Samena Trends Exclusively for Samena Telecommunications Council's Members Building Digital Economies
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Volume 07 _ Issue 01 _ Jan 2016 SAMENA TRENDS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SAMENA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL'S MEMBERS BUILDING DIGITAL ECONOMIES A SAMENA Telecommunications Council Newsletter Articles Mobile money Page 67 Low earth orbit satellite broadband makes a comeback Page 78 Exclusive Interview Prof. Dr. Ensar GÜL General Manager Türksat A.Ş Page 04 The future of satellite broadband and the need for innovative spectrum management solutions www.samenacouncil.org SAMENA CONTENTS VOLUME _ 07 _ISSUE _ 01_jan 2016 TRENDS The SAMENA TRENDS newsletter is wholly owned and operated by The SAMENA Telecommunications Council FZ, LLC REGIONAL & MEMBERS (SAMENA Council). Information in the UPDATES newsletter is not intended as professional 08. Members news services advice, and SAMENA Council disclaims any liability for use of specific 15. Regional news information or results thereof. Articles and information contained in this publication are the copyright of SAMENA REGULATORY & POLICY Telecommunications Council, (unless UPDATES otherwise noted, described or stated) 22. Regulatory news and cannot be reproduced, copied or printed in any form without the express 31. A snapshot of regulatory activities in written permission of the publisher. SAMENA region The SAMENA Council does not necessar- ily endorse, support, sanction, encour- 42. Regulatory activities beyond the age, verify or agree with the content, SAMENA region comments, opinions or statements made in The SAMENA TRENDS by any entity WHOLESALE UPDATES or entities. Information, products and 55. Wholesale news services offered, sold or placed in the newsletter by other than The SAMENA Council belong to the respective entity TECHNOLOGY UPDATES or entities and are not representative 59. Technology news of The SAMENA Council. The SAMENA EDITORIAL 03. Council hereby expressly disclaims any 67. Mobile money and all warranties, expressed and im- plied, including but not limited to any warranties of accuracy, reliability, mer- SATELLITE UPDATES chantability or fitness for a particular 69. Satellite news purpose by any entity or entities offer- ing information, products and services in 78. Low earth orbit satellite broadband this newsletter. The user agrees that The REGIONAL makes a comeback SAMENA Council is not responsible, and shall have no liability to such user, with PERFORMANCE respect to any information, product or service offered by any entity or entities 07. The Future of Satellite in this newsletter. The SAMENA Coun- cil’s only liability in the event of errors Broadband shall be the correction or removal of the erroneous information after verification. Editor-in-Chief Bocar A. BA Contributing Editors Izhar Ahmad Javaid Akhtar Malik Contributing Members Analysys Mason Chinguitel (Subsidiary of Sudatel) Publisher SAMENA Telecommunications Council Subscriptions [email protected] 04. 80. Advertising [email protected] EXCLUSIVE SAMENA Legal Issues or Concerns [email protected] INTERVIEW ACTIVITY Prof. Dr. Ensar GÜL SAMENA Council moderating smart city General Manager and connectivity - providing dense mobile SAMENA TRENDS access to support smart city applications [email protected] Türksat A.Ş @SCWS MENA conference on the 18 Tel: +971.4.364.2700 January 2016 in Dubai, UAE © 2016 - All rights reserved. SAMENA TRENDS is a trademark of SAMENA Telecommunications Council. EDITORIAL SAMENA TRENDS _ JAN 2016 The future of satellite broadband and the need for innovative spectrum management solutions Much more than the technology itself, the coverage and at affordable price structures, such full potential of broadband requires spectrum that fundamental needs of the society can be resources, allocated in a harmonized way, and addressed effectively. From an implementation policy and regulatory support, ensured in perfect point of view, this signifies that Leo satellites, harmony with the needs of the business of organized in constellations consisting of hundreds communication infrastructure development. In of micro units, are on their way to soon beaming the case of satellite services, this is even more the Internet from space. important, given the inherent nature of the services and the resources required to guarantee a When achieved, such micro-satellite based good bandwidth at a good price, and thus a good constellations will target businesses as well as quality of service for the end-user. impoverished areas, respectably addressing high data throughput needs and fulfilling fundamental Even though certainties with regard to the needs such as healthcare and education, both of demand for high satellite bandwidth have still which are now recognizably crucial to contributing to be