For communications professionals in southern Africa SOUTHERN AFRICAN

WIRELESSCOMMUNICATIONS MAY/JUNE 2018 Volume 23 Number 1

l Latest innovations for critical communications l Wireless users: connecting the next generation l How artificial intelligence will help CSPs

SAWC 1806 p1 (Cover).indd 1 05/07/2018 14:50 NAWC 1711 p36 (IDT).indd 1 27/10/2017 12:51 SOUTHERN AFRICAN CONTENTS

COMMUNICATIONSWIRELESS

For communications professionals in southern Africa 5 NEWS SOUTHERN AFRICAN MAY/ u ICASA gives operators one month to comply WIRELESSCOMMUNICATIONS MAY/JUNE 2018 Volume 23 Number 1 JUNE 2018 u l Latest innovations for critical communications Satellite specialists to connect underserved l Wireless users: connecting the next generation l How artificial intelligence will help CSPs Volume 23 u Avanti helps create digital citizens in Tanzania Number 1 u Cambium’s heroic performance for HeroTel u SA scientists aim to bridge digital divide 8 NEWS u Satcoms firms commit to crisis charter u SEACOM upgrades its subsea cable system SAWC 1806 p1 (Cover).indd 1 05/07/2018 14:50 u Sanku fights malnutrition using IoT u TENET to use DarkStar for fibre network Mobile Mark is a leading supplier of u Liquid partners for enterprise cyber security innovative, high-performance antennas to wireless companies across the globe. They 14 WIRELESS BUSINESS have been in the wireless industry for Vodacom Group in ground-breaking multi- over 30 years and have roots in the early billion rand BEE ownership transaction. 20 WIRELESS SOLUTIONS Cellular trials. 20 WIRELESS SOLUTIONS The company design and manufacture Mimosa delivers “superior reliability” for antennas from 138 MHz–6.0 GHz. urban backhaul links. Applications include public transit, 22 FEATURE: CRITICAL COMMS commercial trains, smart highways, RAHIEL NASIR rounds up some of the latest mining, utilities, remote monitoring, products to help first responders and other machine-to-machine (M2M), and the 22 CRITICAL COMMS mission-critical users communicate in a crisis. Internet of Things (IOT). Antenna styles include omni-directional and directional 26 WIRELESS USERS: EDUCATION infrastructure antennas for network rollout; How mobile operators are working in multiband mobile antennas for fleet partnership with education administrators management; low-profile and embedded and experts to give students vital skills. antennas for M2M/IOT applications. 30 INDUSTRY VIEW MEL PRESCOTT from analytics firm FICO Mobile Mark antennas are manufactured 26 WIRELESS USERS discusses three areas where AI could help in the USA and UK. Their responsive comms providers. manufacturing capabilities and production controls ensure that antennas are 32 WORLD NEWS delivered on time and to spec. Their u BS-1 launch makes history double experienced engineering design group u Colt and PCCW expand blockchain trial can take a project from initial concept u Jersey police cut down on paperwork u Coal producer unearths network treasure through to final production. They also 33 WORLD NEWS offer in-house engineering design and RF u GetSAT to provide US with satcom terminals testing facilities for custom designs. SUBSCRIPTIONS: To find out more about Mobile Mark, Southern African Wireless Communications is a controlled circulation bi-monthly turn to page 13. magazine. Register now for your free subscription at www.kadiumpublishing.com Readers who do not qualify under the terms of control can purchase an annual subscription at the cost of £110. For more information and general enquiries please contact Suzanne Mobile Mark Europe Ltd Thomas at [email protected] or call +44 (0) 1932 886 537. 8 Miras Business Park, Hednesford WS12 2FS, UK EDITORIAL: ADVERTISEMENT SALES: Tel: +44 1543 459555 Editorial director: Rahiel Nasir Sales executive: Andrew London Fax: +44 1543 459545 Designer: Alan McClenaghan [email protected] [email protected] Sub editor: Gerry Moynihan +44 (0) 1932 481731 www.mobilemark.com Contributor: Mel Prescott Production & circulation: Suzanne Thomas [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 1932 481728

Editorial enquiries: Publishing director: Kathy Moynihan [email protected] [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 1932 481729 +44 (0) 1932 481730

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SAWC 1806 p3 (Contents).indd 3 05/07/2018 16:25 SAWC 1806 p4 (PCCW).indd 1 06/07/2018 15:18 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html NEWS ICASA gives operators one month to comply with new regulations

South African MNO Cell C has taken ICASA said changes to the End- ICASA refused to grant any legal action after the country’s User and Subscriber Service requests for extending the regulator gave operators just Charter Regulations were implementation of the regulations one month to comply with an needed to protect consumers in the belief that this would not amended version of the End- from a lack of transparency be in the public interest. It said: User and Subscriber Service on out-of-bundle charges that “The effect of the extension would Charter Regulations (ESSCR). often leads to bill shock. be that consumers will continue On 7 May 2018, the Independent to be prejudiced by the continued Communications Authority of consumers,” said the authority. the billing system require a cycle application of the impugned business South Africa (ICASA) published its Cell C said that while it is “fully of development to ensure rigorous rules. This would mean consumers amendments to the regulations and committed” to complying with governance and control measures will, for the foreseeable period of the said they would come into force on the new regulations, prior to the are met.” extension, not be able to carry over 8 June 2018. amendments being published The statement added that at their unused data and will continue to According to ICASA, the ESSCR it advised ICASA that it was least six months would be needed be charged high out-of-bundle rates of 2016 needed to be amended “technically impossible” to meet to properly comply with the new without their consent.” because of general concerns about the proposed timeline. In a press regulations, and without disrupting The authority opted to defend the the unfair business rules imposed statement released on its website customers and causing unforeseen application by Cell C. It therefore by licensees in the provision on 7 June, the operator said: “Cell consequences. announced a postponement of of data services to consumers. C’s billing and other technical Cell C claimed it did not receive the effective date of enforcing the “In particular, the regulations platforms are highly complex and any response about the matter ESSCR until the matter has been seek to grant consumers relief rely on one another to operate from ICASA. As a result, the heard and pronounced upon by against expiry of data, bill shock effectively which means that a operator urgently applied to the the court. It added that during occasioned by lack of transparency change in one system often results South Gauteng High Court to seek the intervening period, licensees on out-of-bundle charges and in changes being required in other a postponement of the ESSCR’s would not be penalised for non- other rules which are prejudicial to systems. Furthermore, changes to implementation. compliance.

Global Telesat will manage Satellite specialists the services from its teleport combine expertise to facilities in Alicante, Spain. connect underserved areas

Global Telesat is joining forces Global Telesat. “SatADSL’s solutions with SatADSL, and RascomStar are a perfect fit for our customers to connect Africa in a partnership who cannot rely on terrestrial deal that promises to see new C- infrastructure to connect, and the and Ku-band services launched at C-SDP means we can offer services “ultra-competitive” prices. quickly and very cost-effectively.” Under the agreement, Global Global Telesat is the latest service Telesat will manage the services provider to connect to SatADSL’s from its teleport in Alicante, Spain. innovative C-SDP which was launched From there, the firm can connect its last November and is now being used to be configured, managed and services nationwide, enabling iDirect Evolution hub to SatADSL’s by 76 Africa-based partners. monitored. Camtel to offer competitive Cloud-based Service Delivery Platform According to SatADSL, the In a separate deal, SatADSL has also broadband packages to even (C-SDP), enabling it to offer a range platform enables CSPs to offer, for teamed up with Cameroon’s incumbent the most rural areas. Under the of services all without investment the first time, cloud-based satellite telco, Camtel, to provide satellite agreement, SatADSL will fulfil all in any physical infrastructure. services over any frequency band. connectivity across the country. of Camtel’s satellite connectivity RascomStar will supply the capacity It includes a network management The formal agreement follows requirements across all frequency using its RQ1R satellite positioned system which allows IP traffic to a pilot launch of SatADSL’s range ranges, Ku-, Ka- and C-band. at 2.9ºE and offers pan-African C- be shaped and routed from and of satellite connectivity solutions Camtel CEO David Nkoto Emane and Ku-band connectivity. to different hubs, while a built-in across a variety of public and said: “We chose to partner with “We are committed to providing customer management tool allows private enterprises and communities SatADSL because its solutions reliable connectivity anywhere at any users to manage and monitor their in Cameroon, including schools, will enable us to target the widest time, even in the most challenging own customers. It also features a post offices, hospitals and banks. possible spectrum of end-users, locations,” said Laure Gathy, new hotspot management system to The company now plans to meaning the broadband services will business development manager at enable remote hotspot networks integrate and deploy its VSAT truly benefit entire communities.”

May/June 2018 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 5

SAWC 1806 p5-12 (News) AM NEW.indd 5 27/06/2018 17:26 NEWS Rapid Deployment Solution aims to save time and money Webb Industries has developed underground ducting, full-site a telecoms mast which it claims earthing and an aircraft warning does not require concrete or any light system. “In essence, all that excavation, and has a very low has to be done is to bring power to environmental impact. the site, draw the cable through the The South Africa-based RF ducting sleeve, and the system is ancillary equipment specialist says ready to go,” says Kruger. its Rapid Deployment Solution (RDS) Webb says its solution saves on has a load capacity of 8m2 over the rigging and installation costs due to top 10m which makes it possible Left: Webb says this site with a 36m short time spent on site, and that for multi-customer use, and that mast was fully deployed in three erection is quick and easy without it can be reused, relocated and days. Right: the foundation consists the need for a crane. erected on almost any site, both of a steel platform base that is filled Kruger adds that there are urban and rural. with suitable compactable material. further cost advantages because Webb engineer Mike Kruger says No concrete is used. there is no concrete used in the that while a standard greenfield site structure’s foundation which takes 21 days or more to complete, deployed in three days, resulting The RDS includes a 7.2m x 7.2m consists of a steel platform an RDS mast that is, for example, in a significant price and ‘time to base substructure, tower, fencing, base that is filled with suitable 36m in height, can be fully market’ advantage. universal equipment cabinet, all compactable material. Avanti helps create digital citizens in Tanzania Avanti Communications says it has educational content online and Graham Peters, Managing Ministry of Education, Education closed the digital divide for 18,000 deliver it straight into classrooms. Director of Avanti Government, said: Authority, President’s Office Regional teachers and 216,000 students in The connectivity is delivered via the “Through Avanti’s high-speed satellite Administration and Local Government Tanzania with its iKnowledge project. operator’s HYLAS 2 satellite which it broadband, innovative thinking and and Universal Communications The initiative, which has now says provides 100 per cent coverage collaboration with our project partners, Service Access Fund. been running for three years, has of Tanzania. Broadband is installed iKnowledge has made teachers and According to the UK Space connected more than 310 primary and supported through local ISPs, pupils digital citizens of Tanzania.” Agency, the IPP leverages UK space and secondary schools across 25 while the ICT hardware, digital skills iKnowledge is co-funded by expertise to deliver “innovative regions in the country. Through training, and educational content Avanti and the UK Space Agency’s solutions to real-world problems satellite broadband connectivity are delivered in partnership with International Partnership Programme across the globe”. and ICT training, Avanti says Camara Education Tanzania and (IPP). It is supported by international Connecting the education sector – teachers can access the latest Discovery Learning Alliance. and local partners including Tanzania’s Wireless Users, pp26-28. Cambium delivers heroic performance for HeroTel Wireless ISP HeroTel is said to be the company chose Cambium cnMaestro end-to-end management. existing 802.11n-based network. meeting “overwhelming demand” Networks’ ePMP point-to-multipoint ePMP Elevate is designed to It’s claimed the new system has for its services with the help of wireless broadband distribution interoperate with previously installed completely transformed network hardware from Cambium Networks. system to improve network CPE by changing the access point performance. Cambium says Founded in 2013, HeroTel is said performance and enable scalability. at the head end and applying an HeroTel is now achieving more to be the country’s largest WISP and HeroTel has deployed the vendor’s over-the-air firmware upgrade to the than three times the speed and offers its subscribers connectivity via point-to-point licensed microwave CPE. Cambium says it gives HeroTel more than double the number high-speed wireless, fibre and LTE. backhaul solutions, PMP the ability to “gracefully of subscribers per sector than it The company currently has more 450m wireless distribution integrate” and migrate achieved in the past. As a result, than 2,000 sites and more than networks, cnPilot 802.11ac its legacy network. the company is able to offer 45,000 clients for last-mile internet Wi-Fi access solutions, The WISP is also 40Mbps SLAs, handle peak traffic service, but found it was unable and is now extending using the ePMP volumes, and meet the spikes in to keep up with booming demand connectivity and coverage 2000 AP. Cambium demand during evening hours which for TV streaming services such as with ePMP Elevate and says this brings key are driven primarily by Netflix. Netflix and Showmax. HeroTel’s CCO technologies such as “With Cambium Networks’ Rich Henn says: “Traditional last-mile It’s claimed GPS sync, frequency solutions we are able to deliver mediums like copper can’t keep up, Cambium’s ePMP re-use, intelligent high-speed wireless services to and fibre is limited to deployment system has “completely filtering, air fairness all of our clients, regardless of in isolated pockets.” transformed” the ISP’s scheduling, and smart whether they are located in urban After evaluating alternatives, network performance. beamforming to an or rural areas,” says Henn.

6 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p5-12 (News) AM NEW.indd 6 04/07/2018 11:41 Webb’s RDS mast Webb’s innovative Rapid Deployment Solution saves time and money system on show South Africa’s Webb Industries’ Rapid Deployment System (RDS) is a multi-user site solution which in Johannesburg, does not require concrete or any excavation and, to top it all, has a very low environmental impact. South Africa The main advantage of the RDS is the speed with which it can be installed. It takes only 1-4 days to erect depending on the size.

Designed by South Africa’s Webb Industries the RDS can be reused, relocated and erected on almost any site, both urban and rural and can be used wherever speed is the main requirement.

Users include GSM operators, the Police Services and event organisers for concerts, sports tournaments, political rallies and much more.

The RDS serves a vital role in giving telecoms operators time to generate revenue while they wait for a more permanent solution.

Some of the more important advantages of Webb’s RDS are: • Helps to overcome site acquisition constraints • Saves on rigging and installation costs due to short time spent on site • Speed and ease of erection (i.e. no need for cranes) • Suitable for both urban and rural sites • Easy handling, very flexible and can be reused or relocated • Above ground foundation, low soil-bearing capacity • Compact site footprint, up to a maximum of 6m x 6m

SMC’s Hilomasts from Webb can be used anywhere, anytime, any place

SMC’s Range of Pneumatic Telescopic Hilomasts from Webb are a hit … … anywhere any time

Hilomast telescopic masts, distributed in southern Africa by Webb Industries, are unusually versatile and can be used almost anywhere, anytime and in any place. The mast can be extended up to 30m by using low pressure air which is supplied either from a compressor or in the case of smaller masts from a foot pump.

Hilomast has long been established as a world leader in pneumatic mast technology and in addition to providing a supporting mast for mobile or semi-permanent communications systems, the product is particularly appropriate to those involved in security, surveillance and high-level filming or camera work.

Hilomast, a product of the SMC Group, has been around for more than 30 years and is fully supported by Webb throughout southern Africa.

