For communications professionals in southern Africa SOUTHERN AFRICAN

WIRELESSCOMMUNICATIONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 Volume 24 Number 4

l Making 5G pay: monetising the new technology l The role IoT is playing for farmers and utilities l The shift to 5G: analysing Africa’s journey so far

People make the future. Connection makes it possible.

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4 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS January/February 2019

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COMMUNICATIONSWIRELESS NOVEMBER/ 5 NEWS 5 NEWS u DECEMBER 2019 Vodacom network-locking phones u Vodacom Tanzania to bring 4G to Zanzibar Volume 24 u Broadcaster to enter Seychelles mobile sector Number 4 u Telecom Namibia updates telex system u Seacom sub cable suffers brief outage u Gabon and Congo pen roaming MoU u ‘MTN best network in SA’ – report 18 WIRELESS SOLUTIONS u Broadband for all ‘will cost US$100bn’ u ‘MTN can help Cell C’ Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) operates the u Interim figures boosted for Airtel Africa world’s first Globalized Network, 14 WIRELESS BUSINESS delivering high-quality, cost-effective 5G to generate billions, says Ericsson video and broadband services 18 WIRELESS SOLUTIONS anywhere in the world. Intelsat’s New ‘TV White Space’ solution from Radwin Globalized Network combines the drives broadband to remote communities world’s largest satellite backbone with 21 FEATURE terrestrial infrastructure, managed JON HOWELL and SMITA SARKAR investigate services and an open, interoperable monetising 5G in Africa architecture to enable customers to 21 FEATURE 24 WIRELESS USERS drive revenue and reach through a How IoT has become invaluable to utilities and the world of agriculture new generation of network services. Thousands of organizations serving 28 INDUSTRY VIEW LUCKY LA RICCIA takes a look at Africa’s 5G billions of people worldwide rely journey so far and where to go from here on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous 30 WORLD NEWS broadband connectivity, multi-format 24 WIRELESS USERS u Pressure on Merkel to exclude Huawei video broadcasting, secure satellite u Orange CEO shares supply chain fears u communications and seamless Japan’s KDDI to invest in Bangladesh u Thailand makes another 5G spectrum bid mobility services. The end result is an u Singapore to see early 5G rollout entirely new world, one that allows u Portugal to hold 2020 5G auction u Oman’s 5G roadmap us to envision the impossible, connect u Bakcell gets nod for Vodafone Ukraine bid 30 WORLD NEWS without boundaries and transform the u New route to connect OZ with Middle East ways in which we live. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Southern African Wireless Communications is a controlled circulation bi-monthly For more information, visit magazine. Register now for your free subscription at www.kadiumpublishing.com Readers who do not qualify under the terms of control can purchase an annual subscription www.intelsat.com at the cost of £110. For more information and general enquiries please contact Suzanne Thomas at [email protected] or call +44 (0) 1932 886 537.

EDITORIAL: ADVERTISEMENT SALES: Editor: Robert Shepherd Sales: Kathy Moynihan Designer: Sean McNamara [email protected] Sub editor: Gerry Moynihan +44 (0) 1932 481731 Contributors: Jon Howell Smita Sarkar Production & circulation: Suzanne Thomas Lucky La Riccia [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 1932 481728 Editorial enquiries: [email protected] Publishing director: Kathy Moynihan Tel: +44 (0) 1932 481729 [email protected] ISSN No: 1364-4394 +44 (0) 1932 481730

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4 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS January/February 2019

SAWC 1912 p4 (RSCC).indd 4 31/10/2019 16:43 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html NEWS Vodacom network-locking in bid to make phones more affordable Vodacom said it has started network-locking some smartphone devices for the first time in years in a bid to make smartphones more affordable to the end user. Speaking to journalists at a media briefing, chief officer of the company’s consumer business unit, Jorge Mendes, said that contrary to popular belief, there are no regulations that prevent South African operators from network-locking phones, preventing them from being used outside the network on which they were sold. Mendes was adamant that the move by Vodacom should not be seen as anti-consumer, but rather a way for the operator to subsidise handsets more aggressively, The company emphasised that the move by Vodacom should not be seen as anti-consumer, but rather a way for the particularly at the entry level where operator to subsidise handsets more aggressively, particularly at the entry level where affordability is a major issue affordability is a major issue. First National Bank’s mobile virtual them that they would no longer do it. with network locking in “small device or R599 for a network- network operator, FNB Connect, Nevertheless, Mendes said the quantities” and so his company locked device,” he said. “If you became the first market player in at market has changed and there was has started locking thousands of already made the choice to be with least a decade to sell network-locked now a need to make smartphones devices for a one-year period to a network, the R599 proposition phones when it introduced new more affordable to end users. One way test consumer reaction. Users can jumps out at you. We are prepared models a couple of years ago. of achieving this is to network-lock unlock the devices provided they to invest more aggressively to bring However, the major operators phones for a certain length of time. pay a “small fee”. prices down, but we need some have avoided doing it following a Mendes said Vodacom’s main “It gives consumers a choice protection so we can get a recovery “gentleman’s agreement” between rivals are also experimenting – pay R799/month for an open from that investment.” Vodacom Tanzania to bring 4G to Zanzibar

Zanzibar residents and businesses according to the firm’s managing between 5-6Mbps, with possible looking up to expanding our services will start to access faster mobile director Hisham Hendi. instances of up to 15Mbps. in Zanzibar hopefully very soon.” connectivity after Vodacom Average 4G download speeds “Whenever I visit Zanzibar, I feel like Hendi made the comments during Tanzania announced plans to roll are between 8-and-10 megabites- I am at home in Egypt,” he said. “It an event to celebrate Zanzibar’s out 4G network in the next year. per-second (Mbps), with possible is a bit shameful when I come home heritage and culture, noting that the This is part of the company’s instances of up to 40Mbps. and don’t see Vodacom as strong decision seeks to boost the firm’s plan to extend services to the isles, Typical upload speeds are as it should be. This is why we are strength in the isles. Broadcaster to enter Seychelles mobile sector

Seychelles company Intelvision, which Intelvision is generation will be introduced in provides TV and internet services to currently the only June 2020 in the largest island, the local market, is understood to fixed broadband Mahé, beginning with the capital, be moving into the mobile sector. and pay-TV Victoria, north Mahé and the The only fixed broadband and pay- provider across airport. Over the following 12-18 TV provider across the archipelago the islands months it will be extended through has revealed that it is a planning a much of the rest of the nation. network rollout in 2020 alongside Currently only two network Chinese tech vendor Huawei. technology will also be part of 5G network in Seychelles’ inner operators share the mobile market There will be an initial focus on the plan. The company said that islands as and when 5G devices of the Seychelles: Bharti Airtel and 4.5G services but deploying 5G it intends eventually to roll out a become more accessible. The next Cable and Wireless Seychelles.

November/December 2019 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 5

SAWC 1912 p5-11 (News).indd 5 01/11/2019 17:52 NEWS Telecom Namibia updates country’s telex system Telecom Namibia and the Ministry The system was developed to of Works and Transport have save lives at sea by modernizing inaugurated a navigational telex and enhancing the maritime radio (Navtex) station to the tune of communications system through N$7.5m at Walvis Bay. satellite and digital selective calling The first of its kind in Africa, the technology. Unlike the old maritime station provides navigational and me- radio communication services, the teorological warnings, forecasts and global maritime distress and safety maritime safety information to ships. system provides a more effective Furthermore, it has helped the distress alerting service. southern African nation reach global “I have no doubt that the maritime safety standards which is investment into this state-of-the-art considered a major milestone for system will not only up our game Navtex is a navigational system used on board the vessels to provide the country as a coastal state and in safety on our shores but keeps short range maritime safety information on coastal waters budding maritime logistics hub. us compliant with international Navtex, is a navigational system standards,” said Walvis Bay deputy a key priority for the company. and infrastructure to further provide used on board the vessels to mayor, Penelope Martin-Louw. “Telecom Namibia has always services to users of information and provide short range maritime Fernando Somaeb, chairperson strived to provide advanced communications technology services safety information on coastal of TN said that delivering and reliable services to the in their countries. In this case, ships waters. It also forms part of the infrastructure installations and Namibian nation and visitors in transit through Namibian waters global maritime distress and safety upgrades highlighted on the to the country,”Somaeb said. would have the assurance that their system, which was developed by the national agenda across the various “Neighbouring countries rely on the communication would reach the International Maritime Organization. sectors of the domestic economy is sound performance of their networks Namibian contact centre.” Gabon and Seacom sub cable suffers brief outage

Seacom’s submarine cable system sea cable system between Mombasa ed. However, they “could experience Congo pen briefly experienced what the firm in Kenya and Zafarana in Egypt. “All a slight increase in latency as traffic described as “a service-affecting linear transmission traffic on the is routed over Seacom’s West Coast roaming MoU outage” in late October. Seacom subsea cable system on transmission links”. The business, which launched the east coast of Africa, to and from The company announced at noon Gabon and Congo have signed Africa’s first broadband submarine Europe, is affected,” it added. the next day that the service was a mobile roaming memorandum cable system along the continent’s Seacom announced the outage at back to normal. “We are still inves- of understanding (MoU), with the eastern and southern coasts back in 10pm GMT on October 22, noting tigating the cause of the outage agreement to be implemented 2009, published news of the outage that customers with IP or other and will provide necessary updates before December 2019. Under in a series of tweets, beginning with managed network services termi- as we have more information,” it the terms of the deal, subscribers the news that it was experiencing a nating between Dar es Salaam and said. However, it remains unclear as would pay no charge for incoming service-affecting outage on its sub- South Africa would remain unaffect- to what caused the problems. calls, up to a maximum of 300 minutes per subscriber a month. Outgoing calls would be billed at the local network operator’s rates, ‘MTN best network in SA’ – report while the higher of the two national rates would be applied for calls MTN has the best mobile network speed of 9.03Mbps. performed in relation to others. made to both countries. in South Africa, according to the MTN had the highest MTN achieved a Network Quality The deal was agreed and signed Q3 2019 Mobile Network Quality average download speed at Score of 10.00, followed by by the heads of Gabon’s Regulato- Report by MyBroadband Insights. 35.31Mbps, followed by Vodacom Vodacom on 8.72, Telkom on 6.23, ry Agency for Electronic Commu- The report, based on on 31.19Mbps, Telkom on Rain on 5.88 and Cell C on 5.58. nications and Posts (l’Agence de 314,751-speed tests performed by 22.42Mbps, Cell C on 17.18Mbps The report also included network Regulation des Communications thousands of Android Speed Test and Rain on 16.71Mbps. quality rankings for South Africa’s Electroniques et des Postes, AR- App users, documents five major In order to ascertain the best major cities. MTN won in Cape CEP) and the Republic of Congo’s South African network providers from mobile network in the country, Town, Durban and Tshwane while Regulatory Agency for Electron- July 1 to September 30, 2019. a “Network Quality Score” was Vodacom and MTN were equal in ic Communications and Post Furthermore, the new research calculated for each network using Johannesburg. Rain had the worst (L’Agence de Regulation des Postes found that South Africa had an download speed, upload speed, network in Johannesburg and Pretoria et des Communications Electron- average mobile download speed of and latency. The score out of 10 while Cell C came out as the worst iques, ARPCE). 24.68Mbps and an average upload then revealed how the network network in Durban and Cape Town.

6 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

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4 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS January/February 2019

SAWC 1912 p20 (Arabsat).indd 4 31/10/2019 16:41 NEWS Broadband for all ‘will cost US$100bn’ – new report African nations will need to get sector, development partners and The number around 1.1 billion people online if that the investment is worth it. of broadband the continent is to stand a chance “The digital agenda is first and connections in of achieving universal broadband foremost a growth and jobs agenda,” Africa crossed access, according to a new report. said Makhtar Diop, the World Bank’s the 400 million Unveiled at the Annual Meetings of Vice president for infrastructure. “The mark in 2018 the World Bank Group, the Connecting working-age population in Africa is (nearly 20 times Africa Through Broadband report found expected to increase by some 450 2010 levels) that less than a third of Africa’s popula- million people between 2015 and tion has access to broadband connec- 2035. If current trends continue, less tivity and achieving universal, affordable than one quarter will find stable jobs. “Mobile broadband coverage in 80% of all required investments are and good quality internet access by Broadening internet access means Africa is still at 70% of the population. directly related to the need to roll out 2030 will require a US$100-billion creating millions of job opportunities.” Even in North Africa, there is ample and maintain broadband networks. investment. The report also said A statement from the World room for growth with 4G networks However, connecting the unconnected urgent action was needed to close the Bank said that while the number covering only about 60% of the popula- is about more than just infrastructure: internet access gap while providing of broadband connections in Africa tion. Additional challenges, such as the about 20% of required investment a roadmap to reach this goal. crossed the 400 million mark in lack of access to reliable and affordable consists in building the user skills In order to get the 1.1 billion people 2018 (nearly 20 times 2010 levels), electricity, make accelerating Africa’s and local content foundations, and online, the report said there was a the regional average broadband digital transformation journey even another 2-4% should be allocated need for exceptional and coordinated penetration -including 3G and 4G more difficult,” the organisation states. to setting up the appropriate efforts from governments, the private connections- is only 25% in 2018. The report further found that nearly regulatory framework, it said. ‘MTN can Interim figures boosted for Airtel Africa

