Southern African Volume 20 Number 4

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 southern african Volume 20 Number 4

Forwireless communications professionals in southern Africa COMMUNICATIONS

● Is ﬁ bre now best for backhaul? ● Testing and optimising LTE networks ● Vietnam launches its third African network

To see how IDT can help you reach out and grow your business, email [email protected] or visit idtcarrierservices.com wirelesssouthern african CONTENTS COMMUNICATIONS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 5 News southern african Volume 20 5 News review Number 4 NOVEMBER/

Forwireless communications professionals in southern Africa COMMUNICATIONS DECEMBER 2015 > Vietnam launches third operation in Africa > First mobile 4G network goes live in Rwanda Volume 20

● > Eutelsat’s new generation HTS for broadband Is ﬁ bre now best for backhaul? ● Testing and optimising Number 4 LTE networks ● Vietnam launches > EcoCash links with MoneyGram worldwide its third African network > Mobile contributing USD100bn to SSA > Satellite operators sign crisis charter

To see how IDT can help you reach out and grow your business, email [email protected] or visit idtcarrierservices.com > South African cellcos fail QoS targets > COMESA and Microsoft promote connectivity > RNS builds Botswana highway towers > Openserve to rollout fi bre in Pretoria IDT is one of the largest global carriers of > Alvarion Wi-Fi in Rwandan schools international voice traffi c, generating over 30 billion international minutes last year 12 News focus as well as creating billions of retail minutes 22 Wireless solutions > Fighting the fake mobiles in Africa through our BOSS Revolution brand. 15 Wireless business To see how our scale and reach can > Airtel closes tower deal – but others lapse help you grow your business, come see us at AfricaCom stand B17 (Hall 2), 22 Wireless solutions email [email protected] or visit > Lightening the load for body-worn cams idtcarrierservices.com. 24 Backhaul Turn to page 18 Features: to fi nd out more about IDT 24 Backhaul > RAHIEL NASIR fi nds out whether fi bre now offers the best solution for mobile backhaul. 29 Testing 4G > Testing and optimising LTE introduces new 29 Testing 4G complexities, as RAHIEL NASIR discovers

34 World news > World’s ﬁ rst demo of 5G “slicing” > Miniaturised 4G network in New Zealand > Highest ever C-band transmission achieved > Verizon expands urban and rural connectivity 35 World news > Indigo project to boost EU satellite industry

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NEWS

Vietnam launches its third African mobile operation State-owned Vietnamese operator and Cameroon (Nexttel) earlier Viettel has now launched its mobile this year, and in Mozambique with network in Tanzania. Under the Movitel in 2014. brand name ‘Halotel’, the company With an initial investment of is offering 2G services as well as USD736m, Viettel says the build out Viettel says Halotel’s network infrastructure was built in just a year. It adds that what it claims is “competitively and installation of Halotel’s network the introduction of the service has created more than 22,000 jobs in Tanzania. priced” 3G connectivity to the infrastructure was completed in just most remote parts of the country. one year. It comprises 18,000km of The company will also provide Halotel’s vision is to provide every Viettel gained its license in fibre and more than 3,000 BSTs, and free internet connectivity to 450 Tanzanian with a mobile phone and Tanzania towards the end of last is claimed to have created more than public schools over the next three bring ICT to all parts of society. year (see News, Nov-Dec 2014). It says 2,000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs. years. In addition, Viettel provided “When telecommunications the country is East Africa’s second- Viettel says the network has optical cable to 150 committees, 150 services are accessible to everyone and biggest economy, and represents its enabled services to all 26 provinces public hospitals, 150 police stations become a part of everyday life, they tenth international market outside in Tanzania. It covers 81 per cent and 65 post offices during the first can be a driving force contributing to Vietnam. This latest launch on of the population across rural and half of the year. socio-economic development for the the continent follows the rollout urban areas, and 1,500 villages are Nguyen Manh Hung, general country as a whole,” says Hung. of services in Burundi (Lumitel) now connected for the first time. director of the Viettel Group, says SSA mobile industry worth billions – p6 ICASA to investigate dynamic spectrum management The Independent Communications broadband policy. In a public discussion for terrestrial broadcasting and would To meet booming demand for wire- Authority of South Africa (ICASA) document issued in September, constitute the first phase of DSA in less broadband capacity, the authority has proposed developing a regulatory the authority further proposes the South Africa. points out that future generations framework for dynamic spectrum adoption of DSA on a geolocation According to ICASA, DSA is an of wireless technology and services assignment (DSA). It believes this basis as one of the techniques to umbrella term used to describe a will not only have to increase their will enable the emergence of new achieve the policy’s priorities. set of technologies and techniques efficiency in terms of bits per second technologies and techniques that In particular, it advocates regulations that enable radio devices to per Hertz, they will also need new promote more intensive and efficient that would enable broadband services opportunistically transmit on available approaches to network architectures use of spectrum. on a secondary-user assignment basis spectrum. It says this will greatly and spectrum management. ICASA’s proposal broadly ref lects in the 470-694MHz UHF band. This relieve the problem of spectrum ICASA is expecting all comments recommendations made in SA includes the TV white space (TVWS) shortage for broadband in the license- to be submitted by 18 December. Connect, South Africa’s national spectrum currently used exclusively exempt bands below 1GHz. South African cellcos fail QoS tests – p8 Tigo goes live with ﬁ rst mobile 4G network in Rwanda Tigo has become the first mobile ORN is the only 4G infrastructure ■ Tigo’s parent company Millicom operator to launch 4G services in company in Rwanda. It was setup by the has launched an online remittance Rwanda using the wholesale LTE government with backing from Korea service enabling Tigo Pesa subscribers network built by Olleh Rwanda Telecom for the exclusive and wholesale in Tanzania to receive money in real- Networks (ORN). provision of a universal broadband time from friends and family in the The cellco says it has so far network using LTE technology. European Union and Canada. invested in excess of USD310m in Han-Sung Yoon, CEO of ORN, Millicom says sendmoney.tigo.com the country where it now has more says that since the network went live offers the same security standards as than 2.9m customers. Over the last with the launch of commercial LTE banks, with payments processed via few weeks, the company says it was services last year, its mission has Verified by Visa and MasterCard Secure- “first in line” to introduce mobile 4G been to grow. “The 4G network is Code. It claims the service has one of services tailored specifically to post- expanding towards our target coverage the lowest transaction fees in the market. paid users using the Samsung J1 Ace of 95 per cent of the country by 2017. The company plans to extend Millicom’s Africa division EVP Cynthia which it recently launched in Rwanda. This is on track with partnerships sendmoney.tigo.com to include Tigo Cash Gordon shows Rwandan president Tigo subscribers with 4G-enabled such as with Tigo Rwanda.” wallets in other African countries. Paul Kagame the beneﬁ ts of 4G at smartphones can now upgrade their Rwanda’s other mobile operators MTN Rwanda connects with Safaricom’s a recent launch event in Kigali. SIMs for RWF1,000 (USD1.34). include Airtel and MTN. M-PESA – p8

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

Rahiel Nasir, Editorial director Eutelsat unveils new HTS

ON THE NETWORK for African broadband Eutelsat Communications has revealed The satellite will address direct- TAS claims Neo offers a fully modular the next step in its broadband strategy to-user consumer and enterprise platform with a smart Ka HTS payload Too much tech for Africa with the order of a new- broadband services with dishes sized for “unrivalled flexibility and maximum generation high-throughput satellite from approximately 75cm. It will throughput”. It says the all-electric too soon? (HTS) from Thales Alenia Space (TAS). also be used for community networks version of the platform combines high To be launched in 2019, the all- connected to Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile efficiency and light weight, and will Over the last 20 years, this magazine electric spacecraft will be the first to backhauling and rural connectivity. also mean Eutelsat benefits from more has carried thousands of reports about use Thales’ new Spacebus Neo platform, During the coming months, cost-effective launch options. how CSPs have been working tirelessly and Eutelsat claims it will offer Eutelsat has the option to upscale The all-electric Neo is currently to build the wireless networks needed “unprecedented” operational f lexibility. the satellite to significantly increase capable of carrying payloads to bridge the digital divide. The firm says its baseline mission overall throughput and service areas. weighing more than 1,400kg, and And yet despite all their best efforts, will be to provide 75Gbps of capacity The company adds that its African with power exceeding 16kW. Starting countries in sub-Sahara Africa still have across a network of 65 spot beams that broadband business, including sales, in 2016, TAS says the platform will most of the world’s lowest levels of together provide “quasi-complete” will be managed by a newly created be able to handle payloads up to internet access with only one in nine coverage of sub-Saharan Africa. London-based affiliate. 2,000kg, with record power of 20kW. households connected, according to the ITU’s latest State of Broadband report (see News, Sep-Oct issue). EcoCash enables MoneyGram remittances Why is that? It’s certainly not for want of technological solutions – I have Econet Wireless has teamed up with EcoCash is said to be the second- diaspora and home,” says Mboweni. lost count of the number of times I MoneyGram to enable EcoCash users fastest growing mobile money solution MoneyGram services are have written about how innovation is to transfer funds from more than 200 in Africa after M-PESA. Econet CEO available in more than 50 African the very reason why the unconnected countries and territories worldwide. Douglas Mboweni says working with countries, and the company says have been connected on the continent. According to the Zimbabwean cell- MoneyGram will help reach more it is working to support economic But could it be that technology is co, the new service means more than consumers who rely on EcoCash’s development across the continent now part of the problem rather than 4.9m EcoCash subscribers and Money- domestic and international remittance through expanded alternative the solution? That may across as Gram users can receive funds across services for their daily financial needs. channels like EcoCash. somewhat counter-productive from its mobile money network. It adds that “In-wallet remittances are becoming someone who has both a personal and consumers can access MoneyGram’s more topical, not only in driving access Econet Wireless CEO professional interest in ICT. But I have services at more than 20,000 EcoCash to international remittances for the Douglas Mboweni says often said that the technology industry sites across Zimbabwe, or at any one of previously unbanked but also driving the partnership drives at large has a tendency to run while MoneyGram’s worldwide agents. further financial inclusion as we link the ﬁ nancial inclusion. users are still learning how to walk. By its very nature, the industry is all about innovation and creating the ‘next best thing’. But that presents a Mobile contributing USD102bn to SSA dilemma for customers: should they The mobile industry contributed Unique subscriber growth in sub-Saharan Africa. 49% invest in new kit today only to have USD102 billion to the sub-Saharan SOURCE: GSMA INTELLIGENCE 495 518 445 471 it superseded the following year? Or African (SSA) economy last year, 417 386 348 should they defer a product purchase according to the latest GSMA study. 309 25% 272 as they wait for the latest version? In its Mobile Economy – Sub-Saharan 235 200 While all that is probably more Africa 2015 report published in October, 11% applicable to the B2C rather than the the association said the contribution was 7% B2B market, I do see some overlap. equivalent to 5.7 per cent of the region’s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 For instance, while many MNOs are GDP, with mobile operators directly Unique subscribers (m) Share of global subscribers Penetration still expanding their 3G networks they contributing 1.7 per cent or USD31bn. also need to plan for 4G and will no The GSMA forecasts the industry SSA continues to represent the 16 per cent increase compared to 2013. doubt be aware that their counterparts to contribute USD166bn in value world’s fastest-growing mobile region. The GSMA said ongoing investment elsewhere are gearing up for 5G. to the region by 2020 which will The GSMA predicts it will have 386m in mobile broadband networks will Of course, I am not advocating the be equivalent to eight per cent of unique mobile subscribers by the end of reach USD13.6bn by 2020. end of innovation. I just wonder if expected GDP. Acting director general 2015, equivalent to 41 per cent of the In 2014, the SSA mobile ecosystem there’s ‘too much’ technology too soon and CTO Alex Sinclair said: “Despite region’s population. It adds that total directly employed around two million creating a distraction for operators revenue and margin pressures, local connections are on track to reach 722m people, with the majority working who end up focusing more on what mobile operators continue to invest by year-end, with 3G/4G accounting in the distribution and retail sectors they can use to build the networks of heavily to extend network coverage to for almost a quarter of connections. and approximately 325,000 employed tomorrow, rather than how they can serve unconnected communities and The study also found that the region’s by operators. It is forecast that the expand the ones of today. accelerate the migration to high-speed operators invested USD9bn in network industry will grow to support more [email protected] 3G/4G mobile broadband networks.” infrastructure development in 2014, a than six million jobs by 2020.