For more information contact Webb Industries in South Africa on +27 11 719 0000 | www.webb.co.za

Webb SAWC 1806.indd 1 06/07/2018 14:01 NEWS SA scientists aim to bridge digital divide with home-grown technology A team of international researchers at FSO links which they describe as a the University of the Witwatersrand in network of communication channels Johannesburg (Wits) believe free space through air, much like Wi-Fi but much optics (FSO) will address the problem faster and with a longer reach. They of bridging Africa’s digital divide. are working towards a multi-hop FSO While FSO is not new technology, link that will cover tens of kilometres. the Wits team believe innovations in “Light holds tremendous promise A prototype of the device that could connect ‘sustainable’ photonics technologies for fast connections across medium remote places to fast, reliable internet is such as FSO links and solar-powered distances,” says Forbes. “Even Google, tested by the team at Wits University. equipment provide developing Facebook and SpaceX have exotic PHOTO: WITS UNIVERSITY countries with new cost-effective proposals for Africa that include opportunities for deploying future- is to incorporate two aspects not sustain gigabit connection speeds drones and other aerial vehicles proof telecoms networks. traditionally part of FSO: mode over multi-kilometre distances, with delivering connections in a blanket The new research is being division multiplexing using several further research and development manner. We are working on point- coordinated by Professor Andrew ‘patterns’ of light at once to into advanced digital signal to-point solutions with sustainable Forbes from the School of Physics increase the bandwidth; quantum processing and coding schemes, photonics that are home-grown.” and Professor Ling Cheng of security, so that we have a hybrid this may be increased “dramatically The team says it has already made the Electrical and Information classical-quantum link.” with relatively little expense”. several technical advances and is about Engineering department. Cheng adds that while existing The Wits team are concentrating to embark on a commercialisation Forbes says: “What we are doing FSO systems are able to comfortably on connecting communities with programme with a locally listed firm. Zamtel offers network with widest coverage in Zambia

State owned Zambian operator project that is connecting more and in the south. 113 towers are planned Zamtel has commissioned the more places that never dreamt of across the Eastern Province. first ever tower in Dundumwezi in having any network coverage at all.” These latest launches are part of Kalomo, Southern Province. More The deployment in Mubanga the 1,009 new towers that are being than 20,000 people in the area will Secondary School in Dundumwezi built under phase two of Zamtel’s now finally be connected to the followed another tower being USD280m tower project. The world via telecoms. commissioned in early May at operator said that more than 87 Speaking at the launch event Kafumbwe Boarding School in towers across the country have so in early May, Zamtel CEO Sydney Katete, Eastern Province. Mupeta far been switched on, and claimed Southern Province minister Edify Mupeta revealed that the Southern said the launch will foster national that this affirms its position as the Hamukale (centre) and local MP Province will receive a total of 98 sites development and was significant for fastest growing network in Zambia Edgar Sing’ombe (left) were among out of which eight are already on Katete which is an agricultural and with a geographical presence in the attendees at the ceremonial air at various schools in the region. transit town for traffic heading to more places than rivals which commissioning of the tower in He said: “This is an inclusive Malawi in the east and Mozambique include Airtel and MTN. Dundumwezi. Nashua Mpumalanga rolls out free public Wi-Fi In what’s claimed to be a South (USD6.8). It says that’s a “significant as those offered in Tshwane are Van Niekerk says the project African first, Nashua’s franchise in saving” compared to MTN’s ZAR160 actually funded by ratepayers, the forms part of Nashua Mpumalanga’s Mpumalanga has launched a free (USD12.11) or Vodacom’s and Cell Nkangala free public Wi-Fi offering enterprise development goals as the public Wi-Fi service in Nkangala C’s ZAR149 (USD11.27). is entirely privately financed by kiosks where residents can purchase District Municipality. Mtho Xulu, a director at Nashua Nashua Mpumalanga. additional data will create jobs. Since 1 May 2018, every resident Mpumalanga who is spearheading the “It’s very hard to participate in According to the firm, data costs and visitor to all six local municipalities project in collaboration with Nkangala the formal economy without access in South Africa are among the in the district has been able to sign District Municipality, says: “This is a to data,” says Nashua Mpumalanga highest in the world, and certainly up for 250MB of free data per device completely greenfield project but it’s MD, Junior van Niekerk. “Many of the higher than those of neighbouring absolutely free of charge. They have a also only just the start. Our goal is province’s residents have not been Mozambique, Lesotho and Malawi, month to use the data and can then to ultimately roll out the offering to able to access government services, and six times more expensive than sign up for another 250MB at the the entire province.” complete online school applications Egypt. It says: “These high costs are beginning of the following month. Xulu describes the initiative as a or investigate job opportunities shackling economic development at Nashua says that if users run out “proper” public-private partnership online as a result of insufficient a time when the country desperately of data during the course of the with a genuine developmental goal. data. Our intention is that this needs to grow its economy in order month, they will be able to purchase He says that while other “so-called” project will open up the economy to increase inclusivity and address an additional 1GB for ZAR90 free public Wi-Fi offerings such for more people in Mpumalanga.” crippling unemployment.”

8 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p5-12 (News) AM NEW.indd 8 04/07/2018 12:31 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html NEWS Satcoms firms commit to charter Members of the satellite community between the EMEA Satellite Operators their access to vital satellite-based depots located on three continents have signed contribution agreements Association, Global VSAT Forum, communications when local networks while pre-allocated bandwidth will with the UN World Food Programme the UN Office for Coordination of are affected, destroyed or overloaded cover all regions of the globe. (WFP) on behalf of the Emergency Humanitarian Aid, and the ETC. following disasters. The ETC, under the leadership Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), Signatories from the satellite indus- Under the deal, the firms are now of the WFP, will be able to activate stepping up their commitment to try include Arabsat, Eutelsat, Global committing satellite equipment and the charter when disaster strikes, support global disaster relief. Eagle, Hispasat, Inmarsat, Intelsat, capacity that will be dedicated for and identify which pre-planned The agreements are the final SES, Thuraya and Yahsat. They have humanitarian purposes during emer- solutions are available for any given steps in operationalising the Crisis pledged to help the humanitarian gency responses. Donated equip- situation in order to meet a 24-hour Connectivity Charter signed in 2015 community by greatly enhancing ment will be stored in humanitarian deployment timeline after a crisis. SEACOM upgrades its subsea cable system SEACOM has upgraded its key submarine network system from its Southern and Eastern African coastline landings into Europe at a total capacity of 1.5Tbps. The current upgrade is adding 500G of new capacity on the system, after a previous upgrade of 500G in 2015 (see News, Mar-Apr 2015 issue). The upgrade increases available capacity in SEACOM’s key markets: Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa. The company claims the solution will allow it to deliver requirements for high-capacity connectivity in very short timeframes and provide for future demands. The latest deployment is also based on 100Gbps coherent DWDM technology. SEACOM says this will provide room for it to quickly add more capacity as required. According to the company, the upgrade falls in line with its focus on driving the development of the African internet and “opening the broadband tap” for the continent’s service providers and business users. “Connectivity services in Africa are booming due to the growing needs of business IT users, the rise of cloud-based services, and growing requirements for the processing and storing of personal data,” says SEACOM CTO Claes Segelberg. “This latest upgrade enables SEACOM to meet those demands, and to provide our customers with scalable solutions for the future.”

May/June 2018 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 9

SAWC 1806 p5-12 (News) AM NEW.indd 9 04/07/2018 12:06 NEWS Sanku deploys IoT in its fight against malnutrition

Sanku (Project Healthy Children) is African flour mills in rural areas to time when the mills run out of flour Sanku says its unique dosifier equipping 3,000 small flour mills fortify flour with key nutrients during or require maintenance. enables micro mills in rural areas across Africa with IoT services over the milling process in a way that is Vodafone adds that its in-country to fortify flour with key nutrients the next four years to help provide sustainable and cost-effective. roaming reaches the most remote during the milling process. nutritious fortified flour to millions However, the organisation says areas, allowing access to up-to-the- of people. that while it takes 25 mills to fortify minute information on maintenance, to implement it across Eastern and Using Vodafone’s global IoT SIM enough flour to feed 125,000 power supply and machine tracking Southern Africa where Sanku also and USB Connect technology, the people, these can only be monitored via GPS. Furthermore, M-Pesa runs projects in Kenya, Malawi, and organisation is aiming to gain real- by a single worker at any one time. is being used to enable millers Mozambique. time, data-driven insights to help But using Vodafone’s IoT SIM to securely make and receive The organisation adds that its significantly scale its programme now connects the same worker to payments on their smartphones. dosifier currently helps provide and improve efficiency. 100 mills which will fortify flour Sanku and Vodafone are rolling fortified flour to around a million Sanku says its uniquely developed for 500,000 people. The worker out the IoT technology to local mills people and that IoT will help it dosifier technology enables small receives alerts remotely and in real- in Tanzania and Rwanda, and plan reach 100 million people by 2025. Biometric terminals help Zambian farmers spend subsidies

In what’s been hailed as a payment of ZMK400 (USD40) while provider Ingenico Group and its by a Zambian company, CC pioneering move for areas that the Ministry of Agriculture provides long-term partner, South Africa- systems, in regions without cellular are lacking widespread financial an additional ZMK1600 (USD160). based fintech firm Paycode, coverage for the duration of the infrastructure, the Zambian During enrolment, an authorised worked closely with the Ministry of planting season.” government has been able to agent captures the farmers’ Agriculture to design and launch As a result of the system, successfully bring banking and fingerprints and associates them the system. previously unbanked farmers can additional funding to farmers in with their ID for authentication. Paycode COO Sandy Begg now access agricultural material rural regions. Users are then issued with an explains that the smart terminals subsidies in 30 Zambian districts. Since November 2017, registered electronic wallet that can be used connect wirelessly to a central The partners says that the FISP farmers have been able to securely at participating approved agri- biometric database and also to a has enabled the distribution of claim subsidies to help pay for dealers equipped with biometric centralised settlement system: “We USD22m worth of subsidies in agricultural materials as part of the smart terminals. During the utilised cellular connectivity where rural Zambia within three months, state-funded Farmer Input Support transaction, they can use their it existed through both MTN and and that 91 per cent of eligible Programme (FISP). Under the fingerprints for authentication. Airtel, and temporarily installed users have already purchased initiative, the farmers make a co- Smart payment solutions satellite communications supplied materials using the solution. TENET to use DarkStar technology for submarine network

TENET will use hardware from DWDM SEACOM. Transit services are optical networking specialist XKL provided via Liquid Telecom in Cape to provide a protected connection Town and Johannesburg, and via between two of its strategic Cogent, NTT and GÉANT in London data centre locations in the UK. and Amsterdam. The interconnection is a critical The organisation will use XKL’s component of a subsea cable network DarkStar transponder and mux/ linking Cape Town to London. demux systems. According to the TENET operates the SANReN vendor, its systems grow to 36x10G network which provides the South in a 1RU package, and will establish African higher education and TENET’s connection between research community with internet multi-tenant data centres which connectivity and value-added connect to WACS. It adds that the services. The network comprises equipment also provides optical national and international POPs path protection between locations that are connected using a in the event of a fibre break. combination of dark and managed XKL also claims its mux/demux fibre links at speeds of up to equipment enables TENET to 100Gbps. International high- simply add new optical transport XKL says its systems can be combined with one of its DarkStar mux/ capacity submarine links connect systems as needed without service demux appliances, such as the DMD96 shown here which is claimed to Cape Town to London via WACS disruption using a “pay-as-you- support 96 100G DWDM waves on a single fibre pair. and Mtunzini to Amsterdam via grow” design approach.

10 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p5-12 (News) AM NEW.indd 10 06/07/2018 10:26 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html NEWS MTN offers South Africa IoT services MTN has launched an automated IoT MTN says the combination of its throughout South Africa to easily and automation, and connectivity platform for all compa- network with Control Center enables utilise its platform to deliver their logistics industries. “It’s nies looking to provide IoT services enterprises to securely and cost- IoT services to other countries clear that organisations to their customers on its mobile effectively launch, manage, and as business demands. in every industry are network throughout South Africa. monetise IoT services throughout According to MTN, initial eager to deliver powerful Following on from a partnership South Africa, and to scale those customer adoption has connected services that deal announced at the end of last services globally as needed. Cisco indicated “strong demand” help transform their year (see Wireless Business, Jan- Jasper says it partners with more for Control Center across businesses,” says Feb 2018 issue), MTN is working than 50 service providers that all industries, with Mariana Kruger with Cisco Jasper and is the first manage IoT devices across more particular interest from (pictured), GM for MNO in South Africa to deploy the than 550 mobile networks worldwide. the connected car, vehicle ICT solutions at company’s Control Center platform. It claims this will allow businesses tracking, building security MTN Business. Liquid and Serianu partner for enterprise cyber security Liquid Telecom and Kenya-based protection for businesses of all sizes. data centre facilities, leveraging skills shortage in this area by providing IT security specialist Serianu are Liquid says it will now be able to Serianu’s “state-of-the-art” security additional training for IT professionals teaming-up in an effort to improve offer cyber security assessment, operations centre in Nairobi. across the public and private sectors. cyber security standards and monitoring, training and incident Customers will also have access Serianu CEO William Makatiani practices across the continent. response through a combination to Seriaunu’s new Africa Cyber said: “Through this partnership, we By bringing together Serianu’s of Seriaunu’s consulting, managed Immersion Centre in the Kenyan will explore new ways to empower enterprise-focused security monitoring services and threat intelligence. capital. It says this research, existing and future customers with and analytics solutions with Liquid’s The company says “advanced” innovation and training facility provides quality, home-grown cyber security fibre network, data centres and monitoring and incident response an experimental environment for solutions that will help reduce the cloud-based offerings, the partners services will be made available for businesses to test their cyber security risk and cost from cybercrime say they will offer end-to-end customers using its network and capabilities, and will help address the across the region.”

