communications africa 1 2015

Afrique

Issue 1 2015Édition 1 2015

Mobile WorldCongress

African innovations at global communications showcase

LTE at AfricaComSustainable business models,

enhanced spectrum management

and backhaul optimisation

NetworkCustomer-centric innovations for

modern service providers

MarchéLa révolution du haut débit au

service de l'AfriqueEurope m15 - Kenya KSH300 - Nigeria N400 - South Africa R20 - UK £10 - USA $16.50

Satellite broadcast and broadband services inthe digital age

Africawww.communicationsafrica.com

FEATURES: � Internet � Mobile � InfrastructreREGULAR REPORTS: � Bulletin - Agenda � Equipment - Équipement

CAF 1 2015 Cover_Layout 1 16/02/2015 15:54

S01 CAF 1 2015 - Start_Layout 1 16/02/2015 15:57

Afrique

Issue 1 2015Édition 1 2015

Mobile WorldCongress

African innovations at global communications showcase

LTE at AfricaComSustainable business models,

enhanced spectrum management

and backhaul optimisation

NetworkCustomer-centric innovations for

modern service providers

MarchéLa révolution du haut débit au

service de l'AfriqueEurope m15 - Kenya KSH300 - Nigeria N400 - South Africa R20 - UK £10 - USA $16.50

Satellite broadcast and broadband services inthe digital age

Africawww.communicationsafrica.com

FEATURES: � Internet � Mobile � InfrastructreREGULAR REPORTS: � Bulletin - Agenda � Equipment - Équipement

C

A note from the EditorTHIS ISSUE OFFERS an appraisal of thesolutions and services on show atAfricaCom, and also previews thedevelopments to come at theforthcoming Mobile World Congress.The core theme of this issue, aisdefrom these events, is thedevelopment of network functionalitythrough improved testing, design, andmanagement.Further to this is an appraisal of thecontribution of satellite technologyand services to broadband andbroadcast operations across AfricaTeh issue includes, for the broadcastsector, a round-up of the latestaffordable equipment promoted atthe most recent SATIS event.

Cover Image: Liquid TelecomInset: AMOS-SpacecomContents page: Orange

Une note du rédacteurCE NUMÉRO ATTEST un rapport del'événement CES, sur le sujetparticulier de transport.Aussi, il ya un article spécial , écritparMichel Combes, le directeurgénéral d'Alcatel-Lucent, sur le sujetde la connectivité de l'Afrique del'avenir , et les développementsfuturs du marché.

Bulletin 4

Events 8

Agenda 9

Solutions 30

FEATURES

AfricaCom 16The focus on LTE deployment and operation in Africa, on monetisation and management, in Cape Town

Test & Measurement 17High definition oscilloscopes for improved signal analysis

Digital Architecture 18The growth of digital connectivity and the need to innovate public experience of the network

Base Station Management 20Systems for improving base station management

Satellite Broadcast Services 24How the transition to digital services affects broadcast entities across the continent

Satellite Markets 26Developments in African satellite markets for broadband as well as broadcast

Broadcast Equipment 28Equipment for the broadcast community, on show at SATIS

ARTICLES

CES 15De nouvelles idées et répondre aux défis de plus en plus nombreux ou croissants en matière de transport

Opinion 19L’heure est venue de mettre la révolution du haut débit au service de la population, selon le directeur général d'Alcatel-

Lucent

IMAGE: POSS COVERS/Orange

CONTENTS

Managing Editor: Andrew Croft - [email protected]

Editorial and Design team: Bob Adams, Prashanth AP, Sindhuja Balaji, Hiriyti BairuAndrew Croft, Thomas Davies, Ranganath GS, Rhonita Patnaik, Prasad Shankarappa, Lee TelotLouise Waters and Ben Watts

Production: Nikitha Jain, Nathanielle Kumar, Donatella Moranelli, Rachel Neeson and Sophia White Email: [email protected]

Publisher: Nick Fordham

Publishing Director: Pallavi Pandey

Magazine Sales Manager: Steve Thomas - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7834 7676, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7973 0076, Email: [email protected]

Country Representative Telephone Fax EmailChina Ying Matthieson (86)10 8472 1899 (86) 10 8472 1900 [email protected] Tanmay Mishra (91) 80 656 84483 (91) 80 40600791 [email protected] Bola Olowo (234) 8034349299 [email protected] Africa Annabel Marx (27) 218519017 (27) 46 624 5931 [email protected] Camilla Capece (971) 4 448 9260 (971) 4 448 9261 [email protected] Michael Tomashefsky (1) 203 226 2882 (1) 203 226 7447 [email protected]

Head Office: Middle East Regional Office:Alain Charles Publishing Ltd Alain Charles Middle East FZ-LLCUniversity House Office 215, Loft 2A11-13 Lower Grosvenor Place PO Box 502207London SW1W 0EX, United Kingdom Dubai Media City, UAETelephone: +44 20 7834 7676 Telephone: +971 4 448 9260Fax: +44 20 7973 0076 Fax: +971 4 448 9261

Subscriptions: [email protected]: Derek FordhamPrinted by: Buxton PressCommunications Africa/Afrique is a bi-monthly magazine ISSN: 0962 3841

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Communications Africa Issue 1 2015 3


Communications Africa Issue 1 20154

BULLETIN

Vodacom upgrades charging platform with RedkneeSOUTH AFRICAN OPERATOR Vodacom has signed a multi-million dollarorder to upgrade to the latest version of Redknee’s Unified platform; withthe flexible billing, charging and rating offered by the platform, Vodacomis able to launch advanced products, promotions and new serviceofferings to its subscribers, target new market segments, and support itsdata/LTE growth strategy.

Vodafone and BBOXX power platforms in East AfricaTHERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 5,000 Internet connected SMART Solarproducts powered by Vodafone’s M2M Platform, with over 300 installedin East African households; by the start of 2015, there will be over 5,000units deployed in East Africa alone, with 20,000-25,000 peoplepositively affected by the introduction of the SMART Solar product, whichwas designed and manufactured for Vodafone by BBOXX.

Infobip enables USSD and two-way SMS in NigeriaCLOUD-BASED MOBILE MESSAGING specialist Infobip has establishedunstructured supplementary service data (USSD) and 2-way shortmessage service (SMS) coverage in Nigeria with Airtel, Etisalat, GloMobile and MTN - ensuring coverage of 98.3 per cent of the country’smobile market; USSD and two-way SMS are cost-efficient and userfriendly methods of establishing a dialogue with mobile users regardlessof handset type or mobile data coverage, and have a range of uses inmobile marketing, customer service or polling and market research.

Etisalat customers participate in global e-commerceSince the launch of Etisalat’s Companion Card service in 2014, 671,000single-use virtual cards have been issued in Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire and

Gabon; Companion Card’s portfolio of services has been introducedacross the African and Asian operations of Etisalat Group, accessible to17mn un-banked, under-banked and fully banked users, includingsingle-use virtual debit cards linked to the customer’s ‘Flous’ account toconduct online shopping on any website that accepts MasterCard, aphysical debit card linked to the customer’s Flous account to conducttransactions at physical merchant locations accepting UnionPay cards,and direct acceptance of Flous mWallet accounts at participatingMasterCard physical merchants.

More Kenyan farmers use mAgri-InfoAROUND 4,000 FARMERS in Kenya now use TTC’s interactive messagingplatform mAgri-Info to gain access to technical production informationand good agronomic practices (such as varieties, field operations, pestand disease control and post-harvest handling) to help increase sweetpotato yields; the program also assists in coordinating production andmarketing activities such as when to plant, what acreage to plant, whento harvest and what volume to harvest.

Ooredoo Algeria and NEC serve taxis and ambulancesIN SUPPORT OF the Algerian Government’s efforts to promote economicdevelopment by increasing use of information and communicationstechnologies (ICTs), Ooradoo and NEC are working together to make ICTservices easy to access, buy and use in the country.The partners created a cloud marketplace marketed by Ooredoo and

the Algerian business development agency ANDPME, with specificrequirements for field communications (for the nation’s emergencyservices and taxi companies) met by NEC smart push-to-talk (SPTT)solution, a service emulating walkie-talkie radio channels using 3G, Wi-Fi and cloud-based software, enabling dispatchers to communicate withfleet vehicles through group chat or with individual drivers directly frompersonal computers.SPTT customers can subscribe to other relevant software like

accounting or payroll applications via the cloud marketplace, based onNEC’s Cloud Brokerage Suite (NCBS) which comes with an ecosystem ofover 200 independent software vendors specialising in key verticalsectors. With functionalities like automated provisioning, single sign-on,secure customer data storage, billing, online instant chat customerservices and marketing, the NCBS helps Ooredoo deliver cloud servicescost-effectively to small businesses.This initiative has the support of the Algerian government, as part of

its efforts to encourage growth in the small and medium-sized enterprise(SME) sector to diversify the economy beyond the oil & gas sector.

BBOXX installers working on aroof at Lake Kivu, DRC


FINNISH TELECOMMUNICATIONSTECHNOLOGY solutions provider Tecnotreehas released its top predictions for thetelecoms industry in 2015. The trends from CTOTimo Ahomäki indicate where Tecnotreebelieves activity and innovation will befocused over the next 12 months. With growingcustomer demands and an increasing need toremain competitive and profitable, majoroperators and communications serviceproviders (CSPs) will channel growth in thedevelopment of new technologies,partnerships and entry into new sectors.

Collaborations between large playersThis year will be about large players formingbig partnerships - not just between CSPs and

operators, but also with utilities and vehiclecompanies. While the result of thesecollaborations may not be immediately felt inthe next 12 months, 2015’s collaborations willlay the ground for some notable market shiftsin the future. Some CSPs and technologycompanies may even enter the mobile marketby themselves as a reseller or mobile virtualnetwork operator (MVNO), without needing topartner with an operator.

Vehicle telematicsThis sector is set for growth, interest inincorporating vehicle telematics is likely tocontinue to grow with major carmanufacturers. Telecoms operators will alsobe keen to provide their network

infrastructures as they seek to grow revenueopportunities. Even without the support oftelecoms operators, expect big systemsintegrators such as TATA, IBM and Oracle tomake moves in the industry.

Software-defined networking/Networkfunctions virtualisation (SDN/NFV)This will be the big buzz topic for MWC 2015with telecom service providers believing this tobe the future for delivering new types ofcustomer network services thatsimultaneously allow operators to successfullymonetise their infrastructures. Currently in itsinfancy, the new technologies are expected togrow significantly over the next 12 months andsolidify its position in the mainstream market.

Tecnotree’s telecoms growth opportunities



BULLETIN

L’accès au génie civil d’IAM est désormais possibleITISSALAT AL-MAGHRIB (IAM) a publié sa 1ère offre de gros d’accès à songénie civil, dans les conditions et les modalités fixées par L'agenceNationale de Réglementation des Télécommunications (ANRT) auRoyaume du Maroc; les opérateurs intéressés peuvent désormaisadresser leurs commandes à IAM en vue d’accéder aux installationsphysiques de son génie civil.

Orange investit dans AfrimarketL’OPÉRATEUR ORANGE A participé à une levée de fonds dans Afrimarket,leader du transfert d’argent en cash-to-goods; au-delà de cetinvestissement, Orange participera au développement d’Afrimarket, enlui apportant sa connaissance du marché et en lui faisant bénéficier desnombreux atouts d’un opérateur mobile international avec une fortenotoriété.

Opérateur marocain acquiert des actifs d'EtisalatMAROC TELECOM A finalisé l’acquisition des filiales d’Etisalat présentesau Bénin, en Côte d’Ivoire, au Gabon, au Niger, en République Centre-africaine et au Togo; cette acquisition concerne également PrestigeTelecom qui fournit des prestations IT pour le compte des filialesd’Etisalat dans ces pays.

Un nouveau laboratoire d’innovation en Afrique de l’EstMASTERCARD LABS FOR Financial Inclusion, une initiative lancée enAfrique de l’Est et financée par la Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,développe des services financiers pour permettre aux bénéficiaires dese construire un meilleur avenir; à l’échelle internationale, lesinnovations en matière de paiement numérique permettent à plus depersonnes de tirer parti de services financiers établis - et ces outils,simples d’utilisation et efficaces, ont le potentiel de réduire les coûts demanière drastique.

La 9ème édition de Media StarOOREDOO A LANCÉ la 9ème édition de son concours « Media Star », le1er concours journalistique algérien dédié aux TIC, devenu au fil desannées un évènement fort attendu par les professionnels des médiasalgériens; considéré comme la première compétition journalistiquedevenue incontournable sur la scène médiatique algérienne, leconcours Media Star connaît un succès de plus en plus grand qui setraduit par le nombre sans cesse croissant de participants.

La BAD et MasterCard étendent l’InclusionFinancière en AfriqueLA BANQUE AFRICAINE de développement (BAD) et MasterCard ontannoncé une importante collaboration en vue d’étendre l’inclusionfinancière à l’ensemble du continent africain; cette collaboration vise àdévelopper des solutions permettant de dynamiser la croissanceinclusive en Afrique en élargissant l’accès aux services financiersnumériques et l’utilisation de ces services.

Arelis présente son nouveau système autonome àénergie solaireA L’OCCASION DU World Mobile Congress 2015, Arelis lance son 1erdémonstrateur d’émetteur TV autonome solaire en bande UHF. Il s’agitd’un pilote fonctionnant aux énergies renouvelables destiné auxstations d’émission sur des sites isolés de faible puissance, intégrant lacapacité d’émission; l’ensemble des équipements intégrés dans lastation a bénéficié de recherches avancées pour optimiser l'empreintecarbone en réduisant leur consommation électrique ainsi que ladissipation thermique globale afin d’être conforme aux gammes detempérature outdoor étendues.

MasterCard et la Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation développe des servicesfinanciers (Photo: Ryan Erenhouse)


LE GROUPE BANCAIRE panafricain Ecobank etl’opérateur Orange ont lancé un service permettantaux clients d'Orange Money détenteurs de comptesbancaires Ecobank de transférer de l'argent entreleurs comptes. Le service est déjà opérationnel auMali et sera déployé dans plusieurs autres paysafricains, dont le Cameroun, la Côte d'Ivoire, laGuinée Conakry, le Niger, le Sénégal et laRépublique démocratique du Congo, au cours dupremier semestre 2015.

Ce partenariat vise à faciliter les échanges entreles clients communs à Orange et Ecobank, en leuroffrant la possibilité d’alimenter leur portefeuilleélectronique Orange Money avec leur comptebancaire, et inversement. Les clients peuventeffectuer ces échanges depuis leur téléphonemobile en toute sécurité à tout moment, sans sedéplacer et sans transporter d’argent liquide.

Les deux entreprises ont lancé le service suite àun accord de principe. Ce partenariat représente la

volonté commune de développer les servicesfinanciers mobiles et permettre l’accès de tous auxservices bancaires en Afrique.

En Afrique Subsaharienne, où moins de 24% dela population dispose d’un compte bancaire, alors queplus de 60% des habitants sont équipés de téléphonesmobiles, Orange Money propose des servicesfinanciers mobiles offrant le confort et la facilitéd’effectuer des opérations à distance et en toutesécurité puisqu’elles évitent le transport d’espèces.

Orange et Ecobank lancent un service de transfert d’argent

Le premier réseau dorsal 400G d’Alcatel-Lucenten AfriqueOOREDOO ALGÉRIE ET Alcatel-Lucent vont construire une réseaude transport optique à haute capacité afin de doter les troisprincipales villes algériennes que sont Alger, Constantine et Oran,ainsi que d’autres villes de taille plus modeste d’un accès mobiletrès haut débit.

Le déploiement de la solution AON (Agile Optical Network) - quisera la première « dorsale » 400G (400 gigabits par seconde)d’Alcatel-Lucent en Afrique - sera achevé avant fin 2014. Il permettrad’augmenter de façon spectaculaire la vitesse et la capacité parrapport aux précédents réseaux mobiles algériens.

Le réseau reposera sur la technologie de transport optiqueDWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing, multiplexage parrépartition en longueur d'onde dense) d’Alcatel-Lucent et utiliserale commutateur de services photonique 1830 PSS (PhotonicService Switch), qui est aujourd’hui la plateforme principale del’activité optique terrestre de l’entreprise.


