Northern African Volume 14 Number 2

APRIL/MAY 2015 northern african Volume 14 Number 2

Forwireless comms professionals in north, west, east & central Africa COMMUNICATIONS

● Towers for sale – Africa’s changing landscape ● Is ﬁ bre now best for backhaul? ● How business partnerships are essential for boosting connectivity wirelessnorthern african CONTENTS COMMUNICATIONS

APRIL/MAY 2015 northern african Volume 14 5 News review Number 2 APRIL/ 5 News

Forwireless comms professionals in north, west, east & central Africa COMMUNICATIONS MAY 2015 > Kenya rivals race to upgrade networks ● Towers for sale – Africa’s > Nigeria threatens prison for failing MNOs changing landscape ● Is fi bre now best for backhaul? ● How business partnerships are Volume 14 essential for boosting connectivity > Third Global Xpress satellite at launch site Number 2 > Etisalat plans to be fi rst to launch 5G > “Massive” IP centre created in Mediterranean > Mobilink completes Single RAN project > WIOCC brings high speed to Somalia 16 Wireless solutions > Peering is crucial for closing digital divide > Subsea cable to link Algeria and Spain The future is coming! Gilat Satcom is a leading communication solutions provider that offers advanced 13 Wireless business and affordable satellite and fi ber-based > Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent to merge connectivity solutions in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We continue to play a 16 Wireless solutions major role in today’s economic growth and > Newtec gateway increases DTH availability communication expansion in Africa as we have been doing for the past 20 years. Features: Working with government entities at the highest echelons, we are able to provide our services and solutions for benefi t 20 Telecom towers > Under pressure to save costs, MNOs are of citizens across the continent. We 20 Towers provide our partners with the resources selling their towers, says ABDUL MONTAQIM. and support to make their customers’ communication dreams come true. 25 Backhaul > RAHIEL NASIR wonders whether fi bre now Delivering world-class connectivity solutions offers the best solution for mobile backhaul. to NGOs, government entities and many other enterprises large and small, we 28 Industry view bring “Hopertunity” to urban and remote > The rise of PCCW Global in Africa, by 25 Backhaul communities and support development and EMMANUEL BAIN. economic growth in Africa. 30 World news We are constantly evaluating and improving our satcom and fi ber networks and introduce 30 World news new and innovative ways to make the > Saudi Arabia largest telecoms market in MEA internet more available and more affordable > Vodafone celebrates 30 years to all while enhancing the quality of service. > Eutelsat HTS supports in-fl ight Wi-Fi > Largest DMR Tier 3 system in US Gilat Satcom is tuned to its customers’ and > Tuvalu selects ABS for high-speed internet partner’s needs and wishes. We strongly believe that by investing in their growth SUBSCRIPTIONS: of control can purchase an annual and fi nancial strength we are building the way to our success. Northern African Wireless Communications is subscription at the cost of £110. a controlled circulation bi-monthly magazine. For more information and general enquiries From idea to design, to development, Register now for your free subscription at please contact Suzanne Thomas at implementation and operation, Gilat www.kadiumpublishing.com [email protected] Satcom is dedicated to a connected Africa. Readers who do not qualify under the terms or call +44 (0) 1932 886 537.

The future is coming… get connected. EDITORIAL: ADVERTISEMENT SALES: Editorial director: Rahiel Nasir Sales apprentice: Laura Cooley [email protected] | www.gilat.net Staff writer: Abdul Montaqim [email protected] Designer: Alan McClenaghan Turn to page 24 to ﬁ nd out more about Gilat Satcom Contributors: Emmanuel Bain Production & circulation: Production: Suzanne Thomas [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 1932 886537 Editorial enquiries: Fax: +44 (0) 1932 886539 Tel: +44 (0) 1932 886537 Fax: +44 (0) 1932 886539 Publishing director: Kathy Moynihan [email protected] +44 (0) 1932 886537

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NEWS

Safaricom upgrades network as rivals prepare to launch LTE Airtel has been given the go-ahead have been authorised to carry out The two firms say the measures are Ericsson MD to launch its 4G network by the tests on the spectrum they are already part of a five-year evolution strategy. The Robert Rudin Communications Authority of using,” said CAK director-general Wi-Fi solution will include Ericsson’s says Safaricom’s Kenya (CAK). The cellco has already Francis Wangusi. access points and network management network will be upgraded its 3G network in Nairobi, Both operators are now hoping software. It will complement the data upgraded to all-IP Mombasa and Kitali as part of a to catch up with Safaricom which services provided by Safaricom’s existing transmission. USD26m plan to prepare for LTE. claimed a first in sub-Saharan 3G network and aims to ease the load “The network upgrade in Nairobi Africa when it launched LTE-A last on the 3G resources through traffic has started in order to allow customers December (News, Dec 2014-Jan 2015). offload to Wi-Fi in selected areas. to continue accessing uninterrupted In separate news, Safaricom has Ericsson adds that its Broadband In May, Safaricom launched quality of service,” says Airtel Kenya signed a multi-year deal with Ericsson Network Gateway, which is based BigBox, a DVB-2 set top box that will CEO Adil el Youssefi. “The network to upgrade its network to enable on SSR 8010, will be deployed by enable subscribers to leverage the upgrade also makes Airtel Kenya’s enhanced broadband services the service provider as the first operator’s 3G and growing 4G data network 4G LTE ready.” The Swedish vendor will install aggregation point in the Carrier network to access content. The authority has also given Wi-Fi technology on the operator’s Grade Wi-Fi network. It will offer several TV channels permission to Orange Kenya to network for the first time and upgrade Robert Rudin, country manager, in high-definition format, as well launch 4G trials on it networks, its previously deployed MINI-LINK Ericsson Kenya, says: “Our leading as allow users to watch content on which almost certainly means it will microwave transmission network. It mobile broadband, Wi-Fi and IP demand via online video services be allowed to launch the technology will also implement its IP products solutions will enable Safaricom to such as YouTube. Safaricom says on a commercial basis. to enable Safaricom to migrate to an enhance their mobile broadband the device can also serve as a Wi-Fi “So far, all the NFP Tier 1 licensees all-IP transmission network. services cost-effectively and quickly.” hotspot for up to ten users. Nigeria threatens prosecutions for mobile operators Nigeria has become the latest country left the government with no choice but CPC director general losing money, or at least not getting to threaten mobile operators with to impose harsh measures. Dupe Atoki says good value for money. imprisonment if they fail to deliver “In order to enforce consumer rights Nigeria has no For instance in Zambia, Airtel, quality services to customers. and ensure compliance with CPC’s en- choice but to MTN and Zamtel have been taken Dupe Atoki, director general abling law, CPC has adopted a strategy prosecute failing to court by the authorities for failing of Nigeria’s Consumer Protection of criminal prosecution of recalcitrant mobile operators. to meet minimum standards. And Council (CPC), says mobile users are businesses or litigations to achieve in Tanzania, operators face fines of having to deal with dropped calls, satisfactory redress,” says Atoki. subscribers, and now joins other up to USD3,000 as well as prison unsolicited texts and calls, and the Nigeria is the continent’s largest African nations in deciding to impose sentences of a minimum of six disappearance of their credit. She market for mobile voice and data prison sentences in an effort to months for poor quality of service says such poor quality of service has services, with some 142 million improve services and stop subscribers without adequate explanation. Third Global Xpress satellite arrives at launch site Inmarsat’s satellite has arrived to offer “seamless” global coverage. I-5 F3 Inmarsat I-5 F3 is off-loaded at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in CTO Michele Franci says the project from an Antonov AN-124 heavy Kazakhstan, ready for launch later in represents a major commitment for transporter plane at the Baikonur May. This will be the third satellite from his firm: “Its successful completion Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. the company that will support its much and the start of global commercial anticipated Global Xpress (GX) service. services later this year will bring Inmarsat is investing USD1.6bn in to life the prospect of the ‘Internet the development and delivery of GX, of Everywhere’. For the first time, which it describes as the world’s first we will be able to deliver seamless, globally available mobile broadband superfast broadband communications service. It has been designed to across the globe – on land, sea and in deliver broadband speeds up to the air – from one single operator.” 100 times faster than the firm’s I-4 Each satellite in the initial GX fleet constellation. has 89 beams and six steerable high- Inmarsat’s first GX satellite, I-5 F1, power spot beams for multi-regional was launched in December 2013 and East, Asia and Europe. I-5 F2 was Americas and the Atlantic Ocean. coverage. Inmarsat adds that the new entered regional commercial service in launched at the start of February 2015 When combined with I-5 F1 and I-5 GX network will complement its July 2014, covering Africa, the Middle and will provide GX services over the F2, Inmarsat says I-5 F3 will enable it existing fleet of L-band satellites.

April/May 2015 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 5 Register to receive your free copy of this & other business magazines: NEWS www.kadiumpublishing.com

Etisalat plans to be the region’s ﬁ rst operator to launch 5G Etisalat Group and Ericsson will Etisalat Group CTO 450Mbps. This can be achieved using regardless of whether their devices exchange knowledge and share their Hatem Bamatraf License Assisted Access (LAA), are using licensed cellular or Wi-Fi. solutions to develop 5G. believes partnership an LTE-A feature that leverages According to Etisalat, LAA Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat has is essential to the 5GHz unlicensed band in “spearheads” the journey to 5G. extensive operations in African bringing 5G to combination with licensed spectrum The group’s CTO, Hatem Bamatraf, countries, including Tanzania the market. to deliver a performance boost for adds: “Partnership is essential to (Zantel), Sudan (Canar), Egypt, mobile users, especially indoors. bringing 5G to the market. Through Nigeria, amongst others. The 115Gbps data transmission capability As well as enabling carrier our collaboration with Ericsson, we operator plans to be the first in the as part of the development of fifth aggregation of licensed and hope to gain a deeper understanding region to roll out 5G in the coming generation mobile technology. unlicensed bands, LAA optimises of the full potential of 5G, and years. In tests carried out in 2014, it It will also work with Ericsson wireless network resources and subsequently accelerate the transition claims it has already demonstrated to develop LTE’s potential speed of improves app coverage for all users, to a networked society.” ‘Massive IP gravitational centre’ created Mobilink in the middle of the Mediterranean completes TI Sparkle has teamed up with DE- the world, including its flagship the Mediterranean,” says TI Sparkle CIX to establish an internet exchange facility in Frankfurt. It will set CEO Alessandro Talotta. “We will (IX) as a key landing site for online up an IX at the Sicily Hub using be able to better serve ISPs in the Single RAN traffic to and from Africa, the Middle its APOLLON platform which is area, including Africa and the Middle East and the Mediterranean region. claimed to provide “unmatched” East, by bringing worldwide content project TI Sparkle is Telecom Italia Group’s scalability and performance. directly to their doorsteps.” international services division The new exchange is designed DE-CIX president Harald Summa Egyptian cellco Mobinil and Huawei and runs the ‘Sicily Hub’, a next- to allow carriers that land their adds that there is an intense need have now successfully completed generation data centre in Palermo. IP backbones in Sicily to directly in the region to bring content closer the implementation of a Single The company says its facility is interconnect with each other and to to the end users: “The powerful RAN project. Mobinil began located closer to North Africa, the other providers that have a presence combination of Sicily Hub and implementing the system in 2011 Mediterranean and the Middle East in the hub. According to TI Sparkle, DE-CIX’s APOLLON platform will in an effort to pave the way for than any other European peering point. these other providers include some support internet growth in this region better coverage and services, and It is also connected to all cable landing of the world’s most well-known and so that end users will have a better facilitate 3G technologies which it stations in Sicily and served by Seabone, largest content providers. internet experience, better security, first launched in 2008. TI Sparkle’s Tier 1 IP transit service. “Our partnership with DE-CIX and a lower risk of network outages.” The operator says its move DE-CIX provides IX services to and their new IX node in our Sicily TI Sparkle says its partnership with to Single RAN has resulted in a all kinds of networks and operates Hub is the most important milestone DE-CIX is the first step towards a better customer experience mainly numerous carrier- and data centre- in the creation of a massive IP wider collaboration that will extend to through improved voice quality and neutral internet exchanges around gravitational centre in the middle of other locations in the Mediterranean. reductions in dropped and blocked call rates. In terms of the infrastructure upgrade, Mobinil says it Kenya agrees Microsoft tech support deal has introduced “state-of-the-art” technology in its core switching Microsoft will offer support in Kenya’s ICT “By collaborating with partners to provide the best voice quality. providing a platform that will enable minister Joseph such as Microsoft, we are intent to It adds that the new technology is ICT skills training for 300,000 Tiampati says fast-track the development of local also more energy efficient. teachers in Kenya. the MoU with ICT skills, empowering working “The comprehensive Single RAN As part of an MoU signed with the Microsoft ﬁ ts in professionals, providing access to is considered an advanced solution country’s ICT Authority, the areas with the country’s broadband and promoting small-to- ahead of the industry and away from of training could include proficiency ICT Masterplan. medium enterprises in Kenya.” voice services and SMS and supply in Microsoft Technologies, Microsoft The main areas of collaboration lines services,” says Huawei account Teach with Technology courseware, knowledge economy. “Building local outlined in the MoU include: director for Egypt carrier network, and accreditation as Microsoft ICT capacity forms an important part integrating ICT in teaching and Bob Zhao. “It also puts the industry Certified Educators. of our Kenya Vision 2030 and shift learning; developing world-class skills into a new era of data diversity and Kenya’s ICT minister Joseph from a labour-based to a middle- and placing working professionals vertical flow of market returns.” Tiampati says the agreement with the income, knowledge economy. The in jobs; bringing SMEs online and Mobinil is part of the Egyptian software giant supports the country’s ICT Masterplan also recognises that encouraging innovation; providing Company for Mobile Services ICT Masterplan, and fits in with the to be a leader in ICT we need to up reliable, accessible and affordable which is majority-owned and fully state’s priorities to grow the local the skills of our workforce. devices; and broadband. consolidated by Orange.