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SAWC 1806 p5-12 (News) AM NEW.indd 11 06/07/2018 10:32 NEWS

Al Yah 3 orbit tests ONEm offers mobile users

After a tricky launch at the “internet-like” services start of 2018 which saw it placed into the wrong ONEm Communications says it applications can be run on any orbit (see News, Jan-Feb issue), can bring internet-like services to mobiles without the internet. Al Yah 3 has now successfully millions of mobile users currently “Reaching all rural areas needs completed in-orbit testing. At the without internet connectivity. significant funding and formidable end of May, Yahsat announced The UK-based tech firm plans technical challenges,” said ONEm that its third satellite was ready expansion in Africa through licensing CEO Christopher Richardson. to launch commercial services deals and local partnerships. It “However, the ONEm’s solution from 20ºW. It is expected to go live said the move will see advanced utilises existing infrastructure to in August. The company says Al services for rural communities deliver innovative services to rural ONEm CEO Christopher Richardson Yah 3 will offer Ka-band coverage spread throughout the continent. communities.” (standing right) tries to convince to 19 additional markets across ONEm claims its technology According to the firm, governments African business leaders to adopt Africa and cover 60 per cent of the transforms ordinary voice and can deploy its technology as a way his company’s technology. population, as well as 95 per cent SMS into “powerful” interactive to provide rural access to critical of Brazil’s population. tools. The company said it offers a services. ONEm said it can provide government departments. It framework for developers to create nationwide interactive services in added that users only need a basic interactive applications for content security, health, education and handset and can get access to vital Connecting and services which are relevant in commerce, and can coordinate information interactively using the local market, and that those rural Namibia their development with the relevant SMS and voice. Telecom Namibia (TN) Intelsat joins Smart Africa alliance has launched high-speed internet and fixed broadband Intelsat has become the latest firm African Union in 2014 and is also and reliable broadband connectivity.” services in rural Opuwo in the to join the Smart Africa alliance. supported by a number of high-profile Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler Kunene Region. The residents of Established in 2013 following a private sector partner organisations. adds that while much has been Otuani, which is around 70km manifesto pledge by seven African “Satellite technology has played accomplished, more needs to be southwest of Opuwo, as well as heads of states, Smart Africa is a an integral role in providing done. “It is only by working closely those in surrounding villages are commitment to accelerate sustainable broadband connectivity throughout with local governments, partnering receiving 100 per cent network socioeconomic development on the Africa,” says Dr. Hamadoun Toure, with other stakeholders throughout coverage via 3G equipment continent. The initiative is geared executive director of the Smart Africa the ICT landscape and sharing our on a 30m tower installed on a towards connecting, innovating secretariat. Intelsat has worked knowledge through training, that mountain. TN says the network and transforming Africa into a tirelessly over the past four decades we will be in a strong position to covers a radius of 30km. A fixed knowledge-based economy. to ensure that the people of Africa provide all of Africa with high-quality, broadband network has also been Smart Africa was endorsed by the have access to high-quality, affordable affordable broadband connectivity.” deployed to provide telecoms access, mainly to the clinic, school and constituency office. More action needed to advance Africa’s universal broadband connectivity Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame Rwandan up the provision of broadband has said Africa’s economic president Paul where it has been slowest to reach.” biggest IXP transformation requires broadband Kagame said Delegates also heard from the NAPAfrica is now ranked infrastructure with an emphasis on all other digital Broadband Commission’s working in the top 15 of the both access and affordability. services run on group on vulnerable countries world’s largest IXPs. Hosted Speaking at the Broadband top of broadband. which issued a report on national within each of Teraco’s carrier Commission for Sustainable PHOTO: © ITU/M. development in four least developed JACOBSON – GONZALEZ neutral data centres in South Development’s 2018 Spring meeting countries (LDCs): Cambodia, Africa, NAPAfrica currently has held in Kigali in early May, Kagame Rwanda, Senegal and Vanuatu. It said 323 members connecting to more said: “The reality is that all other commissioners – representing the that despite their different market than 350 unique ASNs that service digital services, whether in commerce broadband industry, governments and environments, broadband coverage 16 countries. Companies peering or education or healthcare, run on UN agencies – convened to discuss key has increased notably and become content at the IXP, which is said to top of broadband. Africa’s size, issues related to the role of broadband more affordable for users in all four be the continent’s largest, include geography and settlement patterns in advancing the sustainable countries over the last few years. Google, Akamai, Optinet, Telkom mean that we must rely on a variety development goals (SDGs). However, the report also raises Openserve, amongst others. By of different technologies to deliver Kagame told the gathering: “It is concerns that the demand for 2016, Teraco says peak daily broadband including satellite, fibre up to us to lead the way in driving broadband and its productive traffic throughput at the IXP optic and mobile.” innovation both in policy and use in LDCs has not matched the exceeded 100Gbps. During the two-day event, 34 business models in order to speed growing supply.

12 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p5-12 (News) AM NEW.indd 12 04/07/2018 12:50 Moving Wireless Forward Mobile Mark is a leading supplier of innovative, current major projects for National Express, West high performance antennas to wireless companies Midlands, UK.” across the globe. We’ve been in the wireless industry for over 30 years and have our roots Remote Monitoring & Surveillance in the early Cellular trials. We have grown and Surveillance plays an important role in maintaining evolved over the years, along with the industry. secure settings. Network deployments need to be low We are now looking for maintenance and weather resistant. Broadband surface Today, we benefit from enhanced design capabilities distributors throughout Africa mounts offer flexibility for multi-frequency coverage and expanded production capacity – along with and are rugged and dependable. YAGI antennas a greater understanding of new and emerging Commercial Fleet Management provide practical point-to-point coverage. 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Mobile Mark NAWC 1703.indd 1 06/04/2017 12:53 WIRELESS BUSINESS

Vodacom Group in ground-breaking ZAR17.5bn BEE ownership deal As part of what is believed to be on the ZAR7.5bn Vodacom SA Vodacom Group and YeboYethu, as will be returned to existing BEE the largest ever black economic BEE ownership scheme that was its BEE partner, for at least the next shareholders in the form of an empowerment (BEE) transaction in concluded in 2008 and anticipated 10 years, with the possibility to upfront special dividend of ZAR3bn. South Africa’s ICT sector, Vodacom to unwind on 8 October 2018, ten extend beyond that period. “[This] provides substantial liquidity Group will pay out up to ZAR17.5bn years after its implementation. 4,637 Vodacom SA employees will for our partners and amounts (USD1.31bn) to its black investors. The existing transaction, compris- participate in a new staff scheme to 2.7x the original capital they The deal will see the BEE partners ing a 6.25 per cent shareholding in funded by the group to the value of invested into the 2008 deal. A exchange their current interests Vodacom SA held by YeboYethu, RBH ZAR3.5bn. They will own approxi- shareholder that invested the in Vodacom South Africa for a and Thebe, has benefitted more than mately 20 per cent of YeboYethu. minimum ZAR2,500 in 2008 will shareholding of between 5.8 and 102,000 YeboYethu investors and “Our original BEE deal has receive circa ZAR6,000 in cash.” 6.25 per cent in Vodacom Group. The 8,500 current and past Vodacom delivered significant value to our Vodacom says it is one of the company has agreed terms with Royal SA employees. BEE partners. Its unwind will pioneers of social transformation Bafokeng Holdings (RBH), Thebe The new BEE transaction, in deliver approximately ZAR7.5bn of through ICT and is a Level 3 B-BBEE Investment Corporation, YeboYethu which the YeboYethu shareholding value, or 6.7x the original capital contributor. BEE was established (an existing BEE partner) and a newly will be substantially increased, will our BEE partners invested into the by the ANC government After South formed staff scheme. The combined be funded through a combination 2008 transaction,” says Vodacom Africa transitioned from apartheid interests will be consolidated into a of third party and vendor financing, Group CEO Shameel Joosub. “A in 1994. It aims to address the new YeboYethu BEE structure that reinvested equity of ZAR4.5bn shareholder that invested the inequalities of the apartheid will own shares in the group. from the existing BEE partners and minimum ZAR2,500 in 2008 will era by redistributing assets and This transaction, which remains facilitation from Vodacom Group. unlock approximately ZAR16,000 opportunities to black and “coloured” subject to regulatory and shareholder It has a 10-year funding term, of value through this deal.” South African citizens that were not approvals, will replace and build extending the relationship between He adds that part of this value available to them under white rule.

China Telecom and Liquid Telecom in Asia. He said: “This collaboration will telecommunications equipment behaviour cannot be ignored.” “historic” deal enable both CTG and Liquid Telecom to Iran and North Korea, making ZTE suspended operations In what’s been hailed as a “landmark to better serve our customers and false statements, and obstructing following the ban. On 20 April, partnership”, China Telecom Global explore untapped business potential justice including through preventing the company issued an online (CTG) and Liquid Telecom will work for further development. Under this disclosure to and affirmatively statement which said: “The Denial together to provide Africa and Asia partnership, we are well positioned to misleading the US Government”. Order will not only severely impact with what they say are “industry- enhance the connectivity and network In addition to these monetary the survival and development of leading” network solutions and infrastructure in both regions.” penalties, it said ZTE also agreed a ZTE, but will also cause damages services. The companies said their seven-year suspended denial of export to all partners of ZTE including a “historic” strategic agreement will ZTE says US ban will “severely privileges, which could be activated if large number of US companies.” enable them to serve their respective impact” its survival any aspect of the agreement was not The firm said that export control enterprise and wholesale customers The US Government has banned met and/or if the company committed compliance is regarded as the with extended network coverage companies and individuals in the additional violations of the Export “foundation” of its operation, adding across some of the fastest-growing country from exporting products to Administration Regulations (EAR). that in 2017 alone it had invested economies in the two regions. Chinese telecoms giant Zhongxing The department said it now more than USD50m in its export CTG has already established a PoP Telecommunications Equipment believes ZTE made false statements control compliance programme with at Liquid’s East Africa Data Centre Corporation, better known as ZTE. to BIS during settlement negotiations more resources planned for 2018. (EADC) in Nairobi. In a separate On 16 April 2018, the Department in 2016 and during the probationary ZTE’s statement continued by saying announcement made earlier in April, of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry period in 2017 related to senior that the BIS had “unfairly imposed Liquid said it had opened a new floor and Security (BIS) imposed a denial employee disciplinary actions the the most severe penalty” and that it at the centre to provide an additional of export privileges in response to company said it was taking. It was disregarding a number of facts. 500m2 of rack space. The EADC what it claimed was ZTE’s “repeated added that the company’s “false” These included: ZTE self-identifying now offers a total of 2,000m2 of false statements”. The order prohibits statements only came to light the issues in the correspondence and secured space over four floors, and any business or individual in the US after BIS requested information self-reporting them; the company is interconnected with Africa Data to participate in any type of export and documentation showing that having already taken measures Centres’ other carrier-neutral facilities transaction with the company. employee discipline had occurred. against the employees who might in South Africa and Zimbabwe. CTG ZTE reportedly spent more than “These false statements covered have been responsible for the incident; plans to establish further PoPs at the USD2.3bn on imports from around 200 up the fact that ZTE paid full the immediate implementation of company’s facilities in Johannesburg US firms in 2017, which includes bonuses to employees that had corrective measures. and Cape Town. vital components for its equipment. engaged in illegal conduct, and failed The firm said that it will not give Changhai Liu, MD of China Telecom According to the Department to issue letters of reprimand,” said up its efforts to resolve the issue (MEA), says Africa is very important of Commerce, in March 2017 ZTE US secretary of commerce Wilbur L. through communication and, if to his company and describes it agreed to a combined civil and Ross, Jr. “Instead of reprimanding necessary, through legal measures. as the “booming new market” with criminal penalty and forfeiture of ZTE staff and senior management, But even before the BIS had the highest development rate after USD1.19bn after “illegally shipping ZTE rewarded them. This egregious announced the denial of export

14 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p14-17 (Wireless Business) AM NEW.indd 14 05/07/2018 16:22 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html WIRELESS BUSINESS

privileges, president Donald Trump telecommunications infrastructure opportunities for blockchain technol- that make telecoms technology looked set to intervene in the matter. In cannot be mitigated.” ogies in the IoT will remain limited work in their local environment. a Tweet on 13 May, he said: “President until such issues were resolved. It claimed that this will also help Xi of China, and I, are working Global IoT connections to reach As part of its research, the firm enable operators to engage with together to give massive Chinese 50 billion By 2022 names the top five IoT vendors as: regulation in a way that promotes phone company, ZTE, a way to get The total number of connected IBM; Microsoft; Intel; Bosch; and both economic and social benefit. back into business, fast. Too many jobs IoT sensors and devices is set to Nokia. While it notes that IBM’s Since its launch in 2000, TRMC has in China lost. Commerce Department exceed 50 billion by 2022, up from breadth of services and investment developed into a suite of 11 courses. has been instructed to get it done!” an estimated 21 billion in 2018, in its Watson platform has “paid off”, These are said to have been attended A second Tweet the following day according to Juniper Research. it reckons Microsoft’s “tremendous by more than 2,000 students from said: “ZTE, the large Chinese phone In a recently published report, growth in the enterprise cloud space, operators and regulatory bodies from company, buys a big percentage of The Internet of Things: Consumer, its IoT edge services and AI prowess more than 60 countries. The courses individual parts from U.S. companies. Industrial & Public Services 2018- highlight an increasingly compelling have largely been held in the UK but This is also reflective of the larger 2023, the firm predicts that a offer in the market”. under Cenerva they will also be run trade deal we are negotiating with substantial proportion of the in-country. China and my personal relationship estimated 46 billion industrial and Cenerva to boost regulatory training Cenerva co-founder and principal with President Xi.” enterprise devices connected in in emerging markets consultant Professor H. Sama Separately, and at the same time 2023 will rely on edge computing. Telecoms consultancy Cenerva Nwana said: “We plan to bring as the US announced its ban, the “IoT at the edge dramatically has acquired the Interconnect high-quality, industry-ready training UK’s National Cyber Security Centre increases project scope and value,” Communications Telecoms closer to our customers, conducting (NCSC) issued a warning about the says research author Steffen Regulatory Master Class (TRMC) more in-house and regional courses potential use of ZTE equipment and Sorrell. “However, it must be noted training assets from InterConnect to get to the heart of what they services in the country’s telecoms that work around standardisation, Communications, a wholly need to do to encourage digital infrastructure environment. interoperability and how to manage owned subsidiary of Telcordia transformation. These courses lay In mid-April, the centre’s technical the decentralisation of data Technologies. Financial details of the foundation for us to expand to director Dr. Ian Levy wrote to processing remain in development.” the transaction were not disclosed. accommodate the growing need for telecoms organisations with Juniper also forecasts that According to Cenerva, the deal training on areas like Blockchain, advice about using the company’s consortium-run blockchains or similar will give its clients the opportunity OTTs, Big Data and cyber security.” products. “It is entirely appropriate distributed ledger technologies, such to access courses on global best and part of NCSC’s duty to highlight as IOTA, will play an important role in practices on a wide array of IN BRIEF potential risks to the UK’s national delivering future IoT events or payment regulatory topics such as spectrum security and provide advice based transaction management. management, IoT, internet Ecobank is working with MTN on our technical expertise,” said However, it also points out that governance, etc. It said these will on expanding a longstanding Levy. “NCSC assess that the national both approaches presently lack true help regulators in regions such partnership aimed at driving security risks arising from the decentralisation offered by public as Africa, Asia, the Middle East, financial inclusion. Under an MoU use of ZTE equipment or services blockchains, a key requirement for Central America and the Caribbean signed in early April, Ecobank and within the context of the existing UK end-to-end trust. Juniper believes to develop frameworks and policies MTN Mobile Money customers will

LATEST COMPANY RESULTS Sales EBITDA EPS Date Company Country Period Currency Notes (m) (m) (units) A YoY earnings rise of more than 2% means G+D (Giesecke+Devrient) exceeded the record revenue achieved in the previous year, with a 2.14 17/4/18 G+D Germany FY17 EUR 130 NA rise of more than 2%. “In our four core areas – payment, connectivity, (bn) identities, & digital security – we are in the strongest position we’ve ever been,” said CEO Ralf Wintergerst. Total revenues down 10.5% YoY with pre-tax profit crashing at -64.7% YoY. 19,634 7,034 Africa revenues up 10.7% YoY, led by strong growth in data & mobile money 24/4/18 Airtel India 4Q18 INR 5.34 (crore) (crore) transaction value. Acquired Tigo Rwanda during the quarter – financials & operational parameters of the combined entity part of consolidated results. Reported net sales down compared to 1Q17 which saw EUR5.3bn. Networks division brought in reported net sales of EUR43m, an 87% fall 26/4/18 Nokia Finland 1Q18 EUR 4.924 NA (0.06) from EUR324m reported in 1Q17. Net sales in MEA came in at EUR426m, a 6% rise from EUR403m in 1Q17. American Total revenue increased 7.8% while property revenue increased 7.3% to 1/5/18 US 1Q18 USD 1,742 1,062 Tower Corp. USD1,710m. Allied Chief executive Mteto Nyati attributes 14% revenue rise to execution Electronics 14.7 of the ‘One Altron strategy’ which promotes cross-selling across 10/5/18 South Africa FY18 ZAR 1.1 (bn) 1.35 Corporation (bn) firm’s eight business units to offer customers integrated, end-to-end (Altron) technology solutions. Revenues down 3.3% like-for-like (-7.4% reported). Earnings (at constant currency & perimeter) expected to return to slight growth from 14/5/18 Eurtelsat France 3Q17-18 EUR 337 NA NA FY 2018-19 onwards; EBITDA margin (at constant currency) expected above 76% for FY 2017-18. Group revenue down 2.2% to EUR46.6bn, with earnings in MEA & APAC down 2.6% to EUR11,462m. However, Vodacom Group service revenue increased 5%, supported by strong customer additions & data growth in South Africa, 15/5/18 Vodafone UK FY18 EUR 46,571 14.7 (bn) 8.78 as well as growing data demand & M-PESA in International operations which include Mozambique, Lesotho, DRC & Tanzania. These represent 22.2% of Vodacom Group’s service revenue & grew 8.3% in the year. Meanwhile, Egypt service revenue grew 20.7%; no mention of Vodafone Ghana’s performance.

