Interview by Gulraiz Khalid

Teletimes – Please talk about the background of Andrew and comment on the progress it has made over the past years.
Khalil Mamlouk – Andrew is now the wireless brand of CommScope, a world-leader in infrastructure solutions for communications networks, and we continue to support customers in over 130 countries across Asia-Pacific, EMEA, and the Americas. Wireless represented more than half of CommScope’s  US$3 billion revenues in 2009 due, in part, to our enviable track record for supporting major operators and OEMs, with whom we have longstanding and highly successful relationships.

Having supported the entire wireless radio frequency (RF) footprint for over 70 years, we have established ourselves as leaders in designing, manufacturing, and delivering innovative and essential equipment and solutions for the global wireless infrastructure market. We provide a range of solutions including; transmission line systems, antennas, base station subsystems, in-building systems, and network solution products and services.

Essentially we help our customers extend coverage and service, realize supply chain economies, and optimize their infrastructure anywhere in the world. We support both traditional and evolving technology standards, bringing wireless infrastructure into emerging markets and enhancing capabilities in established markets. We also build complete turnkey systems for municipalities, utilities, and private businesses, handling everything from design, supply, and installation to commissioning.

This approach has enabled us to provide solutions for some of the most prestigious projects in the world. For example, we recently provided large in-building distributed antenna systems (DAS) in the Burj-Khalifa Dubai, as well in the stadia that hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

TT – Two of Japan’s wireless operators have made the switch to HELIAX® 2.0 smoothwall cables. What edge does your feeder and jumper coaxial cable line solution give to your customers over their competitors?
KM – We’ve certainly seen a large level of interest in Japan and the rest of Asia, but the cable has also been in demand in all parts of the globe. Overwhelmingly, the feedback has been that HELIAX® FXL’s lower attenuation, higher crush strength, reduced weight and increased durability are the reasons why operators have been quick to adopt it. It’s a highly robust solution and its performance levels have been proven in some of the most extreme and unforgiving conditions.

HELIAX FXL’s durability is due, in large part, to its solid triple-bonded construction, which provides crush and tensile strength that far exceeds the properties of corrugated cables. This allows the cable to be deployed in complex installations without stretching or denting, which can negatively affect RF performance. We also filled the centre of the cable with our patented microcell foaming technology to ensure it has first class weather resistance. In addition, our engineers have ensured that the enhanced durability that smoothwall offers does not compromise on flexibility, as it is extremely lightweight and holds its form to any application, ensuring the installation process is as straightforward and as quick as possible.

Operators and OEMs have also been able to take advantage of a number of cost savings provided by our HELIAX FXL solution. Firstly, aluminum’s lower and more stable raw material cost makes it an attractive alternative to copper without compromising on performance. Secondly, having recently been awarded the Golden Award for Green Communication Energy-Efficiency Technology during an industry contest in China, HELIAX has been recognized for providing unrivalled energy efficiency. As it requires less electric power and fuel to manufacture and transport our HELIAX cables we are able pass these savings on to our customers.

Lastly, HELIAX FXL’s superior performance was validated earlier this year by Telab B.V., a third-party independent laboratory specializing in testing and international certification of electronic, electrical, and machine equipment. HELIAX 2.0 FXL is the first aluminum cable tested by Telab to pass 10 rounds of environmental testing, proving its durability in extreme temperatures. HELIAX FXL’s solid triple-bonded construction also demonstrated superior crush resistance while surpassing or meeting the electrical performance specifications set by Telab for 26 other trials.

TT – GeoLENs Location Platform has been upgraded with a host of new enhancements. Please share with us some details in this regard.
KM – Version 10 of our GeoLENs Mobile Location Centre (MLC) has seen several modifications designed to give operators the tools to monetize their investment in location infrastructure, enabling more control over their network’s location resources. For example, the latest version of the platform has seen a huge advance in processing and query capacity, which has been increased by several orders of magnitude and can comfortably manage 1,000 transactions per second. It also gives operators more control over end-device access to valuable location resources through its Installed Policy Server for Secure User Plane Location (SUPL).

Other vendors provide systems with one or two locating techniques, whereas our latest GeoLENs MLC offers an all-inclusive, adaptable system designed to provide the location capacity, throughput and support necessary for present and future applications. By giving operators this greater level of flexibility they can add or refocus their system as their needs change and as market directions clarify, whether for commercial or emergency applications or both.

Clearly, aiding the emergency services is a critical function for any location server so we’ve maximised the performance of Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) for E-911 applications in the latest GeoLENs platform. In line with these improvements for emergency services we have also added smart virtual device cache technology, enhancing the A-GPS yield for emergency calls regardless of the caller’s device limitations.

In addition, the platform is complemented by a broad portfolio of products including the Operations Support System (OSS), which is ideal for managing a multi-MLC network or providing more sophisticated control of a single MLC platform. It also enables location capabilities in wireline DSL and cable networks with a Cellular-Bridge Location Information Server (LIS), spanning the converged future of Internet location and next generation-911 (NG-911) services.

TT – ZTE awarded Andrew in 2009 with the Best Partner Title. Please tell our readers about such achievements and success stories of Andrew in detail.
KM – We were delighted to be awarded with ZTE’s 2009 Best Partner award, a distinction Andrew has now won for four years in a row. Customer satisfaction is a major priority for us and this clearly demonstrates the value we provide for leading telecoms organizations around the globe.
This award was given to us based on our superior performance in providing RF site solutions to ZTE. We have provided a host of solutions and products during our partnership with ZTE, including our HELIAX cable, antennas, and several other network products, which are installed in all ZTE-built CDMA, W-CDMA and CDMA2000 networks. We have also provided advanced solutions such as TD-SCDMA antennas and power amplifiers to ZTE for numerous projects in China.

Andrew has had a presence in China since the 1970s, enabling us to build solid, long-term and cooperative relationships with the major Chinese carriers and OEMs. Our success in the region has not only led to awards but numerous projects in the region as well. Most recently these include coverage and capacity projects in the National Center for the Performing Arts, the Ministry of Environmental Protection Building, Beijing-to-Tianjin and Shijiazhuang-to-Taiyuan high speed railways, the Beijing Subway and Shanghai Metro, among others.

TT – Some of our corporate clients would be interested in knowing about your OneBase InSite Connect System and the GeoLENs System Platform.
KM – Our OneBase InSite Connect solution was designed to simplify managing the performance of individual base station sites. There are dozens of independent subsystems, provided by multiple OEMs, controlling hundreds of functions such as humidity levels, power consumption, antenna position, security cameras, and many more. This complexity can often lead to duplicated efforts, unnecessary service calls, poor antenna positioning, and system downtime. If we multiply these issues by the total number of base station sites in a particular network, then you can appreciate how large a drain on OpEx managing these sites can be.

As a result, we developed a single comprehensive solution that remotely controls and monitors the subsystems inside each base station site, enabling network operators to manage all sites across their network. Our OneBase InSite Connect consists of two main components; the Remote Controller Unit (RCU) and the Control Management System (CMS). Working together they provide a powerful tool that consolidates hundreds of tasks into one easy to control system, enabling operators to trim remote access network operating costs and keeping the network performing at its highest level.

