Volume 05, February 2017 A SAMENA Telecommunications Council Newsletter www.samenacouncil.org SAMENA TRENDS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SAMENA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL'S MEMBERS BUILDING DIGITAL ECONOMIES Featured Saleh Al Abdooli Group CEO Etisalat REDEFINING DATA RULES FOR A DATA-DRIVEN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Platinum Host & Exclusive Sponsor Diamond Sponsor Bey nd TER REGIS ! NOW Telephone: +971.4.364.2700, Fax: +971.4.369.7513 Email: [email protected], www.samenacouncil.org VOLUME 05, FEBRUARY 2017 Contributing Editors Subscriptions Izhar Ahmad [email protected] Javaid Akhtar Malik Advertising SAMENA Contributing Members [email protected] Arthur D. Little TRENDS Batelco Legal Issues or Concerns goetzpartners [email protected] Huawei Editor-in-Chief Strategy& Bocar A. BA SAMENA TRENDS Sudatel [email protected] Viva Bahrain Tel: +971.4.364.2700 Publisher SAMENA Telecommunications Council CONTENTS 04 EDITORIAL 09 REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES Members News Regional News 05 38 SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA COUNCIL Satellite News ACTIVITY 49 WHOLESALE UPDATES The SAMENA TRENDS newsletter is Wholesale News wholly owned and operated by The SAMENA Telecommunications Council 56 TECHNOLOGY UPDATES (SAMENA Council). Information in the Technology News newsletter is not intended as professional services advice, and SAMENA Council disclaims any liability for use of specific 68 REGULATORY & POLICY information or results thereof. Articles UPDATES and information contained in this Regulatory News publication are the copyright of SAMENA Telecommunications Council, (unless otherwise noted, described or stated) and A Snapshot of Regulatory cannot be reproduced, copied or printed Activities in the SAMENA 06 in any form without the express written Region permission of the publisher. FEATURED The SAMENA Council does not necessari- Regulatory Activities Beyond Moving into a Digital ly endorse, support, sanction, encourage, the SAMENA Region verify or agree with the content, com- Future ments, opinions or statements made in Saleh Al Abdooli The SAMENA TRENDS by any entity or Group CEO entities. Information, products and ser- ARTICLES Etisalat vices offered, sold or placed in the news- letter by other than The SAMENA Council 23 Batelco Group Announces 66 Redefining Data Rules for belong to the respective entity or entities 2016 Financial Results... a Data-driven Business... and are not representative of The SAME- NA Council. The SAMENA Council hereby 35 Fostering Innovation and 75 Redefining Data Rules for expressly disclaims any and all warranties, expressed and implied, including but not Agility: 7 Steps to Digital... a Data-driven Business... limited to any warranties of accuracy, re- 46 Leading the Charge in the 88 Protecting Subscribers of liability, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose by any entity or en- Next Era Digital Services against... tities offering information, products and 54 services in this newsletter. The user agrees Utilizing Digital Innovations that The SAMENA Council is not responsi- in Mobile Payments 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 © 2017 - All rights reserved. SAMENA TRENDS is a trademark of SAMENA Telecommunications Council. shall be the correction or removal of the erroneous information after verification. CONTENTS EDITORIAL SAMENA TRENDS Redefining Data Rules for a Data- driven Business Environment Moving from big data to big analysis, we mutual efforts of regulators and telecom are transitioning into a world of digital operators, and to a considerable extent driven finished products. It truly is a world of by innovation in digital communication, have data. Digital economy we all are striving made it possible for the general public to to create and benefit from, rests on the be included. This, it could be argued, is a flow of data, enabled by telecom networks, way that the industry has indeed evolved. which are continually built and re-built by Regardless, new developments within the telecom network operators and integrated industry cannot be overlooked, and keeping communications service providers. up with the spirit of digital development goals requires changing rules, which would In this data-driven digital environment, where further accelerate digital development. doing business isn’t just more challenging but more rewarding as well, many transitions In the digital communications industry, all are underway. Such transitions reflect how constituents of the digital ecosystem are Bocar A. BA the digital communications industry is seeking new value-additions to differentiate Chief Executive Officer SAMENA