Volume 05 _ Issue 11 _ November 2014 SAMENA TRENDS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SAMENA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL'S MEMBERS BUILDING DIGITAL ECONOMIES A SAMENA Telecommunications Council Newsletter Articles Open Digital Roadmap for Growth and Innovation Page 54 ICT Trends in Jordan Page 24 Digital Innovation for Market Leaders: Disruption minus the disruption Page 49 Start with the data, not the problem Page 56 Talal Said Marhoon Al Mamari Chief Executive Officer Omantel Building Customer Loyalty through VAS www.samenacouncil.org SAMENA CONTENTS VOLUME _ 05 _ISSUE _ 11_nov_2014 TRENDS The SAMENA TRENDS newsletter is REGIONAL & MEMBERS wholly owned and operated by The UPDATES SAMENA Telecommunications Council 09. Regional & Members News FZ, LLC (SAMENA). Information in the newsletter is not intended as professional services advice, and SAMENA Council disclaims any liability for use of specific REGULATORY & POLICY information or results thereof. Articles UPDATES and information contained in this 18. Regulatory News publication are the copyright of SAMENA Telecommunications Council, (unless A Snapshot of Regulatory Activities otherwise noted, described or stated) in SAMENA Region and cannot be reproduced, copied or printed in any form without the express written permission of the publisher. WHOLESALE UPDATES The SAMENA Council does not necessar- 43. Wholesale News ily endorse, support, sanction, encour- age, verify or agree with the content, comments, opinions or statements made in The SAMENA TRENDS by any entity TECHNOLOGY UPDATES or entities. Information, products and 51. Technology News services offered, sold or placed in the newsletter by other than The SAMENA 49. Digital Innovation for Market Leaders: Council belong to the respective entity EDITORIAL Disruption minus the disruption or entities and are not representative of The SAMENA Council. The SAMENA 03. Council hereby expressly disclaims any 54. Open Digital Roadmap for Growth and all warranties, expressed and im- and Innovation plied, including but not limited to any warranties of accuracy, reliability, mer- 56. Start with the data, not the problem chantability or fitness for a particular REGIONAL purpose by any entity or entities offer- ing information, products and services in this newsletter. The user agrees that The PERFORMANCE SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA Council is not responsible, and 57. Satellite News shall have no liability to such user, with The Networked Readiness Index respect to any information, product or service offered by any entity or entities 2014 Regional Rank of SAMENA in this newsletter. The SAMENA Coun- Countries cil’s only liability in the event of errors shall be the correction or removal of the 07. erroneous information after verification. Editor-in-Chief Bocar A. BA Contributing Editors Zakir Syed Awais Amjad Javaid Akhtar Malik Contributing Member Strategy& Sudatel Group Turk Telekom Vodafone Qatar Publisher SAMENA Telecommunications Council 04 60. Subscriptions [email protected] Advertising EXCLUSIVE SAMENA [email protected] Legal Issues or Concerns INTERVIEW ACTIVITY [email protected] SAMENA TRENDS Talal Said Marhoon Al Mamari #304, Alfa Building, Knowledge Village Chief Executive Officer PO Box: 502544, Dubai, United Arab Omantel Emirates Tel: +971.4.364.2700 © 2014 - All rights reserved. SAMENA TRENDS is a trademark of SAMENA Telecommunications Council. EDITORIAL SAMENA TRENDS _ NOV_2014 Building Customer Loyalty through VAS The ICT industry in the SAMENA region is Mobile and fixed broadband networks as expanding at an exceptional pace, driven well as data centers in which telco’s in the progressively by the accessibility of mass region have great abilities will have a key market smartphones and tablets with low role in the shift to the cloud. The brand costs. Mobile data traffic and network value and end user ownership puts telcos capacity in SAMENA is likely to propagate in a good spot to shift their profits models the fastest in the world in the forthcoming into the digital services terrain. On the years. Therefore, data services will have other hand, there is a constant research by a vital role to play among operators’ media organizations to observe how they revenues. Prominent telcos in the region can get a larger chunk of the revenue pie. are already gearing up to transmute For example, many news companies are their strategies from voice-centric to looking to develop their own SMS delivery data-centric. They recognize the fact systems to sidestep third-parties as well as that, efficiently dealing with operating networks. margins and increase data profitability, they have to focus across the value chain Voice is a traditional, lucrative and from volume-based to value-based data low-risk business. End user trends are offerings. In this perspective, capitalizing foreseeable and market breakdown is on cloud services becomes more vital. simple. For many years, telcos did great This is an untouched area for many by providing few good voice plans and telcos. Practices from