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Issue 15 I March 2014 Carrier Community e-magazine Wholesales Industry & Community News After event Dubai 2014 GCCM Special Issue

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Carrier Community E-magazine March 2014 Issue

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Page 1: E-magazine March

Issue 15 I March 2014

Carrier Communitye-magazine

Wholesales Industry & Community News

After event

Dubai 2014

GCCM

Special Issue

Page 2: E-magazine March

Editorial

Wida Schmidt, CEO

CEO at Carrier Community

Wida Schmidt

Dear Readers,I am delighted to announce the March 2014 e-magazine edition which captures the article written by Beatriz Butsana-Sita, Managing Director at BT Global Telecom Markets (GTM) regarding ‘The future of Interconnection: how wholesale operators need to evolve and transform to serve the next generation of customers’. This issue also highlights press releases from Carrier Community and PCCW Global. In addition we have outlined some industry and our club’s latest news and activities. Moreover, we have outlined the list of new member carriers joining our exclusive platform in March 2014.

Carrier Community Press Release In this edition, our club’s press release highlights the milestones reached as well as it includes post event report about our 1st Annual Middle East Dubai 2014 GCCM taken place successfully on the 3rd & 4th March 2014. 240 delegate members attended the event from 35 countries and 140 operators. Delegates were able to network, share industry insights and do business in one place exclusively for carriers.

Industry reportIn our April edition we have included the article which was written by our Annual GCCM London 2014 Guest Speaker: Beatriz Butsana-Sita, Managing Director at BT Global Telecom Markets (GTM) regarding ‘The future of Interconnection: how wholesale operators need to evolve and transform to serve the next generation of customers’, where she highlighted the key challenges the telecom community faces and how to address these challenges, as well as the growing influence the telecom industry has in our everyday life and how should the operators seize the opportunities arising in this highly competitive environment. Industry news

Once again, we have picked up a few telecom related industry news to keep our members informed about the latest news happening in our industry.

Members joined and next GCCM eventOur Annual 2014 Singapore GCCM event will take place on 16th & 17th June. We expect 400+ carrier member executives representing 200+carriers across the globe to attend this show. 15% of the attendees’ members represent C-Level, followed by 35% VP and 50% Director and Manager levels. We are honoured and proud to announce our official Singapore 2014 GCCM Sponsors while extending our special THANKS to our strong partner sponsors for their continuous support and trust in building further this club and raising profile about the GCCM in Singapore Hosted by SingTel and sponsored by Synectiv, FL-Connect Telecom, StarHub, Epsilon Telecommunication, Voxvalley, DIGITALK, PCCW Global, Ivoice, Lanck Telecom, Blueberry Telecom, Tyntec,World Hub and others. In the next pages, we have highlighted further details about our sponsors and GCCM events.

New members are joining our club every month. This month once again we have included the company names recently joined. Our club is also organising for the 4th time in a row successfully the Annual European Network Planning Meeting (ENPM). This year the event will take place in Berlin on 15th and 16th of September hosted by Deutsche Telekom. We are once again proud to be the organiser of this exclusive club’s event.

Our members’ feedback and comments are very important for us so please write to us so that we can further improve the services and grow this exclusive and global club.Once again THANK YOU for all your support and trust.

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Sarnen, Switzerland – April 15, 2014

Carrier Community, an exclusive global industry-networking platform for wholesale carriers service providers, is pleased to announce that more than 3,000 carrier executives have joined the community representing 1,300 carriers around the world. Carrier Community was founded to give the industry a central platform, which enhances business opportunities across voice, data, SMS, Mobile, MVNO, cable, telehouse, value added services and other related sectors.

Membership of the Carrier Community gives carrier executives free access to a focused industry related vendor independent networking platform as well as free and real-time exchange of contacts and information via a central portal and organised annual networking events. It is truly global and formed of the industries key decision makers.

The 3,000 member milestone was reached after the Carrier Community successfully launched its first annual Middle East Global Carrier Community Meeting (GCCM) in Dubai on the 3rd & 4th March 2014. 240 delegate members attended the event from 35 countries and 140 operators. Delegates were able to network, share industry insights and do business in one place purely for carriers.

“We are extremely proud of this milestone and it shows that the industry wants a place where they can focus on networking and doing real business. The GCCM was founded to facilitate business opportunities for our members and with more than 3,000 carrier executives participating we are happy to see our community grow and develop,” says Wida Schmidt, CEO of Carrier Community. “The successes of our newly launched event in Dubai as well as 7th annual GCCM in London show the vibrancy of the Carrier Community and value of focused networking.”

Press Release

Global Carrier Community Reaches Its 3,000th Member Representing 1,300 Carriers GloballyThe industry’s only carrier-exclusive networking platform achieves membership milestone and successfully launches Middle Eastern meeting

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The Carrier Community’s 7th annual London 2014 GCCM in April brought together 320 delegate members, representing 40 countries and 170 carrier operators.

To become a member of Carrier Community, please visit www.carriercommunity.com

About Carrier Community

Carrier Community is an exclusive global industry-networking platform for wholesale carrier service providers. It was founded as a central and transparent platform to enhance business opportunities across the telecom industry’s various sectors such as voice, data, SMS, Mobile, VAS, MVNO, ISP, Cable, Telehouse and other related sectors. Community founders believe that the voluntary free exchange of contacts and information via a central portal as well as organised annual networking events are core to the creation of new business opportunities in order to help the world become more connected. Carrier Community offers the industry a meeting place where members can share ideas, contacts and business information for the mutual benefit of all members. It hosts annual networking events throughout the year such as Global Carrier Community Meetings (GCCM) in London,Singapore, Dubai and Berlin in 2014. New regional GCCM will be launchec in Africa and LATAM regions in years to come. Carrier Community is organising also since 2011 the Annual European Network Planning Meeting (ENPM) forum.