6 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015

Kigali FTTH MTN opens mobile money now live Liquid Telecom Rwanda’s corridors in East Africa FTTH service is now available to homes and businesses in MTN Rwanda has opened a mobile money to students in Uganda. It’s a Kigali. With speeds of up to 100Mbps, money corridor with Kenya, enabling its welcome development which we hope it’s claimed the service offers the Mobile Money customers and Safaricom will be implemented across the five East fastest-ever internet access available in M-PESA users to seamlessly send and African Community partner states.” the country. Liquid is investing more receive remittances between themselves. Both services are supported by mobile than USD35m in laying Rwanda’s first “We are determined to strengthen wallet aggregator MFS Africa. MTN FTTH network which will continue in the path we are taking towards financial Rwanda customers can easily send Kigali and expand to other cities in the inclusion in Rwanda, and I believe this remittances via their mobiles and are future. It says more than 15,000 homes new partnership will be a powerful shown the equivalent amount to send will be passed by the network by the driver of economic growth,” says MTN MTN says interconnecting its mobile based on prevailing forex rates. Safaricom end of next year. The service will also Rwanda CEO Gunter Engling. money system with Safaricom’s has a transaction limit of KES70,000 be available from mobile operators and MTN Rwanda’s announcement M-PESA will drive economic growth. (USD680) for M-PESA users. ISPs in the country using wholesale made in mid-October came just a Rwanda currently has a mobile access from Liquid. month after it introduced cross-border Kabonero said: “Regional remittance penetration rate of 72.6 per cent and transactions with MTN Uganda. will greatly reduce the cost of doing more than 8.1m subscribers, according Speaking at the time, Uganda’s business across our borders as well as to July 2015 data from the Rwanda Illegal SIMs ambassador to Rwanda Richard ease other challenges including sending Utilities and Regulatory Agency. in Zambia The Zambia Information South African cellcos fail call retention test and Communication Cell C, MTN and Vodacom all failed in terms of call setup success rates a consequence, ICASA said Cell C’s Technology Authority (ZICTA) has to meet call retention targets as part (CSSR) and retention of voice calls actual customer experience is expected discovered illegal SIM cards being of the latest QoS tests carried out by (drop call rates). The results showed to be better than the measured result. sold in Masala townships in Ndola, the Independent Communications that the three operators did not meet Following the publication of the country’s third largest city and Authority of South Africa (ICASA). the target in terms of call retention, ICASA’s findings, Vodacom said it commercial centre for its copper In its latest quarterly monitoring whilst Vodacom met the CSSR target. would improve retention rates through mining region. Working with local test report published in October, the The regulator said its test strategies such as site optimisation, police, ZICTA’s compliance officers regulator looked at the networks and methodology excluded roaming sectorisation, re-planning, and new sites. confiscated an unknown number services provided by each operator in which is why Telkom Mobile was not Meanwhile, Cell C has initiated of pre-registered MTN and Airtel the Mpumalanga Province. Various included in its report as it currently discussions with Vodacom on seamless SIMs. The authority said they were test areas were selected to represent roams on MTN’s network in most call handovers. These will initially being sold to the public contrary to rural and semi-urban locations. areas. Similarly, it noted that Cell C be implemented on the edges of Cell Zambian legal regulations which Using Ascom’s TEMS investigation does not have continuous coverage in C’s coverage areas. ICASA did not state that purchasers submit a tool, ICASA’s drive-test focused some of the areas tested as it relies on mention any remedial plans for MTN. completed SIM card registration on network performance measured roaming on Vodacom’s network. As Testing 4G networks – feature pp29-31 form to the seller. Airtel shares Operators sign Crisis Connectivity Charter Seven of the world’s leading satellite UN emergency Africa, the Middle East, Asia and companies have agreed to work relief coordinator Europe. Additionally, the signatories interest together to enhance connectivity Stephen O’Brien will support training and capacity Airtel Tanzania has during humanitarian emergencies. says satcoms building for the humanitarian distributed more than Eutelsat, Hispasat, Inmarsat, Intelsat, is “immune to community across all continents. TZS5 billion (USD2.3m) from its SES, Thuraya and Yahsat signed the natural disasters”. Stephen O’Brien, OCHA’s under- Airtel Money trust account to active Crisis Connectivity Charter in mid- secretary general and also the UN’s mobile money customers and agents October under the umbrella of the emergency relief coordinator, said the across the country. The amounts EMEA Satellite Operators Association agreement was a significant move for the paid were based on the subscriber’s and the Global VSAT Forum (GVF). networks are affected, destroyed or humanitarian community, as well as a end-of-day balances available for the The UN Office for the Coordination overloaded after a disaster. “step change” in the way it has worked period from March 2014 to April of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and It also includes increased with satellite operators in the past. 2015. The operator claims that by the Emergency Telecommunications coordination to prioritise access to “The humanitarian community sharing the interest accumulated Cluster are also signatories. bandwidth for humanitarian purposes relies on satellite communication on its trust fund, it is boosting the The charter formalises terms and during disaster operations, and as it is the only technology that is use of mobile money services in protocols designed to accelerate pre-positioned satellite equipment immune to natural disasters and can Tanzania where the unbanked the ability of emergency response and transmission capacity during be immediately deployed, regardless population is about 85 per cent. teams to access satcoms when local disasters in 20 high-risk countries in of constraints such as geography.”

8 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015

COMESA and Microsoft Botswana highway promote connectivity towers The Common Market for Eastern “Through this collaboration, we Radio Network Solutions (RNS) has and Southern Africa (COMESA) will bring policymakers and businesses been awarded a contract to supply and will work with Microsoft to promote together and empower them to take install telecoms towers in Botswana. access to technology to improve advantage of the cloud-first, mobile- “In an effort to improve road regional trade, develop public sector first world,” says Antony Cook, infrastructure for faster connectivity ICT skills, and foster local innovation associate general counsel, legal and in the country, we are erecting for better service delivery. corporate affairs for Microsoft MEA. multiple towers along the route,” Microsoft says the deal is in line “With the right policies and regulations says RNS sales director Richard with the three focus areas in its 4Afrika in place, people will be encouraged to Hill. “The aim is to give road users initiative: world-class skills, access and use cloud technology, develop their uninterrupted connectivity, thereby innovation. Under an MoU signed in own IP and ultimately participate in empowering them to make instant Lusaka in early November, the company trade and e-commerce across borders.” contact with the office, family or says it will promote access to technology COMESA’s secretary general Sindiso Cook adds that the partnership even emergency calls if necessary.” to COMESA’s 19 member states based Ngwenya (right) says business will also mean e-government services, Eleven towers, each 56 metres on a trusted cloud infrastructure that technology has revolutionised the way enabling citizens and businesses to in height, are being erected on concentrates on the secure deployment countries and ﬁ rms conduct business. benefit from safe online transactions, the road between Gaborone and of modern IT operations. Also pictured is Microsoft’s Antony Cook. open borders and efficiency, as well Ramokgwebana. The 506km The partners also expect their as increased foreign investment. (315 mile) route forms part of collaboration to accelerate and such as dynamic spectrum access. It The implementation of the MoU the A1 highway that runs from promote the adoption of innovative, will also encourage the use of cloud will be the responsibility of the the Zimbabwean border, located high-speed and low-cost connectivity technologies through the adoption of COMESA Business Council which close to Ramokgwebane, through initiatives. This will include new policy important enabling policies in the areas acts as the voice of the private sector Francistown and Gaborone, all the approaches to frequency management of cybersecurity and data protection. in the region. way to the border with South Africa.

10 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015 NEWS

Telkom’s new wholesale division to connect a million homes by 2018 Openserve, the wholesale division of open access. “Open access for us is the new company is settled on. but not the LTE capabilities which South Africa’s incumbent operator about offering all our clients equal access It will however inherit will stay with the consumer and Telkom, says more than 10,000 to our pervasive network, and providing both the wireless and mobile division. Pretoria East homes will have access a service at any point they desire.” fixed infrastructure to fibre by the end of this year. He added that it will be another six of Telkom’s current Alphonzo Samuels says Openserve will At the end of September, the operator months before the final structure of wholesale division, offer clients equal access to Telkom’s network. announced fibre rollouts in Bryanston as well as across multiple additional suburbs of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Kimberley and Port Elizabeth. “Openserve is committed to Telkom’s goal of reaching one million homes with fibre access by 2018, and already has the largest fibre network in the country,” claims Openserve MD Alphonzo Samuels. “We want to significantly impact broadband in South Africa, and fibre offers the best internet experience.” Telkom created its separate wholesale division earlier this year with the formal launch of Openserve in October. Speaking at the time, Samuels – who was previously Telkom’s CTO – said the business will operate within the Telkom group but “without discrimination” and on the basis of Wi-Fi in Rwandan schools Balton CP has deployed a high-speed Wi-Fi solution from Alvarion in more than 15 higher learning institutions throughout Rwanda. The project, funded through the Rwanda Board of Development, means tens of thousands of students and teachers now have ubiquitous access to high-speed internet and intranet services via any connected device. The network features Alvarion’s latest version of its complete Wi-Fi package, and is mesh-enabled for what the vendor claims is “superior” coverage, both indoors and outdoor. It says the network provides secure connectivity throughout each institution’s campus, and in some cases across multiple locations. UK-based Balton CP aims to develop business in Africa via its subsidiaries in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

November/December 2015 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 11 Register to receive your free copy of this & other business magazines: NEWS FOCUS: FAKE PHONES www.kadiumpublishing.com Fighting the mobile clones in Africa Operators could lose billions in revenues as a growing number of counterfeit phones end up on the continent’s markets.

t’s been revealed that 10-20 per cent of mobile phones currently coming into African networks MAKE MODEL CONFIGURATION NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS are cloned or counterfeit, with Nokia and ISamsung being the favourites for the fraudsters. Simi S40D Manual 16,7832 Over the next five years, Mobilethink predicts DXD S332 Manual 10,606 that more than 52 million smartphones activated on African networks will be fake. If banned, VINKO Mini M9i OTA 14,550 the firm says these devices could cost MNOs a cumulative loss of around USD6bn (based on KGTEL GX1i OTA 14,775 10 million new users each year with an ARPU G Vill G8 OTA 26,664 of USD10 per month), or even higher given that smartphone users tend to generate higher DARAGO i6 Manual 20,154 revenues compared to feature phone users. ENESMobile 220 Manual 9,567 Mobilethink is part of the device intelligence business of test and measurement specialist Gresso 108 No data 14,506 Spirent Communications. It says the region’s Volte E1105 Manual 10,074 governments are becoming increasingly concerned about cloned and counterfeit devices S-Mobile G6153 Manual 3,804 due to issues of parallel importing, the risk they VELL-COM TV205 Manual 35,763 present to mobile payment systems, and their use of potentially hazardous materials. For instance, KGTEL Asha 210 Manual 57,830 the company cites the Communications Authority T-com T800 Manual 79,038 of Kenya (formerly the Communications Commission of Kenya) which said sub-standard DKTORM JOY Manual 18,897 components are often used in manufacturing cloned devices. It warned that these have not been The above list of low-cost handsets were added to Mobilethink’s database during September-October. Some put through safety checks and might emit higher of these devices support over-the-air settings, but most need to be manually conﬁ gured by customers using than recommended radiation levels. guides sent to them by operators’ customer care teams. This adds complexity for users.

12 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015 NEWS FOCUS: FAKE PHONES

Some countries such as Kenya and Nigeria have to come onto Africa’s market by 2020, around “So the customer’s experience in using a network introduced legislation ordering carriers to trace 20 per cent will be low-cost models that do not is very poor. Until such time as end users understand and block cloned and counterfeit devices. But support OTA configuration. the settings issue, Africa’s Mobilethink points out that the sudden blocking “If you ask a device manufacturer about cheap device dilemma of masses of devices is not only inconvenient for customer care issues, it will almost certainly will not go away.” consumers, but could also be dangerous for those reply that this is the responsibility of the who rely on their mobiles for critical applications network operator,” says Nurmimaki. “So when Mobilethink’s Mikko such as health, well-being, personal safety, etc. It a subscriber signs up for a service and can’t Nurmimaki says the adds that carriers will also suffer as the sudden get online, the immediate reaction is to call an simple answer to the shutdown of a device creates a significant churn operator’s care centre for support. The care centre problem of counterfeit threat and subsequent loss of income. can only send the subscriber a guide for self- phones is for end-users to configuration – this process is very long, detailed think twice before buying Device intelligence and challenging for most device owners. “cheap” phones online.