The solution also helps leverage the benefits of co-location and network sharing by distributing base station site maintenance costs across multiple operators, as all subsystems at the base station site connect to a shared RCU. The specific performance data and control functions for each individual operator, however, can be set-up as accessible only by that operator through the CMS. So you can lower overall OPEX costs while maintaining secure network separation.

The Insite Connect also monitors key performance indicators in real time by producing accurate and clear reports, showing exactly how the system is performing against predetermined standards. Additionally, it enables operators to control and monitor all security and safety subsystems within individual base station sites and across their networks. The solution can control door alarms and perimeter security cameras, record and monitor all activity, both authorized and unauthorized. The RCU connects to virtually any subsystem alarm needed while the CMS coordinates security measures across the entire system.

As for our GeoLENs platform, it’s all about Location, Location, Location. Across this new landscape the ability to support location-based services (LBS) is no longer a stand-alone benefit, it is a functional expectation. People want to know where they are going, who has the best pizza, what the weather will be in their area, and where their friends and family are. Companies need to track their vehicles, know where their packages are, and support their sales force. And local governments need to ensure that EMS, police, fire departments, and other public safety services have the tools to respond immediately and accurately. No wonder daily queries from more than 2,500 location-based mobile applications now number in the hundreds of millions: five times what they were just a year ago.

GeoLENs is a portfolio of solutions we’ve designed to enable operators to transform their location-passive networks into reliable environments that are fully location-enabled. GeoLENs brings together all the components needed to locate any user across the network and then relay that information between location-based service providers and the user’s mobile device.

The location-enabled network does not replace the various location technologies such as device centric GPS. It supports them. Using the network’s existing infrastructure, it coordinates the efforts and capabilities of all location components inside and outside the network and ensures that everybody within the network is location enabled.

The beauty of the location-enabled network is that all the components already exist, such as mobile location centers, location information servers and location measurement units, not to mention the growing population of devices that can benefit from them. The location-enabled network brings them all together into a single system that is flexible enough to accommodate any environment, quick to deploy, and easy to manage. Most importantly, the location-enabled network places the network operator in the middle of this multi-billion dollar opportunity as a key partner for anyone involved in location-based services.

TT – Would you like to tell our readers about any other of your featured products?
KM – We have recently introduced a new cable product called Remote Fiber Feeder (RFF), which is a cable solution for remote radio head deployment.  RFF is a combination of power conductors and fiber into one, single high-performance cable that delivers all the efficiency, capacity and savings operators need to transition to the next phase of their network’s design. 
RFF is unique in the level of CapEx savings it provides. For example, a complete RFF cable site offers 40-50% savings when compared to typical 6 run coaxial transmission line site, and 20-25% savings compared to typical RRH installation utilizing separate power and fiber cables. It also offers a host of other benefits during the cable’s installation process, such as ease of handling, easier routing inside the enclosure and on the tower, less tower loading, and it eliminates the need for a conduit.

TT - To what extent do you think has Andrew made its mark in the Middle Eastern market?
KM – We have had a successful business presence in the Middle East for more than six years now. Having started with small operations in 2004-05 we have grown to establish fully operational organsations in five countries in the region, which serve 17 countries stretching from Morocco to Pakistan and Yemen.

We have a very talented team that has been focused on the support of our customers and the region in general.  We have worked hard at securing projects and building relationships with all major mobile operators and vendors in the region, and we are increasingly seeing our efforts bear fruit with procurement of our products and services increasing year-on-year.
As a testimony of Andrew’s success in the Middle East market, we have won and successfully delivered in-building coverage and capacity system projects in the region including Dubai Airport, Burj-Khalifa Dubai, Dubai Mall, Dubai Metro and lot of other high-rise buildings of operators and multinationals within UAE.

We are delighted with the success we’ve achieved in a relatively short space of time and look forward to helping our customers in the region as we move forward.

TT – How do you see the future of this market and Andrew in the coming years?
KM – Having seen the global recession take its toll on the telecoms industry in the Middle East, and elsewhere, I’m very encouraged to see the market showing signs of picking up again. Looking at the bigger picture, the long-term benefits and opportunities for operators, OEMs, and ourselves in this market are very good.

There is huge potential for the region, as demand for wireless services among the region’s population of nearly half a billion people is so strong, and we see ourselves rightly positioned to continue to play a role as a key contributor in this technological evolution over the coming years.

TT – As Director for Middle East Operations, do you have any plans in mind for what’s left of the year 2010?
KM – I see enormous potential in the Middle East for the second half of 2010 and beyond. We are more than ever aggressive, our teams are fully equipped to capture any and all the sales opportunities in the region and we are quite optimistic that with the global and UAE economy will continue to gain momentum. There are lots of opportunities for us to grow as we support operators and OEMs in improving wireless coverage and capacity across the region.

TT – Please give us a brief about your professional career and your C.V.
KM – I am managing director of Andrew Middle East, the Dubai-based branch of Andrew Solutions that he helped establish in 2004 and I lead a team of Andrew sales professionals and engineers focused on bringing innovative RF infrastructure solutions to the Middle East and North Africa. In these 23 years with Andrew, I have built an extensive resume in sales management, product line management, and system design successfully manage and executed large worldwide projects including a $50 million wireless network in Hong Kong.

Interview by Khalid Athar

TT – Roshan, as Afghanistan’s leading telecommunications provider has a vast area of coverage in the country. Could you give out details about the exact area of its coverage and about those areas which it is still trying to reach?
KK – Today, Roshan covers over 230 major cities and towns and has a presence in all 34 provinces, covering over 60% of the population, about 20 million people. We have the widest network coverage in Afghanistan and are the first operator of choice in terms of coverage and quality. We also have coverage at all the major border roads to five neighboring countries: Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. We will continue to expand the reach of our network to ensure that all Afghans can access the Roshan network.

Since starting operations in Afghanistan, we built into our business model that we would go into cities or towns that were not necessarily economically viable. We call these social sites and each year we select several cities or towns in which to introduce telecommunications service. One example is Bamyan – where the Buddha statues were, which were ultimately destroyed during the war. Bamyan used to have a thriving market, hospital and tourism industry. In our first year we knew that we would lose money by providing service in Bamyan. However, today, the market is thriving again, the hospital has re-opened, a midwifery training school has opened and the tourism industry is growing. Financially, in the long-run this was a good decision, however, most importantly, providing telecommunications service has been a catalyst for building civil society.

Karim Khoja has served in senior management positions in national and multi-national telecommunications companies for over fifteen years. He has extensive experience in nurturing start-up businesses from infancy through development, and has led several GSM start-up companies into becoming major market players as President and CEO, including being the founding CEO of Mobilink (Pakistan), Director of Marketing, Strategy and Sales for ERA GSM, Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board for CROATIAN Telecommunication HT, as well as founding CEO of T MOBILE, Croatia.
Mr. Khoja has also been on the Board of Directors and in senior positions focusing on sales, marketing and strategy for companies such as, Exi Wireless Inc, Spectronics Microsystems Ltd., and RAM Mobile Data Ltd.
Mr. Khoja’s involvement in the telecommunications sector in Afghanistan began in May 2002 as a volunteer consultant to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development in an initiative to install the nationwide private communications infrastructure. In January 2003, Mr. Khoja was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer for the Telecom Development Company Afghanistan Ltd., Roshan. Under his leadership, Roshan has grown to be Afghanistan’s largest mobile provider and today is the largest company in Afghanistan with over 3.8 million subscribers. Mr. Khoja is also Chairman of the Board of the Afghan Investment Climate Facility (AICF) and an advisor to the GSMA Development Fund.