6 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015

Liquid Telecom deploys VSATs for KCB branches in South Sudan Liquid Telecom Kenya has expanded last 10 years, but this extended part- as many have had to spend extra 2015. During the implementation, its partnership with KCB, the biggest nership comes as part of the bank’s to set up ATMs and internal Liquid said it was making at least two banking network in East Africa, investments that aim to bring services connections. VSAT services are bank installations per week. and has now connected all its 24 closer to all of its customers. closing this gap by providing quality According to EY Global’s branches in South Sudan via VSAT. Liquid Telecom Kenya CEO Ben uninterrupted service,” says Roberts. 2014 consumer banking survey, Staff at each branch can access Roberts believes VSAT services are After extensive pre-planning and convenience and accessibility are key the global internet using satellite playing a key role in East Africa, with coordination to ensure a smooth and factors in retaining customers in the communication, enabling faster and the provision of seamless connectivity swift roll out in South Sudan, Liquid banking sector. It indicated that 28 more efficient banking services. within the banks. “Limited ICT started its project with KCB at the per cent now choose their banks due Liquid has been providing connec- infrastructure has hampered regional beginning of December 2014 and to the availability of easy access to tivity services to KCB in Kenya for the banking institutions and businesses, completed it by the end of January branches and banking facilities. M-PESA users are switched Nexmo provides Mobilis to new Huawei platform with mobile ID services

Safaricom is now using Huawei’s applications and services, and real-time Nexmo, which specialises in Sid Ahmed Zaidi Mobile Money Platform. In early May, system monitoring. The vendor adds providing application program of Mobilis says the Kenyan operator announced that its system’s security measures interfaces (APIs) for cloud Nexmo will that all 12.8 million active M-PESA “mirror the financial services communication, has signed a bring advanced subscribers had been migrated to the industry best-practice standards”. deal with Mobilis, Algeria’s first communication new system overnight. Huawei says it built its Mobile Money independent mobile operator and a tools to the telco’s Huawei says its platform will Platform to deliver basic banking subsidiary of Algeria Telecom. growing network. help Safaricom to rapidly enhance transactions in developing countries. It The agreement will see Nexmo functionality for M-PESA users. says the technology is not restricted to provide Mobilis with, among other highest level of service our customers Among the benefits it offers are: particular handset types, working on things, online security solutions. have come to expect.” improved availability for subscribers both smartphones and feature phones, Sid Ahmed Zaidi, business David Vigar, Nexmo’s director and agents to execute transactions; and that this has been key to its success development and international of carrier relations, says the deal faster query resolution time through in developing markets. roaming deputy director for Mobilis, with Mobilis marks an important a Kenya-based support team; faster M-PESA was created by Vodafone says Nexmo will bring “advanced” milestone for Nexmo. “Through transaction processing for subscribers; which owns 40 per cent of Safaricom. communication tools to a growing our partnership with Mobilis, we and enhanced call centre integration, Huawei says that from a business network of 15m subscribers. will continue to pioneer how people ensuring customer experience is of a investment and technical perspective, “As application-to-person traffic receive information on their mobile consistently high quality. it has been closely engaged with continues to grow at substantial devices while empowering businesses The platform also features an open Vodafone since 2012 to develop the rates in Algeria, we knew we had to to tap into one of the fastest growing API for the integration of third-party mobile financial service. partner with Nexmo to provide the mobile populations in Africa.” Satellite-based system aids navigation Avanti Communications will support Madagascar, amongst others. cent of global air traffic. However, air a satellite-based augmentation The project will use the L1 accidents in Africa account for roughly system (SBAS) as part of a crucial transponder on Avanti’s Artemis 20 per cent of the global total. air navigation project in Africa. satellite to provide a navigation By demonstrating potential SBAS-AFRICA will be used for data broadcast service. Artemis was improvements in flight safety via SBAS GNSS (global navigation satellite previously owned by the European technologies, the project is also expected system) operations serving significant Space Agency before it was taken provide socio-economic benefits parts of the continent. It is being over by Avanti early last year. It orbits According to one EU-backed study, developed in partnership with a at 21.5°E covering Europe, Africa the potential economic benefit to Artemis orbits at 21.5°E and features number of local stakeholders such and the Middle East with a payload African aviation from the deployment of Ka-, S- and L-band transponders. as the South African Air Traffic of Ka-, S- and L-band transponders. SBAS services amounted to EUR1.7bn, and Navigation Services Company, According to the Flight Safety achievable through the reduction of traditional navigational aids. South African Space Agency, Ghana Foundation, although around 67 million of ‘Controlled Flight into Terrain’ As with the iKnowledge project in Council for Scientific and Industrial people fly each year on 762,000 flights occurrences, improvement of ADS-B Tanzania (see p5), Avanti was awarded Research, the Agency for Aerial that connect to Africa’s 371 commercial (automatic dependent surveillance – the contract for SBAS-AFRICA by Navigation Safety in Africa and airports, the continent has just three per broadcast) technology, and phasing out the UK Space Agency.

8 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015 NEWS

WIOCC connects Somalia to world of fast internet for the ﬁ rst time WIOCC says it has “fundamentally Mogadishu. It took six years of work. availability, affordability and reliability digital lessons, and improved public changed” the international connec- Latency reductions of up to 80 per of consumer mobile broadband access to e-government services. tivity landscape in Somalia with the cent at launch have had an impact on have led to growth in mobile and WIOCC uses more than 55,000km landing of a high capacity fibre cable users. WIOCC says people have been social media network subscriptions. of terrestrial fibre and 40,000km of system that provides a vital platform flocking to hotels and internet cafés Other areas to benefit include submarine cable to offer connectivity for sustainable economic growth. to experience a fast service for the education, where classrooms are being to more than 500 locations across 30 Somalia had lacked direct fibre first time. It adds that the improved supplemented by online libraries and countries on the continent. optic connectivity. The only way the country’s 10 million inhabitants could access the internet was via “expensive, inflexible and capacity-restricted” satellite links, says WIOCC. But in 2014, and working in partnership with local partner Dalkom Somalia, WIOCC landed the >10Tbps capacity EASsy (Eastern Africa Submarine cable system) cable in Somalia and linked it to a purpose- built landing station and data centre in Rwanda to collect tax by mobile The MTN Mobile Money platform is to be used for tax collection by the Rwandan Revenue Authority (RRA). MTN claims it m-money service has been hugely successful as a banking platform, enabling people to make transfers, pay bills and other conventional banking transaction on their mobile phones. Now, as a result of a deal between the RRA and MTN Rwanda, a new function has been added, “making tax payment easy”, according to the RRA. Ebenezer Asante, CEO of MTN Rwanda, says: “This move is aimed at further easing up the process and cost of doing business. It will also rank Rwanda as the first of its kind in Africa in doing business, hence a boost for Rwanda in terms of ICT development.” According to the RRA, the initiative is a step forward from its earlier introduction of a “mobile declaration system”, commonly known as ‘M-declaration’. The authority says M-declaration has been successful, partly because it has reduced the number of taxpayers that need to call in and visit its offices to make enquiries.

April/May 2015 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 9 NEWS

April/May 2015 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 9 Register to receive your free copy of this & other business magazines: NEWS www.kadiumpublishing.com

iSAT books AREWA24 launches Hausa AFRICASAT-1a UAE-based fixed-satellite services on Eutelsat 16A and ICT solutions and services provider iSAT Africa AREWA24 will use satellite capacity Amman-based Jordan Media City. has taken space on MEASAT’s from Eutelsat to broadcast what’s Launched in June 2014, AREWA24 AFRICASAT-1a satellite. The claimed to be the first 24-hour free- is said to be the largest producer of orig- company says it will use the capacity to-air Hausa language entertainment inal, high-quality television program- for the new managed services and lifestyle channel. ming in Hausa, the most commonly platform it launched in March. The Under a multi-year deal, the broad- spoken language in Nigeria and West platform utilises the latest DVB- caster will leverage Ku-band capacity AREWA24 installers ready to point Africa. The channel’s line-up covers S2x broadcasting standard. When on EUTELSAT 16A as it move towards customer dishes to EUTELSAT 16A. music, entertainment, lifestyle, business, combined with AFRICASAT-1a’s a new, higher quality of service to en- employment, arts, sports, chat shows, beams, iSAT says it delivers “a hance its position as northern Nigeria’s including Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, children’s programmes, ‘Kannywood’ higher spectral efficiency”. iSAT premiere Hausa language channel. Ghana and Cameroon. films and original dramas. Africa MD Rakesh Kukreja adds Eutelsat says its satellite’s “powerful” AREWA24 will upgrade perfor- Viewers will also be able to access a that his company was attracted by footprint enables AREWA24 to extend mance on EUTELSAT 16A while variety of popular free-to-air channels AFRICASAT-1a’s “high bandwidth its reach to Hausa-speaking communi- continuing play-out and other chan- available from EUTELSAT 16A’s video efficiency across the continent”. ties throughout Nigeria and the region, nel services with its teleport partner, neighbourhood. John Deere BSO broadens global footprint into Africa BSO Network Solutions, the global The BSO network now includes Network (RJCN); and Asia Europe picks Q-KON Ethernet network, cloud and hosting the following intra-region subsea Express (AEE) terrestrial. provider, is to further expand its cable connections: Unity; Pacific- In Europe, it uses the Hawk subma- Integrated access services worldwide network footprint after Crossing 1; FLAG Europe-Asia rine cable, which has connections in provider Q-KON has been recently increasing its capacity to (FEA); SEACOM/Tata TGN-EA; France, Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Turkey, selected by agricultural machinery Africa, Russia, the Middle East and Europe India Gateway (EIG); TE Cyprus, Syria and Egypt. For Asia, it manufacturer John Deere to provide East Asia. North/TGN-Eurasia/SEACOM; has the following connections: APCN- VSAT connectivity in Ghana. Q-KON The firm will now be offering more FALCON; SEA-ME-WE 3; SEA- 2; EAC-C2C; South-East Asia Japan has agreed to provide its C-band high-speed access to new routes that ME-WE-4; Europe-Russia-Asia Cable (SJC); and Asia Submarine- Satellite Access service for voice, will enable carriers and end-users to (ERA) terrestrial and Hokkaido- cable Express (ASE). internet connectivity and VPN to connect faster to the Asian, Indian and Sakhalin Cable System (HSCS); BSO says that alongside the the John Deere branch in Ghana. Middle Eastern regions, where it claims Transit Europe-Asia (TEA) expansion of its routes, it has reached Q-KON claims it can provide its new to be the leading connectivity company. terrestrial and Russia-Japan Cable a total of 70 POPs on-net, worldwide. client with the “perfect solution” between the high-capacity advantages of fibre access services and the “exceptional” reliability offered Subsea cable to link Algeria with Spain by satellite access services. Infrastructure company Alcatel- Philippe Dumont of responsible for marine operations. Lucent has signed a deal with the Alcatel-Lucent says Abdelhak Benkrid, general secretary Algerian Ministry of Post, Information the Orval submarine of the MPITC, says: “Broadband Technology and Communications cable system access is a fundamental contributor Express-AM6 (MPITC) to build a 560km fibre optic will strengthen to both businesses and consumers. undersea cable that will link Oran in connectivity “The Orval network represents a now live Algeria to Valencia in Spain. around the strategic technology investment that The cable system has been given Mediterranean. will strengthen access to high-quality Russian Satellite Communica- the name ‘Orval’, and is expected to network services. Based on Alcatel- tions Company’s Express-AM6 be completed in 2016. When fully and strengthen overall connectivity in Lucent’s technology and expertise, is now ready for service. On operational, the system will deliver the Mediterranean. Orval will give us an edge to continue 22 April, the company said it had 100Gbps but has an ultimate design “As we enter in an upward cycle developing our service offer to and to an commissioned its new heavy-class capacity of 20Tbps. of submarine cables constructions, increasing number of broadband users.” communications and broadcasting This projected speed and capacity this new project highlights the Orval also constitutes part of satellite to provide coverage over will enable the delivery of broadband continued need for higher capacity Organisation de la Réponse de Russia, Europe, the Middle East, services to an estimated 42 million and connectivity that is critical for SÉcurité Civile (Orsec) emergency Africa, and Asia. It was launched to internet users in Algeria and Spain, broadband expansion.” plan in case of natural disasters, 53ºE last October, and has a payload says Alcatel-Lucent. Alcatel-Lucent will be lead such as the earthquake in 2003. of 72 transponders in C-, Ku-, Ka- Philippe Dumont, president of contractor in charge of designing and The country decided it needed and L-bands. RSCC now has 11 Alcatel-Lucent submarine networks, manufacturing the system in consortium to strengthen its international satellites in its fleet, and also plans says: “The Orval undersea cable system with IT Marine, a software design and communications, which forms a to launch two more later this year. will help meet the broadband demand development company, which will be key element of Orsec.

10 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015 NEWS

Teraco CEO Lex van Peering ‘fundamental’ in Wyk believes that keeping content local is essential to empowering closing the digital divide African business. NAPAfrica has warned that without As an example, he cites Skyband in According to van Wyk, keeping innovative approaches to bridging the Malawi which was routing content via content local is vital for the continent digital divide, Africa is unlikely to ever Europe and back again. The ISP was in terms of bridging the digital divide content more economically. While it have full access to critical information. able to cut its relatively high IP transit and empowering local businesses. may not solve the issue, NAPAfrica be- It says the continent has yet to fully costs through peering with NAPAfrica “If African countries started working lieves a progressive internet environment realise the benefits of peering which is and having multiple diverse paths together, we could grow the continent and concepts such as peering could currently under-utilised. between Malawi and Johannesburg. and provide better services and distribute close the gap significantly.” NAPAfrica claims to be Africa’s largest internet exchange point, and is based at Teraco’s carrier- and vendor-neutral data centre facility in Johannesburg. “There is significant proof that peering is not only fundamental, but also an essential part of any network landscape, particularly across borders,” says Teraco CEO Lex van Wyk.