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Comm_Africa_Tele_ad_0115.indd 1 08/01/2015 08:49

S02 CAF 1 2015 - Agenda 01_Layout 1 16/02/2015 14:31


AGENDA

8

MARCH/MARS

2-5 Mobile World Congress Barcelona, Spain www.mobileworldcongress.com

10-11 Cards & Payments Africa Johannesburg, South Africa www.terrapinn.com

10-11 The Ecommerce Show Africa Johannesburg, South Africa www.terrapinn.com

10-11 The Mobile Show Africa Johannesburg, South Africa www.terrapinn.com

10-12 CABSAT Dubai, UAE www.cabsat.com

18-19 IT Leaders Africa Johannesburg, South Africa www.itleaders.co.za

25-26 Oil & Gas Telecommunications London, UK www.oilandgastelecomms.com

26-27 Africa IT & Telecom Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire www.i-conferences.org

APRIL/AVRIL13-14 Cloud MENA Dubai, UAE mena.cloudworldseries.com

15-16 AITEC Southern Africa ICT Summit Maputo, Mozambique aitecafrica.com

21-23 MVNO World Congress Nice, France mvnosworldcongress.com

MAY/MAI6-7 Roaming World Congress Brussels, Belgium roamingworldcongress.com

12-13 Ecommerce Show Middle East Dubai, UAE www.terrapinn.com

12-14 DISTREE Middle East Abu Dhabi, UAE www.distree-me.com

13-14 Banking & Mobile Money Uganda Kampala, Uganda aitecafrica.com

19-21 Critical Communications World Barcelona, Spain criticalcommunicationsworld.com

19-21 Mobile Money & Digital Payments Africa Johannesburg, South Africa www.mobile-money-africa.com

20-22 eLearning Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia www.elearning-africa.com

25-26 Carriers World Africa Johannesburg, South Africa www.terrapinn.com

25-26 World Rural Telecoms Congress Africa Johannesburg, South Africa www.terrapinn.com

26-27 Connected Africa Johannesburg, South Africa www.terrapinn.com

26-27 Satcom Africa Johannesburg, South Africa www.terrapinn.com

Events/Événements 2015


AHEAD OF MOBILE World Congress 2015,Gartnerresearch director Jessica Ekholm shared herthoughts on what is driving the global growth inmobile data traffic, and how communications serviceproviders (CSPs) and mobile app developers will leadthe market. Mobile data traffic will continue double-digit growth in 2015. She said, “Gartner expectstraffic to grow 59 per cent this year (see Table 1).Newer and faster networks, a rise in the number ofusers of these networks, and more affordable 3G and4G handsets will help to increase data traffic.”

On a mobile scale, the key driver of data growthwill be mobile applications. Ms Ekholm said,

“Although network speed and reliability arepriorities for many mobile customers, it is reallyapps and content that are driving traffic volumes aspeople increasingly chat to friends and family,watch videos on the move, and listen to streamedmusic.”

What should CSPs and mobile app developers doto harness this growth? Ms Ekholm said that,because the amount of time consumers spend onthe Internet, whether via mobile phone, tablet or PC,will continue to increase, “CSPs will need to focuson creating new pricing with a focus on data access,such as shared plans” and they will “need to refinethe services they already provide, with a focus oncreating richer, more immersive and more

personalised experiences, to increase theircustomer numbers”.

As the mobile app market matures, appdevelopers will have to sharpen their focus on themarketing and transparency of their apps, in orderto retain customers.

Gartner's research indicates that althoughaffluent people and traditional early adopters arethe leading users of new technologies and devices,younger, less wealthy people make greater use ofmobile apps. Young people's greater acceptance ofapps and mobile content will require app developersto adjust their techniques to address the differencesbetween user groups.

The future will be tough for CSPs and mobile appdevelopers that decide not to upgrade the userexperiences they deliver on their services andproducts. The winners will be those providers bestable to satisfy consumers' demand for high datause, while maintaining their margins.

What's driving global mobile data growth?

Table 1. Mobile Data Traffic, Worldwide, 2013-2016Year 2013 2014 2015 2016Total Terabytes 19,049,158 32,512,824 51,820,492 79,527,408Growth 80 71 59 53

Source: Gartner (February 2015)


ACCORDING TO A report by Pyramid Research,the Nigerian telecommunications market isexpected to generate US$10.9bn in 2019, upfrom a total of US$9.2bn in 2013. Althoughgrowth in the market will be slightly reducedin 2015, as the market recovers from the largenumber of fixed-line disconnections, long-term growth of the telecommunicationssector will not to be affected. The telecomsmarket will grow at a compound annualgrowth rate (CAGR) of two per cent over thenext five years, with mobile data increasing at16 per cent up until 2019.

Severin Luebke, analyst at Pyramid Research,said, “Political instability and low oil prices haveled to a depreciation of the Naira against the USDollar, but the telecommunications market willremain an integral part of the country’s efforts todiversify its sources of growth."Although currency devaluations are likely toresult in slower US Dollar growth rates, in localcurrency terms, the Nigeriantelecommunications market offers stronggrowth rates of around 6.8 per cent per year forthe period between 2014 and 2019.Nigeria remains largest mobile market in Africa

With an expected 182mn subscribers at the endof 2019, Nigeria will remain the biggest marketfor mobile subscription on the Africancontinent. Nigeria is the largest economy inAfrica and therefore will play an important rolein defining future mobile trends.“Other countries in Africa are likely to followNigeria when it comes to mobile technologydevelopments. The increasing demand formobile data will offer service providers, as wellas new entrants to the market, ampleopportunity to test and grow their serviceofferings in Nigeria,” Luebke observed.


AGENDA

9

Digital security specialist Gemalto has released thelatest findings of its Breach Level Index, revealing thatmore than 1,500 data breaches led to one billion datarecords compromised worldwide during 2014. Thesenumbers represent a 49 per cent increase in databreaches and a 78 per cent increase in data recordsthat were either stolen or lost compared to 2013.Continuing with this industry-leading benchmarkingfrom SafeNet following its acquisition by Gemalto, theBreach Level Index (BLI) is a global database of databreaches as they happen and provides a methodologyfor security professionals to score the severity ofbreaches and see where they rank among publiclydisclosed breaches. The BLI calculates the severity ofdata breaches across multiple dimensions based onbreach disclosure information.According to data in the BLI originally developed bySafeNet, the main motivation for cybercriminals in 2014was identity theft with 54 per cent of the all databreaches being identity theft-based, more than anybreach category including access to financial data. Inaddition, identity theft breaches also accounted forone-third of the most severe data breachescategorised by the BLI as either Catastrophic (with aBLI score of between 9.0 and 10) or Severe (7.0 to 8.9).Secure breaches, which involved breaches of perimetersecurity where compromised data was encrypted in fullor in part, increased to four per cent from one per cent.“We’re clearly seeing a shift in the tactics ofcybercriminals, with long-term identity theft becomingmore of a goal than the immediacy of stealing a creditcard number,” said Tsion Gonen, Vice-President ofStrategy for Identity and Data Protection at Gemalto.“Identity theft could lead to the opening of newfraudulent credit accounts, creating false identities forcriminal enterprises, or a host of other serious crimes.As data breaches become more personal, we’restarting to see that the universe of risk exposure forthe average person is expanding.”In addition to the shift toward identity theft, breachesalso became more severe last year with two-thirds ofthe 50 most severe breaches according to their BLIscore having occurred in 2014. Also, the number of databreaches involving more than 100mn compromiseddata records doubled compared to 2013.In terms of industries, retail and financial servicesexperienced the most noticeable trends compared to

other industry sectors in 2014. Retail experienced aslight increase in data breaches compared to last year,accounting for 11 per cent of all data breaches in 2014.However, in terms of data records compromised, theretail industry saw its share increase to 55 per centcompared to 29 per cent last year due to an increasednumber of attacks that targeted point-of-sale systems.For the Financial Services sector, the number of databreaches remained relatively flat year over year, butthe average number of records lost per breachincreased ten-fold to 1.1mn from 112,000.“Not only are data breach numbers rising, but thebreaches are becoming more severe,” added Gonen.“Being breached is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when.’Breach prevention and threat monitoring can only goso far and do not always keep the cyber criminals out.Companies need to adopt a data-centric view of digitalthreats starting with better identity and access controltechniques such as multi-factor authentication and theuse of encryption and key management to securesensitive data. That way, if the data is stolen it is

useless to the thieves.”Through its acquisition of SafeNet, Gemalto offers oneof the most complete portfolios of enterprise securitysolutions in the world, enabling its customers to enjoyindustry-leading protection of digital identities,transactions, payments and data – from the edge to thecore. Gemalto’s complete portfolio of SafeNet Identityand Data Protection solutions enable enterprisesacross many verticals, including major financialinstitutions and governments, to take a data-centricapproach to security by utilising innovative encryptionmethods, best-in-class crypto managementtechniques, and strong authentication and identitymanagement solutions to protect what matters, whereit matters. Through these solutions, Gemalto helpsorganisations achieve compliance with stringent dataprivacy regulations and ensure that sensitivecorporate assets, customer information, and digitaltransactions are safe from exposure and manipulationin order to protect customer trust in an increasinglydigital world.

Gemalto releases research on data breaches

Nigeria to reach 182mn mobile subscribers in 2019



NEC CORPORATION IS showcasing its portfolio of solutions to helptelecom operators use the network as a strategic asset - saving andmaking money - while delivering a better customer experience in theconsumer, enterprise and government sectors at Mobile WorldCongress 2015.The smart cities of the future will be able to support a wide diversity

of smarter culture, community, transport, environmental, health andeducation services using flexible and dynamically configurable opennetwork infrastructure. NEC will share its experiences of successfullysupporting smart city programmes with the key platforms that enablethe collection, sharing and analysis of smart city M2M data. This is inaddition to our plans for cityscale software-defined networking (SDN)and network functions virtualisation (NFV) platforms, building onNEC's successful public sector deployments around the world.Also, NEC has created a springboard for service innovation with

NEC's virtualised home gateway. Already the company is cutting theneed for home visits by engineers to fix broadband issues. NECoutlines how SDN and NFV enabled virtualised customer premiseequipment (vCPE) can also support innovative new media centerservices, enabling personal content discovery and sharing both withinthe home and outside.MVNOs have grown to be a force to be reckoned with. They're

essential to help operators reach segments of the market, whichoperators can't profitably serve themselves, generating highermargins with lower costs of sale. At MWC 2015, NEC highlights howoperators can host multiple MVNOs on common virtualizedinfrastructure, targeting new niches, such as automotive telematics,

music or video streaming services, adfunded networks or M2M foragriculture and industry and more. MVNOs can also invest in avirtualised MVNO (vMVNO) gateway directly themselves. It provides alow capital and operational expenditure friendly way of reducingbarriers to entry in new markets and creating flexible offerings whileavoiding investments in expensive bespoke hardware.NEC will also look at how 'New Last Mile' services - combined

multivendor macro and small cells in a HetNet with self-organisationnetwork features and wireless or fibre backhaul - are enablingoperators to boost network capacity in busy urban areas to meetmobile data traffic demand as well as meet their rural licensingobligations.Furthermore, NEC is enabling carriers to use small cells at the

network edge as an enterprise service delivery platform thatenables true fixed and wireless convergence in an NFV and SDNenvironment. For example, the operator's small cell server can becombined with an enterprise's existing onpremise or hostedunified communications and PBX solution, enabling employees touse their smartphones like a desk phone with advanced functionssuch as hunt groups to route calls to an available team member,free internal transfers and least cost routing for international calls.Finally, NEC outlines at MWC how carriers can be successful with

verticalised SME cloud software and services marketplaces. NEC isable to dramatically cut the time it takes telecom operators tolaunch a cloud app store to a matter of weeks and keep CAPEX verylow with its cloud brokerage service and sales consultancyservices.


AGENDA @ MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS

10

ADVANCED SYSTEMS SUPPLIER RuckusWireless has introduced a collectionof Smart Wi-Fi technology softwareinnovations that address the growingdemand for higher quality IP-basedvoice calling over Wi-Fi.

These innovations are beingintegrated as standard features withinthe Ruckus portfolio of Smart Wi-Fiproducts to help ensure crystal clearWi-Fi calling voice quality in the mostchallenging Wi-Fi environments. Theseinnovations will be demonstrated byRuckus for the first time at MobileWorld Congress 2015, having beensuccessfully tested already with twoof the biggest mobile networkoperators (MNOs) in the USA.

"The innovations we've made willimprove the reliability and quality ofWi-Fi calling applications, whichenables both service providers andenterprises to extract greater valuefrom their Wi-Fi infrastructure," saidDan Rabinovitsj, chief operatingofficer at Ruckus Wireless. "Whilevoice over Wi-Fi isn't new, the abilityto deliver a carrier-class voiceservice over Wi-Fi is something that

no one has mastered, until now."The new Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi

innovations for Wi-Fi calling addressessential roaming and quality ofservice (QoS) requirements. Theyenable real-time, bidirectional voicecalls that demand a narrow set ofoperating parameters from thenetwork designed to ensure thehighest quality Wi-Fi callingexperience. Innovations in theportfolio include a variety of newproprietary capabilities such ascapacity-based client access control,Wi-Fi multimedia admission controls,directed roaming, and automaticpacket flow heuristics. Theintegration of these and other newSmart Wi-Fi innovations into Ruckusproducts helps organisations ensureoptimal performance of voice overWi-Fi communications.

Advances designed to optimiseroaming and quality of service (QoS)for delay-sensitive voice traffic,include: automatic QoS heuristics;capacity-based client access control;directed roaming; and Wi-Fimultimedia (WMM) admission control.

Ruckus brings smart technology to enable carrier-

class Wi-Fi CallingGOOD TECHNOLOGY AND Samsung Electronics have announced theimmediate availability of Good for Samsung KNOX, merging Good’sapp container and broad app ecosystem with the Samsung KNOXenterprise security platform for Android. The launch of Good forSamsung KNOX represents the next step in the partnership betweenSamsung and Good to deliver world-class mobile enterprise securitysolutions, first announced at Mobile World Congress 2014.This joint solution creates the most secure solution for enterprises and

government agencies looking to accelerate their Android programs todrive secure mobile productivity. Good is now the only enterprisemobility management (EMM) provider whose secure container platformand app ecosystem is integrated directly into the KNOX security stack.Good for Samsung KNOX creates a Good-Secured Domain within

KNOX’s Security-Enhanced Android operating system, where anyGood apps, Good-secured apps, or custom apps secured by the GoodDynamics® Secure Mobility Platform reside. Good also providescomprehensive support for KNOX’s extended mobile devicemanagement (MDM) API set.“The largest companies in the world trust Good Technology as the

secure mobility leader, including all of the Fortune 100 commercialbanks and other industry leading companies in over 190 countries,” saidChristy Wyatt, chairman and CEO of Good Technology. “By partneringwith Samsung to integrate our container and secure app ecosystem withthe KNOX platform, we are delivering a comprehensive, layered solutionto secure Samsung Android devices in the enterprise.”Injong Rhee, executive vice president of enterprise business, IT and

mobile business at Samsung Electronics, said, “The combination ofSamsung and Good represents the best solution for secure enterpriseAndroid productivity – no matter whether corporate-liable, COPE orBYOD device ownership models are being used.”

Solutions provider NEC showcases carrier portfolio for orchestrating dynamicbusiness on virtualised networks

Samsung delivers advanced Android enterprisemobility solution



REVENUE ANALYTICS SOLUTIONS supplierCVidya launched its 'Enrich' marketing analyticssolution for communications service providers(CSPs) at AfricaCom 2014. At the event, GabiStarobinski, cVidya regional sales accountmanager, said, “Communications serviceproviders are facing new challenges and mustfind innovative ways to have an edge on thecompetition, as well as identify new revenuestreams from internal and external sources. Thecontinuously growing volumes and types ofcustomer behavioural data offer many newinsights about customers’ profiles and theirinterests which can generate real opportunitiesto increase revenues and drive loyalty.”According to Mr Starobinski, “The mainchallenge marketers face today is to effectivelyand quickly leverage the vast amounts ofavailable customer data, identify the hidden

opportunities and translate their challengesand business questions into actionableinsights. The Enrich solution will enable CSPs to

overcome these challenges. It offers pre-defined analytical use cases, based on domainexpertise, utilizing relevant attributes and datamodels; guided flows to answer specificbusiness questions; business-orientated andintuitive user-interface for marketers andanalysts; big data processing capabilitiesgenerating unique analytical insights; aconstantly evolving environment to supportoperators’ ever-changing marketing challengesand objectives. The solution includesnumerous capabilities which include sixbusiness focused modular packages andadvanced analytics models.”It is a comprehensive, highly-visualised andactionable insight solution for identifying newrevenue streams, improving CLTV (customertime life value) and maximising network use.The solution is to be used by CPSs world-wide.


AGENDA @ AFRICACOM

12

THERE WERE NUMEROUS innovationsat AfricaCom 2014. CommunicationsAfrica/Afrique highlights the following:WeDo Technologies demonstrated

its next-generation fraud managementsystem - RAID:FMS 7, which nowcombines analytical models foradvanced fraud detection and rule basedetection mechanisms to fight fraudeven more effectively for known andunknown fraud threats. . RAID:FMS 7enhanced user interface also sets anew benchmark for response andresolution times, managing every stepof fraud detection and investigation until the point of resolution. Telrad Networks announced that pan-Africa telecoms operator Godwana

International Networks company (iWay Africa) would deploy Telrad’s Dual Modesolutions to evolve their network from fixed WiMAX to TD-LTE. Working with Telrad,iWayAfrica will bring enhanced connectivity to their growing base of businesssubscribers in Nairobi – with aggressive plans to expand into their remaining Sub-Saharan coverage area.RAD exhibited the industry’s first dedicated customer-edge distributed

network functions virtualisation (D-NFV) solution. This is based on thecompany’s ETX, a powerful layer2/layer 3 network terminal unit (NTU). The NTUis equipped with a D-NFV x86 server module that functions as a virtualisationengine at the customer edge.Anite, specialist in wireless testing technology, amongst their new products,

demonstrated the Nemo Invex II, an “accurate efficient easy to use and application-rich benchmarking system for wireless networks”. The system combines powerful,software and scalable, robust hardware to create a strong solution forbenchmarking wireless networks and devices.Nomanini demonstrated its rugged point of sale terminal and highly scalable,

cloud-based backend, which together enabled enterprises to efficiently distributeprepaid mobile and electricity vouchers and facilitate micropayments in marketsacross Africa and beyond. Vahid Monadjem, Nomanini co-founder and CEOexplained, “We wanted the device to be simple and accessible to people of alllanguages, and even those who can’t read, so we decided not to include a screen.This made the device much more resilient and forced us to ensure that the processfor accepting transactions is as easy as possible.”