The Carrier Community has qualified more than 3,000 members since its inception representing 1,300+Operators from more than 120+ countries. Our members occupy C-Level, VP, Director and Manager Positions at incumbent, mobile and alternative and small operators.

www.carriercommunity.com

Press Release

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Industry Article

Let me start by telling you about the questions that keep me awake at night.

•How do I plug the revenue gap that is left from the rapid erosion of my traditional revenues? There’s so much pressure from regulation, competition and the fast pace of technology change.•How do I adapt, survive and compete with emerging technologies that blur the line between the consumer and business markets? Customers used to be happy with services that met specific single needs but today they expect them to deliver an integrated experience across all the devices they use.•How do I deal with agile new entrants who are taking away big portions of my revenue, who don’t share investment in the infrastructure and who are not subject to regulation? Sometimes it feels like we’re not competing on a level playing field anymore.•How do I deliver always-on fixed and mobile services that consumers can access 24x7 wherever they roam in the world, at the same high quality, and at a competitive price? Our customers always want more for less, preferably delivered as “all you can eat”.•How do we monetise the huge investments in our infrastructure, assets and services?

Well, I see three key challenges that we have to address:

Firstly: We must embrace the threats – for example, substitution of revenue from fixed voice by mobile, VoIP and wi-fi – and turn them opportunities. Making a virtue out of necessity is not easy, but it is possible.

Secondly: We have to create one unified network that is intuitive, scalable and adaptable; a network that enables new business models allowing wholesale customers to compete in non-traditional markets – and does it credibly.

Industry Article

How wholesale operators need to evolve and transform to serve the next generation of customers

The future of interconnectionSpeech by Beatriz Butsana-SitaManaging director, BT Global Telecom Markets (GTM)At the Global Carrier Community Meeting London 2014

Beatriz Butsana-SitaManaging directorBT Global Telecom Markets(GTM)

Appointed managing director of BT Global Telecom Markets (GTM) in 2010, Beatriz joined BT in 1995 as a principal consultant in BT Consulting, after working in Belgium and the United States with KPMG and Utility Management Consultancy. She gained her BT international experience in business development, where she contract-managed such major global accounts as BMW, Bank of Tokyo, Sumitomo and Daiwa. She then set up BT’s managed hosting business in Germany and the Benelux, and later served as a director of marketing propositions for BT Retail in the UK. Before joining GTM, she led BT Retail call centre-based sales operations in the SME market and desk-based corporate account management.

Born in Belgium, Beatriz graduated from Antwerp University with a Masters in Engineering and Economics. She also holds diplomas in advanced management and global leadership from Stanford University, California and the Tuck Business School in Dartmouth, New Hampshire, USA.

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Thirdly: We need to build a bridge between legacy and next-generation networks to enable seamless migration at a pace that is comfortable for our wholesale customers, and on a “pay as you grow” basis.

As I see it, telecommunication is becoming a bigger and bigger part of both our business and our private lives. It has become a commodity that we can put into the shopping basket at the supermarket and buy, along with the other items we need in our daily lives. This “one-stop shop” approach extends into the business market with the evolution of triple and quadruple play. Fixed operators offer mobile services. Mobile operators offer fixed services. They all try to offer content services and applications, and they all target the same customers. This creates a converging market with new value chains and new customer behaviours. Take BT Sports as an example, and our approach to combining entertainment with super-fast broadband over our fibre infrastructure in the UK. These trends are defining the next generation of operators, carriers and service providers. We as service providers have to address the needs and requirements of our end customers, both businesses and consumers.I’m here representing BT as a wholesale provider. We’d like to help you address these challenges to become next-generation providers. Currently, we all depend heavily on existing services like voice. You may see voice as legacy, but it is still the biggest application and it still generates most of the revenue for many carriers and operators. On the other hand, our customers’ needs are evolving beyond what the traditional voice network can deliver. So we have to build new platforms to serve their changing requirements, and I believe

that the need for a unified network has never been greater.

The concept of “plug & play” around hardware has evolved into “plug & power up” for networks and applications. It’s really about taking complex IT solutions and making them simple and accessible. And in reality that’s the promise of the cloud: Globally distributed services as and when we need them across different networks, with the ability to access them at an affordable and transparent cost, and with the bandwidth we need.

But we must avoid creating useless applications and simply replacing commodity with services for their own sake. Nobody wants a dumb cloud, so we have to deliver transparent, value-added services that our customers want and are willing to pay for!!

In essence, our biggest challenge is to find a way to get a return on the investment in our new generation of access networks, such as fibre and LTE, which we need so we can respond to the requirements of our customers. So, now that we know what next-generation providers look like and what challenges they face – but more importantly, what opportunities are open for them to seize – we can look at what this means for our wholesale business. I see three main areas where I can support service providers like you and help you succeed.

