ADCB, Mobibucks launch first generic mobile payment service
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (“ADCB”), one of the UAE’s leading banks, and Mobibucks, a leader in mobile payment solutions in the U.S., today announced their alliance to offer – “Mobi” – a first-of-its kind payment product for making purchases using a mobile phone number. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank is the world’s first bank to offer this unique mobile payment service which provide customers with a patented cashless, card-less, paperless and phone-less payment solution that targets the everyday purchases made by consumers.
“Our partnership with Mobibucks is significant not only for providing convenience and flexibility to our customers, but also for laying the groundwork to forge ahead in the digital economy”
ADCB held a press roundtable on Wednesday 1st June at its head office to launch the Mobi payment system. Journalists were met by the ADCB Management, including the CEO, Ala’a Eraiqat, and Head of Consumer Banking, Arup Mukhopadhyay, and taken through the process.
Ala’a Eraiqat, CEO at ADCB, said: “At ADCB, we take pride in using innovation as our key business philosophy. Whether it is the launch of the first bank-wide loyalty program, launch of the first contactless card in the region, use of voice authorization for card issuance or development of behavior based analytic models & use of predictive neural networks for attrition gating. ADCB has been at the forefront of driving change & creating value for customers. The concept behind the Mobi payment system will be the first of its kind offered by a bank anywhere in the world – a patented cashless, card-less, paperless and phone-less payment targeted at the millennium.”
Arup Mukhopadhyay, Head-Consumer Banking Group of ADCB said, “Our partnership with Mobibucks is significant not only for providing convenience and flexibility to our customers, but also for laying the groundwork to forge ahead in the digital economy,” he added.
“This Mobile Payment service will be used for frequent low-value purchases among the defined target segment. It’s a logical extension of the other easy-to-use and secure electronic services offered by the bank,” said Mr. Mukhopadhyay.
“The Middle East is not only a fast-growing mobile market but is also a market where cash dominates,” said Jorge Fernandes, CEO of Mobibucks. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with such a prestigious partner as ADCB and help implement a simple payments solution that gives their customers throughout the Middle East convenient and affordable access to their money from any mobile phone.”
“This is the first step in bringing a simple, convenient and secure payment solution to the rest of the Middle East and North Africa,” said Ziad Al Shobaki Managing Director of the MENA operation. “We expect to add a number of new customers shortly, allowing even more consumers to benefit from this new payment alternative.”
Mobibucks entered the Middle East market last year with the opening of Mobibucks FZ-LLC in Dubai, United Arab Emirates as part of an international expansion to bring mobile payments to consumers around the world.
About ADCB:
ADCB was incorporated in July 1985 as a public joint stock company in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ADCB’s authorized and issued share capital is currently AED 4.81 billion. ADCB is owned 64.8% by the Abu Dhabi Government through the Abu Dhabi Investment Council. Its shares are traded on the Abu Dhabi Securities Market.
As at 31 December 2010, ADCB’s total assets were approximately AED 178.271 billion. As at the same date, its capital adequacy ratio was 16.65 per cent. As at 31 December 2010, ADCB employed over 3,824 people from 48 nationalities, serving approximately 550,000 retail customers and over 23,000 wholesale clients in 47 branches in the UAE and 2 branches in India.
ADCB is a full-service commercial bank which offers a wide range of products and services such as retail banking, wealth management, private banking, corporate banking, commercial banking, cash management, investment banking, corporate finance, foreign exchange, interest rate, currency, derivative, Islamic products, project finance and property management services.
About Mobibucks
Mobibucks is a free, fast and secure mobile payment solution enabling consumers to make cashless transactions. Mobibucks is led by a combination of payment industry veterans and innovative entrepreneurs working together with leading edge retailers to create the next generation payment infrastructure. Jorge Fernandes, founder and former CEO of ViVOtech, and Dave Barram, a senior Silicon Valley executive at Apple, Silicon Graphics and Hewlett-Packard, established Mobibucks. For more information, please visit http://www.mobibucks.com/.
Vodafone extends World Calling Club promotion (Qatar)
Vodafone Qatar has extended its World Calling Club international call rates to more than 180 countries for just US$17.69 a minute until June 30.
All of the most popular calling destinations are included in this promotion, which included Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Iran, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America and Yemen.
