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SAMENA TRENDS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SAMENA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL'S MEMBERS Volume 03 Issue 12 BUILDING DIGITAL ECONOMIES December 2012 A SAMENA Telecommunications Council Newsletter THE FUTURE OF TELECOMS H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim Director General Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, UAE “Meeting the Digital Agenda: Maximizing Revenue Through Excellence.” Beyond Connectivity 2013 6th & 7th March, 2013 Kempinski Hotel Ciragan Palace Istanbul, Turkey EDITORIAL Fortunately, for the benefit of all those who consume telecommunications services and rely on them for both socio-economic successes, various governments around the world have pledged willingness to redefine and revamp their ICT policies. The SAMENA Council views such initiatives as a sign of progress and stakeholder involvement; the latter being highly critical to the success of the telecommunications The Future of Telecommunications industry’s future. The SAMENA Council also feels that the future of the telecommunications rests on our collective ability to work together, fulfill the requirements of national With a new year ahead, the future is here before us. In this digital agendas, and facilitate the creation of a digital moment in time, the SAMENA Telecommunications Council environment that catalyzes not only economic development feels highly privileged to extend its warm New Year greetings but also socio-political participation for the common man. to the leadership of the telecommunications industry, the telecommunications operator community, technology As the world embraces change and business priorities shift partners, and to the custodians of telecommunications to innovation-driven approaches-for example, infrastructure progress in the world. sharing, citizen-centric service provisioning, and technology and device neutrality-collectively which shall result in the May your goals find their due fulfillment! interconnection of tens of billions of devices soon enough, providing access to a wide array of services over multi- How our telecommunications industry chooses to react to networks, the SAMENA Council will continue to develop its change today, will determine the outcome we will realize role as the regional agenda-setter, and as a major enabler and the progress and success we will meet tomorrow. of digital transformation in the South Asia - Middle East- North Africa region. Over the months, we have recognized that tremendous change has occurred within the telecommunications We view digitization as the true future of telecommunications, industry, no matter the context. Mostly, this change has been and we see the year 2013 as the new beginning of a embraced; investments, policy initiatives, and partnership prosperous future for all of us. development, otherwise, would not have taken place. Join us as we welcome the year 2013! Some of the key drivers of change within the telecommunications industry include mobile Internet, Your Truly, content, social media, cloud-based service access, partnership-based operating and revenue-sharing models, Bocar A. BA and knowledge-based ICT policy-making. The latter is what Chief Executive Officer the telecommunications industry sees as one of the greatest SAMENA Telecommunications Council needs of the hour. However, in light of the change before us, defining an ideal way and pace to transform business operations, continues to be a great challenge for the telecom operator community. Furthermore, as the role of telecom operators has become much more active with time-for example, in the way telecommunications have been integrating and meeting the society’s needs-the additional challenge of creating sustainable value for the end-users as well as investment stakeholders has also been getting tougher. Whatever the industry chooses to do tomorrow will ultimately be driven by the ability to understand and act along key events: the way telecommunications services are being used by users and the pace at which telecoms services are evolving; how devices and network access technologies are transforming and causing new players to directly impact revenue structures; and the foundational (or foundation-shaking) changes that are impacting future of the communications industry. SAMENA TRENDS Volume 03 Issue 12 Dec 2012 www.samenacouncil.org 1 SAMENA TRENDS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SAMENA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL'S MEMBERS Volume 03 Issue 12 BUILDING DIGITAL ECONOMIES December 2012 A SAMENA Telecommunications Council Newsletter EDITORIAL THE FUTURE OF TELECOMS CONTENTS H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim Director General Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, UAE SAMENA TRENDS® newsletter is wholly owned and operated by SAMENA Telecommunications Council 01 EDITORIAL