Samena Trends Exclusively for Samena Telecommunications Council's Members Building Digital Economies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Volume 06 _ Issue 03 _ March 2015 SAMENA TRENDS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SAMENA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL'S MEMBERS BUILDING DIGITAL ECONOMIES A SAMENA Telecommunications Council Newsletter Articles Seven Best Practices for Enhancing Data Roaming... Page 51 M-money Service Providers should... Page 58 Joining MENA’s SME Digirati Page 65 The Revolution of Sports Mobile Apps Page 67 Exclusive Interview Dr. Syed Ismail Shah Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Page 04 International roaming regulations: Where does the SAMENA region stands? www.samenacouncil.org SAMENA CONTENTS VOLUME _ 06 _ISSUE _ 03_March_2015 TRENDS REGIONAL & MEMBERS The SAMENA TRENDS newsletter is UPDATES wholly owned and operated by The 09. Members News SAMENA Telecommunications Council FZ, LLC (SAMENA). Information in the 17. Regional News newsletter is not intended as professional services advice, and SAMENA Council disclaims any liability for use of specific 22. Celebrations of the International Girls information or results thereof. Articles in ICT Day and information contained in this publication are the copyright of SAMENA REGULATORY & POLICY Telecommunications Council, (unless otherwise noted, described or stated) UPDATES and cannot be reproduced, copied or 25. Regulatory News printed in any form without the express written permission of the publisher. 30. A Snapshot of Regulatory Activities in SAMENA Region The SAMENA Council does not necessar- ily endorse, support, sanction, encour- 38. Regulatory Activities Beyond the age, verify or agree with the content, SAMENA Region comments, opinions or statements made in The SAMENA TRENDS by any entity or entities. Information, products and 51. Seven Best Practices for Enhancing services offered, sold or placed in the Data Roaming in the Middle East and newsletter by other than The SAMENA Africa Council belong to the respective entity or entities and are not representative EDITORIAL of The SAMENA Council. The SAMENA WHOLESALE UPDATES Council hereby expressly disclaims any 03. 53. Wholesale News and all warranties, expressed and im- plied, including but not limited to any 58. M-money Service Providers should warranties of accuracy, reliability, mer- Encourage... chantability or fitness for a particular purpose by any entity or entities offer- ing information, products and services in REGIONAL TECHNOLOGY UPDATES this newsletter. The user agrees that The 60. Technology News SAMENA Council is not responsible, and shall have no liability to such user, with PERFORMANCE 65. Joining MENA’s SME Digirati respect to any information, product or service offered by any entity or entities SAMENA Region: 67. The revolution of Sports Mobile Apps in this newsletter. The SAMENA Coun- 07. cil’s only liability in the event of errors Number of 3G Networks shall be the correction or removal of the Per Country 68. Reducing e-Friction for Business and erroneous information after verification. Economic Success SATELLITE UPDATES 70. Satellite News Editor-in-Chief Bocar A. BA Contributing Editors Awais Amjad Javaid Akhtar Malik Zakir Syed Contributing Member Analysys Mason ICANN Syniverse Tawasol IT Vodafone Qatar Publisher SAMENA Telecommunications Council 04. 75. Subscriptions [email protected] EXCLUSIVE SAMENA COUNCIL Advertising [email protected] INTERVIEW ACTIVITY Legal Issues or Concerns [email protected] Dr. Syed Ismail Shah Beyond Connectivity 2015 Chairman SAMENA TRENDS Pakistan Telecommunication Authority [email protected] Tel: +971.4.364.2700 © 2015 - All rights reserved. SAMENA TRENDS is a trademark of SAMENA Telecommunications Council. EDITORIAL SAMENA TRENDS _ MAR_2015 International roaming regulations: Where does the SAMENA region stands? International roaming, a hot issue experience offered to the end users, and for operators and regulators in the at the same time also notably surging the SAMENA region and beyond is catching intricacy of implementing and managing attention with the growing competition a stout roaming services in multi- induced by the evolving landscape of technology environment. the telecommunications industry on multiple fronts. Keeping in view the International data roaming and its industry trends over the past few years associated costs are of prime importance in view, international roaming rates and with the evolution of the next generation mobile termination rates have finally mobile technology that promises the begun to drop as a result services such availability of broadband access and as unified roaming rates and the growing anywhere. Also, it is encouraging to see competition. As mobile operators search unified roaming plans in the region with for new revenue streams, attention the indication that the industry