help Cell C’ Airtel Africa reported sustained growth money up by 3.2%, 37.8% and expansion of over 90 basis points.” across its voice data and mobile 46.5% respectively. Mandava said that in July, the The chief executive officer of money operations, as its customer Airtel Africa’s reported underlying company reached an important MTN South Africa warned that the base grew by 10.4% to 104 million. EBITDA was $719m for the first half, milestone as it crossed 100 million nation’s economy could take a hit Revenue was up 8.4% year-on- up 10.9%, while constant currency customers across its footprint. if troubled Cell C failed, as the year for the six months ended underlying EBITDA growth was “Over the last six months we former continues to be linked with September 30, to $1.64bn, with 13.7% over the same period. launched 4G services in Democratic acquiring its rival. the board claiming second quarter “These figures underline the Republic of Congo and Niger and 4G Speaking to South African financial growth accelerated to 9.8%. strength of our ability to consistently sites now account for 58% of total newspaper Business Report, Godfrey First half revenue was 11.4% and deliver growth across voice, data and sites. Now we are ready to launch in Motsa said MTN would offer aid to 12.6% in the second quarter. It said mobile money,” said chief executive Tanzania, thereby making 4G services its rival if there was a clear economic the constant currency revenue growth officer Raghunath Mandava. “This available across all our 14 countries.” value to the move, highlighting of 11.4% was driven by double-digit performance underlines our ability Revenue in the mobile money busi- the potential loss of thousands of growth in Nigeria and east Africa, to consistently grow in double digits, ness grew 46.5% in the first half, and direct and indirect jobs if Cell C partially offset by a slight decrease powered by our growth engines of just above 50% in the second quarter, collapsed. He also cited a broader in its rest of Africa footprint data and Airtel Money growing at which Mandava said was the result of ecosystem of suppliers along with Growth was said to be “broad 37% and 46% respectively. “This “compelling customer propositions” the loss of taxes as examples. based” across all services, with is the seventh quarter of double- and investments in Airtel’s exclusive If MTN did enter the race, it revenue in voice, data and mobile digit growth with EBITDA margin franchise stores and kiosks. would go head-to-head with local rival Telkom and the world’s biggest mobile operator, China Mobile, which reportedly opened Vodafone Starts OpenRAN trials in Africa discussions with Cell C regarding an acquisition in early October. Vodafone Group has started trials of to reduce the cost of providing the infrastructure, masts and Telkom abandoned a previous open radio access networks (Open- internet and voice services by antennae which telecom operators takeover bid in 2017, but is apparently RAN) in the Democratic Republic of setting a standard for the design use to carry mobile traffic. again keen on pursuing a deal. Congo (DRC) and Mozambique. and functionality of hardware and “OpenRAN improves the network Although MTN and Cell C The UK firm previously has software in radio access networks. economics enabling us to reach more remained coy on the status of undertaken trials of OpenRAN with This is expected to increase the people in rural communities and that talks, the former reportedly JSE-listed subsidiary Vodacom number of companies that can supports our goal to build digital so- confirmed a fresh roaming deal Group in South Africa. supply different components. cieties in which no-one is left behind,” was close to being agreed. The technology is expected Radio access networks comprise said chief executive officer Nick Read.

8 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p5-11 (News).indd 8 01/11/2019 17:52 A leap into the future: Africa’s journey towards future-proof networks

echnology has the potential Empowering an Intelligent, to fundamentally transform Sustainable and Connected Africa Tcountries enabling rapid What is now needed is a framework improvements in industrial that embeds ICT squarely in production, societal services the efforts to address inclusive and people’s way of living and socioeconomic development in interacting with their environment. Africa. As we continue toward a more Africa has gone a long way urbanized world and the impacts of in its digitization journey from climate change grow progressively mobile telephony to broadband dire, the need for innovations in – connecting and digitizing line with Sustainable Development entire sectors economies, jobs, Goals becomes truly paramount. education, healthcare, government ICT has a unique potential to enable and societies. As digital other industrial sectors to move infrastructures and interactions towards the low-carbon economy critical factor in fulfilling the SDGs. partnerships will prove essential to become increasingly central to the that will be central to meeting the We have used technology and enabling a cross-industry engagement functioning of Africa’s societies Sustainable Development Goals its game-changing potential for in refining 4G for the future. and economies, affordable (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN). making progress towards reducing The telecoms industry has grown broadband access will need to be Digitalization creates an environmental impact. For instance, rapidly over the past years, where extended to billions of individuals. infrastructure that can boost our solar power solution is helping fair competition, global standards Africa remains the fastest livelihoods, promote financial to reduce the dependency on diesel. and economies of scale have driven growing mobile market in the inclusion, and improve access to In the Central African Republic, down prices, secured investments world. At the end of 2018, health, education, government together with telecom operator. and improved accessibility and there were 720 million mobile services and more. Furthermore, Maroc Telecom, we have rolled out affordability. Today’s mobile subscribers in Sub-Saharan it aids in humanitarian matters a 3G modernization program using technologies and building practices Africa, equivalent to a penetration such as addressing poverty and a solar hybrid solution to help reduce offer two major advantages: Scalability rate of 81%. hunger, refugees, peacebuilding the carbon footprint. With 7.2 fewer of technology, as the demand for Based on Ericsson Mobility and disaster response. hours of generator runtime per day performance grows and Economies Report findings, LTE subscriptions Ericsson is a strong believer compared to the conventional hybrid of scale, as solutions that have the will see the highest growth in Sub- of using technology to create system, this equates to more than greatest volumes continuously achieve Saharan Africa. The region is also sustainable improvements in 7,000 liters of diesel saved per site, decreasing cost per unit of output. forecast to see stronger growth in societies and utilize mobile per year, and a 50 percent reduction This facilitates deployment of LTE subscriptions at 34 percent broadband networks to tackle a in total yearly operating expenses. cost-effective mobile coverage between 2018 and 2024, though range of global challenges. We take Another great example is Ericsson solutions, making it possible to GSM/EDGE subscriptions will still a proactive stance and collaborate Mobile Financial Services (MFS) connect low-income subscriber be relevant, comprising 13 percent with a wide range of stakeholders platform, which provides easy-to- groups with low-cost, low-energy of the total subscriptions in to scale the impact of our joint use, secure, next-generation mobile solutions where needed, in 2024. The increase in smartphone programs and initiatives in areas like financial services. The flexible, reliable presently uncovered areas. penetration will continue to drive climate change, education, human and efficient m-commerce solution Across Africa, 4G mobile technology service providers’ investment rights and humanitarian response. includes Ericsson Wallet Platform, has the potential to drive the creation towards mobile broadband Technology for Good is Ericsson’s systems integration, operational of a digital and all-inclusive future, technologies, as well as WCDMA/ initiative where we use our expertise support and further development essential in connecting personal HSPA and LTE networks. in new technologies, our solutions, opportunities. Millions of unbanked and professional lives. Investment Building a future-proof 4G and our advocacy to make life better mobile users are now enjoying mobile in 4G will result in rapid service network today will pave the way for around Africa. This is because internet financial services. The solution improvements and digital readiness a 5G-ready tomorrow, orchestrated access is a fundamental enabler to currently covers 13 African countries that can lead to inclusive socio- by intelligent and efficient improve quality of life, as it provides and several in South Asia. economic development and has the solutions, which will empower the opportunity to access useful Modernizing technological potential for creative solutions and seamless connection in Africa. information and services – becoming a innovation towards the challenges forward-looking trajectories across that the countries are experiencing, societies and industries. will help Africa emerge its economy If Africa is to compete in the in a more sustainable manner. digital age, a focus on people is the ICT can provide inclusive socio- starting point, around which we economic development and has can build everything else including the potential for rapid service the infrastructure and systems improvements and digital readiness required. We need to invest in the across societies and industries. African talents and equip them with the right digital skills, ICT, IoT, Technological Transformation data science, mobile application Digital transformation is an development, e-Commerce, mobile incremental process, enhancing the money, amongst others. current network in a step-by-step fashion. As the process unfolds, www.ericsson.com

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China pulls Viavi partners with Tait funding for NetOne for automated critical expansion comms testing platform China has indefinitely suspended funding for NetOne’s US$71m Viavi Solutions has partnered with railroads, public expansion project, according to the Tait Communications to provide transportation Zimbabwean media. automated test capabilities for Tait and hospitals. The measure is said to have been P25 and DMR series radios on the Tait offers inte- introduced after the government Viavi 3920B Radio Test Platform, grated voice and seized the investment capital, formerly an Aeroflex offering. data communi- deposited in an escrow account, It means end-users have automated cations solutions to obtain foreign currency. These testing for Tait TP/TM 9100, TP/TM that improve funds have been converted into a 9300 and TP/TM 9400 radio families. workforce efficien- local unit through the Zimbabwe The applications use the precision cy, safety, and are Reserve Bank (RBZ). instrumentation of the 3920B to proven to perform It is understood these “financial quickly perform automated tests in mission-critical movements” have complicated the to specifications defined by the environments. It cooperation agreements between manufacturer. Both companies said serves customers from the two countries, because the testing can be performed in less utilities, law enforcement and po- to Tait’s specifications,” said Edward Chinese financial institutions time, minimising service and support lice, fire and emergency response, Latimer, product line manager of currently involved in financing the costs for end users and dealers. security and defence, transport, radio test sets, Viavi Solutions. project are not satisfied and have Viavi offers different integrated, mining, oil and gas sectors. Ellery Hurn, partner manager, accused the company of an abuse portable testing equipment and “We are pleased to support Tait strategic partnering, Tait Communica- of trust and confidentiality. solutions for critical communication P25 and DMR Series mobile and tions added: “We are pleased to work According to theindependent. radio users across a variety of portable radios on the 3920B. Tait’s closely with Viavi to provide addition- co.zw, an indignant government industries, including public safety, dealers and end users are now al value to our clients and further source said: “It’s a question homeland security, military and able to conduct fast and accurate strengthen our Tait Tough reputation of principle, of trust. How can paramilitary, private security, utilities, automated testing which conforms for endurance and resilience.” you trust a robber who has your money? If someone steals money out of your pocket, can you trust him/her on your money in the Tanzania to provide internet in Burundi future? These are the questions the Chinese are asking themselves.” Tanzania will provide high speed broadband Internet services through the ease of local entrepreneurs to NetOne’s expansion project internet connectivity to Burundi, our stations in Kabanga and Manyovu, do business with those in the region. was expected to broaden the after a service agreement in the border region of Kigoma,” The deal was signed days after company’s mobile telecom network was signed in Dar es Salaam added Kindamba, who also said the the Tanzanian government has by introducing and upgrading base between the incumbent Tanzania agreement allows TTCL to expand its asked mobile operator Halotel (a stations across the country. This Telecommunications Corporation portfolio of activities in the East Africa local subsidiary of Vietnamese operation would have not only Limited (TTCL) and Burundi and Southern African Development telecom group Viettel) to stop the allowed more people to access Backbone Systems (BBS). Community (SADC) sub-region, with a interconnection of its fibre network telecom services but would have It will be implemented over a 10- population of nearly 350 million. in Burundi , without his approval. above all enabled the telecom year period, said Waziri Kindamba, Beyond improving the internet The continuation of this operation business to record extra revenues the general manager of the TTCL. in landlocked Burundi, the new would eventually lead to a serious through new consumers. “ TTCL will offer first class internet services will also enhance loss of earnings for the country. Airtel Malawi slapped with MK820m fine

Airtel Malawi has been hit with fortnight until it meets the conditions. operational on February 7, 2014.” locally, a condition that the mobile a MK820m fine for allegedly “Upon renewal of its telecom- Itaye said before a given service provider failed to meet breaching the Communications Act. munications licence in 2014, deadline of November 25, 2018, since its licence renewal in 2014. Malawi Communications Airtel committed itself to have Macra engaged Airtel Malawi on Initially, Macra made a Regulatory Authority (Macra) director a minimum of 20 percent local numerous occasions in an effort to determination to fine Airtel Malawi general Godfrey Itaye told journalists shareholding,” said Itaye. “This localise the shareholding. MK500m in December 2018 and that the operator paid a fine in localisation of shares by Airtel was The Communications Act stipulates further ordered that it should pay July, but it remains in breach and to be done within two years from that any electronic service provider another MK20m every 14 days for will continue paying MK20m per the date Airtel’s licence became must have 20% of its shareholding remaining in breach.

