Samena Trends Exclusively for Samena Telecommunications Council's Members Building Digital Economies
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Volume 08, December, 2017 A SAMENA Telecommunications Council Newsletter www.samenacouncil.org SAMENA TRENDS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SAMENA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL'S MEMBERS BUILDING DIGITAL ECONOMIES THIS MONTH PROMOTING 5G INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS MODELS Upgrade your Business with Batelco the leading Digital Solutions Provider From Business connectivity, cloud services to security solutions. We provide you with everything So that your idea doesn’t just change the world, it transforms yours too. Work better with Batelco’s Digital Business Solutions batelco.com/business VOLUME 08, DECEMBER, 2017 Contributing Editors Publisher Izhar Ahmad SAMENA Telecommunications Council SAMENA Javaid Akhtar Malik Subscriptions TRENDS Contributing Members [email protected] Alfa Editor-in-Chief A.D. Little Advertising Bocar A. BA Cisco [email protected] du Huawei SAMENA TRENDS Oman Broadband [email protected] Tel: +971.4.364.2700 CONTENTS 04 EDITORIAL 05 REGULATOR ACHIEVEMENTS 26 REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES Members News Regional News 61 SATELLITE UPDATES Satellite News 71 WHOLESALE UPDATES The SAMENA TRENDS newsletter is Wholesale News wholly owned and operated by The SAMENA Telecommunications Council 78 (SAMENA Council). Information in the TECHNOLOGY UPDATES newsletter is not intended as professional Technology News services advice, and SAMENA Council disclaims any liability for use of specific 87 REGULATORY & POLICY 21 SAMENA COUNCIL information or results thereof. Articles ACTIVITY and information contained in this UPDATES publication are the copyright of SAMENA Regulatory News Telecommunications Council, (unless otherwise noted, described or stated) and A Snapshot of Regulatory cannot be reproduced, copied or printed Activities in the SAMENA in any form without the express written permission of the publisher. Region The SAMENA Council does not necessari- Regulatory Activities Beyond ly endorse, support, sanction, encourage, the SAMENA Region verify or agree with the content, com- Convergence to Kuwait 2017 ments, opinions or statements made in The SAMENA TRENDS by any entity or entities. Information, products and ser- ARTICLES vices offered, sold or placed in the news- letter by other than The SAMENA Council 47 Next Generation 5G Mobile 76 What’s Next for Cybersecurity belong to the respective entity or entities Network in 2018? and are not representative of The SAME- NA Council. The SAMENA Council hereby 59 5G Business Models and 85 EXPLORATION IN THE MIDDLE expressly disclaims any and all warranties, Investments EAST: The Next Step .... expressed and implied, including but not limited to any warranties of accuracy, re- 69 Fiber is King 97 5G Deployment Models are liability, merchantability or fitness for a Crystallizing particular purpose by any entity or en- tities offering information, products and services in this newsletter. The user agrees that The SAMENA Council is not responsi- ble, and shall have no liability to such user, with respect to any information, product or service offered by any entity or entities in this newsletter. The SAMENA Coun- cil’s only liability in the event of errors shall be the correction or removal of the erroneous information after verification. CONTENTS© 2017 - All rights reserved. SAMENA TRENDS is a trademark of SAMENA Telecommunications Council. EDITORIAL SAMENA TRENDS Promoting 5G Investment and Business Models We do know, as a matter of fact, that 5G will Already operators, aspiring to become the transform our industry (as well as adjacent first adopters of 5G are putting in place dif- industries), our business models, regulatory ferent business models: Some are preparing approaches, and how the end-user will to follow an “infrastructure-based” business interact with the network – which too will be a model to become all-IP service providers, lot busier and more connected than any of our which will requiring unifying the infrastruc- previous generation networks. Another thing ture via the cloud for customers’ connectivity we do know is that the 5G ecosystem will and data needs, and could help drastically require creativity and collaboration among reduce cost of service delivery and expedite industry stakeholders, including regulators, introduction of new services to the mar- network operators, technology and solution ket. Other could follow a “content-based” providers, and, most importantly, the end- business model to offer high-resolution 8K users. live content streaming by analyzing market Bocar A. BA trends and eye-ball preferences in the mar- Chief Executive Officer What we don’t know still is how this ket. This would require dedicated