JUNE/JULY 2017 northern african Volume 16 Number 3

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

l The IoT and getting on top of smart cities l Using OSS/BSS to enhance crucial network functions l Interview: Microsoft and its mission to empower Africa

Connecting the Unconnected

NAWC 1707 p1 (Cover) RN v1.2.indd 1 09/08/2017 18:34 NAWC 1707 p2 (FG Wilson).indd 1 09/08/2017 18:41 wirelessnorthern african CONTENTS COMMUNICATIONS

JUNE/JULY 2017 northern african Volume 16 10 News 5 News review Number 3 JUNE/JULY 2017

Forwireless comms professionals in north, west, east & central Africa COMMUNICATIONS Volume 16 > DRC operator first to sign-up forAngosat-1 > Safaricom launches LTE-A l The IoT and getting on top Number 3 of smart cities l Using OSS/BSS to enhance > PCCW Global to expand Algerian services crucial network functions l Interview: Microsoft and its mission to empower Africa > Mobile money carries over trillion shillings > Mobile data traffic to reach 7.4EB per month > Asia-Africa-Europe 1 goes live Connecting the Unconnected > MainOne to keep African traffic in Africa NAWC 1707 p1 (Cover) RN v1.2.indd 1 09/08/2017 18:34 > Y’ello Box brings electricity via mobiles 16 Wireless solutions > Sudatel Group joins Humanitarian Charter > Linking Mastercard with mobile wallets Cambium Networks is a leading global provider of trusted wireless solutions that 13 Wireless business connect the unconnected – People, Places > Spam phone calls are “big business” in Africa and Things. 16 Wireless solutions Through its extensive portfolio of reliable, > Lowest noise with R&S signal generator scalable and secure wireless narrowband and broadband platforms, Cambium Networks makes it possible for all service Features: providers and industrial, enterprise and government network operators to build 18 Smart cities affordable, reliable, high-performance > There’s much talk about the IoT but what’s connectivity. 18 Smart cities the reality? RAHIEL NASIR finds out.

The company currently has over seven 24 Wireless users million radios deployed in thousands of  > Mobile service providers would struggle demanding networks in more than 150 without reliable OSS and BSS platforms. countries. 29 Interview Headquartered outside Chicago and with  > AMR KAMEL explains how Microsoft is on R&D centers in the U.S., U.K. and India, 29 Interview a mission to digitally empower Africa. Cambium Networks sells through a range of trusted global distributors. 34 World news Turn to page 12 to find out more. 32 World news > New record set for satellite data retrieval > DAMM TETRA secures São Paulo airport > Copenhagen DAS connects three operators > Super-fast bandwidth for Lebanese ISP > Avalanche monitoring devices use M2M

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Eutelsat launches Konnect Africa Eutelsat has begun what it describes content development, and safe and as its “bold ambitions” for broadband reliable communication. in sub-Sahara Africa with the launch Some of the first partners to support of its much-vaunted Konnect Africa Konnect Africa include: AfrikaNet GoSat; initiative. Bentley Walker; China Telecom, On 6 June, the company launched which is establishing communication services in Benin, Cameroon, links between Africa and Asia-Pacific; Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, South Terrace Projects, a managed satellite Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and service solution provider in South Uganda. This followed an earlier Africa; amongst others. announcement confirming that the By working with local partners, Eutelsat hopes to accelerate satellite broadband Eutelsat says it will give partners the Konnect Africa initiative was back on connectivity across Africa. means to succeed through dedicated track thanks to a partnership with commercial, marketing and technical Yahsat (see News, Feb-Mar 2017). you-go’ models and Wi-Fi hotspots for a “few dozens” of dollars. support. The company adds that it will Eutelsat says it will deliver schemes. It says Wi-Fi hotspot access High-grade enterprise services are also train and reward local installers “innovative” services including will be available for a “few cents” also proposed to enable video- to enhance service quality and drive packaged offers inspired by ‘pay-as- while family offers will be optimised conferencing, storage, multimedia more talent into the industry. Pan-African Wi-Fi roaming DRC operator first to sign- hub from Liquid Telecom up for Angolan satellite Liquid Telecom has introduced Africa’s largest independent fibre DRC-based satellite operator InfraSat executive director Diogo a new roaming hub that enables network. Renatelsat has signed a deal to use de Carvalho claims the new satellite operators and ISPs to access its pan- It adds that they can also make capacity on Angosat-1, Angola’s first is registering a lot of interest from continental network of public Wi-Fi their public Wi-Fi hotspots available communications satellite which is due national operators, and that there hotspots for the first time. to some of Liquid’s Wi-Fi roaming to be launched in September 2017. are ongoing contract negotiations. The company says Africa Wi-Fi partners. Renatelsat executive director According to Multichoice Hub will allow the customers of This means that they will be Richard Achinda says Angosat-1 Angola’s communication director, its wholesale clients to connect to able to take advantage of a global will allow the expansion of his Adilson Garcia, Angosat-1 will enable hundreds of locations across Kenya, network of public Wi-Fi hotspots company’s services in neighbouring national operators to take advantage Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and without the need to negotiate their countries as well as into Angola. of satcoms services locally and in Zimbabwe, with additional markets own roaming agreements. Liquid’s Renatelsat joins Angolan Public national currency – unlike providers to be rolled out soon. roaming partners currently include Television as one of the first two from America and Europe where Partners can connect to the hub major Tier 1 carriers such as BT, companies to sign for capacity on the payment is made in foreign currency. through peering points in Eastern as well as Wi-Fi network providers USD320m satellite. The deals mark Following its successful launch and Southern Africa, with the such as iPass. the official launch of the campaign from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, option to connect to hundreds of “Africa Wi-Fi Hub is an important to commercialise its capacity. Angosat-1 will orbit at 14.5ºE for an locations in one country, or join step in bringing together the Angosat-1 will be operated by expected service life of 15 years. Its a global network of public Wi-Fi region’s Wi-Fi networks, reducing InfraSat which was established in payload includes 22 C- and Ku-band hotspots. The hub is also available as cost and complexity for operators 2008 as an independent business transponders. InfraSat adds that it has a a white label service. and extending coverage for their unit of Angola Telecom. InfraSat is conventional capacity equivalent to 44 Liquid claims that by joining the subscribers,” says Ben Roberts, responsible for the management of its transponders of 36MHz which covers hub, operators will be leveraging group CTIO, Liquid Telecom. entire portfolio of satellite services. all of Africa and parts of Europe.

Safaricom CEO Bob Safaricom introduces LTE-A in Kenya Collymore reckons Safaricom claims it is continuing to Safaricom says the new LTE-A sites of which 4,677 are 2G, 3,517 are faster network roll out Africa’s “most advanced” technology builds on the growing 3G and 1,103 are 4G. They will also speeds are mobile network following the footprint of its 4G network which complement its fibre rollout strategy “democratising introduction of 4G+ (LTE-A or 4.5G) has gone live on more than 1,100 that has so far seen more than data access”. services in major towns across Kenya. sites across the country. It also 50,000 homes and 1,500 commercial In June, the operator announced enables carrier aggregation, allowing buildings passed by high speed links. that it had already activated 100 4G+ subscribers to benefit from increased “These faster speeds not only CEO, Safaricom. “We expect that our sites in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, as bandwidth accessible through benefit the customer, they also network will empower more small well as parts of Kisii, Naivasha, Kitui, the aggregation of different LTE empower small businesses who enterprise to participate in commerce Machakos, Kakamega and Kericho. spectrum bands. can now use the internet for more as well as drive more data use by More territories are scheduled to be The company says the 4G+ commercial activities – democratising critical sectors in the education, switched on during the coming months. stations will supplement its existing data access,” says Bob Collymore, health and agricultural sectors.”

June/July 2017 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS 5

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More than a trillion shillings carried on Kenya’s mobile money platforms © SAFARICOM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The use of mobile money for the money subscriptions stood at 27.5 in mobile money and as well as for payment of goods and services in million, while the number of active ICT infrastructure growth.” Kenya hit KES627.4bn (USD6.03bn) mobile money transfer agents was The report also found that the during the first three months of 2017, registered at 174,018, a rise from number of mobile subscriptions according to the Communications 161,583 in the previous quarter. increased during the first three months Authority (CA) of Kenya. The report forecasts that growth in of 2017. The number stood at 39.1 In its sector statistics report for the online shopping could fuel the volume million, up from the 38.9 million first quarter, the authority said the of parcels sent in the near future, reported during the previous quarter Safaricom is regarded as a pioneer of volume of transactions on mobile and that the relative ease of shopping (a 0.5 per cent increase). mobile money platforms, such as its money platforms were recorded at online will open up international However, SMS traffic declined M-PESA 1 Tap Card. KES471.1m, with KES1.1 trillion commercial opportunities. compared to the previous quarter. 12.8 moved during the period. It added: “The telecoms sub- billion messages were sent during 1Q17, decline to the end of the busy festive The CA said mobile commerce sector continues to be a critical down from 15.2 billion sent during the season during which service providers recorded a total of 290.5 million element of the economy, laying the previous quarter and representing a fall had launched numerous special offers transactions. The number of mobile groundwork for greater investment of 18.8 per cent. The CA attributed the and promotions. ATM taps PCCW Global for Service enables MNOs to network services in Algeria expand 2G to remote areas ATM Mobilis (formerly Algeria access PCCW’s extensive worldwide Intelsat has introduced a managed BCom adds that the aim is to Telecom Mobile) will provide network for its customers in Algeria. services platform to help mobile design a solution that fits each customers with access to PCCW Meanwhile in April, ATM operators provide 2G services for community with basic 2G GSM Global’s international connectivity, as launched neTWin, its new brand for remote populations throughout services, and covers a larger area or well as a portfolio of managed services the B2B solutions and services market. sub-Saharan Africa. population based on a “pay-as-you- and UCaaS (unified communications- This includes PCCW’s UCaaS IntelsatOne Mobile Reach Solar 2G grow” model. as-a-service) products. products along with its managed is a turnkey package that includes Patrick Elias, the company’s Last year, ATM Mobilis signed network and security solutions. all satellite, cellular and power sales and operations director, says: a high capacity IPX interconnect Sameh Sobhy, VP of MENA, components. It integrates satellite “With each community having agreement with PCCW. This has PCCW Global, believes it has services from Intelsat’s globalised its own specificity in terms of now been extended to cover services become “critical” for operators network with a backhaul terminal landscape and population density, beyond traditional voice. serving mid-market or large enterprise solution and network deployment the BCom backhaul terminal The two partners have also customers to provide global UCaaS expertise from Switzerland-based solution is designed to be flexible, extended their combined MPLS as part of their service portfolio. BCom. It also leverages Newtec’s scalable and resilient.” network coverage. Their cooperation He says: “Tapping into this Dialog equipment. Intelsat reckons that now smaller to establish an MPLS node in Algeria next growth phase in cloud The service will initially be and more portable kits can be will help expand PCCW’s global communications provides a significant available in sub-Saharan Africa, used with its EpicNG platform, infrastructure into one of North and revenue opportunity and is key to and Intelsat claims it can be rapidly connecting remote and rural West Africa’s key markets, whilst defending international customers deployed and is easily scalable to communities will become “easier at the same time allowing ATM to from growing competition.” serve populations of all sizes. and more cost-effective”. GiSat and JUPITER to bring broadband to millions Global-IP will use Hughes Network Hughes will supply 11 gateway during Q4 2018, GiSat-1 is currently Systems’ JUPITER platform to bring stations in Europe using a centralised being built by Boeing (see News, Dec high-performance connectivity to architecture for routing traffic in 16-Jan 17 ) and will be the first in a mobile devices in sub-Saharan Africa. and out of the internet, as well as series of satellites from Global-IP. JUPITER will be used to provide its HT2500 and HT2600 terminals. The company says its network will 100 per cent of the capacity on Beyond supporting high-quality have multiple gateways located Global-IP’s GiSat-1 150Gbps Wi-Fi access, the company claims its in Europe for connectivity to the high-throughput satellite which is “powerful” terminals are designed internet via Tier 1 fibre backbones. expected to enter service in 2019. It’s with LTE acceleration technology It claims GiSAT’s advanced digital Hughes is supporting Global-IP’s claimed to be the first VSAT system to meet MNOs’ demanding payload capabilities will allow the mission of bringing high-performance to support DVB-S2X which is widely requirements, making it economical deployment of multiple in-country connectivity to mobile devices recognised as the most bandwidth- for data delivery anywhere. gateways and terminals for customers throughout sub-Sahara Africa. efficient standard available. Due to be launched by SpaceX who wish to have local connectivity.