May/June 2018 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 15

SAWC 1806 p14-17 (Wireless Business) AM.indd 15 05/07/2018 12:13 WIRELESS BUSINESS

be able to transfer money between GfK says this was driven by Egypt remaining stake held by Kenyans international MVNO, to provide global mobile money wallets and bank and South Africa which each saw through the Government of Kenya. Wi-Fi to its monthly plan customers. accounts The two companies say YoY growth of 42 and 13 per cent, The service will be available to they will also leverage each others respectively. The firm forecasts unit The GSM Association has Lycamobile’s subscribers through assets to digitise international demand to increase four per cent halted the development of a white-labelled version of iPass remittance, foster product in the region in 2018. Meanwhile, the latest eSIM standard. The latest SmartConnect which is said to provide innovation in the field of mobile smartphone revenue for the quarter version of the standard is being “simple and secure” Wi-Fi access to saving and lending, and offer digital in MEA increased seven per cent developed with a wide range of millions of hotspots worldwide. payment solutions to consumers, YoY to USD 11.4bn. features including the option for the merchants and corporations. eSIM to be locked. However in the Global satellite services and Ecobank Group CEO Ade Ayeyemi American Tower US, consumers would need explicit solutions provider Marlink says Africa will need to digitise Corporation (ATC) will consent under specific commercial and engineering services company financial services to “rapidly” scale- acquire up to 723 towers from agreements with their mobile L&T Technology Services (LTTS) up client acquisition and patronage. Telkom Kenya. The operator’s CEO operator to do this. The GSMA have partnered to deliver new IoT Aldo Mareuse, said the sale will said development is now on hold, solutions that leverage the power Global smartphone demand release capital for further investment and that it is cooperating fully with of satellite networks for extended fell two per cent to 347 million in 4G as well as “a number of the US Department of Justice’s connectivity in the world’s most units in 1Q18, according to state-of-the art IT platforms” to investigation into the matter. remote locations. It’s claimed LTTS’ the latest data from GfK. But in the enhance services for customers. smart products and services will Middle East and Africa, demand rose The value of the deal was not Mobile connectivity provider be reinforced by Marlink’s satellite two per cent to 44.1 million units disclosed. Established in April 1999, iPass has announced a network and technology expertise as consumers continued to upgrade Telkom is 60 per cent owned by seven figure deal with Lycamobile, through extended reach of IP from feature phones to smartphones. Helios Investment Partners with the claimed to be the world’s largest connectivity for end-users worldwide.

INVESTMENTS, MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS

Date Buyer Seller Item Price Notes

Size of stake & transaction value not disclosed. Thuraya’s two satellites, which are said to serve 26/4/18 Yahsat Thuraya Majority stake NA more than 140 countries, will join the Yahsat fleet, expanding its constellation to five. It can now offer C-, Ka-, Ku- and L-band services to Africa, Middle East, Asia, Europe & South America. Nairobi-based Africa’s Talking specialises in providing access to operators’ communication & payment Orange Africa APIs for developers. Working alongside the IFC World Bank & Social Capital, Orange Digital Ventures 27/4/18 Digital Investment funding USD8.6m Talking has helped the company raise the funding needed to support its clients’ expansion strategies. Beyond Ventures Kenya, the firm has started working in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Nigeria & Ethiopia. European Agreement will support R&D activities for 5G & is in line with Ericsson’s focused business 31/5/18 Ericsson Investment Credit facility EUR250m strategy. The disbursement can be made in any currency that is widely traded on forex Bank markets, & the credit facility will mature five years after disbursement.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

Date Name New employer New position Previous employer Previous position

6/3/18 Rakesh Bhasin CMC Networks Chairman Colt Group SA CEO 27/3/18 Jean-Yves Charlier – – VEON CEO – resigned 1/4/18 Vinod Kumar Subex MD & CEO Subex COO 10/4/18 Reshaad Sha Liquid Telecom CEO, South Africa SqwidNet CEO 11/4/18 Ike Dube Altron MD for Rest of Africa MTN South Africa Head of business risk management 25/4/18 Phil Moses Liquid Telecom Group CFO Arqiva Group CFO 25/4/18 Gisa Fuatai Purcel CTO Director of ICT development CTO Regional advisor for the South Pacific Jean-Claude Eutelsat 26/4/18 Head of Broadband in Africa Canal+ DRC CEO Tshipama Communications 30/4/18 Jan Frykhammar Openet Director Ericsson Special advisor to the board & to the CEO Dr. Helmut Orange Business 2/5/18 CEO Orange Business Services EVP, international Reisinger Services 7/5/18 Paul de Leusse Orange Group Deputy CEO for mobile financial services Indosuez Wealth Management DG 8/5/18 Jatinder Sispal CMC Networks EVP of global sales CityFibre Head of carrier & national providers 15/5/18 Vittorio Colao – – Vodafone Group Chief executive – stepping down 1 October 2018 15/5/18 Nick Read Vodafone Group Group chief executive-designate Vodafone Group CFO Margherita Della 15/5/18 Vodafone Group CFO Vodafone Group Deputy CFO Valle Alan Stewart- 17/5/18 Opengear VP of sales for EMEA Xirrus VP of sales EMEA Brown 21/5/18 Rolland Johns CSG CFO CSG Chief accounting officer Retains her previous position as chief legal 31/5/18 Maria Varsellona Nokia Corporation President, Nokia Technologies Nokia Corporation officer. Replaces Gregory Lee who is leaving. 31/5/18 Never Ncube Dandemutande CEO Dandemutande CFO BCX (Business 1/6/18 Jonas Bogoshi CEO Dell EMC Country manager Connexion)

16 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p14-17 (Wireless Business) AM.indd 16 05/07/2018 12:13 NAWC 1805 p13 (ITU).indd 1 11/06/2018 18:21 Nature Conservation with game reserves smooth without keeping the entire What did Hytera Mark Zheng, system engaged. IP connect between repeaters Regional Director, Hytera in South Africa are easily established within the existing IP S.A. Hytera(Pty) Ltd. Hytera Helps Game Reserves to networks. This is a huge benefi t in areas where achieve in the E-mail: environmental laws and protocol limit the mark.zheng Tackle Communication Problems installation of infrastructures. The MD78XG @hytera.com proves itself among the open game viewers Background and stays reliable because of its weather proof African Market? In Lowveld area of Mpumalanga and the rating. Rain and dust does not reduce its southwestern section of the Kruger National effectiveness. With the built-in GPS, tracking Migration to Digital in supplied a Hytera DMR conventional network Park, there are a few game reserves and lodges, the game vehicles becomes easy. with an advanced dispatching & tracking solution like the famous Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve • GPS positioning function of portable radios South Africa for the department, along with the Hytera that covers an area of more than 65000 hectares. others in case some dangerous and urgent PD78XG & PD70XG helps operators in the Hytera Offers DMR Solution Dispatch Software, RD62X VHF Repeaters, It’s a wildlife oasis, where you can observe at things happen. control room to track front-line staff’s movement, for Buffalo City Metropolitan PD78XG Portables and MD78XG Mobiles. close quarters the age-old natural relationship which is an invaluable feature in any emergency between the predator and the prey. Day and Hytera Solution situation. The IP 67 rating feature provides Municipality The system comprises 5 X RD62X VHF Repeaters night safaris in open safari vehicles, led by well- A digital solution was provided with repeaters of fl awless communication all the time in those Due to the increasing size of the metropolitan, linked to 8 X Hytera Dispatch System. Each trained game rangers and qualifi ed trackers, linked IP, as well as a Hytera Dispatch System. harsh conditions. PD78XG is user-friendly with Background additional staff and equipments are required client using Hytera Dispatch System operates follow the animals on and off-road, deep into Combined networks of 22 RD98X repeaters, many user programmable features, allowing the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality is located in to carry out the maintenance and repairs. The individually and communicates to relevant the heart of the wild African Bushveld. about 500 terminals, and 9 Hytera Dispatch user to perform various functions and to send East London, South Africa. Electrical Department existing analogue system cannot afford more repeater area. The audio link feature in the Hytera Systems were provided for the game reserves. or receive short data messages. is responsible for the maintenance and repair of user capacities as there are too many group con- Dispatch System allows the repeaters to be Communication becomes a tough challenge the Electrical Reticulation System for East London, versations as well as individual conversations. At linked as required, allowing communications with the increase of reserves and visitors. More The products supplied exceeded the • Due to the great range of the game reserves, staff Mdantsane, Bhisho and King William’s Town areas. the same time, with more employees, communi- between areas. As long as the link is not employees and radio channels are required. customers’ requirements. need the roaming & handover function when they cation and management effi ciency are becoming required, it can be disconnected to reduce traffi c Managers need to contact and locate their • The RD98X repeaters make the whole system drive through different areas covered by different The electrical department was using a mid-band more critical and important for the department. on the repeaters. This digital radio solution also staff members to make sure their safety, and connected. The 2-slot feature and programmable repeaters. Hytera’s equipment facilitates such analogue radio system which had been in service makes communications possible in places where staff members need to communicate with multi-site linkage ensure communications in features that help them to work more effi ciently. for many years and was diffi cult to maintain and Their challenge is to fi nd a digital two-way radio their analogue radio system does not work. to repair due to the lack of spares available. system that could supply more than a new walkie The system comprised of a mix of brands of talkie. They want a control room with dispatching A site has a digital and an analogue repeater back- Petro-chemical Industry analogue equipment, repeaters, mobiles, base software with recording and GPS function. to-back connected in order to communicate with stations and portables. The control room was sub-contractors who are still using analogue radios. Uses Hytera utilizing base stations on various channels and Solution This is easily solved by two RD62X Repeaters, one Hytera TETRA System Serves the required area of operation was limited. From 2014 to 2015, M.H. Communications in digital mode and the other in analogue mode. South Africa Petro-chemical Company Hytera DMR Solution Background Extends Cross-border Due to the scarcity of petroleum resources, Communication large coal-to-liquid and gas-to-liquid plants(CTL and GTL) were created in South Africa from the Hytera Facilitates the 1950s onwards. The plants are used to produce Mozambique-South Africa fuels, as well as to provide basic materials for the Gas Pipeline chemical industry. The Sasol company is a market Hytera TETRA Solution that are located outside of the company’s sites. leader in this area with two large facilities situated Hytera has been working with Sasol from This allows the network to reach employees, or in Sasolburg and Secunda in the Free State of 2006 and Sasol chose to install a Hytera the company’s own fi re crew, who live outside Background pipeline was agreed upon running parallel to the positioning of the Repeater sites, we have South Africa in the North East of the country. Coal TETRA mobile radio system in 2013. Extensive the sites in emergency situations. In 2002, the South African and Mozambique current pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa. come up with a solution that we connect all the is exploited over a large area and partially highly redundancy was built into the system elements to Governments agreed on a Gas-Pipeline Project. The fi rst phase of this pipeline 125km was under Repeaters via IP-Microwave links to each other. explosion-prone substances are also processed. guarantee trouble free, continuous radio coverage The 865km Sasol gas transmission pipeline ran construction from year 2013. Yagi-Antennas are used to give the range in a and capacity, even at peak loads. External Martin Pinard, from Mozambique to Secunda, for the transmission straight line that is required to the next repeater. Customer Demands applications can be easily connected to the Business Development Manager of natural gas to its Secunda processing plant. Solutions Given the nature of Sasol’s activities, it is TETRA mobile radio system with multifunctional TEL: +27823266470 The gas was sourced from the Pande and Temane After an extensive site survey was done Roaming function of the Hytera terminals give essential for the maintenance of effective A-CAPI interface. Powerful SCADA (supervisory E-mail: Gas Fields in Mozambique. Sasol Petroleum alongside the proposed route, we have come the advantage to allow the customer to either talk operations that a safe working environment and control and data acquisition) system was [email protected] International, the upstream subsidiary of Sasol up with the following solution: locally (in the same Repeater site) or throughout good monitoring of machines and personnel provided to transmit the information via SDS Ltd., has started up its 63 million gigajoule/ 7-Site RD98X Repeaters linked via 5.8 GHz the network without having to select the repeater is provided. Coal mining and processing using the TETRA infrastructure. year (158 MMscfd) expansion at the Temane, Microwave link; you are closest to, thus being able to connect in Secunda, as well as gas processing in Mozambique; gas processing plant capacity is 35-PD78X Portable Radios used by personnel to any radio throughout the network. Sasolburg, each consist of a complex sequence The four DIB-500 base stations at Sasolburg 458 MMscfd in 2012.The pipeline is 50% owned roaming up & down the construction site; of different automated process steps. An error and 13 DIB-500s at Secunda are connected by Sasol, 25% by the South African government 35-MD78X Mobile Radios were mounted in the Ace communications, a Hytera dealer in South in one of these steps leads to an interruption to the two DMX-500 switching nodes at both and 25% by the Mozambique government. construction vehicles. Africa, supports supervision and commissioning of the processing chain and, as a result, to sites via ring structures. As a result, continuous during the project. The fast response during potentially enormous losses. A communication mobile radio coverage is ensured over the However, South Africa’s energy demand has Description and after the project implementation would system with high voice quality for safe and entire 4,000km2 company site in Secunda. www.hytera.com been growing fast in its new democracy. Another By carefully selecting and planning the correct greatly satisfy the client. effi cient work is required. Both locations feature several base stations WIRELESS SOLUTIONS Mimosa delivers “superior reliability” for urban backhaul links Mimosa Networks reckons its B24 throughput, automatically allocating connections are supported. According is the first affordable gigabit-speed traffic dynamically as needed. It to Mimosa, this is a feature that has radio in the unlicensed 24GHz band. claims the radio offers “superior never been available in products The new device is engineered for a reliability” for backhaul links of up with similar price points. number of urban wireless applications to 3km, and leverages proprietary The vendor adds that in video including microPoP backhaul, rooftop- Spectrum Reuse Sync (SRS) surveillance applications, the radio to-rooftop connections for enterprise, technology. This is said to allow up offers the “highest quality” video campus and multi-dwelling units, as to eight collocated B24s to share the over a wireless backhaul. It says the well as video surveillance or smart same channel, on the same tower B24’s compact design means it can city connectivity. or rooftop, each running at 1Gbps. be placed at surveillance locations Mimosa says the B24 delivers For redundancy and flexibility, without fibre, thereby eliminating the speeds of up to 1.5Gbps IP concurrent Ethernet and fibre cost and rights-of-way required here. www.mimosa.co Ruckus turns networks Beamformimg APs deliver into single IoT platform full benefits of Wave 2

