BroadHop and Saudi Telecom Present on Unique Policy 2.0 Service Deployment at Management World Middle East
BroadHop, Inc., the leader in next generation policy control platforms for telecom operators and Saudi Telecom Company (STC), the leading Middle East telecommunications operator, will present a real world success story on how implementing a Policy 2.0-based value added service improves customer experience, reduces churn and increases loyalty, at this year’s TM Forum Management World Middle East held March 22-23, 2011 at the Hilton Jumeirah, Dubai.
Ahmed Alshaia, Section Head, Data and Broadband VAS, STC and Kishen Mangat, Vice President of Solutions and Co-founder, BroadHop, Inc., will present on Wednesday, March 23 at 9:25 a.m. as part of the Customer Experience track. Session attendees will hear about STC’s unique and highly personalized ‘Prayer Time’ service and how BroadHop’s Quantum Network Suite – enables the delivery of more innovative services and capabilities, including real time parental control, granular content filtering, and flexible pricing.
As a key operator in the region, STC offers a diversified set of network access capabilities to its customers via xDSL, FTTx, WiMAX and GPRS/3G and upcoming LTE services. By using Policy 2.0, STC has been able to monetize subscriber traffic streams, enhance the subscriber user experience, offer personalized services as well as control the explosion of bandwidth growth within its network. Mr. Kishen Mangat and Mr. Ahmed Alshaia will cover the key areas of how Policy 2.0 addresses today’s operator needs including:
- Service velocity
- Complexity in delivering innovative services
- Back end monetization gap
- Integration challenges
- Scalability & Performance — enabling service complexity, while protecting the control plane
Aegis inks a $2 bn deal with Saudi Telecom
Aegis, a part of the Essar Group has signed a $2 billion deal with Saudi Telecom Company, in which the global outsourcing services company will manage the customer care operations of the largest telecom operator in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The joint venture, Contact Centre Company, will be near-equally owned by the two arms, with 50% plus one share being held by STC and the rest under Aegis, which will have operational control and responsibilities.
The company’s job will include taking care of telecom customers’ billing, collection, verification and answering to their directory enquiries.
According to Saud Al Daweesh, Group CEO of STC, they are happy to have found an able partner in Aegis, who, they are confident, will provide a great deal of satisfaction to their valued customers, given their vast experience in managing customer experience across multiple geographies.
In the first phase, the Saudi Telecom will transfer 550 agents across two centres, providing directory assistance to the joint venture and gradually in the next two years, Aegis family will absorb the remaining 4,500 STC agents.
According to Aparup Sengupta, MD and global CEO of Aegis, they have the aspirations of making this the largest BPO operations in the region. Aegis is looking at consolidating its stake in the JV.
Firms Eye $2.5B Saudi Tower Business
Saudi Telecom Company and competitor Mobily may sell a majority stake in a combined $2.5 billion merged towers business, Reuters reported. Swedish company Ericsson is considering a bid alongside Saudi private equity firm Abraaj Capital and SREI Infrastructure, Reuters added. Other potential bidders include a partnership between Indian group GTL Infrastructure and Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala.
(Reuters) – Saudi Telecom Company (7010.SE) and competitor Mobily (7020.SE) could sell a large stake in a combined $2.5 billion merged towers business, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Talks for the merger are on, but this is subject to negotiations and terms and conditions put forth by both companies,†one of the people said.
The person said the Saudi firms would look at offloading a 51 percent stake if a joint business with 15,000 towers was created.
Another person said the companies were undecided over whether to sell 49 percent or 51 percent.
We are not 100 percent sure that a majority stake sale is going to be on the table,†the second person said.
State-owned Saudi Telecom, the country’s largest telecom, has around 11,500 towers. Mobily, 26 percent owned by UAE group Etisalat (ETEL.AD), has about 3,500 towers.
Infrastructure sharing gives companies access to equipment without the heavy need for major capital investment.