advanced markets, a handful of value added services, while though, indicate that in the “data era,” the data business is a whole lot different rivalry comes not just from other telcos, game. Consumers of broadband-enabled but largely from over-the-top content smart phones, tabs and other devices get (OTT) and other renowned Internet-based extensive access to a diverse range of players. To defend their market position online services and mobile apps. In the and prospects in the future, telcos in “data era,” reproducing voice market plans Africa should further enhance their does not work anymore. business strategies and increase familiarity about the cloud business, their end user To offer distinguishing customer market offerings and services based experience via personalized cloud on a profound study of their end users’ offerings and to generate new data requirements, expectancies and usage revenues, telcos have to first of all have patterns. to know their customers well than in the “voice era.” Yours truly, Bocar A. BA Chief Executive Officer SAMENA Telecommunications Council page_3 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SAMENA TRENDS _ NOV_2014 Mr. Talal Said Al Mamari is the Chief Q. What are some of Executive Officer of Omantel since 29th the most critical factors June 2014. He has 22 years of experience in telecom sector working for Omantel. that define the success of Talal Said Marhoon Prior to his appointment as CEO, he held fixed line operators such Al Mamari several leadership positions including as Omantel, particularly his last stint as Chief Financial Officer of with the onslaught of CEO Omantel. OTT services and with Omantel Talal Al Mamari has had played digital service adoption instrumental role in different initiatives levels rising? and projects carried out by the A. As we all know, Oman Company including the IPO in 2005, the is relatively large country with restructuring of Omantel by bringing the a small population of around 4 mobile and fixed operations together and million, which results in a number later the full legal merger of Oman Mobile of challenges in rolling out with Omantel. He sits on the boards of affordable high-quality services several companies and investment funds available for all. Omantel never including Worldcall Telecom, Infoline, stopped investing in fixed line United Securities Investment Fund and business, as we believe that it is the Al Roya Fund (Al Khair Investment Fund most important infrastructures to compatible with Sharia). provide, not only for fixed voice, but more today importantly for He holds a degree in Business high-speed data services. In Administration from Duquesne University, fact, Omantel had for years one Pittsburgh – Pennsylvania. of the highest capex to revenue ratios and today we can see the result of that investment strategy in a world-class standard fixed, mobile and international network. With regards to our fixed line page_4 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SAMENA TRENDS _ NOV_2014 considerable support to many youth network. Omantel is honored that activities, is a role model and a leader TSIC selects Omantel as a partner in social responsibility. to host their first PoP in the region. Partnering with Omantel is a natural The award crowns the efforts made step for TSIC given Oman’s strategic by Omantel over the past few years location as the gateway landing and our support to the initiatives point for multiple international made to achieve sustainable cable systems coming into the development. Sports are one of the region. Having TSIC as a major key focus areas in our sustainability international voice aggregator and strategy. one of the top worldwide providers of Internet backbone hosted with Omantel has a clear-cut and us gives us a position as the true transparent strategy to serve link between the East and the West the community. This has been whereas TSIC partnership with us network, we have invested heavily in evident when we partnered with provides them with access to large enhancing this network and now we Oman Football Association (OFA) untapped markets such as Iran, are able to provide up to 24 Mbps to sponsor the premier league Yemen and Pakistan, countries that using ADSL and 60 Mbps through (Omantel League) throughout the we have extensive connectivity with. VDSL technology. We have also past six years. We also sponsored the It has expanded our visibility and deployed FTTH networks in various Omani Football National Team that positioned Omantel as the go-to parts of the country and all our new won the first Gulf Cup in the history provider for international carriers deployments in new areas are fiber of the Omani sports and partnered and service providers seeking to do based. in sponsoring the 2nd Asian Beach business in the Middle East. Offering Game and many other sports events’. services in the region in partnership We understand that the content with a global top Tier 1 carrier has of is increasingly getting richer and course given us a competitive edge therefore we are very focused on Q. How bright does in the region.