The first is the consolidation of legacy: This means supporting my wholesale customers to help you manage your legacy infrastructure, services and cost base efficiently. To help you achieve a world-class price base you can offer your end customers to compete in a commoditised market. Because we face so much pressure on our traditional revenues and margins, this can make a world of difference. Consolidation also means helping you

Industry Article

Where wholesale can help the next generation provider succeed

Consolidation Transformation Innovation

Three key challenges

Turn threats into opportunities

Create one unified network

Enable seamless migration

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Industry Article

sweat your assets and maintain your cash-cow services so you can reinvest in your future. Your customers will want to migrate to new services at their own pace, and I can help you extend the life of your existing platforms and of the products and services in your portfolios. There’s a lot of room for improvement and innovation in traditional services to help end customers get the most out of them for the rest of their product cycle. Consolidation gives you the oxygen you need to invest in the future without neglecting your legacy business.

The second area where I can support you and help you succeed is transformation: This means helping service providers like you build the bridge from legacy to new wave, enabling you to create a next-generation platform and seamlessly move your end customers onto it. For this, the network is key. And we see a lot of operators re-emphasising the network as a core element of their strategy. Networks are only important for the services they deliver, but without them no services exist at all. The requirements of next-generation providers are not the same as the requirements of traditional providers. Transformation and the completely new set of requirements are driving the need for interoperability - not only between the networks of one provider, but among multiple networks and many providers.

I’m proud to say that BT has created a roadmap for interoperability, with our BT Global IP Exchange product at its centre. As we gradually introduce our roadmap to the market, we’re pleased to help our customers become next-generation providers and address the new requirements, especially the crucial element of creating a sustainable business model in the IP space.

I believe that our Global IP Exchange allows providers to adapt and compete in new and different markets. With more than 400 partners worldwide connected to our Global IP Exchange network, and with several standards-compliant options for access, we have built a truly global IP Interconnect platform. With this platform we can deliver on the promise of interoperability – even beyond the current standards set for IP Exchange. Our revenues and business success and the growth we see in this area show clear proof that it’s a sustainable platform. Not only can it can support traffic migrating to IP, it can create new business which did not exist before, especially new services in the value-added space.

So the third area where we can help through wholesale is new services: Now that we’ve addressed consolidation and transformation, the next-generation provider will also require support around innovation. I believe value creation and innovative bundling are the keys to opening new markets. New services are emerging within operators’ own networks, or in the internet domain, what we call over-the-top, that have the potential to generate additional turnover if they can be extended across network borders to become nationwide or international services. These services can deliver much-needed revenues for fixed and mobile network operators, ISPs, and over-the-top content and application providers. However, they’re currently available only in islands, with little interworking between different providers’ services, and limited interworking between managed networks and over-the-top internet applications. If interworking can be enabled, then billions in extra service revenues might be accessible globally by the end of 2015, and more beyond. This is where partnering and collaboration play a key role. At BT we look to create white-labelled offerings to help operators create innovative consumer services and enterprise portfolios.

We want service providers to be able to make the most of the opportunities in the new IP space, and do it quickly, without falling into the temptation to stretch investments over a lot of new areas that cry for CAPEX. “More for less” is critical in today’s climate. To this end BT can play a very important role: our Global IP Exchange roadmap includes new services.

I’d like to give you some examples:

We’re enabling High Definition Voice, giving customers an unprecedented calling experience. HD Voice support through the IP Exchange adds true value by helping to retain premium customers who want unparalleled call quality. Studies show that customers with HD Voice talk 5-10% longer per call than they do with standard mobile-voice quality. This means you can keep your ARPU and your margin up.

Presence is another example. Allowing the network to recognise our current state of availability, our device and our readiness to take a call will lead to new ways to provide services. We need to make this presence awareness of

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Industry Article

the infrastructure happen for the “network in our pockets” to work, so it can intelligently route all our calls to us. … Or use our cross-network mailbox instead. While this might look like a nice-to-have option right now, it will become a necessity as more and more of our communications integrate and traffic volumes increase. Presence awareness will be fundamental to retaining customers and their revenues.

One of the most important propositions around IP Exchange beyond IP Voice is, of course, international roaming. There’s a strongly growing demand to be able to use roaming in the context of broadband data rather than simple availability for narrowband services. This trend is not fuelled by technology but by increasing mobility. World travel is on the uptick. In 2012 alone the international tourist arrivals worldwide exceeded the 1 billion threshold. This is the equivalent of the entire Chinese population travelling abroad. Take these numbers that show increasing mobility and combine them with figures that show changing user behaviour on smart devices. Data from late in 2013 show that smartphones only made up about 20% of the total number of handsets in use around the world. But they generated more than 90% of the global handset traffic. As prices for smartphones keep falling, people substitute them for traditional handsets. Tablets complement notebooks. The resulting surge in data is phenomenal. Some estimates project an annual 9-fold increase in data traffic on our networks.

By 2018 the world will have 3 billion smartphones. Even if international travel stays flat, this could mean that instead of 200 million smart-device users we would have more than a billion going abroad. That’s not the billion world-travel arrivals I mentioned earlier, that’s a billion smart-device users arriving abroad. And when they arrive in another country, they expect to switch their devices on and get the same quality as they do on their home networks. They want their services and products to work seamlessly – at a cost level in line with their budgets but still offering the “all you can eat” services I previously described. Here IP Exchange gives us with a great opportunity to help operators meet the challenges. BT plans to launch products this year for both LTE and Wi-fi Roaming on our Global IP Exchange. And we take the concept further than only providing islands of service for these technologies. We will integrate them to form a single seamless platform offering simple and effective one-stop roaming for you as operators and for your end users.