Indian group GTL Infrastructure (GTLI.BO) could bid for the stake with Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala and would fund an acquisition through a mix of debt and equity, the sources said.
Swedish company Ericsson (ERICb.ST) would bid alongside Saudi private equity firm Abraaj Capital and SREI Infrastructure (SREI.BO), the parent of Indian group Quippo, could form a third bidding team with Zamil Group, the people said.
Mobily declined to comment. STC could not be reached for comment.
IMEWE submarine cable launched for commercial use
A consortium of nine telecom operators has announced the commercial launch of fibre-optic submarine cable IMEWE (India- Middle East- Western Europe).
The 13000 kilometers long three pair fiber optic cable named IMEWE has a design capacity of 3.84 terabits per second, and is also the most advanced cable connecting India in South Asia to Italy and France in Western Europe via the Middle East with landings enroute in Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon.
The IMEWE consortium comprises of telcos such as Bharti Airtel (India), Etisalat (UAE), France Telecom-Orange (France), OGERO (Lebanon), Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (Pakistan), Saudi Telecom Company STC (Saudi Arabia), Telecom Egypt (Egypt), Telecom Italia Sparkle (Italy), and Tata Communications (India).
IMEWE is the third major submarine cable operational between India and Europe after SMW3 and SMW4 and is expected to play a major role in meeting ever growing bandwidth requirement of Indian sub continent and Middle East to Europe and beyond. IMEWE system would also play a key role in expansion of broadband services among masses in concerned countries.
Six firms offer bids for Syria’s mobile license
Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Technology has announced that six Arab and foreign companies have submitted their bids for the country’s third mobile license before the deadline.
As per the country’s assistant minister of telecommunications and technology Mohammad al-Jalali, the companies in the framed consideration are: UAE-based Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), Mobily Saudi Arabia, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Qatar Telecom (Qtel), Turkish firm Turkcell, France Telecom (FT) and TAMCO of Iran.
The six applicants will now have their tenders evaluated by a committee from the Ministry with the participation of a German advisory company, and two candidates will be chosen to go to the next stage.
Viva Bahrain launches ‘Viva TV’
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: ‘Viva TV’ mobile television service has been introduced by Bahrain’s newest mobile operator Viva, owned by Saudi Telecom Company (STC). The new service will allow customers to watch more than 20 channels such as sports, entertainment, movies, fashion and live news.
The cost of the TV is BHD1 (USD2.67) per week with no additional fees. The service is available both post- and pre-paid packages, for users of all 3G supported handsets.
Viva Bahrain’s commercial GSM/W-CDMA/HSPA+ network were launched in early March 2010.
Saudi Telecom launches FTTH based internet service
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 100Mbps internet service based on FTTH technology has been introduced by Saudi Telecom Company.
It has been claimed by the incumbent operator that the internet service is the fastest one available in the entire Middle East.
No details regarding the pricing and availability of the service has yet been released.
Viva Bahrain offers free HSPA+ internet
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Saudi Telecom Company (STC) owned Viva which is a newcomer in Bahrain launched a free-of-charge promotion. The mobile operator has claimed in the promotion that it will offer the fastest broadband internet service of its type in Bahrain.
An announcement has been made by the company that mobile internet services will be provided at no subscription cost and without registration fees until June 4, 2010.
USB dongle will be used to access the service which will allow theoretical maximum mobile download speeds of 21.1Mbps over Viva Bahrain’s HSPA+ 3.5G network.
Saudi Telecom appoints Ericsson to deploy LTE network
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The contract for the deployment of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network by Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has been awarded to Ericsson. With the deployment of LTE technology in the Middle East and North Africa, the customers in these countries will become the first to benefit from the new chain of high speed broadband services.
Any service available online like HD video, network games, IPTV, blogging and others could be effortlessly enjoyed by the customers after the enhancement of STC’s operational capabilities.
Though STC claims that its LTE network will be the first in the region, it has been reported earlier on February 15, 2010 that Zain had contracted Motorola to roll out an LTE network in Riyadh.