SEACOM network is upgraded

SEACOM has completed an upgrade to its global IP and MPLS network. The firm claims it will offer “substantial advantages” to carriers and businesses looking to expand their communications infrastructure on carrier-class Ethernet, IP and MPLS platforms between Africa and the rest of the world. According to SEACOM, the upgraded backbone gives service providers and operators access to gigabit ports offering up to 100GbE at “affordable” prices, as well as the ability to dynamically turn up bandwidth on demand. In addition, the new network will extend the availability of native IPv6 services to all users, and provide translated IPv6-to-IPv4 services. “The deployment of our new service platform will enable SEACOM to provide a wider range of Ethernet- driven products and services,” said Mark Tinka, head of engineering. “It will also offer us improved levels of operational efficiency and scalability, ease of administration, and provide a growth path for the future. We will easily be able to scale our IP/ MPLS network up to multiple terabits of capacity and more, giving us plenty of headroom for growth.”

April/May 2015 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 11

WIRELESS BUSINESS

Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent to merge

Nokia plans to take over Alcatel- divisions. Their aim would be to of the fully diluted share capital of is “consistent” with Alcatel-Lucent’s Lucent in all-share transaction accelerate development of future the combined company, and Nokia 2015 Shift Plan commitments. that values the French company at technologies including 5G, IP, shareholders will own 66.5 per cent, In addition, the company expects EUR15.6bn (around USD16.6bn). SDN, cloud, the Internet of Things, assuming full acceptance of the to expand R&D employment with In mid-April, the two firms analytics, sensors and imaging. public exchange offer. the addition of several hundred announced an MoU under which Nokia Technologies will remain On the basis of the transaction new positions targeting recent Nokia will make an offer for all a separate entity with a focus on closing in 1H16, the corporation graduates with skills in future- of the equity securities issued by licensing and the incubation of will target around EUR900m oriented technologies, including Alcatel-Lucent. Directors from both new technologies. But Nokia has (USD986.7m) of “operating cost 5G. To ensure ongoing support for companies have approved the terms begun a strategic review of its synergies” to be achieved on a full- customers, activities for care services of the proposed deal which is expected HERE business, which specialises in year basis in 2019. These will include and pre- and post-sales are expected to close in the first half of 2016, mapping and location technologies, organisational streamlining, and the to continue as well. subject to customary conditions. and is considering its sell-off. rationalisation of regional and sales Nokia Corporation is expected The combined company will be Nokia Corporation will be organisations, overlapping products to have a strong balance sheet, with called Nokia Corporation. It will headquartered in Finland with and services, central functions, etc. combined net cash at 31 December include more than 40,000 R&D Risto Siilasmaa as chairman and Job losses have not as yet been 2014 of EUR7.4bn (USD8.1bn), employees from Alcatel-Lucent’s Rajeev Suri as CEO. Alcatel-Lucent announced. Nokia says it intends to assuming conversion of all Nokia Bell Labs and Nokia’s FutureWorks shareholders will own 33.5 per cent maintain employment in France that and Alcatel-Lucent convertible bonds.

Surﬂ ine to improve connectivity Kenya’s regulator and competition significant growth potential, and that in Ghana with USD15m backing authority forge greater links the company is also planning major Vantage Capital, Africa’s leading The Communications Authority of investment after it is awarded a 4G mezzanine debt provider, and Kenya (CAK) is aiming to strengthen license in Morocco. Deutsche Investitions-und its regulatory capabilities, especially However, when excluding the impact Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), in promoting competition and of the expansion, group revenues were are investing USD15m in Ghana’s efficient investment in the telecoms down 0.7 per cent in the quarter, with Surfline Communications. sector, with the signing of an MoU a 5.9 per cent annual growth among The funds will be used by the with the International Finance Director general Francis Wangusi said the operator’s international operations operator for the ongoing expansion Corporation (IFC). the IFC partnership is essential for partly offsetting the 3.1 per cent decline of its LTE network, as well as to The two organisations plan to create supporting the regulator’s work. in turnover in the group’s home market. enhance its product distribution a collaboration framework based on the Subscriber numbers rose 32 per and marketing capabilities. Since concurrent jurisdiction over competition plan, based on international practices cent to reach around 52m by the end launching its 4G network in Ghana matters between the CAK and the and the Kenya legal framework. of the quarter. Mobile subscribers last August, Surfline is said to be Competition Authority of Kenya. The Communications Authority’s in Morocco were down 0.9 per cent experiencing “tremendous growth” in They will develop a pro-competition director general Francis Wangusi YoY, falling from 18.32m to 18.16m. its customer base. framework for spectrum management said the partnership is essential for But 3G customers grew by 88.9 per Gunnar Stork, DEG’s director of in Kenya to increase economic enhancing the CAK’s execution of cent to 4.98m. equity and mezzanine for Africa and efficiency in spectrum usage, ensure its mandate. In the telco’s other markets, mobile Latin America, said: “We believe that a level playing field for investors, and customers in Mauritania grew 8.3 per the investment in Surfline will contribute facilitate the expansion of wireless New acquisitions boost bottom line cent annually to 2.01m; in Burkina to improve internet connectivity in communications. It’s hoped all this will for Maroc Telecom Faso, Onatel’s customers increased by Ghana and as such be an important ultimately support capacity building Maroc Telecom has reported a 10.2 22.7 per cent to 6.15m; while Gabon factor to bridge the digital divide.” on competition policy and regulation per cent increase in revenues for the Telecom saw a 12.1 per cent increase to DEG, together with four other in the communications sector. quarter ending 31 March 2015. 1.164 million. Declines were reported European investors, is contributing The agreement is part of the IFC’s Its earnings grew from MAD7.206bn in Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Central African around USD60m to Vantage’s recent- Kenya Regulatory Reform Programme (USD719.3m) to MAD7.942bn during Republic and Moov Gabon. ly launched third fund to facilitate that provides advisory services to help the period. The increases were due growth in Africa. Vantage invested strengthen the development of the to the consolidation of its recently ZTE partners with Mitsumi USD15m in Surfline from its second private sector in Kenya. acquired West African units in Benin, ZTE has chosen Mitsumi Distribution fund late last year. The corporation will provide Central African Republic, Côte as its distribution partner in Africa. Vantage Capital Group was estab- technical support on strengthening d’Ivoire, Gabon, Niger and Togo. With a network of more than lished in 2001 and currently manages collaboration between the two “This quarter was marked by 3,000 resellers, Mitsumi claims to funds of more than USD400m. authorities to safeguard and finalising the acquisition of six new be the continent’s largest distributor It has made 12 investments from its encourage effective competition in the operators in Africa and the launch of of telecommunications, IT and second mezzanine fund, and says its telecoms sector. many projects allowing us to quickly consumer electronics equipment. third fund will focus on high growth This includes the development take over their operational control,” ZTE says the partnership will markets such as Ghana, Nigeria, the of a cooperation agreement or said Maroc Telecom chairman enable better product availability in East African Community members, MoU between the CAK and the Abdeslam Ahizoune. He added that the region while strengthening its and some of the Southern African Competition Authority, concurrency the new subsidiaries will boost the presence in Africa. The agreement Development Community countries. regulations, and a common action group’s presence in markets with with Mitsumi covers: Botswana,

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Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, data records, accurately invoicing our in Zimbabwe which has 2.2m. resources, expertise and research. DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, partners, and shortening the time to Subscriber numbers for these The American University in Cairo Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, settlement. “ operations in 2013 were reported as (AUC) in Egypt will serve as the Nigeria, Rwanda,Tanzania, Tunisia, He adds that the new platform 17.5m and 2.5m respectively. coordinator of the collaboration until Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. will enable his company to monitor VimpelCom also had networks a structured steering committee has The companies have also agreed operations via KPI dashboards that in Burundi and the Central African been appointed. to co-invest in technical support are updated daily, and proactively Republic. But in October 2014, The five other organisations in staff, sales and market development address any anomalies. the operator’s 51.9 per cent owned the AAAE include: the University activities to enable the adoption of Gabon Telecom is owned by subsidiary Global Telecom Holding of Cape Town Graduate School the vendor’s products. Maroc Telecom and operates as sold its stakes in U-COM in Burundi of Business (UCT GSB) and the ZTE says it will leverage Mitsumi’s Libertis. Last year, it became the and Telecel CAR to Econet Wireless University of Stellenbosch Business capabilities and “strong presence” in first telco in Central Africa to launch Global for USD65m (see Wireless School in South Africa; Esca Maroc Africa to further strengthen its reach LTE, and made the strategic decision Business, Oct-Nov 2014). Ecole De Management of Casablanca, within the region. MEA marketing to not just modernise its network Total revenues for VimpelCom Morocco; the Lagos Business School director Hong Chuangye adds: but also the systems responsible for were down four per cent YoY to reach in Nigeria; and the Strathmore “Mitsumi’s service centre, logistics monetising its network traffic. USD19.6bn. The operator’s Africa and Business School of Nairobi in Kenya. credit facilities, and market knowhow Gabon Telecom is the tenth Asia Business Unit realised a four per Sarah-Anne Arnold, manager of give us the confidence to achieve our operating company in the Maroc cent YoY organic decline in revenue to the MTN Solution Space at UCT business objectives.” Telecom Group to standardise on USD3.4bn, and EBITDA was down GSB, said promoting the exchange CSG solutions. The vendor adds by 11 per cent YoY to USD1.5bn. of ideas, experiences and skills is Gabon Telecom modernises this latest deployment means it now In Algeria, total revenue dropped core to building an entrepreneurship wholesale billing with CSG supports the operations of Gabon’s five per cent YoY to DZD136bn. ecosystem in Africa. Gabon Telecom will use CSG’s top three telecom providers. VimpelCom blamed this on “If we want to build our continent Wholesale Business Management platform the “forced” delay of Djezzy’s then we need to invest in building to support both its wireless and fixed VimpelCom: subscribers slightly up; commercial 3G service launch that networks that are broader than any business. CSG says the implementation revenues slightly down were caused by regulatory issues. one single institution. The fuel to includes its Interconnect and Intermediate VimpelCom ended last year with innovate is created when people solutions, but was unable to reveal the 221.6m mobile customers across Top African business schools with different experiences, realities, value of the deal. its international operations, a slight collaborate on entrepreneurship passions and ideas come together with Bernard Mbangangoye, Gabon increase from 220m reported for Six of Africa’s top business schools the mandate and support structures to Telecom’s international and inter- 2013. According to its recently from five countries have formed a develop new possibilities.” connection director, says revenue and published annual report for 2014, it new academic association to boost The AAAE hopes to expand over the net income growth are dependent remains the seventh biggest operator entrepreneurship and job creation. coming months to include more African upon the efficiency of operations. globally in terms of subscribers. The African Academic Association business schools. It also aims to invite “With the CSG solution we are The telco’s interests in Africa on Entrepreneurship (AAAE) will collaboration between global business able to control our wholesale process include Djezzy in Algeria where it promote and develop academic schools and build bridges between from end-to-end, correctly capturing has 18.4m customers and Telecel cooperation through sharing academic and industry knowledge.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

Date Name New employer New position Previous employer Previous position

1/4/15 Kurt Riegelman Intelsat SVP, sales & marketing Intelsat SVP, global sales

1/4/15 Michael J. DeMarco Intelsat SVP, operations Intelsat SVP, marketing & solutions development

6/4/15 Fernando Valdivielso ECI Telecom VP EMEA sales SEACOM COO

28/4/15 Ramy Hashem Alcatel-Lucent Country senior ofﬁ cer & MD for Ghana Alcatel-Lucent CTO, Middle East

4/5/15 Chuck Robbins Cisco CEO (as from July 2015) Cisco SVP, worldwide operations

5/5/15 John Chambers Cisco Executive chairman (as from July 2015) Cisco CEO Group managing executive & Nokia Solutions & VP of global customer operations for 6/5/15 Willem Marais Liquid Telecom Group CEO South Africa Networks Telefónica

INVESTMENTS, MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Date Buyer Seller Item Price Notes Infi nera says acquisition will complement its “strength” in long-haul optical 9/4/15 Infi nera Transmode Transmode USD350m transport market & its “early lead” in metro cloud market. NATCOM Consortium Nigerian Telecoms Local reports say more than $1bn is needed to revive NITEL & its mobile 28/4/15 NITEL USD252.25m Development & Investment (NITEL) subsidiary MTEL. MTN Communications uses a hybrid satellite-terrestrial broadband network Emerging Markets MTN MTN 29/4/15 NA to provide communications & content for remote locations around the Communications Communications Communications world, especially for the maritime & energy sectors. Reports say Sepura will draw on its debt facility as well as the proceeds of a 1/5/15 Sepura Teltronic Teltronic EUR127.5m share issue to fund the purchase of the Spanish PMR specialist. Has now also signed fi rst independent tower deal in Egypt, with the 1/5/15 Shareholders Eaton Towers Equity USD350m purchase, leaseback & management of more than 2,000 Mobinil towers.

