Bharti and Reliance Jio announce comprehensive telecom infrastructure sharing arrangement:

Reliance Industries, set to launch 4G services into the highly competitive telecoms market, has signed a deal with the country's largest telecoms operator Bharti Airtel, to share telecom infrastructure.

The two companies will share inter and intra-city optic fibre network, submarine cable networks, towers and internet broadband services.

The arrangement may be extended in future to roaming services on 2G, 3G and 4G platforms, and any other mutually benefiting areas relating to telecommunication, the two companies said.

"The cooperation is aimed at avoiding duplication of infrastructure, wherever possible, and to preserve capital and the environment," Bharti said in a statement.

The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed, but an identical statement by both companies said the pricing would be at "arm's length, based on prevailing market rates".

Reliance Industries, controlled by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, plans to roll out a nationwide 4G network as part of its foray into telecoms. The company's unit Reliance Jio Infocomm won airwaves in 2010, but is yet to start commercial services.

African telecom landscape looks towards high speeds:

A number of factors have contributed to Africa’s increasing adoption of mobile phones for internet use over PCs — cost and lack of ethernet infrastructure for two. The cost of computers versus the lower prices of mobile phones in addition to the lack of physical internet cable implementation has spurred the growth of mobile devices in Africa — a trend that is now of global proportion. But Africa’s mobile scene presents unique challenges, and the recently reported interest in the continent’s digital communications from Mideast and European telcos has spun a larger conversation over the future of the continent’s growth.

MidEast telcos have been developing their presence in North Africa for a while. Etisalat — an Emirates-based telco — took over France’s Vivendi’s stake in Maroc Telecom in July, heightening its presence in West Africa. (Maroc Telecom was also Morocco’s largest operator, according to reports.) And European companies such as Orange have been increasing their investments in various countries to get a foothold in the developing markets. These growing investments from operators have accumulated throughout the year, and made for conversation at AfricaCom 2013 — a telecom conference held in Cape Town, South Africa earlier in November which calls together global technology leaders.

An executive from Gemalto — a digital security company — spoke after the conference and called for operators to take advantage of the unique communications landscape in Africa in order to bypass 3G implementation and escalate quickly to 4G. While attaining high speed wireless seems unlikely in regions that have barely reliable 2G, Sherry Zameer, head of Africa and Middle East telecommunications for the company, described the lack of regulation and restrictive platforms actually make Africa ripe for the buildout of 4G.

Huawei to launch 4G service in Ethiopia:

Ethiopia's state-run Ethio Telecom said on Thursday it had picked Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's second largest telecom equipment maker, to roll out a high-speed 4G network across the capital Addis Ababa.

The introduction of the service is part of a $1.6 billion deal signed in July and August between the Ethiopian firm, Huawei and ZTE, China's second-biggest telecoms equipment maker, to expand mobile phone infrastructure throughout the Horn of Africa country.

Ethio Telecom's head of communications,Abdurahim Ahmed, said, "In terms of allocation, Huawei will be responsible for the expansion of 4G in Addis Ababa, including other mobile services - the 2G, 3G, IP and the like." 

Abdurahim said the allocation plan was finalised on Wednesday.

"It is expected to benefit more than 400,000 subscribers. Within an eight-month period, the expansion project of Addis Ababa, including 4G, will be completed."

The deal, signed by ZTE in August and Huawei a month before, will enable Ethiopia to double subscribers to more than 50 million by 2015 and expand 3G service throughout the country.

Both firms will split their work along 13 expansion areas.

The contract was awarded under a long-term loan package to be paid over a 13 year period with an interest rate of "less than 1 percent", Abdurahim said.

Africa's rapidly expanding telecoms industry has come to symbolize its economic growth, with subscribers across the continent totaling almost 650 million last year, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank.

Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in the country of more than 80 million people, among the last remaining countries on the continent to maintain a state monopoly in telecoms.

The government has ruled out liberalizing its telecoms sector, saying the 6 billion birr it generates each year is being spent on railway projects. Ethiopia plans to build 5, 000 kilometre of railway lines by 2020.