Ruckus reckons its recently According to Zyxel, although the increased data rates not only for launched IoT Suite enables 802.11ac Wave 2 standard uses offers MU-MIMO-compatible clients, but organisations to consolidate faster speeds and better performance for all existing ones as well. multiple physical-layer IoT networks for more users, its MU-MIMO The firm claims its devices deliver into a single and secure one. capabilities have been “difficult maximum coverage with increased It says the suite also speeds ROI to achieve without compromising data rates, and feature built-in and reduces deployment cost by data rates”. It says the standard filters to minimise interference allowing for the use of common Zigbee and LoRa. requires robust noise suppression from 3G/4G cellular networks. infrastructure between the WLAN The platform also features capabilities, otherwise total network The standalone NWA1123-AC and the IoT access network. Ruckus’s SmartZone controller that performance can be degraded by HD supports a combined data The Ruckus IoT Suite consists of provides a single management non-MU-MIMO clients in a group. rate of up to 1.6Gbps, as well as the company’s IoT-ready access interface for both the WLAN and As a result, the company believes NebulaFlex, Zyxel’s licence-free cloud points, such as the ZoneFlex R510 the IoT access network. This that early Wave 2 products “fell management system. The NWA5123- pictured here. These accommodate is deployed in tandem with a short” of the performance advances AC HD is a dual-radio 3x3 MU-MIMO Ruckus’ IoT modules to establish virtual controller which performs seen with the jump from 802.11n to unified AP and also offers a combined multi-standards wireless access for connectivity, device and security the 802.11ac Wave 1 standard. data rate of up to 1.6Gbps. Wi-Fi and non-Wi-Fi IoT endpoints, management functions for non- But thanks to what it describes www.zyxel.com and translate non-IP endpoint Wi-Fi devices. It also facilitates as next-generation beamforming communications into IP. The endpoint coordination, and provides technology, Zyxel reckons its new modules are radio or radio-and- APIs for northbound integration NWA1123-AC HD, NWA5123-AC HD sensor devices that connect to the with analytics software and IoT and WAC6303D-S APs deliver on AP to enable endpoint connectivity cloud services. the full potential of Wave 2 wireless based on standards such as BLE, www.ruckuswireless.com networking. It adds that they enable EXFO Ontology automates network troubleshooting EXFO has launched what it says is the roadblocks on the road to network real-time performance analytics actively tests more than 150 industry’s first solution that automati- operations automation. solutions to automate the most different protocols and services cally links performance measurements EXFO reckons CSPs can use labour-intensive steps of the which identify affected populations to network topology. The network test, Ontology to find the source troubleshooting process. It has been of users, equipment and services. monitoring and analytics specialist of severe service disruptions designed to automatically detect Other key Ontology features claims its new Ontology platform quicker than ever, even those KPI violations and automatically include an ability to digest enables service degradation diagnosis that arise from obscure network trigger a topology-driven common performance data from the analytics in “record time”. transmission problems that can cause analysis of these violations. layer, and connect symptom sets According to the company, take weeks to pinpoint and require Operators then receive a list of from any performance management CSPs have flagged the deficit of a multidisciplinary team. related performance problems and infrastructure. It also prioritises automation in service assurance The platform’s automated their ranked possible causes. cause sets that widely explain the applications and lack of integration common cause analysis module The platform is powered by failure in the symptom set, then of assurance across services uses insights from EXFO’s Xtract EXFO’s active graph-based topology analyses KPI data to find root cause. and infrastructures as important network/service topology and engine. The company says this www.exfo.com

20 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p20-21 (Wireless Solutions) NEW.indd 20 05/07/2018 16:20 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html WIRELESS SOLUTIONS

WiNDE enables fast, optimised Also look out for... mmWave network designs Siklu says it’s come up with a guides a user with 40 years or 40 “breakthrough” software platform days of network design experience that automates complex mmWave to the same “swift” conclusions. network designs and accelerates It claims the software calculates time to deployment. thousands of possible designs in The compact OVAL sensor (left) The gigabit wireless connectivity an iterative process to optimise can communicate over Wi-Fi specialist’s SmartHaul Wireless Network the network for performance or to the gateway (right) from a Design Engine (WiNDE) is part of the cost. The user can specify where distance of up to 150ft away. SmartHaul SaaS application suite that the wireline or fibre connections also includes financial analysis calcu- designing a complete mmWave wireless are and utilise this information Sensor promises lators and a range estimator tool. network supporting both point-to-point to derive the optimal network Siklu says the suite of apps gives and point-to-multipoint products in a design. The results are presented to make any customers the tools they need to mixed topology. According to Siklu, graphically and numerically for plan a mmWave network from a the “intuitive and easy to use” tool easy evaluation of the outcome. object or area business case perspective all the reduces “days of complex work and Siklu says additional SmartHaul way to an actual network design. tedious details to mere hours”. software tools will be announced instantly smarter WiNDE has been developed to The company says WiNDE over the course of this year. automate the many tasks involved in features a five-step wizard that www.siklu.com OVAL Digital has launched an all-in-one smart sensor that monitors and detects changes in motion, temperature, SatixFy supports any antenna humidity, light and water, and quickly sends alerts to a phone or email. Formed in 2014, the company’s and any frequency aim is to develop a smart sensor SatixFy UK is making some big circular and linear simultaneously, for everyone. It launched OVAL 1.0 claims about its recently launched any shape including conformal in early 2017 across 32 countries, full electronic steered multi-beam arrays, and up to 32 beams, both which also included unspecified array (ESMA) antennas. in receive and transmit. African nations, and said the product ESMA antennas use less power The company adds that the “worked well” in those locations. based on waveform duty cycle. If antenna is based on fully digital It has now developed a new sensor there is no traffic, no power will be beamforming technology and that is claimed to be smarter. needed from the antenna, such as supports an instantaneous OVAL 2.0 can connect to smart home in DVB S2X time slicing. bandwidth of more than 1GHz, products such as Amazon Echo and SatixFy, which describes itself with an expected array efficiency operational modes such as TDD Google Home, and also supports the as a designer of next-generation of better than 70 per cent. ACU, (half duplex) and FDD (full duplex). IFTTT (if this, then that) web service, to satcom chips and systems, says self-calibration capabilities, and an It also supports any external modem connect to hundreds of other devices its scalable architecture supports on-chip trigonometric calculator are through L-band interface, but is said that provide home automation. any antenna size up to one million also included for what SatixFy says to be best utilised when coupled The system comprises small, wireless elements (in Kuband 10m x 10m), is fast tracking and beam steering. with SatixFy’s current 500MHz sensors that do not require home any frequency through a dedicated With an integrated modem, baseband modem chips (Sx3000). integration or installation, and are said RFIC, any polarisation including the antenna supports various www.satixfy.com to take only minutes to set up. These communicate to the new OVAL gateway which connects to a Wi-Fi network. Sensors can be positioned up to 150 Security suite protects signalling network feet away, and additional gateways Sparkle, the international service to perform attacks that can, for provide customers with a set of can be connected to extend range. arm of Italy’s TIM Group, has example, steal subscribers’ data, advanced security services such as OVAL says the latest version also worked with enterprise security spy on their locations, commit vulnerability testing, best practice uses an all new firmware system which specialist Positive Technologies fraud, and perform DoS attacks. compliance assessment, and has stepped up both the reliability on a new and full suite of security The Sparkle Signalling Protection Suite security monitoring for real-time and response time of the sensors, services for signalling connectivity. is claimed to be a “sophisticated” all- detection of anomalous activities. as well as increased their battery Positive Technologies says in-one package that detects and blocks According to the partners, all this life from two months to six months. its research has shown that 4G unauthorised traffic and therefore offers complete protection of the In addition, the company has also infrastructure is vulnerable to prevents potential privacy loss, oper- entire signalling network perimeter, redesigned the OVAL app. It reckons the same attacks as older, SS7- ational instability and revenue losses. both national and international. this now includes “powerful” new based networks. It says critical It combines Positive Technologies’ They add that “rich” analytics and features such as a real-time view vulnerabilities in signalling protocols telecom security solutions with reporting capabilities will also enable of the sensors and analytics to help (such as Diameter and GTP) along Sparkle’s connectivity and roaming mobile operators to act immediately users identify trends, and improve with network configuration errors services, and signalling firewall. and respond to threats in real-time. behaviours to help increase safety, provide the means for hackers The companies say they will www.tisparkle.com and ptsecurity.com conserve energy and save money.

May/June 2018 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 21

SAWC 1806 p20-21 (Wireless Solutions).indd 21 18/06/2018 18:38 FEATURE: CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS Looking for the future in critical comms?

Airbus demonstrates a VR solution to enable firefighters and police officers to “step into” emergency situations from remote location using secure

communications infrastructure. PHOTO © AIRBUS RAHIEL NASIR rounds up some of the latest products to help first responders and other mission-critical users communicate in a crisis.

ETRA deployments increased globally terminals and infrastructure come to market, It added that with a setup and activation time of by 16 per cent in 2017, according to the standard has a strong and stable future.” around five minutes, first responders can use the data released in May by IHS Markit. The While plaudits for TETRA are only to be expected system to instantly get the secure LTE coverage Tanalyst attributed the growth to new TETRA from the TCCA, the spotlight continues to shine and capacity they need, anywhere and anytime. users coming online as well as users in mature more on LTE in the critical comms world. IHS The LXN 500 is equipped with built-in GPS markets around the world continuing to refresh. Markit said that alongside the growth of LMR and Wi-Fi that can host software applications IHS said public safety accounts for around digital technologies, private LTE networks have such as mapping, messaging and video 60 per cent of all TETRA users, but added that emerged in a number of countries worldwide streaming. Motorola said the equipment’s the technology is becoming more popular with including Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, while Angola compact, IP54-rated design is made for harsh business-critical organisations, such as the has opted for a TETRA and LTE convergence environments, and that roof-mounted external transportation, utilities and industrial sectors. solution for its national communications network. antennas with MIMO configuration provide The analyst also said that while some question extended range and performance. TETRA’s longevity, its presence on the world LTE fever CCW also saw the company unveil the LEX L11 stage continues to grow, and forecasts that the which is designed for global broadband networks technology will continue to provide mission-critical The vendors are certainly focusing on LTE if the and enables first responders to access secure communications well into 2020 and beyond. raft of new products and innovations announced apps for increased situational awareness. The TCCA (TETRA and Critical Communications in the wake of Critical Communications World The new device meets the MIL-STD-810G Association) said that the 16 per cent increase (CCW) that took place during mid-May is standard for drop and shock and is IP67 rated. It highlighted by IHS was “well above” the average anything to judge by. For instance, Motorola is equipped with a dedicated PTT and emergency across LMR/PMR technologies, and that growth Solutions has developed what it claims is a button, as well as a talk group rocker switch and was strong in all major geographic regions “groundbreaking” portable solution that enables two programmable keys. Motorola reckons these (particularly Asia which saw deployments first responders to establish high-speed public features allow users to blindly access mission- increase by 27 per cent in 2017). safety LTE coverage within minutes. critical capabilities while keeping their eyes up, Francesco Pasquali, chair of the TCCA’s TETRA The LXN 500 LTE Ultra Portable Network their hands free and their focus forward. Industry Group, said: “The market is buoyant Infrastructure is described as an easy-to-carry, The LEX L11 also includes features for reduced for TETRA, with new deployments and operators miniaturised, full-power site that fits in a briefcase, distortion, background noise cancelling, and increasingly using their existing TETRA systems backpack or vehicle. The fully functional, standalone the suppression of feedback caused from other for new data applications to deliver significant LTE network is built on a platform that combines nearby devices using the firm’s Howling Suppression improvements in operational efficiency. With the an eNodeB (eNB) and EPC. Motorola said it creates technology as used in its TETRA handhelds. assurance of TETRA being a safe and economic an on-demand LTE “bubble” with a reach of up to Meanwhile, Huawei launched what it said was investment, and as dual mode TETRA/LTE one kilometre which scales up to 100 subscribers. an “end-to-end solution equipped with ultra-

22 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p22-24 (Critical Comms).indd 22 18/06/2018 18:38 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html FEATURE: CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS

Thirdly, the Multi-Service Collaboration solution is said to make smooth connections among public communications networks and current narrowband trunking systems (such as P25/TETRA/DMR) possible. Huawei said that this safeguards installed base assets and allows convergence of data across different networks. It added that with eLTE MCCS, data no longer needs to be exchanged between Above: Motorola Solutions’ officers repeatedly – instead, a one-off exchange LXN 500 LTE Ultra Portable with the system will suffice. The company claimed Network Infrastructure is a this simplifies the police’s work and increases Softil has teamed up with Expway to introduce what’s fully functional, standalone collaboration efficiency. claimed to be the “most advanced” 3GPP standards- LTE network that fits in compliant end-to-end solution for mission-critical a briefcase. Left: the Converge and combine communications voice, data and video. LEX L11 LTE handset is designed for use on global Expway and Softil have integrated their technologies said this helps user organisations to control broadband networks. in a move that is claimed to bring to market the their secure group communications, whether “most advanced” 3GPP standards-compliant voice or multimedia. It said that with only a reliable multimedia communications capabilities end-to-end solution for mission-critical glance at the computer screen, operators are tailored for the public safety sector”. It said that communications voice, data and video. able to check network coverage, capacity and the eLTE Multimedia Critical Communications The new platform is built upon Softil’s 3GPP the status of base stations at any time. System (eLTE MCCS) brings together standards-compliant BEEHD client framework Operational managers can check two dissimilar platforms, networks and terminals to achieve and is now enhanced with support for eMBMS networks on the same screen. They can receive comprehensive awareness of situations, multi- (evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services) information about the broadband network’s service collaboration, and capabilities enabling capabilities via integration of Expway’s LTE service quality from user devices. Viewcor allows dispatching anywhere as required. broadcast middleware. The partners said their real-time monitoring and visualizes the networks According to Huawei, the eLTE MCCS enables mission-critical communications over LTE solution on a map – for both networks together or the creation of a unified service and closing will have widespread applications in first responder separately. All data is fed into Viewcor’s analytics of technological gaps by interconnecting networks, providing users with key eMBMS-based engine, and service reports or analyses are narrowband systems, video surveillance and GIS device features. These include mobile broadcast, available after an operation. systems through a mobile service convergence group communication, PTT, push to video, file Airbus said the application’s new capability can platform. It believes the eLTE MCCS will enable delivery and emergency alerts when using off- be easily installed on top of existing narrowband the gradual phasing-out of existing narrowband the-shelf and ruggedised smartphones. network infrastructure. It also said that the networks and upgrading to new networks, while With the addition of eMBMS support by solution was perfect for those who are thinking maintaining provision of services and protecting Expway, Softil said BEEHD’s capabilities such about upgrading their secure communications the investments customers have already made in as presence, video calling, video streaming, network with broadband services. narrowband infrastructure. data sharing, and location services can now be Last year saw the launch of Hytera’s LTE-PMR The solution encompasses various series of utilised in the most efficient way over mobile Convergence Solution. It is said to include “cutting- terminals and equipment designed to be used for data networks. It added that this is “extremely edge” multi-mode advanced radio terminals, voice and video by individual users as well as those important” in high load scenarios, and that narrowband-broadband infrastructure, and in vehicles. Huawei said that in consideration of critical communication solution vendors will management software. the variety of conditions customers operate under, now be able to launch the next generation of Hytera said the platform also incorporates the eLTE MCCS provides differentiated network products to help first responders handle feature-rich broadband technologies while products that meet different standards such as emergency tasks “more efficiently”. ensuring that critically important voice services those by 3GPP, ITU and MulteFire. Airbus showcased a number of remain reliably accessible using narrowband The platform is designed to add value to new innovations at CCW, including a technologies such as TETRA, DMR, and PDT. services on three levels. demonstration of new capabilities for its The company said its system enables emergency Firstly, Huawei says its Dispatching Anywhere network monitoring application Viewcor. voice transmission over a narrowband network, capability provides ubiquitous multimedia This can now not only check as well as big data and video transmission over dispatching of voice, video and data that allows a TETRA system but also commercial or private LTE networks. The IP66 streamlining of the last kilometre in police cloud monitor the service quality of rated hardware integrates the BBU, RRU and core operations. It claims this enables smart policing broadband networks. Airbus network, and is said to provide diverse terminal and the agile use of resources such as cloud- schemes as well as integrating video surveillance delivered video and data. schemes for outdoor operations. Huawei added Secondly, the Comprehensive Awareness product that the solution offers flexible deployment and can series includes equipment used by individual also be used to extend the coverage of a private police officers, vehicle-mounted equipment, network. It features E2E encryption between mobile control cameras, etc., that helps achieve the PoC server and broadband terminals on the comprehensive awareness of situations, along private network, and also supports APIs to meet with a system of safeguards comprising voice, individually tailored requirements. video and data. According to Huawei, synergising The BBU itself supports 1+1 backup for key mobile video cloud, fixed video cloud and public The eLTE Multimedia Critical Communications units, standalone mode to provide a stable service social networks allows prediction of safety hazards System from Huawei encompasses various in the event of an eTC malfunction, and flexible rather than mere prevention, increases deterrence, terminals and equipment designed to be used switch over to upgrade and expand capacity. raises efficiency, and provides trustworthy for voice and video by individuals and on the go Hytera said the unit provides 150Mbps/75Mbps multimedia evidence for law enforcement. in vehicles. downlink/uplink throughout.