TT – Would you like to tell our corporate readers about your end-to-end business solutions?
KK – Over the last year, Roshan has worked to understand its subscriber base better and how best to acquire and retain new subscribers. Last year, we segmented our main product portfolio and currently offer targeted products for youth, corporate and the mass market. For the mass market we have developed a number of special services, including Friends & Family; for the youth segment, we are constantly introducing new valued added services, including Ring Back Tones. Some of our offerings for the corporate segment include:

• Enaam, our post-paid offering, which lets customers choose from one of eight customized tariff plans with reduced calling rates to suit their communication needs.
• Saadat, our pre-paid business offering, which comes with digressive rates, after the second minute and conference calling features.
  BlackBerry, first launched by Roshan in Afghanistan in 2008, which provides access to e-mail and contacts while on the move.
• TrackCare, a vehicle monitoring service, to track a company’s people and most important assets. This system is used by Roshan today to track its vehicles.
• M-Paisa, Afghanistan’s first mobile money service, which makes it easy to send and receive funds, pay and receive a microfinance loan, buy airtime, pay bill, or pay salaries to employees. The Ministry of Interior is currently using the service to pay police officers in several districts.

TT – Please share with us the success story of Roshan Telecom from the start, from its formation to how it started receiving awards for Excellence in Leadership, Best Corporate Social Responsibility and the Most Innovative Non-Voice Service.
KK – When Roshan began operation in 2003, our strategy was very simple. We wanted to treat Afghans with respect and also provide the best quality service in the country. Over the years, we have grown our footprint nationwide and today provide Afghanistan’s widest coverage and best network quality. We have continued to introduce innovative products and services that meet the basic needs of the population like M-Paisa for mobile money transfer service.

Additionally, we have looked at how we can create jobs and promote sustainable development. Today, we are proud that:

• We have created over 30,000 jobs directly and indirectly. These are all legitimate. Roshan directly employs over 1,100 people, of which 20% are women.
• The average age of our Afghan staff is 23 and they are, at best, high school educated. Many of them were in refugee camps in Pakistan several years ago and today are breadwinners for a family of twelve.
• We spend a minimum of $1,500 per employee, including cleaners and drivers on training and development opportunities.

Through Roshan Community, we have leveraged our telecommunications infrastructure for the betterment of society. We are focused on the children, women and communities of Afghanistan to build a brighter tomorrow:
Constructing schools such as the Hakim Nasir Khusrow School in Kabul for children who are the future of Afghanistan.

• Providing women with skills in technology through the Roshan/Cisco Networking Academies to improve lives.
• Building wells throughout the country, including Ghazni, Wardak and Pakitika provinces to keep communities healthy.
• We have and will continue to benchmark ourselves against world class operators in order to provide the people of Afghanistan with superior quality service.

TT – Do you have any plans in mind for the expansion of Roshan Telecom? How do you see the future of Roshan Telecom?
KK – Since beginning operations in 2003, we have invested over $450 million in Afghanistan. In the coming years we will continue our investment in Afghanistan and its future. Mobile penetration rates are only about 30%, so there is huge potential for growth. We are also very focused at rolling out to the rural areas and expanding our network footprint to ensure access.
As part of AKFED, we have also made investments in SEACOM, the first fibre-optic submarine cable to link southern and east Africa with Europe and India, dramatically reducing connectivity prices in Africa and further extending the availability of affordable telephony and data services to the bottom of the pyramid. AKFED also holds a 40% share in T-Cell, the largest telecommunications company in Tajikistan. TeliaSonera, is also a shareholder in the T-Cell venture. We believe that telecommunications can play an important role in the development process.  We are also exploring new technologies, models and ventures to facilitate growth in the telecommunications sector in the region.

Teletimes International is a fascinating publication that provides us with unique insight as to what is happening in the region.
Karim Khoja

TT – Please talk in detail about the relationship between Roshan Telecom and TeliaSonera.
KK – Roshan is owned by an international consortium made up of the following shareholders:

• The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) – 51.00%
• Monaco Telecom International (MTI), a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless – 36.75%
• TeliaSonera AB – 12.25%

TeliaSonera is the leading telecommunications company in the Nordic and Baltic region and also holds strong positions in mobile communications in Eurasia, Turkey and Russia. Fintur Holdings, a consolidated subsidiary of TeliaSonera offers communication services emerging markets through its subsidiaries in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Moldova. Fintur is also responsible for operational management of TeliaSonera’s subsidiaries in Tajikistan (also owned in part by AKFED) and Uzbekistan. This makes Roshan part of one of the largest operators in the region.

TT – What is your current market share?
KK – Roshan has about 35% market share. We are the market leader.

TT – Please tell our readers about the CSR operations and activities of the Roshan Social Programme.
KK – Our commitment to the social and economic development of Afghanistan is integral to our business mission. Our shareholders, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), Monaco Telecom International and TeliaSonera instilled social responsibility into the vision of our company. Today, it is this philosophy that continues to be an ongoing driver.

Roshan Community is the dedicated corporate social responsibility arm of Roshan. We aim to be a catalyst in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, investing in programs for children, women and communities to build human potential and capacity. From building schools, playgrounds and wells in Afghanistan, to helping women set-up their own businesses, to sponsoring soup kitchens and supporting a Telemedicine project, we change lives. We believe in leveraging our expertise in technology and partnering with organizations to enhance the work of the government and civil society to maximize impact and make a difference.

Our commitment to Afghanistan is evident in the way we operate. We have:

• Created over 30,000 legitimate jobs and supported Afghan businesses
• Provide training opportunities to our employees, most of who are under the age of 23
• Introduced mobile money services in a country where 97% of the population is unbanked
• Offer a valuable service for people to talk, not fight

TT – Roshan introduced the first-of-its-kind Telemedicine solution in Afghanistan. How was the response that you received and are you planning to introduce any more such solutions?
KK – Twenty-five years of war have left the healthcare system in ruins. To put this into perspective,

• Approximately 25% of Afghan children die before their fifth birthday.
• About 600 children under the age of five die every day in Afghanistan due to preventable diseases.
• There is one doctor for every 100,000 people in Afghanistan, compared to one for every 365 in France and one for every 500 in the United States of America.
• Most of the country’s hospitals have been destroyed.

Telemedicine seeks to support and help re-build the country’s health care infrastructure leveraging Roshan’s telecommunications infrastructure. We have partnered with the Government of Afghanistan, the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi (AKUH), Aga Khan Health Services, the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul, Cisco Systems and the Bamyan Provincial Hospital.

The first phase of the project linked the FMIC Kabul to AKUH Karachi and the second phase extended the link to Bamyan Provincial Hospital to serve a population plagued by one of the highest levels of maternal and child mortality.