Alcatel-Lucent, YooMee partner on TDD LTE in West, Central Africa:

Alcatel-Lucent will enable YooMee Africa, the leading high-speed Internet service provider in Cameroon, to expand into new African markets by offering TDD LTE ultra-broadband wireless access.  

YooMee - previously known as 4G Africa - provides high-speed reliable Internet access and value added services to residences and businesses customers throughout sub-Saharan Africa. LTE is the best choice for YooMee to build wireless broadband networks as it is the latest worldwide standard to offer mobile internet services replacing technologies like WiMAX.

YooMee aims to deploy TDD LTE in its new markets within the next 6 months and expects to build out an average 35 to 50 sites per capital city before deploying in remaining cities of the countries it operates in. Alcatel-Lucent will deploy a complete end-to-end TDD LTE solution consisting of eNBs, Wireless Backhaul and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), as well as providing professional services such as network planning, pre-launch optimization, network integration, and start-up assistance services to accompany YooMee with its commercial rollout.

Dov Bar-Gera, CEO of YooMee Africa, said: “YooMee is committed to helping eliminate the digital divide in Africa and providing ultra-broadband accessibility as the means to accomplishing that goal. In addition to our efforts in Cameroon,we plan to deploy TDD LTE in other countries in which YooMee is holding the relevant licenses in the coming years. Our work at the University of Douala, giving 70,000 students and faculty access to broadband internet at very affordable rates, is another indicator of our commitment to improving the quality of life in Africa by overcoming the digital divide.”

Mboweni: investment, innovation key to telecoms success:

Investment and innovation are the key to success in telecoms the world over, according to Econet Wireless CEO, Douglas Mboweni. 
 
Speaking as the company released its half year results, Mboweni reminded analysts that the company had invested $1 billion since 2008. He said no other business had shown "so much confidence in the future of Zimbabwe when measured by actual money invested. We are a local company, owned by Zimbabweans, and we have gone all over the world to find money to invest in our country”. 
 
Mboweni said in telecommunications you have to be constantly investing because customers are always buying new types of phones that require greater capability from the network. “All these new devices that people are buying, such as tablets and smartphones, require ever increasing capability from the network. This means we have to buy new network equipment all the time. 
 
“If you take the new iPhone that just came out, it will not work properly if we do not have 4G. We have to invest in 4G to ensure our top customers stay on the network just as we did with 3G. All this requires hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Mboweni.
 
He said innovation was also critical for a successful business, but he also noted that it was not simply an idea of adopting new ideas, but also adapting those ideas in such a way that you are successful. 
 
He gave the example of Mobile money, where other operators in Africa, tried and abandoned because it was too difficult to implement. “We were the last to launch mobile money, with our Ecocash but we now have one of the most successful services of its kind on the whole continent, even South Africa has not been as successful, as us in mobile money services."

Intelsat and SoftBank Concluded Trial of Rural 3G Phone Service in Kenya:

Satellite operator, Intelsat and Japan-based SoftBank Mobile had announced the successful trial of a rural 3G mobile phone service in Kenya. Intelsat supported the demonstration through capacity on the Intelsat 10 satellite and via the company's teleport in Fuchsstadt, Germany.

Intelsat's fleet and IntelsatOne terrestrial network were instrumental in enabling the deployment in rural Kenya, an area of Africa not supported by traditional land line infrastructure.

"The successful field trial of a cost-effective, managed VSAT-based, rural 3G service delivery solution is an excellent example of the collaborative innovation that our industry requires to properly support the demands of its end users," said Intelsat vice president of network services product management Steve Good.

"We are confident that technology advancements, such as this and our Intelsat EpicNG platform, will allow mobile operators to provide reliable, ubiquitous support to their most remote users, and provide a robust broadband infrastructure as networks upgrade from 2G to 3G, and eventually to 4G via satellite."

SoftBank Mobile also utilizes the Intelsat 8 satellite and a managed service offering via the IntelsatOne terrestrial network for the delivery of cellular and data backhaul services to its customers across the southern islands of Japan.