“TO FIGHT FIRE with fire and help MNOs claw back the revenuethey are losing to the hundreds of OTT players in the field isone of our main goals,” said Bill Hearmon, Voxox director,business development Africa, at AfricaCom, held recently inCape Town, South Africa.Voxox, the fully-fledged telephone company, which has oftenbeen referred to as ‘Skype on steroids’, is leveraging the‘cloud’ to deliver a full suite of highly innovativecommunication services affordably on a global basis.“We design our award-winning solutions to be re-branded anddeployed by our partners within a matter of weeks and offer anextremely flexible solution and business models with no CAPEXusing revenue share or white label,” said Hearmon.“Our solutions are to be strengthened by the Cloud Phone,which is a breakthrough virtual PBX and businesscommunications solution that is affordable and very easy toset up and offers the ability to accept calls using a professional(IVR) greeting, enable extension dialing to any employee ordepartment, route the calls to their phone numbers (Reach MeAnywhere), leave visual voicemail messages and recording,” headded. “We are partnering with some of the largest OEMs in theworld to offer Cloud Phone under their brand and several MNOsare trialing the product to offer business communicationservices to their small to medium enterprise customers andgenerate more MRR.” “Our Cloud Phone and our Voxox applications run on ouraward-winning service delivery platform, which is currentlyprocessing more than three billion calls and hundreds ofmillions of messages per month to our wholesale, SME andconsumer customers,” said Hearmon. Cloud Phone, currently used in North America, is to beintroduced in Africa and the Middle East later in 2015.

Voxox is leveraging the ‘cloud’ todeliver a full suite of highly

innovative, affordablecommunication services

Gabi Starobinski, cVidya regional sales accountmanager

Pedro Mariano Teixeira, WeDo Technologies

Voxox fights for MNOs with the Cloud

Phone

Innovations around AfricaCom

CVidya addresses new challenges for marketers




AGENDA

13

AS WIRELESS DEVICES like smartphonesand tablets continue to grow in popularityin Africa, with 800mn people out of a totalpopulation of 1.125bn now owning a mobiledevice, more and more people in the regionare demanding Internet connectivity. Thisdesire to connect has powered a lot ofgrowth in the African wirelesscommunications market over the past yearand yet still only around 300 million peoplehave Internet access.

Why is satellite key to achievingwidespread coverage?When it comes to Internet connectivity,Africa presents a unique challenge. Notonly is it a vast continent, it also haslargely underdeveloped areas where apermanent infrastructure is only justbeginning to emerge. In addition, as anoperator, we also have to contend withscarce power sources, regulatory issues forshipping and licensing, and a rockypolitical landscape. Consequently,providing seamless Internet access topeople all over Africa would prove to bevery expensive and difficult.

The role of satellite This is where satellite comes in. At LiquidTelecom, we work according to ourphilosophy that everyone in Africa has theright to be connected and our goal is toachieve just that. Over the last decade, thisvision to connect Africa has helped uschange the face of communications in theregion, with satellite playing a crucial partin that.Although fibre networks are the fastestavailable broadband solution to provideInternet access, the installation of suchnetworks is not always possible. As aresult, we use satellite to complement ourfibre networks, especially in rural andremote areas. This past year has beenparticularly busy for Liquid Telecom’ssatellite business, thanks in no small partto our partner Newtec and our long historyof VSAT in Africa. Projects have rangedfrom remote brand connectivity forfinancial institutions to Internet access forremote communities. VSAT continues to bea big part of Liquid Telecom’s business andone of the fastest growing departmentswithin the company.

Liquid Telecom and Newtec Most notably over the past year, LiquidTelecom has completed the installation ofa Newtec Sat3Play Broadband Hub andterminals in Johannesburg, providing bothbroadband connectivity and enterprise

services in Sub-Saharan Africa. We choseto procure Newtec technology for thisproject because we knew we would get thebest technical and commercial advantageto take our enterprise solution andbroadband services to markets across theAfrican continent.Since installation, the Newtec hub hasgone from strength to strength. Almost athousand terminals have been installed todate and more are on the way. The servicehas proven popular with customers,ranging from home users and enterprisecustomers to state funded and governmentprojects. The service has also beenrecognised with a number of awards, themost recent of which was an AfricaComaward for Most Innovative VSAT Product.This was possible due to the technicalcapabilities of the Newtec VSAT platformand our excellent partnership.

The next stepsElsewhere, we are also constantly lookingto improve network uptime and reliabilityof our fibre network, which is the largestindependent international fibre networkacross Africa. The network is alreadycombined with a VSAT system to improveuptime and reliability.Again, this is where the Newtec

technology comes in. In traditional systems, you have to chooseto operate between SCPC and MF-TDMA,making it a one-time choice. Newtec hasthree different technologies available thatcan be dynamically selected to offeroptimal performance for a given serviceand user profile. In addition to SCPC linksand MF-TDMA, a third and innovativetechnology called Mx-DMA™ is alsooffered. This highly efficient and patentedreturn technology combines the bestfeatures of MF-TDMA and SCPCtechnologies together, solving that difficultchoice of selecting one or the other.

The Mx-DMA technology is available onNewtec Dialog and with our fibre networkgrowing at a rate of 100km per week andour continued growth plans for the satelliteoperation, this fits in perfectly. Once theNewtec Broadband hub is filled, we’ll belooking at the next step in satellite - theNewtec Dialog multiservice platform andits capabilities. This will assist us with ourenterprise customers, which require a veryflexible approach in what you offer. Ourapproach is to build solutions which fittheir requirements rather than trying to fittheir specification into a product whichalready exists. Newtec Dialog would helpus build on that approach and enable us togo after all market verticals across thecontinent while offering increasedefficiency.

Working together to achieve a bright digitalfuture for Africa Ultimately, our aim is to build Africa’sdigital future and make communicatingeasier for everyone, not just our customers.The global VSAT forum and ITU recognisethe regulatory challenges that we have toovercome in order to do this and it is verymuch about working with Governments andconvincing them that facilitatingconnectivity is important for theircommunities. As we work towards this goal, demand isalso vital. I predict we will see this fromtwo areas. Firstly, schools in rural areasconnecting for eLearning. Secondly, as ourcustomers grow their businesses, theirconnectivity demands will also increase. Overall, with the right technology andsolutions, I am confident that thechallenges that exist can be overcome andAfrica’s bright digital future realised.

Scott Mumford,group head of satellite services atLiquid Telecom

Liquid Telecom and Newtec join forces to connect Africa by satellite


Liquid Telecom uses Newtec technology to provide broadband connectivity and enterprise servicesin Sub-Saharan Africa


LE SERVICE DE commerce mobile, AirtelMoney, a franchi le cap du million declients générateurs de revenus enRépublique démocratique du Congo (RDC): 1 million d’utilisateurs enregistrés.Franchir le seuil du million est significatifen ce que la RDC a le plus grand potentield’argent mobile en Afrique en plus duNigéria et de l'Ethiopie, comme l’indiquentles statistiques de l'industrie. La RDC sepositionne comme le seul marché enAfrique - en dehors de la région de laCommunauté de l'Afrique orientale et duZimbabwe - où l'argent mobile a franchi untel cap.Christian de Faria, le PDG de Airtel Afrique, a déclaré que "l'importance d'un canal financier sûr, sécuritaire etpratique ne peut être surestimée en Afrique sub-saharienne, où les entreprises comme Airtel investissent pours'assurer que la bonne infrastructure est en place, de sorte que les économies puissent pleinement maximiserles opportunités existantes et potentielles".Alain Kahasha, le directeur général de Airtel RDC pense que ceci est une étape-clé pour Airtel Money et noussommes ravis que le service est en passe de devenir utile à la conduite de l'économie de la RDC et àl'autonomisation des personnes. Il a dit: “Alors que nous célébrons cette réalisation, la RDC reste l'un desmarchés où l'argent mobile a un impact socio-économique, les services d'avant-garde tels que le paiement dessalaires de la fonction publique, en partenariat avec le gouvernement."Sur le chemin vers cette réalisation, Airtel RDC a établi et élargi des partenariats durables avec les institutionsfinancières pour élargir l'accès de l'argent mobile résultant d'une révolution numérique en RDC. L'importanceet l'effet positif de l'argent mobile sont maintenant largement ressentis par les petites et moyennes entreprises(PME) contribuant ainsi de manière significative à la croissance de l'économie.


AGENDA

14

DILIGENT, FOURNISSEUR DEla solution DiligentBoardbooks, le portail pourconseil d’administration leplus utilisé au monde, aannoncé récemment que plusde 400 sociétés d’Europe, duMoyenOrient et d’Afriqueutilisent à présent sa solutionen vue de produire, diffuser etcommuniquer desinformations confidentielles àleur conseil d’administration,équipes de direction etcomités de gestion.« La sécurité de l’information

est primordiale pour toutes lesentreprises, quelle que soit leurtaille, et c’est l’une des raisonsessentielles pour lesquelleselles choisissent d’utiliser lasolution Diligent Boardbooks »,déclare Charlie Horrell,Directeur général chez Diligentpour l’Europe, le MoyenOrientet l’Afrique.

SONY PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS et Sonic Foundry a developpé une solutiontechnologique visant à introduire des déploiements de capture de cours plusefficaces et plus évolutifs. La prochaine génération des enregistreursMediasite prend en charge un flux vidéo et audio synchronisé directement àpartir de caméras IP telles que la caméra PTZ télécommandée Full HD SRG-300SE de Sony. Sony a développé cette solution spécifiquement pourfonctionner avec Mediasite en mettant l'accent sur la fourniture d'unesynchronisation audio améliorée. Une fois capturée par Mediasite, la vidéo etl'audio sont alors gérées, indexées et diffusées via la Mediasite EnterpriseVideo Platform.De pair avec Mediasite, le leader mondial du marché en capture de cours,cette caméra à distance innovante de Sony permet d'étendre la portée d'unecapture vidéo de haute qualité aux salles de classe et aux espacesd'apprentissage de n'importe quelle taille et de n'importe quel niveau depréparation AV pour répondre à la demande croissante qui existe pour lestreaming et l'enregistrement des cours.« Nous sommes fiers de collaborer avec Sonic Foundry pour offrir des optionsinnovantes et économiques aux clients désireux d'étendre aggressivementleurs déploiements de capture de cours avec vidéo », a déclaré AlessandroMarcello, directeur produits des solutions de communication visuelle chezSony Europe . « Nous sommes heureux de fournir plus d'options qui leurpermettront de moduler la capture vidéo et de surmonter les barrièrestechnologique potentielles dans les salles. »« Avec des collaborations telles que celle-ci, nous aidons nos clients àsurmonter les difficultés qu'ils rencontrent quand ils projettent desdéploiements vidéo de plus en plus centralisés et importants. Ceci leurpermet d'envisager un avenir dans lequel la capture des cours peut êtredéployée intelligemment, avec agilité et à échelle à travers le campus », aajouté Rob Lipps, vice-président exécutif de Sonic Foundry.

Christian de Faria, le PDG de Airtel Afrique, et Kin Kiey Mulumba,Ministre de Télécommunications, République démocratique du Congo

Sonic Foundry collabore avec Sony pour étendre la

portée des déploiements de capture de coursP R O F E S S I O N A LC O M M U N I C A T I O NCORPORATION et Nedaa,l'unique et le plusimportant opérateurTETRA de Dubaï, ont eul'honneur de s'associeravec HyteraCommunications, unfournisseur de premierplan de communications

radio mobiles professionnelles, qui a offert un support decommunications fiable et homogène à l'événement cycliste majeur - leDubai Tour 2015.

Le premier Dubai Tour a été organisé en 2014, puis la course s'estélargie pour accueillir, en 2015, 16 équipes du World Tour. Dès le début,Nedaa a été officiellement choisie par le comité d'organisation pourdevenir le fournisseur de solutions de communications, en raison de sonexcellence en termes de planification et de services techniques.

A l'occasion du 2nd Dubai Tour, Nedaa a intégré Z1p, le tout dernierémetteur-récepteur radio TETRA portatif d'Hytera, à son réseau, qui offreune couverture intégrale des 4 pistes pour une longueur totale de prèsde 700km. Hytera Z1p a été développé en correspondance parfaite avecTETRA, la norme ouverte ETSI. Cette solution radio possède unerobustesse de norme militaire et des fonctionnalités permettant degarantir un niveau élevé de sécurité publique, associées à un boîtierultra-fin, d'à peine 23mm, comportant un clavier complet. L'étude sursite réalisée par Nedaa montre que son système et le Z1p d'Hytera Z1pagissent en synergie parfaite dans centres-ville aux nombreux gratte-ciels, les terrains dégagés et les collines.

Diligent gagne 400clients dans l’EMEA

Airtel Money, le plus grand service financier en RDC

Nedaa et Hytera fournissent des radios TETRA declasse mondiale pour le Dubai Tour 2015


Hytera Z1p au DubaiTour 2015


Au salon CES, Ford expose de nouvelles idées et répondre aux défis de plus enplus nombreux ou croissants en matière de transport

Un plan demobilité intelligente

CESTransport

AU CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Show(CES) 2015, Ford montre commentl’innovation est utilisée nonseulement pour créer de nouveaux

véhicules perfectionnés, mais aussi pourchanger la mobilité du monde en résolvant lesproblèmes de transport mondiald’aujourd’hui qui sont de plus en plusnombreux.

L’innovation dans toutes activitésL’entreprise a annoncé son plan Ford demobilité intelligente qui doit utiliserl’innovation pour la faire passer au niveausupérieur en termes de connectivité, demobilité, de véhicules autonomes,d'expérience client et de big data. Ford aégalement annoncé 25 expériences de mobilitédans le monde cette année pour tester desidées révolutionnaires de transports afin decréer de meilleures expériences client, desmodèles d’utilisation et d’expédition plusflexibles et une collaboration sociale qui soientgratifiants pour les clients.

Ford au salon CES annonce un plan demobilité intelligente et 25 expériencesmondiales visant à changer la mobilité dumonde

Ford au salon CES annonce un plan Ford demobilité intelligente qui doit utiliserl’innovation pour faire passer la société auniveau supérieur en termes de connectivité,mobilité, véhicules autonomes, expérienceclient et big data 25 expériences mondiales demobilité ont été lancées cette année pour testerde nouvelles idées et répondre aux défis deplus en plus nombreux ou croissants en matièrede transport � les connaissances obtenuesdétermineront les futurs investissements deFord

Ford expose SYNC 3, son système deconnectivité embarqué le plus avancé etprésente ses véhicules semiautonomes sur lemarché aujourd’hui et ses véhiculesentièrement autonomes en cours dedéveloppement

« Alors même que nous exposons desvoitures connectées et que nous partageonsnos projets de véhicules autonomes, noussommes ici au CES avec un but plus noble », aindiqué le PDG de Ford, Mark Fields. « Nouspoussons l’innovation dans toutes nos activitésafin d’être une entreprise axée sur les produits

et sur la mobilité, et pouvoir au final changer lamobilité du monde tout comme notre fondateurHenry Ford l’a fait il y a 111 ans. »

Au CES également, Ford fait ladémonstration du SYNC 3, son système deconnectivité embarqué le plus avancé tout enprésentant ses véhicules semiautonomes sur lemarché aujourd’hui et ses véhiculesentièrement autonomes en cours dedéveloppement.

Des expériences mondiales de mobilitéLe plan Ford de mobilité intelligente vacommencer par 25 expériences (huit enAmérique du Nord, neuf en Europe et enAfrique, sept en Asie et une en Amérique duSud). Chaque expérience est conçue pourprévoir les souhaits et les besoins des clientsdans l’écosystème des transports de demain.

« Nous envisageons un monde où lesvéhicules se parlent les uns aux autres, où lesconducteurs et les véhicules communiquentavec l’infrastructure des villes pour soulager lesembouteillages, et où les gens partagentrégulièrement des véhicules ou des formesmultiples de transport pour leurs trajetsquotidiens », a déclaré M. Fields. « Lesexpériences que nous entreprenonsaujourd’hui vont conduire à un modèle detransport et de mobilité inédit d'ici les dixprochaines années et audelà.

SYNC 3Également au CES, Ford a présenté SYNC 3, lesystème de communication et dedivertissement de la société qui est plus rapide,plus intuitif et plus facile à utiliser avec unemeilleure réponse aux commandes duconducteur.

La technologie de reconnaissance vocaleplus conversationnelle du SYNC 3, son écrantactile offrant une expérience davantagesimilaire à celle d’un smartphone et sesgraphismes faciles à lire aideront des millionsde conducteurs à être connectés à leur vie et àcontrôler leur smartphone quand ils sont sur laroute.

Véhicules autonomes FordFord a aussi présenté ses véhiculessemiautonomes sur le marché aujourd’hui etses véhicules entièrement autonomes en coursde développement pour le futur.