May/June 2018 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 23 FEATURE: CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS PHOTO: © AIRBUS

Sticking with tradition 3 RF transmission and “exceptional” receive sensitivity. It claimed the SC21 allows users to IHS Markit predicted that over the next few years, continue communicating in areas where other LTE will complement critical voice with data small radios lose reception. It added that the rather than replace LMR platforms altogether. audio capability is enhanced by unique water- Hytera certainly continues to invest in more porting technology which allows for superior traditional critical comms technologies, and audio clarity, even in continuous heavy rain. earlier this year it unveiled a DMR Tier 2 conventional radio designed for commercial New applications users such as taxis, agricultural vehicles, delivery vans, etc. The MD615 has a UHF range of 400 As well as hardware, critical comms companies With more broadband devices now available to 470MHz and a VHF range of 136 to 174MHz. have also been busy supporting the development for critical comms users, apps are becoming It is said to offer high power and is capable of of specialist apps for their devices and users. crucial. Sepura hopes to make their transmitting at up to 45W (UHF) or 50W (VHF). At CCW, Sepura announced its AppSPACE development easier with its AppSPACE The handset itself weighs 1,100g and applications environment. It said this provides framework (left), while Airbus has partnered measures 164 x 43 x 150mm. It features four a more flexible approach to providing with various developers to build apps for its programmable buttons and supports a channel customer-specific applications, and enables Tactilon Dabat TETRA radio/smartphone. capacity of 48 channels over three zones. The firmware-independent deployment of bespoke MD615 is also equipped with an analogue and applications that deliver added capabilities to its responders in the field to send complex patient digital auto detect feature that recognises what current generation of radios. health data to the hospital. Airbus said the kind of signal is being received and switches to According to Sepura, AppSPACE allows rapid information can be easily shared not only via the the correct mode for audio output. deployment of custom-designed solutions which Tactilon Dabat, but also on other platforms in Other features include an emergency button on meet specific end user requirements. It said control rooms or in the field. the front panel, a 4-6W internal speaker, audio/ this can be demonstrated in the delivery of Another example highlighted is ES-Core from programming port, volume and channel controls on application-based tools which automate manual Eye Solutions. This features a live video sharing the front. Bluetooth capability is also built into the processes and common critical tasks, ensuring function that is said to be secure and supports front panel or can be installed in the control head that defined situation-based operations are external video sources, such as from drones as a factory option, while the rear panel houses a enforced on the radio. Examples include radio or vehicles. Airbus said that even with sparse connection port for an external GPS module. The location and geo-fencing, user health monitoring radio coverage, transmission is of high quality. radio is IP54 rated for protection against dust and or automatic switching to emergency talk groups. Moreover, footage can be stored as evidence or water intrusion, as well as MIL-STD-810 G certified Sepura said a key feature of AppSPACE is its for the purpose of analysis. for shock and vibration. ability to support multiple applications running Meanwhile Steerpath is an indoor positioning Furthermore, the MD615 supports Hytera’s concurrently – whether as a background task system that can be used to fill radio coverage gaps pseudo trunk technology which, it’s claimed, or those which directly engage with fleet radio in public buildings. The app is said to create real- enables two voice channels to be automatically users. It said that alerts and notifications ensure time situational awareness when communication assigned dynamically to allow several talk that both user and control room maintain groups move around, both indoors and outdoors. groups to communicate in the same frequency. continual awareness of critical information. Based on a map configuration with a GPS The company says this increases the radio’s Applications are deployed using the company’s function, Airbus said commanders and group capacity and enables more than two talk groups Radio Manager fleet management tool. Sepura members (TETRA and smartphone users) can at no extra cost or frequency license. said this ensures that the process is simple, and easily follow each other on the Dabat’s display. It Hytera subsidiary Sepura is also continuing completed in a cost- and time-effective manner. adds that no configuration is needed, and that to back more conventional critical comms Motorola Solutions’ new Capture Mobile the app works without a broadband connection. technologies with the SC21 which was launched Camera App has been designed to enable first Airbus also presented a glimpse into the future in 2017 and hailed as a next-generation, high- responders to easily capture image, video and at CWC with a demonstration of a new pilot performance, handheld TETRA radio. audio evidence using the LEX L11 (see p21), or version of its real-time virtual reality technology. According to the company, its customers had Android and iOS-based smartphones. For the demonstration, the company simulated been looking for a compact radio that could be The company said that all content is securely a scenario with a firefighter wearing a 360º worn on a lapel or in a pocket, but had found uploaded to its CommandCentral Vault digital camera in a metro station. This enabled an that a smaller size often meant compromising evidence management solution for storage and officer at a remote command centre to virtually on performance, usability or audio quality. The later use. Metadata like time, date and location step into the situation. result is the SC21 which is 25 per cent smaller is automatically applied to the captured file. Tags Airbus said its VR system is based on ‘Secure than the SC20 without compromising on audio can also be added to the file after capture using the Mobile Virtual Network Operator’ (SMVNO) quality. Sepura said the app, or later from within the CommandCentral Vault. infrastructure. The basic idea behind this device has a “powerful” Motorola said that from the moment of is to provide secure and reliable broadband TETRA engine offering Class capture, all evidentiary data is isolated from capacities, from network operators, to public personal data, making it inaccessible for safety agencies. In addition, SMVNO and VR tampering by other apps. The chain of custody features can be combined with other narrow- is established at the moment of capture, so and broadband components from the firm’s devices do not need to be subpoenaed. Tactilon product portfolio. Airbus has been working with a number According to Airbus, firefighters and police of different development partners to officers will be able to use the solution to expand the range of applications that are now “effortlessly” carry out complex tasks from Left: launched last year, Hytera’s LTE-PMR available for its Tactilon Dabat integrated TETRA remote places through a secure communications converged solution integrates the BBU, RRU radio and Android smartphone. infrastructure. In the future, it said VR will help and core network. Right: the MD615 DMR radio For instance, the digitalised Triage application firefighters or police officers to enhance their is aimed at commercial users. from Exomi helps paramedics and other first missions and enlarge their range of actions. n

24 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p22-24 (Critical Comms).indd 24 18/06/2018 18:38 TURNKEY SMART CITY SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR OFFERING: • A wide range of digital voice and data solutions • Wireless and fibre technology solutions • Mission critical converged Public Protection and Disaster Relief

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SAWC 1806 p25 (Altech).indd 1 03/07/2018 13:23 WIRELESS USERS: EDUCATION Next-generation learning

Using Avanti’s HYLAS 2 satellite, the iMlango project connects 205 primary schools and more than 155,000 children across Kenya. PHOTO: AVANTI How mobile operators are working in partnership with education administrators and experts to give students vital skills.

ore than a million children in Kenya do resilient, high-speed broadband connectivity to can use the technology effectively in the classroom. not regularly attend school because support its interactive e-learning platform. iMlango provides specially designed Android- of societal issues such as poverty and The latter is provided by sQuid. It delivers Kenya based mobile tablets to conduct in-class attendance Mdistance. The iMlango project was set up to deliver Institute of Curriculum Development-approved monitoring. The device, which operates without connected education to such children. It is now and other specialist learning content in multiple the need for an always on internet connection in operating in 205 primary schools in four counties, formats to students and teachers. Pupils can rural settings, operates several native-built apps benefitting 78,864 girls and 79,830 boys. The access Maths Whizz, a personalised virtual maths that support new student registration, in-class counties – Kajiado, Kilifi, Makueni and Uasin Gishu – tutor that tailors each child’s learning experiences attendance, and payments. The latter is said to be were identified according to several marginalisation depending on her or his ability, as well as other an intuitive app for users with low-literacy levels to criteria: poverty rates, attendance levels, and girls’ content such as Africa-focused stories, the world’s accept payments at rural merchants located in the educational opportunities. The majority of the first children’s encyclopaedia, and curriculum- communities that surround the iMlango schools. schools are located in rural or semi-urban settings. aligned revision guides. All pupil activity, such as According to Avanti, as well as benefitting children Led by Avanti Communications and its partners time spent on specific content and their progress in Kenya, the project also raises awareness for (the UK Department for International Development, is captured, with detailed data reports provided to government or private sector spending in connecting sQuid, Whizz Education and Camara Education) teachers, schools and programme stakeholders. African schools to the internet. It also reckons that iMlango has been designed as a comprehensive sQuid has also provided a system to enable the programme has clear and wider applications educational technology programme with the the schools to measure pupil attendance. The across the education sector in sub-Saharan Africa. aim of improving learning outcomes, enrolment smartcard-based platform creates reports using and retention. It does this through a number of advanced analytics which are used by teachers ‘Super WiFi’ connects university factors which include the delivery of high-speed and the field team to identify low-attending pupils. campus satellite broadband connectivity to schools. ICT equipment to improve digital literacy and While reliable access to broadband is crucial provide access to the interactive learning platform Established in 1990, the Ibn Zohr University when delivering e-learning programmes, many has been supplied and installed by Camara (Université Ibnou Zohr or UIZ) is a public higher schools in Kenya are located beyond the reach Education. The hardware provides the first digital education institution in Agadir, Morocco. It wanted of terrestrial networks. iMlango uses Avanti’s experience for pupils and teachers, and Camara also to deploy a Wi-Fi network throughout its Faculty HYLAS 2 satellite to give each school access to leads on the delivery of training to ensure teachers of Science to enable various mobile applications

26 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p26-28 (Wireless Users).indd 26 18/06/2018 18:39 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html WIRELESS USERS: EDUCATION

within the campus, and encourage interactive areas. This dual-band 2×2 802.11ac outdoor learning among students and professors. radio can be used either as an AP with built-in Based in Hong Kong, Altai Technologies backhaul for high density user environments, or as specialises in carrier-grade Wi-Fi products and a point-to-point/multipoint bridge that is said to technologies. The university approached the deliver “wire-like throughput at the market’s most company’s partner in Morocco to conduct a site affordable price point” All APs are connected with survey and recommend a wireless solution that the Altai Wireless Management System for network would provide both students and staff with fast management and monitoring. and reliable connectivity across its campuses. According to the company, its solution has Several challenges were identified. UIZ was a significantly improved UIZ’s Wi-Fi signal coverage large campus characterised by a very dynamic by 10 times per AP and five times the capacity In independent evaluation tests, schools environment, high user capacity, and the need for to provide 100 per cent indoor and outdoor equipped with the Intelsat-connected learning robust network security. The WLAN needed to cover coverage. It adds that the system can also scale platform showed consistent improvement in both indoor as well as outdoor areas, and the solution to accommodate the university’s future growth, student performance. also had to be rapidly deployable as well as scalable. and a network expansion plan was expected to After several trials, Altai’s proven Super WiFi solution begin during the first half of 2018 to cope with expected over the project period. was quickly identified as the best-fit solution. an increasing number of users. As part of an independent research study to Utilising patented smart antenna technology evaluate Ukusiza’s impact, eight test schools as well as the AltaiCare cloud-based management Mindset uses satellite to transform and eight control schools within 5km from four system, Super WiFi is designed from the ground up education delivery provinces were selected. Test schools were given a to deliver Wi-Fi networks that are claimed to offer satellite dish, television and a server to host video “unprecedented” performance, reliability, scalability, South Africa-based Mindset Network NPC develops and print resources. These resources were updated and manageability. The system includes a complete and delivers educational resources across Africa. via satellite. The control schools were not given portfolio of indoor and outdoor products for carriers, Through its three principal programmes – Mindset any resources during the evaluation period. WISPs, and enterprises to support a wide range Learn, Mindset Teach and Mindset Health – the Data collected before the study formed the of applications such as mobile data offload, independent non-profit organisation produces baseline assessment, with pupils at both test public access, WLAN access, and backhaul. curriculum-focused video content distributed via and control schools performing at similar levels With various antenna downtilt on different television, the internet and multimedia. in their Early Grade reading assessments. During sectors, Altai’s A8n 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac base Since its inception in 2002, it is said to have the evaluation period, the control school results stations are installed on light poles to provide developed more than 1,500 hours of video content remained similar, with only minor fluctuations large area outdoor Wi-Fi coverage. With 8×8 for teachers, students, healthcare workers, patients, in scores. But test schools showed consistent MIMO and patented smart antenna technology, young adults and the general public. improvement in student performance in every the company said the unit is designed for With users spread across a vast area of category. Most notable was a 22.2 per cent the broadest coverage range and best NLOS the continent, Mindset realised early on that improvement in reading comprehension and 128 performance. Operating concurrently in both satellite technology would allow it to rapidly and per cent improvement in letter naming frequency, 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, it adds that the base efficiently reach facilities across its targeted increasing from 39.2 to 89.2 letters per minute. station can provide access connectivity in regions. As a founding partner, Intelsat was both bands as well as long-range (up to 30km) uniquely positioned to assist Mindset in fulfilling Mobile operators boost access to backhauling in the 5GHz band. its mission to deliver education programmes digital content Meanwhile, Altai’s C1n base stations are used throughout South Africa and beyond. as CPEs to extend the Wi-Fi signal from outdoor to Using capacity on Intelsat 17, Mindset Africa’s biggest mobile operators, such as Orange, indoor areas. According to the vendor, these use a broadcasts its channels via satellite to clinics Vodafone and MTN, are each on a mission to patented smart-signal processing algorithm and an and schools across the continent. Content provide free access to digital educational content antenna designed to increase Wi-Fi signal strength ranges from health-related topics such as HIV/ on the continent. Orange believes digital education (transmission and reception) as well as the client’s AIDS, Ebola and child survival, to various science is a stepping stone to autonomy, financial security throughput. The unit can also operate as a stan- subjects, maths, IT, amongst many others. and professional opportunity, and has therefore dalone AP to provide LOS coverage of up to 250m. For example from 2012 to 2015, Mindset made it a priority with a number of different The company’s IP67 rated A2s have also been worked with USAID, the ELMA Foundation and initiatives in its country of operations. installed to provide micro coverage in some corner the J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation on the Ukusiza First launched in 2014 by the Orange Foundation, Project. As well as aiming to help almost two the Digital Schools programme involves giving million primary grade children to improve their African schools a kit that comprises a Raspberry reading abilities over the period, the project was Pi mini server of educational content connected also developed to give teachers the vital skills to 50 tablets. The programmes are delivered in needed to deliver quality education in order to partnership with each country’s education ministry maximise student achievement. which identifies the most appropriate school text- To boost teacher competencies, Mindset books which Orange then uploads into the kit. produced and distributed more than 34 hours of By the end of 2014, Orange had helped 100 video training and support materials in language schools as part of the programme, benefitting and reading. Content ranged from lesson 20,000 pupils in five countries. In 2017, this planning to classroom management and samples number grew to 130,000 pupils, with schools now Left: Altai’s partner in Morocco carried out a of master teaching. Using capacity on Intelsat 17 in Madagascar, Niger, Tunisia as well as Cameroon, site survey of the university and discovered as the primary distribution method, resources where 30 schools were launched last year. several challenges. Right: the infrastructure were disseminated to 73 Teacher Centres across For example, Binguila is a village located 25km includes APs installed on light poles to provide the country, reaching more than 2,100 teachers from Yaoundé. Prior to Orange’s help, its state wide area Wi-Fi coverage as well as radios to and 679 district officials. A rollout to more school lacked equipment and books. But 210 extend signals to indoor areas. schools in all nine provinces in South Africa was pupils now have free access to the educational