As a result, the company has developed the Device Intelligence Suite (DIS). It comprises various solutions for device management and customer engagement, and also includes a device database together with handset guides for customer call centres and over-the-air (OTA) self-care. Mobilethink says its device management solution contains a unique algorithm for detecting and configuring up to 80 per cent of cloned and counterfeit handsets on the market. It also features a unique live IMEI pattern detection mechanism for differentiated handling of the activation of such devices. The firm says its solution also gives the operator an opportunity to upsell. For instance, when blocking a particularly harmful cloned device, an operator can simultaneously allow services for a more benign type of cloned device for a limited period if the customer agrees to return the counterfeit handset in exchange for an original product. In addition to the DIS, Mobilethink also offers a certification scheme where manufacturers can submit their phones for testing APN settings for networks. These settings are added to the company’s library which is claimed to be the largest database of its kind in the world. Around 20 African mobile operators are currently using Mobilethink’s services in countries such as Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The firm says the simple answer to prevent the problem of counterfeit phones on the continent is for end- users to think twice before buying “cheap” phones online. But that’s not going to happen, according to Mobilethink’s head of marketing Mikko Nurmimaki. He adds that the problem is further exacerbated by the fact that of the 350 million smartphones expected

November/December 2015 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 13

WIRELESS BUSINESS

Airtel closes IHS tower sale – but Eaton Towers deal is terminated IHS Holding has completed the According to IHS, by outsourcing its IHS Group CEO Airtel was to sell and lease back sale and lease back of 949 towers tower infrastructure Airtel will be able Issam Darwish more than 3,500 towers to Eaton from Airtel Zambia following long- to deleverage through debt reduction says the acquisition in six countries across its African term contracts that were originally and will “significantly” reduce its will enable the operations under a 10-year contract. announced last December. The ongoing capex on passive infrastructure. roll out of energy This latest setback with Eaton company says it will now upgrade IHS Group CEO Issam Darwish saving technology follows the termination of two other the towers and roll out renewable says: “Our partnership is designed throughout Africa. agreements with Helios Towers Africa energy solutions across the operator’s to further promote network sharing, (HTA) that were originally signed African networks. and deliver higher quality and reliable October, the operator stated: “The in July 2014 for the sale of 3,100 Over the last two years, IHS says it mobile services. This acquisition agreements for the sale of tower towers in four countries. Earlier this has spent USD500m in the continent will enable us to eventually upgrade assets in Africa between Bharti Airtel year in June, Airtel announced that on power systems that feature these towers and continue to roll out Malawi Holdings and Eaton Towers the deals with HTA covering Chad advanced generators, batteries and innovative energy saving technology (Lilongwe) has lapsed and therefore and Tanzania had been terminated. alternative power solutions to reduce throughout the continent.” stands terminated.” According to reports, the agreements diesel consumption. The company Meanwhile, Airtel Africa’s deal The two companies originally for Congo and DRC remain intact. adds that by the end of 2016, up to to sell more than 3,500 of its towers agreed a deal in September 2014. Airtel has around 15,000 towers 80 per cent of its towers will be run to Eaton Towers has expired. In The value of their transaction was not on the continent which have been on hybrid solar solutions. a regulatory filing made in mid- disclosed but as part of the agreement on the market for some time now.

MTN Group CEO quits following government is fighting Boko Haram Nigerian regulator and will continue and churn rates lower. The firm trouble in Nigeria militants, and says the use of to work with them in addressing the believes this will be supported by price MTN Group CEO Sifiso Dabengwa unregistered SIMs hampers its ability issues around unregistered subscribers increases across the board as customers has resigned. In a press release issued to track potential terrorist activities. as a matter of urgency,” said Nhleko. increasingly demand bundled product on 9 November, he stated: “Due According to reports, shares in “Together with the MTN board, my offers including broadband and TV. to the most unfortunate prevailing the group fell more than 12 per cent second priority will be to find an However, it says there are some circumstances occurring at MTN following news of the NCC’s fine. appropriate chief executive officer to exceptions as some companies have Nigeria, I, in the interest of the company On 30 October, MTN issued a take MTN forward. I will then revert not fully adapted to the lower pricing in and its shareholders, have tendered my statement which said that Dabengwa to my non-executive chairman role.” their domestic market and/or because resignation with immediate effect.” was engaging with the Nigerian of limited international diversification. His decision follows the Nigerian authorities on the regulatory aspects Moody’s stabilises outlook for EMEA In its industry outlook for the sector, Communications Commission of the matter. It added that company telecoms companies Moody’s expects capex to remain (NCC) imposing a fine equivalent executives were also in talks with Moody’s has changed its outlook for broadly stable but says this will depend to USD5.2 billion on MTN Nigeria. the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, telecommunications service providers on the stage that a telco is at in the cycle. The penalty relates to the timing of and shareholders were advised to in EMEA from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’ For example, it says increased capex the disconnection of 5.1 million MTN “exercise caution” when dealing on the expectation of a 1-2 per cent for operators such as Orange (rated subscribers who were cut off in August in MTN’s securities until a further revenue growth into 2017. ‘Baa1 stable’) to differentiate its offering and September 2015. It is based on announcement was made. The international investment will offset any increase in free cash flow NGN200,000 (around USD1,000) The operator has now appointed analyst and ratings agency says this resulting from higher revenues and for each unregistered subscriber. Phuthuma Nhleko as executive will largely be driven by increasing improved margins. However, others Around 33 per cent of the MTN chairman in a temporary capacity. demand for broadband and such as Vodafone Group (Baa1 stable), Group’s total earnings come from “I will assume responsibility as consumers’ ability to spend more. are nearing the end of their capex cycle. Nigeria, making the country the executive chairman for the next six Moody’s says KPIs including “We also expect telcos to benefit operator’s biggest market. Nigeria’s months as I proactively deal with the ARPU will be “solid and sustainable” from efficient operating leverage, such

INVESTMENTS, MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Date Buyer Seller Item Price Notes

Johannesburg-based Archer specialises in mobile engagement solutions for 17/9/15 IMImobile Archer Digital Company $5.6m banking & government customers across South Africa.

Westﬁ eld Capital Brookside Capital, HarbourVest, VT Technology Ventures, & Osage Venture Partners 23/09/15 Management & SevOne Financing $50m also participated in this round of series C funding. SevOne will use the ﬁ nancing to Bain Capital Ventures accelerate growth in markets such as the mobile economy & IoT.

US ﬁ rm Cloudpath specialises in certiﬁ cate-based Wi-Fi security & has developed 22/10/15 Ruckus Wireless Cloudpath Networks Company NA automated self-service software.

November/December 2015 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 15 Register to receive your free copy of this & other business magazines: WIRELESS BUSINESS www.kadiumpublishing.com

that their average EBITDA increases “Operations with revenues in as at 30 September 2015 (+37 per cent Rodolphe Belmer by around four per cent in 2016, currencies other than dollars across year-on-year). The increase in regional joins Eutelsat from underpinning an average improvement Africa and Turkey will face increasing subscribers was helped by the full Groupe Canal in adjusted EBITDA margin to 35.4 imported equipment costs, which consolidation of Méditel in Morocco. where he was CEO. per cent from 34.8,” says Moody’s. will put pressure on margins and “Our return to growth in revenue © RÉMY CORTIN With specific reference to Africa, capex spend,” says Moody’s. “These and restated EBITDA validates our the Middle East and Turkey’s telecoms operations’ free cash flow will also suffer strategy of differentiation through markets, the analyst says the outlook as the price of equipment for 3G and quality and investment and confirms is now stable as revenue growth 4G/LTE rollout will also increase.” the positive momentum generated moderates, driven by an expectation over almost two years,” said group Rodolphe Belmer has been elected of low single-digit revenue growth on Orange returns to growth chairman and CEO Stéphane Richard. as de Rosen’s successor. He will take average in the next 12-18 months. The Orange Group reported 3Q15 He added that business performed up the position as from 1 March However, it expects negative revenues of EUR10.284bn, an overall particularly well during the quarter, 2016 but will join Eutelsat as deputy pressure on revenue growth to build increase of 0.5 per cent following falls especially in France, Spain, Belgium, CEO on 1 December as part of the in some commodity-driven markets of 0.2 and 0.9 per cent in the second Central Europe, Africa and Middle transition process. Belmer will work where GDP growth is slowing – and first quarters respectively. East, and the enterprise market. alongside Michel Azibert, Eutelsat’s Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia The telco reported that the trend “This commercial momentum current deputy CEO and chief are cited as examples in Africa. of continued improvement reflects is supported by high levels of commercial and development officer. “We expect commodity prices to the “favourable” change in mobile investment in very high-speed fixed Belmer has worked at Groupe remain lower for longer, driven by services across all regions, which saw and mobile broadband, in line with Canal since 2001 where he was a strengthening US dollar driving growth of 1.2 per cent in 3Q after our Essentiels2020 strategic plan,” said appointed CEO in 2012. prices lower in dollar terms, and declines of 1.6 in 2Q and 2.8 per cent Richard. “We have now exceeded 263 Born in 1969, he is a French unfavourable market fundamentals in 1Q. However, enterprise revenues million customers worldwide with 111 national, and after graduating from which could curb consumer demand continued to rise with an increase of million in Africa and Middle East.” HEC in 1992 he began his career in or spending,” says Moody’s. 0.5 per cent in the quarter. the marketing department of Procter The company adds that operations Excluding the impact of regulatory Michel de Rosen to step down as and Gamble France before moving with revenues in domestic currencies measures, group revenues rose 0.6 Eutelsat CEO onto McKinsey in 1998. but which have dollar-denominated per cent in 3Q after an increase of 0.4 After six years as Eutelsat’s CEO, debt will also remain under pressure per cent in the second quarter and a Michel de Rosen will step down from Internet Solutions expands with new as financing costs and debt obligations decrease of 0.3 per cent in the first. the position in March 2016. He will CEOs and new networks increase in their currency of operation. Orange said its mobile customer remain in the role of non-executive Pan-African CSP Internet Solutions Examples here include some of MTN base in Africa and the Middle East chairman of the board until the end (IS) has named Salvador Adriano as Group’s (Baa2 stable) operations (38 per grew steadily, with 10 million net of his current mandate in November CEO of its Mozambican operations. cent of total debt), and Turkcell Iletisim additions year-on-year on a comparable 2016. After that, de Rosen’s tenure He succeeds Hermann Woithe who Hizmetleri (Baa3 negative with 82 per basis (+9.8 per cent). 15.5 million will be submitted to the annual has been appointed to the newly cent of total debt as of June 2015). Orange Money customers were reported shareholders’ meeting for renewal. created role of CCO.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

Date Name New employer New position Previous employer Previous position

Group chief corporate & 15/9/15 Dr. Stephen Collins VimpelCom Microsoft EMEA VP of corporate affairs regulatory affairs ofﬁ cer

16/9/15 Salvador Adriano Internet Solutions Mozambique CEO MoRENet Executive director

22/09/15 Raymond de Graaf Cambium Networks SVP worldwide operations Ixia SVP operations

14/10/15 Tinus Neethling Digitata Group CEO Rorotika Technologies CEO

14/10/15 Matthew M. O’Connell OneWeb CEO GeoEye President & CEO

16/10/15 Yemi Lalude TPG Growth, Africa Managing partner Adlevo Capital Founder

19/10/15 Michel de Rosen NA NA Eutelsat CEO – steps down March 2016

19/10/15 Rodolphe Belmer Eutelsat CEO Groupe Canal CEO

19/10/15 Michael McDonnell NA CFO Intelsat CFO

Director of startup engagement & 19/10/15 Amrote Abdella Microsoft 4Afrika Regional director Microsoft 4Afrika partnerships

20/10/15 Carsten Brinkschulte Core Networks Dynamics CEO BlackBerry SVP enhanced network services

Epsilon Global Communication 20/10/15 Andreas Hipp NA NA CEO & co-founder – stepped down & Cataleya

20/10/15 Jerzy Szlosarek Epsilon Global Communication CEO Epsilon Global Communication COO

20/10/15 Jay Jayasimha Cataleya CEO Epsilon Global Communication CIO

5/11/15 Brian Jakins Intelsat Regional VP of sales, Africa Aviat Networks VP sales & services Africa