Telemedicine uses our secure network to connect hospitals across difficult and remote terrain, and broadband technology to provide real-time, high-speed access for the transfer of medical imaging, video, data and voice transmission. Through the digital transfer of CT scans and other medical imaging, this technology allows specialist and remote diagnosis of many medical conditions that can then be successfully treated in Afghanistan.
Telemedicine also provides video conferencing services for training, lecturing, and procedure and diagnostic supervision that will help to develop Afghanistan’s medical capacity. Through the link, several training courses are also delivered monthly to professionals, who otherwise would have limited, if any access to training opportunities.

Today, Telemedicine is saving lives, addressing pressing healthcare needs in Afghanistan and helping to build the nation’s healthcare infrastructure and capacity. In 2009, over 300 cases were viewed and supported using the Telemedicine link and over 300 health professionals participated in training (compared to less than 50 in 2008). Last year was also the first year MRI cases were examined through the link. Each of these numbers represents a human life touched, saved or improved, or a medical professional better able to meet the needs of patients because of training they received.

We are looking at extending Telemedicine links to other provincial hospitals in the coming years and eventually to medical institutions in Europe and North America to maximize impact. Within Afghanistan, we are also looking at connecting rural health centers with a basic portable medical kit and smart-phone. A pilot is set to commence this year. Through the smart-phone, health practitioners can actually send electronically information back to a provincial hospital and onwards to Kabul. This will provide doctors and community nurses with access to skilled practitioners. 

TT – What level of competition are you currently facing? What is your anticipation regarding this competition for the coming years?
KK – The telecom industry in Afghanistan is hyper-competitive. There are now four large GSM operators, Roshan, Afghan Wireless, Etisalat and MTN, and a Government owned fixed line/CDMA operator, Afghan Telecom. Two of these operators are the largest regional operators and only entered the market after Roshan proved that there is a successful model to operate in the country. There are already over 10 million mobile phone subscribers in the country, with a total population of 32 million. Mobile penetration rates are about 30%.

Given the fact that the Afghan market is really only seven years old, this level of competition is significant. When Roshan began operations in 2003, only less than 100,000 people had access to a mobile phone. The GDP is relatively low and costs are high due to the lack of infrastructure (electricity, roads, air and transport) and the challenging security environment.

Even with the increased level of competition, Roshan is the largest operator in the country with over 3.8 million subscribers, covering 60% of the population. Roshan has the most extensive coverage nationwide and a significant rural reach.

We believe that competition increases customer choice and also enlarges the overall size and viability of the telecommunications sector in Afghanistan. Our strategy is to maintain a high-quality network and to continue to bring unique products and service to market that meet the basic and unique needs of the Afghan population, while contributing to the development of Afghanistan.

TT – How would you rate the progress which the Afghan Telecommunications industry has made over the past years, also in comparison with its neighboring countries?
KK – Afghanistan is the fastest growing market in the world in terms of penetration rates. Less than 100,000 people had access to a phone in 2003; today over 10 million people in Afghanistan use a mobile phone to communicate with their loved ones. Roshan has been at the forefront of product innovation, bringing new technology and services to Afghanistan like BlackBerry. Roshan was also the first operator to bring M-Paisa, a mobile money transfer product to the region.

This year, we also saw the formation of the Afghanistan Telecommunication Operators Association, also known as ATOSA. This has been very important for the industry, bringing together the various operators to collaborate closely with the Government of Afghanistan to ensure success of the telecom sector.

Interview for Teletimes
by Cem Kivircik from Istanbul

Q – You have been the CEO of Vodafone Türkiye for more than a year. In the meantime, what kind of innovations and developments were experienced in Vodafone Türkiye? How was the process? Did you encounter any interesting events that you want to share with us? How did you close the year in terms numerically?
A – We continue our long-term strategic program that we created in 2009-10 financial year with the same determination and focus in 2010-11 financial year. The vision of our strategic program is to be “Communications Company that satisfies the customers most”. As the world’s largest mobile communications company, we implement a “customer-focused program” to transform all facilities of the most advanced communication technologies to the solutions that meet the needs of our users and create value for them.
In the context of this program, we create a difference in customer experience, thanks to our segmentation strategy focused on creating value to our customer, our technological investment focused on innovation and quality, and perfectionist service-oriented sales-distribution network. In this quarter, a huge increase in our service revenues and the number of postpaid subscribers is the result of the difference created in the customer experience and the strong growth in customer satisfaction.
In a short time, we managed to offer the technological infrastructure in the quality of international Vodafone and with a huge increase in scope. We reached to 11.500 base stations and 99.3% population coverage in EDGE by expanding our 2G network three times in three years. In 3G + services, we focused on global quality, advanced technological infrastructure, consumer promise, “creating a difference in customer satisfaction”.
After launching our 3G + services that we created by using the most advanced HSPA + technology in 81 provinces simultaneously in July 2009, we are continuing our investments. Owe launched our 3G network with the most advanced HSPA + technology in 81 provinces simultaneously and with 60% population coverage. We increase our coverage rate to the level of 70%. In the first quarter of our financial year, 34% of our subscribers began to use 3G. With this subscription rate, Vodafone became “Türkiye’s most preferred operator by its subscribers”.
Innovation is also an important issue for us. It is a field in which Vodafone is pioneering all over the world and our brand is among the world’s most innovative brands. In our3G + services, we show our differences with our unique services and our studies in the field of innovation continue increasingly.
With the concept of “Vodafone Mobile Center” we increase the number of restructured stores from 770 to 974. Last year, we announced a new “strategy for mobile devices”. We shared our experiences as Vodafone Group, the world’s number one mobile device receiver, with our subscribers in the first year of 3G. It is our corporate responsibility, as Vodafone, to provide the greatest blessings of this age to our consumers in all income groups in Turkey in line with their expectations and budgets. Our mission is “to provide mobile internet and 3G to everyone” and for that, we presented the most appropriate devices for each budget by considering fair pricing and the balance between cost and value to provide mobile internet to everyone. In the first year of 3G, we offered the first operator-branded 3G telephone Vodafone 840 with superior capabilities in the fields of internet and multimedia where mobile communications show the most rapid progress. It costs only 1 TL per month. (26 millions units were sold in the world.) We show our determination clearly in this way. As an expression of the satisfaction that interest and confidence of our customers created in Vodafone Group, many innovations are offered to Türkiye one by one. We have shown our belief in Türkiye and 3G technology.

When we look at the point we came today, our customer recommendation score continues to increase from February 2010 to June 2010 and we have the highest recommendation scores among three operators. Customer recommendation score is a very important success factor for us, and the most important determinant criteria in Vodafone’s market share. In other words, Vodafone Türkiye is the most recommended operator in the market.
Second, by means of the power we receive from global leadership and knowledge, we continue to be “the number one operator in number portability” in the last financial year by transforming the advanced mobile communication technologies to the services that respond to the needs of users and offering these services to our subscribers at reasonable costs. In number portability, the numbers that moved to Vodafone has reached to 1.9 millions since April 2009. We increase the number of our subscribers to 16.1 millions by continuing our performance that was increased in the first quarter of 2010-11 financial year.
In this quarter, our service revenues reached to the record level by increasing 23.7% when it is compared to the previous year’s same quarter. With another record in the preferences of postpaid subscribers, the number of our postpaid subscribers reached to 3.1 millions by increasing 1 million when it is compared to the previous year. Vodafone, focused on increasing the number of “active subscriber” increased APRU, the revenue of Vodafone per customer, 17.4 percent when it is compared to the previous year’s same quarter.