14 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015 WIRELESS BUSINESSNEWS

IN BRIEF... said results for the quarter were after 20 European states signed a which is also a pay TV operator, impacted by a weaker macro-economic treaty in Paris to harmonise telegraph delivers consumer and business Grant Marais has left Intelsat as environment following the reduction in services. As part of this year’s services across Chad via its national regional VP for Africa after the price of oil in 2014 and continued celebrations held in Geneva, Robert network of wireless broadband and nearly two-and-a-half years. At price competition. “We continue E. Kahn, the co-inventor of the TCP/ VSATs. CEO Moussa Radjab said: the time of writing, Intelsat had not to focus on our non-voice services IP protocols, radio spectrum innovator “The broadband services we will now made any official announcements about which remain the key driver of the Martin Cooper, and Bill Gates were be able to offer are far superior to his departure or reasons for leaving. group’s revenue growth.” among those honoured with the ITU’s anything possible using current fibre However, Marais’ LinkedIn profile states 150th Anniversary Award. connections or GEO satellites.” O3b he is now CEO of WirelessCo, the joint Billionaire Mike Adenuga regards the Sahel region as a high venture set up between Dimension is reportedly preparing a MTN and Vodafone have priority. It says Burkina Faso, CAR, Data and Multichoice last September. takeover bid for Comium’s operation agreed to interconnect their Chad, Mali and Niger are landlocked, Headquartered in Johannesburg, in Côte d’Ivoire. Adenuga is chairman mobile money services. The and have erratic terrestrial fibre WirelessCo will build and operate an and CEO of multinational telco operators say their collaboration will connections that are dependent on open access carrier-grade Wi-Fi Globacom, and also runs Conoil, enable “convenient and affordable” neighbouring countries. network. It combines the network assets Nigeria’s largest oil exploration international remittances between of Dimension Data-owned Wi-Fi company. He is said to have a Vodacom’s M-PESA users in DRC, Arabsat and Santander provider AlwaysOn, with the assets of net worth of around USD4.6bn. Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania, Teleport are offering new MWEB WiFi. According to Geneva-based news and MTN Mobile Money customers solutions to provide their agency Agence Ecofin, Adenuga in Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. customers in Spain, Portugal and The MTN Group added 4.1 has told Glo shareholders about a Under the terms of an MoU, MTN other countries with cost-efficient million new subscribers during USD600m offer for Comium. Reports Group and Vodafone Group will also and reliable communications in 1Q15. In its quarterly update say Comium has been given until share best practice and work together Africa. The collaboration will include for the period ending 31 March 2015, mid-May to pay off its USD24.8m to define the rules and standards of Santander’s earth station facilities and the operator said this represents a 1.8 debts or risk being auctioned off. mobile-based remittances in Africa. network, and Arabsat’s 5C satellite at per cent quarter-on-quarter increase 20ºE. Santander has made available and means that it now has a total of 2015 marks the 150th ISP Presta Bist will use O3b a 9m C-band antenna with fully- 227.5 million customers. But group anniversary of the ITU. The to provide backhaul from redundant uplink chain at its teleport president and CEO Sifiso Dabengwa union was born on 17 May in 1865 Chad to the internet. The company, location in northern Spain.

LATEST COMPANY RESULTS Sales EBITDA EPS Date Company Country Period Currency Notes (m) (m) (units) Full-year sales declined 6%; expects a revenue decline of Motorola 2% to 4% for 1Q15 compared to 1Q14. This assumes a $40m 4/2/15 US FY14 USD 5.9 (bn) -2.84 Solutions unfavourable currency impact, which translates to revenue growth of -1% to 1% in constant currency. Africa revenues up from 13% in previous quarter to 16%, with 22/4/15 Millicom Luxembourg 1Q15 USD 1,709 565 0.26 double digit organic revenue growth in all markets except Chad which saw a 17% decline in USD terms. YoY revenue from carrier networks increased 8.9%, driven by sales growth in products such as wireless communication 23/4/15 ZTE China 1Q15 RMB 883 NA NA systems, wireline switch & access systems, routers & router switches.

Although sales in the quarter increased by 13% YoY, quarter-on- 23/4/15 Ericsson Sweden 1Q15 SEK 53.5 (bn) 19.0 (bn) 0.40 quarter sales in sub-Saharan Africa are down 17%.

YoY growth down 1%. Exchange rates continue to depreciate 28/4/15 Airtel Africa India FY14 INR 269,070 61,122 NA versus USD; revenue-weighted currency depreciation during 4Q14 was 8% compared to previous quarter. YoY revenue is up 2.6%. Expects growth in group revenue & 30/4/15 SES Luxembourg 1Q15 EUR 477.8 356.1 NA EBITDA of up to 1% (at constant forex) for the year ending 31 December 2015. An aggregate decrease of $11.9m in transponder services is mainly due to a $10.4m decrease in revenue from network 30/4/13 Intelsat US 1Q15 USD 602.3 470.5 0.69 services customers. This is blamed on the competitive landscape, especially for services delivered in Africa, as well as reductions in point-to-point & consumer broadband services. Claims Etisalat Egypt has not paid interconnect charges of 31/3/15 Mobinil Egypt 1Q15 EGP 2.79 (bn) 639m NA EGP29.8m as of January 2014, & has submitted arbitration notice to regulator.

Acquired 53% stake in Maroc Telecom in May 2014; disposed of 19/4/15 Etisalat UAE 1Q15 AED 12,906 NA 0.25 Atlantique Telecom operations in Jan 2015.

American International rental & management segment revenue increased 30/4/15 US 1Q15 USD 1,079 724 0.45 Tower 6.2% to $344m.

163.4 13% YoY revenue growth driven by data & M-PESA. Remains 5/15 Safaricom Kenya FY14 KES 71.2 (bn) 0.8 (bn) market leader with 67.4% subscriber share.

Africa & Asia performance impacted by weaker results in Algeria 11/5/15 VimpelCom Netherlands FY14 USD 19.6 (bn) 8.0 (bn) 0.53 & Pakistan, offsetting strong performance in Bangladesh.

April/May 2015 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 15 Register to receive your free copy of this & other business magazines: WIRELESS SOLUTIONS www.kadiumpublishing.com

Hytera unveils platforms for PMR network users Hytera’s SmartOne unified commu- The system allows for CSSI and to a uniform level without nication platform integrates com- ISSI interface access, wired and decreasing voice quality. puter technology, PSTNs and PMR wireless inter-connection, PMR SmartOne also provides a unified and a free channel is automatically networks to enable multi-system and public network integration API for integrators to develop more searched via the repeater for the inter-communication for two-way and SIP support. Hytera says it flexible and customised applications call request. It’s claimed channel radio users, public network users, features advanced voice processing for end users. utilisation is optimised, and that dispatchers and commanders. technology through various voice Separately, Hytera has developed channel and cell changes are format conversions including G.711, a distributed trunked mobile radio automated via the infrastructure. MANUFACTURER: Hytera G.729, AMBE++ and TETRA code. system for demanding users. XPT Hytera says XPT cell can consist It also includes voice detection tech- is based on conventional DMR of up to eight repeaters, thereby PRODUCT: SmartOne & XPT nology that can automatically assign technology, but unlike classic trunked providing up to 16 communication talking authority by detecting voice radio platforms, the firm says it does channels. Other features include MORE INFORMATION: activity of radios, and gain control not require a control channel. end-to-end encryption for secure www.hytera.com technology which adjusts voice levels As a result, all available channels communication, and flexible IP from different communication systems are available for communication networking for easy scalability. Weightless-N open standard goes live The Weightless SIG has announced Operating in sub-GHz spectrum tion is its status as an open stand- for use version 1.0 of its new Weightless-N using ultra narrow band (UNB) ard. Unlike alternative proprietary cases that open standard, which is based on a technology, the SIG says Weightless-N LPWAN technologies, the SIG says will rely low power wide area star network offers “best in class” signal propagation Weightless is different as it uniquely on con- architecture for Internet of Things characteristics leading to “excellent” enables a competitive, free and fair nection to (IoT) deployments. range of several kilometres, even in market that does not lock develop- networks challenging urban environments. ers into using particular vendors or operated MANUFACTURER: It adds that very low power consump- network service providers. by third Weightless SIG tion specified in the standard provides Any company is able to develop parties. for exceptionally long battery life meas- both low-cost base stations and ter- It’s PRODUCT: Weightless-N v1.0 ured in years from small conventional minals using royalty-free Weightless claimed cells, while leading edge innovation technology. Networks can be owned a Weightless terminal device MORE INFORMATION: in design will minimise both terminal and operated independently by any can be produced for less than USD2 www.weightless.org hardware and network costs. company or, typically, IoT terminal de- with a Weightless base station bill of Central to the Weightless proposi- vices and applications can be produced materials of less than USD3,000. Sat-Fi turns Wi-Fi devices Easy way to migrate into satellite phones from analogue to digital

Sat-Fi enables customers to use their capability will also be added soon. Simoco Group hopes its LinX buttons, Simoco says the LinX 200 existing smartphones and numbers The company boasts that the 200 portable radio will meet the can be deployed with little or no to communicate over Globalstar’s hotspot provides the “most affordable” market need for reliable and user training. satellite network, offering them voice mobile satellite data speeds, offers the cost-effective communications. The device works through a and data connectivity when they’re “best voice quality in the industry”, It operates on DMR Tier II repeater or in direct mode, and other outside cellular range. and that its performance is four times digital and analogue modes, features include noise suppression, Up to eight users can make and faster than rival offerings. Globalstar and the vendor says it is ideally voice encryption, AMBE+2 vocoder, receive voice calls and email using adds that Sat-Fi is easy to set up and suited to organisations in the 22 hours average battery working the Sat-Fi hotspot and app that can be operational within minutes to process of beginning their time, and an IP55 rating for dust runs on Wi-Fi enabled devices make calls and send emails. transition from analogue and shower resistance. including tablets, smartphones to digital radio and laptops. Globalstar says SMS MANUFACTURER: Globalstar communications. MANUFACTURER: Simoco With the capability PRODUCT: Sat-Fi to support individual, PRODUCT: LinX 200 group and emergency MORE INFORMATION: calling, and featuring MORE INFORMATION: eu.globalstar.com an emergency alarm www.simocogroup.com and programmable side

16 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015 WIRELESS SOLUTIONS

MIMOtech doubles ALSO LOOK OUT FOR Raising the bar backhaul throughput for satellite with Air Division Duplexing technology Eutelsat and Intelsat claim to have MIMOtech describes Janus AirDuplex 28MHz channel, and 2Gbps in point of view of licensing, site rental reached major milestones in the as a range of “ultra-high” capacity 56MHz bandwidth. cost and implementation. development of satellite technology, microwave backhaul radios that use The company says the radios are The firm says that both capex and with two separate developments. a new patented technique called suitable for small cell, microcell and opex are reduced due to lower spec- Earlier this year in March, Intelsat Air Division Duplexing (ADD). This macrocell mobile deployments for a trum fees, lower site/tower rental fees announced the completion of a combines MIMO and full duplex range of technologies including LTE/ and lower maintenance costs, while series of tests demonstrating the transmission to achieve claimed LTE-A and potentially 5G, providing software definability offers down- compatibility of its EpicNG digital data rates of up to 1Gbps in a single a cost-effective alternative to fibre and stream savings in upgrade costs. payload with existing ground millimetre-wave links for enterprise MIMOtech adds that its technol- equipment platforms. MANUFACTURER: MIMOtech and government applications. ogy brings re-usability to frequency According to Intelsat, EpicNG’s ADD uses spatial multiplexing to spectrum below 42GHz which, until all-digital payload allows connec- PRODUCT: Janus AirDuplex double capacity and spectral efficien- now, has been limited to backhaul tivities in any bandwidth increment cy. With an antenna separation of applications with a maximum of from any beam to any beam. This MORE INFORMATION: typically only 100mm, MIMOtech several hundred Mbps. It says these enables independent frequency www.mimotechnology.com says it can be considered as a quasi frequency bands can be re-applied selection of the uplink and downlink. single-aperture antenna from the for gigabit backhaul applications. When combined, it’s claimed these features provide “unprec- edented” adaptability for a customer’s network confi guration and Newtec gateway increases DTH availability topology, allowing users to leverage The MCX7000 is Newtec’s latest reduced opex and capex. this provides equates to up to 15 installed hardware and to operate multi-carrier satellite gateway. It The gateway is compatible with per cent more TV channels in a mixed spectrum networks. has been designed to offer a number the company’s Dialog multiservice DTH carrier. Intelsat believes this feature of of benefits including increased broadcast platform. It also features Newtec says the “easily upgradea- completely fl exible beam connec- bandwidth efficiency of up to 51 multistream, Newtec’s efficiency- ble” nature of its DVB-S2X platform tivity is an important early differen- per cent for distribution to TV boosting clean channel technology, means it can guarantee increased tiator of its EpicNG fl eet. It says the and radio towers and head-ends, and Equalink 3, a new linear and functionality and higher density. It digital payload will be instrumental increased service availability, and non-linear pre-distortion technology believes this makes “future-proof” in allowing fl exible and effi cient designed to compensate for the and the ideal solution for the recep- use of spectrum, resulting in a MANUFACTURER: Newtec effects of distortions caused by the tion of channel-bonded UHDTV “dramatic” increase in the amount satellite’s filters and amplifiers. It’s programming on towers and cable of throughput it can deliver on its PRODUCT: MCX7000 claimed the additional throughput head-ends in the future. satellites. The company adds that the technology also increases its MORE INFORMATION: ability to mitigate interference and www.newtec.eu purposeful jamming. Intelsat 29e will be the fi rst EpicNG satellite and is scheduled to launch early next year. Meanwhile, Eutelsat claims it Gilat claims small cell breakthrough has broken new ground with its Gilat Satellite Networks has launched in rural cellular backhaul, the by applying efficient voice and software-defi ned Quantum-class sat- CellEdge, an integrated small cell over integrated solution comprises data compression combined with ellites. The fi rm says the programme satellite solution designed specifically a small cell that is optimised satellite bandwidth allocation on represents a fi rst in the commercial for unserved rural areas. to provide the ability to deliver demand. Gilat claims this can satellite industry by enabling the Developed using what the company cost-effective 2G and 3G cellular reduce satellite opex by up complete electronic synthesis of claims is its “extensive expertise” services to unserved areas. to 80 per cent compared to ‘receive’ and ‘transmit’ coverages Gilat says CellEdge has an traditional solutions. in Ku-band, including on-board MANUFACTURER: 80W total average power draw, The company hopes jamming detection and mitigation. Gilat Satellite Networks including both the small cell and CellEdge will enable According to Eutelsat, clients will VSAT in a typical configuration, operators to overcome now be able to actively defi ne the PRODUCT: CellEdge and therefore “significantly” high rollout costs, lack performance and fl exibility they lowers capex in the terminal and of backhaul and power need. Quantum will give them MORE INFORMATION: solar power generation. The firm infrastructure, as well access to premium capacity through www.gilat.com adds its technology also minimises as low consumer uptake footprint shaping and steering, satellite space segment overhead and ARPU. power, and frequency band pairing.