16 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015

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Salvador joins IS from Mozambique Accra, with future phases including according to Beecham Research. Beecham Research Research and Education Network Kumasi, Takoradi, Cape Coast and In a report published in October, it CEO Robin Duke (MoRENet). During a career that a number of other commercial hubs. said that as well as reduced energy Woolley believes has so far spanned more than 15 The company says the network consumption, low power wide area LPWAN is ideally years, he has held senior leadership is fully compliant with the ITU-T networks (LPWANs) also offer low suited to the roles at TDM, Mozambique’s fixed SG15) standard for fibre optics build, cost, long range, and enable a far wider African IoT/M2M line operator, as well as Mcel, the as well as with MEF 2.0 for metro variety of M2M and IoT applications market. country’s first mobile operator. and carrier grade Ethernet networks. currently constrained by budgets and According to IS, Adriano IS has partnered with Tejas distance from a power source. was instrumental in defining Networks and Infratele Solutions From a standing start in 2015, and with “superior” in-building Mozambique’s telecoms policy in his Ghana for the expansion. Infratele will Beecham expects that by 2020 penetration compared to 3G or 4G. role as head of the telecom unit and build a metro network covering all the LPWANs will provide 26 per cent Beecham Research CEO Robin advisor to the Minister of Transport commercially viable areas in Accra, of the total IoT connectivity market Duke Woolley adds that LPWAN and Communications. while Tejas will install its flagship core with 345 million connections, is ideally suited to the African IoT/ Meanwhile, Richard Hechle has optical transport equipment, TJ1600. marking an end to the near M2M market, where long range, low taken over from Jonathan Somen as IS says this supports WDM, carrier monopoly of traditional cellular power and low data rates are typical CEO of IS Kenya. Somen has taken Ethernet and TDM in a single core, and networks for M2M connectivity. requirements. a non-executive board position. connects five PoPs in Accra to allow for It says there’s a growing variety “There are vast areas in Africa Hechle has more than 15 years easy connectivity and termination to all of LPWAN technologies, such as where it is not cost effective to install experience in leading and managing organisations within the city. Sigfox as well as those developed by cellular but where LPWAN can be,” organisations across East Africa, The company adds that the network the LoRa Alliance. It says most of he says. “For example, LoRa can be and was previously with Finlays will complement the country’s existing these solutions utilise the ISM bands installed either as part of a public Horticulture where he was MD. undersea cable systems, and will better known for use by short range network available to all, or as a Johannesburg-based Internet have an initial capacity of 400Gbps wireless technologies such as Zigbee, private network available only to one Solutions is a division of Dimension in a self-healing fibre optic ring for Wi-Fi and 6LoWPAN. company’s remote devices. There Data and subsidiary of NTT. These resilience against network outages. However, the firm says recent is also nothing to prevent a private latest appointments follow a major It will be expandable to 3.2Tbps. advances have enabled LPWANs to LoRa network from being used by growth plan that includes investing be established using the ISM bands other companies through agreement USD15m over the next three years to LPWANs to provide around a quarter over longer distances, up to 50km with the owning party. expand its fibre network in Ghana. of total IoT connections by 2020 in rural areas and 5-10km in urban “We expect all of that to develop In an announcement first made The dominant position of traditional areas. It adds that TV white space in Africa, particularly for smart in July earlier this year, IS said the cellular networks in the market for (TVWS) technology also promises farming, land security, tracking and first phase of deployment will be in M2M connectivity is about to change, connectivity over distances of 10km possibly smart metering purposes.”

LATEST COMPANY RESULTS

Sales EBITDA EPS Date Company Country Period Currency Notes (m) (m) (units)

2% decline in revenues compared to 3Q14, but results were 3/10/15 Sandvine US 3Q15 USD 27.9 NA 0.019 within targets & company remains proﬁ table. EMEA is its biggest market & accounted for 37% of earnings. 4Q15 revenue down compared to $420.7m in 4Q14. Fabrix, which was sold in 1Q15, contributed $5.9m in revenue in 13/10/15 IDT Corporation US 4Q15 USD 405.8 12.4 0.05 4Q14. Core businesses performed to overall expectations, according to CEO Shmuel Jonas.

10.284 3.557 QoQ revenue increase of 0.5% reﬂ ects favourable change in 22/10/15 Orange France 3Q15 EUR 0.6 (bn) (bn) mobile services across all regions.

Overall revenues down 2% due to currency volatility. Africa fell 5.3% to $241m & EBITDA was $48m, a y-o-y fall of 12% largely 22/10/15 Millicom Luxembourg 3Q15 USD 1.64 (bn) 560 0.17 due to stronger currency movements in Tanzania & Ghana plus continued diffi cult trading conditions in Chad. 10% y-o-y sales growth in sub-Saharan Africa was driven by continued development of professional services business as 23/10/15 Ericsson Sweden 3Q15 SEK 59.2 NA 0.94 operators focus on network quality and effi ciency. Mobile broadband business was stable. Earnings up 2.0% at constant currency. On track to achieve 28/10/15 Eutelsat France 1Q16 EUR 387.7 NA NA target of revenue growth of 2-3% for FY 2015-16 at constant currency, excluding non-recurring revenues. CEO Stephen Spengler: “Results are in line with our overall 29/10/15 Intelsat Luxembourg 3Q15 USD 580.8 452.0 0.66 expectations for 2015.” Firm now has high hopes for launch of next-generation Epic satellites which is just months away. Group revenues, excluding managed services and at constant 29/10/15 Alcatel-Lucent France 3Q15 EUR 3,429 (0.07) perimeter, grew 7% y-o-y. At constant exchange rates, revenues down 5%. Proposed merger with Nokia now in its fi nal stages. International revenues year to date were EUR439.7m – up 11.1% but 7.3% lower in constant forex terms. This was partially 30/10/15 SES Luxembourg 3Q15 EUR 493.5 366.5 NA offset by growth from new agreements, notably with StarTimes in sub-Saharan Africa and YahLive venture.

November/December 2015 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 19

Block upconverters feature built-in testing AnaCom has created a new XKu-band AnaCom says the units are rugged are provided by an onboard block upconverter (BUC) in the 12.75- for continuous outdoor duty in microprocessor. simplify 13.25GHz spectrum. The new ELSAT all types of environments, and are The BUC features a monitor and maintenance BUCs are available in transmitter particularly suitable for SCPC, control (M&C) system that can routines, they can be output levels up to 100W, and in single MCPC and DAMA applications. be used in combination with its connected to an external computer or redundant configurations. The upconverter, power amp, internal metering function to monitor to monitor critical parameters such monitor, control and power supply operational parameters. The M&C as transmitter power output and MANUFACTURER: AnaCom are included in a single enclosure, system also enables users to monitor IF levels, power supply and TX and AnaCom says the only cabling and control the converter on the same synthesiser voltages, alarm details, PRODUCT: required to indoor equipment are IF M&C bus as most indoor equipment, and internal temperature. ELSAT connectors. such as modems and multiplexers. Other features include remote The firm adds that an ‘ovenised’ The ELSATs have built-in test configuration and access via Ethernet MORE INFORMATION: high stability crystal oscillator is used facilities for improved maintenance and serial protocols, and a flash www.anacominc.com to lock the TX synthesiser. Additional and reduced dependence of external memory so that the BUC can be temperature and aging compensation test equipment. To improve and restarted with the same settings. CommScope ﬁ rst with “intelligent” RRU power supply

CommScope reckons PowerShift is With increasingly more powerful by up to 35 per cent by the first intelligent, plug-and-play RRUs being distanced from the power taking full advantage DC power supply solution for RRUs distribution points, the company says of the existing battery at macro and micro cell sites. delivering power efficiently becomes backup system. challenging and costly. The solution is designed to MANUFACTURER: PowerShift aims to help operators automatically deliver the most efficient resulting in CommScope re-utilise existing power cable voltage to the RRU, leveraging reduced capex as well as infrastructure, eliminate the need for technology developed with General less weight and wind load on towers. PRODUCT: PowerShift deploying higher gauge conductors Electric. CommScope adds that no Other advantages are said to when installing new cabling, and manual calibration is required when include decreased opex due to lower MORE INFORMATION: increase the usable length for cables managing power supply. overall power consumption, more www.commscope.com by over four times. CommScope says PowerShift also enables the use efficient inventorying, standardised it can also extend RF battery uptime of smaller diameter power cables, installation, and lower shipping costs. Sepura enhances TETRA xStats correlates LTE metrics picture messaging solution from third-party OSS

Sepura has launched IMAGE 3.0, an SevOne has unveiled six new xStats custom data sources, the firm says it enhanced version of its critical comms adapters for use with third-party OSS automatically establishes baselines of application that allows the transfer of platforms. The digital infrastructure normal performance, generates alerts pictures from a control room to field performance monitoring specialist when actual performance deviates personnel using TETRA mobiles. says its technology incorporates from those baselines, and then feeds IMAGE now has a new modern any time-stamped metrics into the the data into reporting analytics. interface that is said to be intuitive The application also supports a wide SevOne Performance Monitoring Cluster. The six new xStats adapters can be to use and includes drag and drop range of languages via a custom These can then be automatically used with platforms from Accedian, functionality. Sepura says this import process which can be easily correlated with other metric, flow Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, reduces training time, and crucially managed by the user. and log data at scale. Mitel, and Nokia. Each adapter offers increases the speed at which an According to the company, the As a result, the company says various functions depending on which operator can react in an emergency. app is scalable for use in any sized operators gain vital end-to-end vendor’s platform it is used with. network, and can be accessed visibility into the performance and MANUFACTURER: Sepura simultaneously by multiple client availability of LTE and IMS networks MANUFACTURER: SevOne apps and multiple users in different and services from access to core. PRODUCT: IMAGE 3.0 geographic locations. SevOne offers a number of ways PRODUCT: xStats IMAGE 3.0 can be used from a to incorporate third-party data, MORE INFORMATION: client app provided by Sepura, or processing that information with the MORE INFORMATION: www.sepura.com integrated into existing command same analytics applied to out-of-the- www.sevone.com and control systems via an API. box data sources. For standard and

22 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015 WIRELESS SOLUTIONS

Centralised power system ALSO LOOK OUT FOR allows faster network rollouts DMR standard Eltek has unveiled its High Voltage alternative power feed solution that is enhanced DC (HVDC) for powering remote allows faster rollout and reduced TCO. The European Telecommunications broadband telecoms equipment. The solution begins with the existing Standardisation Institute has The firm says high bandwidth 48VDC power system and battery at released a new version of the applications such as streaming video the central site. The HVDC system Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) standard. are driving a need for service providers then converts this mains DC power to The DMR Association (DMRA) to install many new remote broadband 380/400VDC. Eltek says these voltage takes place as the DC/DC converters says v.1.7.1 of the Tier III Trunking equipment cabinets. The HVDC aims levels can be transmitted across long transform the 380VDC/400VDC Part TS102 361-4 standard has major to offers these service providers an distances with very low losses. back down to 54VDC /48VDC for additions requested by users. The power is converted through the telecoms equipment. These include dynamic group MANUFACTURER: Eltek the vendor’s Flatpack2 HE DC/DC Depending on the number of number assignment (DGNA), MS converters (pictured) and then passes remote locations connected to to MS duplex for voice and data, PRODUCT: High Voltage DC through a distribution box providing each 380VDC/400 cable and their transmit interrupt routines, and the necessary protection and safety individual power consumption an additional mode for application MORE INFORMATION: functions, before being distributed needs, Eltek says the distance data over an IP bearer service. www.eltek.com to the load in the remote location. between the central and remote DGNA, talk group subscription Here, a second voltage conversion sites can be up to five kilometres. and talk group attachment handling over the air interface were added to increase the fl exibility of one of the key advantages of Lightening the load for body-worn cams narrowband PMR, namely effi - Motorola Solutions has launched a Si500 integrates voice There’s also a full-screen cient group call communication. three-in-one body-worn video camera, communications, real- tempered-glass display The DMRA says ‘one-to-many’ radio speaker and microphone to time video, still images which has an intuitive user communication is imperative, reduce the amount of equipment safety and emergency alerting. interface that presents only and DGNA therefore improves the personnel need to carry. It extends the mission- vital information within three fl exibility of group call modes The end-to-end solution includes the critical performance of panels. Users have the ability offered by DMR Tier III. Smart Interface Si500 and Si300 Video Motorola’s APX radios to control radio channels and MS (mobile station) to MS Speaker Microphone (VSM). The compact and is said to include talk groups, view recorded duplex for voice and data a number of innovative video and photos, tag videos required the introduction of MANUFACTURER: features to meet the needs and listen to audio recordings. additional timing modes for the Motorola Solutions of first responders. The Si500 also has trunked system control channel For example, the device Motorola’s new adaptive (TSCC), specifi cally when used on PRODUCT: Video Speaker is equipped with a 210º audio engine that automatically single RF carrier base stations. Microphone motion camera lens that has been adjusts audio settings based on According to the DMRA, the designed to provide optimal field of the user’s wearing position and addition of the duplex speeds up MORE INFORMATION: view and flexible wearing positions. environment. Other features include data transmissions, and increases www.motorolasolutions.com Users can wear the VSM with the five integrated microphones, a 0.5W convenience for users, allowing display facing in or out. speaker, and Wi-Fi connectivity. them to exploit the deployed infrastructure in lower traffi c areas more effi ciently without losing functionality. Turning customer data into revenue The addition of transmitting With end users expecting always- and organisations to capture customer application data over a defi ned on connectivity, carriers, managed demographics and translate that data IP bearer service enables DMR service providers and enterprises into actionable business intelligence. system users to integrate their are looking for new ways to better The company says the first natural wireless infrastructure more monetise network services. application for ProCloud Analytics tightly into IT infrastructure. It ADTRAN reckons it’s come is in the wireless network. After a based on a wide range of criteria. For also offers manufacturers the up with the solution with ProCloud patron logs onto a Wi-Fi network, example, ADTRAN says retailers can possibility to provide a bearer Analytics. It says this enables providers the software enables the authorised automatically welcome a first-time service for customer specifi c data. collection of the user’s email, name, customer with a coupon, or reward DMRA chairman Mario Micheli MANUFACTURER: ADTRAN age, gender, home town, type of device frequent visitors with a free gift. says the new standard is a “true used to connect, birth date and more. Analytics is part of the firm’s range sign” of widespread adoption of PRODUCT: ProCloud Analytics What’s described as a “sophisti- of ProCloud managed services. It says DMR technology. He says: “Users cated” built-in marketing platform this provides an “easy” solution to are asking for more capabilities, MORE INFORMATION: within ProCloud is said to make it easy layer on top of a service provider’s because they wish to use DMR in www.adtran.com for network owners to push targeted existing offerings for a wide range of their business critical applications emails or text messages and incentives customers and vertical markets. in a wider variety of use cases.”