6 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS June/July 2017

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AAE-1 cable now ready for service What’s been described as the largest Whilst AAE-1 terminates at two subsea cable system to launch in POPs in Singapore, one unique The submarine system is said almost 15 years has now gone live. feature is that it also continues to follow a route similar to the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) further into Asia via diverse ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’. stretches 25,000km and is the first terrestrial routes across Thailand, high-capacity cable system to link connecting Vietnam, Cambodia all of the major Southeast Asian and Hong Kong. As a result of nations to Africa and Europe via the transiting through these countries Middle East. It connects Hong Kong, and avoiding the heavily congested Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand Malacca Straits, it’s claimed this with Malaysia and Singapore, routing enables the cable to have then onwards to Myanmar, India, one of the lowest latencies between Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Hong Kong, India, the Middle East Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, and Europe. Egypt, Greece, Italy and France. By connecting major carrier- backhaul providers available in these Djibouti Telecom, Etisalat, GT5L, The system is said to deploy “state- neutral POPs in Hong Kong, POPs or in landing stations in Asia, Mobily, Omantel, Ooredoo, OTEG, of-the-art” 100Gbps transmission Singapore and Marseilles, the the Middle East, Africa or Europe. PCCW Global, PTCL, Reliance Jio, technology, with a minimum design consortium behind AAE-1 says Members of the cable consortium Retelit, Telecom Egypt, TeleYemen, capacity of 40Tbps. members can choose their preferred include China Unicom, CIL, TOT, Viettel, VNPT and VTC. Partners go OTT to deliver Mobile data traffic to streaming video content reach 7.4EB per month Falcon Media House (FMH) has congested and slow connections to Mobile data traffic will grow 12-fold In terms of network connections, joined forces with Media Nucleus and deliver content to the end user using from 2016 to 2021 in Africa and the the index says there were 1,330 Quiptel to offer an OTT service to the most efficient and cost effective Middle East, according to Cisco. million mobile-connected devices in millions of users in Africa and Asia. route. FMH reckons this results In its latest annual Visual Network MEA last year. Fifty-nine million net The partnership enables in “seamless streaming over even Index (VNI ) released in June, the new devices and connections were FMH – a UK-based global digital the most challenging networks and firm forecasts that mobile data added to the mobile network during media group – to offer an OTT mobile conditions”. traffic in the region will rise from the period. The VNI forecasts the platform to medium and large sized The two companies will work 610.3PB per month in 2016 to number of mobile-connected devices broadcasters, as well as parts of its with Chinese business-to-business 7.4EB per month by 2021. to grow at a CAGR of six per cent content portfolio to local content OTT platform provider, Quiptel. It Cisco says business mobile data over the next four years, and says service providers. will integrate with Media Nucleus’ traffic in MEA grew 79 per cent in there will be 1,814 million by 2021. Media Nucleus specialises in subscriber management software 2016. It predicts this will grow at a The number of mobile-connected broadcast and pay TV solutions, to provide billing solutions to CAGR of 52 per cent to hit 493.9PB M2M modules rose by 33 per cent to and its clients include East African customers. per month by 2021, up from 60.7PB 55 million in 2016. Cisco expects this satellite broadcaster Zuku TV. The partners add that their joint per month in 2016. number to quadruple between 2016 It will use FMH’s Q-Flow solution will enable broadcasters The VNI reveals that the average and 2021 to reach 223 million, with technology to enable customers and cable companies to increase mobile connection speed in the M2M traffic predicted to account to experience high quality video their market share with lower capex, region was 3,778kbps in 2016. It for two per cent of total mobile data streaming. It’s claimed this as they will not need to invest in says this will increase 2.9-fold, traffic by 2021 compared to one per overcomes the challenges of hardware and lay new network cables. reaching 10,784kbps by 2021. cent at the end of 2016. MainOne to keep African internet traffic in Africa MainOne is aiming to become West service will allow co-located customers CEO Funke Opeke (pictured) says the MDXi is said to run Africa’s only Africa’s largest internet hub with a to connect to multiple networks while solution will enable more operators and Tier III data centre (see News, Oct-Nov new interconnect service for carriers, “significantly reducing” the cost of carriers to take advantage of IXPN’s 2016 issue). Based in Lekki, the facility enterprises and ISPs. backhaul links to various providers. connections in MDXi’s data centre, is directly connected to MainOne’s The launch of Open- MainOne reckons Open-Connect and means internet traffic originating 1.92Tbps submarine cable. Connect follows the “guarantees the best cross connect and terminating on any network in With connections to IXPs in Lagos, partnership of MainOne’s services in Nigeria”, enabling Nigeria can remain in-country. Amsterdam, London and Ghana, data centre company MDXi customers to bypass the public She adds: “This new interconnection and more than 50 POP locations with the Nigerian Internet internet and connect directly service for customers will significantly across West Africa, MainOne claims it Exchange (IXPN) to to partners, cloud and SaaS improve traffic growth and localisation enables carriers, ISPs, content providers improve national providers with secure, in Nigeria, with reduced latency, and enterprises of all sizes to grow their transit traffic. It’s reliable and flexible improved speed and better quality of network footprint without investing claimed the new direct connections. services to end users.” heavily in additional infrastructure.

8 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS June/July 2017

NAWC 1707 p8 (News) RN AM.indd 8 10/08/2017 18:56 Delivering voice growth through a unique mix of wholesale & retail

IDT, a world leading carrier of international voice, continue to provide customers with value across offers African network operators a unique and both communication and financial services. innovative way to drive incremental minutes and “So BOSS Revolution continues to grow, and our revenue through its retail arm. In an aggressive services continue to provide value to customers marketplace, no other voice carrier can deliver a which really goes back to the proposition of strategic partnership that offers the stability and ensuring that they stay in touch and share opportunity to grow voice and, in some ways, resources with friends and family back home. reclaim revenue lost through OTT providers. The unique ‘Africa opportunity’ stems from Twice the opportunity IDT’s retail business through its BOSS Revolution brand. This offers communication and financial What makes IDT unique in the telecoms space services, enabling foreign-born customers to is the ability to transfer the value of those 15 stay in touch and share resources with their loved billion proprietary minutes from the foreign-born ones around the world. customers to the international telecoms providers that need to terminate those international minutes. The African opportunity That’s where the company’s wholesale division comes in, as Hirsch explains: “It creates value by BOSS Revolution currently generates more than being able to work with network operators to 8 billion annual minutes globally, over a billion of terminate the retail minutes we generate, which which terminates through 70+ CLI-certified African did away with the need for users to enter personal our wholesale team can then trade with to carry direct connects. More than 430,000 Africans identity numbers, or worry about paying various their outbound traffic. based in the US use BOSS Revolution to call home, fees for international communication. “Working with fixed and cellular operators, with other regions of the world generating retail Since it was launched six years ago, Hirsch says we’re able to combine our retail and wholesale minutes into Africa through the service and the BOSS Revolution has delivered on its promise for operations to provide a completely unique UK spearheading this with double digit growth. customers of no pin, no fees, no expiration. And proposition to help grow the respective businesses IDT’s penetration is so high amongst the because it has become a trusted brand, he says – achieving incremental minutes through foreign-born community in the US that it reaches IDT has been able to launch additional services. preferential rates for IDT’s retail customers, and 1 in 4 of this population. In today’s flat and “These include international mobile top-up increasing revenue even further by dropping aggressive voice market, operators need to look which allows people to add credit to the pre-paid dollars, not just minutes, into networks, with the towards identifying strategic partnerships in order service of friends and family back home. Because growth we’re experiencing from our financial to realise new revenue streams. Because IDT has this was a sort of remittance-in-kind service, we services available through BOSS Revolution too.” the reach and access to Africans calling home, it realised that we were able to go into other services can work together with African network operators like money transfer. We now have licenses in all to provide preferential rates to its retail customers US states, where we operate as a money transfer Strategic partnerships: the key and grow this base to drive even more volume provider under the BOSS Revolution brand, to growth their way. And at the same time, IDT can trade enabling customers to send money all over the this retail volume to carry their outbound traffic, world, with a growing African customer base using In today’s voice market, network operators need creating a uniquely compelling proposition to this service to send money back home too.” to shift their thinking towards more strategic grow the mutual businesses. The company calls In addition to pre-paid Visa cards, virtual Visa partnerships in order to grow. Partnering with a this ‘twice the opportunity’. cards, gift cards, bill payments and a variety of wholesaler that can carry their outbound traffic Ben Hirsch, IDT’s chief marketing officer, explains other services, the company continues to grow but also leverage retail volumes into their network more: “BOSS Revolution is an online portal created both BOSS Revolution’s telecoms and payment is an assured direction they can take. IDT is really for retail stores that delivers our products and services across a variety of platforms. the only voice carrier that is uniquely positioned services through the retailer into the hands of While the retailer remains IDT’s strongest to deliver the volume commitment needed to consumers. What’s key about this portal is that channel for BOSS Revolution, the company also grow the businesses on both the wholesale and it takes cash of the street. offers a variety of services across its web portal, retail side, representing ‘twice the opportunity’ “A number of our foreign-born customers do in-store kiosks, voice portals, and now through for an operator to increase their revenues. not necessarily have credit or bank accounts but mobile applications as well. You can stay in touch with IDT and find out how want to access electronic payments for services. “The BOSS Revolution app has been their retail products and services influence the BOSS Revolution not only provides those rich downloaded over four million times now,” says wholesale carrier industry, through their newly services to them but actually allows them to be Hirsch. “I am proud to say that we are one of the launched content website. consumers in today’s marketplace.” few apps in the app stores that actually generates BOSS Revolution’s core element is ‘PIN-less hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues, idtvoice.com calling’. It took the old-fashioned hard card and which is a fantastic place to be. It shows that we idtcarrierservices.com/twice

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Chris Godfrey, executive director, Qwickfone Y’ello Box brings reliable

ON THE NETWORK power via mobile phones In what’s claimed to be a world first, panel on the roof and a new solar electricity service is connect it to the indoor Africa’s being pioneered in Nigeria. power unit. They can then Designed and operated by Abuja- access electricity from the mobile boom based Lumos Mobile Electricity unit by making a payment Service, the Y’ello Box was launched via their mobile airtime. has peaked earlier this year and provides solar Once the payment has been electricity which consumers pay for credited, the service unlocks All the signs indicate that the using their MTN mobiles. and customers can access incredible growth of mobile Customers can sign-up for the electricity 24 hours a day. Thousands of people are said to be using the telephony in Africa has hit a wall. service at their local MTN shop. Lumos says the Y’ello Box system in Nigeria to run lights, watch TV, etc. The boom is bust and the peak has After paying a one-off fee, they is already benefitting more been reached. Growth has been in receive a kit that comprises a large than one hundred thousand people CEO Yuri Tsitrinbaum. “It’s time decline for the past two years and 80W solar panel and cable, an in homes, clinics, schools and we did more to harness the power is rapidly heading towards zero. eight-socket power unit, USB mobile businesses across Nigeria. of the sun. That is why the Y’ello There are five major obstacles to phone adapter, and two LED lights. “The Y’ello Box saves customers Box is changing so many lives. It is further mobile growth in Africa: the An “easy” self-installation kit money all while providing better and affordable, it is reliable, and paying inefficiency and outdated nature enables users to mount the solar more reliable electricity,” says Lumos by mobile phone makes it easy.” of the power supply needed to run networks; the inability to maintain networks due to the lack of forex required to purchase equipment Linking firms and customers with A2P SMS from abroad; the short-sighted Algerian operator Icosnet has Icosnet is rolling out its new A2P the existing WTL platform that was competition between telcos that introduced an A2P SMS service for messaging service with the help of developed to support both VoIP and keeps coverage concentrated in domestic and international companies Belgium-based communications SMS services. An IP interface connects urban areas and not remote villages; who want to communicate directly with specialist, World Telecom Labs (WTL). Icosnet to the platform which then inefficient patchy network coverage their customers across the country. Initially, the company helped Icosnet switches and routes messages to the (even in densely populated cities); Businesses in Algeria are said establish its service quickly through the right operator in what’s claimed to be and a lack of spectrum due to to be increasingly turning to text provision of SS7 signalling gateways. an “efficient, cost-effective way ensuring government reluctance to convert messaging to connect with their But as its business expanded and the best possible delivery success”. to digital broadcasting. customers as it has a greater chance evolved, WTL provided a variety of WTL adds that its platform also What Africa needs in order to of being successfully received and equipment, including its VoIP switches. enables Icosnet to accurately bill clients reach the target of one billion read than email. The new A2P service will run over for the number of messages sent. people connected by 2020 is a cheap, robust and entirely self- sufficient network. This is why we Sudatel Telecom Group joins GSMA’s developed Qwickfone: a low-cost, solar powered technology that forms a local network to connect a village Humanitarian Connectivity Charter to the world via satellite or long Sudatel Telecom Group (STG) has STG CEO Tarig Hamza Zainelabdin. and digital services in Senegal, distance Wi-Fi. Our goal is to install joined the GSMA’s Humanitarian “We will continue to aim to keep our Mauritania and Guinea Conakry. a mobile network in every unserved Connectivity Charter. networks up and running in the most SDT is more than 60 per cent and disconnected community in the Launched in 2015, the charter is adverse of conditions as we know government-owned and is the first world, starting with trials in Kenya, supported by 112 mobile operators that connectivity is a lifeline for Sudanese company to have been DRC, Malawi and Zambia beginning spanning 77 countries. The aim is to those affected.” listed on regional stock exchanges. in the final quarter of 2017. bring the telecoms industry together As well as providing mobile and To make this a truly viable to provide connectivity during wars, fixed networks across North and West solution for millions of unconnected famine and natural disasters. Other Africa, STG also offers wholesale people, we will provide a free MNOs in the region who have signed services to international carriers. It has handset for everyone who wants the charter include Airtel, Millicom, built a fibre network across Sudan, network access. This should start Etisalat, Ooredoo and Zain. Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea Conakry, to address basic human needs, Given Sudan’s geographic location, Chad and Ethiopia, and also has such as better access to healthcare, STG says it will continue to play a interests in several submarine cable education and finance. strategic role in connecting Africa systems including SAS 1 and SAS 2 Our dream is to make a and the Middle East to the rest of the (Saudi Arabia Sudan), ACE, and EASsy. CEO Tarig Hamza Zainelabdin says difference to the lives of millions world. “We are operational across Additionally, it owns 75 per cent the company will endeavour to keep of people across the world by Northern and Western Africa where of Dubai-based Expresso Telecom its networks running in the “most connecting them to each other. unfortunately crises are frequent,” says Group which provides mobile adverse” of conditions.