FZ, LLC (SAMENA). Information in the newsletter is not intended as professional services advice, and SAMENA Council disclaims any liability for use of specific 03 REGIONAL NEWS information or results thereof. Articles and information contained in this publication are the copyright of Regional News SAMENA Telecommunications Council, (unless otherwise noted, described or stated) and cannot be reproduced, copied or printed in any form without the express written 05 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW permission of the publisher. H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim SAMENA Council does not necessarily endorse, support, Director General sanction, encourage, verify or agree with the content, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, UAE comments, opinions or statements made in SAMENA TRENDS by any entity or entities. Information, products and services offered, sold or placed in the newsletter by 09 REGIONAL PERFORMANCE other than SAMENA Council belong to the respective entity or entities and are not representative of SAMENA SAMENA Region: Cellular Subscriber Council. SAMENA Council hereby expressly disclaims Growth Rate any and all warranties, expressed and implied, including but not limited to any warranties of accuracy, reliability, SAMENA Region: Net Growth in terms of Cellular merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose by Subscribers any entity or entities offering information, products and SAMENA Region: Y-O-Y Percentage Growth in services in this newsletter. The user agrees that SAMENA terms of Cellular Subscribers Council is not responsible, and shall have no liability to Thought Piece: Telecoms Predictions for 2013 such user, with respect to any information, product or service offered by any entity or entities in this newsletter. SAMENA Council’s only liability in the event of errors 14 SATELLITE NEWS shall be the correction or removal of the erroneous information after verification. Satellite News 16 REGULATORY NEWS Editor-in-Chief Bocar A. BA Regulatory News Active Consultations & Invitations for Feedback Contributing Editors Country-Wise Policy & Regulatory Developments Izhar Ahmad Javaid Akhtar Malik Thought Piece: The Future of Telecommunications Lies in Participation & Cross-Border Consensus Contributing Member Coleago Consulting 34 ROAMING NEWS Publisher SAMENA Telecommunications Council Roaming News Subscriptions 42 TECHNOLOGY NEWS [email protected] Technology News Advertising [email protected] Legal Issues or Concerns [email protected] SAMENA TRENDS #304, Alfa Building, Knowledge Village PO Box: 502544, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel: +971.4.364.2700 © 2012 - All rights reserved. SAMENA TRENDS is a registered trademark of SAMENA Telecommunications Council. SAMENA TRENDS Volume 03 Issue 12 Dec 2012 2 www.samenacouncil.org Regional News REGIONAL NEWS Strategic Partnership Between Omantel TRA Felicitates du for Support of ITU and Bank Muscat Events in the UAE Omantel and Bank Muscat signed at Omantel head office a In a recently-held ceremony, the Telecommunications MoU to establish a strategic partnership between the two Regulatory Authority (TRA) recognized du for its support leading organizations in a number of fields. The MoU was of four recently-held International Telecommunication signed by Dr. Amer bin Awadh al Rowas ,CEO, on behalf Union (ITU) events: Global Standard Symposium; World of Omantel and Abdul Razak Ali Essa, Chief Executive, on Telecommunication Standardization Assembly and World behalf of Bank Muscat.The signing of this MoU mirrors the Conference on International Telecommunications. All strong partnership between the two leading companies and three events were held in the UAE and organized by the serves as an addition to the existing cooperation between ITU, the leading United Nations agency for information them in implementing a number of leading national initia- and communication technology. H.E Mohamad Ahmad Al- tives that aim at paying back to Omani society and playing Qamzi, Chairman of TRA presented Osman Sultan, CEO of du their respective social role. The MoU, signed by the biggest with the trophy, in the presence of the Director General of two MSM listed companies, crowns the continuous efforts TRA, H.E Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim. Osman Sultan, CEO made by the boards and executive managements in both of du, said: “The ITU is the apex body in telecommunications companies to make the optimum utilization of available and it’s an honor for us to be a part of events which define resources with each party to ensure the maximum benefit the future of global telecom. We are thankful to the TRA on Omani society at large. The two organizations will join for presenting us with this opportunity.” du supported and hands in implementing a number of initiatives, especially in participated in ITU Telecom World 2012, held for the first the field of social