April/May 2015 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 17

Sharing towers to maximise proﬁ ts

Estimates vary as to how many towers there are in Africa, but there is no doubting the trend towards sharing. Some estimates suggest that as many as half of all towers will be shared by different mobile operators. Under constant pressure to cut costs, mobile operators in Africa are selling-off their tower estates to ﬁ nancially stronger towercos, as ABDUL MONTAQIM discovers.

definitive figure for the number of Whether we take the TowerXchange figures towers to make similar deals with other MNOs, telecommunications towers in Africa or the GSMA’s, one statistical trend that is who end up sharing tower infrastructure with each is difficult to find. The two most undeniable is that a large number of towers are other even as they compete for subscribers. Aauthoritative sources differ from one another currently being sold off. And that trend is likely This move towards tower sharing is not only somewhat. TowerXchange, an industry forum, to continue, if not accelerate. good for the operator’s balance sheet, it is also estimates that there are approximately 165,000 According to TowerXchange, about 47,600 believed to be better for the environment – towers in the whole of Africa. Meanwhile, the of 165,000 towers are owned or operated by although going green is probably less of a driver for GSM Association says there 240,000 towers in independent tower companies, which makes up the MNO because it often costs more money and sub-Saharan Africa alone. about 29 per cent. It says this figure will continue eats into profits. But as is well known, power grids The GSMA does not provide figures for to go up this year, rising to almost 50 per cent by in Africa are not as extensive as MNOs would like, North Africa specifically, and instead combines the end of 2015. and establishing, for example, solar- or hybrid- the region with the Middle East and estimates The change in ownership is largely due to mobile powered tower installations is sometimes the only there to be 70,000 towers in MENA. But if the network operators – many of which built the way to tap into many remote communities. While association’s figure for sub-Saharan Africa tower infrastructure in the first place – deciding these may constitute small markets, they are still is correct, it clearly means TowerXchange’s that they no long want to operate and maintain significant in an increasingly competitive business. numbers for the whole of the continent represent towers. These are an expensive distraction from The GSMA estimates that Africa has some a considerable under-estimate. their main business, which is to look after the 145,000 off-grid sites, a figure it expects to increase Although the GSMA has occasionally communications needs of their subscribers. to 189,000 by 2020. The number of what it calls referenced data on towers as part of its programme Of course, MNOs still need the towers to carry “unreliable-grid” sites is expected to grow from activity, it does not conduct primary research the data and voice signals for their subscribers, but 84,000 in 2014 to more than 100,000 by 2020. in this area. A spokesperson for the association increasingly they are opting to sell their towers Then there are the regulatory issues. Some recommends using data from a specialist in this to specialist companies and lease them back on countries are more highly regulated than others. market, such as TowerXchange. long-term deals. This frees the new owners of the For example, some states have established telecoms-

20 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015 FEATURE: TOWER SHARINGNEWS

specific infrastructure regulations, such as the that of Globacom. MTN, the market leader, has Etisalat believes the deal will help it to maintain requirement to obtain and maintain a license. more than 60 million, while Etisalat is thought reliable mobile services, lower overall costs, There may also be planning permissions to obtain, to have 22 million. According to the Nigerian promote network sharing, and encourage the use environmental permits required, and even civil Communications Commission, the total number of cleaner technologies through less reliance on aviation clearances needed. Foreign-ownership of GSM subscribers in the country is 140 million. diesel, which is often used to power cell sites. restrictions may also apply. Many countries already At the end of 2014, American Tower MTN was also among the first to see the sense have these regulations in place, and the ones that Corporation (ATC) paid more than a billion of separating the tower business from the business do not are likely to do so in the future. dollars to Airtel for its towers in Nigeria, and of providing services. In one of the earliest deals, Increasing regulations, possibly leading to an will now lease them back to the operator for the operator sold 1,876 towers in Ghana to ATC. increase in operating costs, will put further pressure 10 years. Airtel said the agreement will allow The companies entered into a joint venture in on MNOs who are already facing declining it to focus on its core business and customers, Ghana, giving it the name TowerCo Ghana. average revenues per user (ARPU). Analysts enable de-leverage through debt reduction, and It mirrored an earlier deal MTN and ATC at Ovum estimate that ARPU for operators is will significantly reduce its ongoing capital completed in Uganda, with MTN selling about declining at a rate of 16 per cent globally, and Africa expenditures on passive infrastructure in the 1,000 of its tower sites to ATC. In both deals, has been part of that downturn. ARPU was never country. While Airtel strives to make big profits, ATC took 51 per cent of the new tower company’s all that high in Africa compared to other regions, so ATC announced in April that its first-quarter shareholding, with MTN retaining the remaining any downward movement has more effect here. earnings were ahead of expectations, and it 49 per cent. It was agreed that ATC would “In smaller markets, low ARPU is a game- forecast strong growth for the year ahead. manage the sites and infrastructure. changer,” says Ovum analyst Emeka Obiodu. As well as the Airtel-ATC deal, Nigeria has also “Kenya is a prime example of the limits of fierce seen a number of other large tower transactions Broadening out from tower sharing competition. When Airtel started a price war in in the past 12 months. MTN entered into a joint 2010, it was clear that all market players would ownership agreement with IHS Towers on 9,151 of Along with tower sharing, the GSMA says be affected.” Obiodu adds that the “double hit” its towers in the country. IHS paid around USD2 infrastructure sharing as a whole is emerging as of low ARPU and small market size means that billion for the assets in what is believed to be the another trend. “Commercial considerations, rather revenues are not big enough to fund investment. largest tower deal to date in Africa. than regulatory mandates, appear to be driving Etisalat was one of the first to sell its towers and the increasing trend for MNOs to adopt a variety A changing landscape has offloaded 2,136 of its towers in Nigeria to IHS. of infrastructure models,” says the association in The MNO said the sale was part of its strategy to its Mobile Infrastructure Sharing report. “Examples The activity taking place between tower improve the quality of its network performance, as of mobile network sharing can be found in both companies and MNOs is changing the business well as accelerate its rollout of 2G and 3G. Etisalat mature and developing markets, with 3G providing landscape in Africa. Some of the towercos with is now leasing back space on the towers from IHS. an added impetus to assess the commercial and a significant number of estates in Africa are Etisalat Nigeria CEO Matthew Willsher said: regulatory viability of network sharing.” American Tower Corporation (approximately “Continued demand for mobile connectivity There are three main types of infrastructure 10,000), Eaton Towers (about 5,000), Helios Towers along with increased consumption of data sharing being observed in the industry: Africa (1,300), IHS Africa (more than 20,000), requires reliable and effective networks that are 1. Passive infrastructure sharing, or mast and SWAP Technologies (over 1,500). And perhaps also cost efficient for network operators. The sharing. This is where operators can either the most noteworthy MNOs are Airtel, Econet decision to sell our passive infrastructure to agree to share a tower and its associated active Wireless, Etisalat, Millicom, MTN, Ooredoo, an experienced commercial partner, such as equipment, or simply use an independent Orange, Smile, Tigo and Vodacom/Vodafone. IHS, is part of our strategy to increase network tower company which is more than likely being Of those operators, the company that has been coverage and capacity which is already rated contracted by other telcos as well; the most active in the market is Airtel which is number one for quality of service by the Nigerian 2. Radio access network sharing. This is based selling off its towers in Africa at an accelerated Communications Commission.” on, or includes, passive infrastructure sharing but rate. By the end of 2014, the cellco had sold Issam Darwish, CEO of IHS, added that the extends to the sharing of active equipment. It could almost 12,000 of the 15,000 towers it owned partnership will provide significant long-term also include antenna and transmission equipment. across 17 countries in Africa. Three large deals benefits to Etisalat Nigeria, allowing it to focus 3. Core network sharing. This is said to be the accounted for the bulk of the sales: 3,100 went to entirely on marketing new customer propositions most advanced form of network sharing, and Helios Towers; 3,500 to Eaton Towers; and 4,800 to a wider market. entails sharing core network elements. to American Tower Corporation. Airtel says it plans to sell its remaining 3,000 towers and leave 734 the infrastructure business altogether. IHS Africa 1900 2230 14222 1648 380 The operator’s sell-off may be typical of the general trend but the speed at which it has American Tower 2038 1912 1256 4800 divested itself of its tower sites is connected to its 200 Helios Towers immediate concern about its profitability. In April, Africa 1500 800 4500 500 2015, its share price fell significantly on news 500 500 300 that its estimates had not been met. Although Eaton Towers 1400 1600 400 Unknown country South Africa DRC Rwanda Airtel mostly blames currency depreciations, the 170 500 Uganda Nigeria Côte d’Ivoire Zambia company apparently views the selling of its fixed SWAP Technologies 700 250 Tanzania Ghana Cameroon Congo B infrastructure as one way to claw back its profits. 509 Malawi Burkina Faso Niger Chad Nigeria is a crucial market for Airtel as it Helios Towers Nigeria 1300 makes up 60 per cent of its total subscriber base of just over 50 million across Africa. Nigeria 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 is the continent’s most populous country with Between them, the ‘Big Four’ towercos own more than 42,500 towers in Africa, with the next two owning an estimated 185 million people. Around 30 fewer than 3,000 between them. The country with the most number of towers on the continent is Nigeria, million are Airtel subscribers, a similar number to with around 22,000. SOURCE: TOWERXCHANGE

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Of the above, the most common is passive infrastructure sharing, or at its simplest, tower ESTIMATED NUMBER OF TOWERS OWNED OR sharing. This is what the industry is seeing now MANAGED BY INDEPENDENT TOWERCOS IN AFRICA as telecoms companies sell their infrastructure to tower companies, some of which have grown TowerXchange says the size of Africa’s tower Africa); Pro High Site Communication (South quickly in the last couple of years. industry doubled in two quarters to the end of Africa); Shared Networks Tanzania (active By way of acknowledging and perhaps 2014, triggered by Airtel’s sale of towers in 16 of infrastructure sharing); Square1 Infrastructure monitoring this infrastructure sharing trend, the its 17 African countries and the Mobinil deal. (Nigeria and South Africa); TASC (targeting GSMA organised what it describes as “a high “Upon completion of the Airtel and Mobinil MENA); TowerCo of Madagascar; and Tower level meeting” at Mobile World Congress earlier tower sales, TowerXchange calculate that Share (targeting MENA). this year. Eight telco groups, which between them independent tower companies will own and share It is estimated that these smaller towercos cover 551 million mobile connections across 30 per cent of Africa’s towers, up from just 4.7 owned or operated a total of around 2,000 at the Africa and the Middle East, took part and agreed per cent five years ago,” said Kieron Osmotherly, end of 2014, with most of the money for their to cooperate on network infrastructure sharing. founder and CEO of TowerXchange. “While ventures provided by private equity investors. They include: Airtel, Etisalat MTN, Ooredoo, we forecast towerco penetration will rise above The ‘Big Four’ towercos are IHS Africa, ATC, Orange, STC, Vodafone and Zain. Collectively, 45 per cent in 2015, tower companies will not Helios Towers Africa and Eaton Towers (see graph they manage 79 mobile network operations across want all the towers in Africa. Sites at overlapping p21). While these four concentrate on achieving 47 countries in Africa and the Middle East. locations or sites owned by less credit worthy economies of scale, colocation sales, greater Speaking at the time, the GSMA’s outgoing tenants are unlikely to be acquired. It is also efficiency and more profitability, the smaller, director general Anne Bouverot, said: “We notable that in every African country where more nimble new entrants into the market can are greatly encouraged by the shared vision of towercos are present, the majority of new towers perhaps win in markets considered too small or mobile operators and the common urgency to are built by towercos, thus are shared on a non- too risky for the big players to be concerned with. find solutions that will drive down the cost of discriminate basis from the outset.” According to TowerXchange, another mobile and internet services and help connect The burgeoning tower industry is seeing new opportunity for newcomers is Africa’s urgent the unconnected. Unique mobile subscriber entrants to the market, says TowerXchange. need for a viable proposition to build single-tenant penetration is only 40 per cent in Africa and the It lists the new entrants as follows: Atlas towers. It believes this is possible even in markets Middle East, lower than the global average of 47 Towers (South Africa); BCTEK (Nigeria); where the ‘Big Four’ are active. “Particularly in per cent, so we need to work together to expand Communications Towers Nigeria; Frontier low ARPU, off-grid areas – a tough combination the reach of mobile.” Tower Solutions (targeting Burundi); Hotspot of economics which attracts a unique breed of The GSMA believes telecom regulatory Network Limited (Nigeria); Infratel (South telecoms entrepreneur,” it says. frameworks should encourage flexible commercial sharing arrangements and facilitate access to government-owned assets at preferential data services to their customers. Once the Mobinil sharing/leasing is a useful strategy. It’s rates. It says this will help speed up the rollouts deal and the agreements with Bharti Airtel for six difficult to make a prediction on the eventual of new networks and support the business case to countries signed and announced last September are outcome, but in our view it’s unlikely that all extend mobile infrastructure into rural areas. completed, Eaton Towers will be operational in eight infrastructure would be outsourced.” countries, representing the most diversified portfolio Statistically speaking, it may be that a tiny number Deal or bigger deal of shared infrastructure on the African continent.” of towers remain in the ownership of MNOs. But at The quick pace and enormous size of the what point does it become statistically significant? Meanwhile, the deal-making continues in earnest. tower deals that are now taking place, as well If TowerXchange is predicting that 50 per cent of Telecom Egypt, a fixed-line operator, has signed as the general trend of MNOs selling off their towers in Africa will be owned by independents by a USD2 billion contract with mobile operators infrastructure to specialist towercos, would seem to the end of 2015, which is a year-on-year increase Mobinil and Vodafone. Under the terms of the suggest that within a few years all towers in Africa of nearly 100 per cent, then it could be argued that agreement the MNOs will utilise Telecom Egypt’s will be owned by independents, leaving MNOs within two years, the number of towers remaining in infrastructure instead of constructing their own. to concentrate on their customers. But this is not the hands of MNOs will be statistically insignificant. Telecom Egypt will also permit Mobinil and necessarily the view of everyone in the industry. A more conservative forecast comes from Vodafone to use its global gateway services, which Vodacom operates in South Africa, Democratic researchers at Statplan Energy. In its Global connects calls across the borders (also see Wireless Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique and Market for Telecoms Towers 2014-2020 report, the Business, Dec 2014-Jan 2015 issue). Tanzania, but says its footprint in sub-Saharan energy analyst predicts that in Africa 30 per cent Egypt also saw its first independent tower Africa is strengthened by its subsidiary Vodacom of all telecoms towers could be independently deal earlier this year in May when Eaton Towers Business. It has a presence in 14 countries, and operated by the end of the decade. used some of the USD 350 million it raised in claims to be the continent’s largest provider of “Towers constitute almost 50 per cent of the new finance for the purchase, leaseback and satellite and terrestrial network infrastructure total capital expenditure for an operator, so the management of Mobinil’s towers. Eaton says and interconnection services for local and cost of towers involves tying up large amounts of the agreement with the operator, which is part international telecoms companies. capital in costly infrastructure and is a significant of the Orange Group, consists of the purchase “Tower sharing isn’t a one-size-fits-all drag on operating liquidity,” states the report. of approximately 2,000 towers with a 15- solution,” says Vodacom spokesperson Richard “As many MNOs face declining revenues, year leaseback contract for the operation and Boorman. “In Vodacom’s case we judge each they have sought to free up the capital tied into maintenance, and additional build-out of new sites. situation on its own merits. If companies are infrastructure and the towerco was born. In turn, Terry Rhodes, CEO Eaton Towers, says this is to compete on quality of service, operational the concept of asset sharing has become another the first purchase and leaseback tower deal in Egypt, efficiency, and so on, then owning of key trend in the industry.” which is said to be the second-largest mobile market infrastructure is a key consideration. Looking beyond Africa to the rest of the world, in Africa. “We will invest over USD200 million to “Having said that, in other situations the Statplan estimates that there are now four million provide world-class shared infrastructure to help need to rapidly roll out services can be a more telecom towers installed globally, and that figure the Egyptian operators provide better coverage and pressing concern, in which case infrastructure will increase to five million by 2020. ■