10 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p5-11 (News).indd 10 01/11/2019 17:52 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html NEWS

Martin Jarrold, chief of international STL partners Talking satellite programme development, GVF for broadband Climate, environment, as detailed in a UN paper authored by solutions will Jillian Campbell and David E. Jensen. be enabled by India’s Sterlite satellite & A digital Requiring various “frontier space as a means Technologies (STL) has ecosystem technologies” – cloud & edge to mitigate the partnered hands with South Africa’s computing; artificial intelligence & cyber security risks and Frogfoot to deploy Fibre To The During October this year I spoke at machine learning; the Internet of Things; to enhance cyber resistance and the Home (FTTH) infrastructure in an event for information technology social media platforms; blockchain resilience of existing infrastructures, Soweto, Johannesburg. The latter, security professionals in Riga, Latvia, & distributed databases; software; services and operations, and contribute an open-access fibre network although the theme of my presentation mobile apps; augmented reality & virtual to enhancing the end-to-end cyber provider, will use STL’s Air-blown was a little off the mainstream of topics reality – as well as satellite, and related security of space-based applications. FTTH solution to enable affordable, addressed during the several tracks of communications technologies, the The 3GPP – the 3rd Generation reliable broadband connectivity to the programme. My choice of title? A building of such an ecosystem will, as I Partnership Project producing the up to 20,000 homes and lower- “Network of Networks” for Digitally see it, have its foundations in a series Reports and Specifications that define income groups in the Protea Driven Sustainability: A Cyber Secure of parallel relationship “triangles”. 3GPP technologies, including 5G – Glen East and West areas of the Satellite-5G World. An alternative title The three vertices of the first has said the incorporation of satellite South African township of Soweto, might have been “Triangles”. What conceptual “triangle” are Socio-Economy, networks will help enable 5G service according to a joint statement. follows explains this cryptic alternative. Development, and Environment – all rollouts in unserved and under-served The train of thought which led to elements of the 17 UN SDGs. The integrity areas, enhance reliability and increase my choice of the actual title and theme and robustness of a digital ecosystem service availability everywhere to the relates to all the available evidence which will support each vertex and benefit of critical communications and Data doing suggesting that we are not on track the relationship between the vertices transportation applications. to avert two existential environment will depend on the inter-relationships Governments, telecoms network challenges: the nature crisis; and, between the vertices of two other companies and technology groups the talking climate change. Some scientists believe conceptual “triangles”. The first of these are working on heightened security that the acknowledged biodiversity crisis features – satellite, 5G (and, to some standards for 5G and the Internet in Zimbabwe is, in actuality, the beginning of the sixth extent, previous generations of broadband of Things. Whilst there are apparent mass extinction in geological history; mobile), and cyber security; and the flaws in 5G security – such as the use Fixed phone connection and, over 98 per cent of the scientific second features the characterization of of fake mobile base stations to steal lines in Zimbabwe are community acknowledge climate change 5G itself, divided between the three major information – 5G data encryption and now increasingly being used for as a fact. It is equally acknowledged that use cases (the vertices?) of: [1] enhanced network user verification mechanisms data connectivity, with data revenue Africa is the global region most likely Mobile Broadband (eMBB); [2] massive have improved on 4G, but the 5G weak outstripping fixed phone voice to be severely impacted by both. M2M Communications (mMTC); link is in communication of IoT devices telephony income, according to a What has this to do with satellite and, [3] Ultra Reliable Low Latency connected to 5G networks, particularly report released by regulator the Posts communications? The link is all to do with Communications (URLLC). In combination, when manufacturing default passwords and Telecommunications Regulatory data, information, knowledge. Whilst the major use cases encompass: on such devices are not upgraded. Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz). Africa is one region of the world which [1] Web browsing, video streaming and Building a global digital ecosystem is State-owned TelOne is the only local continues to face the problems of a digital virtual reality, together generating firstly dependent on the gathering and fixed phone telecom business that also deficit, or digital divide, there is another 10,000 times more traffic than over accumulation of RAW DATA from multiple offers internet services and a video- digital gap that is apparent, one made 4G networks, with greater than sources – economic, environmental and on-demand (VoD). Potraz said “the evident through the fact that of the 17 10Gbps peak data rates and providing social – reflecting the conceptual “triangle” contribution of data increased, while Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 100Mbps whenever needed; vertices of Socio-Economy, Development, the contribution of voice declined” adopted by the United Nations in 2015 [2] Narrowband Internet access for and Environment, elements of the 17 UN during the period under review. – part of the Agenda 2030 to achieve sensing, metering, and monitoring SDGs. Secondly, the storage and processing a better future for all humanity – 68 devices, i.e., the Internet of Things of this data, and the connection of multiple per cent of the 93 environmental SDG (IoT) connecting billions of devices databases with improved metadata, indicators cannot, according to the UN without human intervention; is dependent on an information and Rwanda set Development Programme (UNDP), cur- [3] Services for latency sensitive devices communications INFRASTRUCTURE. Thirdly, rently be measured due to lack of data. requiring sub-millisecond latency cloud computing and AI ALGORITHMS & for launch This other digital divide must also with error rates that are lower than ANALYTICS extract actionable, intelligence, be bridged, enabling us to acquire 1 packet loss in 105 packets. INSIGHTS & APPLICATIONS – from multiple Rwanda’s satellite and deploy data sets to build a digital The satellite-5G-cyber security and integrated information streams – as RWASAT-1 is set to be ecosystem for the entire planet which inter-relationships have been well- metrics & ‘performance dashboards‘ which launched into orbit in November this will allow data flows to be eventually addressed by GVF on behalf of the satellite are comprehensible to decision-makers. year. The news was announced by transformed into insights for sustainable industry (Joint Statement on the Satellite All this must happen with a much the country’s minister of ICT and decision-making. Radio communications, Industry’s Commitment to Cyber Security elevated and broader understanding of the innovation, Paula Ingabire, during including satellites – and, therefore and a Secure Supply Chain), as well as by, long-term models and incentives that will a joint press conference between the related areas of the forthcoming for example, the European Space Agency sustain these efforts. What is needed is to the Rwanda Utility and Regulatory “network of networks” with integrated (ESA) in calling for proposed solutions to determine how such efforts can protect Authority (RURA), the Ministry of satellite and 5G, and of cyber security determine the viability of satellite-based data security, achieve interoperability, and ICT & Innovation and the Japanese (see below) – have a key supporting services in support of cyber security and to maintain high standards, whilst answering embassy. Patrick Nyirishema, role in achieving the 17 SDGs. The assess technical feasibility and commercial the question “Will governance be RURA’s MD, said the satellite might UNDP is working with partners on a viability for diverse, current and future, voluntary and collaborative, or be launched on November 18. digital ecosystem for the entire planet, vertical sector users of satellite. Potential regulated and mandated?”

November/December 2019 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 11

SAWC 1912 p5-11 (News).indd 11 04/11/2019 15:05 Looking toward a smart future – equipment, physical constraints should partners. With the acquisition of ARRIS a global perspective be an early and primary guideline for and Ruckus Networks, CommScope has aesthetic concealment in cities. the resources of a Fortune 250-sized To make things “smart” and improve It should be noted that smart poles are company that is well placed to drive the What Do IoT, 5G overall efficiency, we connect IoT devices part of a smart ecosystem and no single future of connectivity in the region. through a network to the cloud (and company can go at this alone. I am each other). Thus, anything “smart” constantly asked if CommScope has any In a new era of IT, the network requires connectivity, both wired and plans to build IoT sensors, software, apps underpins everything wireless, at least in most cases. The or services for smart poles and my answer 5G networks of the future will bring is “no, we need an ecosystem.” Put Below are example solutions that enable and Smart Cities sophisticated connectivity to these edge a smart future for network operators simply, these interconnected products and IoT devices with higher speeds, more services require multiple players to work across the region: machine-to-machine connections and in harmony to offer complex services. y Fiber for High-Speed and Robust very low latencies – enabling a new This is why it is critical for the industry Connectivity: Smart cities will be built on generation of applications and use cases to support an open ecosystem that allows fiber. CommScope’s fiber technologies all have in that we haven’t yet thought of. customers to choose their own edge enable faster connectivity in buildings, Once we connect all the eyes and ears devices, software and cloud providers. the data center and central office. (IoT sensors) of the world to the data This is particularly important due to the y Ultra-Connected Homes are Becoming center brain, we can start generating long lifecycle (decades) of public projects a Reality: Consumers are experiencing intelligent data to drive new analytics and compared to typical enterprise (years) an increasingly digital life and network services. As well, more processing power engagements. In addition, regulatory operators are seeking ways to unlock common? is shifting to the edge, with the deployment guidelines should also be considered. the best user experience. CommScope of MEC (Mobile Edge Computing) moving At CommScope, we provide the is delivering reliable, high-bandwidth By Femi Oshiga, vice president of Service closer to the actual end points and users physical layer for smart poles and do Wi-Fi to every corner of the home and to enable lower-latency applications. that exceptionally well. This starts with sees the smart media device bringing All of these IoT edge devices and MECs the fiber and copper solutions connecting connected home technologies together Providers in the Middle East & Africa, CommScope need a home close to the users, which is all the racks inside a data center. From for a unique personalized experience. why some city streetlights are morphing there, we supply outside fiber solutions to y Powering Connectivity for Smart into smart poles. Streetlights are uniquely connect these data centers to the central Cities: As smart cities add new spaced throughout the city; they provide offices (head ends) for the carriers and all mobile-connected devices like security s we head to Cape Town, total mobile connections) between them. power and altitude and are ready for the way to the business/home or macro/ cameras and air quality sensors, they we’ll be joining 15,000 tech South Africa’s data-only operator Rain has remodeling with LED replacements. Today, metro cell tower. At these end points, we must have access to electricity. This enthusiasts who are eager launched the continent’s first commercial cities are eyeing two types of smart poles typically see the conversion from wireline to is not always an easy task considering Ato discuss Africa’s connectivity 5G network early this year and countries for replacing traditional streetlights: licensed or unlicensed spectrum wireless. devices may be several hundred meters infrastructure, disruptive are moving quickly toward a state of y IoT streetlight pole – A streetlight pole These wireless networks are also away from a power source. Network technologies, digital services and readiness with 4G adoption approaching can support public Wi-Fi deployments, experiencing constant changes where operators are using CommScope’s ICT strategies. It’s an exciting mass market and operators progressing environmental sensors, gunshot licensed (4G/5G) and unlicensed (Wi-Fi, powered fiber cable systems to speed time for a region that has with network modernisation initiatives. detection and LED lighting controls Bluetooth, LoRa, etc.) are beginning to and simplify installation, and power the chance to leapfrog in Most people think of 5G as a new wireless upgrades. Adding IoT edge devices converge. For example, smart buildings these types of network devices. technology as 5G related service for faster smartphones, but it transforms humble streetlight poles are expected to provide reliable cellular y Digital foundation for Smarter activities become more is also a medium that enables a city to into smart IoT poles. coverage inside the building along with Buildings: As the number of widespread across become smarter. Citizens and visitors will y Telco pole – These are the typical small cell ubiquitous Wi-Fi and support for IoT connected devices grows, the location Africa from mid-way one day demand new applications also be poles deployed by carriers or neutral hosts wireless networks. Add the upcoming of these devices is becoming more through the decade. integrated into city services and capabilities. to support cellular connectivity in dense CBRS private networking play and we important. CommScope’s automated According to Growing urban demographics and the rapid areas. These poles are built for connectivity soon realize we are building multiple infrastructure management (AIM) GSMA, by 2025, expansion of cities forces governments to and will play a critical role in 5G mmWave networks under one roof – all delivering system knows exactly what is there will be deploy smart city solutions to sustain city deployments. By adding IoT devices, ones and zeros to endpoints. How will all connected, how it is connected and commercial 5G services, drive economic competitiveness, simple telco poles become smart telco these networks converge in the future? where it is located. The software services in at least and enable a thriving environment in Africa poles. With telco poles, the connectivity By providing the connectivity piece in automatically tracks changes, issues seven markets, including and the Middle East (AME). Smart city backbone delivering a path between the this complex puzzle, CommScope adds work orders, and documents the entire Kenya, Nigeria and South initiatives in the region predominantly edge and the cloud is already established, tremendous value to the customer. We will network. It also provides root-cause Africa, with 28 million 5G focus on four areas: mobility, security, thereby enabling faster deployments. continue to build out our ecosystem so analysis in the event of failure, helping connections (equivalent to 3% of sustainability, and public services. Due to the larger form factor of small cell we can offer complete solutions with our restore services faster. n

NAWC 1911 p12-13 (Commscope).indd 2-3 08/11/2019 18:16 WIRELESS BUSINESS

5G to generate billions, says Ericsson Mascom Wireless

African and Middle Eastern network developers networks, Ericsson Middle East and Africa said can expect a potential revenue opportunity up to at GITEX Technology 2019 in Dubai. ”These shareholders US$46bn by 2030, provided they adapt their business new 5G applications and services are expected model to become service enablers and creators. to have a profound impact on consumers, argue over sale That is according to Ericsson’s 5G Business businesses and industry digitalisation which Potential beyond Mobile Broadband report. underscores the importance of releasing our A battle is currently pitting the shareholders of A sequel to the 5G Business Potential report, research at this time.” the Botswana mobile operator Mascom Wireless Ericsson highlighted the “industry verticals” Ericsson has identified four industry against each other. that are prominent in the region and offer clear verticals that form the primary focus in the While South African-owned MTN reached opportunities for 5G use cases. addressable 5G business potential opportunity an agreement with Econet Wireless Limited to “5G will introduce opportunities that will allow and cited clear opportunities for the following sell its 53% stake in the business for US$300 operators to adopt new business models and 5G use cases: oil and gas (mining), transport million, the Botswana Civil Servants Pension develop new services, applications and revenue and automotive, public Safety and critical Fund (BPOPF), also a Mascom Wireless streams,” Chafic Traboulsi, VP and head of infrastructure and manufacturing. shareholder through the investment vehicle DECI, has opposed it. A mediation to find a solution to this dispute has been scheduled and it will be led by Airtel and Ecobank improve access Sefelana Thapelo, a business lawyer based in Francistown. The purpose of this mediation Airtel Africa and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated to offer locally relevant m-commerce solu- is to determine whether MTN or BPOPF the parent company of African banking group tions with partners like Ecobank in order to has correctly interpreted clause 12 of the Ecobank have signed a partnership which will allows enhance the daily lives of our customers.” shareholder agreement. both company’s customers across Africa to improve Ecobank Group CEO, Ade Ayeyemi said the According to BPOPF, Article 12 stipulates that their access to mobile financial services. firm was of the belief that financial inclusion in case of sale of shares resulting in a change This partnership will enable Airtel Money cus- can ultimately contribute to economic devel- of control of the company, the seller must tomers, through Ecobank’s digital financial services opment, collaborating with major telecommu- offer a preferential offer to the second largest ecosystem, make online deposits and withdrawals, nications providers in Africa is therefore a key shareholder and not impose his preferred buyer. effect real time money transfers, make in-store mer- strategic driver towards closing the gap between MTN does not interpret it in the same way. chant payments and access various products. the banked and the underbanked. “Hence this If Econet Wireless succeeds in acquiring the However, the deal is still subject to regulatory partnership with Airtel Africa which makes Ecobank 53% stake, the Zimbabwean telecom group, approval in each African market in which the financial services available to any Airtel line regis- which is the founder of Mascom Telecom and companies operate. Airtel operates in 14 African tered on Airtel Money, in our markets where regulato- holds 7% of the shares, would increase to 60% nations and Ecobank has a presence in 33 ry approvals are in place,” and become the majority shareholder. The partnership will also allow Ecobank he said. “This corporate account holders to make bulk potential ex- disbursements, such as payroll payments, directly tensive reach into Airtel Money customer wallets. Additionally, will further Angola Telecom Ecobank will be able to sponsor Airtel Money to provide conveni- issue both virtual and physical debit and pre- ence to customers, welcomes new paid cards to Airtel Money customers. intra-country and “This partnership is a further demonstration of particularly for Airtel Africa’s commitment to provide affordable, cross-border board of simple and innovative solutions for our consumers transactions across Africa,” said Raghunath Mandava, chief ex- and remittances directors ecutive officer (CEO), Airtel Africa. “We will continue across Africa.” The Angolan president João Lourenço has appointed a new board of directors for the state-run fixed-service LTSA hires Marandure provider Angola-Telecom-EP, led by new chief executive officer (CEO) Adilson Miguel dos Santos. Former ZOL chief executive officer (CEO) and digital services. This is a key role in driving our Angola’s head of state also appointed other chief commercial officer Denny Marandure has transformational strategy and we wish Denny members to the position of the company’s managers. joined Liquid Telecom South Africa (LTSA) as great success!” the email said. “Recently he They are Miguel Tandawembo Rodrigues Cazevo, its client executive responsible for business was the chief commercial officer of Liquid António Sercal, Mandela Nsito Barros and Inocência development for cloud and digital. Telecom Zimbabwe. Prior to this role, he was Natália Diakelewote Miguel Zongo dos Santos. In an internal email to Liquid Telecom the CEO of ZOL Zimbabwe, the retail arm of Prior to the appointments, Angola Telecom-EP was staff, LTSA chief sales officer Shau Reuben Liquid Telecom Zimbabwe.” managed by an interim management committee. acknowledged the importance of the role The email described Marandure as “an adaptive Announced via a statement released by the Marandure has been tasked with along with Denny is an adaptive and highly experienced Civil Affairs Office, it is understood the decision highlighting some of his milestones. global player” with extensive years of experience to forge a new board is based on the conclusion “Denny Marandure has joined Liquid Telecom in providing value to large companies such as IBM, of the company’s restructuring process, aimed South Africa as a client executive responsible Lucent Technologies, PriceWaterhouseCoopers at making the company look more attractive for Business Development for cloud and and Verizon Communications. ahead of subsequent privatisation.