established in many sectors that could toward economic growth and reducing poverty. It benefit from satellite broadband, satellite is this role in the development of the society, and operators, in their undeniably important role in bringing about socio-economic change that will in global communications, are doing very well become crucial to placing satellite broadband as a in emphasizing on the importance of non- reliable medium of connectivity. It is this essential terrestrial connectivity as a reliable way to address advantage provided by satellite broadband that specific needs - be it for the businesses or for needs to be communicated, effectively. the underserved populations. For the residential customers, or for potential customers in well- For the Leo satellite broadband market to develop, served urban areas, however, the ideal balance in spectrum resources have to be made available. peak demand and cost-effective service delivery This has a clear implication: a close coordination has still to be achieved. To add, applications for and understanding between regulatory bodies and the residential customer for the day-to-day use the satellite operators have to be established, so still have to emerge. This would truly set forth the that the interests of both terrestrial and satellite demand for satellite connectivity. operators are kept in mind. Naturally, this would require advocacy efforts. Moreover, developing Starting in 2010 when the first Geo satellite this Leo-based broadband market also entails high dedicated to delivering broadband was launched investments, and most of such investments are by Eutelsat, and when ka-band spot beam being directed toward the development of reliable technology was implemented to ensure a 20 Mbps switching and linking technologies, and toward download speeds for areas where the spot beams dealing with the complexities that satellite-to- provided coverage, we have come a long way in satellite communication brings about. developing satellite broadband. Among many innovations introduced in satellite broadband, At SAMENA Council, we see a bright future for the technology for reusing frequencies has been satellite operators and for their broadband service developed and is now in commercial use. offerings. We are also proud to witness what some major regional satellite operators, operating in These past developments indicate that the satellite the MEA, Turkey, and the European regions have services industry, with a special focus on the achieved. delivery of broadband services, has been on the path to advancement fairly in line with broadband Another realm of close communication and advancements that have taken place on the collaborative fronts is being constructed to terrestrial front. It is safe to say also that the future advance broadband connectivity in the world and of satellite broadband services lies in being able to achieve digital progress through integrated to guarantee delay-free service with sufficient efforts. Yours truly, Bocar A. BA Chief Executive Officer SAMENA Telecommunications Council page_3 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SAMENA TRENDS _ JAN 2016 Dr. Ensar Gül was born in 1960, in the Artvin town of Şavşat. He attended elementary and middle school in Şavşat, later graduating from Ankara’s Science High School. Having received his Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Boğaziçi University in 1982, he went on to receive his Master’s degree from Loughborough Prof. Dr. Ensar GÜL University of Technology’s Electronic Engineering Department, and later obtaining his Doctorate’s degree from Sussex University’s School of Engineering, in England. In General Manager this university he worked on his post doctorate, later returning to Turkey in 1991, to Türksat A.Ş serve his mandatory military service. In October of that year he was appointed as Assistant Professor to Uludağ University’s Engineering Department. In 1993 he became Associate Professor in the field of computer software. Professor Dr. Gül was responsible for Marmara University’s Network Infrastructure between the years 1997-1998. Professor Dr. Gül served as an advisor to TÜBİTAK’s (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) Marmara Research Center for Information Technology Research Institute, between 1993 and 1997. After departing from Marmara University in 1998 he worked as an expert software engineer, software designer, senior researcher, chief software architect and also as general manager for many communication systems companies. In 2009, Dr. Gül was appointed as Professor to Marmara University’s Computer Engineering Department. Between October 2010- October 2012, Professor Dr. Gül served as a member of ÖSYM’s (Student Selection and Placement Center) Board of Directors, as well as, providing his expertise on the renewal of ÖSYM’s data processing system and the development