November/December 2015 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 23 Register to receive your free copy of this & other business magazines: FEATURE: BACKHAUL www.kadiumpublishing.com

Hughes has worked with Telma in Madagascar on a GSM backhaul project that extends 2G and 3G connectivity to remote and rural areas. 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 Roberts, CEO of the company’s Kenya operations, Wireless reaches where ﬁ bre cannot systems that now surround Africa and have says: “In Africa, most people access the internet been landing on its coastlines over the last over their mobiles, and so LTE networks are What are often regarded as fibre’s weaknesses Tfew years has certainly been a fillip to broadband already commercially deployed with more being is where wireless technologies such as satellite connectivity in some parts of the continent. But built. LTE base stations need mega amounts of come into their own. As the number of mobile as well as being used for broadband, what about bandwidth that can only be provided by fibre. subscriptions in Africa continues to climb fibre’s promise of backhauling mobile networks? We have already started laying fibre to LTE base skywards, Intelsat believes much of the demand Here, it could be argued that submarine systems station sites that have been built by a variety for increased connectivity will come from rural are not enough as operators need more terrestrial of operators and independent tower leasing areas, where terrestrial infrastructure is either cable deployments that reach further inland. But companies. This fibre then interconnects with unable to meet demand or is simply non-existent. all that now looks set to change. our pan-African fibre backbone.” Contrary to Roberts’ view, Intelsat’s EMEA In 2014, Liquid Telecom announced it had created Roberts admits that cell sites in remote areas VP Jean-Philippe Gillet believes satellite is Africa’s first fully redundant regional fibre ring. are unlikely to be connected by fibre as it is just meeting the needs of MNOs in rural areas. He Spanning 20,000km, the East Africa Fibre Ring “too costly and time-consuming” to lay for smaller says Intelsat is providing 2G and 3G networks runs from Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania populations in such communities: “These BSTs will through the combination of its satellite fleet and and back into Kenya, connecting these countries to continue to be served by wireless and satellite but will the IntelsatOne terrestrial network. each other as well as to the rest of the world. Built not be able to provide LTE speeds and capacity.” “The introduction of high throughput satellite at a cost of USD20m, it is said to be Africa’s largest However, he goes on to suggest that one (HTS) will deliver the additional capacity that single fibre network and also connects to the region’s option to reduce costs can be to run fibre on the will enable the expansion of 4G networks as five main subsea cable systems: WACS, EASsy, electricity poles that supply mains power to the well,” says Gillet. “This will lead to an increase SEACOM, SAT3 and TEAMS. base stations. Liquid has already carried out large in mobile network operators utilising satellite Although Liquid uses wireless technologies deployments of optical ground wire (OPGW) backhaul and satellite-based rural telephony and satellite to complement its network, it believes and all-dielectric self-supporting (ADDS) fibre extensions, as it allows them to cost-effectively that only fibre will be able to provide the speeds in Zambia and Zimbabwe, and is considering the increase their customer base in areas that were and capacity needed by LTE base stations. Ben cost benefits for LTE base stations. previously inaccessible.

24 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015 FEATURE: BACKHAUL

Northern Sky Research (NSR) forecasts that one choice. And if they can get microwave with a Dave Rehbehn, HTS will propel the global market for satellite reasonable number of hops, that’s going to be the VP marketing, backhaul in the coming years. In its Wireless next choice. The fact is satellite, historically, is international Backhaul via Satellite report published in April, the the option when you don’t have anything else.” division, analyst predicts that current and next-generation Having said that, Hughes has been working Hughes Network solutions will generate revenue streams from with Telecom Malagasy (Telma) for a number Systems USD1.7bn in 2014 to USD5.3bn by 2024. of years. The operator had already been using According to the report, traditional FSS the company’s NOC and broadband satellite capacity in C- and Ku-bands has so far been terminals to deliver rural telephony and internet the most prevalent solution used for backhaul access in the country. In 2012, Hughes supplied and trunking in land areas, and has begun to additional HX System remote terminals and an “The fact is satellite, historically, address the need for 3G services. But it adds that HX hub to expand Telma’s GSM backhaul project less expensive and higher throughput capacity – that’s despite the telco investing USD70m since is the option when you don’t is challenging the economics of traditional FSS 2005 in a 3,300km national fibre optic backbone where erosion of the revenue base is leading to an network, and also being the first contributor to have anything else.” ‘HTS play’ by operators that own traditional FSS the EASsy submarine cable. transponders. “GEO HTS capacity is making a big Nonetheless, Gilat Satcom, which provides numbers of cell sites are well-known challenges push on land, air and sea where a clear migration both fibre and satellite capacity for cellular for most MNOs. Quoting Heavy Reading’s in the fixed land towers backhaul and trunking backhaul, supports the view that solutions in Ethernet Backhaul Market Tracker, April 2014, he markets is under way,” says NSR. space come second to solutions underground says the number of cell sites globally will rise when it comes to backhaul options for mobile from around four million to more than five The satellite cost question operators. The company’s marketing and business million over the next three years. development director Eran Yoran says: “I can “Coupled with this growth is the fact that newer While non-geosynchronous HTS is still in its describe the needs of MNOs in a very precise public small cells are imminent in the near future. infancy, NSR says it promises better latency with way. Whenever there is a fibre option it will be The reality quickly sets in as to how daunting a the likes of O3b making inroads in backhaul, the first choice as it is the most cost effective, and challenge this is for operators, leaving many to ask trunking and mobility platforms. And it says a great deal of demand can be met. questions such as how do I deploy and provision that if one or two LEO, or low Earth orbit, HTS “In the absence of a fibre solution, satellite will all these sites quickly and within budget? And programmes (such as OneWeb – see News May-Jun) be the number one choice for the very long distance how do I continuously adjust my network to are launched, total capacity will increase manyfold backhaul as it is easy to deploy and maintain, and continuously deliver in an efficient way these leading to price pressure for all offerings. is extremely stable. The disadvantage is the latency new applications and services to my end-users?” “Non-GEO HTS equipment pricing, and price. Prices are going down on the GEO When it comes to using small cells for rural specifically antenna systems, will have to come satellite but the latency is fixed.” deployments, satellite also has a part to play down dramatically compared to current O3b For short distance links, Yoran believes microwave according to Spacecom which operates the AMOS pricing in order to address capex considerations,” will be the default option. But he adds that while fleet. The company’s South Africa representative says report author Jose Del Rosario. it has low latency and is relatively affordable, Kevin Finlay says: “People in these more remote Dave Rehbehn, Hughes Network Systems’ VP the engineering side is complex, and adding areas need and want connectivity. So the question of marketing, international division, agrees. As far more towers between two locations means the is simple: how do these potential users get good as the prospect of non-GEO systems is concerned, reliability of the link drops and the price rises. service at the same price as the other GSM users he also says O3b’s capex is driven by the cost of without placing the burden unfairly on the end antennas, and because this is currently too high they Big opportunities with small cells user or on the operator? The solution lies in small are really only suitable for very high capacity sites. cells with a lower cost satellite backhaul. Many “But what most people seem to think is that there is Microwave radio specialist Aviat Networks says equipment vendors are capable of providing going to be a new generation of antenna technology although some countries such as South Africa equipment to handle this.” for the remote earth stations that are going to enable have supported initiatives that have improved But as Finlay goes on to point out, how is this cost-effective LEO and MEO installations. And this the national fibre backbone and metropolitan backhauled, for example, from a remote village in will have huge impact, not just on cellular backhaul, fibre penetration, the access (last mile) fibre the DRC, Kenya or Zambia? While satellite offers but on regular VSATs.” penetration remains “appallingly” low with the solution, he says C-band is too costly based on Rehbehn goes on to say that backhaul is a very most areas having “zero” access to fibre. equipment capex and monthly opex, and lower important application for Hughes for two key But according to the company’s technical cost Ku-band platforms can cover some basic voice reasons: “Number one, it is a very high value marketing manager Siphiwe Nelwamondo, there communications needs with limited data in some service offering on the part of satellite service is a solution to connect back to the terrestrial villages. The answer is therefore Ka-band. providers; and number two, it is an area where there metro fibre – a licensed wireless microwave “By using Ka-band, the base cost is lowered is very good potential as we see more HTS systems radio system. “This will bridge the connectivity for remote areas because the opex and capex are deployed. We think we can change the equation of gap, keeping businesses connected and running lower in orders of magnitude than Ku and thus satellite backhaul for cellular systems with the new effectively. This microwave radio last mile high capacity can be provided for the same or generation of high throughput satellites. What they solution will cost effectively bring access to lower cost. This immediately opens a whole new will enable is a lower cost per bandwidth capacity, a community’s doorstep. market of voice and data services to those areas and that has always been one of the key issues with “We are all aware of fibre’s prowess and because the cost base is reduced to less than half satellite backhaul for cellular systems.” capabilities. However, little is understood about the typical Ku-band platform. Small cells can also Until then, he says satellite will continue to be microwave radios systems and their capabilities, be self sufficient as the power usage is very low viewed by MNOs as the backhaul solution to use and hence they remain the underdogs.” and so can be driven by solar and/or wind power when there is no other option available. “Talk to Nelwamondo continues by saying managing while using smaller masts which are quicker, the cellular operators and they will tell you that if backhaul traffic that is showing double digit easier and less costly to implement.” they can get fibre, that’s going to be their number annual growth and dealing with increasing Hughes’ Rehbehn agrees and says he is seeing