Unitel claims first African 4G video roaming:

Angolan cellco Unitel and Belgian counterpart Proximus have performed the first African 4G LTE international roaming video call (via LTE data roaming session), supported by BICS, a global provider of wholesale carrier services. The demonstration was made in the presence of Princess Astrid of Belgium, on an official state visit by the Belgian Economic Trade Mission to Angola, a press release says. The Belgian deputy prime minister Didier Reynders (in Luanda, Angola) and a BICS representative in Belgium made the video call using BICS’s  LTE signalling platform.

Nigeria: Etisalat, Distribution Partners to Foster Telecom Growth

Etisalat Nigeria has hosted its distribution partners at its 2013 Distribution Partners' Conference in Lagos. The annual conference is organised to give both parties an opportunity to meet and discuss the performance of the previous year and to map-out the business objectives of the current year.
Distribution partners from the different geo-political zones of the country converged at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki for a one-on-one interaction with the management and key officials of Etisalat with the aim of fostering healthy partnerships and at the same time shared their various challenges and proffered solutions that will help create a more robust business operation.

Chief Commercial Officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar during his opening remarks said it was always a pleasure to meet and discuss with distribution partners who have contributed immensely to the growth and success of the company. According to him, the 15 million subscriber- base mark reached in January was a combined effort with Etisalat's valued partners who helped to ensure the distribution of Etisalat products across Nigeria.

"The essence of these discussions is for our distribution partners to know and understand what is required of them so as to meet business objectives. What we do is to look at our customers' needs and how they want to interact with the brand and then we act. It is our desire that our partners approach the business likewise," he said.

Speaking also at the conference, Director, Indirect Channels and Corporate Sales, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Ken Ogujiofor while acknowledging the support of the distribution partners said it was imperative that the company takes out time to sit and listen to the distribution partners express their opinions and act where necessary. "We need to create a win-win situation for both parties because if our partners are not comfortable with us, the business is likely to suffer," he said.

The conference featured several presentations on the operations of the company, including the growing trend of data use in the telecommunications industry. Etisalat also used the occasion to share the categories for next year's Heroes Awards with the partners, an award event organised specially for the distribution partners to reward the best performing distribution partners who have contributed immensely to the growth and success of the business in the country.

Mobile Telecom operator in Baharin - Batelco, Zain Baharin and Viva Baharin

Bahrain’s telecoms market although small but is one the most developed telecommunication markets of the world. 

WiMAX is growing very rapidly in the country and the future is mobile broadband,


Bahrain was one of the first to introduce LTE in the Middle East, with every operator working on HSPA+ or LTE

3 mobile telecom network operators in Bahrain

Rank	Operator	Technology	Subscribers (in millions)	Ownership
1	Batelco	GSM-900 2100 MHz UMTS, HSDPA	0.738 (December 2011)	Bahrain Telecommunications Company (100%)
2	Zain Bahrain	GSM-900/1800 2100 MHz UMTS, HSDPA	0.508 (including WiMAX subscribers, December 2011)	Zain Group (56.25%)
3	Viva Bahrain	GSM-900/1800 2100 MHz UMTS, HSDPA	Launched March 2010	STC (100%)

Mobile telecom operators in Angola - Movicel and Unitel

 

 

 

The mobile telecom operators in Angola are

Angola Telecom Operators
Angola Telecom (Movicel)
Unitel

Angola has 7.5m mobile phone subscribers in total, making it one of the  largest mobile telecoms markets in Africa.

Movicel is a mobile operator with shares of government (Angola Telecom (18%), Correios Telegrafos de Angola (2%)), Porturil (40%), Modus Comicare (19%), Ipang (10%), Lambda (6%)
Movicel has a subscriber base of around 2.5m.

Unitel is a private operator with shares of Mercury (Sonangol group) (25%), Group GENI(25%), Vidatel (25%), Portugal Telecom (25%). Unitel started services in March 2001.

With more than 6 million customers, Unitel is the leader in market. Unitel is roughly twice the size of Movicel and offers GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, international roaming and 3G

Angola is eyeing 4G even before the US and Europe. 

 Angola is developing technologically very rapidly as compared to other African countries. Movicel has parterned with ZTE for 4G technology.