We’re going to improve the user experience of wi-fi. BT supported the development of wi-fi from the beginning, and we have extensive experience in our home country with millions of hotspots working to complement our super-fast fibre broadband. The next step is to make using wi-fi as easy as switching on your phone. Effectively, it will be enabled by simply switching on your phone. With SIM-card-based authentication we put vouchers, complex landing pages, and long user names and passwords into the past.

Beyond helping end users, this approach also holds advantages for operators. Through our Global IP Exchange, BT will not only make our wi-fi estate in the UK available to mobile and other operators who want to offer their customers global wi-fi roaming. We’ll bring together wi-fi estates around the globe. For mobile operators the platform will translate wi-fi into their existing operator standards. This way they can combine it seamlessly with their traditional roaming and with LTE roaming for maximum efficiency. For me, it’s all about working smarter, not harder. All this positions BT as your strong partner of choice for new services.

In summary, I see the future in two ways: We all face tough challenges, not just in the network. Add to this the climate of economic uncertainty, plus increased regulation and competition, and we find ourselves in very unsettled waters. But in our challenges I see our biggest opportunities, and we must look for the break in the waves.

Through further enhancements around interoperability, we can innovate to create new services our customers will love to buy. To do that, we have to become next-generation providers. I strongly believe that collaboration and strong partnerships have never been so critical. So let’s reach out and grab the opportunities!

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Press Release

HKT (SEHK: 6823) – HONG KONG, March 17, 2014 – PCCW Global, the Hong Kong-headquartered international telecommunications division of HKT, has become the first carrier in the world to be granted international MEF CE 2.0 certification for global services that cross continental boundaries, as well as the first carrier to certify its 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) network service. In addition, a number of PCCW Global’s technical experts have been accredited with the very latest MEF-CECP 2.0 certification from the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), the global defining body for Carrier Ethernet.

The news adds significant weight to PCCW Global’s stated commitment to meeting rigorous CE 2.0 performance qualifications, as well as the continuous development of the operator’s internationally acclaimed Carrier Ethernet service capabilities.

This accreditation achievement, which includes the world’s first certification of all eight Carrier Ethernet service types, follows PCCW Global winning the MEF’s “Best Global Wholesale Ethernet Service Award” last November. MEF President Mr. Nan Chen congratulated PCCW Global on an outstanding contribution to the industry and delivery of innovative Carrier Ethernet solutions to customers around the world.

Mr. Jordick Wong, PCCW Global’s Senior Vice President of Product and Vendor Management, said, “Ethernet is becoming the technology of choice for many enterprises looking to extend LANs internationally without the hassle and cost of investing in multiple interface types at the customer premise. We are enriching our Ethernet offering to customers globally by providing them with a fully-managed carrier-class solution. It is essential that PCCW Global continuously upgrades its service standards and ability to support the latest voice, data and video applications worldwide.”

PCCW Global is first in the world to obtain MEF CE 2.0 and 10GE network certificationAccreditation achievement includes the world’s first certification of all 8 Carrier Ethernet service types

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Press Release

MEF CE 2.0 has broadened the scope of CE 1.0 by adding standardized class-of-service management definitions, multi-site connectivity and inter-carrier services. In addition, CE 2.0 has introduced standardized Carrier Ethernet service management capabilities. These new standards enable carriers to streamline the establishment of external network-to-network interconnections, while improving service coverage, administration and fault management across large geographies. Other improvements include optimization of global services and the ability to offer scalability with consistent and predictable performance.

The 10GE standard is fully interoperable with existing Ethernet protocols. As demand for speed increases, cost-effective 10GE technology can be deployed within existing networks to support high-speed, low-latency requirements. This provides customers with a number of key operational benefits such as lower switch or router set-up costs, a full bandwidth advantage when carrying bursty traffic to ensure quality of service, and bandwidth headroom for traffic diversity and rerouting. Industry leaders and experts have developed MEF-CECP certification to identify Carrier Ethernet expertise within organizations. As the industry’s first vendor-neutral certification program, MEF-CECP warrants that those attaining this rigorous certification have the competency to design, market, deploy, operate and support the Carrier Ethernet equipment, networks and services that represent the next generation of telecoms technology.

MEF is a global industry alliance comprising more than 220 organizations including telecoms service providers, cable multiple-system operators, network equipment and software manufacturers, semiconductor vendors and testing organizations.

About PCCW GlobalPCCW Global is the international operating division of HKT, Hong Kong's premier telecommunications service provider, which is majority-owned by PCCW Limited.

Covering more than 3,000 cities and 130 countries, the PCCW Global network supports a portfolio of integrated global communications solutions which include Ethernet solutions, IP solutions, fiber and satellite transmission solutions, managed services and solutions, international voice and VoIPX services.

PCCW Global maintains regional centers in Hong Kong, the United States of America, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, China, Japan, Korea and Singapore.

About HKTHKT (SEHK: 6823) is Hong Kong's premier telecommunications service provider. It meets the needs of the Hong Kong public and local and international businesses with a wide range of services including local telephony, local data and broadband, international telecommunications, mobile, and other telecommunications businesses such as customer premises equipment sale, outsourcing, consulting, and contact centers.

Together with the highly successful media business of its parent company, PCCW Limited, HKT offers innovative media content and services across the PCCW Group’s unique quadruple-play platforms – fixed-line, broadband Internet access, TV and mobile.