Telecommunications redefining itself and how all market players themselves from the competition in the Council conduct business in it; how policy and consumer space they all share. While regulatory frameworks evolving to become telecom operators still sustain a large less regulative and more enabling; how trust presence, alternative communication in digital access and the Internet is created services providers have significantly grown and fostered; how consumer rights are their role by giving strong competition on protected and consumers exercise their own affordability, data-rich communications ethical obligations when using digital access capability, and operating beyond terrestrial and tools; and how market players other than borders. Technology providers, having telecom operators also share with the latter found new ways to enable and influence responsibilities of operating in the digital how consumers use and prefer different space. Indeed, all of these requirements and network operators (reference here is made to challenges are just a few among many other the eSIM technology), are the latest ones to obligations that fall on the shoulders of all become a key market player but, this time, in the stakeholders and beneficiaries of the an altogether different form. new data-driven business environment. Keeping up with the pace of this market To enable good data-driven experience, competition and its needs is one of telecom operators are creating next- the ultimate challenges for all of us to generation communication capabilities, overcome in order to eliminate impedances driven primarily by software technologies, of all types and forms, while ensuring the applications, and systems, and the public- protection of interest for all, especially of sector stakeholders are striving to find new those that continue to invest in building paths to ensure balance in competition, digital communications infrastructure. We innovation, and new investments in smarter need new rules that are compliant with the infrastructure. It has become known to both requirements of today. of these stakeholders that the economics of regulation and the challenges presented We need to do everything to ensure we by the implementation of next-generation eliminate asymmetries in existing rules technologies, and, indeed, by digital and completely eliminate those rules that disruptions that are enabled by those no longer serve our purposes of operating technologies, have changed much in the in a data-driven environment. Open industry, which has struggled to “prove” that, communication among the stakeholders, as other industries, it too has really evolved. once again, will play a critical role in making Cost reductions, made possible through the this happen. 4 FEBRUARY 2017 SAMENA COUNCIL ACTIVITY SAMENA TRENDS SAMENA COUNCIL ACTIVITY Expanding the IoT Potential with a Special Focus on Smart Cities The Forum on “Data Management: Transforming Data Into Value” will be held on 12 March 2017 (Dubai, UAE), preceding the meeting for ITU-T This Forum will bring Study Group 20 on Internet of Things and Smart Cities and Communities (13-23 March 2017) and the Joint Coordination Activity on Internet of together smart city Things and Smart Cities and Communities (JCA-IoT and SC&C) that will and IoT stakeholders, take place in the afternoon of 16 March 2017. managers and This forum will provide a global platform to facilitate discussions on how engineers working data can be transformed into value and how international standards can facilitate that process. Participants will learn about the current state on big data and data of data management, discuss ways to address interoperability and analytics, service security issues, and explore the capabilities and protocols needed to manage IoT data in smart cities. providers planning to delivering IoT This Forum will bring together smart city and IoT stakeholders, managers and engineers working on big data and data analytics, service solutions, and policy providers planning to delivering IoT solutions, and policy and standards and standards makers. makers. SAMENA Council will moderate a session on Technology & Standards for Data Management. Attendance in this forum is free of charge and attendees can register at the following URL: https://www.itu.int/online/regsys/ITU-T/misc/edrs. registration.form?_eventid=3000943 5 FEBRUARY 2017 FEATURED SAMENA TRENDS Moving into a Digital Future Etisalat’s journey in 2016 was complete with achievements at all levels, the network, infrastructure, technologies, setting the path for a digital future. Today, Etisalat has moved from being a telecom operator to a comprehensive ICT provider. This was done by remaining ahead of the competition adopting new technologies in the telecom