in collaboration with
SAMENA Telecommunication Council, “TRA
is very much involved at the international
level and collaborates with industry experts
on discussions regarding the market’s future
needs. Sharing perspectives with industry
groups such as SAMENA Council is key to
bridging the gap between regulatory and
operator viewpoints, as SAMENA represents
the voice of operators not only in Bahrain
but also across the whole region” said TRA’s
Deputy General Director, Sh. Nasser bin
Mohamed Al Khalifa. He continued, “The
workshop aimed to discuss what has been
accomplished regionally and internationally.
We have also discussed matters related
to aspects the of future of mobile market
competition, technologies and services
from an operator standpoint and how the
industry regionally and internationally is
dealing with digital services, big data, future
technologies such as 5G and the use of
mobile radio spectrum.”
The workshop aimed at familiarizing TRA
staff with the industry’s international
developments in the mobile market,
focusing on services such as machine-tomachine
communications, Smart Cities, and
advances of telecommunications to support
other sectors such as Finance, Education,
Transportation, Health, and Energy. Future
technologies and services such as 5G and
the management of mobile radio spectrum
were also discussed during the workshop.
Bocar BA, CEO of SAMENA Council
stated that “This workshop provided an
opportunity to understand the vision of TRA
Bahrain and how its esteemed leadership
views the TRA’s transforming role in leading
digital development both in Bahrain as well
as in the SAMENA region. All stakeholders
realize that potential exists to enable public
and private telecom sectors to support
each other by leveraging, combining and
capitalizing on each other’s complementary
strengths and capabilities.
The workshop between TRA Bahrain
and SAMENA Council has set a new example
of synergy created through constructive
collaboration of both sectors.
SAMENA Council shall remain closely
attentive to the TRA’s strategic needs and
priorities, to further help bring privatesector
perspectives to the regulatory sight,
and shall continue to serve TRA Bahrain as
a reliable sector development partner. We
extend our thank-you to the TRA team for
their warm welcome and collaboration with
SAMENA Council.”
November 2016
47

NEWS
TRA honours partners in the government
sector on the conclusion of GITEX 2016
The Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority (TRA) has concluded its
participation at GITEX 2016 by honoring
its partners from government entities that
also participated in the event under the UAE
mGov platform, including the government
entities that participated in WSIS, which was
held in the Switzerland, Geneva earlier this
year.
The TRA participated under the UAE mGov
platform during GITEX 2016, which included
22 government entities. It signed various
agreements to support the education sector
worth around AED 100.600.000, as well as
agreements to promote cyberspace security,
and many of meetings and other events.
H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director
General, TRA, highlighted the importance of
partnership to achieve the country’s vision
and goals of global leadership, as well as
the happiness and prosperity for the UAE
society. He expressed his thanks to the
government entities that supported the
TRA in promoting the UAE global presence
especially in implementing the smart
transformation, which improves our services
and people’s quality of life while advancing
the electronic lifestyle and ensuring
customers’ happiness.
The 22 government entities were honoured
during a ceremony organized at the
Dubai World Trade Center for giving due
importance to cooperation between various
government entities to achieve the UAE
Vision 2021 and promote the electronic
lifestyle and smart transformation in the
country, and achieve happiness for people in
the UAE and enhance their quality of life.
The TRA also commended 11 government
entities in a separate ceremony on the same
day for their contribution in WSIS 2016 and
their role in promoting the UAE’s global
presence, which helped boost the country’s
innovation indicators as awarded to the UAE
delegation. The TRA featured 12 innovative
projects during its participation in GITEX
which presents a comprehensive display of
ICT’s role in serving the society, being the
vital nerve that enables other sectors to
improve the quality of life, attain happiness
and prosperity for the society
and consolidate the smart transformation
in the UAE.
Al Jazeera and ONEm tie up to reach millions of people
ONEm Communications is teaming up with
Al Jazeera Media Network to create a new
interactive channel for their news content
over ordinary mobile.
Al Jazeera Media Network already reaches
over 305 million households in over 140
countries and will be now be available as a
valuable source of Arabic and English
content on the ONEm platform.
Al Jazeera is the first media conglomerate
from the ME to join the ONEm ecosystem.
ONEm enables Al Jazeera Media Network
content consumers access up-to-date news
through SMS and audio in both Arabic and
English. ONEm provides a new internet-style
interactive experience for mobile users by
repurposing existing SMS and audio. This is
available on both smartphones and basic
feature phones.
The user begins by texting, “#news or #aljazeera”
to the ONEm platform. The platform
responds by starting a menu-driven SMS
dialogue with the user whereby the user
can select an option to read or listen to an
article. Users can also search and sort by
categories and view the top trending stories
using fuzzy search terms.
ONEm is a continuously growing global
mobile ecosystem consisting of mobile
operators, content providers and mobile
users. Content providers such as Al Jazeera
see the need to reach the masses with a
systematic interactive approach that is global
and not dependant exclusively on data
enabled devices.
Christopher Richardson, CEO of ONEm
Communications, said, “Having lived in
Qatar, I listen regularly to Al Jazeera on the
radio. I used to sit in the car in the parking
lot to finish listening to a documentary report
before going to work. Today it is a great
pleasure for me to have the opportunity to
bring these great documentaries to others
through our audio services over voice. I look
forward to having Al Jazeera available to
their global audience.
48 November 2016