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Linking Mastercard with Intelsat 35e The firms say their launched combined solution will Intelsat has launched the mobile wallets enable cellcos to issue fourth of its EpicNG high MatchMove will provide Youtap’s The companies say their Mastercard companion cards throughput satellites. Intelsat customers in Africa and Asia with partnership follows growing to mobile money users. 35e left Earth on board a Falcon 9 an off-the-shelf payment acceptance global demand for Mastercard on 5 July and will orbit at 325.5°E solution for mobile money wallets. companion cards connected where it replaces Intelsat 903 which Founded in New Zealand in with mobile money accounts. will be redeployed by year-end. 2007, Youtap is a global provider of They say their combined The new satellite will deliver C- contactless mobile money payments and solution will enable MNOs to and Ku-band services for wireless financial services software. Airtel and issue Mastercard companion infrastructure, mobility, broadband, MTN are listed as among the MNOs cards to their customers. Cards cashless solutions for government and media customers in in Africa that use Youtap Pay, its mobile can be branded and integrated mobile operators around the Americas, Caribbean, Europe and money payment processing platform. with the cellco’s current mobile the world, thus creating a Africa. Orange, INWI, Sonatel and The firm has integrated wallet app and enable users to buy new channel to bridge the gap between Speedcast are named as among some MatchMove’s secure mobile wallet products online and in stores. mobile money and end users.” of the first customers who will deploy solutions with its platform for the Shailesh Naik, CEO of Singapore- As well as offices in Asia and the services once the satellite goes live. acquisition, processing and settlement headquartered MatchMove, says: US, MatchMove plans to open new of credit, debit and pre-paid cards “Our partnership with Youtap will premises in South Africa and Dubai linked to a mobile money wallet. expand the availability of our secure to support its global growth. ABS supports DTH platform Microsoft cloud services for Africa ABS and Telcom Satellites Microsoft plans to deliver its complete and secure cloud services across the Microsoft claims it has helped to TV (TSTV) have signed a range of cloud services for the first continent with the option of data bring 728,000 SMEs online across the multi-transponder agreement for the time from data centres in Africa. residency in South Africa. continent and supported them to trans- delivery of DTH broadcast services The company will offer products Scott Guthrie, EVP, cloud and form and modernise their businesses. into Nigeria. The new platform was such as Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics enterprise group, Microsoft Corp, The firm adds that more than 500,000 due to be launched in July and is 365 from its own facilities in says: “With cloud services ranging firms are now utilising its cloud services, ultimately expected to air around 150 Johannesburg and Cape Town with from intelligent collaboration to with 17,000 using the 4Afrika hub to TV channels. TSTV will use ABS-3A initial availability anticipated in 2018. predictive analytics, the Microsoft Cloud promote and grow their businesses. which orbits at 3°W. According According to Microsoft, many delivered from Africa will enable In addition, its says the Microsoft to ABS, its wide Ku-band beam companies in Africa currently rely on developers to build new and innovative Cloud is helping Africans build offers new possibilities for video cloud services delivered from outside of apps, customers to transform their job skills, with 775,000 trained on distribution across Africa as well as the continent. It claims its investment businesses, and governments to better subjects ranging from digital literacy MENA, Europe and the Americas. will provide highly available, scalable, serve the needs of their citizens.” to software development. NCA must SES to provide connectivity in Burkina Faso SES has been selected to lead SES will provide stay focused a project to extend high-speed managed service Ghana’s communications communications infrastructure and maintenance minister has called upon throughout Burkina Faso. support through a the new directors appointed to The satellite operator will provide local presence in the National Communications the full end-to-end solution – including Burkina Faso as well Authority (NCA) to meet the wireless terrestrial communication as from its facilities challenges in creating a “robust and integration with the available in Luxembourg (left). and secure” information and optical fibre backbone – to connect PHOTO: BUSINESS WIRE knowledge society. Speaking at 881 sites for nationwide e-government, the inauguration ceremony in education and health services. The terrestrial wireless part of Reinforcement of Communication early July, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful In order to enhance connectivity the network will be operated by Infrastructures (PARICOM). said the NCA had to work with in the landlocked country, SES will Burkina Faso’s National Agency This underpins Burkina Faso’s all stakeholders for the continuing use satellite capacity via its medium for Promotion of Information and e-governance policy through a development of ICT infrastructure Earth orbit fleet which was previously Communication Technology. Luxembourg development cooperation and services, and in the spirit of run by O3b Networks but is now SES says the combination of terrestrial project which is part of the Indicative public-private partnership. She 100 per cent owned by SES. The and satellite links provides an “optimal” Cooperation Programme. urged board members to use their company will provide managed solution, empowering network reliability The initiative’s aim is to improve expertise to “enrich” the strategic service and maintenance support and increasing IP throughput. the quality, reliability and accessibility decision-making process, and guide from Luxembourg and via a local SES’ solution is specifically designed of ICT infrastructure throughout the management of the NCA to presence in Burkina Faso. for the Support Programme of the Burkina Faso over 2017-2021. deliver on initiatives.

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Spam calls “big business” in Africa

Five African countries are among the 4% 2% Nuisance calls present a further top 20 affected by the growing number 5% 10% problem for users in the country. of spam calls, according to Truecaller. Accounting for 27 per cent, these are India, the USA and Brazil top the generally unwanted and unsolicited list with phone users in those countries calls that are a disturbance for users, receiving more than 20 average spam 27% or at the very least amount to prank calls each per month. South Africa 91% 61% calls and at worst, harassment. came in at number five with an average Rounding off the spam call list in of 15 spam calls per user per month, Nigeria are telemarketers at two per followed by Nigeria at number nine Scam Financial service Nuisance Operator Nuisance Scam Telemarketing cent. These could be promotional with 10.4 calls and Egypt at 10 with 9.9 Left: Scam callers are a major problem in Kenya. Right: in Nigeria, operators calls from companies, surveys, political calls. Morocco and Kenya occupy the were responsible for most of the reported unsolicited calls. or automated calls, or new client bottom with an average 7.7 spam calls SOURCE: TRUECALLER INSIGHTS: TOP 20 COUNTRIES AFFECTED BY SPAM CALLS IN 2017 outreach for services and subscriptions. received per user per month. According to Truecaller, spam is Truecaller provides a suite of Globally, the company says there unsolicited credit union offers, or “big business” in South Africa. The phone services including one that are common categories that link all cold calling by credit card companies. country’s direct marketing industry enables users to see all caller IDs, such calls together. Some of the most Nigeria also has an issue with scam reportedly employs more than 150,000 block calls as well as texts, and report common ones it identifies include calls, but unlike Kenya this was smaller workers, with the average call centre spam callers and messages. local scams, telemarketing and debt at 10 per cent of all reported spam calls. agent logging around 1,600 calls on a For its study, the Sweden-based collection calls, and unsolicited finance Truecaller says one major problem in monthly basis. The company says this company aggregated data anonymously and insurance product offerings. Nigeria are spam calls from operators; amounts to phone users in South Africa from incoming calls that had been In Kenya, the research revealed these amount to the majority (61 per being collectively bombarded by tens of marked as spam from January to May that scammers made up 91 per cent cent) of the total that are reported. thousands of spam calls every day, with 2017. During this period, Truecaller of the reported spam calls. The rest During these type of calls, it says call telemarketing leading the way at 39 per says its worldwide users received were made up by financial services centre agents attempt to upsell data cent. Only one per cent of local calls more than 5.5 billion spam calls. such as banking product offers, plans or push promotional offers. in the country were marked as scams.

Turmoil for Etisalat in Nigeria “The NCC wishes to reassure the over pertaining to the continued use of stakeholders’ interests that needed Etisalat Nigeria has reportedly 21 million Etisalat subscribers that it the name were ongoing between the to be satisfied in the “complex” been re-branded as ‘9Mobile’ amid will do all within its regulatory power two companies. It added: “The final transaction, and bondholders were disputes about its ownership and to ensure that [they] continue to enjoy outcome on the use of the brand in unwilling to accept the terms of the financial difficulties. the services provided by the operator. no way affects the operations of the exchange offers presented. Abu-Dhabi-based Etisalat Group “The commission has taken proactive business as our full range of services Japan’s SoftBank Group owns 40 owns a 45 per cent stake and 25 per cent steps to cushion the impact of the remain available to our customers.” per cent of OneWeb and had agreed to preference shares in Emerging Markets takeover, this is without prejudice to the A few days later, EMTS introduced make a cash investment of USD1.7bn Telecommunication Services (EMTS) ongoing effort between Etisalat and the ‘9Mobile’ as the new brand identity in exchange for common and preferred which traded as Etisalat Nigeria. banks toward negotiated settlement.” for its operations. shares of the combined company. But According to some reports published The NCC continued by although this is now off, Spengler said by local outlets in mid-July, Etisalat reminding the banks of the Nigerian Intelsat-OneWeb merger collapses the pre-existing commercial agreement gave EMTS a three-week ultimatum Communications Act 2003. This Intelsat has terminated its proposed between SoftBank, Intelsat and to stop using the Etisalat brand for its states that a license is personal to the merger with OneWeb. OneWeb will still continue. business in Nigeria. This followed holder and cannot be operated by, The combination of the two “Under this agreement, we plan to the collapse of negotiations between assigned, sub-licensed or transferred companies was announced earlier this jointly develop integrated solutions Etisalat Nigeria and its lenders that to another party without the year in a share-for-share deal (see Wireless utilising both of our fleets and to act comprise 13 local banks. commission’s prior written approval. Business, Feb-Mar 2017 issue). But on 1 as a sub-distributor to SoftBank for In 2013, these banks loaned Etisalat In conjunction with the Central June, Intelsat said that following the the attractive application segments USD1.2bn for a network upgrade and Bank of Nigeria, the NCC mediated by expiration of the deal on the previous of mobility, energy, government, and expansion. But according to reports, holding several meetings with the banks, day, the minimum tender conditions connected car,” said Spengler. “As we the operator has told its creditors Etisalat and other stakeholders with a for the exchange offers and consent create integrated services for these that it is unable to make any further view to finding a resolution. However, solicitations had not been satisfied. applications, we expect to accelerate repayments without raising further talks between all parties ultimately A company press statement said: and enhance our goal of unlocking funds, blaming economic recession collapsed, leading to the Emirates “The Issuers have not accepted any new and larger opportunities in the and the devaluation of the naira. Telecoms Group walking away from of the Existing Notes for exchange; communications landscape.” The banks rejected Etisalat’s the negotiations and the resignation any Existing Notes tendered for argument and threatened to take over of its board and management staff. exchange will be promptly returned NSR sees huge future for satellite- its local operation. This prompted the On 10 July, EMTS issued a press to holders, and the Exchange Offers based mobile backhaul Nigeria Communications Commission release stating that it has a “valid and and Consent Solicitations have Cellular backhaul is expected to be (NCC) to convince subscribers of subsisting” agreement with the Etisalat accordingly been terminated.” one of the fundamental growth pillars Etisalat’s “network integrity”. In a Group which entitles it to use the According to Intelsat CEO in the satellite industry, according to statement issued on 20 June it said: Etisalat brand. It said that discussions Stephen Spengler, there were many Northern Sky Research (NSR).

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In its latest Wireless Backhaul via 100,000 cent of the installed satellite base will Satellite report published in early service broadband sites. June, the analyst says the days of 80,000 But the firm warns that price satellite being a “last resort” for USO per Mbps is critical to facilitating with “negligible” returns for MNOs 60,000 broadband services. “The efficiency at are now gone. 40,000 which the system transforms MHz into NSR expects satellite backhaul Mbps has an obvious impact in this to generate large global growth 20,000 equation,” says Palerm-Serra. “Satellite opportunities in the next 10 years. power, ground segment design, modem It forecasts growth at double-digit 0 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 and other elements all have their roles CAGRs with more than 110,000 to play in end-to-end system efficiency.” units installed by 2026. NAM LAM WEU CEEU MENA SSA ASIA The firm believes the arrival of Satellite-based cellular backhaul in-service units. SOURCE: NSR E-government services in Senegal HTS together with advanced ground boost GDP segment is making satellite a viable writes NSR analyst Lluc Palerm-Serra. NSR adds that broadband is taking The impact of digital technology option for backhauling 3G and 4G “2016 marked a key milestone in this over even in less developed markets as a wealth creator in Africa is base stations. transition. For the first time, 3G global like Africa where many new deals such that some countries like “Looking forward, the majority of data traffic surpassed 2G demand progressively include a 3G footprint. Senegal outperform many Western new opportunities will be generated despite the latter still comprising 65 It predicts that the shift will be nearly countries in the contribution of new from 3G and 4G/LTE deployments,” per cent of the installed base.” complete by 2026 as more than 90 per technologies to GDP.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

Date Name New employer New position Previous employer Previous position

11/5/17 Ahmad Farroukh Smile Telecoms Executive director, operations Mobily CEO

26/5/17 Kyle Whitehill Neotel CEO Vodafone Qatar CEO Arnaud de Chief executive. Vivendi owns a 24% shareholding in 1/6/17 Telecom Italia Executive chairman Vivendi Puyfontaine Telecom Italia. EMEA business development 13/6/17 Tarik Zilate Neural Technologies Roscom Business development manager manager Samsung Electronics 30/6/17 Gregory Lee Nokia Head, Nokia technologies President & CEO North America Head of international International José Manuel do 30/6/17 Intelsat government affairs & asset Telecommunications Director general & CEO Rosário Toscano management, Satellite Organisation Godfrey 3/7/27 iWayAfrica Uganda MD iWayAfrica Uganda Acting head of business Sserwamukoko Procurement & supply chain SVP for network technology. Buyln is the procurement 4/7/17 Dirk Karl MTN Group Buyln head JV between Deutsche Telekom & Orange. 18/7/17 Jean-Philippe Gillet Intelsat VP & GM of broadband Intelsat VP EMEA

18/7/17 Mark Rasmussen Intelsat VP & GM of mobility Intelsat VP Americas

18/7/17 Robert Cerbone Intelsat VP & GM of media Time Warner Cable VP & GM for wireless products Regional business 21/7/17 Tony Gray TCCA CEO P3 Group director 21/7/17 Phil Kidner – – TCCA CEO; retiring as of September 2017

INVESTMENTS, MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Date Buyer Seller Item Price Notes

The five-year agreement will refinance existing loans between Sberbank & VEON’s subsidiary, 22/5/17 VEON Sberbank Loan RUB110bn VimpelCom Holdings, as well as provide additional funds for general purposes. Hytera has now completed its acquisition of Sepura. It’s added around 700 staff to its organisation Hytera GBP74m & expanded its European operations with innovation centres in the UK & Spain. Hytera founder & 26/5/17 Sepura Group Acquisition Communications (reported) president Qingzhou Chen said: “With enhanced capabilities, we can better serve local markets & help to address increasing security challenges in Europe.” Said to be one of Europe’s largest activist investors, Cevian Capital is now Ericsson’s third-largest shareholder, but is likely to raise its position to be come the biggest, according to some reports. 30/5/17 Cevian Capital Ericsson 5.6% stake USD1bn Cevian co-founder Christer Gardell has blamed Ericsson’s board for doing “a very poor job” and is looking for people with greater industry experience. Globetouch will integrate Teramatrix’s xFusion platform to create IoT applications that support 22/6/17 Globetouch Inc. Teramatrix Acquisition NA connected cars, autonomous driving, predictive maintenance & edge intelligence. Debt capital Bond & term Liquid Telecom’s financing arm has raised USD550m in the international debt capital markets in Liquid Telecoms 7/7/17 markets & loan financing UD700m its debut bond, in addition to a USD150m term loan. The notes will bear an interest rate of 8.5% Financing banks package p.a. Funding will enable Liquid to further expand & enhance its pan-African fibre network. Cable US-based Cable Exchange manufactures a variety of fibre & copper cables, trunks & related 12/7/17 CommScope Acquisition NA Exchange products used in high-capacity data centres and other enterprise applications.