14 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p13-17 (Wireless Business).indd 14 01/11/2019 17:52 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html WIRELESS BUSINESS

Tigo Tanzania donates Tsh110m to Djibril Ouattara health organisation to battle clubfoot appointed MTN

Tigo Tanzania has donated Tsh110m to CCBRT partnered with Tigo to develop an Côte d’Ivoire healthcare organisation Comprehensive SMS patient reminder platform, which sends Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania reminder messages to the parents of all clubfoot (CCBRT) as part of its commitment to assist patients, both four days and one day before their chief executive the health facility in eradicating clubfoot, while scheduled appointments. ensuring both quality and accessible treatment The partnership has helped the health MTN Côte d’Ivoire has hired MTN Congo for all Tanzanians. organisation significantly reduce the dropout rate. Brazzaville chief executive officer (CEO) Djibril The telecom firm’s donation also serves More than 1,500 children have benefited from Ouattara as its new head, effective November as a public awareness initiative about the Ponseti Method clubfoot treatment and over 400 1. He will succeed Freddy Tchala, who left the importance of following up with a treatment to have received life-changing surgeries at CCBRT same post in September. Current MTN Congo ensure recovery and preventable disability. in the last four years. Brazzaville chief technical and information officer Ayham Moussa will assume the role of acting CEO of MTN Congo Brazzaville until a permanent appointment is found. No Vox launches Lekelela Technical time frame has yet been given for finding a permanent replacement. Services in South Africa “Djibril is a seasoned executive with experience spanning more than 15 years in telecoms. In Vox, the ICT and telecom business, has Lekelela Technical Services. “By establishing his most recent role as CEO of MTN Congo partnered with provider Frogfoot Networks, a dedicated technical services provider Brazzaville, he made significant strides in Telkom and Cloudseed to launch Lekelela under the umbrella of Vox, we aim to reduce delivering on the company’s BRIGHT strategy,” Technical Services (LTS) in South Africa. installation times and streamline the entire the group said in an update to shareholders. The telecom staff and solutions vendor will customer experience within the ICT ecosystem. MTN also highlighted the fact that Ouattara operate with 51% black ownership and fulfil We are excited to kick this initiative off with five had implemented a successful turnaround, orders from the three partners. From Vox, it employees already in place, and ready to make including a network transformation. This will install fibre, ADSL, Wi-Fi, PBX, voice, visual installations happen faster and look forward to helped MTN Congo Brazzaville win the award communications, SMS and fax solutions; from growing this number in the coming months.” for best network in the country for two Telkom, ADSL and fibre lines; from Frogfoot, Vox will also provide skills training and devel- consecutive years, as well as an aggressive fibre lines; and Cloudseed, Wi-Fi and LAN opment, with a focus on technical expertise. supply and distribution transformation leading connections and ad-hoc Wi-Fi connectivity. Over time, skills training to significant value share growth. LTS will install the physical connection and any and support value-added services over the connection at the will extend same time. As a result, all stakeholders will benefit beyond the from lowered costs and reduced lead-time from technical Malawi ditches the time of sale to delivery of invoice. By operating realm to spheres as a 51% black owned company, LTS should be such as financial tax plans positioned as a favourable supplier to companies and business that fall into the ICT Charter Scorecard. management, Malawi scrapped plans “One of the major issues is the lag and backlog marketing and to implement a 1% in installations,” said Mayuri Mistry, CFO at communications. withholding tax on mobile money transactions, following criticism from the country’s largest operator and politicians. MTN set to re-enter In a letter to finance minister Joseph Mwanamvekha, Telekom Networks mobile money space Malawi chief executive Michiel Buitelaar warned the tax would hamper the country’s MTN will launch a new mobile money service mobile money already and made around R8 economic development and run contrary before the end of the quarter, according to MTN billion last year,” he said. “While I often hear to a government aim of boosting financial South Africa chief executive officer Godfrey Motsa. people say that ‘South Africa is not Africa’, inclusion, Nyasa Times reported. Speaking at the 2019 MyBroadBand Conference there are still 17 million people that are The minister introduced the tax as part of at Midrand in Johannesburg, Motsa said that unbanked and need to be serviced,” he said. the country’s 2019 to 2020 budget. Now that there are 17 million people who are unbanked The Johannesburg-based operator launched it has been scrapped, Mwanamvekha instead or underbanked in the country, which made it an a mobile money platform in 2012 – attracting plans to introduce a 20% withholding tax on opportune time to re-enter the market. over two million customers in the process. trust funds set up by mobile companies to fund Although, he noted that similar mobile However, it shut the service down in 2016 citing social programmes. money services had failed twice previously, ‘commercial viability’. The Consumers Association of Malawi vented Motsa said that its current offering has Despite shutting down its mobile money its anger at the proposed tax and said it would remained incredibly popular in the rest of Africa. service, MTN said it was still committed to having be most devastating to the poorest members “We have over 30 million customers on a key presence in the financial services arena. of Malawian society.

November/December 2019 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 15

SAWC 1912 p13-17 (Wireless Business).indd 15 01/11/2019 17:52 WIRELESS BUSINESS

Seacom and Vodacom team up Smart Telecoms Telecom business Seacom and Vodacom contract execution across multiple territories, ‘closes’ in Tanzania Business Africa, the operator’s enterprise- supported by cross-border customer service. focused subsidiary, have joined forces to “The new partnership equips Seacom with Smart Telecoms, the network service provider, initiate the next chapter of both companies’ this appealing capability, while extending its has officially shut down its business in Tanzania, African network connectivity ventures. capacity when linking existing services across according to the country’s watchdog. Since the launch of its business division, other platforms, including the Internet of Emmanuel Manasseh, acting director general Seacom has substantially grown its customer Things, cloud and unified communications,” for the Tanzania Communications Regulatory and partnership base and the new partnership he said. “We’re confident our partnership will Authority (TCRA) told the media that the ensures that it can meet customer and partner translate into growth for both parties.” network service provider submitted its business demands beyond existing markets. Seacom chief commercial officer Steve closure request in March of this year. Vodacom Business Africa has a history of Briggs said the addition of the Vodacom “They wanted an immediate closure in March, investing in the creation of network capability, Business Africa network would significantly but we (TCRA) decided to give them a period of supported by technological partners on the augment the geographic reach for its business three months so as to give room for customers continent. This has increased connectivity and clients across the continent. – who had bought voice, messages and internet driven digital growth within the 47 countries in “In addition, this opportunity further cements bundles – to finish credits,” he said. which it operates. the strong commercial relationship already en- Smart Telecoms officially ceased trading Managing director Guy Clarke said the main joyed between Seacom and the Vodacom group, in June 2019. The firm started its operations benefit for customers from the partnership which dates back to the launch of Seacom’s in Tanzania after it bought what was formerly was that their access was paired with a single original subsea cable system,” he said. known as Benson Informatics. Zambian minister TN employees get pay increase

calls for action Telecom Namibia (TN) and the Namibia Public maintain their lifestyles and that of their families.” Workers Union (Napwu) have agreed a one-year Let us celebrate the fact that management and Zambia’s transport and communications wage agreement which will see all employees the employee representatives put aside perceived minister has called on the Zambia Information receive 4% increment across the board. differences in the interest of all parties,” he said. and Communications Technology Agency (ZICTA) The agreement reached between NAPWU and Matheus Ndeshikeya, Napwu executive personal to start sanctioning mobile phone service Telecom Namibia “is by far the most effective assistant to the general secretary added: “Napwu providers that are providing poor services. and fruitful, because it was concluded on mutual and Telecom Namibia as parties to this collective Mutotwe Kafwaya said the regulator should understanding, respect and trust, said TN acting bargaining process have settled and committed us to start getting tough on service providers that chief executive officer Armando Perny. regulate industrial relations and dynamics sustaining flout standard of service guidelines. “During the negotiations, the parties considered equitable relationships between themselves.” He also Speaking at the launch of Velocity, the country’s the interest of the company as well as that of the urged all members of staff to join forces in achieving first unlimited broadband internet offer – powered employees, “he added. “The fundamental issue the organisational deliverables and to successfully by Zamtel – Kafwaya said the government is is that everyone is affected by the current inflation execute key operational plans. “This will ensure interested in seeing a fully-developed ICT industry and economic depression and Telecom continuously that Telecom Namibia maintains its market in Zambia that meets customer expectations. strives to ensure that employees will be able to share in the industry,” he added. He also praised Zamtel for continuing to launch innovative products, which he said have helped meet the government’s goal of universal access to ICTs. African nations paying high rates Kafwaya added that the government is pushing the universal access to ICT agenda by putting Customers in African nations are paying some of across the African continent is 7.12% and in up infrastructure that increases access to ICTs the highest rates in the world for basic internet some cases 1GB costs more than a fifth of especially in underserved and unserved areas. access, with some forking out more than a fifth average earnings. To put that into context, if the The minister said so far, 550 of the 1009 of average earnings, new research has found. average earner in the US paid that percentage communication towers under Phase II of the GRZ The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) of their income for internet access, 1GB of data Communication Tower Project are functional. explored 136 low and middle-income countries would set them back US$373 per month. “Government’s driving agenda for universal for its annual Affordability Report, in which it The report said such prices are “too expensive access for ICT for all Zambians is firmly looked at what consumers were paying out as a for all but the wealthiest few,” and said cost anchored in the Seventh National Development proportion of their income. was the primary reason why around 49% of the Plan and Vision 2030 which places emphasis on Middle-income examples in the report included global population is still offline. access to ICTs for all citizens,” he said. Ghana and South Africa, while low income Citizens of Chad, the Democratic Republic of Meanwhile, Zamtel chief executive officer examples were Liberia, Mali and Mozambique. the Congo and the Central African Republic pay (CEO) Sydney Mupeta said Velocity is the An initiative of The Web Foundation, founded more than 20% of average earnings for 1GB of answer to customer’s complaints about by inventor of the World Wide Web Sir Tim data. The most affordable rates in the continent depletion of data and slow internet. Berners-Lee, with partner organisations that are in Egypt at 0.5% and Mauritius at 0.59%. “Velocity is a response to a growing number include Google and Facebook, the A4AI’s Overall, the report found that costs are of customers that need always-on high speed definition of affordability is 1GB of mobile falling faster in low-income countries than internet in their homes and offices thereby broadband data costing no more than 2% of middle-income counterparts, but in many cases enhancing convenience,” added Mupeta. average monthly income. However, the average prices remain prohibitive.

16 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p13-17 (Wireless Business).indd 16 04/11/2019 18:20 More Mobile Connections In More Places Quickly and economically expand your network strategy beyond the limits of traditional backhaul approaches.