Q – Vodafone is competing with two operators in Türkiye. From the perspective of marketing strategy, how do you position yourself in the market? What are your differences in comparison to other two operators?
A - The difference that comes from our global power and experience is being felt in Turkish market. We experienced its first example in 3G. You know, Türkiye was the 17th country that Vodafone Group offered 3G. We transferred a great experience and knowledge. We have witnessed that our subscribers also notice that and express their appreciation. In one year, which is relatively a short period, 34 percent of our subscribers began to use 3G.
At the point where the internet access and data usage are provided in mobile environment, we envisage an important growth opportunity through 3G. Thanks to a proper pricing, we think that we can grow in the field of mobile data. Mobile internet and mobile data are the basis of our 3G strategy.
Making the internet access popular, which is one of the most important priority to reach the advanced level of welfare with a more rapid development, is a part of our corporate responsibility.
For this reason, we as Vodafone Türkiye implement a visionary 3G program after one year from the 3G launch. In order to democratize the internet, our mission is “Mobile Internet For Everyone” to offer the benefits of internet to everyone anytime and anywhere, and we aim to be an institution that brings the greatest contribution to decrease the digital gap in our country and provide equality of opportunity in every part of our country. We attach importance to three important elements: “broadcast and coverage of high quality”, “reasonable pricing” and “smart mobile phones”.

Q – Your project for farmers was very interesting. At which point this project has reached since its launch? Could you explain it by giving figures?
A - As of today, there are over four millions households that earn a living from agriculture and three millions agricultural enterprises of various sizes. For this large and productive segment of our society, we offered “Vodafone Farmer Package” as a special service package, together with our Ministry, as a first and a pioneer. In this package, there are telecommunications-related services, as well as some services to ease the lives of our farmers, activities and sponsorships that contribute the training and development of our farmers. In other words, we’re talking about not only a special tariff offered to farmers, but also a corporate social responsibility project that respond to the needs of them. I can say that our tariffs in both postpaid and prepaid services are very special, very economical, and even unique. Today, we are serving more than 100.000 farmers in total. We are very pleased with the interest of our farmers and our efforts are continuing intensely.

Q – Speed competition in 3G is an issue that is discussed frequently. What kind of differences is happened in data traffic of Vodafone subscribers after 3G?
A - We as Vodafone Group are working with the mission of enriching the lives of our customers by making the communication available at any time from any place they want in our increasingly interconnected world. We offer our experience and leadership to 346 millions subscribers in 71 countries at five continents, in 31 of them with our own brand and in 40 of them through the network partnerships.
We offer 3G services again at five continents, 17 countries including Türkiye. By means of the experience of our leadership in the world, we transferred a great experience in this field to Türkiye.
After the start of 3G services in 2009, we offer HSPA + to Türkiye, which is the most advanced 3G technology in Europe. We launched the most advanced 3G technology in terms of both speed and quality and also compliance with the advanced technologies in 81 provinces simultaneously. Thanks to HSPA + which is the most advanced 3G technology, it is possible to provide the internet services 20 times faster than the average. We used our international experience and knowledge to establish our infrastructure in Türkiye. In this way, we offered a service of high quality to our subscribers with Vodafone 3G+, our innovations and experiences. We see from the results that our subscribers feel this difference.

Approximately every 1 of 3 subscribers began to use 3G. Monthly data usage in our network increased 28 times since the launch of 3G and 84 percent of data usage is done via our 3G network. We thank to our customers because of their interest and trust in our services; they make Vodafone the most preferred operator in 3G. Since the launch of 3G, we have said the same thing. Customer experience is very important in 3G. At the point we have reached today, our subscribers can experience this difference.

Q – Vodafone makes also the device campaigns. For the next period, what kind of devices you will offer in the device campaigns?
A - I prefer to keep them as a surprise for now. I can tell that we as Vodafone continue to share our difference in this field with our customers.

Q – What do you think about the telecommunications sector in our country and the world? What kind of things should be done or should not be done in the sector? What is needed for an ideal competitive environment?
A - When the market shares in GSM sector are examined in multinational level, an imbalance is seen in terms of market shares and especially profitability. Only one operator receives 95 percent of the total profit share among three operators in GSM sector. In order to create a sustainable competitive environment, the profit distribution in the sector has to be balanced.
Initial taxes are one of the barriers in terms of competition. Tax system should be changed. GSM subscribers pay 56 TL as an initial tax. The abolition of this tax will make important contribution in terms of competition. There is no initial tax in Europe. Initial taxes constitute a barrier for the customers who want to move from one operator to the other. Sometimes this tax is subsidized by the operators. Initial taxes constitute an obstacle for operators trying to grow and make the problem of unbalanced distribution of profits even deeper. Today, our investment reached to 10 billions TL and we are continuing to invest. We expect solutions for these issues that constitute an obstacle for operators trying to grow.

Amir Malik

Surely the phrase, necessity is the mother of invention does not entirely apply to the field of value addition in mobile services. These services after being offered became a dire necessity; just a common example of the short messaging service (SMS) is sufficient enough to cater for the validity of the aforesaid. Value Added Services (VAS) also have a certain time dimension associated with them. Subjectively speaking, a value-added service today becomes a basic service when it becomes sufficiently common place and widely deployed to no longer provide substantive differentiation on a relative basis.

Figure 1 - Source: CSC Consulting

Today, mobile phones are not considered to be ‘just’ a basic device with the sole purpose of communication, but an extension to a dimension of human life. Apart from being an indispensible commodity in a society, mobile phones have started to define the very fabric of personal life; it is used for expression, entertainment and day to day work to such an extent that the user feels handicapped in its absence. It is largely due to these reasons that the customers have become increasingly demanding. Apart from voice calls, cellular phones are used for Internet surfing, email, music, news bulletins, video on demand (VoD), social networking, banking, billing and other such related activities. The potential of facilitating the cellular users via value added services (VAS) in their daily life is enormous and untapped to its full potential, especially in the context of Pakistan.

Figure 2 - Source: Gartner December 2009

The worldwide cellular industry is furiously competing to provide “innovative value added facilities” to customers, the subscribers have a choice. They get to choose their operators on the basis of the value added and the data services being offered. The introduction of the value added services has come as a mutual benefit for the industry and subscribers alike; it has been the cause of generation revenues sky high in multiple industries, it has brought about a pivotal change in the marketing strategies and played a vital role in consumer retention as well. The increase in popularity and importance in VAS has lead cellular phone manufacturers to manufacture handsets with powerful processors to facilitate technologies like, for example, wireless access. Development in VAS is the only road to the salvation of the telecommunications industry to generate new revenue streams. The figure below clearly shows the future market trend by the comparisons of downloads and revenue generated.

Figure 3 - Mobile VAS Value Chain

A study was conducted by GetJar, a neutral app store, specifically aimed at forecasting of financial and market growth of mobile applications and value added services. The findings of the study indicates that the market for mobile apps would boost to US$ 17.5 billion till 2012, which would exceed the sale of CDs that year. Furthermore, the market showed a Year over Year (YoY) growth of 92%. The application market growth is expected to rise from US$ 1.94 billion in 2009 to US$ 15.65 billion in 2013. According to Gartner research, global downloads in mobile application stores are expected to surpass 21.6 billion by 2013 (figure 2).

