FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 northern african Volume 16 Number 1 Forwireless comms professionals in north, west, east & central Africa COMMUNICATIONS l How to get the best out of the latest satellites l Connecting the transportation sector l Comparing MFS on both sides of the Indian Ocean Moving Wireless ForwardTM NAWC 1703 p1 (Cover) RN.indd 1 06/04/2017 14:47 NAWC 1703 p2 (FG Wilson).indd 1 04/04/2017 18:07 wirelessnorthern african CONTENTS COMMUNICATIONS FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 8 News northern african Volume 16 5 News review Number 1 FEBRUARY/ Forwireless comms professionals in north, west, east & central Africa COMMUNICATIONS MARCH 2017 > Vodafone launches region’s first VNF platform l How to get the best out of the latest satellites > LTE not secure enough for public safety l Connecting the transportation sector l Comparing MFS on both sides of the Indian Ocean Volume 16 > Launch success for NEXT constellation Number 1 > Microsoft and Liquid partner for cloud > Arabsat expands capacity for CETel > 10 years of M-PESA in Kenya Moving Wireless ForwardTM > ICT: the “new oil” in Nigeria NAWC 1703 p1 (Cover) RN.indd 1 06/04/2017 14:47 16 Wireless solutions > Gazprom scores big with African connectivity > Intelsat goes live with IS-33e Mobile Mark is a leading supplier of > Eutelsat’s broadband plan “back on track” innovative, high-performance antennas to wireless companies across the globe. They 13 Wireless business have been in the wireless industry for > Tigo and Airtel confirm merger in Ghana over 30 years and have roots in the early Cellular trials. 16 Wireless solutions > Myriad Connect service targets SIM-swap fraud 18 Satcoms The company design and manufacture antennas from 138 MHz–6.0 GHz. Applications include public transit, Features: commercial trains, smart highways, 18 Satcoms mining, utilities, remote monitoring, > SARA FREWEN finds out how to get the machine-to-machine (M2M), and the best from next-gen high-throughput satellites. Internet of Things (IOT). Antenna styles include omni-directional and directional 22 Wireless users infrastructure antennas for network rollout; > The wireless solutions helping the multiband mobile antennas for fleet transport sector deal with traffic. management; low-profile and embedded antennas for M2M/IOT applications. 27 Industry view > NITIN MADHAVAN compares MFS trends on both sides of the Indian Ocean. Mobile Mark antennas are manufactured 27 Industry view in the USA and UK. Their responsive manufacturing capabilities and production 32 World news 30 World news controls ensure that antennas are > EU Parliament approves ‘digital dividend’ delivered on time and to spec. Their > Chile sees Latin America’s first NarrowBand IoT experienced engineering design group > ‘Internet of the gastrointestinal tract’ can take a project from initial concept > DAMM stays on track with Mumbai monorail through to final production. They also > Asian operators gain 5G headstart offer in-house engineering design and RF > Viasat improves driver safety with Orange testing facilities for custom designs. SUBSCRIPTIONS: of control can purchase an annual To find out more about Mobile Mark, Northern African Wireless Communications is subscription at the cost of £110. turn to page 12. a controlled circulation bi-monthly magazine. For more information and general enquiries Register now for your free subscription at please contact Suzanne Thomas at Mobile Mark Europe Ltd www.kadiumpublishing.com [email protected] 8 Miras Business Park, Hednesford Readers who do not qualify under the terms or call +44 (0) 1932 886 537. WS12 2FS, UK EDITORIAL: ADVERTISEMENT SALES: Tel: +44 1543 459555 Editorial director: Rahiel Nasir Senior sales executive: Andy London Fax: +44 1543 459545 Designer: Alan McClenaghan [email protected] [email protected] Contributors: Sara Frewen Tel: +44 (0) 1932 481731 www.mobilemark.com Nitin Madhavan Publishing apprentice: Jennifer Coates Editorial enquiries: [email protected] [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 1932 481729 Production & circulation: Production: Suzanne Thomas Publishing director: Kathy Moynihan [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 1932 886537 Tel: +44 (0) 1932 481728 © 2017 Kadium Limited. All rights reserved. 