Du introduces voice hubbing service (UAE)
Du has launched a voice hubbing service which is aimed at Middle East and Asian voice carriers wishing to transit the UAE.
According to the company, voice hubbing service demonstrated the company’s unique capability in the region to aggregate large volumes of traffic to key destinations. The service leverages voice bilateral agreements established by du with over 100 major global carriers.
According to Farid Faraidooni, Chief Commercial Officer, Du, the company handles four billion minutes of international traffic annually. Such volumes provide them with a very strong base on which to negotiate better termination rates on behalf of their Middle East and Asian carrier partners wishing to outsource their voice interconnection.
Du’s voice hubbing service is supported by a newly commissioned IT platform delivering state-of-the-art wholesale billing and a minimal cost, fully automated routing system.
Faraidooni noted that Carrier partners choosing to join the Du voice hub will be assured guaranteed traffic continuity over premium direct routes. Combined with Du’s flexible service support, 24/7 monitoring capabilities and a dedicated international carrier relations account team, the Du voice hubbing service will quickly become a major gateway for traffic in and out of the region.
Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow resigns (USA)
USA based WiMAX network, Clearwire’s CEO Bill Morrow has resigned from the post with immediate effect citing personal reasons.
This is not the first time he has left a company for “personal reasons”. He was the famed “turnaround guru” at Vodafone Japan until he suddenly resigned – for personal reasons – in July 2006, only to then take a job at an energy firm just a few months later.
Clearwire’s Chairman, John Stanton has been named the firm’s interim CEO while a permanent successor can be found.
In addition, Erik Prusch, Clearwire’s CFO, has been promoted to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer (COO), while Hope Cochran, Clearwire’s Senior Vice President and treasurer will take over as CFO. Cochran will be responsible for all of the company’s financial and investor related functions, including overseeing Clearwire’s ongoing fundraising efforts.
The company also announced that Mike Sievert, Chief Commercial Officer, and Kevin Hart, CIO, are both leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.
According to the company, the changes in executive leadership are not expected to impact the company’s progress on an agreement with Sprint to resolve wholesale pricing disputes. Clearwire believes that an agreement with Sprint is imminent.
SES ASTRA launches broadband project to provide ASTRA2Connect (Europe)
European satellite operator, SES ASTRA has launched a new service that aims to provide communities in areas without conventional broadband internet access with its satellite-based broadband service ASTRA2Connect.
The so-called sub-distribution service allows telecoms firms to offer satellite-based broadband connections via the existing last mile infrastructure.
The sub-distribution allows SES ASTRA to provide small communities in the white spots with broadband connections of up to 6 Mbit/s without households needing to install a satellite antenna at their homes. The satellite broadband connection is installed at the street cabinet of the community, and that is then connected to the customer’s home through the existing landline phone network in the village.
End customers only need a standard DSL modem, to access the broadband internet.
According to Norbert H¶lzle, Chief Commercial Officer at SES ASTRA, they are very proud to be able to contribute to the current broadband discussion with such an innovative solution. Their sub-distribution solution bears an enormous potential to close the white spots in Germany while promoting cooperation between infrastructure providers and telco operators at the same time. They are convinced that they are offering an attractive service for communities, internet service providers and end customers alike.
du launches new Point of Presence in partnership with Saudi Telecom for seamless inter-office connectivity between UAE and KSA
Recognizing the need for optimum connectivity between businesses in the UAE and MENA region, du today announced a partnership with leading KSA operator Saudi Telecom to launch a new Point of Presence (PoP) in the UAE. The PoP is a multiservice node that will enable the delivery of secure and reliable inter-office connectivity, meaning du’s enterprise customers and carrier partners will benefit from seamless data services between the UAE and KSA.
Launching the facility, Farid Faraidooni, Chief Commercial Officer of du, said,: “With this latest PoP, in collaboration with, we can now include KSA in our carrier grade global Virtual Private Network solution for our UAE based business clients as well as providing our Carrier Partners with a One-Stop-Shop solution for transit services into KSA. We are dedicated to providing businesses with reliable and secure data services between their offices in the UAE and across the region, and this new service will mean our business customers and carriers can operate cross-country with increased ease, convenience and peace of mind.”
du’s UAE based business clients can now enjoy a number of benefits including the extension of carrier grade Virtual Private Network (VPN) to their KSA based office, a multiple class of service offering to cater to different office applications and a one-stop-shop for their global VPN solution. In addition, Carrier Partners will benefit from seamless IP Data Services between UAE and KSA, greater reach in respective markets for data service connectivity, and a one-stop-shop offering for services into KSA.
STC General Manager of Marketing, Abdulhameed Al Hamad, stated: “We are pleased to announce the establishment of our latest PoP in the UAE. This is a major milestone in our Saudi Global Management.