22 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015

GILAT SATCOM IS BLOOMING THE COMMUNICATION DESERT

61% of the people in Africa live in rural areas. Just Sure, technology is a challenge, but the obstacle is police, churches, healthcare, schools… you get the 18% of the population – cities included – have some business viability. Everybody knows that many rural idea). Communication to users of VoIP like Skype, kind of internet access. Indeed, internet penetration areas cannot support telecommunications because of Viber and more, everywhere in the world is imbedded in rural areas is below 10%. According to Mackenzie low ARPU potentials. On top of that, it is expensive in the service and also provided FREE!! All internet & Company: “If internet access achieves an impact to operate rural services and it is dicult to collect browsing is also FREE!!! Calls to regular telephones on the same scale as mobile telephony has in Africa the revenue, so it is nearly impossible to build a self- and cellular users in the country and anywhere in the (~67%), it could account for as much as 10% of total sustainable business model. If, to continue the desert world can be made for an additional fee and with GDP by 2025, up from only 1% today. is would analogy I made earlier, then a reasonable ROI on a no need for equipment replacement or additional be equivalent to over US$300 billion, due to the rural project is a Fata Morgana. implementation in the remote location. internet’s transformational eects on sectors such e Gilat Satcom Village Island is much more as retail, agriculture, education and healthcare”. So, do we give up? Never! than just the technology and service management is fact only intensies the lack of communication in communication solution. We have put in a lot of the rural areas. I call it the “Communication Desert”, a e One Dollar Wall Must Fall eort to provide it with a full and detailed business plan desert much bigger than the Sahara and that pervades all e One Dollar wall is the fact that the people in from the village up. e Village Island is economically countries. e need for aordable rural communication rural areas cannot pay more then $1-$3 per month for self-sustained and each village in the network is an is enormous: communication is a life source, the water of communication. is is a massive business barrier. It is independent business unit that shows a prot to its the economy. Just like during a drought, you can see how the wall that prevents the internet from penetrating into local owner and to its operator. the shortage aects the lives of millions of people who are rural communities and prevents economic growth all over living in this Communication Desert, away from fresh Africa. You simply cannot put a $200,000 cellular tower in a For us, making the communication desert bloom, connectivity of an internet oasis. remote community because you simply is very exciting. I invest my time and eorts on Our goal is to provide never see ROI. at is why what we are how to “bring water” to the people economical, self- doing at Gilat Satcom is unique and Eran Yoran, in the Communication Desert. So sustained, easy to use revolutionary in the sense that we have Director, how can we connect the millions of and maintain, a ordable targeted the rural community – people Marketing and people that are scattered around the turnkey solutions that can pay only as little as $1 a month Business Development, vast continent of Africa to a fresh for rural community for communication – and provide Gilat Satcom. internet and telephony source? How communication. them with good communications, can we enable a father from a remote jobs and the internet. village to call his daughter who lives in the city and ask her e Village Island provides an excellent voice and “How are you doing?”? Or enable a student studying in video experience across a single satellite private network London to call his family in a rural village to tell his mom and all of the communication within the network [email protected] “I miss you” and share some pictures of the family dinner? is FREE! (Practically an unlimited number of villages, www.gilat.net FEATURE: BACKHAUL

WaveTek has deployed AOptix’s innovative Laser- Radio Technology in Lagos. It integrates free-space optics with millimetre wave RF technology to provide backhaul and connectivity for last-mile access. Setting new sights on backhaul As mobile networks continue to expand and carry ever greater levels of traffi c, the need for effective backhaul has never been more critical. So with more fi bre now available in Africa, is this the only solution operators need? RAHIEL NASIR fi nds out.

he number of submarine fibre optic cable that only fibre will be able to provide the speeds and all-dielectric self-supporting (ADDS) fibre systems that now surround Africa and have and capacity needed by LTE base stations. Ben in Zambia and Zimbabwe, and is considering the been landing on its coastlines over the last Roberts, CEO of the company’s Kenya operations, cost benefits for LTE base stations. Tfew years has certainly been a fillip to broadband says: “In Africa, most people access the internet connectivity in some parts of the continent. But over their mobiles, and so LTE networks are Wireless reaches where ﬁ bre cannot as well as being used for broadband, what about already commercially deployed with more being fibre’s promise of backhauling mobile networks? built. LTE base stations need mega amounts of What are often regarded as fibre’s weaknesses Here, it could be argued that submarine systems bandwidth that can only be provided by fibre. is where wireless technologies such as satellite are not enough as operators need more terrestrial We have already started laying fibre to LTE base come into their own. Citing Ericsson’s latest cable deployments that reach further inland. But station sites that have been built by a variety Mobility Report, Intelsat says the number of mobile all that now looks set to change. of operators and independent tower leasing subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa will rise In 2014, a new chapter began in the story of companies. This fibre then interconnects with to 930 million by the end of 2019, up from 635 fibre in Africa as Liquid Telecom announced it our pan-African fibre backbone.” million at the end of 2014. It believes much of had created the continent’s first fully redundant Roberts admits that cell sites in remote areas the demand for increased mobile connectivity regional fibre ring. Spanning more than 18,000km, are unlikely to be connected by fibre as it is will come from rural areas, where terrestrial the company’s East Africa Fibre Ring runs from just “too costly and time-consuming” to lay for infrastructure is either unable to meet demand Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and back smaller populations in such communities: “These or is simply non-existent. into Kenya, connecting these countries to each BSTs will continue to be served by wireless and According to EMEA VP Jean-Philippe Gillet, other as well as to the rest of the world. Built at a satellite but will not be able to provide LTE satellite is meeting the needs of MNOs in rural cost of USD20m, it is said to be Africa’s largest speeds and capacity.” areas and Intelsat is providing 2G and 3G single fibre network and also connects to the However, he goes on to suggest that one networks through the combination of its satellite region’s five main subsea cable systems: WACS, option to reduce costs can be to run fibre on the fleet and IntelsatOne terrestrial network. “The EASsy, SEACOM, SAT3 and TEAMS. electricity poles that supply mains power to the introduction of high throughput satellite (HTS) will Although Liquid uses wireless technologies base stations. Liquid has already carried out large deliver the additional capacity that will enable the and satellite to complement its network, it believes deployments of optical ground wire (OPGW) expansion of 4G networks as well. This will lead to

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an increase in mobile network operators utilising Until then, he says satellite will continue to be satellite backhaul and satellite-based rural viewed by MNOs as the backhaul solution to use telephony extensions, as it allows them to cost- when there is no other option available. “Talk to effectively increase their customer base in areas the cellular operators and they will tell you that if that were previously inaccessible. they can get fibre, that’s going to be their number Northern Sky Research (NSR) forecasts that one choice. And if they can get microwave with a high throughput satellites will propel the global reasonable number of hops, that’s going to be the market for satellite backhaul in the coming years. next choice. The fact is satellite, historically, is In its Wireless Backhaul via Satellite report published the option when you don’t have anything else.” in April, the analyst predicts that current and next- Gilat Satcom, which provides both fibre and generation solutions will generate revenue streams satellite capacity for cellular backhaul, supports from USD1.7bn in 2014 to USD5.3bn by 2024. this view. The company’s marketing and business According to the report, traditional FSS development director Eran Yoran says: “I can capacity in C- and Ku-bands has so far been the describe the needs of MNOs in a very precise most prevalent solution used for backhaul and way. Whenever there is a fibre option it will be trunking in land areas, and has begun to address the first choice as it is the most cost effective, and the need for 3G services. a great deal of demand can be met. But it adds that less expensive and higher “In the absence of a fibre solution, satellite will throughput capacity is challenging the economics be the number one choice for the very long distance of traditional FSS where erosion of the revenue base backhaul as it is easy to deploy and maintain, and is leading to an ‘HTS play’ by operators that own is extremely stable. The disadvantage is the latency Canadian operator RuralCom is using Gilat Satellite traditional FSS transponders. “GEO HTS capacity and price. Prices are going down on the GEO Networks’ CellEdge small cell system for its 3G network. is making a big push on land, air and sea where a satellite but the latency is fixed.” clear migration in the fixed land towers backhaul For short distance links, Yoran believes microwave all these sites quickly and within budget? And and trunking markets is under way,” says NSR. will be the default option. But he adds that while how do I continuously adjust my network to it has low latency and is relatively affordable, continuously deliver in an efficient way these The satellite cost question the engineering side is complex, and adding new applications and services to my end-users?” more towers between two locations means the When it comes to using small cells for rural While non-geosynchronous HTS is still in its reliability of the link drops and the price rises. deployments, satellite also has a part to play. infancy, NSR says it promises better latency with For example, Gilat Satellite Networks (GSN) the likes of O3b making inroads in backhaul, Big opportunities with small cells has developed CellEdge, a small-cell-over-satellite trunking and mobility platforms. It says that solution to provide mobile operators with a 2G/3G although few details on LEO (low Earth orbit) Microwave radio specialist Aviat Networks says cellular infrastructure solution to better serve HTS programmes have been released, if one or two although some countries such as South Africa remote regions (see Wireless Solutions, p17). of these are launched, total capacity will increase have supported initiatives that have improved GSN has teamed-up with Intelsat to deliver manyfold leading to price pressure for all offerings. the national fibre backbone and metropolitan its solution. For example, earlier this year the “Non-GEO HTS equipment pricing, fibre penetration, the access (last mile) fibre two companies announced a deployment for specifically antenna systems, will have to come penetration remains “appallingly” low with Canada-based RuralCom’s mobile network down dramatically compared to current O3b most areas having “zero” access to fibre. along the 1,000 mile-long Alaska Highway and pricing in order to address capex considerations,” But according to the company’s technical British Columbia North Coast. Here, a CellEdge says report author Jose Del Rosario. marketing manager, Siphiwe Nelwamondo, there 3G network is leveraging Intelsat’s global satellite Dave Rehbehn, Hughes Network Systems’ senior is a solution to connect back to the terrestrial fleet through its Horizons 1 satellite and IntelsatOne director of international marketing, agrees. As far as metro fibre – a licensed wireless microwave terrestrial network. GSN says its small cell is the prospect of LEO systems is concerned, he also radio system. “This will bridge the connectivity optimising space segment usage via a hub located says O3b’s capex is driven by the cost of antennas, gap, keeping businesses connected and running at an Intelsat teleport. and because this is currently too high they are really effectively. This microwave radio last mile Rehbehn says he is seeing more infrastructure only suitable for very high capacity sites. “But what solution will cost effectively bring access to vendors developing small cells that can help most people seem to think is that there is going to a community’s doorstep. save the costs of deploying high-cost and high be a new generation of antenna technology for the “We are all aware of fibre’s prowess and powered macro sites. remote earth stations that are going to enable cost- capabilities. However, little is understood about “While these small cells don’t perhaps have a effective LEO and MEO installations. And this will microwave radios systems and their capabilities, huge amount of capacity, they are very cost- have huge impact, not just on cellular backhaul, but and hence they remain the underdogs.” effective and can be solar powered. So from the on regular VSATs.” Nelwamondo continues by saying managing infrastructure side we see small cells enabling Rehbehn goes on to say that backhaul is a very backhaul traffic that is showing double digit annual more cost-effective rural deployments, and from important application for Hughes for two key growth and dealing with increasing numbers of cell the satellite side we see the HTS enabling a lower reasons: “Number one, it is a very high value sites are well-known challenges for most MNOs. cost of bandwidth. Together, we think this really service offering on the part of satellite service Quoting Heavy Reading’s Ethernet Backhaul Market does create some significant opportunities for providers; and number two, it is an area where there Tracker, April 2014, he says the number of cell sites satellite backhaul and cellular traffic. is very good potential as we see more HTS systems globally will rise from around four million to more “Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent – all deployed. We think we can change the equation of than five million over the next three years. of those guys have very good small cell products satellite backhaul for cellular systems with the new “Coupled with this growth is the fact that newer that are optimised and have an IP interface. Our generation of high throughput satellites. What they public small cells are imminent in the near future. view has been to integrate effectively with those will enable is a lower cost per bandwidth capacity, The reality quickly sets in as to how daunting a products as opposed to trying to force fit our and that has always been one of the key issues with challenge this is for operators, leaving many to ask solution onto a operator. That’s just our approach satellite backhaul for cellular systems.” questions such as how do I deploy and provision to the market.”