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more infrastructure vendors developing small Now, there is a much greater focus on offering cells that can help save the costs of deploying customers higher capacity. high-cost and high powered macro sites. Ceragon has come up with an alternative “While these small cells don’t perhaps have a approach to scaling its microwave products. Earlier huge amount of capacity, they are very cost- this year it launched Advanced Frequency Reuse for effective and can be solar powered. So from the its IP-20 microwave platform that is designed for infrastructure side we see small cells enabling heterogeneous network hauling. This enables the more cost-effective rural deployments, and from use of a single frequency channel where multiple the satellite side we see the HTS enabling a lower channels are often needed to meet wireless backhaul cost of bandwidth. Together, we think this really demand. The vendor claimed the results include a does create some significant opportunities for saving of at least 50 per cent of the wireless spectrum satellite backhaul and cellular traffic. required, and also allows for doubling the capacity of “Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent – all of the wireless backhaul network. those guys have very good small cell products that Ceragon explains that Advanced Frequency Reuse are optimised and have an IP interface. Our view works by requiring far smaller angular separation has been to integrate effectively with those products between wireless backhaul links that utilise the as opposed to trying to force fit our solution onto a same frequency channel. Instead of employing a operator. That’s just our approach to the market.” separation of at least 90º as required today, it reduces Gilat Satellite Networks (GSN) has the needed separation to just 15º. The firm said this developed a small-cell-over-satellite solution leads to flexibility in network deployment and a to provide mobile operators with a 2G/3G significant reduction in opex and capex. cellular infrastructure solution to better serve “As capacity demands grow, microwave will WaveTek is using AOptix’s backhaul technology in remote regions (see Wireless Solutions, May-Jun). provide a significant runway for growth,” says Lagos. It integrates FSO with millimetre wave RF. The company has teamed-up with Intelsat to Ancikovsky. “This is only the beginning, and deliver its CellEdge solution. Earlier this year, LTE hasn’t yet taken hold. Current customers there is currently not enough infrastructure in the two companies announced a deployment are utilising approximately 100 megabits to 500 the region to transport the optical bandwidth. for Canada-based RuralCom’s mobile network megabits. The capacity needed for LTE will “In Nigeria, and across Africa, fibre is simply along the 1,000 mile-long Alaska Highway and increase to a range of between 500 megabits and not viable in most situations – it is too costly to British Columbia North Coast. Here, a CellEdge one gigabit. By 2016/2017, we will see the need deploy given the challenges of the terrain,” says 3G network is leveraging Intelsat’s global fleet for one gigabit to the access sites.” WaveTek CEO Ken Spann. “On the other hand, through its Horizons 1 satellite and IntelsatOne microwave doesn’t provide the bandwidth and terrestrial network. GSN says its small cell is Forget the traditional solutions range needed and can’t stand up to our humidity optimising space segment usage via a hub located and heavy rains. The Intellimax link has weathered at an Intelsat teleport. Free-space optics (FSO), a technology that uses our rainy season, delivering 100 per cent uptime.” light propagating in free space to wirelessly AOptix and WaveTek conducted the Lagos Microwave – still Africa’s hottest transmit data, has been around for quite some validation using an E-band (70-80GHz) trial backhaul option? time now but its use in Africa is fairly rare. license granted by the Nigerian Communications However in April, Nigerian ICT solutions Commission. They have also been working closely Ceragon Networks remains sceptical about the provider WaveTek announced it had successfully with the commission to open up E-band spectrum use of both satellite and fibre for backhaul. The deployed AOptix’s Laser-Radio Technology for full use in the country. AOptix hopes the company has provided its microwave systems in (LRT) in Lagos. A seven kilometre link has release of the frequencies will allow widespread many African countries such as DRC, Kenya, connected capacity from submarine fibre cables deployment of its Intellimax system. Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania, and its to a distribution point in the city. As Spacecom’s Finlay says, backhaul capacity mobile operator customers include Airtel, US-based AOptix describes itself as a “pioneer” cost remains a major concern for all MNOs, so Globacom Nigeria, Vodacom, amongst others. in ultra-high capacity wireless communications. reducing this substantially while increasing the Amit Ancikovsky, the company’s Africa and Latin Its Intellimax platform uses LRT that was originally number of subscribers will be a natural growth America president, says: “Satellite is an option for developed for deep space imaging and later further point as the operators expand further into rural wireless backhaul but falls short if you are trying to developed for military applications. The company areas. But many commentators agree that no single deliver bandwidth intensive multimedia services such reckons LRT breaks new ground by integrating technology will provide operators with a backhaul as video or applications like Facebook, as less content FSO with millimetre wave RF technology to solution – fibre, satellite and microwave each have gets to the user due to issues with uplinks. It is also provide reliable, ultra-high bandwidth capacity their own advantages and disadvantages. cost-prohibitive and often used when in geographic (2Gbps) with carrier-grade availability up to 10km. Semir Hassanaly, market director of cellular areas where microwave or fibre can’t reach. According to AOptix, the deployment of backhaul and trunking at Newtec, says the choice “Microwave is a viable alternative to both satellite Intellimax in Nigeria has proved the system’s ability between fibre, microwave or satellite is pragmatic and fibre as it is able to be deployed rapidly and to provide high-bandwidth connectivity between the and driven by three parameters: “Availability (fibre provides an opportunity to accommodate the needs country’s mobile carriers and the rest of the world. is most ideal in urban regions and easily available for more capacity and features – from basic links Lagos, the largest city in Africa with a in coastal regions where the undersea cables land); to up to 4Gbps. Microwave can also work on a population of more than 20 million, is the economics (fibre is expensive which makes satellite pure software mechanism where software upgrades landing point for four major submarine systems or microwave, if line of sight allows a limited number can be done remotely through a network operation that connect Nigeria to Europe: SAT-3/WASC/ of hops, the most cost-effective solutions); and centre. Carriers are picking up on these advantages.” SAFE; ACE; GLO-1; and Main One. With the marketing (satellite provides quick go-to-market). Microwave technology is certainly evolving undersea cables largely in place, AOptix says the “Capacity requirements can be very acute beyond the ‘QAM wars’ that were grabbing the challenge now is to pull that network capacity and in the end it is these three parameters which headlines just a few years as vendors launched into the continent’s population centres and bring operators will consider when making the decision radios with higher amplitude modulation rates. connectivity to under-served markets. But it adds on which backhaul method to choose.” ■

26 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015

FEATURE: TESTING 4G

Next generation testing

Commercial LTE services have so far been launched in around 20 countries in Africa since 2012. In Rwanda, Tigo (pictured) has just gone live with the country’s ﬁ rst mobile 4G service – see News, page 5. Operators in several other nations across the continent are either currently trialling networks or have plans to launch 4G in the near future. Testing and optimising LTE networks often presents a number of unique challenges to operators. So what are the issues and how can they be addressed? RAHIEL NASIR ﬁ nds out.

hat’s the most critical factor for “MNOs should conduct a regular and repeatable “Although LTE has a flatter architecture, it also has mobile engineers to look out for when programme of competitive testing and analysis in more inherent complexity – new frequencies to deal they need to test and optimise their order to understand their relative user experience with, interference, more complexity in the eNodeB WLTE networks? While the test and measurement ranking in the market, particularly as the number of with hand-offs handled locally, MIMO, etc.” specialists we spoke to identified various issues, subscribers connecting to their services increases, Carpenter says that because of the complexity there was one particular area many of them and capacity issues that may not be immediately of the LTE wireless interface, testing the agreed upon: Quality of Experience. apparent start to emerge. Failure to do so, will mean performance of the RAN is critical to ensuring For instance, Rohde and Schwarz (R&S) believes that the MNO may not be aware of potentially sig- optimum operation of the network. For example, a key challenge for MNOs is to ensure continuing nificant degradations in overall service performance engineers should drive- or walk-test network QoE for subscribers in a dynamic market that is and user experience relative to key competitors.” coverage using parameters such as voice and characterised by evolving demand, the use of new Poisson says some operators still use solely video MOS, throughput, call completion rate and network services (especially video), and the adoption FTP testing to assess the performance of 4G data handover success rate. of new features of the 3GPP standard including services. While this makes sense for throughput “These results can be used to make strategic VoLTE. Jeremy Carpenter, the firm’s marketing testing, he says other tests to ensure QoE need to adjustments and enhancements to the network, manager for mobile network testing, adds: “There be performed. “For example, close to 40 per cent optimise the coverage benchmark performance is an ongoing need [for MNOs] to be aware of the of mobile data traffic comes from streaming video, against competitors, and ensure compliance with performance of their own network and to differenti- notably YouTube. Network testing solutions should regulatory obligations,” says Carpenter. ate themselves from their competition.” enable operators to fully assess the performance of Gowans believes operators should also be aware Many experts agree, saying that given the YouTube as well as other social media services.” that there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ 4G customer: highly competitive markets cellcos operate in, “It all depends on what network coverage is it’s critical for them to have an objective view What needs to be tested? available, plus phones are moving from one network of the performance of their LTE services and to the other all the time. It is this that defines the devices – and not just compared to local rivals but Many commentators point out that LTE customer experience. So solutions are needed that even benchmarked against successful operators increases complexity across the mobile can cover all technologies – 2G, 3G and 4G.” elsewhere. Bruno Poisson, regional director for communications ecosystem. For example, Paul Clearly, there is complexity associated with Anite’s network testing division, believes this is vital Gowans, director of marketing, RAN solutions, ensuring interoperability between LTE and legacy for them to gain customers and increase ARPU. for Viavi Solutions (formerly JDSU), says: 2G and 3G, as well as increasing complexity

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associated with ensuring the quality of, and to LTE specifically, the company says it is very Paul Gowan, interoperability between, a whole host of new and important to optimise network coverage and Director of legacy devices. It is therefore vital to ensure that reduce interference for the best user experience marketing, all elements of the network, including the radio/ and optimal usage of radio resources. RAN solutions, air interface and backhaul, devices, services and Mounir El Aichaoui, the firm’s head of market unit Viavi Solutions applications work together effectively. North Africa, reckons LTE network optimisation is According to Carpenter, there is a need to more inclined towards a capacity driven quality design a network that ensures performance in improvement approach. “Initial optimisation is an efficient way, thereby balancing QoS against basically about taking care that L1 (antenna azimuths financial objectives. “Correct testing of LTE and downtilts) are adequate. In the case of LTE, devices, network infrastructure and the wireless this only becomes visible as interference and channel during the planning phase increases the reduces spectral efficiency under higher loading.” “Interoperability between vendors’ predictability of the network from planning to He advises operators to ensure that their L1 deployment, avoiding expensive design changes. design is right from the outset, and that they equipment is needed more in LTE, During deployment, fast installation and should not just “blindly use” what already exists commissioning of network infrastructure reduces such as their GSM1800 antennas, for example. so ensuring services run end-to-end costs and shortens the time when revenue streams “Across the globe, LTE is currently handled like start to generate income.” ‘business as usual’. Rules such as monitoring of is a fundamental requirement.” Keysight Technologies adds to this by saying the traffic load and end-user experience, and preparation challenges of optimising LTE networks become for mass events also apply to LTE rollouts as they key to a mobile station’s performance. For much more intensive from the outset. “Multiple did with 3G rollouts. Many operators are operating transmission quality, she says the emphasis types of cells – such as macro, micro, pico and on multiple LTE frequencies – load balancing and should generally be on the maximum power even femto – will co-exist in such networks, so an equalisation therefore play a very critical role.” measurements since these typically present the increasing number of parameters need to be taken El Aichaoui adds that new services such as VoLTE biggest challenge for high power circuits. into account in network optimisation,” says Mayca should be thoroughly tested before being introduced “On the receive side, the ability of the mobile Avila, the vendor’s EMEA field market development across the network. “Operators are recommended to successfully decode the signal at the lowest manager for mobile broadband operation. to prepare and optimise the radio network at least and highest signal levels defines its successful She also says many operators are realising too late one year prior to the launch of a VoLTE service. operation in the network. Also, a mobile that the transport backhaul is a critical consideration By doing so, they will be able to ensure the responding linearly to power control commands in 4G: “It is very important to deploy a core network optimum user experience once it is launched.” is critical to network performance.” solution that is flexible enough to offer smooth Anite’s Poisson is in agreement here, and says Avila continues by saying that since it is known migration from centralised (longer backhaul) to that before VoLTE is introduced, operators should that most distortions will be at their worst at distributed (shorter backhaul) core network nodes.” optimise the quality of their voice service paying high power, the emphasis will be on high power Having said that, Avila believes the operator’s particular attention to circuit switched fall-back testing with probably only a single sample from main goal must be to look for strategies and (CSFB) performance. “In practice, early LTE the mid and low power settings. “The most solutions that will improve its existing 2G/3G deployments often led to poor CSFB performance complex modulation rate will be the most sensitive networks without requiring a complete equipment (6-10 seconds typically). Optimisation work is to distortion. We also recognise that maximum upgrade as they deploy their 4G networks. needed to ensure that this is brought as close as modulation will be used when the mobile is closest “The solutions that are already deployed in possible to three seconds, or even less.” to the base station, so max rate modulation is the market might include many of the elements For data testing, Poisson reiterates that MNOs suitable for testing at the low power setting.” required of the 4G network, such as: integrated need to abandon legacy systems such as FTP. Viavi believes operators should “never intelligence; simplified network architecture; Instead, he says they should use smartphones underestimate” the importance of testing in the high bandwidth performance capabilities with to test widely used social media services and lab prior to deployment, particularly emulating on-demand scalability; and enhanced mobility.” focus their optimisation efforts on enhancing real world conditions. “Interoperability Nokia Networks supports this when it says the customer experience based on real usage patterns. between vendors’ equipment is needed more in basic challenges of testing 4G networks remain He also advises cellcos to ensure services are LTE, so ensuring services run end-to-end is a the same as 2G/3G. However, when it comes maintained when on the move: “This means not fundamental requirement,” says Gowans. “Also, only performing drive tests but also on-train and more sites have fibre now in the fronthaul, so Jeremy Carpenter, in-building measurements.” being able to test fibre and RF in one instrument Marketing manager to save time, cost and tower climbs will help the for mobile How to test operators’ business.” network testing, Nokia has already pointed out that interference Rohde & Schwarz R&S says some 2G and 3G test tools can be reused plays a more significant role in LTE networks, and for LTE. But because of the technology’s increased controlling it can be more delicate due to frequency bandwidth, higher data rates and frequency reuse. Gowans adds: “Identifying sources of channels, test tools often need to be upgraded. interference can be a major headache, but with “This becomes more prevalent when complex new spectrum for LTE and constant re-farming, RAN features need to be tested such as MIMO efficiently hunting for interference will eliminate “Correct testing of LTE devices, and Carrier Aggregation,” says Carpenter. customer service issues and reduce opex.” For Keysight, physical layer testing is essential Network infrastructure specialist CommScope network infrastructure and the as this seeks to determine conformance with says that because LTE is a high throughput the vital parameters essential for the successful technology spanning larger spectral bandwidths, wireless increases predictability transmission of a signal over the air. Avila says it’s susceptible to a number of issues. Dr. transmit power, the quality of the TX waveform, Mohamed Nadder Hamdy, the company’s of the network.” and the accuracy of the TX frequency, are all director of wireless network engineering, says