14 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS June/July 2017

NAWC 1707 p13-15 (Wireless Business) RN.indd 14 09/08/2017 17:02 Register here for your free digital edition http://www.kadiumpublishing.com/forms/africa/nawc_reg.htm WIRELESS BUSINESSNEWS © RMEIGNEUX/SIPA/ORANGE That’s according to France- of TeleDAc is essential for the Ziegler, this present a “coherent Deputy CEO based digital archiving specialist modernisation and effectiveness of value-added service” to CETel’s Pierre Louette Mobilitas which has been helping public action.” strength in the provision of VSAT says Orange is the Senegalese government on a Since being launched, TeleDAc and managed satellite service. supporting Africa’s project to digitise public services. is said to have made a significant He adds: “Onlime continues to digital ecosystem. Citing statistics from McKinsey contribution to improving access to operate its teleport facility to serve Global Institute, Mobilitas says 3.3 public services in Senegal, reducing satellite operators and service providers per cent of Senegal’s GDP comes administrative costs for users by with enhanced teleport and data centre from internet-related activities and 25 per cent and reducing the risk services. But our future focus will Orange Digital Ventures programme; as a result it does more than many of corruption. Mobilitas says the definitely lie in working together with the other half is devoted to indirect Western countries, including France time required to complete and issue CETel to serve customers in the African investments through specialised and Germany. planning certifications has been cut and Middle East markets offering both funding for Africa. All innovative “In ten years, the digital economy from a minimum of three months to satellite and terrestrial solutions.” startups will be legible for support, will probably weigh 10 per cent of approximately 28 days. whether they’re based on the continent African GDP,” says Alain Taïeb, It adds that the platform also Orange to invest millions in African or address its issues from elsewhere. chairman, Mobilitas. “Digital should strengthens the standardisation of startups Orange plans to setup a dedicated be an integral part of the services public electronic archiving, with Orange is creating a new Africa Digital Ventures team based in Dakar provided by the public authorities.” 200,000 applications for building section in its flagship programme for in September in order to respond to Mobilitas has been working with permits digitised following the investment in startups. the startups’ need for responsiveness ADIE, the Senegalese state agency introduction of the system at town Orange Digital Ventures Africa is the and simplicity. in charge of IT policy. It has setup planning departments in Dakar. group’s investment vehicle for early-stage Pierre Louette, deputy CEO and the Tele-Request of Authorisation innovation projects in areas such as new chairman of Orange Digital Ventures, to Build (‘TeleDAc’) platform which CETel to acquire Onlime’s managed connectivities, fintech, IoT, energy and claims new services and business facilitates the conditions for obtaining satellite services business e-health. The company says its aim is models in Africa have been one of building permits through the complete CETel has agreed to acquire Onlime’s to target startups solutions responses the priority investment themes of the digitalisation of the procedure. managed satellite services for an to the continent’s fundamental group’s corporate venture business. “Eighty per cent of the work of undisclosed amount. Onlime says challenges while leveraging its own He adds: “With this announcement, an administration consists in sharing the spin-off will help it to fully assets on the continent. we are engaging a bit further alongside information with users as well as concentrate on the expansion of its It is committing EUR50m to support the African digital ecosystem which, with the other services of the state,” existing African focused software new entrepreneurs on the continent. like everywhere else and maybe even says ADIE DG Cheikh Bakhoum. and communications businesses. This corresponds to half of the direct more than elsewhere, carries with it a “In this respect, the implementation According to the firm’s CEO Paul investments that will be made via the development challenge.”

LATEST COMPANY RESULTS

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

Service revenue grew 14.8% YoY to KES204.1bn driven mainly by growth in active users & increased usage of non–voice services, mainly 212.89 103.61 10/5/17 Safaricom Kenya FY17 KES 1.21 M-PESA & mobile data. Non-voice service revenue accounted for (bn) (bn) 54.2% of service revenue, recording a growth of 27.3% to KES110.7bn. Overall voice service revenue now stands at 45.8% of service revenue. Earnings up 4.2% compared to 3Q16, driven by wholesale carrier services & payment services. But revenue from retail communications 6/6/17 IDT Corp. US 3Q17 USD 370.0 9.1 0.28 fell 8.9% YoY to $148.6m. BOSS Revolution calling service negatively impacted by increased competition from wireless operators’ ‘unlimited’ offerings & rise of OTT voice & messaging. Grew by 22% &, for the first time, generated revenues of more Lancom 6/7/17 Germany FY16 EUR >50 NA NA than EUR50m. Growth was across all product lines – routers & VPN Systems gateways, switches & WLAN.

C-COM Satel- 18/7/17 Canada 2Q17 CAD 3.03 NA 0.0125 Earnings for the VSAT antenna specialist increased 68% QoQ. lite Systems

Reported sales down 8% YoY; plans to accelerate actions to cut costs & ensure it can meet target of doubling 2016 operating margin beyond 49.9 2018. MEA accounts for 13% of sales, & YoY earnings for the region 18/7/17 Ericsson Sweden 2Q17 SEK –788 -0.30 (bn) were down 17%. Sees some limited signs of recovery in MEA’s macro- economic environment, but challenges in capacity business continued, accompanied by decline in services domains. Total revenue of declined 1.5% YoY. In Africa, the telco says its primary objective this year is to ensure that the region can fund itself going 20/7/17 Millicom Luxembourg 2Q17 USD 1,517 535 0.22 forward. Results exclude Tigo Senegal which was sold to Wari group for USD129m earlier this year. Like-for-like earnings down 2.2% but in line with expectations. CEO Rodolphe Belmer said performance supported by “solid” commercial 28/7/17 Eutelsat France FY16-17 EUR 1,477.9 1,133.6 1.21 momentum in core video business & other verticals, particularly mobile connectivity. Expected improvement in YoY development between 1Q17 (-4.2%) & 28/7/17 SES Luxembourg 1H17 EUR 1,048.7 687.1 0.56 2Q17 (-1.9%) led to overall reduction of 3.1% for 1H17 compared with prior period.

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Airbus promises “new era” in PMR communications with TETRA server © AIRBUS Airbus reckons its new IP-based and operates at much lower costs. data centres. The network can then be Taira Tetra Server for PMR networks According to the company, the operated with the same processes and can replace conventional switches server is smaller than a typical personnel used for other IT services. switch and works more efficiently The Taira consists of standard solu- MANUFACTURER: Airbus and economically while still tions with virtualisation layers. Airbus providing high service availability. says this ensures true hot standby PRODUCT: It has also been designed to be redundancy even in extreme situations. ings, such as in mining, airports or in Taira Tetra Server easily managed as it fits into existing It adds that thanks to the virtu- underground systems, for example. IT environments. Airbus says using alisation of COTS hardware, server The company goes on to claim MORE INFORMATION: www. modern IT server technology in the capacities can be exploited in a better that all this helps operators to reduce securelandcommunications. framework of a TETRA network way. For instance, Airbus says the serv- their opex, and marks the start of “a com enables operators to integrate a er enables the installation of TETRA new era” in critical communications TETRA system into their existing in complicated and narrow surround- infrastructure. Monitoring tool can reveal ‘silent unhappy customers’ Cloud-based customer experience analytics and service monitoring the tool is quick and easy to deploy, also help identify where dissatisfaction specialist SpatialBuzz has launched and can be embedded into existing might be increasing. It adds that the MANUFACTURER: a new handset measurements tool operator self-service apps. new tool also allows for a “deeper, SpatialBuzz to help MNOs to identify customers The tool retains anonymity for relevant and more meaningful” receiving poor service levels. the customer, and is said to be conversation to be had with customers PRODUCT: It works by collecting radio related optimised to minimise battery usage. experiencing network problems. RF measurement tool measurement data in real-time. Subscribers can choose to opt-in or Furthermore, the company Using a unique set of algorithms, out of the service at any time. says hotspots of ‘silent unhappy MORE INFORMATION: SpatialBuzz claims its solution allows According to SpatialBuzz, device customers’ can be revealed by using www.spatialbuzz.com cellcos to geospatially visualise RF measurements not only help diagnose the tool for subsequent experience conditions on the network. It says dissatisfaction hotspots faster, they optimisation and engagement. G+D SIMs for secure Infinera launchesXTM II for connection of IoT devices metro packet-optical apps

G+D Mobile Security reckons its Infinera has unveiled its IoT Attach and IoT Advance SIMs are next-generation packet-optical “essential solutions” for connecting platform for delivering rich Layer billions of IoT devices. 0, Layer 1 and Layer 2 services It says the two modules have with high density, low latency been developed in cooperation with and low power consumption. reference mobile operators and IoT A key component of the application providers. According to the the first in a series of IoT-specific new XTM II platform is the 400G EMXP440 transport switch which company, the dedicated SIMs not only products from G+D. While further Flexponder. This is a dual, 200G provides Layer 2 packet-optical offer the benefit of network protection form factors are under development, muxponder that uses 16QAM for switching with dual 100/200G ports to MNOs, but also protect IoT data the company says the current high-capacity transport, or a dual and 12 or 24 10G ports. and help tackle the major concern of solutions offer operators the 100G transponder that uses QPSK The switch supports CE and IoT device lifecycle management. required services and performance for longer reach operation. MPLS-TP, packet transport with IoT Attach and IoT Advance are with “ultimate” flexibility. Infinera says the device provides sub-50ms protection, MEF CE 2.0 Both SIMs come equipped with end- 400G of line and client capacity per service creation, and QoS-aware MANUFACTURER: to-end security which secures data from slot, giving an eight-fold density traffic aggregation. G+D Mobile Security the IoT endpoint, through the LPWAN increase over the previous generation. (low power wide area network), and Including optics, it adds that the MANUFACTURER: Infinera PRODUCT: onto the application server. device operates at as low as 20W IoT Attach & IoT Advance In addition, it’s claimed IoT per 100G service which it believes is PRODUCT: XTM II Advance provides further flexibility the lowest power consumption per MORE INFORMATION: in terms of power optimisation, 100G available in the industry on any MORE INFORMATION: www.gi-de.com root-of-trust for firmware updates WDM-based platform. www.infinera.com over the air, and QoS. The XTM II also includes the

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R&S signal generator offers ALSO LOOK OUT FOR lowest possible phase noise Researchers Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) has signals with the “lowest develop introduced a high-end analogue RF possible” phase noise at all and microwave signal generator. offset frequencies (1GHz, wearable The SMA100B has a frequency –152dBc/Hz, 20kHz range up to 20GHz and is claimed offset). A 6GHz instrument power sources to be the most powerful analogue generates up to 38dBm RF Researchers at the UK’s University signal generator on the market. output power, and a 20GHz of Surrey are developing R&S says it provides the “purest” instrument generates up to technology that will allow people 32dBm in the microwave The SMA100B is also claimed to to act as their own power source MANUFACTURER: frequency range. be the world’s only analogue signal through ‘smart’ clothing. Rohde & Schwarz The vendor adds that harmonics generator that can simultaneously The wearable power sources are extremely low across the entire provide a second, independently are triboelectric nanogenerators PRODUCT: SMA100B frequency range; above 6GHz it says configurable, extremely pure and (TENGs). These energy harvesting they are even significantly lower than synchronised clock signal up to a devices convert the movements MORE INFORMATION: 70dBc at 18dBm output power. Non- frequency of 6GHz. As a result, of materials that produce static www.rohde-schwarz.com harmonics are also said to be below R&S says users can characterise charge into usable electricity. This 110dBc at an output signal of 1GHz. ADCs with a single signal generator. can then be stored in batteries or supercapacitors, and used to charge mobile phones or power medical devices. It’s claimed New cellular router offers power large scale TENG networks could also provide household power versatility and SDN management requirements in off-grid areas. Lancom Systems has extended its for intelligent backup scenarios. The researchers have range of LTE/4G cellular routers with The 730-4G has an integrated introduced a new model of the a new 700 series device. The 730-4G LTE/4G modem with 2G/3G support, TENG concep which was originally is aimed at supplementing network and provides a wireless broadband The 730-4G can be managed invented by Prof. Zhong Lin Wang infrastructures with LTE/4G and, connection at speeds of up to 100Mbps. either with Lancom’s conventional at Georgia Tech. The researchers when used in combination with the Power can be supplied via a GbE management tools or from the say they have improved the vendor’s routers, is said to be “ideal” connection with PoE support (as per Lancom Management Cloud (LMC). sensors and energy generating IEEE 802.3at). As a result, Lancom It’s claimed the LMC is the world’s devices that can be made into MANUFACTURER: says the device can be positioned first management system to employ wearable applications, such as Lancom Systems to take direct advantage of the best SDN technologies for the intelligent sewn into a tee-shirt like a patch available cellular signal without orchestration, optimisation and (pictured below), or attached PRODUCT: 730-4G expensive cabling for the power control of an entire network (SD- inside a pair of shoes. supply or for external LTE/4G WAN, SD-LAN and SD-WLAN). Principle project supervisor and MORE INFORMATION: antennas. Alternatively, the device The firm says this “greatly” simplifies Advanced Technology Institute www.lancom-systems.com also operates with the standard power the management of installations of director Prof. Ravi Silva says: supply unit it is shipped with. any scale, from small to very large. “Wearable TENGs can be made from natural fabrics, such as cotton or wool, so the idea is carbon- friendly ‘renewable’ technology Wi-Fi Alliance adds indoor positioning that could be used for years.” The Wi-Fi Alliance says its new and services that will benefit many measures the time that it takes for TENGs could also be used in a certified Wi-Fi Location feature markets including enterprise, retail, the wireless signal to travel from one sensor pad on a pavement which, has “advanced” capabilities to meet manufacturing and healthcare. device to the other. when stepped on by pedestrians, growing market demand for mobile Based on the Fine Timing Until now, devices typically would create the energy needed location-based services (LBS) indoors. Measurement (FTM) protocol from determined indoor location by to light streetlamps. They could It believes this will enable the creation IEEE 802.11-2016, it’s claimed measuring signal strength, which has also be placed inside a tyre and of new, feature-rich applications Wi-Fi Location delivers metre-level limited accuracy, or fingerprinting, connect to the vehicle’s battery accuracy for indoor device location which is more difficult to maintain, to generate electricity. MANUFACTURER: data. By leveraging the ubiquity of according to the Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi Alliance Wi-Fi networks, it is said to deliver The first Wi-Fi Location products accurate and reliable position data which comprise the testbed for PRODUCT: Wi-Fi Location without the need to deploy a separate interoperability certification include or proprietary network infrastructure. Broadcom’s 802.11ac Acculocate AP, MORE INFORMATION: Wi-Fi Location works by determining Mediatek’s MT663X 802.11abgn/ www.wi-fi.org the distance between two Wi-Fi devices, ac Ref. STA, Realtek’s RTL8812B, such as an AP and smartphone. It then amongst others.