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SAWC 1912 p17 (Intelsat).indd 4 31/10/2019 16:41 8380-AWC_full-page.indd 1 10/28/2019 10:56:38 AM WIRELESS SOLUTIONS

Mara Group Sonim brings XP3 PTT flip first to ‘Made in Africa’ phone to Verizon The Sonim Technologies Sonim XP3 comeback among users opting for smartphones rugged flip phone has a dedicated simple mobile communications,” said push-to-talk button and is now Sonim chief executive officer (CEO), for ruggedness (including drop Rwanda’s Mara Group two new available on the Verizon network. Bob Plaschke. “The addition of the protection) and comes with a three- smartphones have been The device is interoperable with XP3 gives Verizon business customers year warranty as standard. It also described as the first field radios and smartphones, an affordable, ultra-rugged, reliable has a 100 dB+ speaker with noise “Made in Africa” models. courtesy of Verizon’s preloaded option that supports 4G calling, cancellation and is supported by a The Mara X and Mara PTT+ application, which provides which has been a limitation for range of industrial-grade accessories Z will use Google’s Verizon customers with push-to- older flip phone models.” such as rugged headsets, RSMs, Android operating sys- talk capabilities. There’s more – the XP3 is IP68- vehicle kits and multi-charging tem and cost 175,750 “Flip phones are making a rated, meets the MIL-810G standard bays. www.sonimtech.com Rwandan francs (RWF) (US$190) and RWF120,250 (US$130) respectively. Competing with Samsung, whose cheapest smart- New ‘TV White Space’ solution from Radwin phone costs RWF50,000 (US$54) and non-branded phones at RWF35,000 drives broadband to remote communities (US$37), Mara Group CEO Ashish Thakkar says it was targeting custom- Radwin says its new disruptive TV and penetrates trees and foliage Radwin’s president and chief ers willing to pay more for quality. White Space (TVWS) solution is over extensive distances. The new executive officer. “Fixed wireless “This is the first smartphone ideal for providing broadband to TVWS solution also complements is one way to deliver broadband, manufacturer in Africa,” Reuters remote communities. It utilises Radwin’s existing carrier-grade sub however, in many rural areas, there quotes him as saying after visiting unused TV channels in the 470- 6GHz portfolio and is supported by its are obstacles to direct line-of-sight the company alongside Rwanda’s 698MHz band to connect unserved OSS tools to address all operational connectivity. With our newly-launched president Paul Kagame. rural customers to the digital world. aspects of the network lifecycle. TVWS solution, service providers He adds that companies assemble Leveraging upon the Israeli “There are entire populations can connect unserved remote smartphones in Egypt, Ethiopia, firm’s broadband wireless access across the globe that live in remote communities to the information Algeria and South Africa, but import technologies, the new TVWS solution areas who have no connection to age, help bridge the digital gap the components. “We are actually the operates in non-line-of-sight scenarios the internet,” says Sharon Sher, and generate new revenue streams. first who are doing manufacturing,” Sher reckons rural communities he says. “We are making the mother- can significantly improve their boards, we are making the sub-boards lifestyle and boost productivity “by during the entire process. There are accessing an unlimited array of over 1,000 pieces per phone.” online broadband services from The phones are an important healthcare, education, government step toward Rwanda’s goal of services to entertainment”. becoming a new hub for the tech The solution will be available industry. www.maraphones.com globally in Q1 2020. www.radwin.com Receiver antenna that enables EV wireless charging

Spanish firm Premo has designed contact between the vehicle and reduced battery pack and extended Power Transfer in the range “highly reliable receiver coils” for the charging station, therefore driving range at the same time of 90kHz. The magnetic core EV wireless charger applications – overcoming the inconvenience thus addressing the main concerns technology developed for Premo’s an innovation backed by European and hazards caused by traditional of EV, namely, the high prices of WC-Rx-Series (secondary coils) and international patents. direct-conductive methods. batteries and range anxiety. provides a high efficiency power The WC-RX-Series (compact The challenge is to replace the For the past three years, Premo transfer in excess of 95% thanks to secondary coils) consist of a flexible conductive charging method by has been investing in inductive a carefully crafted combination and magnetic core combining Flex-Ferrite WPT technology while maintaining components design applying both optimization of the coil (Litz wire) blocks with PBM (Soft-Polymer a comparable power level and the 3DPower concept (for the with a flexible-core configuration that Bonding Magnetic) with a D-type coil. efficiency. What’s more the end magnetics involved in WPT) and avoids air gaps and reduces heating The receiver antenna, Premo claims, game goal is to dynamically power the ALMA concept (for long-range areas. www.grupopremo.com is able to handle from 3kW to 11kW the moving vehicles on the road, antennae using flex-magnetic core). of power but the firm is already automated guided vehicles on a Together with its research working on a 22kW version. factory floor and/or autonomous partners, the company This wireless power transfer robots and forklifts in a warehouse. developed a technology (WPT) requires no physical This may lead to a significant size supporting Inductive Wireless

18 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p18-19 (Wireless Solutions).indd 18 01/11/2019 17:54 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html WIRELESS SOLUTIONS

‘Cloud accessible networks Look out for... NGMN’s white in the palm of your hand’ paper on ‘air gap’

EnGenius Networks says its Genius SkyKey puts play installation, easy The Next Generation Mobile eponymous SkyKey is aimed at those an end to the need web-based manage- Networks (NGMN) Alliance has interested in speeding up the process of a dedicated server ment interface, plus published its ‘Continuous Delivery of managing feature-rich access points usually required for network overview analytics. in Telecommunication Network and switches and who want to save managing a fully on-prem- “The new addition to the EnGenius Environments’ white paper, which sets time by managing wired and wireless ises wireless network. Equipped with family brings extra benefits and out concepts to tackle the ‘air gap’. networks from a single platform. user-friendly software, the mini-work- convenience to the users,” says Mobile networks are becoming The multinational wireless station powered by either PoE or a 12V Sherry Wei, regional general manager more software-centric and cloud- networking company says that even adapter prevents IT professionals from at EnGenius Networks Europe. based, with greater use of network though the device is smaller than a spending hours going through a chal- “SkyKey is fully capable of bridging functions virtualisation (NFV) and smartphone, it is powerful enough lenging installation or maintenance. All the gap between on-premises software defined networking (SDN). to act as an integrated computer tasks are performed via a user-friendly solution and the company’s recently At the same time as paving the way equipped with built-in sophisticated web browser interface. The device released cloud solution. The SkyKey towards a more agile approach to network management software and comes with integrated sturdy magnet gives IT professionals multiple ways service delivery and enabling greater powerful state-of-the-art hardware. strips allowing IT professionals to to adjust global settings, monitor network automation, mobile network A built-in free ezMaster manage- attach it to any metal surface. and visualise networks, and access operators’ teams are shifting from ment software controls EnGenius Key features and benefits include statistics information of any type of a traditional approach to a DevOps access points or switches directly. cloud and private network manage- network – wireless or wired.” approach (which works to reduce the The company further claims the En- ment, secure cloud access, plug and www.engeniusnetworks.eu time it takes to deploy new software). However, one barrier to this approach – identified in the NGMN white paper – is the ‘air gap’. That Infinet’s brand new Quanta 5 is the strict separation between live networks (production environments), Infinet Wireless in today’s wireless marketplace, can be deployed in a diverse range test environments and development says its brand new even when it’s tasked with operating of applications, from backhauling environments, which is required for 5GHZ point-to- in high interference environments. for Wi-Fi and 4G/LTE base stations security reasons. The air gap makes point solution has a The firm also reckons it’s fully to CCTV and video-surveillance it harder to move software from one capacity of 450Mbps future proofed as it utilises the infrastructures. It can also provide environment to another. in just 40MHz. It also Octopus SDR platform that allows internet access to remote locations. The white paper sets out a claims the Quanta 5 product has a new PHY, MAC and upper layer What’s more, Infinet takes pride concept that addresses this problem, processing power of 800,000 packets features via a firmware upgrade even in its “unique combination of high allowing network boundaries to be per second. Apparently, it provides the for the units operating in the field. performance, affordability and ease of bridged while meeting strict security highest spectral efficiency available Infinet further claims its Quanta 5 installation”. www.infinetwireless.com requirements. It was designed with close collaboration between security experts and their counterparts in the fields of continuous integration (CI) ProLabs add to portfolio with new and continuous delivery automation. The concept takes advantage of Clarity Auto-Tuneable DWDM Transceiver cloud infrastructures and cloudified applications, but it is not limited to ProLabs, the optical networking manipulation 50Ghz or 100Ghz channel spacing. them and the authors claim that it and connectivity solutions business, by OEM “While the idea of tuning also works well with classic data says its self-tuning ProLabs’ Clarity platform or products is certainly not new, centres providing virtual machines or Auto-Tuneable DWDM Transceiver is peripheral the industry is accustomed to even physical network elements. designed to save service providers devices and using products that require The concept also draws from findings cost and time to deploy new services. it’s system software or a separate gained in recent projects, including As the newest member of ProLabs’ independent – device to perform this DevOps practices from major players solution portfolio, Clarity is a plug- meaning it works with switch functionality,” says such as Deutsche Telekom (DT) and SK and-play solution that is “appropriate” platforms that do not natively Raymond Hagen, global Telecom (SKT) including feedback for any OEM switch platform that support tuneable transceivers. product line manager, ProLabs. from more than 25 NGMN MNOs. supports SFP+ transceivers. Service ProLabs says it also reduces the “With Clarity, we have eliminated “This project has reinforced providers can plug Clarity into the host complexity of tuning to specific the need for technicians to track the importance of industry and passive mux – and the transceiver wavelengths in the field as well fibres or carry extra equipment to collaboration to expand and evolve automatically locates the open channel, as reducing inventory for spare program the wavelength of each telecommunications networks with tunes and locks onto the transceiver DWDM transceivers. What’s more, the module during their deployment, a view to providing continuous at the other end. It apparently auto- company claims it provides up to 80KM which leads to faster deployment deployment,” said Peter Meissner, CEO discovers and self-tunes to individual reach with full industrial temperature and reduced costs. It’s a win-win.” of NGMN. “Collaboration is key not just DWDM wavelengths without performance and is available in www.prolabs.com for NGMN but for the whole industry.

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SAWC 1912 p18-19 (Wireless Solutions).indd 19 04/11/2019 15:58 NEWS

4 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS January/February 2019

SAWC 1912 p26 (Webb).indd 4 31/10/2019 16:41 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html FEATURE: 5G Making pay

Much is said about the potential for 5G and the doors it will open for new opportunities. However, the real challenge in Africa is going to be how to monetise this exciting new technology. Jon Howell and Smita Sarkar investigate

frica will have to wait till 2022 to be offered on a like for like basis, with unlimited data for. “The implementation of the nascent 5G introduced to the new generation of bundles being key to the uptake of the services,” technology has been hyped in the South African 5G cellular mobile technology, poised explains Craven. “This mobile broadband offering, media, but the capital investment in LTE and LTE- Ato offer reliable delivery of much higher data along with VoLTE and other IP-based voice services, Advanced (around R80bn over the last three years speeds than current data networks, a theoretical will be key in allowing the initial 5G rollouts to see for industry) will be small in comparison to the 20Gbps download and 10Gbps upload along ROI and fund growth into the interactive consumer investments needed to cover the same footprint with enhanced coverage. So does that mean that base in later stages of its evolution.” with 5G technology,” warns Cell C. 5G will stay on the back burner for Africa? Craven predicts that, other than affluent city But other operators are much more positive “5G rollout in Africa will be much slower than Asia areas, 5G handsets and 5G use will be minimal, about the technology’s future. They feel that and Europe,” says Kim Craven, managing director of with rather slow growth over the next 2-3 years. Africa with its increased mobile data usage, Lifecycle Software. “There is less demand for high- Significant growth in consumer use will only come huge population, and a lack of fixed-line speed, higher-cost bandwidth, more need for lower when Asia and Europe have evolved their use of internet connectivity can prove to be a lucrative cost and accessible mobile services.” the technology and have found real world everyday market for 5G and “this promise of high-speed There will be pockets of opportunity for operators use cases for the technology that Africa can adopt. connections will help operators leverage multiple though. Affluent cities like Johannesburg will lead He isn’t the only one who sees difficulties untapped applications, especially in a market the way and, like in Europe, the replacement of for African 5G. South African operator Cell C like Africa,” according to Anil Krishna, head of fixed-line services with mobile broadband will be looks at 5G as an inevitability but they warn African region at Comviva Technologies. the way ahead for monetising 5G. that unless the industry makes drastic changes James Gray, director at Graystone Strategy, “Replacing copper and fibre infrastructure means to the traditional models of network rollout it’s agrees. “If the 5G infrastructure is extended into cost effective and more reliable services that can be unlikely that it will make the impact that is hoped rural areas, the super-fast broadband will offer