Every existing industry has a value chain, so does the Mobile VAS industry. This industry started initially supplemented the mobile value chain, however gradually as it matured it established its roots into various segments of the industry. In this case the value chain is not a simple line up of related entities; on the other hand it compliments and adds value to the services provided by other sectors.

Figure 4 - Source: Qualcomm Inc. Blind primary research conducted by TNS July – Aug 2009

Subscribers of Mobile Value added services have rendered changes into the business model framework of the industry; it has given rise to supporting industries such as content development and aggregation. In today’s market multiple stakeholders are on board the mobile VAS value chain with overlapping interests, roles and functions.

Figure 5 - Source: Wireless Intelligence data pull April 2009; SNL Kagan 2009; eTForecasts & Computer Industry Almanac Inc., 2008; Yankee Group, Dec. 2008; Informa Telecoms & Media, 2009

A recent research by TNS highlighted the change in technology usage trend of the customers, indicating where market for premium applications and content has significant growth for potential (figure 4). According to research, 40% of the users pay to download mobile applications or content. The Qualcomm research also revealed that 63% of the mobile users would spend more time accessing and purchasing content online if it was easier to find; 80% of the users had problems obtaining content on their handsets and whereas 58% of the users believe in carrying their content along with them regardless of the device. By analyzing these trends, one can easily determine that the future of VAS is bound to be enormous.

The fast growing popularity of using multiple services on a single mobile handset can be judged by the following estimation of Wireless Intelligence data, SNL Kaaan and Yankee group, the global mobile internet users have already surpassed global broadband subscribers and the trend is expected to increase rapidly in next couple of years (figure 5).

Figure 6 - Source: BIA/Kelsey & ConStat

Many services with the help of multi-industrial collaboration have been started worldwide. M-Banking is a value added service that caters for Mobile Money Transfer, Mobile Payments and Mobile Ticketing; it acts as mobile money for the unbanked. According to Juniper Research Ltd, mobile phones globally will handle $587 billion in financial services by 2011. By 2012, CGAP foresees that 1.7 billion people will have a mobile phone but no bank account and 20% of them will be utilizing mobile money. M-Health is another emerging service; the concept behind this idea is to improve public health systems via mobile technology in the developing countries. The United Nations is already working on such projects. Moreover, M-Learning service is used to educate people of developing countries to learn languages through mobile technology; it has already been implemented successfully and M-Information service is especially helpful in agricultural sectors; it informs the farmers and retailers about the weather and prices as per fluctuation. It includes classifieds, advertisements and announcements as well. These are just a few examples how mobile VAS acts as an agent of mutual interest between different factions of the industry. With the assimilation of VAS and industry, a boom in general economic growth trends have been predicted, especially in purview of the 3G technology entering the market; the economic impact is bound to be substantial. It is very interesting to note that in the estimated Compound Annual Growth Rate of South Asia and Middle East, Pakistan shows the highest rate hence indicating a greater opportunity for a competitive market (figure 6).

Pakistan has observed an immense growth in Telecommunication sector both in terms of infrastructure and subscription. Attaining an incredible mark of over 98 million subscribers in the country, the competition between operators in Pakistan has exasperated. Consequently, the mobile operators have realized that the success of VAS has become important for their growth. This has led to a sharp focus on marketing and tie-ups and a somewhat limited focus on development of content. Most mobile operators are trying to innovate in their VAS offerings and create sharper differentiation for their offerings.

Figure 7

Operators are facing keen competition and the margins from their voice businesses are declining. Therefore they are looking at VAS as the next wave for growth. It has become the flywheel of telecom growth and a large chunk of revenue for operators is likely to come from VAS services in the years to come. Pakistan telecommunication industry has emerged as one of the fast growing telecommunications industries of the world. Due to this fact, Pakistan has always appeared as a lucrative investment environment for foreign investors in the telecom sector; it managed to attract US$ 815 million in 2008-09 even with the global financial depression setting in.

The other factor is the increase in user comfort with basic mobility services. The Pakistani mobile telephony market has gained immense strength due to increased affordability of mobile services as well as increasing comfort and basic mobility services. A large number of users are comfortable with operating their mobile phones and would progress on to demanding more value added services beyond the basic services, spurring the next phase of growth. Delivery of high speed mobile broadband services is now a key to nourish the value additions in a mobile market.

Furthermore, personalization of content and devices is a very important subscriber based factor. The mobile phones have gradually become an identity or an extension to ones personality in this part of the world. More and more subscribers personalize their ring tones and caller tunes and are further willing to adopt services which offer them services with further opportunity of personalization. The mobile user base in Pakistan is divided into three categories as shown in the figure below; the three generic user bases in Pakistan have unique characteristics and consequently demand different types of mobile services from the service provider.

Pakistan is a country of over 170 million and while in its developing stage it still has over 41% of its population below the poverty line and 55 % of its population classified as literate. Due to economic degeneration of the international market over the past few years and the war on terror, Pakistan has been dented financially. Clearly in purview of the prevalent conditions, the outreach of facilitation is limited. With mobile subscribers far exceeding the literate segment of the society along with the television viewers and internet users – mobile has become the most feasible resource for facilitation of the general public. The operators working in Pakistan are currently offering value added services which has greatly facilitated the masses in general to conduct their day to day affairs easily and effortlessly.

The scope of VAS especially in a country with the demographic and economic condition of that of Pakistan is enormous. Mobile VAS is an emerging stream of revenue for both the telecommunication sector and other related industries and provides a strong hope of rescue of the industry from the decline ARPU. Moreover, in Pakistan in specific it will act as an agent of change in the social uplifting of the rural and under privileged society in specific.

Batelco Public Relations Specialist Atifa Ali Bin Rajab met with the Director of Isa Town Charity Fund Ali Hassan Abdulla to present the Ramadan baskets

Batelco annually donates thousands of gift baskets to needy families who have been identified by charitable societies as needing extra support during the holy month of Ramadan.

“This year we have provided 25,000 Ramadan baskets and all were delivered before the beginning of the Holy month of Ramadan,” said Batelco Group General Manager Media Relations Ahmed Al Janahi.

“Batelco’s Ramadan Basket initiative illustrates the company’s social and ethical responsibility towards the community. The Company’s support to the community is among the best in Bahrain when it comes to the amount of money committed to charitable causes,” he added.

Nubla Iftikhar, Head of Marketing Dell CSMB handing over gift hamper to the lucky winner of the Mall Activity

Dell, a global leader in computers, notebooks and net-books technology held a road show in Karachi and Lahore to cater to notebook lovers in the cities. Dell’s innovative products, the Inspiron 3010, 4010 and 5010 were showcased along with the Dell Studio high end notebooks at fantastic prices along with enticing promotions on purchase. Drawing large crowds, this exciting activity also featured gift hampers for the participants through lucky draw offering bumper prizes including a Dell notebook.
Being an innovative brand, Dell has always tried to engage the Pakistani consumers through innovative, exciting and fun filled activities, thus introducing them to the latest, most reliable technologies. Through these consumer interactions, Dell aims to encourage the notebook enthusiasts to gain more insight into cutting-edge products. The aspiring Dell customers now have the freedom to confidently choose the best-suited information-technology tools for themselves. The Marketing Head for CSMB at Dell, Nubla Iftikhar was also present at the roadshow.