30 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015 FEATURE: TESTINGNEWS 4G

these can include sensitivity to RF path elements, Given the fact that LTE is IP-based, does performance and “enrich” user experience. “This sensitivity to SINR ratios, and degraded PIM that facilitate testing solutions that offer greater solution can provide intelligence on more than performance. functionality in terms of remote management 130 million subscribers on a single network, Earlier this year, the vendor launched its capabilities and future scalability? and can be processing 35 billion events per day Optical PIM Tester and claimed that for the first CommScope’s Hamdy says LTE’s all IP system – that’s eight times more than the number of time ever, a single technician could now use has made the core network less complicated by Google searches in a day,” he claims. a handheld device to connect directly to the eliminating the circuit switched part. “It has Keysight’s Avila agrees that cellcos must base band unit at the bottom of the tower and also simplified and improved the radio access by address the challenge of integrating intelligence perform a ‘truly active’ PIM test over the CPRI. cancelling base station controllers and embedding at the access edge: “As a greater variety of CommScope says the tester utilises an interface their functionality in the base stations themselves services and user types cross the mobile network, that is not susceptible to creating PIM and thus for better latency. This has opened the door for it is critical to increase network and subscriber prevents testing from becoming part of the NFV adoption in the EPC and cloud-RAN.” intelligence.” problem. Using the CPRI, it injects signals into But here, R&S’ Carpenter adds a warning: Of course, the faster data rates enabled by LTE the downlink and looks for PIM products in the “With the migration of network architecture away also mean cellcos are experiencing significantly uplink, making it easier to identify interference. from dedicated physical elements towards NFV, greater competition from over-the-top players. It While eliminating PIM addresses one aspect test tools deployed in the cloud must be compatible is therefore critical for them to be able to compare of LTE network testing, others argue that what’s with operation in a virtual environment.” the performance of their new IP-based voice actually needed is for operators to completely With so much emphasis on data services, services against the OTT offerings. re-think their approach to optimisation. Gowans believes solutions are needed today that But as Carpenter points out, a fully IP-based “LTE has enabled bandwidth hungry services can manage the scale of deployments. “Networks network also brings the possibility to monitor and mass adoption of social media services on can very quickly run out of capacity and the subscriber traffic in the core in near real-time. smartphones,” says Poisson. “Investing more operator must deal with the need to optimise This not only makes awareness of issues such as effort on enhancing the service performance the network to cope with customer demand.” congestion more immediate, but also opens up is key. This is a profound paradigm shift that Viavi reckons its ariesoGEO platform can opportunities for MNOs to gain greater insight results in the deployment of different testing help here. According to Gowans, this locates, into traffic and subscriber profiles: “This can be methodologies. Operators need to recognise this stores and analyses data from billions of mobile used for intelligent management of the network and implement the necessary updates so that this connection events, and gives operators a “rich and targeted marketing to protect revenue in the is fully understood and supported.” source of intelligence” to help boost network face of erosion by OTT players.” ■

HARDWARE FOR TESTING & OPTIMISING LTE Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) says it’s reached a Anite has enhanced its Propsim In the downlink, it’s claimed each significant milestone in the commercial evolution F32 LTE-A MIMO radio channel terminal sees improved data throughput, of LTE-A. Working with load testing solutions emulator (pictured right), enabling especially near the cell edges, due to less specialist Prisma Telecom, it has successfully users to test new 3GPP features interference and an increase in received completed RF tests for LTE FDD four component (Release 13 and beyond) in multi- power. For the uplink, RX signal quality carrier aggregation (4CC) in the downlink. mode base stations and mobile and cell edge coverage is improved by Their solution consists of two R&S CMW500 devices Frequency range support simultaneous coordinated reception from wideband radio testers (pictured below), the R&S has been extended up to 6GHz different points on the network side. CMWC controller, and Prisma’s UeSIM multi- so that users can test mobile Late last year, Keysight Technologies terminal simulator which features devices and network equipment announced it had verified three one eLSU and two for any LTE or LTE-U band, as well as for WLAN component carrier (3CC) end-to-end IP data SDRv3 units. Each frequencies above 5GHz. Propsim F32 also supports throughput with its E7515A UXM wireless test CMW500 generates testing of all LTE-A CA schemes defined by 3GPP. set (pictured below). The UXM supports multiple two component Anite reckons the unit offers the industry’s cells, downlink and uplink CA, MIMO up carriers with highest RF output power levels and the widest to 4x2, and integrated fading. Utilising three 20MHz bandwidth RF signal dynamic range. It says this reduces 20MHz component carriers in the downlink for and 2x2 MIMO, the need for expensive and sizeable external RF a total aggregated bandwidth of 60MHz, the firm while the UeSIM power amplifiers in MIMO OTA anechoic and said it had successfully demonstrated 450Mbps terminates the reverberation chamber installations. downloads/50Mbps uploads (category 9) data rates. traffic. R&S says the Cobham Wireless’ TM500 range of testers Separately, Keysight’s Signal Studio LTE entire setup can provide now also support CoMP (coordinated software tools now support key features of downlink rates of 600Mbps – the performance multipoint) transmission/reception, a major 3GPP Release 12. The company says they required for testing 3GPP category 11 devices. feature of 3GPP LTE-A Release 11. The vendor include the latest generation of metrology- In a separate development, R&S claims it has says one of the primary reasons for operators grade 256QAM reference signals needed to test successfully verified combining various frequency seeing a degraded quality of service with physical downlink shared channel and physical bands in TDD and FDD carrier aggregation hetnets is poor cell-edge performance due to multicast channel implementations. (CA). During a test that once again featured the lack of traffic coordination and interference The updates also support the downlink shared CMW500, the company simulated an LTE network management between small and macrocells. channel with limited and says data was successfully transferred to the The TM500 already features eICIC to address data rate channel device under test on multiple aggregated carriers cell edge interference issues. With the addition of coding for the in different duplex modes. R&S says this makes CoMP, it can now coordinate transmission and new category the CMW500 the only platform to support RF reception between different cells through the use 0 UE as and protocol tests for CA in line with 3GPP of load balancing, coordinated scheduling, and the defined by Release 12 for TDD/FDD joint operation. management of signal power and interference. Release 12.

November/December 2015 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 31 ADVERTORIAL: PCCW GLOBAL ADVERTORIAL: PCCW GLOBAL

ONTAPtv.com™ – a exible tailored service – search engine that includes standard and a 1, 2, 3: advanced gene based search enabling customers to look, for example, for content based on a book, 1. ONTAPtv.com™ has a comprehensive and or containing dry humour, etc. compelling content proposition including content from leading international studios - such as ONTAPtv.com™ is the rst in South Africa to Warner Bros, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) bring customers the ability to download content and BBC Worldwide - and local content from onto smartphones and tablets for o -line viewing. providers such as SABC. It has also sponsored It brings: local content. In its content arrangements, PCCW Global has leveraged its expertise in the content • A highly cost-eff ective service - customers can industry, and deals directly with studios to gain manage their costs by downloading the content maximum marketing exibility, content rights they wish to watch via WiFi, or in o -peak Embracing OTT suited to its needs, and best possible pricing. periods, and watch o -line later. 2. ONTAPtv.com™ is the rst in South Africa to • Th e ability for customers to watch their content The trend towards over-the-top services is not a short- o er á la carte packaging. is enables customers when and where they want; even when they’re to pay only for the content they want to watch. travelling or in areas with poorer data coverage, For example, if a customer just wishes to have term change but a fundamental one. Lindsay Servian the African ONTAPtv package, then they can do • Th e ability for high quality viewing to TVs so. ere is no obligation for them to buy other - customers can download content in high explains how mobile operators can deal with it. packages as well. Of course, this also enables resolution for a greater viewing experience for pocket beating pricing. TVs, or cost-eff ective standard resolution for smartphones and tablets. roughout the world Telcos and a ordable pricing, and just as “mobile services” leap- 3. ONTAPtv.com™ is easy to use. e interface MNOs have a similar question… frogged “fixed line services” to is intuitive, and has an advanced and innovative “My network and my network 3. Apps that bring the freedom bring cost-effective connectivity investment is increasingly for customers to watch what they to the mass of the people, so devoted to my customer’s love of want, when they want and where OTT video entertainment OTT entertainment. How can I they want. services are positioned to bring bene t from it?” low cost premium content to e market is enormous: the mass of the population “ e trend towards OTT is who seldom have access to not a short term change, but a 1. For most entities, video is affordable Pay TV. fundamental one” said Lindsay already accounting for around Servian, Head of ONTAPtv.com™ 80% of data tra c; whilst data with PCCW Global. tra c is a main driver of It’s a perfect opportunity business growth, for Telcos and MNOs” We are seeing a convergence of added Lindsay Servian. three key trends: 2. Informa Telecom & Media sees “ ey have tremendous the OTT video entertainment “ 1. Higher speed, and lower cost, industry to be worth US$ 29.8 assets they can leverage such bandwidth as new technologies bn in 2016. We see daily articles as their brand, their customer grow apace, identifying that OTT viewership is base, their local delivery not just growing rapidly, but eating platforms, their retail chains, 2. Increasingly sophisticated into traditional TV markets, and and their billing and mobile devices such as customer systems. smartphones and tablets at 3. In developing markets – Most Telcos and MNOs now revenue share, or expensive is exible, cost e ective and we’re recognize video entertainment platforms without on-going delighted to discuss innovative ” services as a key component support on the other. business models ranging from a of their triple or quad plays to full end-to-end managed service both: (i) maintain core business “In Hong Kong we’ve been that we operate together on a ARPU, reduce churn, and grow running one of the world’s most long term basis and including their customer base; and (ii) as a successful media businesses strategic and business planning, business in its own right. as part of our quad-play” said people and content skills through Lindsay Servian. “And in South to components of our integrated However the question arising Africa, ONTAPtv.com™ is an ONTAPtv.com™ platform.” is how to do this with a new OTT video entertainment service unknown world of complex bringing premium content at content rights on one hand, a ordable pricing, and tailored for Lindsay Servian, and many OTT specialists local market conditions.” Head of ONTAPtv.com, offering either little to no Lindsay Servian added “ e service PCCW Global Register to receive your free copy of this & other business magazines: NEWSWORLD NEWS www.kadiumpublishing.com

World’s ﬁ rst 5G “network slicing” technology demonstrated South Korea Telecom virtual services, “massive” IoT into multiple virtual mobile networks, based 5G architecture,” said SKT CTO (SKT) and Ericsson say they services, and enterprise solutions. allowing operators to provide Alex Jinsung Choi. “The successful have succeeded in creating different SKT and Ericsson say they were optimal support for a variety of 5G demonstration is a significant step virtual network slices optimised for able to completely isolate and protect applications on an ‘as-a-service’ basis. forward to achieve the world’s first various applications in 5G networks. these virtual network slices from one SKT hopes it will enable it to deployment and commercialisation of At a demonstration carried out another, thus successfully resolving secure a “strong edge in the 5G the 5G network system.” at the operator’s R&D centre in one of the biggest challenges that can era” through enhanced network As part of their ongoing Bundang in mid-October, the two arise when multiple virtual networks operational efficiency and reduced collaboration, Ericsson and SKT are companies showed how 5G network share one physical network. time-to-market for new services. also working on building the world’s slicing technology could be used for 5G network slicing enables a single “Network slicing is one of the key first cloud-based, hyper-scale data super multi-view and augmented/ physical network to be partitioned enabling technologies for [our] all-IT centre system for 5G early next year. Public safety LTE added to Bilbao U Mobile Metro communications network to develop Teltronic has completed provides real-time video transmission the latest phase of its between trains, 41 stations and the security-boosting communications control centre in Bilbao, as well as from ‘pre5G’ network for the Bilbao Metro which portable devices carried by security U Mobile and ZTE will is being deployed in conjunction staff. Real-time video from cameras work on the development with ITELAZPI, the operator of at stations can also be displayed. of ‘pre5G’ mobile broadband the Basque Country’s regional Ricardo Lizundia, TETRA systems technologies in Malaysia. communications network. manager at ITELAZPI, says: “This Under a deal signed earlier this Bilbao Metro’s highly advanced The fully integrated TETRA-LTE system is an excellent platform on which year, U Mobile plans to make security infrastructure is also used provides real-time video between the we can easily build our professional significant network upgrades by public safety agencies and control centre in Bilbao and personnel broadband services. It is also a cost- using ZTE’s proprietary pre5G transportation entities such as on board trains and in stations. effective solution since we are able to technologies including MIMO. The Euskotren and ETS. In May 2014, layer LTE technology onto the existing two firms will also collaborate on city authorities decided to use the of the existing TETRA network, network, alongside existing PMR the research and development of network to pilot LTE technology it’s hoped it can significantly boost voice and narrowband data services.” fifth generation mobile technologies. based on Teltronic’s Nebula platform. security in the rail network, and help He adds that LTE opens up a range Mobile data demand is soaring The LTE system provides facilitate a coordinated response in an of possibilities for the network and in Malaysia, and 70 per cent of U uninterrupted, highly available video emergency situation. promises “significant improvements” Mobile’s subscribers are said to be monitoring. Used in combination Encompassing voice and data, the in the public service communications smartphone users. According to a with the mission-critical capabilities fully integrated TETRA-LTE system within the Basque Country. consumer behaviour study earlier this year, the country has South East Asia’s highest internet usage with the public spending an average of 219 StarHub demos 600Mbps LTE-A using MIMO minutes each day browsing the web. In what’s claimed to be a CTO Mock Pak Lum load speeds using four transmit and ZTE says 5G research is key to first for South East Asia, says StarHub is four receive antennas for communi- its strategy of becoming a global StarHub has demonstrated 600Mbps preparing to meet cation between a mobile device and leader in next-generation network data transmission speeds as part of booming demand the base station. According to Nokia, technology. In 2014, the company an LTE-A trial in Singapore. for bandwidth on future mobile networks will need to says it was the first to propose the StarHub CTO Mock Pak Lum says: more advanced use massive MIMO technologies to pre5G concept, and at Mobile World “4G is still on the evolution path, and smartphones. address hundreds of thousands of data Congress in March 2015 it launched we are readying ourselves to meet the applications sharing the same network, a pre5G base station featuring an ever-growing demand for bandwidth- Networks which included the Flexi each with its own requirements. integrated BBU and RRU heavy applications and services on Multiradio 10 base station. Ray Owen, Nokia Network’s ZTE says the base station faster, more advanced smartphones.” In addition, the two companies say Singapore head says: “With this enables carriers to emulate the The 600Mbps data transmission they have also successfully tested three trial, we have proven that our behaviour of future 5G networks speeds were achieved through band CA using a commercial mobile technology is suitably equipped to on existing LTE network combined 4x4 MIMO technology device. They claim the successful help StarHub in coping with the infrastructure. The vendor also along with Carrier Aggregation trials of 4x4 MIMO and multiband forthcoming data deluge, a scenario claims that it enhances spectral (CA). StarHub carried out the CA pave the way towards even faster wherein networks have to be ready efficiency of current LTE networks technical demo at its headquarters mobile broadband in future. to deal with download demands of between four to six times by using using technology from Nokia LTE-A 4X4 MIMO doubles down- gigabytes per person per day.” massive MIMO technology.