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a real potential boost to communities to get says: In reality, perhaps the best way to monetise Anil Krishna, access to high speed data via routers,” he says. 5G is to utilise the additional bandwidth offered head of African region, Although he warns that the big challenge with to reduce the overall cost of data on 3G and 4G Comviva Technologies super-fast mobile data is the rate at which data networks thus increasing data consumption.” can be consumed and costs can be run up, if There are other alternatives to selling directly users are not on large data bundles. to consumers too. “Instead of end-users paying Perhaps consumers shouldn’t be in the forefront telcos directly for connectivity, operators in of any operator’s plans. Speeding up the ROI a 5G world will be able to generate revenues on their 5G rollouts will involve looking at what by charging the companies that are providing the technology can enable, for example enriched 5G-reliant services to their customers. This content services, enterprise applications, and business-to-business-to-X (B2B2X) model can “5G will bring a new level of IoT services. “Once 5G arrives, operators will be vary as X can either be a consumer or a business, performance and new characteristics able to leverage their network and infrastructure leading to many different use cases. And by to create new monetisation opportunities,” says identifying and tapping into these opportunities, to telecom networks, enabling new Clémentine Fournier, regional VP Africa at BICS. operators have the chance to ensure that they get According to Martin Morgan, VP marketing, a return on their 5G investments,” says Fournier. services, new ecosystems and new Openet, one of the initial uses of 5G will be fixed Business customers will be a critical part of wireless access (FWA). In countries where fixed line the monetisation journey. Just as for consumers, revenue streams” broadband penetration is low, the opportunity is to 5G services need to be based on use cases use 5G FWA to offer a real alternative to fixed-line designed specifically to address business such as agriculture: for example, wireless sensors broadband services. “There is also the option of problems, unlock new services, and enable new for tracking animals, and measuring crop growth leveraging 5G for remote health and education market offerings. “There have been a number and soil moisture. Other examples include programmes and looking at partnerships with of reports and studies from different industry mobile money, and mhealth,” she says. government agencies to use 5G FWA to deliver such experts about the expected explosion of IoT As the connectivity to support the IoT becomes services,” he says. “But the question shouldn’t be devices in the next decade,” says Saber. “IoT increasingly commoditised, the onus will be on just about getting customers to pay. There are many remains a key driver of 5G, and, with ultra-low operators to expand their role in the value chain. innovative models such as partner-funded and ad- latency and speed, the potential is immense.” From providing the essential tools and capabilities funded models that can be rolled out too.” Morgan also thinks operators need to look for partners to build IoT solutions, to becoming the Sami Saber, managing director, Middle East and at selling applications beyond connectivity to end-to-end IoT solution providers, the opportunity North Africa, Syniverse, remarks that customers businesses. “We’re already seeing the emergence is there for operators to seize, she feels. won’t necessarily buy a new handset to get higher of 5G powered smart factories in Asia and However, Craven has a note of caution. Although speed. Operators will need to develop use cases Europe,” he says. “But to do this operators need business take up of 5G services will be critical that fit the local market and address local consumer to look beyond the confines of being a traditional to the speed and commercial success of all 5G needs. “With the lack of fibre infrastructure telecoms company. Businesses will pay a rollouts across Africa, he feels that existing IoT in some countries, 5G has become a credible premium for guaranteed quality of service for 5G, applications do not require 5G and it will only be and fast alternative. Fixed-mobile broadband for this could be for applications such as mission when applications are developed specifically for 5G many operators represents the shortest route critical IoT and production lines in factories.” that IoT will drive significant commercial uptake. to 5G monetisation, which can be enriched with Fournier says the number of IoT connections Africa is a vast and diverse market. “South services like Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is booming worldwide. According to the GSMA, Africa and some north African countries, for and video on demand (VoD),” he says. between 2018 and 2025, the number of global example, are emerging markets, while others are With 5G’s core benefit over 4G being an increase IoT connections will triple to 25 billion, while considered ‘frontier markets’,” says Fournier. “In in concurrent users from 4,000 to a 1,000,000 global IoT revenue will quadruple to USD1.1 less developed countries there may be challenges, per km2, operators should think about targeting trillion. “In Africa, a continent that hosts over half but these regions also hold opportunities for highly-concentrated populations where high-quality the global population growth, there are already developing connectivity, use cases which are not data access is limited. Mobiz CEO, Greg Chen, a number of practical IoT use cases in verticals possible elsewhere. In fact, some countries in Africa are arguably now leading the way in some markets, such as mobile money.” Operators shouldn’t be discouraged though. “Despite the low ARPU across Africa (an average revenue per mobile user of between USD5-10), we have seen the emergence of new technologies such as 4G – albeit at a different speed to other continents,” she says. Craven thinks this is the critical point, that initially 5G has to replace services that people are already paying for in a commercial manner. “This means not only pricing 5G in line with existing services but significantly increasing broadband bundles to ensure it can be used without a large usage penalty,” he suggests. Ultimately, there could be technical limitations that will exclude those who are near the breadline. “Due to the increase in frequency adopted by 5G, its coverage per node will be Craven predicts that, other than affluent city areas, 5G handsets and 5G use will be minimal, with significantly lower. Therefore many more nodes rather slow growth over the next 2-3 years are needed to cover the same distance that 4G

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currently covers,” explains Chen. “This would mean that only densely populated areas urban areas would get to utilise this.” Morgan thinks other business models might allow prices to be brought down. “5G will see many new partnerships as companies look to use 5G as a delivery channel for their services. It will be in the interests of these companies to have a large base that can use their services, so we will see such partner companies subsidising, or paying for, 5G access for some sections of the population,” he predicts. He points to Peru and how Telefonica is using innovative approaches to overcome the high cost of connectivity and the relatively low incomes of consumers. “Telefonica is partnering with Facebook and national banks as part of their Internet Para Todos (Internet for All) scheme to deploy internet connectivity. The result is that According to the GSMA, between 2018 and 2025, the number of global IoT connections will triple they will have connected half a million people in to 25 billion, while global IoT revenue will quadruple to USD1.1 trillion only one year in Peru with a goal of connecting the entire population,” says Morgan. Fournier is keen to point out that despite challenge. This technology, among other things, With IoT maybe a long-term goal and the vastness of the African continent, and the may eventually eliminate a large portion of the consumers being slow to adopt, are businesses remote nature of some towns and social groups, current process for revenue assurance.” in the position to pay for 5G services? mobile and digital communications have been “However, operators are not ready for this quick “The simple answer is yes,” says Saber. able to connect the previously unconnected. charging, and it will require rapid infrastructure- “Businesses have different priorities, such as She is confident that 5G will help revolutionise level technology to deliver it. The good news is revenue, customer experience, and cost. So several industries, including utilities, banking, that solutions are now being tested that will allow a business will sign up to 5G if that can help health, transport and farming. this to come to fruition soon,” he says. improve their businesses in a high-priority area, “For example, in some regions of Africa there Fournier believes that there is huge potential for example. It just needs to be cost justified.” is only one doctor for tens-of-thousands of for 5G across Africa, but there are significant Krishna is of the opinion that in the context people, they can now connect patients remotely to challenges for operators to overcome. “First of Africa, “select use cases certainly have the healthcare professionals, without having to travel and foremost, is cost. To balance the level potential, particularly in the agriculture, health, long distances, and check medicine stocks in of investment and capitalise on the IoT and manufacturing segments. These businesses neighbouring towns. And by using smart agriculture opportunity, operators need robust platforms for may not be averse to paying, keeping in mind technology, farmers across Africa have improved customer management and billing. Opting for the potential to generate return on investment.” their control over the process of growing and a cloud-based platform will minimise technical Operators have to look at the ROI for 5G, harvesting crops, and rearing livestock,” she says. effort and upfront costs, making them more and it’s the same for those businesses who are For operators, a new generation of telecoms accessible to a broader market,” she says. considering purchasing 5G services. “If the technology throws up all sorts of issues. “Not To leverage the power of 5G technologies, pricing is linked to the value that the service all operators are ready for 5G,” warns Morgan. operators need to rethink their role and what or application over 5G delivers, and if it can “Some will be hindered by legacy systems, value to deliver, and what business models to use. demonstrate operational efficiencies, reduced such as billing systems that were designed to “5G will bring a new level of performance and wastage or more efficient use of manpower, then bill voice calls and SMS. The good news is that new characteristics to telecom networks, enabling there is a business case to be made,” says Gray. there are new options to implement Digital and new services, new ecosystems and new revenue The business user marketplace is ready to pay 5G BSS as an adjunct to legacy kit, or even on a streams,” says Krishna. “Given that the use cases for this believes Morgan. “There was a recent study new greenfield site for new digital brands.” for enterprises will add another dimension in the by CapGemini of 800 industrial companies that As part of its product portfolio, Syniverse form of newer revenue models and streams, the showed that 79 per cent of industrial companies offers data clearing which validates and billing system will also need to accommodate would expect to pay a premium for the transfers billing data, used for example when such enterprise billing scenarios, in addition to guaranteed Quality of Service that 5G delivered, operators need to charge for roaming. So the traditional end-user billing models.” and 78 per cent said they’d pay a premium of Saber is well placed to comment on how ready There could be other challenges to take on. enhanced speed and reliability, and 77 per cent operators are, “to monetise 5G-era services, For example, suggests Gray, “will operators be willing to pay extra for enhanced security. There a supplier must be able to accurately charge willing to collaborate to reduce costs by site are numerous 5G features that enterprises will for its product in an ultra-fast, low-cost and spectrum sharing?” be willing to pay extra for,” he says. way. Blockchain will ultimately address this Perhaps it’s best to leave the last word for an actual operator. Cell C believes that at a basic Greg Chen, “In reality, perhaps the best way level operators are ready. “Most operators will CEO, have prepared their physical infrastructure and Mobiz to monetise 5G is to utilise the software solutions. But whether they are ready to invest so heavily remains to be seen.” additional bandwidth offered to It certainly appears that 5G has a lot to offer, as long as telecoms firms can afford to make reduce the overall cost of data on the leap to the next generation and find new use cases to complement the more traditional 3G and 4G networks” business market customers. n

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WIRELESS USERS: REMOTE MONITORING

IoT weather station for improved food and water security Two examples of how IoT has become invaluable to utilities and the world of agriculture

eather touches pretty much all rainfall, floods, droughts, and soil degradation farmers plant the best crops at the correct time aspects of farming life, affecting all contributing to reduced yields. so as to optimise production. multiple disciplines such as Like the rest of the world, Africa is facing the Reliable, cost-effective weather stations, stra- Wagriculture, hydrological forecasting and ongoing, monumental upheaval of climate change. tegically placed, can help farmers decide when emergency alert systems. In sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture accounts for and what to plant; when to apply fertilizers or That means the ability to forecast weather more than 30% of GDP while employing more pesticides; when to harvest; and how to manage is critical to agriculture and to ensuring a than 60% of its working population. The effects of livestock. Basically, farmers can plan food produc- viable, adequate water supply. Even prior to changing environments will need to be addressed tion growth with advanced knowledge of weather climate change, millions of farmers worldwide if the continent is to up its food production to conditions. For example, automated weather were facing the effects of uncertain weather meet its own needs. Central to that goal is the forecasts make it possible to manage crops in real conditions, with insufficient and irregular expanded acquisition of weather data to help time, providing early warnings, helping farmers

24 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p24-25 (Wireless Users).indd 24 01/11/2019 17:54 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/nawc.html WIRELESS USERS: REMOTE MONITORING

adjust irrigation, improving soil management, knowledge to the next generation of people on deployment process and lowering the cost across and providing the optimal time to harvest. This the front lines of climate change in Africa. And, the entire supply chain. After experiencing the expanded understanding of regional environmen- by having the station within school boundaries, level of support from Aeris, TAHMO decided to tal conditions helps create a knowledge-based theft becomes much less of a problem than if the use the Aeris SIM cards globally on its network. farming community that can improve productivity stations were widely dispersed in fields. TAHMO says it is committed to serving the through highly focused weather insights. “The TAHMO project is ambitious—seeking to public by advancing the free and open exchange work across the African continent, making millions of hydro-meteorological data collected with Responding to Africa’s needs of measurements per day, and feeding them every its monitoring stations. By allowing the free hour to the entire global community,” says John download of all its raw data for scientific To address the growing need for up-to-date Selker, co-Director, TAHMO. “Aeris provided the research and governmental applications, TAHMO weather information, the Trans-African Hydro- platform we needed to be able to reliably and easily supports and adheres to World Meteorological Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO) initiative manage communication to a complex continental- Organisation (WMO) Resolution 40 and seeks to install and operate up to 20,000 scale network of sensors. Aeris support has allowed Resolution 25 (policies and practices for the weather stations in sub-Saharan Africa. us to react in hours to critical issues, which is exchange of meteorological and related data). The first TAHMO weather station was installed fundamental to our users gaining confidence that For TAHMO, the partnership with Aeris is in 2012. Now in 2019, TAHMO has installed essential data will be delivered in cases of weather producing better coverage at a reduced cost. more than 500 weather stations in Benin, Burkina emergencies, and reliably for the long term so that The heightened support service from Aeris is Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic TAHMO data can be woven into their enterprises.” enhancing the wide application of the weather of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Today, TAHMO is active in 21 countries in station solution in most parts of Africa. Improved Madagascar, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, west, southern and east Africa. Its weather farm productivity now has an IoT weather Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, monitoring stations currently ship with roadmap. What’s more, farmers throughout Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Aeris SIMs installed, thereby shortening the Africa are starting to reap the benefits. n In collaboration with the Meter Group, TAHMO has developed a small, reliable, automatic weather Remote monitoring ideal platform for use in the African region. station with no moving parts. All the sensors are in a Honeywell Smart Energy’s partnership with one-piece sensor unit, which employs bi-directional On average 37% of South Africa’s water supply Vodacom promotes NB-IoT for water and electricity communication for remote firmware updates and is apparently being lost before it reaches users smart metering AMI solutions. In addition, data transmission. The weather station itself is solar due to leaks. As a result, water conservation Vodacom’s NB-IoT infrastructure can be used powered, and the cost for the station is quite low has become a critical issue for the region. in conjunction with Honeywell’s smart metering when compared to other varieties with similar func- That means African utilities are today looking technology. This modem-driven, end-to-end tionalities. The station is built using current Internet beyond the meter and they require innovative software solution enables customers to implement of Things (IoT) developments in sensor technology end-to-end connected solutions that enable utility advanced state-of-the-art analytics, revenue and that helps makes the cost much lower. operations to run more efficiently, reliably, safely and assurance and protection and smart pre-payment The TAHMO weather stations records data at of course, cost-effectively. This is while they tackle to improve utilities’ operational performance. a five-minute interval, which then is transmitted the key issues of non-technical losses (NTL) due to Through the pilot at the City of Matlosana remotely over the GPRS network hourly (or at a electricity theft and non-revenue water (NRW) that Municipality, Honeywell and Vodacom say they higher temporal scale). This high-resolution data has been lost before it reaches the customer. have proven the use cases and the benefits for can be aggregated into daily, weekly, or monthly Honeywell and Vodacom are cooperating utilising NB-IoT as a communication technology data sets according to the needs of the user. A in the pilot in the City of Matlosana, a local for smart utility metering applications in water multitude of weather attributes are available, municipality in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District and electricity metering. such as temperature; rainfall, barometric and Municipality, in North West. The solution offered has identified vapour pressure; relative humidity; solar radia- The two companies have set out to prove use water leaks and enabled timely water tion; wind direction and speed; lightning strikes; cases and underline the benefits for utilising balancing. Furthermore, the electricity meter and a library of historical data. NB-IoT for smart utility metering applications communications have also been successful and Data only is useful when it actually is used. covering water and electricity metering. highlighted that smart pre-payment can be To that end, TAHMO, which is a non-profit For water metering, the main aim is to identify implemented with the use of NB-IoT. organisation, makes its weather station monitoring water leaks and losses, as well as conduct water “Vodacom working together with Honeywell data available to national meteorological agencies, balancing. For electricity metering, the objective are showing how the benefits of NB-IoT, long government entities, or scientific research users is to prove bi-directional communications and battery life of remote devices and deep signal for free. Basically, any researcher seeking to provide benefits for future smart metering penetration, assists in actively monitoring develop peer-reviewed articles for publication can applications, such as pre-payment. service delivery points that are not easily obtain any and all data once they have signed a Utility metering requires cost-effective, reliable attainable with other existing communication no- charge agreement clarifying end usage of said and robust two-way communications for advanced technologies,” says Lawrence Juku, executive data. Fees are incurred only for non-research use metering infrastructure (AMI) and automated head utilities of Vodacom South Africa. “We are of the data. The fees then are used to maintain meter reading (AMR) applications. There are specifically looking at the water use case for and grow the observation network. emerging communication technologies that offer accurate metering of bulk meters and supply The majority of weather stations are being the potential to change the communications points, which are typically located in non- installed at local schools (primary, secondary, landscape. One of these , Narrowband-Internet of powered, underground chambers, to enable and at universities), where teachers are using Things (NB-IoT), is a low-power Wide Area Network utility managers to get an accurate view of the the data from their ‘hosted’ station in their (LPWAN) technology developed to enable efficient water supply network by balancing the system classroom lessons. Weather stations in schools communication. For water metering where there and detecting losses in real-time.” serve multiple purposes. The concept is to make is no power source from the meter, Honeywell is Currently this project is on-going but as the science, geography, and math education a natural providing an NB-IoT modem. project develops further, Honeywell and Vodacom part of students’ lives by seeing how weather This supports a long battery life and operates will share future updates on this important data translates into quantitative information. This with a pulse output from the meter most commonly initiative, which is changing the communications process builds and conveys weather and climate used in Africa today. This combination provides an landscape in Africa as we know it. n