Brocade  has announced the addition of new, technology-centric channel partner specializations to the Brocade Alliance Partner Network (APN) program. Based on a combination of standard industry certifications and Brocade-approved testing qualifications, the Brocade Specialized Partner designations will help channel partners address growing customer demand for skilled expertise across a broad range of networking technologies.
To recognize channel partners who currently offer both Brocade Storage Area Network (SAN) and IP/Ethernet product portfolios, Brocade will initially implement the Brocade Network Infrastructure Partner Specialization. Additional specializations, including the Brocade Virtualized Fabrics Partner Specialization and the Brocade Application Delivery Partner Specialization, will be introduced throughout the remainder of the year, each with a set of affiliated requirements.
Qualified partners will receive a number of program benefits, including dedicated pre-sales support, access to seed units and proof-of-concept labs, opportunities for special accreditation, and dedicated lead assignments. In addition, qualified partners will have the ability to progressively apply their specializations to their overall rebate scheme to receive greater monetary rewards. This is in keeping with the core tenet of the APN program to continuously drive partner profitability through key program elements such as low- to no-cost training, flexible use of Marketing Development Funds (MDF), and deals and leads registration.
“Partners are under more pressure to demonstrate inherent value to their customers than ever before,” said Chris Ilg, program director of the Infrastructure Channels Practice at IDC. “Certification-based specializations really help partners bolster their in-house capabilities and knowledge base, while providing customers with the assurance that they’re receiving top-notch guidance and expertise for their IT needs.”
As increasing numbers of end customers begin to fully embrace the evolution toward highly virtualized, services-on-demand computing environments, the network becomes the critical component for the secure, reliable and efficient delivery of data. This growing emphasis on the network is driving the need for highly specialized networking expertise—from overarching network design and architecture to application optimization technologies. Brocade developed these new specializations to equip partners with the necessary skills and knowledge to become a trusted IT advisor and to support partners in their quest to drive deeper levels of customer engagement.
“The addition of these new specializations to the Brocade APN program aligns with our commitment to support our partners as they help their customers migrate to new networking technologies to future-proof their networks,” said Amanda Giddins, EMEA Channel Director at Brocade. “Brocade is dedicated to the continual development of APN program elements that bring value and additional revenue opportunities to partners. These specializations will help partners to differentiate themselves in an exceedingly competitive business environment and enable them to become and remain trusted IT advisors to their customers.”

Interview by Gulraiz Khalid

Greg Oslan brings to Narus a strong history of executive and managerial success. He also has a strong background in raising capital and consulting for growth companies. Prior to joining Narus, Greg was president and chief executive officer for Wireless Online, a provider of smart antenna solutions to the wireless industry. Earlier, he served as president and chief operating officer for CNET, Inc., a wireless operational support system company, where he effectively executed a turnaround strategy and acquisition. During his ten years with Ameritech Corporation, Greg was the director of wireless data marketing and director of business development for Ameritech Mobile Communications and held other management roles within the Ameritech Bell Group. He began his career with AT&T. Greg has consulted to many companies over the years successfully leading several through capital raising, restructuring, and divestitures. He also started an early stage venture capital fund in Dallas in 1998.

Greg earned his master’s degree in business administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and completed his bachelor’s degree in quantitative business analysis from Indiana University.
Greg was kind enough to speak to Teletimes. The conversation is given below:

Teletimes – Narus is the leader in real-time traffic intelligence. How long have you been in this market and how has it developed over the years?

Greg  Oslan – Narus was founded in 1997. Our real-time traffic intelligence system was first used by service providers (communications companies) for billing and billing mediation purposes. Since we monitor network traffic, the information is valuable to service providers and others who want to use our software to manage and protect the integrity of their IP networks.
Narus is a software company that, through its real-time traffic intelligence and analytics technologies, enables customers to identify and act on anomalous traffic in its network. Coupled with its unique algorithms and analytics, Narus enables carriers, governments and enterprises to manage and protect their large IP networks against cyber threats and the risks of doing business in cyberspace. Narus provides this information in real time, and can be used in large distributed networks because its software is massively scalable.

TT – Please talk in detail about the importance of traffic intelligence and how it can be helpful to ISPs.

GO – Today’s complex communications environment is a “perfect storm” of complicated network management and protection issues for service providers. ISPs are faced with an increase in network usage; a proliferation of new, complex and bandwidth-intensive applications; and frequent cyber attacks on their networks. Coping with these new trends requires a solution that is capable of meeting specific needs and flexible enough to grow and expand as needs change.

Through Narus’ real-time traffic intelligence and analytics technologies, its customers have the ability to see the traffic and data traversing on their network clearly from layer 2 through layer 7. Coupled with Narus’ unique algorithms and rules, Narus enables service providers to act swiftly on anomalous and malicious traffic so they can manage and protect their large IP networks against cyber threats and the risks of operating in cyberspace.

TT – Would you like to tell us about some of your major solutions such as the NarusInsight?

GO – Narus employs a four-phase approach to traffic intelligence:
i. Monitor traffic from the network through the application layer either directly off the wire or from other devices already embedded in the network.
ii. Analyze at macro or micro level across the entire network (s)
iii. Create actionable knowledge
iv. Take informed action based on business and operational policies
NarusInsight
NarusInsight is the most scalable, real-time traffic intelligence system for the protection and management of large IP networks. The ability to offer wide visibility across heterogeneous networks and provide deep insight into multiple layers of network traffic in real time is what separates Narus from all providers in the developing traffic intelligence market.

Cyber Protection Solution

The NarusInsight Solution for Cyber Protection provides real-time identification and mitigation of any unwanted or malicious traffic for the protection and management of large IP networks. Built on the NarusInsight Traffic Intelligence system, the NarusInsight Solution for Cyber Protection is used to analyze network traffic from service providers and government organizations around the world. It detects anomalous and malicious traffic and alerts network operators of the changes in behavior that signify attack or network-impacting activity. The alerts are analyzed in detail and the correct mitigation step is taken to block or cleanse “bad traffic.”

Intercept Solution

The NarusInsight Solution for Intercept delivers unmatched flexibility to intercept IP communications content and identify information, enabling law enforcement and government organizations around the world to deal with illegal and malicious activity in the multifaceted world of IP communications.  Built on the NarusInsight Traffic Intelligence system, the NarusInsight Solution for Intercept passively monitors multiple links on the network. It can be used by law enforcement agents and carriers. If a session matches the target criteria in question, it is captured for formatting and delivery to storage, law enforcement or directly to optional content rendering and analysis tools.

Traffic Management Solution
The NarusInsight Solution for Traffic Management has been designed for operators to enhance network control and efficiency by providing real-time identification and mitigation of unauthorized IP servers and services on the network. Whether they are deemed as unlicensed, unwanted or illegal, this solution puts the control back into the hands of the people who own the network assets.  Built on the NarusInsight Traffic Intelligence system, the NarusInsight Solution for Traffic Management identifies VoIP traffic independent of its source and can effectively reduce revenue leakage and theft of service. It can also be extended to other types of services including SMTP and DNS. It correlates usage records to identify traffic by network address, protocol type and packet statistics and then pinpoints offending gateway address ranges. As a final step, the Traffic Management solution provides detailed traffic statistics (layer-2 to layer-7) and session records associated with unauthorized or unlicensed servers in a visual format so operators can take mitigation actions should they choose to do so.