May/June 2018 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 27

SAWC 1806 p26-28 (Wireless Users) NEW.indd 27 05/07/2018 16:02 WIRELESS USERS: EDUCATION

and extra-curricular educational content stored The first warehouse went live with MACSwms on the Raspberry Pi mini-server, without the in Zimpeto in 2009, and there are now four need for an internet connection. They can access other facilities operating in the country with the resources such as Wikipedia, the last ten seasons company’s technology: Beira One; Matola; Beira of the Primary Studies Certificate, as well as maths Two; and Nampula and Munhava. and science lessons. MACS recently delivered a training programme Orange planned to provide its kit to 45 primary to support CMAM’s smooth transition from a schools across Cameroon, including those in more paper-based to an RF-based warehouse operation. remote regions such as the village of Bonepoupa RF helps eliminate picking errors caused by which is in the municipality of Dibamba in the human error. Items are scanned and confirmed, western part of the country. Under its Digital Schools programme, the Orange automatically updating the back-office in real time. The operator had already worked in Bonepoupa Foundation provides a kit that comprises a mini This is said to ensure that the correct items are as part of its Village Orange programme in server of educational content connected that is picked every time and reduces the delay between an early 2014. It equipped three vital structures accessed by children using tablets that are also item being selected and the system being updated. for the community, including a water supply, donated by the company. According to MACS, the system increases accuracy, health centre and school which has now been efficiency and picking rates, while allowing greater transformed into a Digital School, enabling 321 In 2012, MTN facilitated the introduction of movement of stock through the facility. children to discover encyclopaedias, dictionaries, Microsoft’s Pathfinder e-learning platform across Jim Chew, implementation analyst at MACS literature, maths lessons and science in the form Uganda, adding further content and donating Software, said: “As [CMAM] moves to RF picking of video, revision sheets and card games. The data connectivity to allow 50 participating technology, it’s vitally important that they get it right company has also finished electrifying the village schools access. Initiated as part of the cellco’s from the start and have the ability to train people with the Energy Assistance association. annual Y’ello Care CSR initiative, MTN Uganda effectively as new members of staff are recruited.” Citing research by UNESCO, Vodafone said 59 partnered with Gayaza High School which is the Chew recently led a training programme at million children aged 6 to 11 were out of school country’s oldest all-girls boarding secondary MACS’ UK headquarters for five senior members in 2013, with 30 million of those children living school and is located around 19km northeast of staff from Mozambique. The training was split in sub-Saharan Africa. Under its Instant Schools of Kampala. The aim was to drive awareness of into modules relevant to each level of skill and for Africa initiative, the company is aiming to and use of Pathfinder as a means of creating authorisation. This started at level one for an operator provide millions of young people with online access to quality and up-to-date education and moved on through supervisor, technician, senior learning materials developed in conjunction with material for both teachers and students in technician, administrator and senior administrator. Learning Equality, a not-for-profit provider of secondary schools nationwide, particularly those MACS technical team leader Alban Fellows open-source educational technology solutions. in rural areas. assisted Chew and also ran a ‘train-the-trainer’ The two partners are also working with education The platform offers a variety of subjects programme. “Our aim was to make the staff in ministries and local experts in each country. ranging from science to the arts, with content Mozambique as autonomous as possible,” said Vodafone has setup Instant Schools for Africa as available in printed as well as video formats Fellows. “They now have the skills to train new a long-term cumulative programme, and said that which is especially useful for practical lessons. It recruits when they join and to keep the skill level its reach, scale and relevance will be increased also features a tool to enable students to evaluate of existing employees at the highest level.” over time by encouraging other major mobile themselves on examination preparedness, With the training complete, staff at the Zimpeto operators in the countries involved to adopt a complete school holiday assignments, and carry operation are able to train others in-house and to similar, non-commercial approach. It believes out lesson-based assessments. handle many of the administrative functions, such that impact will be maximised by providing Teachers can also use the platform to learn, as the allocation of RF scanners and fault finding. other cellcos with the technical specifications grow and share knowledge through interaction “We wanted to empower the team in Mozambique required to extend the philanthropic programme with their counterparts in different schools to handle the day-to-day operations” said Chew. to the largest possible number of beneficiaries. across the country. With the ability to upload “It makes them much more self-reliant and, Current participating markets include their own developed content onto the site, therefore, more confident.” South Africa, the DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, teachers have a forum to discuss and debate According to MACS, more than 1.2 million Mozambique and Tanzania. Students and curriculum structures and details. people in Mozambique have HIV, and many of teachers who are customers of Vodafone or its MTN said it had supported 26 schools by the the critical items needed by health centres do African subsidiaries will not incur any mobile end of 2012, and another 24 in early 2013. Based not reach them because of extremely challenging data charges when accessing educational online on the platform statistics, it said that the number distribution infrastructure. The company believes content under the initiative – all that is needed is of visits to the platform were averaging 2,000 a that its latest collaboration with CMAM will provide a data connection to the operator’s network. To month, up from 500 at the start of the programme. a level of efficiency and control that has never increase accessibility, all the content is said to The operator later went on to enhance the been possible in the past, helping the country’s be optimised for simple, low-cost mobile devices platform. It redesigned the site to create what people to live longer and healthier lives. n with basic data connectivity (3G) and areas of it said was “youth appeal”, partnered with low coverage or capacity. Vodafone adds that all educational content providers to increase on- content is tailored, drawing on a combination site content, and also introduced awareness of the best openly licensed global and local campaigns, including public school competitions. educational resources to provide country- specific material. “Train-the-trainer” MTN pointed out that access to digital content comes into its own in many of the emerging Central de Medicamentos e Artigos Médicos markets in which its operates, especially given (CMAM) is the central medical stores for the fact that the distribution and costs of Mozambique. Since 2009, it has worked with UK- printed materials is an obstacle to ensuring based MACS Software to equip its sites with the Technicians from CMAM learn how to use a new that all communities, regardless of geographic latest warehouse management technology to help warehouse management system to transition location, have access to information. maintain efficient supplies of lifesaving drugs. from a paper-based to an RF-based operation.

28 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p26-28 (Wireless Users).indd 28 18/06/2018 18:39 AWCY 18 p97 (Africa Com1).indd 1 09/05/2018 18:07 INDUSTRY VIEW: AI

The Internet of Everything promises to give humans unlimited access to knowledge – but only if service providers can harness the power behind the technology. Connecting with the digital brain How can communication service providers use artificial intelligence? MEL PRESCOTT, from analytic software firm FICO, discusses three areas where the technology could help.

ccording to Klaus Schwab, founder Customer experience be streamed from multiple sources, capturing and executive chairman of the World dynamic events from all customer channels, CRM Economic Forum, the advent of the fourth Given that CSPs are generally not hugely popular information and the network itself in order to Aindustrial revolution means that “the possibilities of with their customers compared to other industries learn and find hidden combinations. billions of people connected by mobile devices with when measured by the Net Promoter Score,3 and These insights can be used to drive the appropriate unprecedented processing power, storage capacity that a number of digital companies have created contextual action, including decisions that impact and access to knowledge are unlimited”1 a ‘new normal’ for customer experiences, it is This puts artificial intelligence (AI) and machine no surprise that many CSPs are examining how 1 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/ learning (ML) firmly into the spotlight within AI and ML can be deployed to improve customer the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and- most communications service provider (CSP) interactions in areas such as marketing and how-to-respond/ boardrooms, as executives look to the technology sales, retention and subscriber support. 2 TM Forum Trend Analysis Report, AI: The time is to help improve customer experience and reduce There is no doubt that ML can help CSPs take now, December 2017 operating expenses.2 a wide range of inputs from the complex and 3 https://inform.tmforum.org/customer- So, where are the smart bets being placed for continuous flow of data available from both network centricity/2017/10/using-nps-measure-digital- AI and ML to create business value? events and customer interactions. This data can success/#prettyPhoto

30 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p30-31 (Industry View).indd 30 18/06/2018 18:40 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html INDUSTRY VIEW: AI

at a lower cost. Automating network functions Mel Prescott, provides a range of benefits to the business and Principal facilitates an improved ability to give customers consultant, what they want. In an online article published telecoms in 2016, AT&T reportedly said that Domain 2.0 practice, was like moving from devices to apps, adding FICO that it had recently brought back unlimited data and that one of the reasons it was comfortable doing that was because it knew a software centric Streaming processes data as it is being generated, network could adapt to meet the demand. the records once the damage has been done, AI enabling CSPs to identify risky behaviour as it Having the ability to analyse network data over and ML can help prevent such fraud in real time. occurs rather than after the event. time allows AI and ML to predict likely failures and the confidence level that failure will occur, thereby Explainable AI measures such as churn propensity and customer allowing for corrective action to be determined lifetime value. and executed. The end goal here is to combine Artificial intelligence comes with many challenges, For example, using AI & ML will enable CSPs to advanced analytics with AI and allow networks to including trying to decipher what the models have generate sophisticated, segmented, personalised self-heal and operate autonomously. learned, and thus their decision criteria. One of the offers in real time. These intelligent offers can fall major areas of exploration is ‘explainable AI’ (XAI), into many categories, such as usage stimulation, Fraud and security which attempts to crack open this ‘black box’ and loyalty programmes, device upgrades, household explain how and why a model derives its decisions.7 engagement and customer education. Security must be a key consideration in the XAI is required in regulated environments Similarly, customers expect to interact with advancement of AI and ML, particularly as IoE and also to build trust amongst customers and a CSP across a variety of channels, whether its growth accelerates. business leaders. This is especially true if CSPs directly through agent conversation, digital self- By applying streaming user and entity behaviour are to really allow machines to make autonomous service or user communities. This is currently the analytics (UEBA) that generate cyber security decisions around mission critical infrastructure most mature use case for AI, where virtual agents, scores in real time, security teams can easily such as network operations or security. chat bots and voice assistants are deployed to prioritise alerts associated with anomalous At the FICO World 2018 event in April, Garry help automate the answer to customer queries, behaviours and actively respond to truly suspicious Kasparov – the chess grandmaster who was or even support human agents by helping them network activity. The ability to dynamically famously beaten by IBM’s Deep Blue computer with cross-sell and upsell or making it easier to learn and adapt in real time means that fewer and then went on to become an expert on locate the required answer. false positives are generated compared to more human-machine collaboration – reinforced the traditional, rule-based approaches. importance of understanding how and why Network operations Importantly, streaming data processes algorithms are making their decisions. information as it is being generated rather than FICO has been pioneering XAI for more than 25 Network operations automation is another area having latency or relying on large stores of years. In our experience, we’ve seen various ways to where AI and ML will undoubtedly be used, and historical log files – it allows CSPs to identify explain AI when used in a risk or regulatory context it will have high impact to CSPs. risky behaviour as it occurs rather than after the and to crack open the black box. These include:

The burgeoning internet of everything (IoE) event. This is crucial for ensuring the protection of u Scoring algorithms that inject noise and score introduces unprecedented scale and velocity customer data and maintaining consumer trust. additional data points around an actual data into how the network processes events at a level As well as protecting themselves and their record being computed. The aim here is to that becomes unfeasible to manage with manual customers from cyber threats, CSPs are also observe what features are driving the score in processes. As SDN (software defined networks) beginning to use AI and ML to monitor CDRs that part of decision phase space.

and NFV (network functions virtualisation) become (call data records) in order to learn what u Models that are built to express interpretability the norm, the complexity of these networks will behaviour deviates from the norm in order to on top of inputs of the AI model.

require ML to learn how best to automate and respond accordingly. u Models that change the entire form of the manage the orchestration of network resources Additionally, there are substantial benefits to AI to make the latent (hidden) features and capacity, amongst other functions, to ensure using AI and ML to identify fraud behaviour and exposable. With this approach, we are going uninterrupted service availability.4 take corrective action. For example, international to rethink how to design an AI model from the Operators such as Telefónica have already revenue share fraud is characterised by large ground up, with the view that we will need to transitioned from a network operations centre to a volumes of calls to a single destination in an explain latent features that drive outcomes. service operations centre. The goal? To “maximise attempt to artificially inflate traffic that terminates As communication service providers become capacity and solve any problems before end users to international revenue share providers. This more familiar with artificial intelligence and machine even notice anything”. The company adds that the can be identified by examining CDRs, and learning, and the benefits these technologies can aim is also to use data from the network to move instead of relying on retrospectively reviewing bring to streamlining operations, they will be able from a scheduled maintenance model to one that to free up staff to focus on more value-added tasks. enables predictive and proactive maintenance.5 Together, people and advanced analytics can improve Meanwhile, AT&T continues the adoption of its service, reduce churn, and keep businesses and so-called ‘Domain 2.0’ initiative to also transition consumers protected from criminal activity. n from hardware-centric to software-centric as it realises that the dynamic approach delivered 4 Ovum TMT Intelligence, How can AI support CSPs by SDN and NFV results in greater flexibility transformation programs? December 2016 5 Telefonica Integrated Report, 2016 What’s in the black box? Artificial intelligence 6 https://www.rcrwireless.com/20160712/ comes with many challenges including trying to fundamentals/domain-2-0-tag31-tag99 decipher what models that use the technology 7 http://www.fico.com/en/blogs/analytics-optimization/ have learned and thus their decision criteria. explainable-ai-breaks-out-of-the-black-box/

May/June 2018 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 31

SAWC 1806 p30-31 (Industry View).indd 31 18/06/2018 18:41 WORLD NEWS BS-1 launch makes history double