« Nous construisons et vendons déjà desvéhicules semiautonomes qui utilisent deslogiciels et des capteurs pour aider austationnement (parallèle et perpendiculaire),ajuster la vitesse en fonction de la circulation ouactionner les freins en cas d’urgence », aindiqué M. Nair. « Il y aura un véhiculeautonome Ford à l’avenir, et nous prenons trèsau sérieux la commercialisation de ce type devéhicule. » �

Le PDG de Ford, Mark Fieldsau CES 2015

Communications Africa Issue 1 2015 15www.communicationsafrica.com

S04 CAF 1 2015 - Report 01_Layout 1 16/02/2015 14:32

A strong focus on LTE deployment and operation in Africa, addressing monetisation,traffic management, spectrum management, and network development

Creating connectedcommunities alongside AfricaCom

AFRICACOM LTE

AS LTE SUBSCRIPTIONS in Africacontinue to grow, and with 50 percent of the population expected to becovered by LTE networks by 2018 [1],

LTE stands to change the region’scommunication landscape forever. With this inmind, the LTE Africa event co-located withAfricaCom 2014 provided the perfect setting tobring together the pan-African LTE ecosystem.The three-day conference and exhibition inCape Town explored the key contributingfactors for LTE success, including thedevelopment of sustainable business models,the need for enhanced spectrum managementand backhaul optimisation.

Challenges and opportunitiesLTE Africa kicked off with a conference speechfrom Safaricom’s CTO, Thibaud Rerolle, on thekey factors for the success of LTE in Kenya.Following this, the session offered an overviewof the practical challenges hindering LTEdeployment and how these can be solved.There was a panel on overcoming the obstaclesof successful LTE deployment, attended bysenior representatives from Airtel Africa,Surfline Communications, Alcatel Lucent, MTCNamibia and Smile Communications. The firstday of the event also included a dedicatedsession led by the 3GPP addressing a range ofimportant standardisation issues. Closing theday, speakers from China CommunicationsServices and Telkom Mobile focused on theopportunities and challenges of TD-LTE inAfrica, including combining TD-LTE and FD-LTEnetworks, using TD-LTE as a differentiator andthe opportunities for spectrum efficiency withTD-LTE.

One of the speakers, MTC Nambia CEOMiguel Geraldes, said, “LTE for our industry, inparticular for Mobile Network Operators, is nota yes or a no, but a when. Regarding this, MTCstarted very early and focused on LTE in May2012 and is now reaching a relevant successcase that can be shown to others; increasing3.6 folds total data since the launch of the4GLTE until now, of which the 4GLTEcomponent is currently generating the datathat is processed by MTC's Network. MTC'sachievement's together with otheraccomplishments of others MNO's, in myopinion, is valuable enough to attend the LTEAfrica event.”

Technical issuesThe event's second day addressed the keytechnical challenges of LTE deployment, suchas the need to optimise core and radio accessnetworks to cater for increased traffic from LTE,the implementation of fibre backhaul, test andmeasurement solutions and network securityconcerns. Wilson Berthold Tsibo, group CTIO ofAzur Telecom Group, revealed how toguarantee a successful LTE rollout, includingthe way to access new spectrum space for LTEand how to maximise the opportunities forspectrum-reframing. Day Two closed withdiscussions on optimising the fibre backhaul -with Dr Marten Scheffer, general manager ofnetwork engineering at Neotel, analysedschemes to share LTE backhaul and addressthe challenge of financing LTE backhaul. SmileCommunications COO Tom Allen, whopresented at the conference, said, “LTE Africais one of very few events in the region whereLTE is given centre stage. As a very rare animal- a green field new entrant in the mobile sector- we feel it is an ideal venue to promote ourview of the future using LTE and to discussother people’s approaches in an open andfriendly manner. We believe that LTE willtransform the data and voice markets in Africa,but the exact shape of that transformation isstill being created, participating in the eventwill help shape what Smile delivers to themarket and we hope that what we say andmore importantly do, will help shape whatothers do.”

Presenting the business caseCommercial aspects of LTE rollout, particularlyin regards to monetising LTE and effectivebusiness models, were the focus of the finalday of the event, bringing together a number ofoperator case studies. Irene Charnley, CEO ofSmile Communications, opened the day with acase study presentation focusing onovercoming the challenges of an African LTElaunch, addressing key monetisation concernsand showcasing the revenue opportunities.This was followed by a presentation fromSurfline’s director of marketing, Rosy Fynn,showcasing their LTE deployments in Ghana.Day Three of the LTE Africa event also provideda platform for presentations from the CEO ofMTC Namibia, the senior director of MobileCore Planning at Etisalat UAE, and Vodacom’s

head of m-health in emerging markets who allhighlighted activities and plans for monetisingLTE and making the most of these faster andmore efficient networks.

The event finished with a review of thedevices that enable LTE at present, and thosedevices set to bring LTE to more Africans. Thekey analysis was centred around how thesedevices can be made accessible, affordableand accountable through collaboration withnetwork operators and device manufacturers.Mohammed Redi Abshero, senior director ofmobile core planning at Etisalat UAE, said,“The fast pace of mobile broadband, excitingapps and ever increasing customer demands,requires cooperation among the Telecomindustry. LTE Africa event is a very goodopportunity to discuss the latest developmentin LTE and to share VoLTE experience.Moreover, it is the most important event tomeet and to share notions with the leadingexperts and decision maker in the region.”

LTE Africa and AfricaCom together hostedover 160 exhibitors from across Africa -including Vodacom, Telkom, Google, NokiaSolutions and Networks, and Samsung. �

1. Source: ABI Research (February 2014)

Communications Africa Issue 1 201516 www.communicationsafrica.com

Innovative ideas from SafaricomSAFARICOM HAS LAUNCHED aninteractive portal dubbed Zindua Café(www.safaricom.co.ke/zindua) throughwhich external innovators anddevelopers countrywide will be able toshare their ideas, applications andprototypes with Safaricom.“Over the years, we have receivednumerous proposals from customers onnew ideas, products and services. Thisportal will serve as a central place wherethose ideas are captured while ensuringthat Intellectual Property and other lawsare given due regard,” said Joe Ogutu,director of strategy and innovation atSafaricom.Over the last few months, Safaricom hasengaged the innovation ecosystemthrough a number of initiatives,including the Safaricom Spark VentureFund, and the annual Safaricom Appstarand Appwiz challenges.


As demand for electronic test equipment increases, high definition oscilloscopes enablevastly improved signal analysis in high definition

Sharper signals,more precise pictures

NETWORKTest & Measurement

EFFORTS TO WIDEN network coverage acrossAfrica, and upgrade 2G and 3G networks to 4Gin South Africa, is driving the demand forelectronic test equipment in the

telecommunication sector. Telecom operatorsare increasingly looking for spectrum analysersto test and validate the mobile networks toimprove the quality of their service as signalstrength in Africa is very poor. Analysis from Frost& Sullivan, published in 'African Electronic TestEquipment Market', finds that the market earnedrevenues of US$28.3mn in 2013 and estimatesthis to reach US$47.5mn in 2019.

"The growing demand for oscilloscopes, signalgenerators, and spectrum analysers in theeducation sector is lending momentum to themarket," said Frost & Sullivan measurement &instrumentation research analyst JananiBalasundar. "Market participants should roll outcomprehensive electronic test equipment withmultiple functionalities to cater to the needs oftechnical research and PhD students."

Security investments in the aerospace anddefence industry make it the largest end user of spectrum analysersfor frequency-monitoring applications, network analysers, signalgenerators, and power meters are growing the market. Heavyinfrastructural investments in other industries are also fuelling theuptake of millimetres and boosting prospects for electronic testequipment manufacturers. However, the poor economic conditionand unstable currency of South Africa, a trading partner to severalneighbouring sub-Saharan countries, is delaying projects and slowingdown the growth of the electronic test equipment market in all ofthese countries.

"Electronic test equipment vendors should focus on fast-developing countries like Ghana and Nigeria, where there is greatmarket potential," advised Janani. "They must also constantlymake end users aware of the latest technologies in the test andmeasurement industry to strengthen their market positionacross Africa."

Improvements in observations of electrical signalsThe study covers oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers, networkanalysers, millimetres, signal generators, power meters, electroniccounters, logic analysers, and arbitrary waveform generators. Onearea of particular interest, from a telecoms perspective, isdevelopment of oscilloscope use. And one manufacturer isdemonstrating leadership. A new high definition (HD) modeincreases the vertical resolution of the Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) RTOand R&S RTE oscilloscopes to up to 16 bits - a 256-foldimprovement over 8-bit resolution. Waveforms are sharper andshow signal details that would otherwise be masked by noise.Users benefit from even more precise analysis results.

High definition describes the capability of R&S RTO and R&S RTEoscilloscopes to work with applications for which a high verticalresolution is essential. This is especially the case when low-voltagecomponents on a signal that also exhibits high-voltagecomponents need to be analysed in detail. One example is thecharacterization of switch mode power supplies. The voltagesacross the switching device must be determined during the off andon times within the same acquisition. Because the voltagevariations during these switching cycles can be several hundredvolts, a high resolution is essential for the precise measurement ofsmall voltage components.

Working with better ratio and resolutionThe high definition mode increases the vertical resolution of Rohde& Schwarz oscilloscopes to up to 16 bits - a 256-fold improvementover 8-bit resolution. To achieve this higher resolution, the signalis low-pass filtered directly after the A/D converter. The filterreduces the noise, thereby increasing the signal-to-noise ratio.Users can adjust the bandwidth of the lowpass filter from 10 kHz to500 MHz as needed to match the characteristics of the appliedsignal. The lower the filter bandwidth, the higher the resolution.

The higher resolution leads to a sharper waveform display,showing signal details that would otherwise be masked by noise.To be able to analyse these waveforms in detail, the inputsensitivity of the oscilloscopes has been increased to 500 µV/div.Thanks to the low-noise frontend and the highly accurate single-core A/D converter, the R&S RTO and R&S RTE oscilloscopes havean excellent dynamic range and measurement accuracy. Switchingon high definition mode allows users to benefit from even more. �

High definition oscilloscopes from Rohde & Schwarz offer signalanalysis with 16-bit vertical resolution



As data traffic continues to grow in the continent, operators need to find an efficient andcost-effective way to offer a richly featured real-time interface between individuals and thedigital world

Africa’s real-time demand fornetwork evolution

NETWORK Digital

THE AFRICAN CONTINENT is rapidly developing economically,socially and politically. As it does, its citizens and businessesare working hard to shed the label of ‘developing’ in order tobe considered as a ‘developed’ continent. Nowhere is this

more evident than across the telecoms sector, where CommunicationService Providers (CSPs) are rapidly developing their networks tomeet the growing demand for mobile users, devices and mobilepenetration across the region.

International Data Corporation (IDC) has predicted that thisdevelopment will continue as smartphone ownership explodes andAfrican mobile users become more sophisticated in their use of mobileapplications and data-centric services.

Consumers now expect a more data-orientated mobile experience,coinciding with the growing adoption of OTT services, bankingapplications and location based services. There are also more instancesin many regions, notably sub-Saharan Africa, of people using theirmobile phones to access the web. As data traffic continues to grow,operators need to find an efficient and cost-effective way to transcendsimple person-to-person voice communication, and offer a richlyfeatured real-time interface between individuals and their digital world.A tangible response to this challenge will be to start by focusing ondelivering real-time capabilities for policy and charging.

This transformation will give CSPs the agility and flexibility to competein Africa’s competitive and bourgeoning telecoms marketplace. It willallow them to quickly and cost-effectively respond, change course asneeded, adopt more appropriate strategies to support emergingbusiness models and high volumes of network traffic, and supportdevice proliferation.

Currently, the consumer market in Africa is buoyant and is the keydriver for network development. However, with competition mounting,the subsequent price pressure is putting strain on the top line revenuesof traditional CSPs.

Working with tight budgets, CSPs need to ensure that they provide aconsistent customer experience otherwise defection and customer

churn will occur rapidly. At the same time, however, they cannot affordthe huge CAPEX and OPEX outgoings established Western operatorsspend to maintain high levels of service. When faced with the challengeof remaining highly efficient and nimble, but also ensuring outgoings arekept to a minimum to maintain profitable, the task is clear to see.Fundamental to achieving and meeting the demands of a modern CSP isthe acceptance that existing approaches to online charging and policyare fundamentally limited.

Users are increasingly moving away from traditional voice and SMS,and now additionally using their devices for data-intensive activities.This is not to say that voice has become redundant, but it needs to beredesigned for an LTE world. This is putting pressure on operators todevelop real-time processing to meet these growing expectations.

Many CSPs on the continent (with the exception of MTN andVodacom) cannot afford to run their own dedicated data centres or IPtransit networks. Instead they require ‘low cost to serve’ IT systems thatcan benefit from ‘plug and play’ technology. IT systems that facilitatenew data-centric applications, services and personalised pricing anddiscounted deals, provide a more personal customer experience and, asa result, carry stronger future revenue growth potential.

CSPs need to stop relying on old thinking and old technology to solvetoday’s challenges. Instead they need to compete, not on dated telecomterms, but on the fast-paced, customer-centric innovative terms ofmodern service providers. This means breaking free of the shackles ofvendor lock-in and proprietary ‘closed’ solutions. Instead they need toenable their own highly configurable changes in their system, withoutrelying on hardware vendors, who are notoriously slow and expensivewhen implementing change.

By achieving the necessary network transformation to enable real-time charging and policy solutions, CSPs can open up a wide range ofopportunity for business development. The finance, retail, health,education and agriculture sectors all benefit from data connectivity andservices

The African continent is experiencing a far more accelerated state ofchange than the rest of the globe. It is extremely important that operatorsprepare themselves for the explosion of data traffic, and are equipped tomeet the new demands from their subscribers.

The key to this transition isn’t merely a technological issue as manymay think: it’s not simply about old hardware becoming virtualised orbilling service becoming ‘real-time’; it’s not about having an edgy brandadvocate or social media profile, and nor is it just about a change fromone customer approach to another — rather, it’s about a fundamentalchange to the ideology of the business that enables cost effect, agilityand flexibility. �

Jennifer Kyriakakis, founder and V-P marketing at MATRIXXUsers are increasingly moving away from traditional voice and SMS, and nowadditionally using their devices for data-intensive activities

To solve challenges, CSPs need to competeon the fast-paced, customer-centricinnovative terms of modern serviceproviders



L’heure est venue de mettre la révolution du haut débit au service de la population, selonle directeur général d'Alcatel-Lucent

Une visionconcernant l’Afrique

OPINIONMarché

TOUT D’ABORD, POSONS-NOUS une question : Pourquoil’Afrique ? Parce qu’elle est au cœur de l’avenir. Il s’agit d’unerégion importante, en pleine croissance et pour nous, c’estévidemment un marché cible. Globalement, l’Afrique

représente l’un de nos marchés les plus prometteurs – l’accès trèshaut débit et les réseaux IP sont importants pour le développementdu continent.Le marché africain a besoin de ces technologies pour les années à

venir, et les fournisseurs de services et les opérateurs africains nousles demandent déjà. Notre Plan Shift, notre plan stratégique mondial,est précisément axé sur les technologies qui permettent de répondreaux problèmes de connectivité du continent africain.L’Afrique a différents besoins de connectivité, déterminants pour

son développement économique et social. Son développement futurrequiert par exemple une disponibilité accrue des services très hautdébit. Le passage au numérique est un important catalyseur dechangement, de développement et d’innovation. L’infrastructure ducontinent aura besoin de davantage de capacité pour offrir uneconnectivité très haut débit de haute qualité et fournir des services àvaleur ajoutée aux utilisateurs finaux, tant dans les villes que dansles régions rurales.Grâce aux investissements réalisés ces dernières années mais

aussi grâce aux technologies sous-marines d’Alcatel-Lucent, l’Afriqueest désormais reliée au reste du monde via des milliers de kilomètresde systèmes de réseaux sous-marins, dont la plupart ont été déployéspar Alcatel-Lucent. Bon nombre de pays africains sont connectés auxdorsales terrestres et aux plateformes centrales de la région, mais laconnectivité reste insuffisante dans les zones rurales. L’objectif dedéveloppement et la stratégie d’Alcatel-Lucent en Afrique resterontl’accélération du déploiement de réseaux d’accès très haut débit àtravers le continent, en connectant les utilisateurs au moyen detechnologies telles que le LTE, DSL, GPON, les small cells et le WiFi.Dans le monde actuel, l’innovation ignore les frontières et les pays

d’Afrique ne peuvent rester enclavés. La mondialisation del’économie et la croissance du monde numérique ont amélioré lescommunications à travers le monde. En Afrique et partout ailleurs,Alcatel-Lucent coopère avec les gouvernements, les autoritésréglementaires et les opérateurs, mais également avec lesinvestisseurs pour promouvoir les investissements dans le secteurdes télécommunications, notamment en faveur du développement del’Internet et des technologies très haut débit.