TT – Please tell us about the Narus STA platform in detail.

GO – A Semantic Traffic Analyzer (STA) is a network collector that passively monitors and analyses traffic directly from the network in real time. Semantic Traffic Analysis is a methodology that can analyze networks in real time by reconstructing user sessions by passively observing traffic on the network.

TT – What is the current level of competition you are facing and how have you managed to lead the market over the past years?

GO – The market is currently very fragmented with vendors supplying point solutions, siloed solutions and appliances. This means that not all cyber threats are caught (e.g. zero-day attacks). NarusInsight is backed by a significant number of patents- 30 patents have been awarded or are in the process of being granted. The keys to our success revolve around our passion for innovation, our hiring of very intelligent engineers and researchers and the ability to work with some of the brightest minds in universities and colleges around the world as part of the Narus Fellows Program which was established to develop new means to fight cyber crime.

TT – Who are your major customers? Do you provide solutions/equipment to ISPs only or law enforcement agencies as well?

GO – One third of the world’s traffic managed by the largest wireline and wireless carriers use Narus solutions to protect and manage the integrity of their IP networks. Narus has built a truly global footprint with carrier and government customers across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and AsiaPAC including Pakistan Telecom Authority, KT (Korea), KDDI (Japan), Raytheon, Telecom Egypt, Cable and Wireless, Saudi Telecom, and U.S. Cellular among others.

TT – What scale of operations is Narus currently active through in the Middle Eastern and South Asian markets? Do you plan to boost up the activity in these regions in the near future?

GO – Narus’ business is divided equally among Americas, Middle East/Africa and Asia. Narus will continue to invest in the Middle Eastern and South Asian markets as we see high demand for cybersecurity and traffic management solutions from ISPs and government organizations to protect and manage their critical infrastructures and to ensure the integrity of their IP networksin cyberspace.

TT – Boeing announced an agreement to acquire Narus Networks Private Limited. The acquisition follows a successful partnership between the two companies and advances Boeing’s strategy to offer world-class, scalable, state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions. How do you see the future of Narus after the acquisition? Do you think that the acquisition will allow Narus to provide more easily to international customers?

GO – Narus is the latest in a series of strategic acquisitions Boeing has made in recent years to ensure that the company is a leading developer of world-class cybersecurity solutions.  Narus has developed integrated network behavior analytics, threat detection, and cybersecurity solutions that will help solve the enduring network needs of Boeing and Narus  customers today and in the future. The positive impact that Boeing will have is the credibility it brings as well as the extended international and global resources upon which Narus can draw.  This will afford Narus the opportunity to build and scale.

Amir Malik

Broadband is globally considered among the basic necessities of daily life. High capacity broadband communication is considered a powerful tool that significantly improves quality of life, global competitiveness, and access to economic opportunity. Broadband in Pakistan is yet to reach the first stage of its usage. Only 0.47% of the population has attained subscription to broadband. This presents a huge opportunity in the years to come of including a large segment of our livelihoods in this important sphere.
Wireless Broadband is a set of fairly new technologies that provides high-speed wireless internet and data services access over a wide area.

Consequently due to the massive transformation in Telecommunications landscape, another revolution looms as fixed wired connections give way to the possibility of a wireless broadband era. At the helm of this change is a fast-evolving wireless broadband ecosystem that combines amplified speed and higher data volumes in shape of different flavors such as WiMAX and EvDO. 

Pakistan has observed a massive growth in Telecommunication sector both in terms of infrastructure and subscription; nevertheless broadband has not proved itself a real success until recent times. Now with almost ten years after its introduction, Broadband subscription levels remained at a very low side during the first seven years. Statistics reveal that in the span of first seven years (June 2000 – June 2007), total number of broadband subscribers in the country reached a mere figure of 45,000. Till that time, the market was captured by all fixed offers over xDSL (Digital Subscribers Line) and HFC (Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial) technologies.

The situation has changed significantly during the last three years (June 2007 – April 2010) and according to Point Topic’s (a renowned international broadband research company) Global Broadband Report for quarter 4 2009, Pakistan stands among the top ten countries for annual Broadband subscription growth. The total number of Broadband subscribers in Pakistan has reached an encouraging figure of 817,000 by April 2010. This reflects an impressive addition of approximately 772,000 subscribers in last 34 months showing an average of approximately 22,500 subscriptions per month. The following bar chart highlights the recent growth of broadband subscription in Pakistan.

One of the primary factors behind this noteworthy change comes about in December 2007 when Wateen Telecom commercially announced its WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) service in various cities. This marvel of wireless broadband brought an alternative to copper-based broadband coupled with convenience of wireless Internet. Consumers perceived this attraction as this edition of broadband is showing an upbeat progress.

Subsequent to the introduction of Wateen telecom, Mobilink started its WiMAX under ‘infinity’ brand in last quarter of 2008 followed by WiTribe commercial launch in second quarter of 2009. The competition in wireless broadband market of the country incorporated yet another technology when WorldCall Telecom announced EvDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) broadband service in March 2009, shortly followed by EvDO launch by the PTCL in April 2009. These wireless technologies have gained a splendid success over past two years and by April 2010, a total of 249,000 broadband subscribers are utilizing WiMAX followed by 83,000 EvDO subscribers. This makes a sum of 332,000 wireless broadband subscribers in Pakistan. The following bar chart shows the subscribers growth with respect to wireless broadband since April 2008.

Another interesting development is the swift increase in the overall market share for wireless broadband technologies when weighed against fixed broadband technologies.  Although, the subscription cost for wireless broadband in the country is more than DSL, conversely, this amazing adoption of wireless broadband clearly depicts the interest level of subscribers in browsing through high speed Internet over smart wireless USB devices. This indeed is a positive sign towards future proliferation of broadband services in Pakistan. The following pie charts depict this broadband market trends since April 2008 onwards.

The present market share for wireless broadband technologies has reached to almost 41%; this may well lead to a situation in due course of time when wireless broadband would overcome fixed-line broadband services with respect to total market share making the economy probably the only global broadband market with such stipulation of broadband. Based on the trends observed during last two years, it is estimated through the following bar chart that current set of wireless broadband technologies (WiMAX, EvDO) may attain a cumulative market share of 45% by April 2011 and 51% by 2012 respectively.

Moreover, as the broadband market moves along with further competition and new technologies, a likely concern of future revenue streams would become part of deliberation. As the market opts for new technologies, operators would invest in upgrading existing networks, effective transition is likely to be one of the keys to long term success in making a financial return on investment. Moving to these new networks offers the chance to increase efficiency and reduce operating cost in the longer term for network operators. The following is a predictable view of probable revenue streams for future broadband networks and services.

The wireless broadband technologies have a bright future in the Pakistan market, as the competition among the wireless broadband service providers increases, the prices are expected to decrease making ‘Mobile Internet’ affordable for people of Pakistan.