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Located 60km away from Nairobi, Konza is expected to be the largest technology city in sub-Saharan Africa when it’s completed by 2030.

Getting on top of smart cities There has been a lot of talk about smart cities in recent years, but what’s actually happening in Africa? RAHIEL NASIR finds out.

igali is aiming to become a smart city IBM opened its first research lab in Africa. With traffic optimisation and air quality management model for other African nations to follow. facilities in Nairobi and now also Johannesburg, projects, for example. And as reported in our last issue, it moved the company said the lab gives researchers the “We have also been looking at adding Ka step closer to that ambition with the launch ability to analyse and draw insight from vast intelligence to city microcosms which have all of a government-backed IoT project featuring amounts of data in the search for solutions to the the characteristic city flows, such as waste, water, technology from Actility, Inmarsat and Nokia. continent’s “most pressing challenges. So what energy, people and goods, but at a smaller scale What’s happening in the Rwandan capital is has it achieved over the last four years? such as in airports, hospitals and campuses. For significant because although there is currently IBM research scientists Tapiwa M. Chiwewe example, we are using machine learning and IoT a great deal of talk about smart cities around and Bonolo Mathibela say that the Kenyan technologies to ingest and learn from vast amounts the world, the reality in Africa is that nothing and South African centres are focused on of Big Data, including weather and pollutants, to seems to have progressed beyond the disparate brownfield developments and smart hubs that create some of the world’s most-accurate energy private sector IoT deployments, independent are theme-based projects. These include using and environmental forecasting systems.” technology trials, and various PoCs being smart solutions to cover infrastructure gaps and More specifically, Chiwewe and Mathibela currently conducted. For instance in late 2013, single solution city-wide systems, such as IBM’s explain that the researchers are using data from three

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air quality monitoring networks in Johannesburg, This is where network Frost & Sullivan expects Africa to get five smart Thswane, and the Vaal Triangle in South Africa. operators play their part. cities by 2030 and These provide forecasts for the following day, As IBM points out, more a consolidated and the plan is to provide daily forecasts for up to people in developing investment of seven days in advance to enable city officials to countries have access USD59.8bn track down polluters and police them. to telecoms networks through PPP Citing reports from Frost & Sullivan, the than to basic funding. scientists say Africa is expected to get five smart services such cities by 2030, including the USD14.5bn Konza as electricity, Technology City development in Kenya which running IBM is involved with. water and Located 60km away from Nairobi, Konza is a sewerage flagship project that is part of the Kenya Vision facilities. 2030 initiative, and was initially conceived to It says mobile capture the country’s growing global business broadband connections in Africa are set to process outsourcing and IT services sectors. increase from 20 to 60 per cent of the connection Development on the 5,000 acre site is currently base by 2020, amounting to around 500 million ongoing, and when it is completed by 2030, connections. As a result, Chiwewe and Mathibela Konza is expected to be the largest technology say this will be a key enabler for smarter cities city in sub-Saharan Africa. as it will connect citizens to city leaders and the It will have an integrated urban ICT network basic services that they require. that supports delivery of connected urban “In Rwanda, they have envisaged a unified services and allows for efficient management platform to enable smart city solutions and are of those services on a large scale. Data will beginning to put together the required components be gathered from smart devices and sensors for their health, education and transport systems embedded in roadways, buildings and other to connect to it, share data and create end-to-end assets. The collected data will then be shared via solutions. More than 4,500km of fibre optic cable UK-based Telensa specialises in wireless smart a smart communications system and analysed has been rolled out across the country so far, with city control systems and was formerly part of by software that delivers valuable information investment estimated at USD120m.” electronic design consultancy Plextek. Its director and digitally enhanced services to citizens. For As a network operator, Vodacom’s view is of strategy Jon Lewis admits that progress in example, roadway sensors will be able to monitor that the smart city ecosystem is modular. Deon Africa has been slow, and like his peers above he pedestrian and automobile traffic, and adjust Liebenberg, the company’s managing executive for says many of the continent’s cities suffer from traffic light timing accordingly to optimise traffic the IoT, says: “There are many examples of modular precisely the kind of problems that can be solved flows. Furthermore, Konza’s population will deployments in cities across Africa – from smart by smart city technologies. have direct access to the data, enabling them to metering through to video analytics for security. For instance, like IBM, he notes that air quality is participate directly in city operations and practice The next phase of these modular executions is a common problem throughout Africa and believes more sustainable living patterns. to combine the data in its entirety and to look at it is directly related to traffic flows. He says Telensa how it can be used in creative and different ways is currently trialling a system that combines video- Africa’s unique challenges to establish smart communities and, eventually, based traffic analytics with air quality sensors fully integrated smart cities. Our focus should in order to provide real-time, hyper-local data to While it is arguably comparatively easier to factor be placed on driving solutions to the socio and help cities identify and reduce pollution. in smart city functionality with greenfield city economic challenges that are unique to Africa.” The company is also assisting cities that suffer developments, how can existing cities be made Liebenberg adds that Vodacom recently from power outages at peak times. “This is a ‘smart’ using technological interventions? launched a citizen engagement app to allow problem that we help mitigate in several ways,” In the words of Chris Mason, EMEA sales communities to report service delivery issues says Lewis. “It includes providing improved director and VP of business development at mesh directly to their local municipalities. “User-based control over street lighting, enabling dynamic wireless network specialist Rajant, the IoT cannot content such as this, being fed into platforms and dimming during periods of peak demand, and be brought to life without a robust infrastructure complemented by sensors and Big Data analytics, also a demand/response system that can be used surrounding it. “IoT connects separate ‘things’ will also contribute towards the development of to switch off electric water heaters under the that we never imagined combined – such as a smart communities and, in time, smart cities.” control of the electricity utility. traffic light and artificial intelligence – which Nick Ehrke, Southern Africa sales director “These are just two examples of how smart are able to come together to create something with wireless equipment specialist RADWIN, city technology can bring benefits by reducing innovative. IoT has the potential to transform agrees that smart city solutions should focus on electricity requirements at peak times, which in businesses, changing the way they operate to keep meeting the continent’s unique challenges. He turn can help reduce the number of blackouts.” up with growing competition.” says: “In May, Rwanda hosted the third Transform He adds that Telensa has deployed its first African According to Ammar Sabbagh, Ericsson’s Africa Summit that focused on developing smart smart lighting network for an unnamed West global principal consultant for smart sustainable cities. Smart cities aim to leverage technology African country, but does not give further details. cities, smart city transformation is a journey: “It solutions to improve the efficiency of cities in When it comes to the IoT technologies that are starts with vision and then a proof a concept, then Africa. Specifically mentioned was the need to used to deliver smart city services, Cisco Jasper a trial, and finally a deployment. To build a smart develop and roll out services like public Wi-Fi, points out there are a number of critical components city you need to have access to every corner of the as well as implement cashless payment systems. that cities need to consider. (Cisco completed its city (parking areas, airports, malls, ports, streets, From this summit, it is apparent that the concept acquisition of IoT platform provider Jasper earlier buildings) to deploy sensors and connect them to of a ‘smart city’ in Africa is simply the desire to last year.) Sanjay Khatri, the company’s head of the IoT network. So connectivity plays a major role develop our emerging continent to developed platform product marketing, says: “In most cases, in any city planning to deploy smart solutions.” world standards.” cities are likely to use a combination of several

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connectivity types (fixed/wireless, narrowband/ services offered to consumers.” devices and conserve valuable bandwidth. broadband, licensed/unlicensed) given the Elloumi goes on to point out that there Lewis adds to this by claiming that the diversity of smart applications. As a result, cities are certain capex and opex costs attached to investment required to roll out Telensa’s ultra will also need common platform(s) for managing deploying a specific technology, so limiting the narrow band (UNB) network is “tiny”. And connectivity, data and hosting applications.” number used should be an important goal for city once they have rolled out the network, he says And as with all technologies, he says metro planners. He says a “smarter” approach should be authorities can try different applications in authorities need to consider security and privacy: adopted to smart cities through what OneM2M order to assess what mix of technologies works “This is not just about securing the connectivity describes as the “horizontal” approach. This for them. “Purely in the context of smart street and data (although those are critical). Cities enables different IoT use cases to be supported by lighting, we would expect the network to pay also need to determine how they will handle the the same platform. It differs from the “vertical” for itself within four to six years from energy sharing of city data with private third parties.” approach where cities might have several and maintenance savings alone. However, the During the planning stages, Khatri says Cisco dedicated IoT platforms, such as one for smart payback time can be reduced to as little as two Jasper has seen a number of best practices that can metering, another for waste management, etc. years if the city deploys other services over the lead to success. He advises that the process should “Interoperability of this sort, where different network. Therefore, there should be no real begin by assessing which areas of city life can be apps can use the same device management and financial barriers, and it is only the imagination impacted with smart technology applications. security software, or where sensor-generated data and will of politicians that needs to be unlocked.” “Planners should then develop a public-private is put to multiple uses, can reap huge cost savings On the subject of spectrum, Lewis says UNB partnership to address those opportunities. Start for city authorities, especially as apps and devices networks operate in license-exempt frequencies small, but keep your eye on where you want proliferate.” and use base stations that can be placed on street to grow eventually. And embrace open and Narrowband RF mesh network specialist lights or low-cost poles. “Unlike mesh network standards-based solutions wherever possible.” CyanConnode supports this view. In early 2015, it technologies, which require complex installation signed an agreement with XLink Communications and management, a UNB network can be Smartening the city for the distribution of its smart metering installed in a matter of hours,” he claims. and lighting solutions as well as related IoT Naturally, the mesh specialists disagree here: While Khatri’s advice is to “embrace open stand- applications in South Africa. (As an aside, XLink “As experts in managing data communication ards”, when it comes to wireless communication is now 100 per cent owned by Vodacom, and in its our Omnimesh platform enables customers technologies for enabling the IoT networks needed latest trading update for 1Q17, the mobile operator to build-as-you-go, cost effective networks,” for creating smart cities, there seem plenty to reported that its IoT revenue in South Africa was says Sarney. “[This is] ideal for smart cities, choose from. up 28.9 per cent to ZAR192m (USD14.6m), and as gateways and devices can be deployed for Industry body OneM2M was setup to develop that it now had 3,100 IoT (M2M) connections in the first application, such as smart metering, technical specifications and architecture for the country, a 23.3 per cent rise YoY.) which creates coverage for future applications. machine-to-machine services and the IoT. Omar CyanConnode’s SVP of global sales and This approach supports cash flow, uptime and Elloumi, chair of the organisation’s technical marketing Geoff Sarney says having separate verification of end to end efficiency.” plenary, says it’s all about covering the city with communication infrastructure for each Rajant’s Mason adds his voice to the debate the right types of connectivity, from a low power application is costly so collaboration amongst by saying: “Without a mobile, scalable, reliable wide access type of network through to pervasive stakeholders is key. He adds that also having wireless network that allows real-time data transfer, fibre infrastructure for high bandwidth use cases. a solution that can scale as the market and many parts of a city may be running on outdated “Each city will have its own priorities and technology evolves will ensure that current and data, or not be able to access data at all. Rajant vision; there is no one-size-fits-all approach, future services can be connected. “This phased Kinetic Mesh technology seamlessly integrates with and deployment strategies will also differ. All approached allows stakeholders to leverage existing communications infrastructure to support cities will, however, share the common goal of investment in one application, for example smart these highly varied users and needs.” cost efficiency, choice of technology, and secure metering, to build-out smart city services.” handling of data that can be used to enrich the Sarney continues by saying that one of the The right technology platform key challenges facing smart metering and IoT is the future sustainability of bandwidth at the There are several IoT technologies for connecting frequencies needed to support solutions already devices over long distances without internet deployed in certain countries. connections. For instance, IBM says it was a “In parts of the spectrum currently used, founding member of the LoRA Alliance that there is a finite amount of bandwidth across promotes the use of LoRaWAN, a low power wide which to send data. And with more devices being area network (LPWAN) specification intended connected every year, the spectrum is filling up. for wireless battery operated ‘things’ in a “One way to continue adding devices without regional, national or global network. Kigali’s IoT further congesting the spectrum is to send deployment mentioned at the start of this article information via lower bandwidth radio frequencies, is based on a LoRaWAN platform. or ‘narrowband’. Narrowband RF technology Despite advice from the likes of oneM2M is usually considered to cover frequencies 300 about minimising technology platforms in order to 3400Hz and is sufficiently narrow that its to keep costs down and simplify deployments, frequency response can be considered flat.” the reality is that there will be a possibility for Sarney explains that applications using several networks to be implemented in a smart narrowband consume considerably less power city since every corner of the metropolis needs to IBM research scientist Bonolo Mathibela and her (a key requirement for IoT applications) and are be covered, according to Ericsson’s Sabbagh: “So colleagues have developed a traffic optimisation tool not as spectrum-intensive as those using higher we will see 4G/5G networks deployed for critical that can help city officials dispatch traffic volunteers, frequencies such as 800MHz and above. As a smart city applications, and LoRA and Sigfox known locally as ‘pointsmen’, to intersections where result, he says narrowband RF networks enable or other low bandwidth connectivity options for they’re most needed due to unreliable traffic lights. significant growth in the number of connected non-critical applications.”