Des projets publics et privésCes collaborations nous permettent d’identifier différents modèlesd’exécution des programmes nationaux, en mettant en œuvre desprojets publics-privés et en mettant à leur service notre leadership,ainsi que notre expérience et nos bonnes pratiques, acquises dans lemonde entier. Nous pensons que le succès de la mise en œuvre et del’exécution de la stratégie haut débit d’un gouvernement dépend engrande partie de la mobilisation d’un solide écosystème d’acteurspublics et privés. « Le haut débit pour tous » est un joli sloganmarketing, mais « À chaque succès son réseau » est la réalité. Je suisconvaincu que l’accès universel pour tous abolira les obstacles qui

freinent l’amélioration de l’expérience haut débit mobile del’utilisateur ; c’est l’unique moyen économique de répondre à lademande croissante en haut débit mobile. Le secteur et lesfournisseurs de services changent. Ils ont besoin d’un fournisseur detechnologies traditionnel mais aussi d’un partenaire innovant, qui lesaccompagnera dans la course pour façonner l’avenir : pour passerd’une innovation de pointe à des capacités opérationnelles prouvéeset d’excellence, et répondre aux exigences des réseaux.L’Afrique est une région très spéciale pour moi. C’est un

continent riche d’une longue histoire, riche par sa diversité decultures et d’environnements, avec d’importants développementsdans de nombreux pays, même s’ils ne se font pas toujours aumême rythme, beaucoup de créativité et d’innovation. C’est uncontinent qui présente encore de nombreux défis et problèmeslocaux, mais qui dispose d’un atout exceptionnel, plein d’énergie :sa population. Le succès et la prospérité du continent reposent surses habitants. �

Michel Combesdirecteur général, Alcatel-Lucent

Michel Combes, directeur général, Alcatel-Lucent



The systems cover all, or part, of site security, site hygiene, NOC supervision, andcorrective and preventive maintenance in a wireless telephone system

Optimal managementof base stations in Africa

NETWORK Base Station Management

BASE STATION (BS) MANAGEMENT isbroad description of a range ofactivities and processes requiredat, around and in relation to a cell

site to ensure the optimum performance of anetwork. It is about people, processes andtools, encompassing everything from sitesecurity, site hygiene and network operationscentre (NOC) supervision, to corrective andpreventive maintenance and much, muchmore. Tim Guest spoke to a couple of expertsfrom leading infrastructure players NokiaNetworks and Alcatel-Lucent.

In urban, semi-urban and rural Africa,standard base stations supporting today’s 2G,3G and 4G networks typically comprise acontainerised shelter or outdoor cabinettogether with a power source if off-grid, such asa diesel genset with external diesel tanks orsolar panels if alternative energy systems are inplace, together with air-con units, a perimeterfence, civil works such as a concretefoundation, as well as some form of securitypresence. Although sounds pretty standard inthe world of cell sites, management of basestations is an all-too-important task, one that

keeps the network running and the lines open.According to Khalid Wasfi, MENA, Turkey

and Etisalat GA cluster leader for managedservices in Alcatel-Lucent’s serviceorganisation’s EMEA Regional Business Centre,said that such an installation requires morethan simply a tickle with a feather duster; itneeds managing.

“Base station management is a broad termand might cover all, or part, of site security, sitehygiene, NOC supervision, and corrective andpreventive maintenance.” He toldCommunications Africa that the responsibilityfor the task of base station management inAfrica has evolved recently and while it can fallon the shoulders of either the mobile operators

or outsourced infrastructure providers, this ischanging. “Recently in Africa, it is trending thatoperators are selling their tower infrastructuresto infrastructure providers and leasing back thesites, while infrastructure managementremains with the providers.”

He added that in remote regions of Africawhere satellite-backhauled base stations andremote cell sites are deployed in some regionsthe base station management depends on whoowns the infrastructure or to whom it isoutsourced, but it is done in the same manneras any normal base station. “However,sometimes their SLAs are more relaxed thanurban sites due to distance, non-paved roads,security concerns, depending on hostility of theregion.”

David Gaul, head of Central East and WestAfrica region, Nokia Networks, toldCommunications Africa that BS management,‘from a vendor services perspective’ is basedaround three things — people, processes andtools. “People cover all the organisationalaspects and competence needed to maintain,operate and optimise the network equipments.As the technology has evolved and the networkis composed of multiple technologies, beinginstalled by a multi-skilled organisation isrequired in the field.”

He added that process is a crucial part of thebase station management. “The processessimplify the activities of the people on theground. A great focus is given to rationalise,standardise, centralise and automate theseprocesses to achieve higher availability of thenetwork, a better quality experience for thecustomer and finally, more efficiency.”

“Tools represent an essential part of themanagement of a base station today. As thetechnology evolves, there are more and moreactivities that can be done remotely. Thisguarantees a faster response to networkproblems and centralisation of many activitiesin the NOC. Tools such as Nokia NetAct OSS,play a vital role when it comes to networkmanagement; it can integrate all networkelements and even beyond, making networkmanagement easier for operators.” Gaul addedthat different kinds of management functionscan be handled by a powerful tool, such asNetAct monitoring sub-systems for faultmanagement, configuration management,performance management, and because most

With much site sharing of towers or other infrastructure taking place across Africa, an external neutralplayer is taken on to run the field maintenance

BS management, ‘from avendor services

perspective’ is based aroundthree things — people,processes and tools




NETWORKBase Station Management

of the network is heterogeneous, using multi-vendor and multi-technology, it is essential tointegrate tools that can cover the largestspectrum of network equipment.

In relation to who conducts managementactivities, Gaul said that it depends on theoperator strategy. “Some customers preferkeeping control to themselves, as it may bewithin their core competence area operatingtheir own equipment, while others prefer tooutsource to expert vendors such asourselves.”

He added that managed services operationby a supplier allows operators time to focus ontheir core activities and that the trend thatNokia Networks sees in the Middle East andAfrica is more and more operators outsourcingtheir operation to vendors, mainly driven by theneed to reduce and keep costs under control,improve quality and allow operators totransform their operations from network-centric to customer-centric operations.

Of BS management in remote regions ofAfrica where satellite-backhauled basestations and cell sites are deployed, Gaul said,“It actually doesn’t make much difference asbase station to controller will always have anO&M link established; the difference isperhaps satellite links do add some delay inthe link, in the order of a few 100ms, and BaseStation software can take care andcompensate for that. From a serviceperspective it is related back to the point ofhaving the right competence to manage a siterequiring satellite links. The importance is tohave visibility of these links in the NOC and aproper operational, escalation and governancemodel to guarantee a smooth and quickrecovery in case of incident.”

Of the alarms that can be triggered at theNOC and arise when something at the BS goeswrong, Wasfi said the electromechanicalalarms i.e. external alarms, include: powersource failures where a switch-over to differentpower sources is required; diesel levels, BTSdoor opening, temperature, flooding, firealarm, rectifier alarm, all of which appear onthe NOC OMC-R if external alarms areconnected and well configured. He added thatmonitoring takes place via NOC elementmanagement systems and in some cases CCTV

for security, as well as using other third partysolutions to consolidate all the differenttechnologies in a BTS into one platform,including alarm correlation. Wasfi painted apicture of a typical situation.

“In a manual scenario, failure alarms or BTSout-of-service alarms appear on the NOC EMS(details might be available depending onextent of damage). A 24/7 NOC supervisionteam captures the alarm and dispatches therelevant field resource depending on theregion/cluster, while providing all necessaryinfo. As soon as the field force arrives on sitethey contact the NOC to authorise the siteaccess. Once access is granted, interventionstarts and regular updates are provided to theNOC, while they monitor the site during theintervention. The alarm is cleared and the BTSgets back to normal. The field force updates theNOC with the root cause, what intervention hasbeen performed, and the NOC closes the ticket.In an automated scenario alarms areautomatically captured via servers, such asNetcool, to perform alarm correlation, and anautomatic ticket is opened on the troubleticketing/remedy system. This, in turn,automatically dispatches the ticket to the fieldthrough integration with a work forcemanagement system while this solution isexpensive it reduces human interaction andman-made mistakes, massively.”

Gaul added a further take on a typicalincident when an alarm is triggered.

“The O&M link will transfer the alarm to theNOC, where it will be noted, analysed andcategorised into a major or minor alarm. Majoralarms will then have teams immediately sentto site, or have a team access the site remotely,to analyse and fix the fault. With theintroduction of advanced support mechanismslike self organising networks, many of thesefaults can be rectified automatically. Advanced

applications, such as our Nokia Network 360,provide a single, simplified and integrated viewof all the operational data from an operator’snetwork elements. By cutting through thecomplexity, Network 360 helps operationspersonnel to quickly see the network status‘big picture’ at a given point of time.”

According to Gaul, due to advancement inSON, it is possible to expand networks fasterand easier with features like BTS Plug & Play,BTS Auto Configuration. So, it is also importantto have good IP transmission backhaul withlower latency, so that softwareupgrades/updates can take place faster.

“For example, our Nokia intelligent SON(iSON), the world’s first end-to-end SONsolution, covering both the radio and corenetworks, automates daily tasks according toan operator’s preference, reaching higherlevels of quality whilst freeing humanresources for tasks that require deeperanalysis. In addition, iSON helps them roll outnetworks fast and ‘first-time-right’ preventsunnecessary costs and delays, and its self-optimisation and self-healing capabilitiesensure better network performance coupledwith energy savings.”

With much site sharing of towers or otherinfrastructure taking place across Africa, Gaulgave a final thought on its effect on the BS,saying he has witnessed in the region thatoften when a sharing infrastructure deal isconcluded, an external neutral player istaken on to run the field maintenance. Insome cases they decide to outsource thisscope to local or global managed serviceprovider. “The key aspect here is to have atransparent and inclusive operational andgovernance model to assure a smoothoperation of the network.” �

Tim Guest

David Gaul, head of Central East and West Africa region, Nokia Networks, said that process is a crucialpart of the base station management

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In remote regions of Africawhere satellite-backhauledbase stations and remote

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With ST-3m, Asia’s leading satellite operator Singtel now offers reliable and scalableconnectivity for Africa

Singtel delivers oncontinental satellite communication

PROFILE Singtel

SINGTEL IS ASIA’S leadingcommunications group and hasmore than 35 years of experiencein the satellite business. Today,

the company offers an unrivalled range ofcustomised fixed and mobile satelliteservices to enterprise and maritime users,broadcasters, government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) andmore.As well as owning and operating satellites,Singtel also offers access to more than 30satellites worldwide from its threeteleports in Singapore, which were firstestablished in 1971. The company also haspartnerships with other teleports aroundthe world, in order to enablecomprehensive global coverage.

C-band with ST-3ST-3 delivers high power C-band coverageacross virtually all of Africa, the Middle Eastand South East Asia. With high performanceeast and west hemi beams, it providespowerful connectivity to supporttransponder leasing, VSATs, IP services,and much more. Its prime orbital location of

75ºE makes it particularly suitable for adiverse group of services ranging fromcellular backhaul and enterprise data toprimary distribution of HDTV channels.

A full service from SingtelSingtel is more than just a satellite operator. Itis a full telecoms service provider offeringsatellite capacity, submarine cable servicesand data centre facilities. Singtel can integrateall of those platforms to offer a full andcustomised suite of unique services tocustomers. For example, it is already providing someclients in Africa’s mining sector with completeend-to-end services that include satellitelinks, connectivity to data centres, the internetand private MPLS networks, as well as LANintegration and other managed services. With its global offices around the world,prospective customers in major cities cancome and meet Singtel in person to discusstheir individual requirements for a tailoredpackage of services.And if all that wasn’t enough, Singtel has aproven track record of maintaining 99.98per cent availability of service. Singtel

regularly upgrades its terrestrialinfrastructure to ensure that its customersalways enjoy high performance andreliability for their mission-criticalapplications, even in remote areas.Satellite continues to play a vital role inconnecting companies and communities toaccess areas of Africa. ST-3 offers you acost effective way of capitalising on thetechnology’s possibilities, as well as theunique opportunity to partner with Singtel,a company that has decades ofunparalleled experience and expertise inthe field.Get in touch with Singtel today to find outmore about how the company can help youto reach your target audiences. �

For more Information: Technical Assistance Centre (24hrs)Tel: 1800 788 0022 (Singapore)

+65 6788 0022 (International)(Select “7” on the hotline for Satellite Services)

Fax: +65 6483 4140Email: [email protected]: www.singtelteleport.com

ST-3, seen here at launch, delivers high power C bandcoverage in the African continent



With its VectaStar platform, Cambridge Broadband Networks has not only brought legacyinfrastructure in the present, but helps telcos to prepare for the future

CBNL makes thepoint-to-multipoint

PROFILECambridge Broadband Networks Limited

SPECIALISTS IN POINT-TO-MULTIPOINT (PMP) microwavetechnology serving customers inover 40 countries, offering turnkey

solutions for high capacity, high quality,cost-effective network ownership andoperation, Cambridge Broadband Networks(CBNL) continues to make gains amongstAfrican operators.

Recently, the company helped Airtel Kenyato launch 3.75G services.Kenya has become a high-growthtechnology market. Mobile phonepenetration increased from 60 per cent in2010 to over 77 per cent in 2013. Thecountry now has over 30mn mobilesubscribers. In particular, Nairobi requiresadvanced, sophisticated mobile andInternet services provision to supporteconomic growth and open up newbusiness opportunities. Connectivity is akey component in corporate growth, andAirtel is a key corporate entity with respectto the nation's need for reliable, high-gradeconnections. Its vision was and is serveKenyan communities and commerce byefficiently scaling network capacity,coverage and service quality. Howtransmission and reception functions ispatently critical to realising this vision.

Building a better telecoms businessAs this decade began, Airtel Kenya wasoperating to a point-to-point (PTP)infrastructure strategy. However, by 2011, itwas apparent to the operator's leadershipthat this strategy no longer supported auniversal business case to invest in newservices. Hence, the telco recognised aneed for a more efficient backhaul andenterprise access strategy, compatible withits existing network infrastructure but alsoacting as a platform for the next generationof connectivity architectures. Airtel'smanagement established a business casefor evolution to inherently cost-efficient,technically sophisticated PMP microwavetechnology - and selected CBNL, which hasearned a reputation as a provider of choicefor PMP microwave backhaul and accesssolutions. Aside from Airtel Kenya, CBNLhas worked with operators in 15 African

countries to provide efficient carrier-gradenetworks, including Vodacom, Airtel,Safaricom, MTN and Neotel.

CBNL supported Airtel Kenya first in 2011by providing network planning and projectmanagement to support the operator’simmediate and long-term growth. Duringthis first phase, CBNL used its VectaStarproduct to deploy high capacity sectors ofbackhaul coverage. This replaced legacyPTP equipment and provided upgradedthroughput to existing mobile sites.VectaStar enabled the operator'stechnicians to connect cell sites in lessthan half a day so that it could quickly upliftcapacity and connect new areas with 3Gservices.

VectaStar was widely deployed acrossNairobi, enabling Airtel Kenya to delivercarrier-grade infrastructure to support thelaunch of its 3.75G network in 2012.Chandra Tiwari, network director at AirtelKenya, said of the deployment, “VectaStaris a cost effective solution for our mobilebackhaul and enterprise access needs,and this has enabled us to invest heavily inour services to business and the public.This supported our launch of 3.75G andhelped us serve more businesses acrossNairobi with fast and reliableconnectivity.”

High-capacity backhaul wasfundamental to the success of AirtelKenya's 3.75G services, whose customersgained access to high-speed mobilebroadband on their Internet-enableddevices.

By 2013 Airtel Kenya was fully utilisingCBNL's VectaStar infrastructure bydeploying additional connectivity tobusinesses. It was also utilising sparecapacity in the backhaul network tomaximise spectrum usage to guaranteequality of service to match therequirements of businesses in the Kenyancapital.

A portfolio for enhanced performanceThe VectaStar portfolio has beendeveloped and refined over the years, asCBNL research has enabled it to deliverhigher performance at greater cost-

efficiency. Recent developments haveincluded the VectaStar Gigabit andVectaStar Metro wideband products,doubling platform capacity to 600Mb/s.These products, in particular, offeroperators the possibility to perform better,to meet the increased data demandstypical of advanced architectures built torun LTE or 4G, which are characterised byfaster and bigger mobile connections andmultimedia services. The deployment oftechnologies such as those that enableM2M are also a key factor, as high-speedwireless data transmission and receptionplace increasing pressure on operators toprovide extra capacity and work withequipment that can handle high dataflows as easily relatively cheaply.

LTE presents new challenges in thisarena, as it becomes adopted more widelyon the continent. Lionel Chmilewsky, chiefexecutive officer, CBNL, sees operatorsfacing a clear business case for enhancednetwork capacity to enable next-generation mobile devices and mobileservices. He understands well that one ofthe key drivers for LTE deployment isconsumer demand for data in territorieshistorically characterised by the absenceof fixed line infrastructure and currentlycharacterised by the need for enhancedcommunications services. Logicallyunderpinning such demand in moreadvanced African nations is socio-economic development, more industry andincreased prosperity. An additional factoris support for the socio-economic benefitsof advanced connectivity fromgovernments.

The backhaul technology offered byCBNL enables more profitable businessmodels to be created. Proven throughdeployment at operators such as AirtelKenya, CBNL's VectaStar portfolio makes itpossible for operators to build aconverged backhaul network, to instillnetwork innovations such as fixedenterprise access services alongside LTEconnectivity, efficiently using backhauland spectrum to improve mobile speedsand services, whilst also ensuringcompetitive pricing and greaterprofitability. �

23Communications Africa Issue 1 2015 23www.communicationsafrica.com


Africa’s satellite revolution is coming of age as public and private sector entities preparefor the transition to digital broadcasting

Bands and bandwidthfor screens and services

SATELLITE Broadcast Services

THE BOOM IN satellite communications throughout Africa,which began a few years ago, looks set to continue. In 2014,there was a doubling of satellite TV channels in Africa andaccording to Viewsat, the broadcast and transmission

operator, there are now more than 1,500 TV channels broadcast viasatellite over Africa. African TV channels are also expanding theirfootprint outside of Africa to increase their audience. Viewsatsupports more than 70 African TV channels, which serve about 10 to15mn African TV households. Channels are mostly in theentertainment and religious segments. In April 2013, GOD TV, theglobal Christian media channel, partnered with ViewSat to providespecialised gospel and Christian messaging to the sub-Saharanregion, by tapping into ViewSat's capacity on the Intelsat 20 Ku Bandplatform. The platform serves the African DTH market withapproximately 60mn viewers. ViewSat also provides broadcastservices to BOSTV, the first entertainment channel operating fromZimbabwe.