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Dubai 2014 GCCM Delegates Profiles

C-Level

Senior Level

38%

36%18%

Manager Level

Regions Profile

Delegates Profile

We had 228 official registrations representing 40 countries and 140 carrier operators

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Dubai 2014 GCCM Attended Carriers

• 42com Telecommunication GmbH• 4Plus• 9Eons Limited• A Telco• Abul Khair Ali Trading L.L.C.• Acme Tel FZC UAE• Afinna One• Amicustel Universal Pvt. Ltd• Apelby Communications• Ashan Telecom HK Limited• audiotel-it• Bankai Group• Beox• Bharti Airtel Limited• Bics• Bright Telecom • BT Global Telecom Markets• C2N Exchange Inc.• Cablenet• Callvox• Capital City Service Ltd• ChinaSkyline• Commune Solution• Confiartech Ltd• Deutsche Telekom• Digi Telecom • Digitalk• Digitek Global• Dimotel• DU• EasyTalk Communications Ltd• ECO Networks• Ecocarrier Inc• EmergenceVoice Ltd• Encore Telecom• Epsilon Telecommuications Ltd• Equinix, Inc.• Eser Telekom• Etisalat • EVOX Trading • Excila Telecom• FASTtelco• Fizan Telecom• FL-Connect Telecom Services GmbH• Gardenia Telco • Global Convergence Solutions• Globalringer Inc• Globe Teleservices Ltd

• Glory Technology (H.K) Group Ltd• Himco Technology (Ptv) Ltd• HTS Ltd.• iBasis, a KPN company• InfomAge Solutions Ltd.• InterCONNECT Ltd.• Iristel Inc• ITIP LTD• iVoice Telecom • Jazztel• Jersey Telecom (JT)• Keyhan Telecom Inc.• KOL Telecom Services LLC• Kryptos Global• Kwak Telecom Ltd.• LANCK Telecom Ltd.• Lap Green Networks/Uganda Telecom• Lexico Telecom LTD• Logflip Networks FZE• Manor IT (UK) Limited• Marco Polo Communications Group • Mizan Phone Communications• NBE Mobile Phone GmbH• NewTelco GmbH• NextPage Services Limtied• Nowtel Carrier Services Ltd• PCCW Global Ltd• Phonetime Inc• Pioneer Trading• Planet Azul C.A.• Qatama Communications• Radien SoftwarePrivate Ltd• RedVoIP• RiseTel• S i2i Ltd• Saleem Telecom Ltd• Samena Carrier Forum• Sano Corporation Ltd• Sawasdeeshop Co. Ltd• Shatel Global• Sheng Li Telecom Limited • Si2i• Singularity• SMShighway• SoftNET d.o.o.• Solution9 Limited• Speed

• Speedflow• Sync Sound Tel• Synectiv Ltd.• TCG Telecom• Telarix • Telasco Comunications Ltd• Telco Globe • Telecom Italia Sparkle S.p.A• Telecom Services Network • Telecom Services USA• Teliphone Navigata Westel Communictions Inc.• TEO LT, AB, • TG Transit SIA• Thomson Reuters• Titan International Wholesale• Toos Telecom • Tranglo• Transworld IT & Telecommunication Solutions • Tseyva.com - Retail Telecom• Turk Telekom International• Tyntec GmbH• Uganda Telecom Ltd • UPM Telecom Inc.• V Lead Ltd• Verscom Carrier Voice• Vesper Technology Limited• Viacloud• Virgin Mobile MEA• Vodafone Qatar• Voicekings SAL Offshore• Voipex• Voiping Limited• Voipride Communications• VOX Carrier• Voxvalley Technologies• VR Telecom S.L• Wasel Telecom• Wavetel• WIC WorldCom International Communications• WorldSIM• XICOMM LLC.• Zain Sudan• Zajil Telecom• Zia Telecom

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Dubai 2014 GCCM in Images

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Carrier Community Emagazine

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Wholesale Industry Newshttp://telegeography.com/

CITC to re-tender third MVNOlicence; Zain left in limbo10 Apr 2014

Saudi Arabia’s telecoms watchdog the Communica-tions and IT Commission (CITC) will re-tender the coun-try’s third mobile virtual net-work operator (MVNO) licence, after revoking the authorisa-tion provisionally granted to Dubai-based retailer Axiom Tel-ecom, Al Arabiya reports. Axiom CEO Faisal al-Bannai revealed that his firm had been unable to submit all of the necessary documentation, prompting the cancellation. The executive added: ‘We have resolved that issue and will be submitting our tender in the next 48 hours’. The development is a setback for Axiom’s domestic host pro-vider Zain Saudi Arabia, with the operator forced to watch as the country’s two approved MVNOs prepare to launch on its rivals’ platforms, while it is not yet in a position to collect revenue from its own. Zain Sau-di CEO Hassan Kabbani said:

CNMC proposes reduction in fixed termination rate

‘All three MVNOs should start at the same time when all will be ready’, although the regula-tor has argued that the launch of services by Virgin Mobile MEA (VMMEA) and Jawraa Group’s (Lebara’s) remains an independent issue.

As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUp-date, in June 2013 the CITC shortlisted three companies to be awarded MVNO licences – Axiom Telecom, in collabo-ration with Zain Saudi; VM-MEA, with host provider Saudi Telecom Company (STC); and Lebara, in partnership with Mobily (Etihad Etisalat). The CITC approved the issuance of an MVNO licence to VMMEA in March 2014, and the MVNO is scheduled to launch by mid-2014. Lebara was officially awarded its concession by the regulator at the end of March and will introduce commer-cial services in Q2 2014.