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NAWC 1707 p18-21 (Smart Cities) RN.indd 20 09/08/2017 16:46 NAWC 1707 p21 (Rajant).indd 1 10/08/2017 18:40 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. 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IBM’s Chiwewe and Mathibela say that more can do that, you can guarantee that that piece Dr. Omar Elloumi, specifically in South Africa, companies are rolling of data will join the traffic stream in a way that Technical out extensive IoT networks that make use of sub- avoids data collision.” plenary chair, gigahertz wireless communication such as LoRa, He continues by saying that a few years ago oneM2M DASH7, amongst others. “SqwidNet, for example, Sigfox seemed destined to be the winner for already has 38 per cent population coverage and this LPWAN technology, and now LoRaWAN is in is expected to grow to 85 per cent in the next year.” the ascendancy. “But today, people are generally SqwidNet is a subsidiary of South African fairly confident that NB-IoT is going to be a core open-access fibre connectivity provider DFA. It technology that will prevail over the longer term. is the country’s licensed operator of Sigfox, the Weightless agrees with this, but we also feel that France-based connectivity provider that has built there is space for complementary, private network “Each city will have its own priorities a global IoT network. technology in unlicensed spectrum. The MNO’s RADWIN’s Ehrke believes “without a doubt” business model says there is much higher ARPU and vision; there is no one-size- that to create smart cities requires multiple from people using their mobile phones to access technologies, including both wireless and wired YouTube videos than from a machine that might, fits-all approach, and deployment systems. “Wireless systems will be used for a once in a while, send a few bytes. So it makes variety of applications, from metering systems, sense to offload some of that traffic to a different strategies will also differ.” sensors, actuators and networking systems etc., network in the same way that 4G and Wi-Fi are through to mobile security, building connectivity complementary today. Weightless and NB-IoT “Vodacom’s Our view is that the smart city’s and voice services. For any smart city to work, be will therefore be complementary.” success is based on how you use the data and beneficial and fulfil its promise, all these systems Woolhouse adds that the two standards have the outcomes of the data as well as the outcomes would need to work together.” exactly the same benefits. He also points out of the use cases which are implemented. For Another M2M/IoT technology standard that that Ubiik, the primary vendor of Weightless-P example, you could be collecting sensor data from has been around for a while now is Weightless. technology, and the 3GPP community have traffic lights, you could be embellishing that with Developed by a special interest group (SIG) whose each chosen 12.5kHz as the channel width anonymised slow vehicle traffic and combining it board members are Accenture, ARM, Sony Europe for their transmissions as this offers optimum with weather data to create a smart traffic flow.” and Ubiik, the latest version of the standard was performance Furthermore, he emphasises that For Ericsson’s Sabbagh, there is no real due to be officially launched in early August 2017. Weightless is a genuinely open standard: “The requirement to have interoperability on the It’s claimed Weightless-P is an open standard for a technology is available for developers to use on a connectivity layer. He reckons the only need is high capacity LPWAN designed for performance. FRAND and zero royalty free basis. That cannot to ensure everything is connected using 4G/5G, According to the SIG, when IoT connectivity be said for technologies like LoRa which use LoRa, fibre, Wi-Fi and other networks to create technologies are being considered, users factor-in SEMTECH chipsets and chirp spread spectrum blanket coverage for the city. “There will be a parameters like cost, battery life and range. While modulation schemes that are proprietary.” data management layer that all data coming from this is not wrong, the group says it is easy to overlook different connected assets via different networks the importance of network capacity. “Capacity Interoperability or bust? will use plus analysis all without the need to have is not just about the number of simultaneously any interoperability in the connectivity layer.” connected nodes,” it states. “It is about mean data Is the idea of a smart city doomed to failure if there OneM2M concurs and says a smart city packet length, transmission time, frequency of are no agreed industry standards? “We see lot of network will succeed if there is a platform that transmissions and interference mitigation.” broad-based initiatives stall due to lack of common enables interoperability at a higher layer. “Most Alan Woolhouse, chair of the Weightless SIG’s technology and policy frameworks,” says Cisco city planners contemplating a move from a ‘stove marketing working group, says a Weightless-based Jasper’s Khatri. “So even as a city considers its pipe’ to horizontal architecture will not want to network is currently being deployed in Réunion. first connected services, it should have a roadmap disrupt legacy IoT implementations,” says Elloumi. While he is unable to divulge further details, of future connected applications and outcomes it “Instead, they will want an integration path to he says the operator there was aware of all the may want to pursue, and select technologies and bring existing rollouts on to the new platform.” LPWAN options, such as LoRa and Sigfox, but platforms that will enable broader systems.” He says oneM2M enables this through the opted for Weightless as it “ticked all the boxes”. He adds that although most cities start with a use of adaptors, which can potentially interwork “He didn’t say exactly what these were but I can single connected project, they must understand with any IoT wireless protocol in the field area give you an outline of what the differences are,” says from the beginning that this isn’t about enabling network. These include LoRa, Sigfox, ZigBee, Woolhouse. “Weightless-P is narrowband modulation a single application: “Rather, it’s about starting amongst others, as well as cellular-based LPWA scheme technology and LoRaWAN is a spread with a particular application to enable a specific systems such as NB‑IoT, EC‑GSM and LTE‑M. spectrum technology. What that means is that a outcome – while enabling future connected While Telesna’s Lewis says standards will help LoRa data packet occupies the entire bandwidth services. Ultimately, a fully-realised smart to bring the IoT to consumers and will be useful available in ISM spectrum, whereas a narrowband city consists of a range of applications that are in the smart city as more applications become scheme communicates in narrow channels. So interconnected and inter-dependent.” available, he rejects the view that projects will fail you have a much higher spectral efficiency with a Khatri points out that where standardisation without any industry agreed IoT standards. narrowband technology solution than you do with has to happen is at the data model and application “This should not be a reason to delay taking a spread spectrum solution, and that translates into enablement layer. Vodacom’s Liebenberg agrees advantage of solutions today. Imagine if you were higher network capacity. Very roughly – depending here when he says that it’s all about the data to put off buying a television 40 years ago because on different regulations and implementations – that’s used, as opposed to the devices being you wanted to wait for technology that you Weightless-P has 100x the capacity of LoRaWAN interoperable. “The devices don’t necessarily couldn’t possibly have envisaged to be available. (that’s based on a typical data packet size and a interconnect – rather, it’s the data that is extracted You would have been waiting for colour, then typical interval between transmissions).” from those devices that creates the value HD then 3D, then 4k. “The key thing to ask is According to Woolhouse, Weightless-P “listens positioning of a smart city. It’s the way that the whether technology will make a difference to my before it talks” and that enables it to schedule data joins dots that’s important, not the devices city today. And if it can and does, then you need uplink traffic from end device to gateway. “If you interconnecting. to look for a reliable partner to deliver it.” n

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With the right BSS and OSS platforms in place, MNOs can reduce subscriber churn and rapidly launch enhanced network services.

range Egypt was formerly known as only initially with the three management systems, distributes data traffic loads on multiple servers Mobinil and is the Orange Group’s but also in the future with other applications, for (load balancing in ‘active/active’ mode) according largest operation in terms of customer example fraud management or legal action. to availability. This allows Orange to optimise the Onumbers. With 33.9 million subscribers, it is After a pre-study phase, the operator launched use of their capacities, in addition to the number bigger than the company’s mobile operation in its a call for tenders to which two major market of processors available to considerably improve home country of France where it has 30 million players responded. They included GlobServ which processing times. Furthermore, the solution is said users (both figures reported as at end 2016). specialises in telecoms services in France and to offer horizontal ‘scale out’ possibilities, enabling Like many other MNOs across the world, Orange Egypt, and offers consultancy, system integration the cellco to easily add additional servers with no Egypt analyses CDRs in order to understand and application solutions. Orange Egypt selected restriction on the quantity allowed. its subscribers’ modes of consumption, ensure the firm to implement a solution from Talend that During the initial phase, the implementation invoicing for its services is reliable, detect fraud, is specifically dedicated to managing Big Data and involved just the management of marketing and for the creation of various reports for its offers fast processing times. campaigns. GlobServ developed an ‘Operational marketing and accounts departments. Mohamed Hajji, GlobServ’s business development Data Store’ for the extracted data which were With millions of customers making around 200 director, says: “We completed a demonstration then integrated into Orange Egypt’s CRM million phone calls per day, the company has to showing that Talend and GlobServ could meet all of application which is based on Siebel software. manage huge volumes of data in quasi real-time. the requirements. Talend also provided performance “In practical terms, the Talend solution In order to improve its services, invoicing and studies (benchmarks) and recommended hardware processes the Big Data originating from the CDR marketing practices, it needed to extract different configurations. Ultimately, Orange Egypt felt data or from the invoicing application,” says Hajji. types of information from the CDRs, and then that our joint offer best met its needs: GlobServ “After quick formatting, this data is inserted into integrate these data into three different marketing capitalised on its broad knowledge of the industry Siebel to manage new marketing campaigns. campaigns, pricing simulation and revenue and telecom operator issues, and Talend contributed “In addition to marketing activities, we are assurance management systems. Orange Egypt its well-known expertise in terms of integration.” also developing integration flows for two other therefore needed a solution capable of organising According to Hajji, Talend Big Data uses open components of this project – revenue assurance these data movements and transformations. source, open standards technology, is easy to deploy and pricing – which will be launched over time.” At the same time, it had to provide adequate and use, and also offers reduced implementation The CDR data comes from several systems: levels of openness to facilitate integration, not and integration costs. He explains that the solution Ericsson network equipment; a real-time invoicing

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platform for data services from Volubill; and a becoming the end-to-end solution partner. and create new revenue streams. Its ultimate aim business support control system. The vendor integrated its SCP, SMSC, USSD was to unlock data innovation, accelerate time to With reference to Ericsson’s equipment, Hajji and IVR systems with a Nokia MSC. Alepo also market, and offer more visibility to its customers. says this generates data in a specific format – integrated its PCRF with Nokia’s GGSN. The solution came from Ireland-based software ASN.1 – which was not originally supported According to the firm, Service Enabler features a specialist Openet and its Policy Manager platform. by Talend. As a result, GlobServ developed an number of components that specifically met Green The firm claims it was the first vendor to external library by adapting a market product Com’s requirements. For instance, it features a virtualise its BSS offers, adding that it keeps costs and then integrated it into the Talend solution to converged system that enables real-time charging down by using proven open source software. guarantee the performance of the integration jobs. and billing, as well as a roaming and interconnect All Openet solutions are built on its Fusionworks “Ultimately, we plan on developing a Talend- platform with billing. It also includes subscriber framework which runs on a fully virtualised specific library which will take the form of an data management and CRM which is integrated automated networks platform and is claimed to ASN.1 connector,” says Hajji. “The scalability of with Green Com’s legacy HLR from Nokia. ensure “ease of integration”. the open source solution gives us great flexibility Alepo says it successfully delivered a complete Policy Manager features a variety of components in integrating various types of data.” business transformation within 10 months which that have provided INWI with a number of Orange Egypt hopes the Big Data solution was “well before” the project deadline. It adds that benefits. For instance, it includes a single PCRF will improve its effectiveness in several key areas there were zero customer disturbances and zero that interoperates with a wide array of other where the financial stakes are said to be high. reported data errors. The company claims Service vendors in the operator’s network. Openet says it Firstly, the company is looking to revitalise Enabler has meant that Green Com has accelerated has the ability to shape network traffic according its marketing campaigns by increasing their service creation and monetisation, and that it now to the type of service being accessed and the time responsiveness and reacting in quasi real-time has “rich out-of-the-box” capabilities to launch on- of day, and there are QoS controls for different as its customers’ needs evolve. Data analysis the-fly innovative data plans, dynamic discounting, users, such as pre-paid versus post-paid, for also enables the operator to study its subscribers’ personalised offers, application bundling, etc. As a example. INWI is also able to enforce user terms consumption behaviour and launch marketing result, the cellco can introduce additional VAS to and conditions and bandwidth limits in real-time, campaigns, for example, to offer new products. generate revenues beyond voice and data. thereby maximising the amount of available Secondly, it is seeking to improve precision As well as replacing manual billing and charging capacity for other customers. pricing by completing simulations based on the with automated real-time billing and charging, Other features include support for VoLTE, data collected. These what if ? scenarios will help the Alepo says its BSS platform prevents revenue leakage enablement of shared data plans, and policy and firm analyse the accuracy of its prices and forecast and delivers a “transparent” customer experience. charging control monetisation use cases. Examples potential changes by comparing several hypotheses. Service Enabler has also allowed Green Com to of the latter include ‘one day’ application service Finally, Orange Egypt aims to ensure that offer round-the-clock managed services support passes to Whatsapp and Facebook (combined). all of the revenue expected from its service and for prompt resolution of user queries and change Openet says the new services ensure new levels product sales is invoiced and accounted for. The requests – this was said to be a big challenge with of offer transparency and balance management Talend platform enables the company to compare the previous vendor (which is not named). for INWI. It says this has enabled the operator invoicing data with the actual flows passing Furthermore, Alepo says it has evolved the to maximise customer QoS, control local and through its network. The matching of these data operator’s existing network and IT infrastructure to roaming traffic, and reduce bill shock. from different systems then helps it track even streamline overall business processes and operations. “Being agile and having the flexibility to react the slightest loss of information that could have a to, and capitalise on, new market opportunities is significant impact on billing.” Policy control to accelerate data a critical contributor to our ongoing success,” says innovation Bernard Buyat, CTO, INWI. “Our partnership Cashing in on mobile data with Openet ensures we offer a high quality and Moroccan operator INWI wanted a policy-based differentiated service to our customers and ensure Green Com runs the Muni branded mobile solution enabling it to rapidly deploy new services they remain firmly in control of their service usage.” network in Equatorial Guinea. In late 2016, it launched 3G with ambitious plans to position itself as a pioneer in offering the most sophisticated data plans and promotions based on real-time business intelligence and value-added services. However, its legacy BSS platform lacked the capability to quickly evolve to changing subscriber demands, thereby restricting its service offerings. As a result, the company turned to US-based Alepo to transform its legacy BSS environment. Green Com’s aim was to improve network operations and achieve real-time service creation capabilities. What it explicitly needed were complete, carrier-grade solutions for advanced policy control with real-time business intelligence. This would reduce time to market for new services and enhance the subscriber’s digital experience. Alepo deployed its Service Enabler platform and had to coordinate with multiple vendors to perform business configuration and subscriber migration from Green Com’s legacy BSS system. This would ultimately reduce the operator’s By using Openet Policy Manager, Moroccan operator INWI can enforce bandwidth limits in real-time, thereby dependence on various suppliers with Alepo maximising the amount of available capacity for other customers.