26 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015 FEATURE: BACKHAULNEWS

Microwave – still Africa’s hottest Ceragon has come up with an alternative Siphiwe backhaul option? approach to scaling its microwave products. Earlier Nelwamondo, this year it launched Advanced Frequency Reuse for Technical Ceragon Networks remains sceptical about the its IP-20 microwave platform that is designed for marketing use of both satellite and fibre for backhaul. The heterogeneous network hauling. This enables the manager, company has provided its microwave systems in use of a single frequency channel where multiple Aviat Networks many African countries such as DRC, Kenya, channels are often needed to meet wireless backhaul Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania, and its demand. The vendor claimed the results include a mobile operator customers include Airtel, saving of at least 50 per cent of the wireless spectrum Globacom Nigeria, Vodacom, amongst others. required, and also allows for doubling the capacity of Amit Ancikovsky, the company’s Africa and Latin the wireless backhaul network. “Little is understood about America president, says: “Satellite is an option for Ceragon explained that Advanced Frequency Reuse wireless backhaul but falls short if you are trying to works by requiring far smaller angular separation microwave radios systems and deliver bandwidth intensive multimedia services such between wireless backhaul links that utilise the as video or applications like Facebook, as less content same frequency channel. Instead of employing a their capabilities, and hence they gets to the user due to issues with uplinks. It is also separation of at least 90º as required today, it reduces cost-prohibitive and often used when in geographic the needed separation to just 15º. The firm said this remain the underdogs.” areas where microwave or fibre can’t reach. leads to flexibility in network deployment and a “Microwave is a viable alternative to both satellite significant reduction in opex and capex. “In Nigeria, and across Africa, fibre is simply and fibre as it is able to be deployed rapidly and “As capacity demands grow, microwave will not viable in most situations – it is too costly to provides an opportunity to accommodate the needs provide a significant runway for growth,” says deploy given the challenges of the terrain,” says for more capacity and features – from basic links Ancikovsky. “This is only the beginning, and WaveTek CEO Ken Spann. “On the other hand, to up to 4Gbps. Microwave can also work on a LTE hasn’t yet taken hold. Current customers microwave doesn’t provide the bandwidth and pure software mechanism where software upgrades are utilising approximately 100 megabits to 500 range needed and can’t stand up to our humidity can be done remotely through a network operation megabits. The capacity needed for LTE will and heavy rains. The Intellimax link has weathered centre. Carriers are picking up on these advantages.” increase to a range of between 500 megabits and our rainy season, delivering 100 per cent uptime.” Microwave technology is certainly evolving one gigabit. By 2016/2017, we will see the need AOptix and WaveTek conducted the Lagos beyond the ‘QAM wars’ that were grabbing the for one gigabit to the access sites.” validation using an E-band trial license granted headlines just a few years as vendors launched by the Nigerian Communications Commission. radios with higher amplitude modulation rates. Forget all the traditional solutions They have also been working closely with the Now, there is a much greater focus on offering commission to open up E-band spectrum for full customers higher capacity. Free-space optics (FSO), a technology that uses use in the country. AOptix hopes the release of That’s certainly the thinking behind multipoint light propagating in free space to wirelessly the spectrum in the first half of 2015 will allow microwave backhaul specialist Cambridge transmit data, has been around for quite some widespread deployment of its Intellimax system Broadband Networks Limited (CBNL). With time now but its use in Africa is fairly rare. which uses E-band, or 70-80GHz frequencies, the GSMA forecasting 500 LTE networks to However in April, Nigerian ICT solutions for the radio portion. be in service by 2017, the vendor has enhanced provider WaveTek announced it had successfully Spann believes E-band spectrum is a must its range of VectaStar Gigabit and VectaStar Metro deployed AOptix’s Laser-Radio Technology for both backhauling as well as for microcell wideband products, doubling platform capacity (LRT) in Lagos. A seven kilometre link has sites requiring multi-gigabit connections over to 600Mbps. It said the extra performance will connected capacity from submarine fibre cables short distances. “MNOs, tower companies and allow operators to meet the increased data to a distribution point in the city. others will see the value of rapid deployment, demands of next-generation networks, providing US-based AOptix describes itself as a “pioneer significantly reduced cost compared to fibre, and customers with faster mobile speeds and serving in ultra-high capacity wireless communications”. begin to tap these technologies, first as a backup the growing trend for multimedia services. Its Intellimax platform uses LRT that was originally to fibre and ultimately as an alternative in areas “LTE and 4G gives consumers and businesses developed for deep space imaging and later further where it is either economically or technologically vast economic opportunities and has the potential developed for military applications. The company not feasible to trench fibre. The ability to deploy to be truly transformative,” said CEO Lionel reckons LRT breaks new ground by integrating a 2Gbps link 24-48 hours up to 6-8km means that Chmilewsky. “However, there are many factors to FSO with millimetre wave RF technology to backhaul as well as 4G/LTE will benefit.” consider when managing and constructing next provide reliable, ultra-high bandwidth capacity What is clear in all this is that no single generation networks, not least the technical and (2Gbps) with carrier-grade availability up to 10km. technology will provide mobile operators with a cost requirements applicable for mobile backhaul. According to AOptix, the deployment of backhaul solution – fibre, satellite and microwave The huge volumes of data which these networks are Intellimax in Nigeria has proved the system’s ability each have their own advantages and disadvantages. capable of generating continues to drive operators to to provide high-bandwidth connectivity between the Semir Hassanaly, market director of cellular deploy new and innovative backhaul solutions.” country’s mobile carriers and the rest of the world. backhaul and trunking at Newtec, says the choice Chmilewsky claimed the latest VectaStar Lagos, the largest city in Africa with a between fibre, microwave or satellite is pragmatic wideband products offer TCO savings of up to 50 population of more than 20 million, is the and driven by three parameters: “Availability (fibre per cent compared to alternative forms of backhaul. landing point for four major submarine systems is most ideal in urban regions); economics (fibre is He added that by delivering up to 4.8Gbps per hub that connect Nigeria to Europe: SAT-3/WASC/ expensive which makes satellite or microwave – if site, VectaStar’s “flexible” wideband platform saves SAFE; ACE; GLO-1; and Main One. With the line of sight allows a limited number of hops – the valuable spectral resources and equipment through undersea cables largely in place, AOptix says the most cost-effective solutions); and marketing aggregating traffic from multiple cell sites. “This challenge now is to pull that network capacity (satellite provides quick go-to-market). Capacity intelligently allocates backhaul, enterprise access or into the continent’s population centres and bring requirements can be very acute and in the end it converged network capacity where it is needed most connectivity to under-served markets. But it adds is these three parameters which operators will and provides a platform which is easily scalable as there is currently not enough infrastructure in the consider when making the decision on which capacity demands grow.” region to transport the optical bandwidth. backhaul method to choose.” ■

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IPX coverage (SCCP, IPX-GRX, Diameter, and also including VoIPX available destinations)

IPX coverage (SCCP, IPX-GRX, Diameter)

PCCW Global offers full IPX coverage for mobile data. It has created a ﬁ bre ring around Africa by connecting the undersea cables on the East and West coasts via Teraco’s data centres in South Africa, thereby establishing an integrated VoIPX network. Creating new ways of doing business PCCW Global explains how it has become a major satellite, ﬁ bre, wireless and hybrid connectivity wholesale provider in Africa.

CCW Global is the international award for sub-Saharan African connectivity and the PCCW Global network. That facilitates operating division of HKT, Hong Kong’s solutions. reciprocal business. We are in many respects a premier telecoms service provider. The wholesale provider, but we want to be higher in the Pcompany’s initial operations on the continent Growing the value chain value chain and help MNOs develop new retail were solely focused on the cable and satellite business and new consumer services. markets of West and Central Africa. Nowadays, mobile data is of significant importance “Africa is a complex market where you need In 2012, it strengthened its African footprint by to many consumers and PCCW Global has made to reach landlocked countries and link multiple acquiring pan-African wholesale service provider, mobile a core sector. It is now building its own mo- submarine cables together. This is our challenge Gateway Communications. Gateway boasts a bile ecosystem on top of the IPX fibre network. along with how we can bring quality of service, rich history of knowledge and expertise in the Emmanuel Bain, PCCW Global’s worldwide and adapt to the level of infrastructure, the level provision of IP, satellite and GSM backhaul head of voice sales, has spent many years providing of the knowledge, and the different skills we may services. PCCW Global has subsequently been services to Africa’s mobile operators. He explains or may not find in different people. So really it is able to ensure service providers and end-users that the company’s goal is to become a key business about one-to-one marketing and having one- obtain fully reliable, high-quality, entirely partner for operators across the continent. to-one relationships with dedicated resources flexible and scalable internet capacity. “The foundation is our network, our data centres, applied to each particular case. This has led Frost and Sullivan to recognise and our salesforce. There are multiple things that “We really want to grow the value chain and the company as a “customer value leader” and we can do. The basic one is that we build the MPLS be the business partners, not just as a wholesaler awarded it the 2015 Customer Value Leadership and NNI between some of those operators in Africa selling them traditional mobile data services,

28 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015 INDUSTRY VIEW: PARTNERSHIPS

signalling, GRX, IPX, etc. We want to partner “We are trying to bring real answers to these with the operators to provide them with more questions. We seek out solutions that have been Emmanuel Bain, value-added services such as fighting and proven in other markets and then provide those to VP global sales, detecting SIM box fraud in their country. MNOs in Africa to sell to their retail customer base.” PCCW Global “We try to position ourselves as a retail Bain reiterates that protecting against bypass business enabler. The idea is to come to market fraud is one such solution that PCCW Global can with a set of solutions that the mobile operator offer. He says that while fraud affects MNOs all can sell to its own customer. What we clearly see over the world, it is a particular problem in Africa is that a lot of mobile operators in the world, and where the mobile termination rates are high. especially in Africa, have limited engineering To use his words, the fraudsters therefore find resources and limited capex. Most of their capex a “more juicy business in Africa” compared to MNOs can do that but they do it for their own is used on the radio network, especially on 3G in markets where the termination rates are lower. affiliates. There are plenty of operators on this some countries and even 4G in some others.” As well as fraud protection, Bain also points continent that are not part of a big group and this out that markets are increasingly becoming more is our target market. MNO challenges segmented and operators therefore require dedicated “If you are part of a big group, you can work solutions for niche parts of their customer base such on developing your own solutions. But if you Patrick George, PCCW Global’s head of mobile as e-health, education, mobile device security, etc. are a smaller operator or part of a smaller group, ecosystem, works closely with Bain and describes you have limited resources. The problems mobile the current situation that operators face. Reducing barriers to entry operators face in Africa is that their marketing and “All operators on the planet face the same engineering teams are not huge, and the scope of a four issues: firstly, how they can grow ARPU (or So why should the continent’s MNOs choose solution and its potential is quite large. maintain it if the market is growing or mature); PCCW Global rather than, for instance, other “So they cannot possibly study, say, 20 possible secondly, how they can optimise their cost larger MNOs or even satellite operators who services in parallel. It becomes very difficult base; thirdly, how they can bring a better user offer managed services? for them to identify new services because they experience to their subscribers (especially for the “If you take the satellite business it’s just have limited resources to work with. This is premium customer); and finally how they can a means to bring connectivity,” says Bain. exactly where we come in; we can play that role fight churn in a pre-paid market or, in markets “Connectivity is just one service to provide and of studying different use cases for them and can that are still growing, how can they attract and is relatively easy to solve. But what we’re doing bring them solutions that have already been gain market share. Those are the four questions is bringing value-added solutions that mobile proven in other markets. We can reduce their that keep C-level people awake during the night. operators can sell to their customers. Yes, larger barriers to entry.” ■