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Printed in England by The Magazine Printing Company NAWC 1703 p3 (Contents) RN.indd 3 06/04/2017 15:00 Register here for your free digital edition http://www.kadiumpublishing.com/forms/africa/nawc_reg.htm NEWS Vodafone Egypt launches region’s first VNF platform Having selected Ericsson as its NFV adds that it also provides full and manage the increasing volume partner, Vodafone Egypt has now feature parity, and is agnostic to the of traffic from mobile broadband. gone live with the first commercial underlying cloud system with support “Virtualisation will enhance the virtual network function in the for both Open Stack and VMware. speed and efficiency of services we Middle East and North Africa. Vodafone Egypt’s network runs provide to our customers which will Since last October, Ericsson’s using a combination of virtual and in turn support our main goal to virtual Serving GPRS Support native SGSN/MME in the same reach customer satisfaction,” says Node – Mobility Management Entity pool which, according to Ericsson, Osama Said, technology director, (SGSN-MME) has been handling supports efficient capacity expansion. Vodafone Egypt. and managing commercial mobile The vendor claims its system extends broadband traffic on the cellco’s network capabilities to meet even Ericsson’s blade system for SGSN- network. The platform is said to the “most aggressive” traffic growth MME. The company’s virtualisation support multi-access technologies predictions, and provides “superior technology has been managing such as GSM, WCDMA and LTE, scalability and capacity” so that Vodafone Egypt’s mobile broadband and interworks with Wi-Fi. Ericsson operators can optimise their operations traffic since last October. LTE not secure enough for public safety, warns TCCA The security mechanisms being safety organisations are already advises those responsible for public designed into future LTE standards taking advantage of this, the TCCA safety communications to therefore are not currently at a level to match says it is only for non mission-critical consider national government policy purpose-designed professional applications, with the traffic carried with regard to foreign ownership and mobile radio standards, warns by a ‘best efforts’ commercial service. operation of telecoms infrastructure. the TCCA (TETRA and Critical It adds that for safety critical Spectrum and funding are also Communications Association). applications – such as dispatching highlighted as focus areas in the In a recently published white paper, ambulances, passing on details of white paper. The association says the the TCCA identifies four key focus terrorist suspects, dealing with major availability of spectrum is essential points for governments to consider if The TCCA says that while there is incidents, etc. – it is essential to use to enabling choice in the provision they are looking to implement LTE- no simple answer to how mobile networks that are suited to mission- of broadband data services. But even based public safety networks. broadband should be provided to critical communication. if spectrum is secured for public Among them, it says a review of public safety users, it is essential that The TCCA also points out that as safety agencies, building nationwide the security arrangements available any network employed is suited to with any commercial organisation, infrastructure will be relatively costly in LTE systems and any commercial mission-critical communication. mobile networks are subject to being in many countries. The TCCA network that is used should be bought and sold. As a result, critical therefore believes that an optimal undertaken by suitably qualified staff. deliver mobile broadband to public national infrastructure could end balance between dedicated and MNOs already have the ability to safety services. While many public up being owned by foreign firms. It commercial networks will be needed. Launch success for largest commercial satellite constellation In what its describes as the of “one of resulted in a backlog in Spacecom’s satellites at a time. One-by-one, these the biggest tech refreshes” in history, schedule Iridium’s satellites were new orbiters will be positioned near Iridium has finally launched the first eventually launched on 14 January a current generation Iridium satellite, satellites that will eventually replace 2017. They were delivered to a 625km each moving at around 17,000 miles and enhance its existing network temporary parking orbit where they per hour as testing begins. Iridium of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites are currently undergoing tests. Once says “unique” inter-satcom links from spanning the entire globe. they have passed, the satellites