Vodafone is also extending until 30 June its International Calling Card 25 offer that gives customers 51 minutes of talk time at a rate of US$0.13 a minute. The countries included in this are India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Thailand, Syria, Sudan, Turkey, Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
BridgeWave boosts global presence with new partners
BridgeWave Communications has announced the international expansion of the company’s presence with the addition of several new partners across Western Europe and the Middle East, specifically in France, Germany, United Arab Emirates and the UK.
BridgeWave’s millimeter wave and microwave products support high capacity, native GigE traffic while avoiding the complications and costs of leasing or trenching fiber.
As more countries continue to adopt millimeter wave (60-80 GHz) frequency bands, BridgeWave has expanded its distribution partnerships to provide high-capacity gigabit wireless solutions for enterprise, government, service provider, mobile broadband and fixed networks.
The company’s international presence is bolstered with strategic partners in Germany via Scalcom Distribution and in France via Elexo, while distribution in the UK is through Avnet Technology Solutions and in the Middle East via ME Connect. These new channels augment existing distribution partners in the UK and Middle East.
MNP in UAE pushed back till Q3
TRA UAE’s regulator has stated that Number portability in the United Arab Emirates will be pushed back to the third quarter addressing technical issues.
The move, which is meant to boost competition in the UAE market, had already been delayed once to the second quarter.
According to Mohamed Ghanem, Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), they are hoping it will be operational in the third quarter.
The plan means customers of telecom providers Etisalat and du will be able to keep their old telephone number if they switch providers.
Ghanem added that the delay was due to technical compatibility issues. There were two upgrades to the mobile number portability software solutions. They have done that and opened the common database and testing will go in this quarter. The first phase will be on all mobile numbers that is prepaid and postpaid. TRA will also include fixed lines in the future.
Verizon Ready to Activate Capacity on Europe India Gateway Submarine Cable System
Verizon enterprise customers can begin taking advantage of the newly activated Europe India Gateway cable. The $700 million high-capacity fiber-optic cable, one of the most advanced submarine cable systems in the world, will provide multinational customers additional diversity and capacity to meet their critical communications needs.
Verizon joined 15 other international communications leaders, which constitute the EIG Consortium, and formally accepted delivery of more than 11,300 kilometers (7,021 miles) of the total 15,000 km (9,320 miles) EIG cable system. The accepted cable system routes are: London to Bude, U.K.; Bude to Portugal to Gibraltar to Monaco to Libya; Monaco to Marseille, France; and Saudi Arabia to Djibouti to Oman to United Arab Emirates to India. The group also accepted 11 of 13 cable landing stations. The only remaining segment to be completed for the EIG is in Egypt where there are two landing sites.
“With the increasing demand for our strategic services and IP-based solutions, this EIG cable system is critical to support our customers’ high-bandwidth communication needs,” said Ihab Tarazi, Verizon vice president of global network planning. “This cable activation also shows our customers our strong network investment commitment around the globe. Virtually anywhere our Verizon enterprise customers do business in the world, they can count on us to use our outstanding network capabilities to deliver their communications solutions.”
Multinational customers also will be able to take advantage of Verizon’s capacity and routing on the EIG cable system by connecting directly to the company’s ultra-long-haul European network via the Verizon EIG cable terminal station in Marseille, France. Customers also can connect directly from the EIG to the Verizon network in India.
In addition to complementing existing high-bandwidth cable systems in the region, the EIG cable system will provide much-needed diversity for broadband traffic currently relying largely on traditional routes from Europe to India. This is important, considering the threat of earthquakes in this region.
With the addition of the EIG, Verizon is preparing to extend its industry-leading global mesh architecture to this cable. Meshing is a network design that connects undersea cable systems on land, allowing for instantaneous rerouting of traffic in the event of multiple undersea cable breaks. The company operates a global mesh network that circles the globe, and EIG will provide additional redundant mesh paths needed during service impacting events.
“When you combine all the customer benefits of EIG additional capacity, cable route diversity, network redundancy, direct connectivity to our European and India networks, global mesh around the world, and seamless connectivity to major submarine cables in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Asia and North America this truly demonstrates why Verizon has one of the most robust and diverse communications network foundations in the world,” Tarazi said.
When fully activated, the EIG will be the first direct high-bandwidth optical fiber system from the United Kingdom to India. The design capacity on the full system is 3.84 terabits per second (Tbps) using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology to provide upgradeable transmission facilities.
As a leader in developing undersea cable communications systems, the EIG is the third major submarine cable project Verizon has helped launch in the last six years. The company continues its global network leadership work, delivering more capacity, reliability and speed for data, video, IP-based solutions and strategic services needed by its multinational customers. The company is involved in more than 80 submarine cables worldwide.