November/December 2019 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 25

SAWC 1912 p24-25 (Wireless Users).indd 25 04/11/2019 17:28 NEWS AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMS.COM

for African wireless communications, as it happens

www.africanwirelesscomms.com

AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 4 www.africanwirelesscomms.com SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS January/February 2019

NAWC 19011903 p31p26 (East(Web AfricaAd).indd Com).indd 4 1 06/02/201904/04/2019 17:0318:04 ON THE NETWORK

Africa: the next big feature phone opportunity? Sebastien Codevile, CEO of KaiOS Technologies explores the potential of “affordable” smart feature phones

ith more than 300 million “dumb” starting to upgrade their infrastructure to 3G needs. Yet some problems can only be identified and phones in use and 800 million people and 4G/LTE, even outside of the big cities. addressed by a local, someone who’s familiar with Wstill unconnected to the internet, Africa the culture and lifestyle in a specific region. is the next frontier for smart feature phones. But Device affordability There are already great examples of this, even with this vast opportunity, challenges still like Anitrack (which allows farmers to track loom large on this magnificent continent. In Africa more than anywhere else, device afforda- their livestock), Asoriba (a church management Many people believe that Africa is poor. With an bility is a crucial barrier to moving people from 2G application for worshippers and religious leaders), average income of $6.6 per day and 36% of the voice and text-capable phones to 3G/4G devices that and LetiArts (and African gaming studio). But on population living in extreme poverty (on less than can access the internet. According to research from this point, there is still a gap in Africa, or at least an $1 per day), there is some truth to that. At the same GSMA, the threshold lies at US$34. Below that point, opportunity to bring the local content that’s already time, many countries on the continent are showing even those in the lowest income groups are capable available to a much wider audience. Growing the signs of growth. According to the World Bank, Sub- of upgrading to a data-enabled phone. number of connected users, while simultaneously Saharan Africa economies are expected to grow at Until recently this barrier forced people to supporting local developers, is what’s needed to 2.6% this year, accelerating to 3.7% by 2020. choose between a feature phone without internet bring the digital revolution to everyone in Africa. Zooming in closer—beyond just the macro- access, or an ultra low-budget smartphone with a level numbers—signs of this progress appear limited user experience. Now, with KaiOS-powered Financial inclusion all across the continent. Governments see smart feature phones in the market, there is an the importance of technology and are driving attractive alternative: a device that is affordable, In places like Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, less policy and capital towards modernizing yet provides a smooth user experience and all than half of the adult population have a bank infrastructure. As a result, homegrown the essential capabilities of a smartphone. account, nor have they ever conducted a digital technological innovation is happening and payment. Also, less than 10 percent of the adult start-up hubs are springing up everywhere. Costs of data population receive income (e.g., wages, social security) via a bank account. A lack of trust and Powered by connectivity Once a user has purchased a phone, there’s still access to financial services cause these issues. the “cost of ownership” in the form of a monthly Financial inclusion needs to improve dramat- One of the remaining hurdles to fuel this growth data plan that has to be factored in. Most ically to drive the digital revolution in Africa. is affordable connectivity. As mentioned in the smartphones come with a data plan of at least Without the means to easily make and receive introduction, almost 800 million people in Africa $10 per month. For someone who can’t afford a payments, innovation is slowed or even blocked are still unconnected today. Despite the progress $35 phone, such monthly costs are unacceptable. altogether. It also makes the job of poverty reduc- in many areas, several barriers stand in the way To reduce the costs of data, KaiOS Technologies tion difficult as people can’t plan their financial of widespread internet access: works closely with network operators to design futures and are unable to do the most important 1. Poor network infrastructure new data plans priced between a 2G (voice and thing that leads to prosperity: saving. 2. Device affordability text) plan and a full-blown smartphone data plan. Research finds a strong correlation between mobile 3. Costs of data There are many ways in which we achieve internet connectivity and financial inclusion—the 4. Lack of localised content reduction of data costs together with carriers adoption, usage, and sustainability of financial 5. Financial inclusion and content providers: services. The rise of mobile money on smart feature Let’s look at these issues in detail. • KaiOS minimizes data requirements on both phones can play a central role in extending the reach the OS and content (apps) side. of formal financial services in Africa, as demonstrated Poor network infrastructure • We work closely with partners to provide by the success of mobile money services in coun- specific content and features that don’t tries like Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa. Network infrastructure in Africa is of poor quality, require additional charges. especially in rural areas. For example, Nigeria’s • We’re implementing advertising solutions that give The emerging ecosystem average mobile download speeds clock in at users free data in exchange for engaging with ads. just 16.01 Mbps, far below those in developed With all of the above pieces coming together, the markets—between 30 to 40 Mbps. While urban Lack of localised content smart feature phone is now a compelling proposition areas are starting to see decent 3G and 4G to change the digital landscape in Africa. coverage, smaller towns and the rural countryside Africa is not Silicon Valley. This observation seems The device and monthly data plan are affordable rely on 2G connectivity. This detail is important obvious, but it doesn’t get enough thought when you even for those in the lowest income groups. With because the story of Africa is still a rural story, with consider how our modern tech products are devel- support for local developers and content—in 62% of the population living in the countryside. oped. While innovation is on the rise in emerging addition to the global apps that are already Luckily this situation is changing. The business markets, products coming out of Silicon Valley—and available on KaiOS—people will be able to enjoy case for improving mobile connectivity in rural to a lesser extent other parts of the USA—still form the fruits of the digital revolution in areas like areas is becoming more evident to carriers, a disproportionate amount of our tech “intake.” education, entertainment, business, health, and especially since the launch of KaiOS-powered There is nothing inherently wrong with this. Many finance. This means real progress towards closing phones like the MTN Smart T, Orange Sanza, of the innovations from this infamous region in the digital divide and a positive impact on the lives and TECNO T90. As such, network operators are California are truly phenomenal and satisfy universal of millions of people in Africa in the years ahead. n

November/December 2019 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 27

SAWC 1912 p27-28 (Industry View) NEW.indd 27 01/11/2019 18:02 INDUSTRY VIEW: 5G

The shift to 5G: innovative capabilities to extend far beyond previous generations Africa is on the road to 5G and here’s how it’s going to take this journey. Lucky La Riccia, Ericsson’s head of digital services at Ericsson Middle East and Africa tells all

f you visited GITEX in Dubai back in October, and 5G connected music, healthcare and gaming, Lucky La Riccia, you would have seen first-hand just how quickly Ericsson’s booth welcomed a sea of people head of digital services, technology is moving and changing the way excited to know more about our 5G future. Middle East and Africa, Iwe live. There was a flying motorcycle and other Journalists, analysts, consumers and Crown Ericsson incredible technological advances that caught the Prince of Dubai Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed eye of visitors and global media outlets. The Ericsson booth was, unashamedly, a tribute “It is a technology which can enable to 5G. From the immersive sports demo to remote operation of vehicles, VR football, telemedicine millions of different use cases”

28 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p27-28 (Industry View) NEW.indd 28 01/11/2019 17:57 INDUSTRY VIEW: 5G

bin Rashid Al Maktoum stopped to check out Ericsson’s GITEX technologies that were unimaginable in the past booth welcomed a and are now at our fingertips. sea of people excited But why is all the emphasis on 5G when it to know more about seems like a distant dream for most countries? our 5G future There is a push for 5G deployment in order PHOTO: ERICSSON.COM to enhance both the consumer and enterprise experience. It is a technology which can enable millions of different use cases. Some of the use cases will be immensely beneficial to society, not even in the future, but already now. When you think about efficiently connected healthcare, it is positioned to make a positive impact in people’s lives. These are all experiences enabled by the them migrate to 5G in their own time and in on the fly and facilitate greater benefits for the high throughput and low latency of 5G that none alignment with their business needs. society at large. Although enhanced mobile of its predecessors have been able to achieve. A frequently asked question is – Will increased broadband is the first “high profile” use case With the growing demand from consumers, bandwidth mean poor coverage? for 5G, these are just some of the opportunities industry and IoT for mobile communications, The answer is simple. At the end of the day, 5G emerging from the digitalization of industries. service providers today are focusing on improving in itself is a tech shift. Coverage and bandwidth is At the core of all this innovation is a singular the performance and efficiency of 4G networks, something that each service provider really needs idea – that ICT has the power to transform while supporting their digital journey towards 5G. to plan, design and optimize, so it’s not inherent society. It plays a key role in each of the We, at Ericsson, support service providers that if you have one it will result in another. Like United Nations’ Sustainable Development with three key goals: secure relentless any other technology shift, 5G requires strong Goals, providing the infrastructure needed to efficiency, enhance customer experience and planning and implementation and this is an achieve them. It also enables financial inclusion open new revenue streams while providing important factor to be considered for any operator. through m-commerce and allows people to consumers with more cost-efficient services. It is ideal to formulate use cases first and connect with millions instantaneously. Our main aim is to help service providers then talk about the network, bandwidth or other What’s more. Ericsson is working hard to bust maintain their networks with the latest technology so aspects of planning that go into developing a myth around healthcare issues associated with they can benefit from all that advanced technology successful strategy and ensuring a timely rollout 5G. It is important to note that independent expert offers and provide their customers the best mobile and improved customer experience. organizations have established the exposure limits broadband experience available. 5G, Cloud Native I know a lot of people will wonder how operators for radio waves based on many years of research. and automation will be necessary to our customers, in Africa will make a good business case when The limits are recommended by the World Health in their pursuit for relentless efficiency and optimal so many consumers live on very low incomes. Organization (WHO), among others, and include end-user experience in mobile broadband. It’s important to remember that 5G isn’t just a large safety margins. 5G equipment, whether it It is important to note that 5G is not just a consumer technology. Yes, 5G will offer lower be mobile devices or base stations, will meet the technology shift, it is an innovation platform that latency, higher throughput and an enhanced same safety standards as the equipment used in will accelerate the development of countless use mobile broadband experience for the consumer previous mobile communication networks. cases. There is no doubt that similar to global – helping to meet the mobile data demands of So, are we all ready? consumers, African population also share the tomorrow. But it will also help bring to light new I can certainly speak for Ericsson and globally, great desire for fast speeds and unique use cases business opportunities not addressed today. Ericsson is currently supporting 19 5G live the next generation of mobile wireless is poised to In fact, the benefit to the end-consumer networks across 4 continents. All those networks deliver, and this poses a great opportunity to grab. doesn’t end there. Service providers will be use Ericsson Radio, Ericsson Core, or both. In the Talking about the future, we’re at a critical able to address new value chains and revenue Middle East and Africa alone, we’ve announced time for 5G as selected markets roll out their streams in the digitalization of industries. four contracts so far. When it comes to Africa, we 5G networks and early adopters get their hands This is where you get effective use cases in support our customers with the same commitment on the first 5G-enabled devices. What operators the areas of mobile healthcare. Or think about and passion in their journeys, providing them need now is to enhance their networks to pave manufacturing or oil and gas, a lot of these with flexible options to transition forward in the the way for 5G deployment – which will help industries can benefit from making decisions best way that suits them and their consumer. n

November/December 2019 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 29

SAWC 1912 p27-28 (Industry View) NEW.indd 29 01/11/2019 17:57 WORLD NEWS Orange CEO Pressure on Merkel to shares supply chain fears exclude Huawei