Spain’s telecoms regulator, the Comision Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), has outlined propos-als under which the fixed ter-mination rate will be cut by up to 88%. In a press release the watchdog revealed plans to establish a single rate of EUR0.00862 (USD0.01) per minute, which it noted would represent a drop of up to 79% for fixed line incumbent Tel-efonica Espana, and 88% for the nation’s alternative opera-tors. With the CNMC confirm-ing it has begun a review of the competitive situation in the fixed line market, it has proposed the designation of all operators as holding sig-nificant market power (SMP), meaning all would be subject to regulatory obligations.

10 Apr 2014

While for the past six years alternative operators have been able to charge termination rates at 30% more than the regulated tariff of Telefonica, the CNMC now argues that asymmetric fees should end, claiming that to maintain the current system would distort the market and harm consumers.

Having highlighted the fact that its proposals follow rec-ommendations made by the European Commission (EC) on termination pricing, a consul-tation regarding the plans will be carried out for a month, with industry players invited to sub-mit their views. Subsequently, the CNMC has said it will then forward its draft proposals to the EC before making a final de-cision.

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Wholesale Industry Newswww.telecompaper.com

Vodafone has acquired the remaining 11 percent in Vodafone India from Pi-ramal Industries. The com-pany raised its stake last month already with the ac-quisition of indirect equity interests held by Analjit Sin-gh and Neelu Analjit Singh, taking it to 89.03 percent of Vodafone India. The com-bined cash consideration for both transactions was for INR 101.4 billion (GBP 1.0 billion). India’s Foreign In-

Sprint updates on WiMAX shutdown plan

11 Apr 2014

Vodafone buys rest of Vodafone India

vestment Promotion Board approved both acquisitions on 20 February, following approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

Since Vodafone acquired its original interest in In-dia from Hutchison in 2007, the operator’s customer base has grown around 550 percent, from 30 million to just over 164 million cus-tomers. Its network covers 83 percent of the country.

www.totaltele.com

U.S. operator to decom-mission 6,000 redundant cell sites; details charges related to backhaul upgrade.

Sprint has revealed its pro-gress on migrating the Clear-wire network from WiMAX to LTE and detailed plans to overhaul and upgrade its in-frastructure.

In a recent SEC filing, the U.S. operator said that when it acquired Clearwire, the telco was in the process of switching 5,000 of its 17,000 WiMAX sites to LTE. Sprint said that process has now been completed and now it plans to deploy LTE on a fur-ther 5,000 Clearwire sites.

The details were included in Sprint's 10-K, which was filed in February but came to public attention this week.

"We plan to cease using

09 April 2014

WiMAX technology by the end of 2015," Sprint said.

The operator has also re-viewed its consolidated cell tower portfolio and identified 6,000 redundant sites that it plans to decommission. It ex-pects to incur lease exit costs of between $50 million and $100 million. They will be recorded as and when Sprint ceases to use the redundant sites.

In addition, Sprint is also in the process of upgrading its backhaul network from TDM to higher-capacity Ethernet lines.

"We expect to incur termina-tion costs associated with our TDM contractual commitments with third-party vendors rang-ing between approximately $175 million to $225 million, the majority of which we expect to record through the first quarter of 2016," Sprint said.

John Chen claims troubled handset maker could survive on 10 million shipments per year.

Speculation that BlackBerry may exit the handset business has ebbed and flowed in recent years, but this week the mes-sage came loud and clear from the company's CEO.

"If I cannot make money on handsets, I will not be in the handset business," he said, in a report by Reuters on Wednes-day, adding that it should be possible to earn money on as few as 10 million shipments per year.

Even 10 million looks like a tall order at the moment.

BlackBerry shipped 3.4 mil-lion devices to end users dur-ing the fourth quarter of 2013, but the majority of those were channel inventory. It recog-nised hardware revenue on 1.3 million phones, down from 1.9 million in Q3. To make mat-ters worse, 2.3 million of the BlackBerrys sold to end users were from its older BlackBerry 7 range as opposed to its current BB10 range.

Just 1.3 million new units sold in the run-up to Christ-mas does not bode well for the future; Chen's turnaround plan needs to bear fruit.

Radio Free Mobile found-er Richard Windsor warned BlackBerry that life without

BlackBerry CEO mulls handset exit

handsets would be little better, because BlackBerry would be-come another mobile device management (MDM) compa-ny, putting it in competition with a number of established players like AirWatch, Mobile Iron and Good Technology.

"Most of these large ven-dors sell other products into the enterprise and can afford to give this service away," he said. "This will make life ex-tremely difficult for Blackber-ry and I doubt whether it will survive on its own as a pure MDM vendor."

Meanwhile, Chen also told Reuters that BlackBerry is beefing up its secure commu-nications credentials, and may look to acquire companies that complement its strategy and expertise.

"We are building an engi-neering team on the service side that is focused on secu-rity. We are building an engi-neering team on the device side that is focused on secu-rity. We will do some partner-ships and we will probably, potentially do an M&A on se-curity," he said.

He said BlackBerry is look-ing to invest in or partner with companies in regulated in-dustries with strong demand for secure communications, like healthcare, and financial and legal services.

Thursday 10 April 2014

Page 17: E-magazine March

16th & 17th June

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Carrier Community Emagazine

Telecom Egypt has been granted permission by the Egyptian government to ob-tain a unified licence for branded mobile services, which will cast doubt over the future of its partnership with Vodafone Egypt.