Network “SGMN” rollout into major regional economic hubs including the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, India, UK and Singapore, and we look forward to working with du to provide premium data services between offices based in the UAE and here in KSA. SGMN is a global Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and available in key hub destinations around the world. As one of the largest regional Internet Protocol (IP-based) networks, it provides services for leading global enterprises from a variety of industry sectors, including financial services, manufacturing, logistics, as well as oil & gas and pharmaceutical industry. SGMN network is based on the latest state-of-art technology and is extremely reliable and diverse”.
“STC has a solid track record of successful cooperation with du and we believe that STC’s strengths within the Kingdom and the region and du’s network in UAE will make this a very exciting and complementary partnership for the overall benefit of our domestic and international customers, “Abdulhameed Al Hamad added.
du’s International Carrier Relations (ICR) strategy is to focus on the interconnection of the GCC regional carrier MPLS network to expand its IP Data Services reach to all major GCC countries and to provide seamless Layer 2 Ethernet VPN and Layer 3 IP MPLS VPN services.
Etisalat inks satellite backhaul deal with O3b Networks
O3b Networks, the developer of a high-speed, satellite-based internet network for telecommunications operators and ISPs has signed a global framework agreement with Etisalat.
This deal will allow any of Etisalat’s Operating Companies to benefit from O3b services under a separate bilateral agreement.
The five year agreement will witness O3b provide mobile backhaul, trunking and next generation services to Etisalat’s subsidiaries.
According to John Finney, Chief Commercial Officer, O3b Networks, Ltd, they are delighted to have reached this agreement with Etisalat Group. Continuous availability of right priced, bulk capacity will enable carriers like Etisalat Group OpCos to meet their long term capacity needs. This deal further highlights the demand for O3b’s quality offer of faster, more affordable connectivity available to everyone.
O3b Networks is supported by SES, Google, Liberty Global, HSBC Principal Investments, Northbridge Venture Partners, Allen & Company, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Sofina and Satya Capital.
Du improves indoor mobile coverage with Alcatel-Lucent Femtocells (UAE)
Du has announced that it will be deploying Alcatel-Lucent supplied femtocells for its fixed and mobile converged services, scheduled for launch by the end of 2010.
Leveraging its existing fixed and mobile infrastructure assets, du will now deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s small cells technology to help its customers overcome indoor mobile coverage issues.
Accordig to Farid Faraidooni, Chief Commercial Officer (du), Alcatel-Lucent’s expertise enables them to provide their customers with the fastest and highest-quality network connectivity – across fixed and mobile, both indoors and outdoors. Building on Alcatel-Lucent’s Small Cells approach, they can satisfy the increasingly demanding mobile service requirements of their residential and business subscribers – answering their need for crystal-clear voice and high-speed data services, no matter where they are and through any 3G-enabled device.
Alcatel-Lucent will provide its end-to-end Femto-based 9360 Small Cell portfolio – consisting of the 9361 Home Cell, the 9362 Enterprise Cell, the 9366 Small Cell Gateway, and Small Cell Management & Customer Care systems.
Alcatel-Lucent’s small cells automatically come into service without requiring any manual configuration by the end-user. Moreover, du will benefit from Bell Labs’ self-organizing network (SON) innovation, reducing handover failures by as much as 80%.
Du expects infrastructure sharing deal by 2011
As per the top official of the company, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, popularly known as du, is confident that the infrastructure sharing deal with fellow telecom giant Etisalat will be rolled out by the first quarter of 2011.
According to reports citing Chief Commercial Officer Farid Faraidooni during GITEX Technology Week 2010, the company would expect to start the actual commercial launch of fixed services over a shared infrastructure by the first quarter of 2011. The company is at very advanced stages at finalizing the deal with Etisalat, under the umbrella of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, and hopefully this will be concluded at the end of the year and will go commercially by the first quarter of 2011 after testing and quality assurance procedures.
The company believes that this scheme will help its revenues, specifically in the fixed-line segment — as it will be able to further reach out to consumers in the UAE. This will allow Du to expand the footprint to the rest of the country. There will be a progressive rollout all over the UAE in a phased approach. Du is showcasing its latest offerings for the telecommunication market, which are one of the most advanced globally.
According to Farid Faraidooni, today the company offers the highest mobile broadband rate in the region, and du is only few telcos that has it worldwide. Du’s HSPDA+ mobile broadband technology can reach as high as 42.2Mbps — the highest by industry standards — and it covers more than 98 per cent of the UAE population. Du is always very keen to deploy the latest technology. They don’t [just] talk about it, they implement it.
However, Faraidooni pointed out, the limitation on this high-end technology is that not many devices in the market are able to support this. According to him, the company hopes these devices that can support the high broadband rate will be available in the market soon. Du will continue to invest in the mobile network and enhance the broadband experience.
Faraidooni also added that Du is currently doing trials with several vendors for the Long-Term Evolution network — which is also known as 4G — but did not give further details.
Considering the recent US$207 million export credit facility du received to fund its expansion, most of this amount will go to investments in its mobile network, especially in 3G.