Verizon is a global leader in driving better business outcomes for mid-sized and large enterprises and government agencies. Verizon combines integrated communications and IT solutions and professional services expertise with high-IQ global IP and mobility networks to enable businesses to securely access information, share content and communicate. Verizon is rapidly transforming to a cloud-based “everything-as-a-service” delivery model that will put the power of enterprise-grade solutions within the reach of every business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.
Verizon Communications Inc., headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving 94.1 million customers nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 194,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.
Mobily inks LTE, WiMAX deal with Samsung (Saudi Arabia)
Mobily has inked a deal with Samsung Electronics for LTE and mobile WiMAX equipment.The agreement is part of Mobily’s plans to invest US$120 million on 4G technologies.
As per the terms of the deal, the South Korean vendor will install LTE base stations in over 30 cities in Saudi Arabia, as well as upgrade Mobily’s mobile WiMAX network.
Mobily, part-owned by Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, ended in 2010 as Saudi Arabia’s second largest mobile operator by subscribers, claiming a 40% share of the market.
Çukurova seeks stake in Zain (Turkey, Kuwait)
The Turkish corporation, ‡ukurova, is in talks to acquire a large stake from a minority shareholder in Zain, the Kuwaiti telecoms operator.
The move probably thwarts a record-breaking $12bn bid from Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates.
‡ukurova is in discussions with Al-Fawares Holding, a Kuwaiti company that owns 4.5% of Zain and which opposes the bid from Etisalat, a state-owned telephone company.
The talks initially involved ‡ukurova buying a 29.9% stake in the Kuwaiti operator for US$6.1 billion, but Sheikh Khalifa Ali Al-Sabah, who represents Al-Fawares on Zain’s board, stated that the proposed price and the stake size had changed. There is progress, but there is no binding agreement of any sort, and they are also talking to other interested parties.
The ‡ukurova group, owned by billionaire Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, has a controlling stake in Turkcell but also has interests ranging from media to shipbuilding and oil exploration. The bid for Zain would be a bold move for Mr Karamehmet, who already needs to raise $8 billion to finance the acquisition of Turkish power distribution grids, auctioned at record prices last year in privatizations now under scrutiny from Turkey’s competition authorities.
Turkcell claimed that it had no involvement in the talks. This reflects the relative maturity of the largest markets within the region, the limited growth prospects and the stable cash flow generation of the mobile telecoms sector.
If Etisalat completes its deal with Zain, it will represent the biggest Middle East deal on record.
Seven telecom operators from five countries collaborate on Regional Cable Network (RCN) Project
Seven operators, including Etisalat (UAE), Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Jordan Telecom, Mada and Zain (Jordan), Syria Telecom (Syria) and Superonline, a Turkcell Group company, from Turkey have announced that they are building the Middle Easts longest fully-redundant terrestrial communications infrastructure along a 7,750 kilometer round trip route. The RCN project will extend from the city of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul in Turkey and then to Europe and will serve as a gateway to the Internet for 2 billion people.
The RCN project was signed by the seven telecom operators during a ceremony held in Ankara. The event was attended by the Minister of Transport and Communications Binali Y?ld?r?m, RCN Project Interim Consortium Chairman and Executive Vice President of Carrier Wholesale at Etisalat Ali Amiri, the CEOs of the founder members of the Consortium: including Turkcell CEO Sreyya Ciliv, Mobily COO Mr. Abdulaziz Altamami, Jordan Telecom Group CEO Mrs. Nayla Khawam, Mada Group Managing Director Charles Hage , Syrian Telecommunications Establishment Director General Nazem Bahsas and Superonline CEO Murat Erkan.
Starting from Fujairah (United Arab Emirates) and passing through Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Amman (Jordan), Tartous (Syria) and reaching Istanbul (Turkey), the RCN projects fibre optic cable line will cover the entire Gulf region in the Middle East for the first time through a uniform infrastructure. 3,875 km in radial length and totaling 7,750 km with its round trip routes, the RCN project will become the regions longest fully-redundant terrestrial fiber infrastructure between Fujairah, one of the busiest nodes for submarine and fibre cables, and the West.