NEWS
Batelco and Ericsson bring 5G and IoT use cases to Bahrain
Batelco Bahrain and Ericsson have joined
forces to collaborate on the development
of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) use cases.
The agreement will help drive innovation
and early IoT applications on 5G mobile
network technology based on the market
requirements in Bahrain.
Under the new agreement, Batelco Bahrain
and Ericsson will jointly recognize and
develop proof of concepts for feasible
use cases to meet the needs of industries
in Bahrain. The two companies will also
collaborate on corresponding vertical use
cases and will implement narrowband
IoT (NB-IoT) for massive machine-type
communication while advancing cloud
architecture to enable 5G and NB-IoT
technologies. The aim is to trial 5G capable
radio technology and 5G Plug-in software in
the existing 4G networks.
Muna Al Hashemi, CEO, Batelco Bahrain,
says: “Part of our commitment to the
people and industries in Bahrain is to
create new possibilities by continuously
upgrading our platforms and offering
cutting-edge technology. Through this
collaboration with Ericsson, we aim to
take significant steps into the future of
connected devices, as a technology leader
that empowers the transformation of
Bahrain’s industries and society.”
Ericsson 5G Radio Prototypes are the first
products designed to enable operators
to conduct live field trials in their own
networks. Ericsson enables operators
to move beyond the 5G hype of labbased
speed tests and gain a greater
understanding of the potential for 5G in their
own network environments and markets.
Rafiah Ibrahim, Head of Ericsson Region
Middle East and East Africa, says: “As 5G
technology expands and evolves over the
coming years, collaboration amongst the
industry players is key to set the foundation
for the Networked Society, where anything
that can benefit from a connection, will be
connected. We are happy to collaborate
with our partner Batelco to empower
people, business and society in Bahrain to
pave the way for advanced and innovative
technologies that 5G will enable.”
CIS to provide
data services
to UNMOGIP
COMSATS Internet Services (CIS) has
signed an agreement with United Nations
Military Observer Group in India and
Pakistan (UNMOGIP) for establishment
of communication links for use of interoffices
communication, VPN, VC through
broadband internet services from COMSATS
Internet Services.
Agreement signing ceremony was held at
CIS Technology Park, Islamabad. Under this
services agreement CIS will also become
partner for keeping the commination’s lines
up and working for efficient peace keeping
process.
November 2016
49

GLOBAL ICT, TELECOM & SATCOM EVENTS
ITU Telecom World
November - December 2016
14 - 17 November Bangkok, Thailand
AfricaCom 2016 (19th Annual) 15 - 17 November Cape Town, South Africa
Bakutel 29 Nov - 02 Dec Baku, Azerbaijan
InfoComm MEA 2016 06 - 08 December DWTC, Dubai, UAE
CeBIT India 08 - 10 December Bengaluru, India
MEET ICT Bahrain & BITEX 2017
January & February 2017
07 - 09 February Manama, Bahrain
Convergence India 08 - 10 February New Delhi, India
Milsatcom 21 - 22 February Abu Dhabi, UAE
GSMA Mobile World Congress 27 Feb - 02 March Barcelona, Spain
March & April 2017
Satellite 06 - 09 March Washington Dc, USA
Capacity Middle East 07 - 09 March Dubai, UAE
CeBIT Germany 20 - 24 March Hannover, Germany
CABSAT 21 - 23 March Dubai, UAE
NAB Show 22 - 27 April Las Vegas, US
Expo Comm Russia 25 - 27 April Moscow, Russia
5G MENA 30 April - 02 May Dubai, UAE
May to September 2017
Cloud MENA 01 - 02 May Dubai, UAE
The Mobile Show ME 01 - 02 May Dubai, UAE
GISEC & GEMEC 21 - 23 May Dubai, UAE
Casbaa Satellite Industry Forum 22 May Singapore
CommunicAsia 2017 23 - 25 May Singapore
5G World 13 - 15 June London, UK
GSMA Mobile World Congress 28 June - 01 July Shanghai, China
IBC 14 - 19 September Amsterdam, Netherlands
50 November 2016

BETTER
SOONER
Accelerating ICT innovation
to improve lives faster
ITU Telecom World 2016 is the global platform
to accelerate ICT innovations for social and
economic development. It’s where policy makers
and regulators meet industry experts, investors,
SMEs, entrepreneurs and innovators to exhibit
solutions, share knowledge and speed change.
Our aim is to help ideas go further, faster to
make the world better, sooner.
Visit telecomworld.itu.int to register your interest.
#ituworld
telecomworld.itu.int
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