On the fixed-line segment, Du currently offers the latest and most advanced IPTV set up, which includes a very interactive online TV guide, and the ability to pause and rewind live TV programmes.
GITEX also provided the opportunity for du to launch its new Anayou Website, which is a portal for the social community to interact just like other popular social networks. It also allows users to send SMS, play games, store content and much more.
Bangladesh among Asia’s top 10 mobile markets
has emerged as one of
‘s top 10 mobile phone markets in terms of adding net subscribers, according to the chairman of GSM Asia Pacific, a regional forum of the Generalised System of Multiple Access (GSMA) mobile operators, reports BDNEWS.
GSM Asia Pacific Chairman Mehboob Chowdhury warned that though Bangladesh the 8th top mobile market in Asia, ahead of Thailand and Philippines, it would be impossible to retain that position unless the government immediately purged the industry of the ‘counterproductive’ policies and shook up the telecom regulators.
Besides, the country has added 8.945 million GSMA mobile users in a single year — from July 2005 to June 2006, according to the latest figure of GSMA association.
In an exclusive interview with the news agency, Chowdhury disclosed thatnow ranked eighth among the top 10 Asian mobile markets in terms of adding net subscribers during January to March, 2006.
Citing the data of Informal Telecoms and Media, a London-based research firm, he saidhas had 1.265 million new users during the first quarter of 2006. The figure is slightly lower than the net addition ofandcombined, and marginally lower than seventh-ranked’s first quarter intake.
, fifth on the list, has added more than two million mobile subscribers during this period, but its total clientele was smaller than whathad in the first quarter of 2006.
GSM Asia Pacific chairman credited the cellular mobile operators with this achievement while being critical of the government’s ‘pounding the industry with disruptive policies’.
“When the operators made new connections affordable and started slashing the call charges; the government came up with this disastrous tax last year. It was a bolt from the blue (for the operators) that slowed down the market for a while.”
The new 8.945 million GSMA mobile users that have putin the global map is the result of the operators’ continuous effort, Chowdhury pointed out.
The new customers belong to the middle-to-lower income bracket that have been perennially ‘harassed’ by the state-run Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) in trying to get regular phone connections.
“The private sector has salvaged them and that’s why the subscribers identity module (SIM) tax is grossly an anti-people move, which the government should scrap ahead of the election.”
“The market could have added at least four million more customers, there could have been an euphoric outbreak of tariff war and the government could have earned more revenue from the boom (if the tax were not there)”, Chowdhury continued.
Liking the slapping of SIM tax to killing the golden goose, he said this testifies to ‘the government’s inability’ to understand the fundamentals of this business.
He refused to give the government much credit for slashing the tax from mobile phone handsets.
“The amount of tax the government has withdrawn from handset is the exact amount it has simultaneously imposed as SIM tax and the burden remains unchanged for new customers”, pointed out Chowdhury, who was GrameenPhone’s marketing director for five years and Banglalink’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for nearly a year until resigning recently .
He said more than two billion people use GSM mobile phones worldwide, accounting for an 82.4 per cent penetration. Asia Pacific region alone boasts 757.13 million GSMA mobile users and the figure is fast growing.
“Every second 18 new GSM users are being added worldwide, which means more than 1,000 customers in every minute and over 1.5 million new GSMA mobile users per day.”
Chowdhury said the next billion GSMA customers are mostly coming from,,,,,,and other similar economies.
He recognised continuous investment as the key component for sustainable mobile phone market growth in.
Effective telecommunications regulatory regime is, however, the precondition to wooing new investments and boosting competition.
“The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has become merely an extension of the taxation department and that is certainly not the case with,or”, he said.
“[And] That’s why the telecom markets of these South Asian countries have been consistently thriving.”
More than 85 per cent of the mobile phone users have no access to the largest fixed telephone operator BTTB, the state-owned monopoly that has little relevance in today’s mobile market, Chowdhury regretted.
“The mobile operators will not even bother to talk to the BTTB the moment the government ends its monopoly on the international voice gateway”, he predicted.
The BTTB’s denial to provide interconnection is a clear breach of the telecoms law and resents the regulator’s ‘unfair concession’ for BTTB on this issue, the former Banglalink CCO said.
The government is ‘draining’ public funds on ‘impractical projects’ like VoIP platforms, he complained.
“Besides, ignoring the country’s fundamental telecommunication needs, the government is going to waste hundreds of millions of dollars in highly debatable and grossly unproductive supplier’s credit telecoms schemes”, he added.
The government has to deploy reliable nationwide telecoms infrastructure and then ensure the private sector’s equitable access to that resource, Chowdhury suggested.
“This is what Pakistan, India and many other fast developing countries are doing and Bangladesh should waste no time to reinvent the wheel”, he remarked.
Source- http://www.financialexpress-bd.com
Technorati : BTRC, Bangladesh, GSM, Mobile
Ice Rocket : BTRC, Bangladesh, GSM, Mobile