The predominantly state-owned Telecom Egypt has held a monopoly over the country’s fixed line services but until now has not been able to offer mobile services. However, now that the gov-ernment has given the go ahead to the National Tel-ecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA)’s proposals, Telecom Egypt will be able to provide mobile services via its rivals’ infrastructure.

In exchange, mobile provid-ers Etisalat, Mobinil (owned by Orange) and Vodafone Egypt will be able to use Tel-ecom Egypt’s fixed infrastruc-ture for an optional EGP100 million fee (US$14.3m). Tel-ecom Egypt’s licence, which does not include spectrum, will set it back EGP2.5 billion

10 Apr 2014

Telecom Egypt granted unified licence for mobile services

($358 million).Mohammed Elnawawy, Tel-

ecom Egypt CEO, said that his firm would seek to “develop the necessary commercial agree-ments with our business part-ners and expedite the steps set out by the NTRA”.

The government’s approval of the unified licence is compli-cated by Telecom Egypt holding a 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt, which is currently valued at around £1 billion. Now that Tel-ecom Egypt can offer mobile services, its ownership of the stake creates a conflict of inter-est so it will likely have to sell.

Vodafone reportedly has first refusal on the stake, and has gone on the record to say that it may consider international arbitration. The firm has also complained that the use of Tel-ecom Egypt’s aging copper net-work does not constitute a fair exchange.

For its part, Telecom Egypt could sell to another local firm or float the shares on the Egyp-tian stock exchange.

www.developingtelecoms.com

Wholesale Industry News

The Indonesian mobile tower firm Tower Bersama has revealed plans for a USD500 million bond sale to help finance its expan-sion and to repay debt. The company will seek approval for the sale from sharehold-ers at a meeting next month. Tower Bersama is controlled by Saratoga Capital, a private equity fund founded by In-donesian businessman San-diaga Uno. Domestic cellular operator Indosat offloaded a

www.telegeography.com

Tower Bersama plans USD500m bond sale

5% stake in the tower firm in March this year. Indosat inherited the stake in 2012 as part of a wider USD406 million sale and lease-back agreement covering 2,500 towers. Tower Bersama had a total of 16,577 tenants across its 10,134 telecommunica-tion sites at the end of 2013. Its sites include 8,866 tel-ecommunication towers, 1,040 shelter-only sites and 228 distributed antenna sys-tem networks.

10 Apr 2014

Italian telco's customers will have access to Sky content via IPTV from 2015.

Telecom Italia announced on Thursday that it has brokered a deal with satellite company Sky that will allow it offer Sky content via its broadband TV service.

The Italian telco's IPTV cus-tomers will have access to the entire Sky TV offer via a new Internet TV decoder known as My Sky HD.

"The Sky offer becomes the key element of Telecom Italia's ultrabroadband strategy, and access to the new generation network allows Sky to benefit from an additional distribution platform for its programmes," Telecom Italia said in a state-ment. It added that Sky will have access to a new market, namely people living in his-toric towns who are unable to install a satellite dish.

There is no cable TV market in Italy.

"From 2015 consumer cus-tomers of Telecom Italia will in fact be able to access a Sky offer that is equivalent, in terms of contents, services and pricing, to the satellite offer," the telco said.

The offer will primarily be aimed at households with fibre-based Internet connec-tions, and will drive uptake for high-speed broadband connec-tions, Telecom Italia noted.

www.totaltele.com

Telecom Italia inks TV deal with Sky 10 Apr 2014

"We are totally convinced that one of the main drivers of our business is the develop-ment of innovative services, particularly in entertainment for the consumer market," commented Telecom Italia CEO Marco Patuano.

Sky Italia chief executive Andrea Zappia was equally upbeat.

"We are convinced that the partnership with Telecom Italia represents a great op-portunity to extend the cus-tomer base for pay TV in Italy, bringing the Sky offer into the homes of all those families who could not access it before today and creating new moti-vations to try Sky TV special-ties," he said.

Telecom Italia highlighted in particular the sports con-tent it will be able to offer to its customers, including next season's Champions League football, MotoGP and Formula 1 racing, as well as movies and entertainment channels.

It is not the first incumbent telco to recognise the draw of top-level sports, but with this deal it avoids the kind of investment the U.K.'s BT has committed to recently. BT has spent upwards of £1.5 billion on premium sports rights, putting it in direct compe-tition with Sky's U.K. arm, which is also one of its fierc-est competitors in the retail broadband Internet space.

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Carrier Community Emagazine

News in brief

Accenture and Orange Business Services

www.telegeography.com

has signed a collaborative agreement with Phase3 Telecom, a west African network operator. The agreement sees PCCW Global gain improved access to local networks in Nigeria via Phase3 Telecom’s fiber infrastructure. Phase3 Telecom is a National Long Distance Operator (NLDO) licensed by the Nigeria Communication Commission to provide transmission services to Nigerian telecommunications operators, Internet service providers and corporations using fiber optic systems carried along electricity infrastructure.

PCCW Global

Interoute

Thuraya Telecommunications

Tata Communications Epsilon

has agreed to merge SFR with European cable group Altice/Numericable in a deal valued at more than €17 billion. The Vivendi Supervisory Board has chosen to receive €13.5 billion at closing of the transaction as well as a potential earn-out of €750 million, with a possibility to sell its 20% stake at a later stage.