34 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015 WORLD NEWS

Highest ever C-band transmissions

Long distance fibre Lyon fibre optic link in Orange’s rate of 92GSa/s. Socionext says their The record unrepeatered links records have transport network. It covered a distance high effective resolution and analogue transmission distances were achieved been broken as part of two separate field of 762km which is said to be more than bandwidth characteristics greater than by combining Xtera’s Wise Raman trials that took place earlier this year. twice that of any previous field records 20GHz makes scalable architectures for optical amplification and Corning’s In France, engineers from Orange, for 32 QAM, and the first ever regional multiple wavelengths and high modula- Vascade EX2000 optical fibre. Coriant, Ekinops, Keopsys and transmission for 64 QAM. tion formats on a single device possible. Xtera says ultra-long, low-capacity Socionext say they successfully The transmitters and receivers used Meanwhile in China, optical network- unrepeatered transmission systems demonstrated the highest ever C-band to establish the record were based on ing specialist Xtera Communications provide a cost-effective and simpler transmission capacity using various ultra high speed digital-to-analogue worked with State Grid Information solution over repeatered solutions for modulation techniques ranging from and analogue-to-digital converters and Telecommunication of China many applications. These include subsea 24Tbps and DP-16 QAM, to 32 x developed by Socionext Network using to demonstrate 100G and 10G links connecting sparsely populated 1.2Tbps (38.4Tbps) and DP-64 QAM. standard 28nm CMOS technology. transmissions over 627km and 645km islands, as well as communication links The record was achieved in a live The converters cover a broad respectively, with no active equipment to offshore oil and gas platforms, and environment across the Lyon-Marseille- sampling range with a maximum between the end points of the links. over power utility grids to remote areas. Turkish Vodafone deploys mini 4G network Vodafone New Zealand Baird says the Z-Car has a 4G small operator set has developed what is cell built into its boot which provides literally a mobile network in its coverage over a two kilometre radius, for Pakistan? quest to connect remote locations. even as the vehicle is in motion. A low The operator says its network profile satellite antenna on the roof Pakistan’s government covers 98 per cent of the country’s connects the vehicle to Vodafone’s reportedly plans to 4.5 million people, but only reaches The Z-Car has a 4G small cell built global network, enabling download/ conduct a new 3G/4G auction and around 55 per cent of its geography. into its boot which provides mobile upload speeds of 10Mbps/2Mbps. wants to attract foreign bidders. “Telecoms operators in every country coverage even in motion. The Z-Car can also communicate According to local media, ICT are wrestling with how to connect the with the digital trunked radio systems minister Anusha Rahman has held remotest areas with mobile coverage,” can quickly deliver reliable temporary used by New Zealand’s emergency talks with the Turkish ambassador says Tony Baird, technology director connections to any area, particularly services. It can therefore be used as a to discuss the high demand for new for Vodafone New Zealand. “This is during emergency situations. As a comms hub to help first response teams spectrum in Pakistan. perhaps even more challenging in my result, it has developed a working rapidly establish 4G connectivity within Rahman apparently told officials country where we have more remote prototype of a mobile network on minutes of arriving on-site, or provide at the meeting that she wanted area than many other places.” wheels dubbed the Z-Car. The name temporary remote coverage. Turkish mobile companies to Baird says Vodafone been working is from a 1970s British TV series in Baird says more testing will be done participate in the spectrum sale for a number of years on how to make which mobile police units provided with the Z-Car, and adds Z-Boats and which would include 850MHz its network more portable so that it help to new communities. Z-Planes are also potential possibilities. which the government has reserved for a new market entrant. As yet, there is no confirmed date for a new auction although reports Verizon helps boost U.S. networks suggest it could be held soon. Following years of delay, the from rural counties to an urban icon Pakistan Telecommunication Authority finally conducted a 3G In mid-October, U.S. telco In a separate development, Verizon such as Times Square and Yankee auction last year and also included Verizon announced that all says it has built a new distributed Stadium. Verizon reckons it has been the sale of 4G frequencies. The the participants in its LTE in Rural antenna system (DAS) in the One able to overcome these challenges country’s five existing cellcos – America (LRA) programme have now World Trade Center, offering what’s and consistently looks to enhance Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone and fully met their original goal of deploying claimed to be fast and reliable speeds its wireless networks, investing more Zong – were all awarded licenses. LTE technology across rural counties. to tenants, visitors and tourists. than USD830m in the New York-New But the auction brought in The operator launched the LRA The operator is so far the first and Jersey region in 2014. much less than the USD1.5bn initiative around five years ago with the only carrier with activated the government was expecting in aim of helping rural wireless companies service in the building, and revenues, and the sale failed to attract across the US drive innovation worked with the developer any new foreign interest as hoped. through advanced 4G technology. to design the DAS. 225,000 square miles of Verizon’s New York City is said ICT minister spectrum is now leased by LRA to be one of the most Anusha Rahman participants across 169 rural counties challenging wireless markets has reportedly in 15 states. The company says more in the world, with a diverse held talks with than 1,000 LTE cell sites have been urban landscape featuring the Turkish activated, covering 2.7 million people skyscrapers and subways, Verizon users can now upload selﬁ es from the ambassador. across an area larger than Colorado. as well as high density areas 104th ﬂ oor at New York’s One World Trade Center.

November/December 2015 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 35

Caribbean Smart City networks go microwave Advantech Wireless has live using Weightless revealed that it has been successfully operating a 95km Nwave Technologies has Nwave worked with accelerator several kilometres, even in urban areas. point-to-point microwave link over rolled out Denmark’s organisations Accelerace Management According to the SIG, Weightless-N is the Caribbean Sea for the last two first Smart City networks across and Next Step City for the deployments designed around a differential binary years without any interruption Copenhagen and in the southern port in Denmark. “Nwave’s open standard phase shift keying digital modulation or degradation. The vendor’s city of Esbjerg using the Weightless-N approach is of critical importance scheme to transmit within narrow Transcend 800 system is carrying open standard. to both commercial and municipal frequency bands using a frequency native SDH (STM-1) and native Nwave specialises in hardware adopters,” says Christian Hvashøj hopping algorithm for interference IP traffic simultaneously. The link and software for the IoT and M2M Schaarup from Accelerace Manage- mitigation and enhanced security. is operating in 6GHz and in a communications. Its network solutions ment. “The Weightless open standard It says the technology supports space diversity configuration with are based around an ultra narrow- model provides reassurance to users mobility with the network automatically Advantech’s 1.8m high performance band communications protocol that the technology will not lock them routing terminal messages to the correct microwave antennas. operating in license-exempt ISM sub- into dependence on a single vendor.” destination. “Multiple networks, typi- 1GHz spectrum. The company claims The Weightless Special Interest cally operated by different companies, its NWave platform allows long-range, Group (SIG) published Weightless-N are enabled and can be co-located. Each Argentina low-power, low-cost communications, earlier this year (see Wireless Solutions, base station queries a central database to and enables the penetration of the IoT May-Jun). It claims the standard offers determine which network the terminal into areas poorly served by traditional “best-in-class” signal propagation is registered to in order to decode and IoT services cellular or short-range technologies. characteristics leading to a range of route data accordingly,” states the SIG. Telecom Personal, Argentina’s largest MNO, has launched an Internet of Things platform with the help of Jasper. Indigo project boosts Euro satellite industry It’s claimed the operator can New technologies to help The project partners believe these position in the global market,” says now offer a turnkey solution for fully exploit the capabilities benefits will improve the quality of Magali Vaissiere, ESA’s director of customers in any vertical industry, of the next generation of high- service and lower the total cost to telecommunications and integrated which can be easily configured for throughput satellites (HTS) will be customers, pave the way to markets applications. the unique needs of their specific developed under a public–private not economically previously viable, Intelsat has chosen Newtec’s business models. Jasper says users partnership between the European and enable new services across Dialog platform to deliver numerous will benefit from real-time control Space Agency (ESA) and Intelsat. multiple sectors. services on its EpicNG HTS system and visibility of their connected The Indigo project will develop ESA says Indigo will give all and IntelsatOne terrestrial network. devices, in addition to the mobile new ground segment innovations that partners and subsystem suppliers the With ESA’s backing, Indigo partners service management, support maximise the capabilities offered by opportunity to expand their product will be able to further improve their diagnostics and flexible billing Intelsat’s EpicNG satellites. It aims to and service portfolios, and capture a Newtec modems, hubs and network required to grow a successful maximise the throughput delivered greater share of a highly competitive management system to exploit the connected services business. to customers and offer the flexibility market. “[The project] is an excellent capabilities offered by Intelsat’s HTS to adapt to advances in satellite example of how ESA can help boost which are expected to enter full LTE roaming technology and services. innovation and strengthen Europe’s commercial services by early 2018. extended TVWS used to broadcast live biking event Syniverse is providing TV white space (TVWS) The firm believes the success Dialog Axiata with a technology was used to of the trial will raise the profile of single-connection access to its IPX enhance the spectator experience at the Glentress as a venue for future events. backbone network. The firm claims Enduro World Series (EWS) mountain It adds that TVWS technology has the Sri Lankan operator’s reach biking event held in Glentress Forest, significant potential to not only has now been expanded across the Scotland earlier this year. transform the outdoor sports and events world’s LTE networks. Syniverse The network was designed by market, where access to broadband can says its IPX Network currently serves wide area infrastructure specialist be challenging, but to boost the wider more than 1,000 LTE roaming routes Boston Networks which worked in Hardware from ADAPTRAN and tourism industry and bring long-term and includes more than 100 LTE partnership with Scottish Enterprise, Inﬁ netWireless was used for the white economic benefits to rural communities. direct connections, all of which Microsoft, IndigoVision and a space network in Glentress Forest. Boston Networks’ chief executive makes it possible for it to deploy consortium of technology leaders. Scott McEwan said: “Glentress is fairly LTE and VoLTE around the globe. Their aim was to trial TVWS Boston deployed ADAPTRAN’s remote and mountainous, so designing Dialog and Syniverse have been technology at various points throughout radios for the TVWS system. Indigo- and delivering a system to enhance partners for 10 years and have worked Glentress Forest to allow live footage of Vision’s Ultra 2K cameras with the visitor’s experience, and that together on data clearing, roaming the riders to be transmitted to spectators SMART.core technology were used to could have a transformational effect fraud protection, text and multimedia at the venue’s headquarters in the stream full HD video over the network for both the event and the local area, messaging, and Wi-Fi roaming. nearby town of Peebles. to a large screen at Peebles Green. was an exciting opportunity for us.”

38 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS November/December 2015