Satellites to screensArthur Bastings, executive vice-president for Africa at Millicom, haspredicted that Africa’s telecoms revolution will gather pace this year.“Homegrown solutions will encourage digital take-up. Industry playersare acknowledging this demand by providing and producing local music,such as Africa Music Rights, and other entertainment services,” he said.Second screens are becoming more common as Internet users accessmultiple devices at the same time. “The Chinese mobile app WeChat hastaken advantage of the trend by partnering with local satellite televisionproviders to encourage second screen integration with TV programmes,starting with the local reality TV show Big Brother Mzansi,” he added.

India’s Airtel Africa is also expanding into the continent. At the end of2014, it partnered with Dubai-based mobile satellite service providerThuraya to launch its products and services in 12 African countries. Itssatellite phones and IP+ broadband terminals are available to Airtel'scustomers in Congo-Brazzaville, DR Congo Gabon, Ghana, Kenya andZambia. The company plans to further expand into its remaining Africanmarkets eventually. Andre Beyers, chief marketing officer at Airtel Africasaid, "The collaboration spearheads the convergence between satelliteand mobile communications, which addresses the growing demand forcommunications technology in Africa."

Dialogue on analogue and digitalElsewhere in Africa, Angola announced that it plans to launch its firstcommunications satellite Angosat 1 in 2017. The US$403mn satellite,which began construction in November 2013, will have a lifetime of 15years and is being built by the Russian consortium Rocket SpaceCorporation Energiya (RSC), Telecom-Projeto 5 and Rosoboronexportcompanies. The satellite will provide Angola with communications anddigital terrestrial services, replacing the current analogue system.

The move to digital broadcasting from analogue presents satellitewith its most important opportunity in Africa’s telecoms sector to date.At the end of December 2014, West African media and technology

A graph depicting growth and bandwidth demand in Africa

Arthur Bastings, executive vice president ofMillicom has stated that the African

telecoms revolution will gather pace thisyear




SATELLITE Broadcast Services

experts gathered in Côte d'Ivoire under the auspices of EutelsatCommunications and African Telecommunications Union (ATU) todiscuss Africa’s digital transition. The conference, which broughttogether ITU and World Bank experts in addition to ICT ministers,broadcasters, regulators, policy-makers and finance institutions from 15countries in the region, identified multiple opportunities such asimproving signal quality and expanding the diversity of content forcitizens; extending viewer access to broadcasting services by leveragingsatellite and terrestrial platforms and stimulating employment andwealth by supporting locally-produced content and content developersin West Africa.While growth in Africa’s satellite telecoms market seems assured,

some observers caution that similar optimism in the past earlier provedto be unfounded. In a recent study, senior NSR analysts Prashant Butaniand Blaine Curcio have stated that twenty years ago, Africa’s telecomssector was also trumpeted as a market with enormous potential. “All thefundamentals for a satellite telecom revolution were there – enormousland area, poor ground infrastructure, and a population of more than onebillion,” they said. In addition, Africa had what is sometimes known asthe “Mexico phenomenon,” i.e., more homes in sub-Saharan Africa haveTVs than do refrigerators. This increasingly common developing worldtrend was first noted in Mexico a number of years ago. And yet, up to thispoint, it has consistently disappointed.

C-band and Ku-band for the continentNSR now believes that the continent reach is finally reaching its fullpotential and is starting to demand significant quantities of capacity fora number of applications. “Demand growth in Africa will have severalmain drivers,” NSR said. For traditional FSS Capacity, Ku band will be themainstay, with well over 200 TPEs of new demand coming online by2023. This will be driven in large part by video distribution, which willaccount for nearly half of all Ku-band TPE growth. NSR also expects DTHto provide solid demand growth as a secondary application.And although NSR expects to eventually see a contraction in both C-

band and Ku-band, as fill rates remain below 50 per cent and 65 per centrespectively, for now broadcasting C-band looks likely to remain thecornerstone of African socio-economic growth.

Intelsat 905 provides the C-band capacity to Africa that recentlybeamed the 2014 FIFA World Cup to millions of homes throughout Africa.And many communities in Africa rely on C-band communications tosupport business communications, telemedicine, e-learning, disasterrecovery and getting broadcast content to the region’s radio and TVservice providers.In Nigeria, the C-band spectrum is regarded as pivotal to the country’s

lucrative television and film industries. PwC expects Nigeria’sentertainment and media industry to continue to grow with revenuesestimated to reach approximately US$8.5bn by 2018.A recent Euroconsult assessment of C-band usage in African countries

shows that the number of TV channels distributed in C-band in sub-Saharan Africa reached around 370 in 2013, compared to around 150 in2005. This corresponds to a 12 per cent CAGR over the eight-year period.The study added that if the last three years are taken into account, thenthe number of C-band channels increased by an annual average rate of34 per cent.C-band’s ability to resist atmospheric interference such as rain,

known as ‘rain fade’, and the availability of wide beams is said to make

it unequalled in terms of highly efficient coverage and reliability, as wellas demonstrating why it is so suited to overcome the climatic andgeographic challenges of the region. Euroconsult estimates that if C-band usage for broadcast in Africa was terminated, more than 35mnhouseholds or about 140mn individuals in Africa would be directlyimpacted in the short-term. In fact, a larger number of viewers would beaffected because the usual access to TV in Africa is two to three timeshigher than the number of TV owners.

The benefits of broadband to broadcastingBut snapping at the heels of satellite communications in Africa is the riseof broadband Internet, which is allowing the spread of Internet TV.Indeed, some forecasters predict that as fast as satellite TV has grown inAfrica it will soon be making way for Internet TV.In the next 10 years, consumers are expected to have access to a wide

array of on-demand content. In South Africa, on-demand televisiondelivered over the Internet is changing the broadcasting industry morefundamentally than moves by communications regulator Icasa to licensenew terrestrial and satellite free-to-air and subscription broadcasters.The first attempts by South African media companies to take

advantage of broadband to deliver these on-demand services arealready being made. Times Media Group has now entered the race withVidi. Its catalogue is currently narrow but that is expected to change.DStv Digital Media CEO John Kotsaftis is involved in a project to open adata pipe on MultiChoice's top-end decoder, the Explora. This will pavethe way for consumers to be able to watch video-on-demand (VOD)services via the Internet.Explora users already have access to offline on-demand services

called Catch Up and BoxOffice. And as of last November, they are nowable to buy a Wi-Fi device — the DStv Wi-Fi Connector — that they pluginto the Ethernet port on their decoders. This provides Internet accessvia users' home broadband networks. Consumers can store up to 25VOD titles downloaded from the Internet, but the number of titlesavailable in the cloud will be far larger.MultiChoice plans to offer streaming from Q2 2015 in the hope that by

opening its decoder in this way, it would push back the advance of VODcompetitors. However, a growing number of consumers are discoveringthat a broadband-connected PC makes more sense as the centrepiecetechnology in the living room than a proprietary box.Whether or not broadband TV lives up to its promise in Africa, it is

clear that such is the explosion in demand for media on the continentthat it will be able to accommodate simultaneous rapid growth in theinternet as well as continued growth in satellite communications.Indeed, the likelihood is that growth in both will be complimentary,which will provide Africa’s consumers with a much better choice ofmedia content than they currently enjoy at the moment. �

Nnamdi Anyadike

PwC expects Nigeria’s media and entertainment industry revenues to reachUS$8.5bn by 2018.

Africa is reaching its full potential insatellite usage and coverage, and is startingto demand significant quantities of capacityfor several applications.



With the launch of AMOS-6 scheduled in MENA later this year, Spacecom discusses thevibrant African market and the various plans the company has in store for the region

How AMOS-Spacecom seesthe satellite industry in Africa

SPACECOM, THE OPERATOR of theAMOS satellite fleet stated atAfricaCom2014 that the AMOS-6 isscheduled to be launched in 2015 to

4°W orbital position, offer 39 Ku-bandsegments and 24 Ka-band spot beams andprovide a wide array of services in MENA. Thesatellite will be fitted with numerous newtechnologies including electronic propulsioncapabilities to save on weight and cost.Eyal Copitt, senior vice president of sales in

Africa, Asia and marketing at Spacecom, said,“Africa’s satellite communication market isexpanding both in broadcast and broadband. Itsa competitive market and our AMOS-5 satelliteat the 17°E orbital position has a pan-African C-band and three regional Ku-bands to providesuperior services to Africa.”“The satellite industry’s core drivers in Africa

are broadcast, broadband and datacommunications. Broadcast is being driven byincreasing numbers of HD channels as well aslocal/regional broadcasters. We are seeing thespread of digital broadcast in East Africa and also expect to see thiscontinue in other areas. Africa’s outlying and rural regions will alsogenerate growth for broadcasters,” added Copitt.“Broadband, primarily due to mobile phone data usage, is a big driver

in the market. In urban areas, as well as in rural and outlying regions,people are using more services and applications connected tobroadband and data. Backhaul is done by satellite and AMOS-5 is seeinggreater interest and business on this level. With mobile telephonyadding further broadband capabilities and new devices on a weeklybasis, this is an exciting market.“Data communications is growing in many areas in Africa due to

ripening economic conditions. Data service providers are enticingcorporations and far-flung business to use satellite, as it represents theshortest time to market when entering new coverage areas. With VSATapplications growing and e-government projects moving forward, datacommunications is a solid market,” he said.

Commenting on the pressing threat to development of satellitecommunications in Africa, Coppit added, “The continent remainsvariegated, in which growth is characterised via region or by nation state.Spacecom, since its founding, has specialised in creating businessmodels to succeed in developing regions. In Africa, we have set oursights on various regions around the continent and move ahead to

further the sitcom business. Since the launch ofAMOS-5, we have been providing capacity andenhancing business opportunities.”However, Copitt also stated that in areas with

unrest or political instability, poor infrastructureand inefficient regulations, satcom growth wasslower. “Africa is a fast moving country and a

competitive market with a great deal ofopportunity. Satellite operators understand thisand we all make use of methods to attractpotential business growth and maintain ourbusiness activities in the continent. Spacecommaintains a healthy mix of business inbroadcast, broadband and datacommunications. We see the markets for allthese elements continuing to move forwardeither via the roll-out of digital TV in East Africaor an increase in mobile traffic that requiresdata communications. We see an increase inactivity with DTH providers and also sportsbroadcasting. Currently, data communicationsis growing with MNCs and regional corporations

requesting advanced VSAT services for their stores, branches andfactories. This is true in every region on the continent,” he said.“Furthermore, by combining mobile devices with Wi-Fi or any other

connection to the communication network, medical professionals canaccess information, forms and have conference calls with colleaguesaround the globe, using a cellular connection linked to a satellite, and

Eyal Copitt, senior vice president of sales in Africa,Asia and marketing at Spacecom

Rural Africa will remain an importantmarket. Satellite services are the best andprimary solutions for communication needs.


A map showing Spacecom’s AMOS-6 Ka Spot Beams across the MENA region.

SATELLITE Communications



SATELLITECommunications

from there back down to another communication network. This enablesfaster work, improved capabilities for health treatment andunderstanding. This is the same way e-education networks can work onhybrid solutions too,” he added.

“Spacecom has always positioned that more fibre is better for thesatellite industry. With additional services reaching more of thepopulation due to fibre, and with customers becoming moreaccustomed to improved and advanced services, overall demand forthese services is growing. This includes to all areas including those onlyreached by satellite. We are pro-fibre and believe that AMOS-5’s positionand capacity to serve all of Africa is excellent. Fibre is no competition tosatellite; rather we see it as a business accelerator.”

There is no risk of over-supply in satellite-capacity. “Some satelliteoperators have claimed over-supply, but we have not found this thecase. AMOS-5, launched in 2012, is specifically designed and built forthe African market and is not a satellite that was moved from somewhereelse to cover Africa. We are continuing to grow and generate increasedcapacity usage of the satellite. Our prime orbital position over Africa,commanding EIRP and service strength, enhance this growth. Otheroperators may be wary of the region but we are not. So much so, AMOS-6, scheduled for launch in 2015, is also being designed with KA Spotbeams to cover Africa,” said Copitt.

Commenting on if there would be a hybrid approach that uses fibreand satellite together, as was made with the recent Gilat Satcomannouncement on how satcoms will evolve in Africa, Copitt said: “Weassist our clients understand market trends and make empoweredbusiness decisions. Services based on fibre and satellite together arenot new to us. In central and eastern Europe, we have worked with ourpartners as they added advanced services and triple play options. Someof these have been based on a fibre-satellite mix, so it is not surprisingto see players in the African market take up the trend. The market issteady.”

Asked if rural Africa will always be a major market for satcom serviceproviders, he replied, “Rural Africa will remain an important market forthese services. More likely than not, satellite service is the best andprimary solution for communications needs. People living in and aroundmajor cities such as Cairo, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Cape Town needcommunication services and satcom is the best and often the onlyreliable solution for them. So for the long term, satcom will be a primaryprovider of communications not only for rural but also for other regionsthroughout Africa.” �

Copitt stated that rural Africa will remain a key market for major satcomservice providers, and also for major African cities such as Cairo, Nairobi andJohannesburg.


AS ONE OF the founding members of theSatellite Interference Reduction Group(IRG), SES has been instrumental in severalinterference mitigation initiatives. Oneinitiative, which has created keen interestand importance in recent months, is carrierindentification (CID).

SES is actively involved in thedevelopment, promotion, and introductionof CID, through its leading role in theSatellite Interference Reduction Group andalso the Space Data Association (SDA). Aprimary goal has been to make CID easy foruplinkers to implement and operate. Toachieve this, satellite operators willdevelop procedures and systems tosupport CID on a global scale.

Decoding the identifier:CID is a simple concept. Every transmittedcarrier will have a unique ID which can bedecoded by satellite operators. If a carrier iscausing interference, the unique ID will bedecoded to identify who is transmitting theinterference.

A satellite operator will be able to decodethe unique ID in the carrier, contact theuplinker causing the radio frequency

interference (RFI), either directly or throughthe satellite operator that provides servicesto the uplinker causing the RFI, implementcorrective action, and reduce the duration ofservice interruptions caused by the RFI.Satellite interference is an issue which canaffect all satellite users albeit it is oftenreported that satellite interference onlyaffects a minor number of services.However, for broadcasters, any disruption ofservice is not ideal. With broadcasters vyingfor eyeballs in the fiercely competitive videolandscape and enterprise services seeking tominimise operational downtime, anydisruption would impact the quality of servicein the short term and increase customerchurn in the long term.

Rapid action to reduce interferenceThe key benefits of CID include the rapididentification of interfering carriers, fasteraction to resolve interference, improvedquality of service (QoS) for customers bysignificantly reducing the duration of RFIincidents. At the most recent edition of IBC, in2014, SES was one of the companies lendingits support to an informational CID tourhosted by the Satellite Interference Reduction

Group. IRG led participants step-by-stepthrough the process of CID, fromtransmission, through detection, toresolution. SES featured in the resolution partof the tour, where it explained how satelliteoperators resolve interference when it occursand the tools that make the process moreefficient and effective.

Chris Grogan, senior vice president ofcustomer service delivery at SES, said, “Nowthat CID technology is readily available,ensuring widespread adoption and swiftimplementation is critical. This technologyenables satellite operators to quickly identifyan interference source and facilitate the fastresolution to interference events, therebyimproving the integrity of satellite basedservices and increasing the quality of servicefor all customers.”

The interest in carrier ID

Through CID, everytransmitted carrier will

have a unique ID which canbe decoded by satellite

operators.


The highlights of a key event for the broadcast community, focussed squarely onaffordable solutions for smaller firms

SATIS serves broadcasters withtechnologically advanced equipment

BROADCAST Equipment

FOR BROADCASTERS WITH access to acorporate travel budget, the mid-September IBC show in Amsterdam isthe big annual industry conference

and exhibition.For the staff of video and audio post-

production companies, there is also the keyequivalent in the form of SATIS. This year’sevent overlapped with the Tonmeistertagungshow in Cologne and the Inter BEE broadcastequipment exhibition in Tokyo; this is aninteresting challenge for exhibitors with apresence at all three.

After gap years at the Halle Freyssinet during2011 and 2012, SATIS returned to its traditionalPorte de Versailles venue in 2013 and againthis year. Located on the Périphérique, Porte deVersaille is further out from the city centre but amore pleasant exhibition environment onceyou emerge from the Metro.

Having attended every IBC from 1968onward, and every US NAB Convention from1985, I have long appreciated the value ofbroadcast trade shows as industrythermometers. The key message emergingfrom SATIS 2014 echoed that from theinternational shows – advances in displaymanufacturing are allowing large-dimensionretina-quality video screens to be produced athome-consumer prices. At the other end of thescale, similar progress in nanotechnology nowallows 512 gigabytes of data to be stored in apostage-stamp-sized Secure Digital memorycard.