Addressing the ceremonial assembly, Consortium Chairman and Executive Vice President Carrier & Wholesale at Etisalat, Ali Amiri described the RCN as being unmatched in terms of speed, quality, ease of upgrade, redundancy, and reliability. Recalling that the dual fibre lines would cross five countries and intersect in five cities, Amiri stated that this infrastructure has the ability to provide the tremendous capacity of 12.8 terabits per second. The demand for intercontinental connectivity continues to grow at a remarkable rate. The regions governments are encouraging investment in new technologies to bolster the performance of their national economies. Operators are deploying Next- Generation Networks for both fixed-line and wireless environments which in turn allow an increasing volume of services to be provided to ever more consumers. These factors as well as the growing technical literacy of the local population and availability of rich local content are all driving the demand for ever more capacity. Etisalat is delighted to partner with six of the regions leading operators in a project which will enhance the lives and increase the reach of over two billion people, Amiri said.
Designed to stretch from Fujairah to Istanbul and offer connectivity to Europe through more than 15 access points readily available on the Bulgarian and Greek borders of Turkey, RCN infrastructure boasts a data carrying capacity of 12.8 Terabit per second. Initially 2.4 Terabit per second of capacity will be activated along the two different routes. In contrast to similar systems, all the operators taking part in RCN, will dedicate fibre on both routes exclusively to RCN, paving the way to immediately upgrade or re-route the entire path when needed.
The RCN project brings together top telecom companies from five countries. Each a leader in communication technology in their respective countries, Etisalat (UAE), Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Jordan Telecom/Orange Jordan and Mada-Zain Partnership (Jordan), Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (Syria), and Superonline (Turkey) have signed their names to the Project. With an approximate investment value of half a billion dollars, the fibre optic line will be operational in the second quarter of 2011.
With the potential to directly serve the largest population in the Middle East region, the RCN project will ensure more reliable, redundant and faster Internet connectivity for roughly 2 billion people with its diversified route. Envisaged to satisfy the Internet demand in the countries involved and to become the preferred route for transit traffic across all the countries it passes through, this Project will increase speeds throughout the region.
Mobily and six telecom operators from five countries collaborate on Regional Cable Network (RCN) Project
Seven operators, including Superonline, a Turkcell Group company, from Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria today announced that they are building the Middle East’s longest redundant terrestrial communications infrastructure along a 7,750 kilometer round trip route. The RCN project will extend from the city of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul in Turkey and then to Europe and will serve as a gateway to the Internet for 2 billion people.
The RCN project was signed by the seven telecom operators during a ceremony held today in Ankara. The event was attended by the Minister of Transport and Communications Binali Y?ld?r?m, RCN Project Interim Consortium Chairman Ali Amiri, the CEO’s of the founder members of the Consortium; including Turkcell CEO S¼reyya Ciliv, Mobily COO Mr. Abdulaziz Altamami, Jordan Telecom Group CEO Mrs. Nayla Khawam, Mada Group Managing Director Charles Hage , Syrian Telecommunications Establishment Director General Nazem Bahsas and Superonline CEO Murat Erkan.
The Middle East’s longest redundant terrestrial fiber Internet infrastructure
Starting from Fujairah (United Arab Emirates) and passing through Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Amman (Jordan), Tartous (Syria) and reaching Istanbul (Turkey), the RCN project’s fiber optic cable line will cover the entire Gulf region in the Middle East for the first time through a uniform infrastructure. 3,875 km in radial length and totaling 7,750 km with its round trip routes, the RCN project will become the region’s longest redundant terrestrial fiber infrastructure between Fujairah, one of the busiest nodes for submarine and fiber cables, and the West.
“Our participation in the regional cable network comes as part of our commitment to contribute to the regional and global connectivity by expanding the reach of our robust, reliable and trusted Saudi National Fiberoptic Network through having multiple routes available for data communication traffic originating from inside the Kingdom or transiting from the networks of other operators”
Turkcell CEO S¼reyya Ciliv: “The world’s newest Internet base is Istanbul”
Speaking at the Signing Ceremony, Turkcell CEO S¼reyya Ciliv emphasized Turkcell’s satisfaction at this joining of forces between powerful, excellent organizations intent on technological leadership in a region where Turkey and the Turkcell Group are major players. Drawing attention to the changing global economic situation, S¼reyya Ciliv remarked that the RCN project, which is noteworthy for its capacity and its diversified structure, is planned to accommodate specific requirements to bring significant advantages to the region by connecting it to the world via Turkey. Predicting that the RCN infrastructure would promote growth of Internet penetration in the region, Mr. Ciliv said, “This will enable still wider Internet expansion as Internet use will become even faster throughout the region.”