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as Didon, its submarine system that connects Tunisia to Europe. Ooredoo Tunisia is said to have embarked on an ambitious programme of operational change to introduce a more customer-centric focus. As part of this, the company needed the abilities to more rapidly generate attractive offers for its subscribers, and to perform accurate segmentation. As a result, it sought a solution that would not only provide network quality monitoring but also crucial insights that could be used to more effectively target its marketing efforts. Polystar says the combination of its KALIX and Customer Insights Solutions has enabled Ooredoo Tunisia to meet its goals. It claims they provide a “comprehensive platform” that delivers both the network performance information and the insight Polystar says KALIX gives “clear performance indicators presented through rich, visual Insight Portals”. into subscribers and services required. According to the vendor, KALIX provides Automating business processes easy for the telco to access due to the availability clear performance indicators that are presented of widgets that offer direct dashboard access, and through “rich, visual Insight Portals”. It says With its headquarters in the US and R&D identify partner-and destination-wise negative these indicators reveal valuable information facilities in India, Panamax specialises in mobile margin. Other platform features include Dynamic regarding service usage, device activity and financial solutions, and earlier this year, it Routing Manager for offering flat and percentage- subscriber performance. Ooredoo can then use announced it had helped Sudatel to streamline its based margin configuration for routing, and a this intelligence to drive highly targeted and interconnect billing, roaming, reporting, fraud dispute module for CDR and invoice reconciliation. segmented campaigns to promote new offers to management and dispute management systems. As a result of the implementation, Panamax says different subscriber groups. The Sudatel Group provides mobile and Sudatel has been able to speed up its operations “We needed to replace a legacy solution that fixed networks as well as wholesale services to and make more savings. It says the accuracy of did not provide the insight and intelligence international carriers. Among its other interests, the operator’s reports has been greatly enhanced with the flexibility we required to support our it also owns 75 per cent of Dubai-based Expresso with a 95 per cent success rate, and they can now customer-centric focus,” says Hatem Mestiri, Telecom Group which provides services in be generated immediately – unlike the 6-12 hours CTO, Ooredoo Tunisia. “The Polystar team not Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea Conakry. taken prior to BillCall’s deployment. only met all of our technical requirements, but According to Panamax, Sudatel was using Furthermore, dispute management has become also gave us additional functionality to enrich a “conventional” approach for its day-to-day streamlined with either a limited or zero number of our knowledge of customer experience.” management of business. This included manual disputes. Panamax says this has helped Sudatel to With clear visibility of real-time subscriber billing, ineffective dispute handling, manual generate revenue while saving costs. Furthermore, experience available from a range of measures, creation of ERP sheets, differential partner negative margin identification has minimised Ooredoo Tunisia now has the insights it needs to invoicing, etc. The company says the operator losses by about 35 per cent. The company adds implement its customer-centric transformation was creating manual rate sheets which were that CDR generation is no longer a cumbersome plans. It can leverage these insights to proactively constantly generating negative margins and task for the operator, thanks to direct downloads plan and execute relevant, targeted campaigns, causing losses. In cases of dispute, it says Sudatel available from the BillCall dashboard. based on clear segmentation of its user base, was conducting manual reconciliations which did across subscribers, devices and services. not lead to accurate results and also consumed a Gaining rich customer insights Polystar adds that its solutions also support lot of time and manpower. virtualisation and are fully compatible with the As a result, such practises were increasing Ooredoo Tunisia is aiming to gain rich customer overall vision of the Ooredoo Group as it moves the company’s overall operational cost and insights and improve its subscribers’ experience to adopt virtualised network technology and contributing to revenue losses. Panamax provided with the help of Polystar, the Sweden-based infrastructure in the future. n a solution in the form of its BSS platform, BillCall. network and customer analytics specialist. The firm claims this facilitates higher operational Previously known as Tunisiana, the efficiency, along with accurate interconnect operator was re-branded in 2014 after billing, roaming, rating, fraud management, Orascom sold it to Qatari telco Ooredoo rate and policy management, deal and dispute in 2011. In its recently reported financial management, and order management. statement for the first half of 2017, The platform is designed to offer business Ooredoo said its subscribers in Tunisia process automation with network, service and increased six per cent to reach eight customer agility. Panamax reckons it gives carrier million, which means it remains the service providers accelerated time to market for country’s market leader. new products and services, and also optimises In addition to its mobile network, development and deployment costs while Ooredoo Tunisia offers a range of supporting operators during every phase services for enterprise customers such of the customer lifecycle. as fixed broadband, cloud solutions and For Sudatel, BillCall has enabled automatic managed services including security and near real-time billing with added features such IP telephony. Additionally, the company The Sudatel Group offers mobile services in Sudan under the as A-number billing. Panamax says the system is operates a national fibre network as well Sudani name. It launched 4G earlier this year.

26 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS June/July 2017

NAWC 1707 p24-26 (Wireless Users) RN.indd 26 09/08/2017 18:19 NAWC 1707 p27 (Ads).indd 1 09/08/2017 18:43 NAWC 1707 p31 (AfricaCom).indd 1 09/08/2017 18:49 Register here for your free digital edition http://www.kadiumpublishing.com/forms/africa/nawc_reg.htm INTERVIEW: MICROSOFTNEWS Cloudy forecast for Africa

Microsoft and its local partners started Project Mawingu in Nanyuki, a market town in Kenya, four years ago. It was the first time TV white space frequencies were combined with solar powered base stations to deliver low-cost broadband to a rural area that lacks even basic electricity. Microsoft aims to “empower” every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more. AMR KAMEL is responsible for the company’s mission in Africa, and describes the progress made so far.

frica is cloud computing’s next “great But he acknowledges the need for tech says Kamel. “SMEs are at the heart of our frontier”, according to Amr Kamel. He companies, communities and governments 4Afrika initiative. This was launched in February believes this is being driven by mobile to work together to achieve Africa’s digital 2013 to aid in accelerating the continent’s Agrowth, decreasing connectivity costs, and more ambitions. As a contribution to this, Microsoft economic development and also to improve international and local vendors offering a variety has published a book, A Cloud for Global Good, that global competitiveness. Through this, Microsoft of new services. details 78 public policy recommendations in 15 has been able to deliver on its promise to In a mobile- and cloud-first world, Kamel categories to help make cloud technologies more develop affordable access to the internet, skilled claims Microsoft is “deeply invested” in Africa, trusted, responsible and inclusive. workforces, and innovation to increase economic and that it continues to educate businesses and “By encouraging the adoption of cloud opportunities in communities.” government organisations across the continent computing, we are also committing to the SME Here, Kamel cites Project Mawingu in Kenya as about the benefits of cloud. sector – the backbone of the African economy,” a key highlight. Mawingu (the Kiswahili word for

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‘cloud’) started four years ago in collaboration with campus-wide internet access and cloud services Amr Kamel, the Global Broadband and Innovations Alliance, a along with device financing to university students GM, WECA & Indian partnership between USAID and NetHope. It was for the first time (see News, Dec 2014-Jan 2015 issue). Ocean Islands, the first time TVWS frequencies were combined And in 2016, the company teamed-up with the Microsoft with solar powered base stations to provide Ministry of Education in Rwanda to develop internet access to communities in the surrounding employment skills among students and educators countryside at rates as low as USD3 per month. through its Partners in Learning programme. Today, Microsoft 4Afrika currently has 15 TVWS “The programme helps teachers and schools connectivity pilots running across six countries around the world improve students’ experiences in Africa which, as well as Kenya, also include and skills through technology,” explains Kamel. Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa and “It has already reached 12 million educators in “It is our goal that in five years’ Tanzania. 134 countries worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, time every African country with a over 13 million students have benefited from the Education is the key programme to date.” national technology deployment He continues by saying that Microsoft has Kamel says there are several examples of how introduced its Showcase Schools in Kenya. will have a core ‘army’ of 21st entrepreneurs and countries are using Microsoft “This is a global community of schools engaged and wireless comms technologies to act as digital in digital transformation to improve learning century-ready schools. These will enablers and accelerators across all sectors. outcomes. Showcase Schools create immersive and “For example, CHIFCO is a Tunisian tech inclusive experiences that inspire lifelong learning, accompany other schools in their startup specialising in the IoT and M2M. By stimulating development of essential life-skills so using Microsoft’s Azure platform it has developed students are empowered to achieve more. journey to transformation.” technological infrastructure that allows users to “In Africa, 42 schools were selected as Microsoft connect their daily devices to the internet, therefore Showcase Schools for 2016, boasting the highest for bridging the digital divide as well as enabling them to be in control of their surroundings, intake in any region across the globe. It is our democratising the information revolution by wherever they are, and whenever they want. goal that in five years’ time every African country ensuring widespread access to technology. “The adoption of IoT and wireless technology with a national technology deployment will have “Power shortages and limited internet is also present in Ethiopia where individuals can a core ‘army’ of 21st century-ready schools. These access are preventing organisations from fully walk into clinics using a biometric scanner to will model new competencies and accompany embracing cloud and digitally transforming. check in. This technology can also pick up their other schools in their journey to transformation.” However, African innovators are serving up previous visits as well as check their medical technologies that address this problem.” records. After examination, prescriptions can be Creating “digitally savvy” societies Here, Kamel mentions Schneider Electric sent wirelessly to the nearest pharmacy.” which has partnered with the Lagos State Other examples include Botswana where When asked about the challenges in Africa over Electricity Board to use the cloud to deliver clean, Microsoft and its partners are introducing the next year or so, Kamel says organisations renewable and reliable power to rural schools and specialised telemedicine services along with a are now managing data that are more diverse healthcare centres that aren’t connected to the cloud-based records management system for and greater than ever before. “It is estimated public grid. He also talks about M-KOPA Solar in women at local clinics. In Namibia, the company that by the year 2020, 30 million devices will be Kenya which has combined the power of mobile is working with MyDigitalBridge to connect three connected to the internet. This will include 30 payments with the need for electricity. provincial regions across a 9,000km2 area, and is billion connected ‘things’ that are largely driven by “M-KOPA is the first company in Africa to also bringing 28 schools online. intelligent systems collecting data. launch a SIM-enabled pay-as-you-go solar system, Working with Africa’s educators is clearly “In terms of the IoT, modern organisations in allowing people to access affordable solar power another key focus for the software giant. For Africa will continue to face a variety of challenges. in their homes. They currently facilitate over 10 instance in Ghana, it has collaborated with Microsoft recognises that advancements in million mobile payments every year and hope to SpectraLink Wireless to deliver affordable technology can be exciting but also challenging connect one million homes by the end of 2017.” to assess from a business perspective. However, In conclusion, Kamel believes that a society with the correct tools, organisations can ensure that is “digitally savvy” will not only consume that these new technologies generate profit. The technology but create it. valuable information that is obtained from these “With the onset of digital transformation tools, along with the appropriate skills, will aid comes the concept of the smart cities and digitally companies across the board to achieve more.” transformed governments. Government policy in One of the challenges Kamel identifies is the many territories is leaning towards the creation skills gap. Here, he advises companies to invest of smart nations through cloud technology, data in programmes that complement and strengthen analytics and IoT. curricula, thereby better equipping students for “One of the ultimate goals of smart nations the demands of the working world. is to reduce costs for all stakeholders, increase “Education campaigns are needed to encourage the efficiency in delivery of services, and citizens to participate in the digital lifestyle. Cloud democratise technology. We base our theory computing as an example, is specifically beneficial of the smart nation on four basic citizen rights In 2014, Spectra Wireless worked with Microsoft for users in developing markets. which smart cities must be able to deliver: to launch what was claimed at the time to be the “Applications developed must be relevant – education, healthcare, freedom and social justice first commercial TVWS services in Africa. Spectra’s and this is often driven by local demand. Local and equality. This, coupled with attention to djungle service enables university students to apply developers must be given guidance to create local infrastructure, investment climate, innovation and for zero-interest financing to buy selected internet- applications that meet local need. execution capability, must all be underpinned with enabled devices. “Infrastructure is of the utmost importance technology for a smart nation to be achieved.” n