What this does NOT mean is thatprogramme producers and broadcasters willhave to replace their 1920 x 1080 pixel HDcameras and editors with 3840 x 2160 pixelultra-HD until such time as their existing kitwears out. UHD is nominally 4,000 pixels wideand practically retina quality (meaning theindividual pixels are almost invisibly small) at

screens sizes up to 55 inches diagonal. 5,000pixel width cameras and displays are alreadyon the market, notably in the latest-generation27-inch Apple iMac. 8,000 pixel width displaysare in development to support NHK-Japan’sproposed Super Hi-Vision and there is noreason to assume that will be the last word invideo display resolution.

One of the most impressive features oflatest-generation UHD TV receivers is the veryhigh quality of their internal resolutionupconverters. SD to HD looks pretty good on aUHD screen. HD to UHD looks even better. Thehigher the source resolution, the easier theupconversion process becomes within thelimits of normal domestic video screen sizes.Broadcasting is now essentially resolutionindependent in a world where today’s HDcontent is viewed on devices as disparate asmobile phones and elephantine domestictelevision receivers.

Advancing television beyond IMAXSATIS exhibitor Videmus stole the show for methrough its ability to advance 4K digital videoproduction far beyond even the high visualimpact of IMAX. The concept is to deploymultiple 4K video projectors, each sourcingfrom its own hard-disk drive, to create a

potentially unlimited variety of stage orauditorium sets. A large-scale Videmusproduction with 41 projectors is effectively11,000 x 2,200 pixels. The company’s websiteshows various examples such aswww.videmus.fr/carriere.html

On a similar theme but much smaller scale,TVOne exhibited its C3-540 Coriomastermultiscreen interface. Each C3-540 allows up tofour independent video walls to be created andcontrolled using TVOne’s editing software.Images can be rotated to any angle in 1 degreeincrements. The system is designed to handlestandard-definition and 1920 x 1080 pixel HDsources. This technology is commonly used toenliven studio backdrops.

Production infrastructureBlackmagic Design exhibited the latest version(6.0) is its Videohub router. This includes 6G-SDI technology so operators cansimultaneously connect and route anycombination of SD, HD and UHD video. Controlis via scroll-knob and button entry withcustomisable source labels over incomingvideo onto an integral LCD screen. When anyinput or output is selected, the relevant videoimages are displayed live on the LCD.

JVC previewed its upcoming 4KCAM range ofUHD camcorders, scheduled for introduction in2015. These consist of the GY-LS300, GY-HM200 and GY-HM170. The GY-LS300 isequipped with a 4K Super 35mm CMOS sensorand accepts a wide range of cinema andphotographic lenses and adapters. It records toSecure Digital solid-state memory in a variety ofimage formats including 4K Ultra HD, 4:2:2sampled HD, SD and web smaller proxyformats (960 x 540 and 480 x 270 pixels).Recordings are made using the AppleQuicktime (.MOV) file format and arecompatible with many popular editingsystems. Also shown was the GW-SP100remote 4K head.

Multicam Systems showed its MulticamStudio which allows touch-screen selection ofmultiple sources including live events from upto four SD or HD cameras. The incoming camerafeeds can be combined with other sources. Thedevise is designed for use by a single operatorand includes an assignable joystick cameracontroller. Automation facilities are alsoprovided.

Visitors participate in Satis 2014, held in Paris,France in November.

Advances in displaymanufacturing are allowinglarge-dimension retina-quality video screens to beproduced at home-consumerprices.




BROADCASTEquipment

FilmLight demonstrated how colour gradingcan be used to both improve the appearanceand speed up the production of televisionprogramme production. “The demand forbetter looking serial episodic and features fortelevision was often overlooked for all but bigbudget productions,” said Mark Burton ofFilmLight. “Our solution puts the Baselightgrading toolset and renderer in keycollaborative post-production systems throughour Baselight Editions plugins. The pipelineallows grading metadata to be quicklyexchanged between colourists, editors and VFXartists, with everybody looking at the samegrade and the same colour tools available. Theresult is a great looking programme, finished insignificantly less time than has been possibleuntil now.”

The demonstration included Baselight forAvid, a Baselight Editions plugin, which puts acolour grading toolset and renderer inside anAvid Media Composer or Avid Symphony. Thisenables real-time collaboration between editorand colourist through the exchange ofBaselight grading metadata. Editors see thelatest grade applied to the cut and can maketheir own adjustments, which can then bepassed back to the grading suite, again asmetadata, or rendered out on Media Composeras the final deliverable.

Forbidden Technologies promoted the latestversion of its Forscene cloud video platformwhich offers new capabilities, a new interfaceand a new content management system.“Since we introduced Forscene in 2004, thetechnology has evolved to be much more thana video-editing system but the interface hasn'tkept pace,” said CEO Stephen Streater. Userscan now upload both low and high resolutionproxies of their content to the Forscene cloudand swap between them dynamically whileworking. They can use the low-resolution proxyover slower connections and then swap to viewthe high-resolution version when they needgreater clarity or more detail. Edits areavailable for both review andapproval/rejection from within the interface.Tasks are communicated via e-mail with MPEGattachments so reviewers don’t have to beForscene users to be able to participate in theprocess. Forscene users with a synchronisedtablet account will be able to review, comment,approve, or reject edits in the Forscene appwhile offline, synching automatically when aninternet connection becomes available. Othernew Forscene features include the ability topublish with burnt-in timecode or any othermetadata; expanded multicam logging tosupport up to 18 cameras simultaneously; andincreased support for different formats thatenables functions such as editing MXF filesduring ingest.

French broadcast equipment distributor PB-Europe exhibited the OneVideo Minicaster, a

mobile hardware-based battery-poweredH.264 live encoder which converts anycompatible camera or video source signal intoan IP based live stream and delivers it vialandline, wifi, satellite or cellular networks.Suggested applications include mobile newsgathering and behind-the-scenes reports frommajor events. It can simultaneously record on aSecure Digital card. Streaming settings can bechanged via remote access and are alsoeditable on the device itself.

Also shown by PB-Europe was the RuigeTL1730HDA-CO slimline picture monitor,designed for easy transportation as carry-onflight luggage. Setting up or packing down theTL1730HDA-CO is claimed to take less than oneminute. All controls are positioned at the frontof the unit, rotating upwards from the front ofthe external case at the push of a single button.Total case dimensions are 528 x 355 x 45 mmand the weight is approximately 7.5 kg. TheTL1730HDA-CO has a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution17.3-inch screen based on a 10-bit IPS panelwith a wide 178 degree horizontal and verticalviewing angle. Picture quality parametersinclude 300 cd/m² image brightness, 600:1contrast ratio, 3 millisecond response time and0.1989 x 0.1989 mm dot pitch. The displaymode can be switched between 16:9 and 4:3.The monitor is equipped with 3G/HD/SD-SDI,HDMI and composite inputs plus a dualchannel analogue audio input and a red/greentally feed. These are augmented by 3G/HD/SD-SDI and composite video outputs plus a SDI-de-embedded audio output, 3.5 mmheadphone feed and integral 2 wattloudspeakers. The TL1730HDA-CO can beoperated for up to six hours from a 130 watt-hour standard broadcast lithium battery,connected via V mount or Gold mount batteryplate. A universal mains adapter is provided.

Vitec has added a Zixi Feeder and Receiverto its range of portable encoders and decodersincluding the MGW Premium, MGW Nano,MGW Nano TOUGH and MGW Pico. Theseprovide H.264 HD and SD compression atvarious data rates, and low-delay encoding anddecoding. The Zixi platform allows IP delivery ofbroadcast quality video and audio overstandard internet connections.

AudioNagra displayed its new Nagra Seven solid-state stereo audio recorder, which has beendesigned as a successor to the Nagra LB,ARES-C, ARES-BB+ and Nagra V. OptionalISDN or SMPTE/EBU timecode boards adaptit to either the radio or film/televisionmarkets. Optional wifi / 3G, internal editorand audio compression are also available.Recording is to removable Micro SD flashmemory card at 44.1 up to 192 kHz samplingfrequency. The inputs are equipped withtraditional Nagra microphone preamplifiers

for dynamic and +48 volt phantom-poweredmicrophones and offer a range of switchablesensitivities to accommodate all commonmicrophones. AES-42 microphones can alsobe used as the recorder can supply thenecessary 10 volt DC supply from the AESinput. The analogue line input will accept upto +24 dB allowing connection to a standardaudio mixer in the field.

Co-exhibiting with its French masterreseller Areitec, NTP Technologydemonstrated the latest version of its AX32analog/digital/analog converter plus theDX32 digital audio matrix. Full control ofboth units is now possible via the AvidEUCON 3 protocol directly from Avid Artist,S6, MC Pro and 5-MC control surfaces. TheAX32 is a successor to the 24-channel AX24.With its optional microphone preamplifiers,it is claimed to be the quietest and mosttransparent studio front end on theprofessional audio market. The latestversion of the AX32 delivers improvedefficiency both in live recording and post-production. Monitor control is made viaNTP’s DADman software using the AvidEUCON protocol. The software can be pre-configured by the user or administrator toallow a variety of input and outputcombinations.

Solid State Logic promoted its new SSLLive.L300 audio production console. TheL300 is physically smaller than the L500 butcan handle large scale productions with upto 568 input/outputs, 128 processing paths(96 full, 32 dry), a 32 x 36 matrix, 36 VCA’s,and 48 FX slots. Both the L300 and theestablished L500 now come with version 2.5software. A new Follow Mode allows theSelect, Solo and unique Query functionbuttons found on the Live console FaderTiles to be linked together in anyconfiguration an engineer might require.Each of the three Tile buttons can beprogrammed to ‘follow’ any of the otherbuttons on a per channel type basis. Inputchannel, Auxiliary and Stem Group mix busoperation of the buttons can be linked invarious user defined ways. A Tempo Linkfeature adds the ability to link and controlthe Tap Tempo of any Delay effects loadedinto the L500 and L300’s Effects Racks. MixBus Copy allows the contributions of entiremix buses to be copied across the Liveconsole’s flexible bus structure.SATIS returns to the Porte de Versailles,Paris, November 17-19 2015. Perhaps by thattime, wristwatch-sized mobile phones willhave made a significant impact on themarket. If so, they will create an interestingchallenge from a television-displayperspective. �

David Kirk




SOLUTIONS

30

ACCORDING TO UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), the population ofschool age children in Sub-Saharan Africa will reach 224mn in 2015.Launched at AfricaCom, Avanti’s Connected Education solution deliversInternet-enabled learning to thousands of children in Africa for less than10p per child, per dayAvanti’s new education service combines technology with teaching skills toaddress the problem of poor educational outcomes. Connected Education isbased on three key principles:1. Connect: In the 21st century no child’s education is complete without theInternet.2. Develop: Every child gets the education they deserve.3. Sustain: Communities can generate revenue to keep education initiativesrunning for years to come.Avanti has deployed a number of education services in Africa, most recentlywith Project iMlango in Kenya. Avanti leads a consortium in partnership withthe UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to reach 100,000children, a quarter of whom are marginalised girls.At the heart of Project iMlango sits a dynamic Internet learning platform,accessed through high-speed satellite connectivity, where partners providestudents with interactive educational content. The large-scale project isdemonstrating how Avanti’s integrated approach creates a positive andlasting impact on young students and their communities.Paul Feenan, director of Avanti Government Services, commented, “Our‘Connect-Develop-Sustain’ strategy uniquely addresses the numerouschallenges facing decision makers within the Education sector acrossAfrica. Our leading Ka-band satellite technology provides a resilient, high-speed and quick-to-deploy solution beyond fibre, capable of meeting long-term socio-economic goals for African education.”

REAL TIME COMMUNICATIONSsoftware solutions developperGenband showcased keycomponents of its comprehensiveportfolio at the 17th AnnualAfricaCom Conference & Expo inCape Town, South Africa. Thesolutions on display included:Platform-as-a-service: Genband

recently introduced Kandy, adisruptive subscription-based realtime communications softwaredevelopment platform, designedto help companies of all types andsizes from developers tocommunications service providerseasily embed a full suite of voice,video, chat, screen sharing andcollaboration capabilities intotheir existing business, web andmobile applications.SPiDR WebRTC gateway

solution: SPiDR allows serviceproviders to leverage advancedcommunications servicesincluding video, voice, presence,shared address books, call

history, instant messaging andcollaboration tools that areembedded natively into webapplications.Carrier Wi-Fi: The recently

introduced QUANTiX WirelessAccess Gateway allowscommunications serviceproviders to cost-effectivelyenhance the user experiencethrough improved coverage,faster data speeds and seamlessroaming through indoor oroutdoor small cell and carrier Wi-Fi deployments.Cloud services: NUViA is a

comprehensive, white-labelUnified Communications (UC)offering that service providers,enterprise and channel partnerscan brand and take to market. Itincludes a suite of market-provenunified multimedia conferencingand collaboration, intelligentmessaging, mobility, highdefinition voice over IP, anddesktop integration solutions.

A SPECIALIST IN application-to-person (A2P) text messaging, Mbloxhas identified Africa as a strategicgrowth region for the company,stemming from its significant risein SMS traffic. A recent PortioResearch report recognised a 45per cent increase in SMS traffic in2013, over full-year 2012 totals,illustrating the potential for in-market growth of mobilemessaging as the companyexpands its global reach.Mblox has been active in the SouthAfrican market since thecompany’s inception, developingnext-generation engagementstrategies with rich push and SMSsolutions for the region’s brandsand enterprises. However, Mbloxsharpened its focus on the growingAfrican market with the opening of a Cape Town office in spring 2013.The company’s recent acquisition of CardBoardFish positions Mblox for furthergrowth in the region, offering a highly automated A2P messaging platform withindustry-leading security, reliability and service levels. The platform hasprovided legacy Mblox customers with a host of new features, even greater

resilience and enhanced usability.As the global messaging leader,Mblox is well positioned toleverage its platform andexpertise on behalf of companiesin all areas of the world. Mblox’sglobal reach is underscored by itsrecent acquisitions of UK-basedCardBoardFish and Zoove, alongwith the 2014 opening of itsJapanese office.Mblox joined digital and mobileexperts at AfricaCom 2014, Africa’spremiere technology event, whichtook place in Cape Town, SouthAfrica in November.“Mblox continues to identifygrowth opportunities in marketsaround the world, driving theindustry forward through ourplatform enhancements,

capabilities expansion and increases to our customer base,” said Mblox CEOTom Cotney. “Mblox has already established a strong African foot print.AfricaCom provides an opportunity to increase the region’sunderstanding of mobile opportunities and deepen the relationshipswe have made.”

Mblox offers a highly automated A2P messaging platform (Photo: Ken Banks)

Mblox invests in the growing African communications market

Avanti’s ‘Connected Education’ service Genband offers platform-as-a-service,WebRTC, carrier wi-fi and cloud solutions


“Mblox continues to identify growth opportunities in markets around the world, driving theindustry forward through our platform enhancements, capabilities expansion and increases

to our customer base” - Mblox CEO Tom Cotney

S08 CAF 1 2015 - Equipment 01_Layout 1 17/02/2015 09:36


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31

THERE IS AN increasingly critical need forreliable connectivity and support. Onlimebrings together solid technical expertise withthe extensive emerging market experience todeliver high quality, secure, reliable businesscommunications for enterprise customers. Itsteleport in Germany offers access to over 200geostationary satellites, and so offersextensive coverage across Africa as well as therest of the globe. Onlime provides, also,dedicated access to a growing network ofinternational fibre cables.

The teleport is a true technical hub - a fully-manned disaster recovery facility, with a helpdesk running at all times. It is a dedicated teamof professionals, working at the company'sfacilities in Germany, the United Kingdom,India, Sierra Leone, Angola, DR Congo, SouthAfrica and the United Arad Emirates - providingquality connectivity to enterprise, government,military, oil & gas, mining, banking entities andnon-governmental organisations (NGO),amongst other customer groups.

Business communications capacityOnlime provides enterprise connectivity inover 40 countries. The team that forms thebackbone of the company has considerableexperience in the business of enterprisecommunications in 26 African territories. Andthe company itself has invested effectively ininfrastructure in Africa, in particular, withsales and support offices in a number ofstrategic locations, and a comprehensivenetwork of qualified engineers. Principally,Onlime serves African customers in: Kenya,Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, SierraLeone, Angola, Gabon, Mali, Somalia, CentralAfrican Republic, Tanzania, Mozambique,Uganda, Congo Republic, Nigeria, Coted'Ivoire, and Zimbabwe.

The most interesting aspect of thecompany's operations is its comprehensiveapproach to industry. Onlime is prepared tosupport any sector operations, where it cando with quality and reliability as the watchwords.

Most recently, for example, at Connectivity2015 in London, Onlime's CEO, Paul Ziegler,represented the company as a panellist on'Mining and Remote Resource Extraction',speaking on how mining -as an inherentlyremote operation - needs need qualityconnections to satellite and reliable networkinfrastructure to enable satellite-terrestrialhybrid connectivity operations, which arevital to the growth and cost-effectiveness ofmining businesses.