He added, “Through this gigantic infrastructure project which starts in the United Arab Emirates and runs the entire length of Turkey, we are building an Internet highway between Fujairah and Istanbul. The RCN project will allow Internet traffic from so far has struggled along a narrow pathway to comfortably reach the speed of a multi-lane highway. One of the key stops along this route will be Istanbul. Positioned in the project as the Middle East’s Internet gateway to Europe, Istanbul is poised to become the world’s newest Internet base due to its geostrategic location. We, the Turkcell Group, are proud to be making such a beneficial investment for Istanbul, for Turkey, and for the region changing lives by offering users an enhanced communications experience.”
Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Communications Binali Y?ld?r?m: “RCN will foster greater capacity in communicating with the countries in the region, as well as greatly benefiting business relations and trade.”
Minister of Transport and Communications Binali Y?ld?r?m stressed that the RCN project would create a welcome opportunity for investors in the countries involved to access their investments and businesses in other countries. Commenting that the establishment of this fiber optic network would help boost Turkey’s communication volumes, business relations and trade within other countries in the region, Mr. Y?ld?r?m said, “We regard this project as one of the fruits of our successful foreign policy. This cooperation between five countries will further enhance the already close relations we have been cultivating recently across in the region.”
Minister of Transport and Communications Mr. Y?ld?r?m went on to say, “The RCN project is a high-capacity infrastructural system that is far more economical, much more reliable, and – most importantly – diversified into two separate routes. Our geographical positioning allows us to develop this hugely valuable piece of Internet infrastructure. As the Transport and Communications Minister of the Republic of Turkey, I am especially pleased that our country is becoming one of the world’s key fiber optic nodes. My heartfelt congratulations go to all the companies taking part in the project, notably the Turkcell Group. This is a project for the whole world to envy and I hope it proves auspicious to Turkey and the region.”
RCN Project Consortium Chairman Ali Amiri, Executive Vice President / Carrier & Wholesale Services Etisalat UAE: “A project unmatched in speed, quality, redundancy, and reliability.”
Addressing the ceremonial assembly, Consortium Chairman Ali Amiri described the RCN as being unmatched in terms of speed, quality, ease of upgrade, redundancy, and reliability. Recalling that the dual fiber lines would cross five countries and intersect in five cities, Amiri stated that this infrastructure has the ability to provide the tremendous capacity of 12,8 terabits per second. “The demand for intercontinental connectivity continues to grow at a remarkable rate. The region’s governments are encouraging investment in new technologies to bolster the performance of their national economies. Operators are deploying Next- Generation Networks for both fixed-line and wireless environments which in turn allow an increasing volume of services to be provided to ever more consumers. These factors as well as the growing technical literacy of the local population and availability of rich local content are all driving the demand for ever more capacity. Etisalat is delighted to partner with six of the region’s leading operators in a project which will enhance the lives and increase the reach of over two billion people ,” Amiri said.
RCN Project: 12.8 Terabits/second capacity with a diversified system
Designed to stretch from Fujairah to Istanbul and offer connectivity to Europe through more than 15 access points readily available on the Bulgarian and Greek borders of Turkey, RCN infrastructure boasts a data carrying capacity of 12.8 Terabit per second. 2.4 Terabit per second of capacity will be activated initially along the two different routes and the fiber optic cables will follow. In contrast to similar systems, all the operators taking part in RCN, will dedicate fibers on both routes exclusively to RCN, paving the way to immediately upgrade or re-route the entire path when needed.
Seven operators from five countries, half a billion dollar worth of investment
The RCN project brings together top telecom companies from five countries. Each a leader in communication technology in their respective countries, Etisalat (UAE), Mobily
(Saudi Arabia), Jordan Telecom/Orange Jordan and Mada-Zain Partnership (Jordan), Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (Syria), and Superonline (Turkey) have signed their names to the Project. With an approximate investment value of half a billion dollars, the fiber optic line will be operational in the second quarter of 2011.
More reliable, redundant and faster Internet for 2 billion people
With the potential to directly serve the largest population in the Middle East region, the RCN project will ensure more reliable, redundant and faster Internet connectivity for roughly 2 billion people with its diversified route. Envisaged to satisfy the Internet demand in the countries involved and to become the preferred route for transit traffic across all the countries it passes through, this Project will increase speeds throughout the region.