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Vodafone Saudi Arabia’s telecoms celebrates 30 years market is largest in MEA Saudi Arabia remains Despite the declines, the Saudi high demand areas such as Riyadh, the largest telecoms and Arabian telecoms market remained Jeddah, Mecca, Medina and Al-Ahsa. enterprise IT market in the Middle East the largest in terms of total service This will improve the competitive and Africa despite a drop in revenues, revenue in the MEA region in 2014. services segment, where historically according to Pyramid Research. It was followed by South Africa with the incumbent operator STC has led.” In a report published in mid-April, USD13.4 billion and Turkey with New operators, which not only Pyramid said total mobile and fixed USD13.0 billion. target Saudi Arabia but the wider services revenues in the country’s Annual growth in Saudi Arabia region, are also expected to enter the consumer and enterprise segment over the next five years is forecast market. Pyramid said a number of declined by one per cent to USD16.2 to average three per cent per year, venture capital funds have already The ﬁ rst call was made using Vodafone’s billion in 2014. It added that this was reaching USD18.7 billion by 2019. launched in the country, including Transportable VT1 which weighed 5kg Saudi Arabia’s first decline in overall Hussein Ahmed, analyst at Alkhabeer Capital, Mobily Ventures, and had around 30 minutes of talk time. service revenue in the last decade. Pyramid Research, said: “Operators STC Ventures and the government’s Pyramid said the drop was the result have invested in upgrading network own tech start-up fund. This year marks the 30th of “aggressive” promotional activity and infrastructure and systems to handle It added that the entrance of Virgin anniversary of mobile the re-statement of results from Mobily, growing data traffic volumes. The Mobile and Lebara will add a “fresh telephony in the UK. The country’s the country’s second largest MNO. It need in the short-term is for swift impetus” to the mobile market with new first mobile call was made on 1 saw revenue fall by 20 per cent in 2014. deployment of fibre connectivity in promotions for data and voice services. January 1985 on the newly-launched Vodafone network. Michael Harrison, son of former Vodafone chairman Ernest Harrison, was the HKT converges networks simultaneously first to test the system. He called his Hong Kong Telecom HKT’s network performance HKT to bring its two networks father using a Vodafone Transportable (HKT) has converged its through the use of large-capacity, together. It says the end-to-end net- VT1 which weighed 5kg and had 4G mobile networks simultaneously high-performance hardware as well work sharing solution has enabled around 30 minutes of talk time. using multi-operator core network as the latest software. HKT to achieve network inter- The first generation of mobile (MOCN), carrier aggregation (CA) In 2012, it provided CSL with a connectivity, service convergence, phones became available for sale in and VoLTE systems from ZTE. complete IMS-based VoLTE solution and “set the standard” for global the UK in 1984 even before a network After acquiring CSL in 2014, HKT with voice call continuity support VoLTE interoperability. was officially live. Vodafone says such operated two commercial networks using eSRVCC (enhanced single radio “KPIs such as VoLTE connection was the demand for a fully portable, in parallel. It therefore needed to voice call continuity) technology. time and voice quality will be near cellular phone that more than 2,000 integrate the two as quickly as The VoLTE network was launched perfect, and users will be able to orders had been taken by its sales possible to ensure high quality and for commercial use in 2014. experience communication services team before Harrison made his seamless services for its subscribers. With the deployment of MOCN, of the same quality as before, and historic call. By the end of 1985, over As the supplier of one of its two CA and VoLTE technologies, ZTE download files at a rate of up to 12,000 devices, each costing around mobile networks, ZTE optimised says it has now further assisted 300 Mbps,” claims the firm. GBP2,000, had been sold. In 1983, UK regulator Ofcom awarded two mobile licenses: one went to British Telecom which ran the Eutelsat HTS supports in-ﬂ ight Wi-Fi Cellnet network (later to become O2 Vueling says it has become equipment needed for Vueling’s A320. Specialist before being bought by Spanish telco the first low-cost airline in They deployed three access points that technicians Telefónica in 2005 for GBP18m); the Europe to offer high-speed Wi-Fi are sited behind the aircraft’s ceiling installed other was won by Vodafone. to its passengers. Last year, the panels, as well as a wireless Ethernet three APs Vodafone was originally formed Spanish company began working bridge, wireless data unit, and an behind the as a subsidiary of Racal Ltd, an with Telefónica to install Wi-Fi on its antenna power supply unit. aircraft’s electronics company established in aircraft using connectivity via high The heart of the system is located ceiling the 1950s by Raymond Brown and throughput satellites (HTS). in the avionics bay under the cockpit. panels. George Calder Cunningham. At In March 2015, the partners Here, a satellite modem is used to the time, it was 80 per cent owned announced that the first Airbus A320 send and receive the signal to and by Racal, with Millicom owning with the new integrated service is from the antenna, and it is also the 15 per cent, and the Hambros the EC-LZN. The plane can carry up interface with the baseband signal Technology Trust five per cent. to 180 passengers who will be able processing equipment. In 1991, Racal and Vodafone to use their mobile devices during Connectivity is provided via de-merged, and the Vodafone Group medium haul flights and benefit from Eutelsat’s Air Access platform and in flight. A protective dome is installed was publicly listed as an independent download speeds of up to 20Mbps. KA-SAT satellite. A Ka-band antenna, over this external antenna, which is in company on the London and New Specialist engineers and technicians installed on top of the fuselage, can turn covered by a fairing in order to York stock exchanges. took several days to install all the Wi-Fi track the satellite while the aircraft is preserve the Airbus’ aerodynamics.

30 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015 SAWC 1502 p21 (Acsys).indd 1 03/03/2015 14:58

WORLD NEWS

Xtera demonstrates ‘ultra- long’ distant transmission Xtera says it can deliver unrepeatered Telecommunications This is achieved via the Raman long single-span transmission at 100G transmissions beyond 600km at 100G. infrastructure company non-linear effect, where optical and 10G. After the 400G field trial Xtera Communications has pump waves are launched into the over 1,500km of aged, lossy fibres in fibre from Corning and the support demonstrated what it describes as “ultra- fibre to create optical gain for the Verizon’s network in summer 2013, of State Grid Information and long” unrepeatered transmission over optical signal carriers, says Xtera. and the demonstration of 150 x 100G Telecommunication Company. 607km at 100G and 632km at 10G. It also used its “enhanced” Remote transmission on a single 410km span Corning provided its Vascade EX2000 Xtera says it was able to send Optically Pumped Amplifier (ROPA) in 2014, these new results illustrate the optical fibre, which has an average signals such long distances by using configuration in the demonstrations. performance of Xtera’s Wise Raman attenuation of 0.160 dB/km, and an its Wise Raman technology, which Bertrand Clesca, head of global amplification solution for optical average effective area of 112µm2. Xtera increases the optical span length by marketing for Xtera Communications, backbone networks over long distances.” says this enables higher optical launch turning some parts of the line fibre says: “These demonstrations represent The demonstrations were conducted powers for Raman pumping, ROPA, into an amplification medium. the industry-leading results for ultra- with large effective area ultra-low loss and data transmission. Tait to deliver largest Telstra makes SDN platform DMR Tier 3 system in US available worldwide

Tait Communications, provision by Tait of the radio network Telstra is making its Pacnet’s infrastructure to provide a provider of critical system and approximately 1,650 software-defined networking “enhanced connectivity and services” communications systems for utilities subscriber units. It also contains a (SDN) platform available globally. The across Asia and the rest of the world. and public safety agencies, has 12-year managed services contract, company says the move is a result of its Pacnet’s early adoption of SDN been commissioned to create what which comes into effect at the end recent acquisition of Pacnet, a global technology prompted Telstra to is claimed to be the largest digital of the first phase of the rollout. telecommunications provider. accelerate its plans. It decided to mobile radio (DMR) Tier 3 system Garry Diack, chief executive of Telstra, the Australian Tier 1 build on Pacnet’s existing 16 PEN in North America. The client is the Tait Communications, says: “This telecommunications giant, will POPs across Asia by adding nine Alliant Energy Corporation, which system upgrade will deliver better- make the Pacnet Enabled Network – new Telstra PEN POPs. supplies Midwest US. than-before coverage and reliability to or PEN – available at 25 points of Webb claims PEN has created the The new 122 site DMR trunked improve worker safety. Additionally, presence worldwide. world’s first globally connected on- network will provide coverage for our managed services capability The network spans eight countries, demand networking platform. Alliant’s territories in Iowa and allows us to work in partnership including Australia, Hong Kong, “While software, servers and stor- Wisconsin, and will replace an with Alliant Energy to optimise their Singapore, the US and UK. It also age have all become virtualised over assortment of legacy independent network over the life of the system.” offers connectivity options into public the past decade, networks have largely radio networks. The new system Alliant Energy generates and cloud services to bridge hybrid cloud remained unchanged,” he says. will supplant the old system in distributes electricity and natural gas deployments. “The new PEN platform re-imagines phases, with the first phase due to be for more than one million electric Darrin Webb, chief operating the role of traditional telecommu- finished before February 2017, with customers and 420,000 natural gas officer, global enterprise and services, nications and enables organisations completion before the end of 2017. customers. Its geographical territory says the new, global PEN platform to complement traditional network The agreement includes the spans about 70,000 square miles. helps to combine Telstra’s and approaches with SDN technology. Facebook chooses Inﬁ nera for global optical network The world’s largest social can deliver terabits of capacity on a 1.2Tbps super-channels in the future. network, which boasts one Inﬁ nera’s Tom single fibre across the continent. The high capacity super-channels billion users of its website every day, Fallon says Tom Fallon, Infinera CEO, says: are enabled by 500Gbps photonic has chosen the Infinera global optical Facebook is a good “Facebook is a classic example of how integrated circuits (PICs) developed and network for its data flow. example of how leading internet content providers are fabricated by Infinera – the only supplier Facebook says the Infinera Intelligent to build a global building global networks that inter- providing 500Gbps of transmission Transport Network will light what it network. connect their data centres to accelerate capacity from a single line card. claims is the world’s longest terrestrial the delivery of high bandwidth, PICs enable the DTN-X platform optical network route, capable of network stretches from its Lulea data feature rich services worldwide.” to integrate wavelength division mul- delivering up to eight terabits per second centre in Sweden, across major hubs Currently, Facebook delivers tiplexing super-channel transmission of data transmission capacity. throughout Europe. Infinera will use 100 gigabit per second coherent with up to 12Tbps of non-blocking The new route spans 3,998km and its DTN-X platform to connect these transmission to its European network optical transport network switching, is deployed without any regeneration. hubs for Facebook, also using its via 500Gbps super-channels, featuring providing seamless scaling as traffic Facebook’s European terrestrial FlexCoherent solution, which it says a forward-scale design to support requirements grow in the future.

April/May 2015 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 33 Register to receive your free copy of this & other business magazines: WORLD NEWS www.kadiumpublishing.com

Polish police Siemens will monitor deploy TETRA Arabsat’s ﬂ eet trafﬁ c Three police forces in Poland have selected Siemens Convergence Arabsat’s Khalid CEO of Arabsat, says: “Carrier ID is a Sepura TETRA technology for their Creators (SCC) will monitor Balkheyour says global, industry-wide initiative aimed at secure communications. Police in all traffic within Arabsat’s satellite the company is speeding up the resolution of interference Lodz, Krakow and Szczecin will fleet. It will install a new CSM taking a leading and improving the quality of service for deploy the vendor’s FR400 base sta- (communications system monitoring) role in SIRG. all users of satellite communications. tions, SICS NET dispatch consoles, system at the company’s Dirab Earth “Arabsat is actively involved in the a fully redundant central switch, and Station in Saudi Arabia to provide a that is designed to be ready for future global interference mitigation initia- hand-portable radios with encryption, round-the-clock monitoring service requirements. SCC reckons it is one of tives through its leading role in SIRG SDS and packet data functionalities. for the RF and quality-of-service the first satellite monitoring solutions and the [Global VSAT Forum], and Sepura’s TETRA infrastructure will measurements, the characterisation, available on the market to support always strives to use state-of-the-art be shared by police with a variety decoding, and analysing of all carri- Carrier ID detection, a new technology technology to ensure the highest quality of public sector organisations and ers within the payload. that enables the identification of the services to its customers with current emergency users such as the fire and The CSM solution that SCC will owner of a satellite signal. and future satellites.” ambulance services, as well as the provide is called SIECAMS. The Both Arabsat and SCC are members ■ Meanwhile, Arabsat has awarded regional crisis management centre. company says it will enable Arabsat of the Satellite Interference Reduction Arianespace a launch service contract to enter “a new dimension” of Group (SIRG), which they say will lead for the Hellasat-4/Saudi Geo Satellite-1. satellite monitoring and interference to cooperation in combating and miti- Arabsat is teaming up with King Abdul- detection and thus improve the quality gating satellite interference to improve Aziz City for Science and Technology Intelsat gets of its satellite services. It’s claimed the overall quality of satellite services. to develop the satellite, which will be ETL upgrade SIECAMS has a flexible architecture Khalid Balkheyour, president and built by Lockheed Martin.

Intelsat has chosen RF signal distribution Ooredoo in deal with Hong Kong telco equipment by ETL Systems to Qatari operator the provisioning of services to carrier ensures direct connection to our upgrade its teleport facilities. ETL’s Ooredoo has and multinational customers requiring IPX voice platform and the highest technology – specifically its Enigma signed an IPX/MPLS multi-service services such as VoIPX, GRX, Diam- quality services.” range of equipment – will be used at interconnection deal with PCCW eter, HD calling, HD video conferenc- Ooredoo and PCCW Global are each teleport to monitor the signal Global, the international operating ing, Ethernet, cloud and SDN. already collaborating as founder strength of each line of communi- division of Hong Kong telco HKT. “Our IPX network can be directly members of the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 cation from the various satellites. PCCW Global says its customers accessed in 140 countries around the (AAE-1) subsea cable system which Enigma routers provide operators all over the world can now benefit world without having to make use of is scheduled for completion in 2016. with quick switching time that from multiple enhanced IPX and the public internet or long-distance Supporting PCCW Global’s plans allows continuous cycling through MPLS services when connecting with connections,” says Frederick Chui, to deliver services into Africa and the various channels to prevent any Qatar’s “thriving commercial service PCCW Global’s SVP of global data the Middle East, AAE-1 is said to be outage going unseen, says ETL. community” on the north-eastern sales and pre-sales. one of the largest consortium cable coast of the Arabian Peninsula. “Extensive coverage, coupled with projects under way in the world The agreement also enables PCCW the diversified design of PCCW today, extending some 25,000km DAMM gains Global and Ooredoo to collaborate in Global’s private MPLS/IP network, (News, Dec 2013-Jan 2014). certiﬁ cation Tuvalu selects ABS for high-speed internet DAMM has obtained Tuvalu Telecommunications is located in the Pacific Ocean roughly communications to ensure the necessary EN 50121-4 standards Corporation (TTC) and ABS halfway between Hawaii and Australia. infrastructure is readily available to certification for its TetraFlex Outdoor have signed a five-year contract for ABS-6 will enable state-owned support the needs of Tuvalu.” System which is designed for the the use of the ABS-6 satellite, which is TTC, the nation’s only telecoms rail and metro sectors. EN 50121-4 located at 159ºE and covers the Pacific service provider, to offer high-speed certification is issued for railway Ocean and East Asia regions. internet to schools, banks, and applications, including signalling TTC provides mainly satellite- hospitals, as well as for IP backhaul and telecommunications apparatus, based services for communications services for its mobile network. by European standards bodies. It and broadband connectivity between ABS CEO Tom Choi says his firm specifies limits for emission and Tuvalu’s islands and atolls, and the is supplying Tuvalu with “reliable immunity and also provides criteria with the rest of the world. It will use communications connectivity”. for performance. By gaining the C-band capacity on ABS-6 to increase He adds: “In March 2015, Tuvalu certification, DAMM’s mission the volume of traffic to the six atolls experienced the impact of Cyclone critical TETRA radio platform and three reef islands that make up the Pam when it passed through the ABS-6, pictured in 2013 before its can now be used in all rail systems tiny island state of Tuvalu, which has a region and disrupted communications launch, will now service Tuvalu and its where EN 50121-4 is required. population of about 11,000 people and for days. This service will offer critical population of 11,000 people.

34 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS April/May 2015

SAWC 1408 p36 (Hytera).indd 1 15/08/2014 11:58