Prior to this, Mr Ziegler had contributed todebate at IBC 2014, a key broadcast industryevent, with his views on The ChangingSatellite-Terrestrial Mix for Service Providers',as the company launched services on Yamal.It was at IBC that Onlime's CEO sealed a dealwith Russian satellite operator GazpromSpace Systems (GSS) to take capacity onYamal-402 satellite, to increase Ku offeringaddressing a growing demand in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Onlime has full Ku and C-Band satellitecoverage for very small aperture terminal(VSAT) services over the African continent,providing reliable business communicationssolutions to the enterprise market, whetherdirectly through one of its own offices or viaits substantial network of partners and VSATresellers. The extent of coverage, thereliability and the projected longevity ofYamal-402 makes it a good fit for penetrationinto many markets, allowing for VSATterminals to be deployed across Africa. Asthe contract was signed, GSS director general

Dmitry Sevastiyanov spoke of the use ofYamal-402 capacity over Africa to enable theprovision of services in many Africancountries, and affirmed that GSS intended todevelop its working relationship with Onlimein Africa and the Middle East. For his part, MrZiegler spoke of the possibilities for ongoingbusiness opportunities with respect to theenterprise market in African territories, whichincludes deployment and utilisation ofsatellite and fibre-based networkinfrastructure and solutions - includingmultiprotocol label switching (MPLS), voiceover IP (VoIP) and other wirelesstechnologies. He said, "The addition ofYamal-402 is part of network strategy to beable to offer seamless coverage across theAfrican continent to address the needs of themarket. We are proud of our partnership withGazprom and look forward to growing therelationship further.”

Shortly before Mr Ziegler committedOnlime to working with GSS, he had alreadyexpanded Onlime's capacity on AFRICASAT-1a, which is operated by MEASAT SatelliteSystems. The additional transpondercapacity secured allows Onlime to continueto respond to opportunities and so generaterevenue growth in Africa.

He stated that Onlime is focused onproviding customers with access tocommunications services wherever they arebased, "ensuring that our customers haveaccess to comprehensive, flexible andreliable business communications servicesboth through our extensive satellitecoverage...and through our dedicated accessto a growing network of fibre connectivity anda range of the latest technology platforms."

www.onlime.com

Secure and reliable satellite and terrestrial services from Onlime


Onlime holds capacity on AFRICASAT-1a, to offerdedicated access to enterprise services



SOLUTIONS

32

Enterprise mobility solution provider AirStrip has formed a strategic partnership tobring the AirStrip ONE mobile interoperability platform and the Sense4Babywireless fetal/maternal monitoring system into ten African countries, with an initiallaunch in South Africa.Healthcare firm Batswadi will gradually expand the AirStrip product rollout to nineother countries, including Namibia, Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania,Uganda, Mauritius and Rwanda."South Africa has some of the most advanced hospitals in the world and benefitsfrom a very developed private hospital infrastructure," Batswadi Group CEOChristopher Whitfield, said. "Major players like Netcare, Life Healthcare,Mediclinic and several large independent groups create significant marketopportunities for AirStrip not only in South Africa but also in other emergingcountries. We are delighted to be partnering with AirStrip."Batswadi was established in South Africa in 2006 by Whitfield, former CEO of EliLilly South Africa, to introduce innovative cutting-edge technology to the Africancontinent. Batswadi seeks technology that assists in rapid country developmentin the healthcare space for the private as well as the public or governmentsectors. Batswadi recently expanded to include Batswadi USA to bring U.S. basedhealth care technology into Sub-Saharan Africa. "The Batswadi Group is an established leader in launching innovative healthcareproducts, and we look forward to deploying AirStrip mobile interoperabilitysolutions in Africa," AirStrip CEO Alan Portela said. "We have seen anextraordinary level of international interest in AirStrip solutions, so this is justone in a series of announcements as AirStrip rapidly grows its presence outsidethe US in 2015."

MOBILE DEVICES PROVIDERGionee’s ultra-slim smartphones,promoted at Mobile WorldCongress 2015, follow the reveal ofthe ELIFE S5.5 at MWC 2014 andthe recently launched ELIFE S5.1."The race to make the slimmestsmartphone was getting out ofhand. Going so slim is actually notbenefiting user experience withoutthe performance to back it up,"said by Oliver Sha, head of globalmarketing of Gionee.To make a smartphone slimmer,some manufacturers made

sacrifices such as eliminating theheadphone jack, a protruding rearcamera, shortening of the batterylife, and a thin frame that bringsabout heating issues and a badsignal. But is it worth thecompromise?With smartphone manufacturersracing to launch models that canturn heads, this year at MWC,Gionee is looking at a new wave ofslim phones that can be elevatedto the next level, bringing its latestslim smartphone that's more thanbeyond slim, without

compromisingo nperformanceand a focus ondelivering asuperior userexper ience ,whether intechnology ,design, orusability.

VOICE MESSAGING AND social media mobile apps company Kirusa recruited top Ghanaian entertainer Deborah Vanessaat AfricaCom 2014 to help promote its InstaVoice portfolio atthe key African connectivity event.

Kirusa’s solutions include InstaVoice, InstaVoice Celeband InstaVoice Sports apps, which are offered in partnershipwith more than thirty-five mobile carriers in Africa, India,Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as via app stores,and are used monthly by over 80mn mobile users in fourcontinents. Kirusa solutions are built on its patentedtechnology, and its highly reliable and scalable multimodaland cloud platforms, which process over one billion events amonth.

Deborah Vanessa is a television presenter, model andacademic, who is currently presenting for television networkE.tv Ghana. She is known best for her Ghana YouTube record-breaking single Uncle Obama. At the event in Cape Town, sheused Kirusa’s InstaVoice Celeb service to stay connected withher fans. InstaVoice Celeb has received a tremendous responsein many African countries - including Ghana, Nigeria, Congos,and Ivory Coast. Over 125 celebrities from movies, music,sports, and media are turning to this popular medium to voicetheir emotions and stay connected with over five million fans.

InstaVoice Celeb is a unique service where celebrities and fans can have real-timeconversations using a dedicated application, on smartphones as well as over featurephones, without any media intrusion or spin. InstaVoice Celeb also enables interaction andengagement via multiple channels like contests, events, meetings with celebrities, andwinning celeb merchandise.

Ms Vanessa, said, “I have been using InstaVoice Celeb service for the last sixteenmonths to interact and engage with my fans on a daily basis. It’s easy to stay intouch with my loved fans through this service and I look forward to meeting themat AfricaCom.“

Kirusa showcased its popular messaging and social media services: InstaVoice,InstaVoice Celeb, and InstaVoice Sports, throughout AfricaCom 2014, and unveiled how

these are revolutionising mobile messaging in emerging markets.Ms Vanessa acted as an influential spokesperson for the firm andits solutions. Robert Lamptey, director of marketing at Kirusa,said, “We are delighted that Deborah Vanessa has chosen to joinus at AfricaCom to talk about how she is using the InstaVoiceservices to connect with her fans.”

Congolese deploymentSince AfricaCom, and ahead of Mobile World Congress,Kirusa has launched InstaVoice Sports on the Vodacomnetwork in Congo. The service allows Vodacomsubscribers to connect with and get updates about theirfavorite soccer clubs and teams. The service is availableacross Congo on both smartphones and feature phones.The service, offered in partnership with goal.com, theleading soccer portal worldwide, includes frequentupdates about various European clubs, such as Barcelona,Manchester United, and Chelsea, and about variousAfrican national teams.

The company has also formed a partnership withRwandan mobile and web content provider Net Solutions.to enable top Rwandan celebrities like Jay Polly, Lil G, andTidjarat Kabendera to engage with fans through

InstaVoice Celeb. Using the voice micro-blogging feature of InstaVoice Celeb,stars voice their emotions, allowing their fans to hear them, a better optionthan just reading their text messages on a blog or media outlet.

These messages, called Vobolos, are delivered instantly to subscribing fans,creating a 'voice Twitter'-like experience. Talking about the partnership,Barinderpal Singh Mumick, VP of operations at Kirusa, said with Net Solutions,it aims to synergise individual services and personalise the interactionbetween celebrities and fans.

Priori to AfricaCom, Kirusa had already launched both Celeb and SportsConnect in Ivory Coast with Moov, and its entertainment services in Nigeriawith Etisalat.

Kirusa is promoting and deployingInstaVoice across Africa

The ELIFE S5.1 from Gionee

Ghanaian entertainer helps Kirusa promote InstaVoice solutions, ahead of new African deployments

AirStrip and The Batswadi Group bring AirStripsolutions to Africa

Gionee launches ultra-slim phone at MWC




SOLUTIONS

33

CEC LIQUID TELECOM Zambia has been building a new fibre link betweenLusaka and Victoria Falls in Livingstone that will provide both retail andwholesale customers with the most reliable, highspeed broadbandconnectivity in Southern Zambia.The estimated cost for the turnkey 500km fibre link build and terminal

equipment is US$5mn. The new linkstarts in Lusaka, transiting througheight southern circuit towns,including Kafue, Mazabuka, Monze,Choma and Kalomo, terminating atVictoria Falls in Livingstone.CEC Liquid Telecom Zambia is a

joint venture between The LiquidTelecom Group and CopperbeltEnergy Corporation PLC (CEC), aZambian power transmission,distributing and generatingcompany. Its fibre network, whichspans more than 5,000km, is thefirst fully-redundant network inZambia, providing service levelagreements (SLAs) at a level notpreviously experienced in thecountry.The Lusaka-Livingstone Victoria

Falls link provides additionalcapacity, increased redundancyand route diversity and cementsCEC Liquid Telecom Zambia’s position as the country’s most reliable andconsistent broadband provider. At Victoria Falls, the new linkinterconnects with Liquid Telecom Group’s fibre network in Zimbabwe,providing the company with its third route into and out of Zambia.Liquid Telecom has built Africa’s largest single fibre network which

runs from the north of Uganda to Cape Town, currently spanning over

18,000km across borders and covering Africa’s fastest-growingeconomies where no fixed network has existed before. Internationalaccess is through the group’s pan-African fibre and satellite networks,which connect to five different sea cables - WACS, EASSY, SEACOM, SAT3and TEAMs.

CEC Liquid Telecom provides IPTransit, MPLS, backhaul, disasterrecovery and data protectionservices to a wide variety ofcustomers: businesses of all sizesincluding financial institutions andtourism-related companies,government and academicorganisations as well as operatorsand Internet service providers(ISPs).Andrew Kapula, managing

director of CEC Liquid TelecomZambia, said, “The Southern part ofZambia, along the economic zonefrom Lusaka via transit towns toLivingstone, has lagged behind interms of access to quality ICTservices. Our new fibre link willprovide much-needed capacity inthe area. We are investing heavily inZambia as part of our goal to buildAfrica’s digital future. We believe in

the power of connectivity to transform lives and our goal is to connect asmany people in Africa as possible.”Following completion of the Lusaka-Livingstone Victoria Falls link,

expected by June 2015,CEC Liquid Telecom Zambia will continue its build to the border towns

of Kazungula and Sesheke to link with Namibia and Botswana.

HOST AT THE GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, 2015 Global MobileAwards will honour more than 40 winners over nine categories that includeawards for Best Mobile Handsets & Devices, Best Mobile Apps, Best MobileServices, Best Mobile Technology and Social & Economic Development - and willalso feature many new awards that showcase emerging trends in the mobileecosystem. These include awards for wearable technologies, affordablesmartphones, the Internet of Things and sectors such as retail and automotive,amongst others. In addition, two new special awards have been introduced tomark the 20th anniversary of the Global Mobile Awards, including the Young

Mobile Innovator of the Year, specifically designed to showcase young andexciting new talent, and the Connected Women: Leadership in Industry award,which will recognise initiatives that attract and retain women and girls in mobileand telecommunications.

The 2015 Global Mobile Awards ceremony on 3 March include the presentationof the Government Mobile Excellence Awards. These awards, which recogniseworld-class leadership, will be announced at the GSMA’s Ministerial Programmeand will include the Government Leadership Award and the Spectrum for MobileBroadband Award.

This year’s host, John Cleese, is best known for his involvement in film and TVproductions. The awards ceremony is open to Mobile World Congress attendeesfrom all shortlisted companies, regardless of pass type, as well as all other MobileWorld Congress attendees.

On 4th March the shortlist for the Best New Mobile Handset, Device or Tablet atMobile World Congress 2015 will be selected from those on show at the event. Theshortlist will be revealed on Mobile World Live TV, as well as the Global MobileAwards website, with the overall winner honoured in a live presentation on MobileWorld Live TV the following day.

The Global Mobile Awards are judged by more than 300 independent experts,analysts, journalists, academics, and in some cases, mobile operatorrepresentatives. The winner of the Outstanding Overall Mobile Technology – TheCTOs’ Choice award is selected by a panel of more than 17 industry-leading CTOsfrom the global operator community. These include CTOs from América Móvil,AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Meteor, Oi, Orange, PCCW,Singtel, SK Telecom, Smartfren, Telefónica, Three, Turkcell and Vodafone.

The 2015 Global Mobile Awardsceremony is held on 3 March

Global Mobile Awards celebrate newly emerging trends in diversity and innovation

CEC Liquid Telecom’s extended fibre network enhances Zambian connections


Completion of the Lusaka-Livingstone Victoria Falls link is expected by June 2015



SOLUTIONS

34

DANS LE CADRE de la conférence DistribuTECH Power Transmission, IBM aannoncé une nouvelle plate-forme analytique en mode Cloud ayant pour butd’aider les entreprises du secteur de l’énergie à la prise de décision. Cettenouvelle solution permet d’éliminer les obstacles financiers à l’utilisation del’analytique au sein de la production, de la transmission et de la distributiond’énergie tout en fournissant un nouveau niveau de connaissance provenantde volumes de données massifs.

Les entreprises des secteurs de l’énergie sont confrontées à un défi de taille: elles doivent fournir de l’énergie de façon fiable, économique et durable etce dans un marché de plus en plus compétitif. Ce défi pourra uniquement êtrerelevé grâce à des analyses flexibles et évolutives qui permettront demoderniser le réseau public et d’améliorer la production d’énergie.IBM Insights Foundation for Energy peut être utilisé pour obtenir une vision à360°, du transformateur individuel au réseau tout entier. Disponible de façonsécurisée sur l’infrastructure SoftLayer d’IBM, la plate-forme associe deslogiciels pour l’intégration et la visualisation de la donnée à de l’analytiqueavancée pour faciliter la prise de décision concernant la maintenance et lesréparations. Elle permet également de renouveler les prévisions etl’intégration dans les réseaux, tout en soutenant le développement del’analytique « personnalisée » pour l’ajuster aux besoins spécifiques dechaque fournisseur du secteur public et de l’énergie.SoftLayer est devenu le moteur de l’accélération du leadership d’IBM dans leCloud. IBM a racheté SoftLayer en juillet 2013 pour un montant de 2 milliardsde dollars et a continué à réaliser des investissements significatifs pourenrichir son portefeuille Cloud.Selon Gartner, près de la moitié des grandes entreprises effectueront desdéploiements en mode Cloud hybride d’ici fin 2017. Alors qu’IBM accélère sonleadership dans le Cloud en délivrant des capacités de Big Data oud’analytique pour les entreprises qui font le choix d’un modèle en CloudHybride, aujourd’hui, la compagnie annonce également que des entreprisesde différentes industries sont en train de migrer des opérations essentiellespour leur entreprise sur SoftLayer.Des clients du monde entier adoptent le Cloud d’IBM, dont plusieurs milliersde nouveaux clients qui ont migré vers la plateforme SoftLayer en seulement1 an. Parmi les plus récents on compte Macy’s, Whirlpool, une filiale deDaimler, Sicoss Group et de nombreux autres qui transforment leur opérationspour adopter la nouvelle ère du Cloud hybride.

Alors que les données deviennent la ressource naturelle de l’avenir, lesclients cherchent les moyens de stocker et d’exploiter leurs donnéesefficacement, tout en garantissant leur confidentialité et leur sécurité.

L’APPARITION DES smartphones vers la fin des années 2000 aprofondément changé l’utilisation des réseaux mobiles. A l’échelle de laplanète, le volume de trafic de données mobiles a dépassé, en 2009,celui du trafic voix. A ce jour, avec 2,7 milliards de smartphones enopération, le trafic de données mobiles mensuel global dépasse les 2ExaOctets, (2 suivi de 18 zeros) et croît exponentiellement. Une étuderéalisée sur les internautes, et a publié par Akamai, a montré lacorrélation entre le temps d’initialisation d’une vidéo et l’abandon deson visionnage. Lors de l’initialisation du streaming, l’abandoncommence dès 2 secondes d’attente et augmente de 5,8 % par secondesupplémentaire. L’expérience de l’utilisateur est fortement dépendantede la rapidité d’affichage sur l’écran. Plus l’affichage est rapide, plusl’expérience est agréable, et répond à l’attente d’un certain niveau deconfort. Parmi les premiers contributeurs de la rapidité d’affichage, letrès haut débit des réseaux 4G et la faible latence sont descaractéristiques primordiales. Dans le cadre de la vidéo, outre la rapiditéde démarrage, le très haut débit permet une plus grande qualitéd’image, mieux adaptée aux plus grands écrans des smartphones ettablettes.Selon Eric Hatton, Directeur Technique de Compte chez Ericsson

France, L’ensemble des abonnés grand public et professionnelsapprécieront aussi les temps de téléchargement sensiblementraccourcis par un débit plus élevé. Dans ce contexte, la performance duréseau est primordiale. On peut s’attendre à ce que les opérateurs ayantconstruit les meilleurs réseaux pour un grand confort de navigationbénéficieront en retour d’une meilleure satisfaction et taux de rétentionde leurs abonnés.

Une plate-forme dédiée au secteur énergétique Le LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

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FG Wilson Engineering Ltd ................................................................7

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Liquid Telecommunications ..............................................................5

MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd................................................35

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. ................................................2

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