SpaceX has successfully Centre, Florida, on 11 May. national or regional natural disasters. last few years, the company has launched Bangladesh’s The full chemical propulsion satellite From its orbital location of been striving to develop rockets first communications satellite. The uses TAS’ upgraded Spacebus 4000B2 119.1°E, the satellite will offer Ku- that offer rapid reusability and mission represents a milestone platform and is expected to have a band capacity over Bangladesh and extremely high reliability. It says not only for the Asian country but mission life of at least 15 years. its territorial waters across the Bay Falcon 9 Block 5 is designed to be also for SpaceX’s innovative use of BS-1’s payload includes 14 C-band of Bengal, as well as covering India, capable of 10 or more flights with reusable launch rocket stages. and 26 Ku-band transponders to Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Philippines “very limited” refurbishment. Built by Thales Alenia Space (TAS) support DTH, video distribution, VSAT, and Indonesia. It will also offer Following separation during BS- for the state-owned Bangladesh broadband and trunking services. C-band for the whole region. 1’s launch, the rocket’s first stage Communication Satellite Company It will also support e-learning, BS-1 was the first satellite to be successfully landed on SpaceX’s Limited, Bangabandhu Satellite-1 telemedicine and remote office launched using SpaceX’s Block 5, droneship – which is humourously (BS-1) was launched on board a applications, as well as providing the final substantial upgrade to its named ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ – Falcon 9 from the Kennedy Space uninterrupted telecoms in the event of Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Over the stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Colt and PCCW Global Vodafone and Huawei test IP expand blockchain trial microwave backhaul for 5G UK-based global network Colt CEO Carl Grivner says: Vodafone and Huawei say They further claim that connectivity provider Colt “Not only did the second iteration they have completed lab enhancements made by Huawei Technology Services and PCCW of the PoC do what was intended tests indicating that traditional IP engineers to the modem and RF Global, the international operating – accurately match and settle microwave links can be considered unit enabled the team to achieve division of Hong Kong’s HKT, have wholesale traffic independently with as viable technology for 5G backhaul. latency of as little as 50ms. further progressed their blockchain live information – but it also signals The companies say because 5G The partners now plan to test proof of concept. the future of telecoms, whereby networks will present new backhaul whether it is possible to achieve In March, the two companies previously intensive manual practices capacity, peak data rate and latency 4Gbps total capacity in one box with worked with blockchain startup can be securely automated.” requirements, the ability of IP the support of dual polarisation. Clear on a trial that demonstrated While Colt and PCCW Global are microwave in traditional bands to They say a single RF outdoor unit how the inter-carrier settlement of now using live data to verify and settle support the new technology is a with dual polarisation can respond wholesale international services traffic, other members of the ITW positive development. to both horizontal and vertical radio could be automated through the Global Leaders’ Forum (GLF) are also The trial tested both the capacity waves simultaneously. This increases use of blockchain. By using the getting involved in the initiative. They and latency that could be achieved the system’s traffic handling technology, it’s claimed they were include BT, HGC Global Communi- using a traditional IP microwave link. capacity, dramatically reducing able to reduce this labour intensive cations, Telefónica and Telstra. Vodafone and Huawei say the tests power consumption and halving the process from hours to minutes. The two original partners say the showed that it is possible to deliver amount of space needed to house This trial used historical data as ultimate aim is to expand their testing up to 2.7Gbps capacity from a single units providing that capacity. a test of the technology and its use to encompass a multilateral series IP microwave link, aggregating 2 x The techniques mean traditional case for the sector. The partners of relationships across the wholesale 112MHz channels in a single vertical microwave should be able to support say they have now taken this step telecoms industry. Marc Halbfinger, or horizontal polarisation. The high-capacity microwave links already further by ingesting actual live PCCW Global CEO and GLF chairman, companies claim this is the first time commercially deployed, such as data feeds into the ledger, enabling says: “Industry cooperation in this that a single RF outdoor unit has E-band and Multi-Band (a combina- traffic to be automatically verified area will be incredibly powerful for been capable of reaching more than tion of IP microwave and E-band tech- and settled between carriers. the whole sector.” 2Gbps in a single polarisation. nologies), in providing 5G backhaul. Eutelsat to launch Very High Throughput Satellite

Eutelsat Communications Eutelsat CEO Rodolphe Belmer has commissioned a Very believes that the partnership High Throughput Satellite system agreements confirm the place of to support the development of its satellite-based solutions in the drive European fixed broadband and in- for enhanced high-speed internet flight connectivity businesses. It’s claimed that KONNECT coverage. “As a core complement to KONNECT VHTS is due to enter VHTS’ all-digital payload terrestrial broadband networks, high- will be the “most powerful” into service in 2021 and will be built speed broadband will be a critical so far put into orbit. by Thales Alenia Space using its driver of Eutelsat’s growth from all-electric Spacebus NEO platform. capacity allocation flexibility, optimal Orange Group to address the fixed 2020 onwards. Over the next decade, The 6.3 ton satellite will deliver spectrum use, and progressive broadband market in European VHTS satellites will bring enough Ka-band capacity of 500Gbps, and ground network deployment. countries where it has a retail capacity to serve high-speed internet it’s claimed that it will also feature Eutelsat has already agreed two key presence, while a deal with Thales will and in-flight connectivity markets the most powerful on-board digital distribution contracts for the project. serve the connectivity services market, at scale, offering fibre-like services processor ever put in orbit, offering A retail partnership was signed with notably for the government sector. both in terms of price and speed.”

32 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

SAWC 1806 p32-34 (World News).indd 32 18/06/2018 18:41 Register here for your free digital edition kadiumpublishing.com/register/sawc.html WORLD NEWS Jersey police cut down on ThinKom says its low-profile ThinAir Falcon-Ka2517 antenna eliminates aerodynamic drag. paperwork with Motorola

ThinKom States of Jersey Police will It’s claimed Jersey’s SMARTpolice deploy Motorola Solutions’ project will enable officers to more delivers new Pronto mobile solution as part of effectively address crime, and more its new digital policing initiative, efficiently serve and protect the Ka-band SMARTpolice. local community while reducing Under a three-year contract, overall costs and budget. Motorola claims Pronto will allow This is the first deployment of systems for officers on the island to “greatly Pronto outside mainland UK where improve” efficiency by replacing Motorola says its mobile suite of E-4B aircraft paperwork activities – such as policing apps is already used by witness statements, stop and search, 20 forces. Within these forces, The US government will use and fixed penalty notices – with the company says Pronto holds a ThinKom’s next-generation automated and “intuitive” digital “proven track record of generating Frontline officers in one UK police Ka-band aeronautical satellite forms on mobile devices. The system more meaningful police engagement, force are using Pronto’s biometric antenna systems for its E-4B National also provides mobile access to local simple and higher quality processes, application and can connect fingerprint Airborne Operations Centre. and national databases for person improved collaboration as well as scanners to their mobile devices in With the project name Nightwatch, and vehicle registration checks. substantial cost reductions.” order to access the national database. the aircraft is a specially modified Boeing 747-200B and is operated by the US Air Force. It is said hiSky to offer affordable voice, data and IoT to be a key component of the National Command Systems for the hiSky will use its recently such as connected vehicles, alternative” in the voice and data president, defence secretary, and developed Smartellite trains, the energy and agricultural mobile satellite services market, the joint chiefs of staff, providing satellite terminals and Spacecom’s sectors in remote areas, etc. hiSky and especially for the IoT. secure and “highly-survivable” global AMOS-17 to provide what it says are adds that the secure integrated According to Jacob Keret, SVP of communications round the clock. affordable, low-capacity voice, data modem also includes “easy to use” sales at Spacecom, AMOS-17’s full ThinKom’s ThinAir Falcon-Ka2517 and IoT services in the Middle East. management tools. digital HTS technologies will provide fuselage-mounted phased-array The company says its small, The company will use AMOS-17’s a wide array of service capabilities, antenna systems will be installed lightweight and portable terminals Ka-band beams following its expected enabling the company to combine its under a modernisation programme feature a built-in electronic pointing launch to 17°E in 2019. “classic” satellite bandwidth product to replace the E-4B’s legacy and less- antenna that automatically locates “Our Smartellite family, together offering with end-to-end communication efficient Ku-band ESA (electronically the satellite in milliseconds. It says with AMOS-17, will provide significantly services throughout the EMEA region. steered antenna) systems. the system includes a compact lower prices than the market currently He adds: “hiSky’s innovative offering It’s claimed the new system will portable satellite IoT device based offers,” says Yaron Shachar, chief is an exciting solution for applications enable more reliable and more on electronically steered antenna business officer, hiSky. in remote locations, for satellite cost-efficient higher-bandwidth technology to provide low data rate He also claims that the partnership on the move communications, and voice, data and video connectivity services for various applications will result in a “very appealing brings us into IoT markets.” as part of a low-profile subsystem that can exploit both military and commercial satellite assets. Coal producer unearths network treasure Installations are currently under way and the upgrades are expected to Shubarkol Komir JSC, said remote sites. InfiNet says all of become operational by 3Q18. to be Kazakhstan’s largest its wireless units are guaranteed ThinKom says its platform coal producer, has upgraded its IT to remain fully operational even supports data rates up to 400Mbps infrastructure and mission-critical during extreme temperature on the forward link and 100Mbps video-surveillance platform with ranges between -55ºC and +60°C. for the return. It claims the the help of InfiNet Wireless. Furthermore, it says that the added phased-array antenna apertures The vendor’s radios are now The radios connect 35 remote mining challenge of high levels of humidity are packaged in the industry’s providing connectivity between facilities that cover an area of more and the presence of solid dust lowest-profile radome, eliminating 35 remote facilities that cover an than 75km2. particles that are commonly found aerodynamic drag in flight. area of more than 75km2 within in the air at open-pit coal mines has The company further claims that the territory of the Centralny and portfolio. It adds that the system been eliminated thanks to its “robust” the unit’s “superior” high skew Zapadny open-pit coal mines. offers “significant room” to deliver units and the use of a IP66-rated angle performance ensures “highly InfiNet says its “record-breaking” even higher capacities well into the cameras for the CCTV system. efficient” connectivity in equatorial InfiLINK 2x2 point-to-point solution future using the same platform. The project was implemented in regions, while also being able to is providing data transfer rates of up Shubarkol Komir uses its network conjunction with InfiNet’s regional reliably close links along high- to 70Mbps as well as rates of up to for VoIP, internet and intranet access, partner, Informsvyaz Kazakhstan, latitude/polar routes at elevation 35Mbps for point-to-multipoint sub- as well as for CCTV monitoring of which is now a member of The angles below 10º. scriber units from the InfiMAN 2x2 its industrial facilities, including Eurasian Group.

May/June 2018 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 33

SAWC 1806 p32-34 (World News) NEW.indd 33 04/07/2018 13:10 WORLD NEWS mmWave GetSAT to provide US with system trial Facebook and Qualcomm compact satcom terminals are working together to improve the speed, efficiency and In a multimillion dollar a BUC and modem optimised for quality of internet connectivity deal, the US Government harsh environments, as well as around the world at what’s claimed will use GetSAT’s satellite terminals “ultra-low” power consumption. to be a fraction of the cost of fibre to provide maritime and ground- GetSAT says MicroSat L/M offers deployments. Qualcomm will based secure communications-on- options for both Ka- and Ku-band, integrate its pre-802.11ay chipsets the-move applications. providing autonomous operation with Facebook’s Terragraph It will use the company’s MicroSAT for transmitting and receiving technology. Their aim is to help and MilliSAT L/M (land and maritime) bandwidth data rates at more than enable manufacturers to build micronised communications termi- GetSAT’s MilliSAT and compact 10Mbps. It says the mid-sized mmWave solutions using unlicensed nals. These are based on GetSAT’s MicroSat (pictured) will be used terminal, which has a panel size of 60GHz spectrum and provide FWA patented and fully-interlaced InterFLAT by US agencies in ground and 248 x 135mm and weighs around broadband in urban areas. The panel technology for transmitting and maritime applications. 8kg (depending on option), can be companies expect to begin trials of receiving signals on the same panel. hand-carried in any environment. their integrated solution mid-2019. It’s claimed the rugged terminals be outfitted with various antenna The MilliSAT L/M has a panel size offer “significant savings” in size, sizes in accordance with bandwidth of 500 x 135mm and is described weight and power usage. Constructed requirements of ground, air and as a medium lightweight (around Joint C-band in a super-light compact installation, marine applications. The firm further 14kg depending on option) portable GetSAT says its platforms are easy claims that its terminals feature a on-the-move terminal solution that proposal to deploy and integrate, and can unique, all-in-one design that includes also offers options for Ka and Ku.

Intelsat and SES have agreed on a proposal for C-band TETRA gateway radio solution soars to frequencies (3700MHz to 4200MHz) to be shared between satellite and terrestrial mobile operators in the US. success in airport emergency simulation The proposal includes a framework to Sysoco has successfully from the firefighter’s command enable wireless operators to quickly tested a TETRA gateway post vehicle as a gateway. This access around 100MHz of nationwide radio solution ahead of a planned enabled communication in local C-band downlink spectrum to help roll-out at Lyon-Bron and Lyon mode between all portable radios accelerate 5G deployment. The Saint-Exupery airports. within a one to two kilometre radius, companies say the aim is to ensure the The France-based radiocommu- dependent on the relief and height of continued and seamless distribution of nications specialist firm took part the antenna on a telescopic tower. broadcast services to over 100 million in a rapid intervention exercise to A Sepura SRG3900 and Colour The use of gateway radios allows US households, the reliable provision demonstrate the synchronisation Console in a fire command post Aeroports de Lyon to run a system of data connectivity in rural areas of communications between SSLIA vehicle. PHOTO: SYSOCO that links the SSLIA to Saint-Exupery and emergency situations, as well as (the aircraft rescue and firefight- airport’s command post. Sysoco services delivered to the government. ing service), the Fire and Rescue aeroplane and a fully-laden fuel tanker. says the gateway solution will provide Service of Rhone-Alpes, and fuel It was set up to test the level of com- coverage into neighbouring areas of company Total. munications co-ordination between the airport and support nearby Lyon Enabling faster The simulation involved attending the services during an emergency. Saint-Exupery airport thanks to the development the scene of an accident between an Sysoco used Sepura’s SRG3900 12m high telescopic tower. Chip-maker Enhanced customer service for Vipnet STMicroelectronics will include Sigfox’s networking software Croatian operator Vipnet in order to automate customer care enhanced customer care. in its tools that enable developers is automating customer across its xDSL, FTTx, mobile, and Vipnet’s chief digital officer Ivan to bring their LPWAN-based care and enhancing its network cable access infrastructure. Skender says digital transformation products and solutions to market troubleshooting service with the The company says that over a is no longer a “nice-to-have”, but faster. The partnership ensures tool help of Bulb Technologies. deployment period of just four a fundamental driver for how the compatibility for STMicroelectronics’ As part of its digital transfor- months, it implemented a customer company’s business will continue to STM32 family of general-purpose mation, Vipnet needed to replace care system that was integrated with serve, support and engage customers. microcontrollers as well as other its legacy troubleshooting systems multi-vendor infrastructure elements He adds: “Our ability to deliver suitable products such as the S2-LP across its mobile and fixed access for fixed access, including xDSL personalised and enhanced ultra-low-power sub-GHz radio infrastructure in order to enable the CPEs and OSS/BSS. It says this was customer service means that transceiver, the STSAFE-A1SX secure delivery of new services. based on real insights from periodic subscribers will now be able to element that comes pre-loaded with By using its CEMPRESSO platform, performance data collected from interact with our service desks Sigfox network keys, as well as a Bulb Technologies says the operator all devices (such as cable modems, instantly at anytime and from wide range of sensors, power and now has a “comprehensive” single xDSL CPEs, etc.), and delivering anywhere through our mobile and power-management devices. diagnostics and troubleshooting tool diagnostics and remedy tools for web applications.”

34 SOUTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS May/June 2018

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