The chief executive officer A group of MPs from is kowtowing to pressure from China However, Huawei and other of French giant Orange Angela Merkel’s centre- because it fears trade retaliation Chinese telecom companies have warned an industry conference in the right Christian Democratic Union from the Asian powerhouse, which is long rejected suggestions that their US about a “loss of trust in global (CDU) is pressing the German Germany’s biggest trading partner equipment is vulnerable to spying by supply chains” that could lead to the chancellor to keep Chinese vendor and an important export destination the Chinese state and said European costly break-up of the entire market. company Huawei out of the at a time when the German economy countries should make their own Stéphane Richard told the Mobile country’s 5G network, for the sake risks sliding into a recession. decisions about 5G security. World Congress Americas show in of national security. Los Angeles that restricting access to The push comes after Berlin in components and products would hit October released a new “security the entire industry and threaten the catalogue” for telecoms networks, survival of 5G as a global standard. which critics said lacks teeth A major Huawei customer in because it only obliges Huawei several international markets, to sign a “no spy” clause while Orange is understood to have been generally opening 5G tenders to the worried that a ban on the sale of Chinese telecoms giant. US components to the Chinese Merkel has come under fire for vendor could disrupt operations – her decision from allies like the although Richard did not refer to US, which warned the move could Huawei in his presentation. have serious implications for future “The global supply chain is intelligence-sharing between Berlin intricately entwined, with key software and Washington. The push comes after Berlin in October released a new “security and hardware components sourced Critics have claimed that Germany catalogue” for telecoms networks, which critics said lacks teeth from all over the world,” said Richard. In 2018, a similar ban on component sales to ZTE, a fellow Chinese vendor, caused problems Japan’s KDDI to invest in Bangladesh for European customers such as Italy’s Wind Tre, which blamed the Japan’s second largest ager Hiroyasu (Hiro) Morishita visited country has become a target sector punitive measures for delays to a telecom company, KDDI, posts and telecom division minister for the foreign investment in the network project and the subse- is keen to invest in Bangladesh’s 5G Mustafa Jabbar at his ministry office in last 11 years. quent loss of customers. network, IOT, other digital technol- the secretariat in Dhaka. Jabbar described Japan as a US authorities have also been ogies and special economic zones The minister said under the true friend of Bangladesh and leaning on European governments and connectivity sectors. leadership of prime minister urged Japanese entrepreneurs to to exclude Chinese vendors from 5G A two-member KDDI delegation led Sheikh Hasina, the telecom and invest and take advantage of the projects on security grounds. by its global ICT division general man- digital technology sector of the investment friendly environment. Thailand makes another bid to auction 5G spectrum

Thailand’s telecoms regu- maximum 100MHz in the 2600MHz at a reserve price of THB17.58 price of THB12.5bn per licence. lator the National Broad- band and 1200MHz in 26GHz. billion ($581 million) per block. The NBTC said it plans to finalise casting and Telecommunications In mid-2020, three 5MHz blocks 1800MHz spectrum will be split into the auction details next month and Commission (NBTC) has announced of 700MHz spectrum will be sold seven 5MHz blocks, with a starting invite bidders by December 20. details of 5G spectrum auctions This marks NBTC’s third attempt scheduled to begin in February 2020, at holding 5G spectrum auctions. It with licences to be issued across four first detailed plans to auction 2.6GHz bands and rollouts to start in March. spectrum in 2016, targeting 2017 The watchdog said it would auction to conduct the process, but the sale spectrum first in the 2600MHz was subsequently pushed back with and 26GHz bands, and later in the no alternative announced. In January, 700MHz and 1800MHz bands. it outlined plans for an auction A total of 190MHz of 2600MHz across the 6GHz, 28GHz and 2.6GHz airwaves will be released in 10MHz bands, establishing a dedicated blocks, while 2700MHz in the 26GHz team to draft the conditions for band will be divided in 100MHz this. Operators dtac, TOT and CAT blocks, the newspaper said. Telecom later joined forces to launch Operators will be restricted to a NBTC said it plans to finalise the auction details next month 5G testbeds at two universities.

30 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p30-34 (World News).indd 30 01/11/2019 17:57 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html WORLD NEWS Singapore to see early 5G rollout

Singapore will increase the network rollout” by 2020. May - and another two that will have number of its 5G networks Fitch further noted that the the flexibility to deliver localized 5G from two to four, encouraging regulator plans to assign 5G spectrum services on a non-standalone basis competition and facilitating an based on the financial standing of during the initial period. Since a non- early rollout in 2020. applicants and their network security standalone network was less costly, That is according to global designs. IMDA expects to announce it would give small network operators ratings agency Fitch Ratings, which the results by mid-2020. such as TPG a fair chance to roll said the decision to increase the The authority will grant two mobile out 5G services, according to Fitch. number of licenses would intensify network operators the rights to competition and spur product inno- operate nationwide networks – as IMDA expects to announce the vation, particularly in the enterprise proposed in a public consultation in results by mid-2020 segment. As a result, this would drive the execution of timely 5G network services in the city-state, the company said in a statement. Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) recently announced the 5G regulatory framework to “drive a timely, cost-effective and robust 5G Portugal to hold 2020 5G auction

Portugal’s telecom regulator said it will hold the country’s first 5G spectrum auction in the second quarter of 2020. Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (Anacom), which will hold the auction between April and June next year, will auction off six bands of spectrum, including the 700MHz and 3.6GHz bands. “The allocation of rights of use for frequencies should be subject to an auction procedure as this is potentially a more transparent and objective process for all stakeholders and less intrusive in their business plans,” A statement from Anacom said. It is understood that all three of Portugal’s mobile network operators, Altice Portugal, NOS and Vodafone Portugal will take part in the auction, although none of them have yet commented on the watchdog’s proposal. Anacom will release more details of the auction after a 20-day period of public consultation. The Iberian country has been a Eu- ropean leader in fibre network deploy- ment and will hope to use its relative abundance of fibre assets to fast track its 5G mobile network rollout.

November/December 2019 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 31

SAWC 1912 p30-34 (World News).indd 31 04/11/2019 11:55 WORLD NEWS MPT cleared Oman’s 5G roadmap

to launch Oman’s Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) new service has granted telecom operators Omantel and Ooredoo the right to Myanmar’s state-run use a 100MHz 5G spectrum, which operator MPT has been will offer endless opportunities for granted a mobile financial services upgrading their services. licence by the country’s central Both firms will construct and bank after a lengthy approval install 4,400 stations in the Sultanate process. The market leading to operate 5G technology in the next operator first announced its five years, including 1,000 stations planned MPT Money service in in the year 2019-2020. March 2018 and has been waiting To enable the effective roll-out for permission ever since. The of 5G services and encourage service is aimed at accelerating investment in the sector, the Myanmar’s digital economy by Omantel and Ooredoo will be Ooredoo have recently rolled out 5G operational trials, demonstrations fostering greater financial inclusion. exempted from the annual frequency and experience zones at stores in Muscat and Salalah (pictured) usage fees for 12 months. TRA also announced details of the planned rollout, legislative level,” said Ian Dench, chief executive Oman’s 5G roadmap, which will developments as well as the officer at Ooredoo. He added that his Israel’s Bezeq contribute to the research and devel- readiness of operators to launch the company has been preparing for the opment in crucial sectors, including super-speed network commercially. transition to 5G wireless technology hit with fine education, health and logistics. “Working with the TRA and other since 2017, recently rolling out The announcement was made government and private sector operational trials, demonstrations Bezeq Telecom, Israel’s at the special 5G Roadmap event entities to deliver 5G, we’ll be taking and experience zones at stores in largest player, has been fined organised by TRA, which discussed the Sultanates technology to the next Muscat and Salalah. 30 million shekels (US$8.6 million) for what the competition regulator said was an “abuse of the firm’s monopolistic position”. The regulator Bakcell gets nod for Vodafone Ukraine bid said Bezeq blocked competitors from deploying wired communications The Antimonopoly Com- company based in the Netherlands. purchase of shares of Preludium BV networks using the company’s mittee of Ukraine (AMCU) The AMCU floated an option for (Amsterdam, Netherlands) which [holds infrastructure. It also imposed a has given the green light to Azer- Bakcell’s bid in October – at the in] excess of 50% of votes in the man- financial penalty of 500,000 shekels baijani mobile operator Bakcell to time MTS noted that it was open to agement company. This will allow the on a senior but unnamed Bezeq pursue its bid to acquire Vodafone options but no clear framework for Azerbaijani company to acquire indirect official and said it intended to levy Ukraine from Russia’s MTS. a deal had been agreed. control over [the] Ukrainian mobile a further eight million shekel fine Vodafone Ukraine is the country’s “The Antimonopoly Committee of operator known under the brand Voda- on Bezeq for misinformation during second largest mobile operator and is Ukraine has given permission to Bakcell fone,”the AMCU said in a statement the authority’s investigation. owned by MTS indirectly via a holding LLC (Baku, Azerbaijan) for the indirect published on its website. Alaska New route to connect OZ with Middle East Comms Australian subsea firm and EMEA, while at the same time puzzle to improve Australia’s SUB.CO is to build a new avoiding some of the challenges resiliency and recognises the growing express route between Australia associated with building through importance of Oman in becoming name CEO and the Middle East. the shallows of the Sunda Strait the new ‘Cloud hub’ in EMEA.” According to a company statement, and busy South China Sea,” said Perth has also seen three new The Alaska Communica- the new cable will directly connect Bevan Slattery, founder of SUB.CO. subsea cables land in the city to meet tions board of directors Perth with the city of Muscat in Oman. “For me, the Oman Australia Cable demand for capacity in the region. has named William (Bill) H. Bishop The Oman Australia Cable (OAC) is the final piece of an important “OAC will be highly president and chief executive officer will comprise a three-fibre pair complementary to the recent (CEO). Bishop has served as the system, with the option to upgrade submarine cables between Perth firm’s interim CEO since June 2019. to a four-pair system as required. and Singapore as well as Indigo He joined the company in 2004 There is also the option to extend Central, which will be used to and has served in several leader- the cable to the southern Omani extend OAC to Australia’s cloud ship roles, including senior vice city of Salalah and onwards to capital - Sydney” added Slattery. president of customer and revenue Djibouti on Africa’s Eastern coast. The Oman Australia Cable will management and chief operations “I am delighted to be building a The new cable will directly connect begin construction before the end officer. Bishop will also serve on the new, express route providing diversity Perth with the city of Muscat in of 2019 and is scheduled to be company’s board of directors. and low latency between Australia Oman (pictured) completed by December 2021.

32 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p30-34 (World News).indd 32 01/11/2019 18:10 SAWC 1912 p35 (Yearbook).indd 4 01/11/2019 12:26 THE LAST WORD

Q&A

Gerard Lokossou What is the best optimal return on the huge business lesson you investment needed to deploy CEO have learned? and maintain the related Orange RDC Over the years, I have infrastructure is a big challenge noticed and learned that we have to face. What is the best thing about an excuse to neglect that performance is a your job? the human side of the relative notion. The main What, in your opinion, holds a The best thing about my job business. He was always factor for true success is to lot of African nations back? is the constant change and able to balance the need to never be satisfied with the status- I believe it is primarily our challenges that come with it. The achieve the business bottom-line quo. You have to be very curious, mindset and myopic aspirations telecommunications and digital whilst finding the time and the have a critical eye on things and for the continent. Most of the technology industry moves and financial investment to ensure be able to unlearn and re-learn African countries are yet to changes all the time and at a very employee engagement and make constantly to do better. realise that our potential can fast pace. Therefore decisiveness, employees happier at work. This flexibility, excellence in execution is something I always try to keep and speed are critical in my job, in mind and reiterate in my role. in order to stay ahead of the “Over the years, I have noticed and learned that game. Because of these evolutions What is your biggest regret performance is a relative notion. The main factor for true and changes in the industry, I to date? success is to never be satisfied with the status-quo.” also often have the feeling that I I would not describe any of my am working every year in a new experiences or decisions as company as I constantly evolve regrets. Sometimes we win and my mindset by unlearning and sometimes we do not. I think If you had to work in a only translate to value if we are re-learning new ways of working. what is important and most different industry, what able to transform them into A second thing that I find really valuable in both scenarios is would it be? concrete beneficial actions. We interesting in my job is coaching the learnings I take away from I have worked so far in FMCG are potentially rich; but only and working with people to make them. Every experience is a new and the telecommunications potentially until we work it and them grow – I would say I have learning curve and regrets can industries. I really enjoyed translate it into infrastructure working in both these industries and platforms that will enhance as the learnings I have made communal wealth and progress. are invaluable. As I said before, I There is still a lot of awareness “A lot of people have had an impact on my career – at never have two days the same! If to be raised on this. different stages and in different ways.” I had to change, I think I would perhaps try the supply chain or Which rival do you most the logistics industries. Other admire and why? interesting ones would also be I don’t think there is one I can mining or the renewable -energy specifically name – I respect all of a collaborative leadership style. only come when we lose without related industries. There is a lot them, for different reasons, and This is because I have learnt taking lessons from it! If I lose going on in these areas. that makes me eager to continue that when trust in leadership from one decision I make, I to learn from them and to grow exists, it brings out individual try to understand why as to do What is the biggest challenge in my role and as a person. responsibility and accountability things differently. the industry faces at the in every team member. moment? What do you want to do when What would you say is Speed. Although we cannot deny you retire? Who has been your biggest the best technological that the speed of technological Spend a lot of time with my inspiration? advancement in your lifetime? evolution is bringing positive family whilst further exploring A lot of people have had an With the rapid advancement advancement in all areas my passion for farming. I want impact on my career – at across all industries resulting different stages and in different from technology, I would ways. I would say however, that say the best technological “What I am looking forward to the most is seeing these my greatest inspiration so far advancement of my lifetime was my CEO, during my first is yet to come. There is no technological advancements in medicine: that will help telecommunications experience doubt that we are making further cure cancer or neurological conditions.” some years back. Although he great progress in all industries, had an academic background thanks to technology and I look in engineering, he was very forward to seeing where this comfortable in holding in-depth will lead us to. Perhaps what I of business, it also brings also to keep mentoring the conversations across various am looking forward to the most its challenges. Finding the new and future generations to business areas. Moreover, his is seeing these technological right balance between what help them maximise their true leadership style was very open advancements in medicine: that technology offers and the time potential and have a greater and and authentic and one of my will help further cure cancer or required to benefit from an better impact in their society. n greatest learnings from him is neurological conditions such as that pressure should never be autism for example.

34 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2019

SAWC 1912 p34 (Q&A).indd 34 01/11/2019 17:58 NEWS

4 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS January/February 2019

SAWC 1912 p35 (Jola).indd 4 04/11/2019 15:21 NEWS

4 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS January/February 2019

SAWC 1912 p36 (Eshailsat).indd 4 04/11/2019 11:55