is on track is turning to increasing usage of to address the significance of international international roaming services. roaming rates. SAMENA region is set to become an important hotspot in terms of Regional markets have shown great international roaming revenues for mobile interest towards international roaming. operators within the next few years. It is encouraging to see unified roaming This trend appears to be driven mainly plans in the region with the indication by the strong growth in the region’s that the industry is on track to address subscriber base and increased inbound the significance of international roaming and outbound travel between Europe and rates, but still there is a need for different countries of the regions and also lowering international roaming rates in within MENA countries. the SAMENA region - much in the way the other regions such as EU has. The international mobile roaming market is at an important point in its development, with a number of operational, technological, strategic and regulatory forces re-shaping a market that is made even more dynamic by changing end-user behavior. Telcos, therefore, have a great opportunity to capitalize on these changes and maneuver in the right way to be able to remain competitive. With the arrival of next generation mobile broadband technologies (such as LTE) comes a new technology standard that both produces new means for telcos in terms of quality of Yours truly, Bocar A. BA Chief Executive Officer SAMENA Telecommunications Council page_3 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SAMENA TRENDS _ MAR_2015 Dr. S. Ismail Shah ranks among Asia’s Q. How can most renowned telecom professionals, regulators help to with expertise and experience spanning 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G technologies. With minimize investment Dr. Syed Ismail Shah an extensive background in technology risks while guaranteeing a Chairman implementation and telecommunications healthy competition and policy-making and regulation, Dr. Shah Pakistan Telecommunication is serving as the Chairman of Pakistan open market choices? Authority Telecommunication Authority (PTA) since How has been the role of 2013, and has led some of the most PTA in this respect? high-profile undertakings in Pakistan’s A. We believe, regulators telecommunications industry, which has have a very challenging role a worth of more than US$ 21 Billion. to play: We have to protect our citizens’ interests, provide incentives to the industry, attend to national-level needs and issues, create and sustain investor confidence and remain mindful of future needs of the consumers and the industry. As a regulator, we are trying our best and have succeeded on many of these accounts primarily by being open to market dynamics and by exercising a culture of understanding, inclusion, and by encouraging transparent communications of needs and making terms and conditions of operating predictable. All this has been reflected, for the most part, in the creation of an page_4 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SAMENA TRENDS _ MAR_2015 investment friendly environment We need a better understanding The new wave of next-generation within our telecoms industry, and via of the requirements posed by the devices, platforms, and digital the existence of healthy competition emerging OTT play in relation applications will indeed enable and within the market. to our existing licensed telecom drive digitization at a much greater operators. The role of regulator scale, and it is due to this belief that Pakistan has some of the world’s should be that of an enabler and we are now seeing more industry- largest and most active telecom facilitator. The regulator should let wide discussions on the Internet-of- players, such as Etisalat Group, the technologies develop, help in Things (or Internet-of-Everything) Telenor Group, China Mobile, developing partnerships between worldwide. Digitization is a reality, Vimpelcom, Abu Dhabi Group, Ooredoo Group, and Omantel, among others, operating their networks in Pakistan, which is among the largest and the most active ICT markets in the world. PTA has been able to provide recognizably good regulatory conditions for the markets players to make the most of their investments. We are aware of the fact that much still needs to be done, and more measureable ICT policies have to be put in place. We are active on the future front. Pakistan’s recent recognition at the GSMA and also by other international organizations for having placed ICTs in general and broadband in particular at the top of the government agenda also demonstrates the scale at which both investment and innovation take a center stage in our mind. Q. How should the the content players or alternative and we would like to see everyone service providers and existing contributing to its development and regulatory approach evolve network owners.