bandwidth SAMENA Telecommunications transformation will actually feel like and and could be billed on a duration basis. QoS Council affect so many things in so many ways. But issues will be managed through advanced we can imagine: For average consumers, BSS processes and the end-user would au- providers. Speed and access are 5G technologies and services could speed tomatically receive discounts in the case QoS no longer the biggest drivers of up connections, allowing implementation issues appear. Still others may even consid- success with customers. and easier use of VR and AR technologies. er implementing an “IoT-based” business For professionals, improved connectivity model for ensuring water supply to needed Building viable 5G business cas- and low-latency based communication areas. This would require sensors and wa- es will require much more than would open new doors for new career ter delivery infrastructure (through potential just speed. It will require creativ- opportunities. For businesses, 5G could help collaboration between a telecom operator ity in building a new ecosystem accelerate deployment of enterprise-centric and municipal water supplier). The sensors that brings a wider array of digital technologies, including of IoT products. would help ensure water supply and monitor services to their intended con- water consumption, thereby making water sumers. This, in turn, will require Low latency offered by 5G - rather than just consumption a billable service for the opera- parallel investments into both faster speeds - will be a great game-changer; tor. Investments in this case would be need- telecom network infrastructure something that will enable the creation of new ed to ensure that sensors are reliable, remain as well as supportive IT systems, business models and innovation in billing, for always connected to the network, and that service management platforms, example. By the end of the current year, we the network has sufficient capacity to handle and processes. will witness some of the spectacle of 5G’s large piles of data generated by the sensors. promise, for full-scale 5G trials are already 5G may best be thought of as a underway as we speak, with commercial In any given practical and implementable new generation of service roll- deployment in site by next year. scenario, new business model development outs across sectors, and thus can in the 5G world will be centered on end-users only be made possible through On many accounts, however, there is a (which includes not just humans but also new modes of partnership, col- need for preparing for investment into 5G, machines that consume and generate data) laboration, policies, stakeholder which has the potential to help us all create and their need to access Internet media, communication, and a collective a sustainable digital society; a collective digital streaming video content, and heaps aim to build a self-sustaining goal for the public and private-sector of other diversified data. While there is no digital ecosystem where harmo- stakeholders. Therefore, it is important that guarantee, in any case, that ARPU would ny prevails. all regulatory frameworks, including those increase with 5G offerings, a constant focus guaranteeing fair availability of spectrum on meeting users’ data needs certainly could Warm wishes to all of you for a resources and ensuring predictability for bring users closer to their service providers. great 2018! infrastructure investment are put in place. And, as we know, telecom operators should no longer feel satisfied by being just the access 4 DECEMBER 2017 REGULATOR ACHIEVEMENTS SAMENA TRENDS 2017 REGULATORY ACHIEVEMENTS AND HIGHLIGHTS Communications and Information Technology Commission - Saudi Arabia (CITC) Regulatory Achievements and Highlights during 2017 • CITC and Zain KSA signed an agreement to implement three high-speed wireless broadband projects for remote areas of the Kingdom as part of the Universal Service Fund. The three projects are expected to provide service to more than 800,000 beneficiaries in 3,900 villages across 28 districts of Riyadh, Eastern Province, Asir Region and Makkah. • CITC announced that video and audio features of OTT Apps are available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to enable customers, citizens and residents, to benefit from Apps that provide voice and video communications over the Internet. • The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) have inked an Implementation Agreement for the deployment of fiber-optic services in urban areas, effective August 1, 2017. In May 2017, STC signed an agreement with the MCIT and CITC for the deployment of fiber-optics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The government-led project is aiming to link 1.3 million households with high speed services by 2020. • A broadband project aiming to provide high-speed internet access to households