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New algorithms for evaluating satellite data helps create 3D maps Researchers from the reconstruct the third and even fourth Technical University of (time) dimension. Since the images are Munich (TUM) claim to have set a taken at different times, the resulting world record in information retrieval 4-D model reveals tiny changes with from satellite data. a precision of around one millimetre Using three million measurement per year, for example, the thermal points in one square kilometre from expansion of buildings in the summer image stacks captured by TerraSAR-X, or deformations resulting from the researchers created ‘4-D’ point subsidence below the Earth’s surface. clouds of Berlin, Las Vegas, Paris and “The method is suitable for the Washington D.C. Using satellite tomography, researchers can map Paris in 3D, and show the deformation detection of danger points. Satellite Germany’s TerraSAR-X is said and subsidence of structures down to the millimetre. PHOTO: UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF TUM technology can thus make an to be the world’s highest resolution important contribution to making our civilian radar satellite. It has been “The significance of the images is and varies by 250 metres. As a result, urban infrastructure safer,” says Zhu. orbiting the Earth at an altitude of limited by the fact that reflections the researchers use radar tomography Her team now plan to create four- around 500km since 2007, sending from different objects that are at an to localise every point, and a variety dimensional models of every city in the microwave pulses to the planet and equal distance from the satellite will of radar images taken from different world. The scientists will use various then collecting their echoes. layover with each other. This effect perspectives are combined to create a Big Data sources for the first time However, these measurements only reduces the three-dimensional world 3-D picture. Additional compressive – measurements from satellites will yield a 2-D image with a resolution to a two-dimensional image.” sensing methods are then applied to be fused with data from Open Street of one metre, as Xiaoxiang Zhu, TerraSAR-X flies over a region improve resolution by 15x. Map and the practically unlimited professor for signal processing in of interest every eleven days but its Zhu has developed her own stream of images, text and activity Earth observation at TUM, explains: orbital position is not always the same algorithm which makes it possible to patterns provided by social networks. Fleet to build nano satellite network to backhaul IoT A new company is constellation of more than 100 of its CEO Flavia Tata low-bandwidth global network to embarking on a global tour nano satellites, which measure just Nardini needs directly connect the millions of to raise funds to launch a constellation 30 x 30 x 40cm, in orbit by 2022, funding for over digital sensors already in the IoT. of nano satellites connecting billions potentially connecting up to 75 100 nano satellites. It adds that vital remote areas, such of devices with the IoT. billion devices to the IoT. as the Great Barrier Reef and Amazon South Australia-based Fleet Space CEO and co-founder Flavia Tata Rainforest, could also significantly Technologies secured USD5m in Nardini says: “With one satellite and they will secure frequencies.” benefit from improved connectivity. funding in April to help it launch in low Earth orbit you more or less Nardini did not say exactly how Nardini says: “We are working in the its first two satellites in 2018. It has cover all of Earth – almost 90 per much investment is being sought in Amazon Rainforest where people booked its first satellite launch with cent of the planet. So the first two the latest bid but it is hoped that it will physically measure 500,000 trees a year SpaceX with a second deployment [launches] will do a couple of tricks fund at least half of the constellation. with calipers in the middle of nowhere planned for the middle of the for us: they will show our tech and Fleet believes nano satellite because there is no connectivity. People? year. The company aims to have a start connecting our first customers, technology is ideal for creating a You can do this with a sensor.” Eurasia Tunnel critical comms system features FM break-in The Eurasia Tunnel, the DMR and FM technologies to ensure departments, and DMR for Istanbul’s first undersea road tunnel emergency services and operational Disaster and Emergency Management to connect two continents, has been teams can communicate at all times Authority. In addition, a break-in equipped with a public safety network throughout the tunnel. system enables operational teams to from Cobham Wireless. The network features two master access the FM channel and alert drivers The multi-band, multi-technology sites. These include one combiner to safety issues via their in-car radios. coverage solution provides the and one optical master unit, and sit The entire system can be overseen emergency services communication at either end of the tunnel with one and controlled off-site using Cobham’s within the 5.4km tunnel which links providing essential backup coverage. Active Element Manager. Also, as the digital The 5.4km tunnel links two areas of two areas of Istanbul and spans both The sites are connected via fibre to off-air repeaters are software-based, Istanbul and spans both Europe and Asia. Europe and Asia. multiple remote locations. the company says new features can be The customised solution incor- Each of the master sites contains easily added via a remote download. install the system. The deployment porates Cobham’s digital channel a VHF repeater for communication Cobham was awarded the contract was completed within three months selective repeaters and band selective between ambulance services, one UHF in September 2016 and worked with in time for the Eurasia Tunnel’s repeaters. It supports UHF, VHF, repeater each for the police and fire integration partner Yapı İDİS to inauguration in December 2016.

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DAS used RSCC upgrades compression to integrate and multiplexing system operators The Russian Satellite Copenhagen’s new Royal Communications Company Arena has overcome (RSCC) has upgraded compression the problem of integrating three equipment at its Shabolovka wireless carriers onto a single Technical Centre in Moscow. common DAS (distributed antenna It says the refurbishments will give a system) with the help of US boost to TV channels and media com- wireless specialist Microlab. panies who want to more effectively The 35,000m2 multi-use venue use their orbit-frequency resources, opened earlier this year in February. It as well as improve the quality of has a capacity of up to 16,000 seated broadcasts without increasing costs. RSCC’s Shabolovka facility in Moscow is one of six technical centres operated by and standing guests for cultural and The compression system is part the company and is said to have capabilities beyond teleport services. musical shows, and up to 12,500 of RSCC’s technology platform, spectators for sporting events. enabling it to provide what it describes structures that distribute their content Russia’s largest satellite constellation. Eltel Networks, the Sweden-based as a “comprehensive, one-stop shop” in Russia’s cable television networks. Its current fleet of 12 spacecraft covers technical services provider for critical service to broadcasters. The platform RSCC operates six space com- Russia, CIS, Europe, Middle East, infrastructure networks, carried out comprises space capacity, the radio- munications centres. As well as Africa, Asia-Pacific, Australia and the DAS deployment at the arena. electronic facilities of the company’s Shabolovka in Moscow, which offers the Americas. It also runs its own Lars Jessen, the company’s business space communication centres, a more advanced technical capabil- fibre network in Russia. development manager, says: “Our programme package generation ities, there are teleport facilities in The company’s terrestrial spacecraft challenge was to integrate a triple- complex, and a terrestrial network. Dubna, Medvezhyi Ozera, Skolkovo, control complex monitors not only band, high-power MIMO DAS Services provided through the platform Zheleznogorsk, Khabarovsk. its own satellites but also those of solution for three operators. The are focused primarily on media Established in 1967, RSCC owns other operators, such as Eutelsat. main challenges were combining all services and operators in a compact, low-loss POI [point Brazil FPSO fleet connects with ITC Global of interface] design with high performance and low PIM.” ITC Global is delivering to manage essential business year, multimillion-dollar contract Microlab provided the solution communications services communications and applications. that also covers North America. with two POI designs, the to seven floating production, The new infrastructure components Panasonic acquired ITC Global DCC601-B19 and DCC601-B22. These storage and offloading (FPSO) include dedicated bandwidth links in 2015. It’s claimed the combined include nine inputs supporting vessels located offshore Brazil for ensuring speed and uninterrupted company has become the world’s different output configurations, and an unnamed oil and gas service service. All services include largest buyer of commercial space cover the Royal Arena’s many sectors. company. ITC’s round-the-clock network segment with coverage spanning The vendor says its designs The customer provides floating monitoring and support. all major oil and gas hotspots, and integrated the three carriers with production solutions to the offshore This latest deal for ITC follows more than 98 per cent of the busiest three operating bands into common energy industry over the full the successful deployment of its maritime routes globally. outputs. It claims that they also product lifecycle and specialises services to four vessels in West The Panasonic network is provided low loss solutions while in the construction and operation Africa last year. It represents comprised of traditional wide achieving very low PIM and better of FPSO vessels. These have the second of three deployment beam and HTS capacity as well as than 55dB inter-band isolation to been outfitted with ITC Global’s phases for the customer’s globally planned extreme high throughput the passive DAS installation. VSAT solution to enable the fleet dispersed FPSOs as part of a three- satellite (XTS) capacity. TETRA secures Guarulhos International Airport Guarulhos International work groups used for apron services one airport in terms of cargo Airport (GRU) in São Paulo, such as luggage handling, jet- passenger traffic, and reportedly saw Brazil, is using a TETRA system from fuelling and catering. more than 38 million customers in DAMM to secure passenger safety The new IP-based, decentralised 2015. It has undergone an intense and improve efficiency. network was designed, installed transformation since it began It has deployed the Danish and commissioned by local DAMM operations in 1985, and in May 2014 vendor’s fully redundant TetraFlex partner ALCON Engenharia. Its the airport inaugurated TPS3, a new Indoor High Power 7 carrier platform. GRU is said to be Brazil’s number one CEO Gilberto Koza says TetraFlex’s passenger terminal geared toward This is said to offer a secure and airport in terms of cargo passenger traffic. open API offers easy integration international flights. reliable voice and data system of third-party applications like the The new terminal, which covers which enables airports to efficiently Group Number Assignment Siemens dispatcher solution, and 192,000m2 and has an apron with 34 respond to any potential danger. It (DGNA). According to DAMM, was key to the airport. aircraft stands, has an initial capacity includes features such as Dynamic this makes it easy to create dynamic GRU is said to be Brazil’s number for 12 million passengers per year.

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Avalanche Connect overcomes WiMAX detection and Wi-Fi-based outages devices Connect has upgraded Ayan, the company’s RF manager. its network using InfiNet “Not only was this a drain on our using IoT Wireless’ equipment. resources and added significant The Lebanese ISP uses a WiMAX costs to our operations, but we had connectivity network at 2.3GHz to serve residential several unhappy customers which customers, but the platform is limited was starting to hurt our reputation Wyssen is using IoT con- to 5Mbps for downlink and 2Mbps for and revenue streams.” nectivity in its monitoring uplink. This meant it could not meet Connect deployed InfiNet’s InfiNet’s technology has given Connect systems that help detect and prevent the high bandwidth requirements InfiLINK XG as part of its backbone a more reliable and higher performing avalanches in the Swiss Alps. demanded by its premium residential network. The radio is said to be capable network across Lebanon. The company uses various and corporate customers. of reaching a peak net throughput of systems such as radars, infrasound To serve these users, Connect had 500Mbps in 40MHz of spectrum and some to manage and also expensive to sensors, geophones, etc., and to use Wi-Fi-based PTP solutions. But more than 130Mbps in 10MHz. It then procure and deploy, this is no longer artificial triggering techniques with the frequency bands it was operating in installed the InfiMAN 2x2 range of the case with the InfiMAN 2x2 plat- explosive charges. It designs and started to suffer from major interfer- PTMP solutions to connect customers form. “All we need to do now is set up manufactures avalanche towers ence issues, resulting in a further drop with higher bandwidth needs. a base station sector in a specific area which are solar powered and fitted in capacity and decreasing reliability. More than 30 base stations and 250 and we can provide, almost instantly, with a deployment box holding the “Links would go down frequently subscriber terminals were implemented a large number of customers with high battery, electronics and the charges. and we had to deploy field engineers across Lebanon in just a few months. bandwidth connectivity, all achieved What’s said to be a to troubleshoot outages and maintain El Ayan says that while the previous without disrupting any other customer “sophisticated” algorithm is used the network daily,” says Jubran El Wi-Fi-based PTP links were cumber- or our wider network.” in combination with sensors to provide an early warning of increasing avalanche activity in a given area based on detection of Platform solves three challenges for WISP infrasound emissions. Wireless ISP Boundless with a 50Mbps product. installation crews is avoided. All the data monitored by the Networks has replaced The new platform is installed Boundless CEO David Burns towers (including feedback from more than 300 of its 550 APs and is on subscriber modules from other says the new system has solved weather stations), along with the applying an over-the-air performance- manufacturers already in Boundless’ three problems: speed, spectrum results from radar installations and improving software upgrade for network. These modules are then and service. “As our customers’ sensors, and footage from cameras, is thousands of its subscribers. connected to a Cambium base expectations for bandwidth and sent to a central control centre where Boundless is said to be one of station, adding critical features service level rose, and our success they can be analysed. Should action the UK’s largest WISPs with a to Wi-Fi equipment such as in high-demand areas decreased be required, an explosive charge can footprint running coast-to-coast frequency re-use enabled by GPS spectrum availability, we were be detonated once it is confirmed no across northern England. It is using synchronisation, airtime fairness faced with a significant business humans are in the danger area. Cambium Networks’ ePMP Elevate and smart beamforming. challenge to deliver better service Due to the remote nature of the platform to double the available As no hardware upgrade and higher performance in crowded towers and the need for resilient, capacity at each of its base stations, is required at the subscriber’s airspace, without making the huge mission critical connectivity, Wyssen enabling new subscribers to be location, Cambium says substantial investment of replacing every integrated multi-network SIM cards added and services to be expanded investment in new hardware and access point and customer radio.” from PodsystemM2M into its devices. According to PodsystemM2M, its solution includes global connectivity across multiple networks on one AER2100 helps break underwater record SIM, connection to the best signal Cradlepoint has helped to provide the connectivity between on device start-up, and the ability a Dubai radio presenter the radio studio and the outside to automatically swap to a backup break the world record for broadcast location. It was critical to network if signal is lost. It claims this broadcasting live underwater. have uninterrupted uptime to ensure gives the “most reliable and flexible” The cloud-based network solutions that the record was achieved.” coverage for Wyssen’s devices specialist supplied one of its routers Tolan beat the previous record of wherever they may be situated. to Channel 4 104.8 FM radio four hours and 33 minutes set by a UK “The flexibility of the presenter Stu Tolan, enabling him to Channel 4 presenter Stu Tolan was radio station. He achieved the feat in PodsystemM2M SIM card was set a new record of five hours, broadcasting from the 11m litre aquarium the aquarium at Dubai’s Atlantis Palm paramount”, says Wyssen engineer 25 minutes and 25 seconds. tank at Dubai’s Atlantis Palm Resort. Resort on 13 May, and was submerged Bejamin Meier. “We wanted a single The owner of the radio station, three metres below the surface in the 11 SIM card, interchangeable for each Al Murad Group/Channel4 Radio Muhammed Rafeeque, the firm’s million litre tank as he played music, device that makes up our system. Networks, uses Cradlepoint devices assistant manager IT, headed the conducted interviews, and talked to his This makes management of the for pop-up networking in remote technical team at the record-breaking listeners while surrounded by 65,000 SIMs simple and straightforward.” areas while on the air. event. “We used an AER2100 router marine animals, sharks and stingrays.

34 NORTHERN AFRICAN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS June/July 2017

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