Vivendi

has opened a Interoute Virtual Data Centre (VDC) zone in Hong Kong. It will serve to support global enterprises with presence in Asia, allowing them access to their applications and data stored in the Interoute cloud. In addition, customers can move data and applications across the entire Interoute cloud services platform between VDC zones for free, thanks to the integration of Interoute’s automated MPLS network.

have formed an alliance to support large enterprises with their cloud strategy and the transformation of their infrastructure and applications to cloud-based models. This alliance will begin by targeting French businesses before approaching companies in other European countries where Accenture does not have existing alliances with other providers. Accenture will leverage its core strengths in planning, implementation and management and its broad industry expertise while Orange Business Services will provide IaaS and its associated managed services.

Thuraya Telecommunications Company, a Mobile Satellite Services operator and Bharti Airtel International signed an agreement to provide Airtel Africa customers with mobile satellite products and services across 17 countries in Africa. The partnership will provide Airtel Africa customers voice and broadband connectivity via Thuraya’s satellite network across the continent’s most remote areas. Commencing from May onwards, Airtel Africa will sell Thuraya’s products and airtime packages at their retail outlets and through their Enterprise account team.

has partnered with Akamai Technologies to deploy Akamai content clusters and caching nodes on its Pan-African IP network footprint. The nodes will accelerate and optimize HTTP content, rich media, downloadable files, video, music, software updates and other Web content requested by operators and Internet Service Providers connected to SEACOM’s IP network.

Seacom

Tata Communications and Turkcell Superonline, a Turkish telecoms operator, have signed a collaboration agreement to set up a MPLS node in Istanbul. This partnership will enable businesses in Turkey, and adjoining countries where Turkcell Superonline has established cross-border fibre connectivity, to connect to Tata Communications’ global MPLS and Ethernet networks. Other value-added services such as video conferencing and managed security can also be accessed through this PoP.

has established a virtual point of presence (PoP) in Singapore for pan-Asia mobile group Axiata and consolidated its interconnects from across its mobile subsidiaries. Epsilon’s ePoP solution acts as a hub for the group’s mobile subsidiaries to interconnect with their network operator partners. The development of the ‘Axiata International Hub’ will create new efficiencies across its mobile subsidiaries and simplifies its approach to international connectivity.

has launched Video Cloud Services, a cloud-based solution that moves, stores and delivers broadcast and Internet video on a global scale. Level3’s Video Cloud Services combines its content delivery, video broadcast and cloud storage capabilities to create a more scalable, secure and streamlined approach to global content distribution.

Level 3 A Marketing Agency Built for Carrier Business

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Carrier Community Emagazine

A Marketing Agency Built for Carrier Business

www.ilexcontent.com

Integrated Marketing Campaigns

Website & Online Content

Public Relations

Social Media

Brochures

Presentations

Video

Advertising

Giving telecoms carriers the story, the content and the touch points to sell more

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Wholesale Industry Newswww.totaltele.com

DoCoMo hangs onto Indian unit stake10 April 2014

Japanese telco paves way for possible Vodafone deal after opting not to sell its Tata Teleservices shares back to Tata.NTT DoCoMo has opted to retain its 26.5% stake in its Indian joint venture, Tata Teleservices, for another 12 months, which could pave the way for a deal with Vodafone.The Japanese telco had the option of selling its stake back to its Indian partner Tata Group for approximately half the 130 billion rupees

(€1.6 billion) it paid in 2009, according to a source cited by the Economic Times on Wednesday. That option expired at the end of March though.According to an ET report in January, the conditions of DoCoMo's shareholder agreement with Tata stipulate that if certain performance targets were not met by the end of March, Tata would be obliged to find a buyer for DoCoMo's shares. If it didn't find a suitable buyer, Tata would have to buy out DoCoMo itself.

By opting not to sell its shares back to Tata at a discount, DoCoMo may have just paved the way for it to sell its stake to an outsider at full price.It has been claimed in recent months that Vodafone is interested in acquiring Tata Teleservices, which offers mobile services under the Tata DoCoMo brand.Were Vodafone to step up, the resulting deal would see it overtake Bharti Airtel to become India's biggest telco.In addition, various sources

allege that Tata Group is seeking to exit telecoms altogether, and to that end it has initiated talks with Vodafone not just about Tata Teleservices but Tata Communications as well.The Indian conglomerate is also close to brokering a deal to sell its South African operation Neotel to local rival Vodacom – which is 50% owned by Vodafone – for $460 million. An unnamed Tata executive was cited in a report in March as saying that the company expects to announce a sale in the next two months.

Page 22: E-magazine March

September 2014

GCCM 2014Berlin

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Community News

Carrier Call was founded in 2003 in Switzerland with the goal to revolutionize the way, telecommunication carriers work in the international and national interconnect wholesale business. The company's award winning XCarrier® platform enables operators to manage their inter-carrier trading relationships more effectively. Every carrier knows that the systems which underpin the trading and exchange of international voice traffic are exceedingly complex. But few appreciate the deep linkages that exist between all these business processes and systems. Because these systems are so closely intertwined, a single error in one application can have serious implications further on down the line. Carrier Call understands these linkages - the company is staffed with highly experienced telecoms software executives - and has developed from scratch a solution that can manage all voice traffic processes in one package.For further information or to schedule a live demo of the product, please contact Ms. Claudia Toth on +41 564434106 or fax +41 564434101 or send an e-mail to [email protected]

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