Volume 08, June, 2017 A SAMENA Telecommunications Council Newsletter www.samenacouncil.org SAMENA TRENDS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SAMENA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL'S MEMBERS BUILDING DIGITAL ECONOMIES Reducing Complexity in the Roaming Business 68 Transforming Government Services: The Value of... 47 Featured Jerome Henique Chief Executive Officer Orange, Jordan Telecom Group DIGITAL PLATFORMS AND SERVICES: OPERATING IN THE OTT ENVIRONMENT 4G+ Silvio Chiha A4.indd 1 6/15/17 11:06 AM VOLUME 08, JUNE, 2017 Contributing Editors Subscriptions Izhar Ahmad [email protected] Javaid Akhtar Malik Advertising SAMENA Contributing Members [email protected] Arthur D. Little TRENDS Etisalat Legal Issues or Concerns Nokia [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Strategy& Bocar A. BA Sudatel SAMENA TRENDS [email protected] Publisher Tel: +971.4.364.2700 SAMENA Telecommunications Council CONTENTS 04 EDITORIAL 09 REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES Members News Regional News 36 SATELLITE UPDATES Satellite News 49 WHOLESALE UPDATES The SAMENA TRENDS newsletter is Wholesale News wholly owned and operated by The 05 SAMENA Telecommunications Council 55 TECHNOLOGY UPDATES (SAMENA Council). Information in the Technology News newsletter is not intended as professional FEATURED services advice, and SAMENA Council disclaims any liability for use of specific 70 REGULATORY & POLICY Jerome Henique information or results thereof. Articles UPDATES Chief Executive Officer and information contained in this Regulatory News Orange, Jordan Telecom Group 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 in any form without the express written Region permission of the publisher. The SAMENA Council does not necessari- Regulatory Activities Beyond ly endorse, support, sanction, encourage, the SAMENA Region verify or agree with the content, com- ments, opinions or statements made in The SAMENA TRENDS by any entity or ARTICLES entities. Information, products and ser- vices offered, sold or placed in the news- 18 Digital Platforms and 68 Reducing Complexity in the letter by other than The SAMENA Council Services: Operating in the Roaming Business belong to the respective entity or entities and are not representative of The SAME- OTT Environment NA Council. The SAMENA Council hereby 33 Building the Industry 4.0 78 Socio-Telecom link in expressly disclaims any and all warranties, Mauritania expressed and implied, including but not Enterprise limited to any warranties of accuracy, re- liability, merchantability or fitness for a 47 Transforming Government Services: particular purpose by any entity or en- The Value of Government Cloud tities offering information, products and Enablement Platform 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 Digital Platforms and Services: Operating in the OTT Environment A growing number of choices, innovative We have discussed in several meetings offerings, and a greater realization of the role organized by SAMENA Council that the of over-the-top services in the lives of the true value of digital needs to be captured, digital consumers have made it clear that we for it is in digital that future success lies are operating in the age of digital platforms for all players of the digital ecosystem -- and services - many of which are using and including regulators, policy-makers, and the will continue to use infrastructure that is built general public. Both business transactions by telecom operators. and always-on access to communication services, as enabled by digital, are, in many Time spent using digital platforms ways, resulting in communication intensity, and services will continue to increase which, in turn, will give rise to further exponentially over the foreseeable future. It innovations within the industry as well as the is amidst this evolution that user behaviors society. Bocar A. BA have been transforming over the past several Chief Executive Officer years while traditional communication Working in such an environment of SAMENA Telecommunications services have been facing a decline. With new communication intensity requires a level- Council business models and digital breakthroughs playing field; transformation in the telecom- emerging, operating in the over-the-top only mindset; fairness and relevance in in providing basic telephony environment poses new demands for all regulation; and industry co-operation like services with opportunities in stakeholders of the digital communications never seen before. All of these factors are digital technologies. It is time industry. crucial to effectively operating in the OTT to execute multiple options in environment, for the expectations from the parallel, including but not limited For telecom operators, digital communications industry are now to, offering connected platforms much more complex and intertwined than for smart homes, digital specific focus should be they have ever been. In essence, the core entertainment, and secure-cloud placed on combining core imperative in view of these trends and new and data services for individual competencies and years realities of the marketplace is that all forms consumers, and taking greater of internal inefficiencies at the operational interest in introducing social and of exp-erience in providing level need to be eliminated, to be able to community-based offerings that basic telephony services successfully manage complexities that contribute to the fulfillment of with opportunities in digital now exist externally in the new digital national digital agenda as well as environment. global ICT goals. technologies. Investments needs to be sustained toward Such are some of the core de- For operators, seeking improvements in innovating and new digital products and mands of the new OTT environ- operational efficiency and cost structures services need to comply with new end- ment. usually implies more investments in advanced user behaviors, requirements, needs, and networks. However, many inefficiencies are increasingly more well-defined privacy and not related directly to the network but to the data protection goals. There is also a need growth phases that operators have been for greater predictability and regulatory going through. Complexities that operators certainty. The digital communications need to rule out in order to transition forward industry, while having overcome many into the digital realm as successful digital evolutionary challenges, continues to communication service providers range from struggle in addressing some basic regulatory being more innovative and forward-thinking, reform requirements, which can help make being more creative in utilizing existing the most of the new OTT environment. assets (for example, existing customer bases and partnerships), to being more partnership For telecom operators, specific focus oriented with regard to providers of disruptive should be placed on combining core digital services. competencies and years of experience 4 JUNE 2017 FEATURED SAMENA TRENDS Jerome Henique Chief Executive Officer Orange, Jordan Telecom Group 5 JUNE 2017 FEATURED SAMENA TRENDS The Age of Digital Transformation and New Possibilities Q. In view of digital transformation trends organizations will help to constitute broadband services and to sustain around the region, how do you view the a cornerstone for the next wave of mobile capacity to provide the broadband correlation between Jordan’s overall digitization in the Jordanian economy services in a manner that meet customers’ national economic policy and the national by enabling everybody’s participation in expectation with high quality. ICT vision? the realization of economic development in the Kingdom. At the same time, Moreover, due to the exponential increase A. Over the past two years, we have unfortunately one can only witness that in data traffic in mobile networks and witnessed great strides towards the despite its contribution to the GDP growth, spectrum bandwidth needed to support digitization of the national economy; ICT sector level of taxation in Jordan is such increase; fair pricing techniques higher penetration levels for mobile and continuously increasing and reaches one has become ever more important to broadband services, higher usage of of the highest levels in the world. support efficient spectrum allocation, smart devices, greater use of apps and promote healthy investment in networks increased local content. Q. What are the new possibilities that and encourage sustainable competition you would like to see created through to support affordable services. The Over time, ICT became an integral improved operator-regulator co- amounts of spectrum returns paid by and essential aspect of Jordanian operation? mobile operators have direct impact life; like: greater presence on social on the development of mobile services, media, increased amounts of financial A. We believe that co-operation between consumers and quality of services. payment through