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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2013
– normally sworn competitors –
said that their network gear is
solar-powered.
Ms Wanjiku noted that discussion of
utilisation of white space has heated
up as governments and regulators
in Africa evaluate ways to utilise the
spectrum that will be available after
migration from analogue to digital TV
platforms.
“Some people feel the spectrum
should be auctioned,” Ms Wanjiku
wrote. “Others feel that it should be
provided free to some operators in
remote areas.”
Fortune Sibanda, of Google South
Africa, told IDG that TV white space
signals can penetrate physical
obstacles like trees, buildings, and the
rugged terrain common in most parts
of Africa, and can transmit wireless
Internet over long distances.
“White space usage may open
up opportunities for cheaper
broadband deployment by smaller
ISPs across the continent,” said the
Google policy manager, who cited
as well the “attendant benefits” of
economic growth and development
that go along with greater Internet
penetration.
To compete with ‘pure’
cloud vendors, telecoms
are urged toward a more
customer-focused offering
In its research paper Cloud Enabled
Telco Opportunities, Pricewater-
houseCoopers (PwC) warns that
telecoms ignoring the adoption of
cloud “do so at their own peril.”
The London-based multi-national
professional services firm also noted
the prevailing preference for specialist
private cloud vendors as suppliers of
cloud services.
PwC believes telecoms have the
potential to serve their customers’
evolving cloud needs.
But, PwC said, to gain recognition
as true end-to-end cloud solutions
providers, telecoms will need to
harness the best of their current
capabilities “to create a more
customer-centric, scalable set of
cloud propositions.”
Citing the results of its own survey on
the future of IT outsourcing and cloud
computing, PwC noted that – although
the B2B enterprise solutions market
is still dominated by predominantly
“on-premise” services – 41 per cent of
companies now deploy some form of
cloud services.
Thus telecoms, as owners of the
networks upon which the over-the-top
(OTT) cloud applications and services
are delivered, are well positioned to
serve the B2B cloud market.
But the PwC research released on 24 th
April finds that, compared with current
managed B2B services, cloud delivery
requires a fundamentally different
business model, with emphasis on a
very high degree of self-service on the
part of the customer.
Elsewhere in telecom . . .
✆
✆ In a deal announced on 27th
April and to be finalised in the
third quarter, Norway’s Telenor,
the largest telecommunications
operator in the Nordic region,
agreed to buy the Bulgarian
mobile unit of Hellenic
Telecommunications Organization
(OTE) – a Greek group active in
the Balkans – for $934 million.
The acquisition of Globul, the
second-largest mobile carrier
in Bulgaria with a 36 per cent
share of that market, will raise
the Telenor profile in central and
Eastern Europe while enabling the
Athens-based operator to reduce
its costs. Germany’s Deutsche
Telekom holds a 40 per cent stake
in OTE.
Globul has been in Bulgaria since
2001, Telenor said. At the end of
2012 the carrier had 4.5 million
subscribers. Together with OTE’s
Germanos Bulgaria unit, Globul
had revenue for the year of $493
million; and earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortisation of $176 million.
Telenor, which generated 58
per cent of its revenue outside
Norway, Sweden and Denmark
last year, has been pushing into
faster-growing countries in Europe
and Asia.
The carrier already operates in
Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro,
as well as Thailand and Malaysia.
✆
✆ Italy’s Communications Authority
(AgCom) unanimously approved
the final version of regulations for
the auction of DTT frequencies
that make up the three national
DTT networks, with a right of use
for 20 years. To meet the objective
of ensuring a greater degree
of competition and pluralism,
as requested by the European
Commission, the amended
measure will restrict competition
for all three lots to new entrants
or small operators (those holding
one multiplex), and for two lots to
operators already in possession of
two multiplexes.
As reported by Branislav Pekic
on advanced-television.com (12th
April), integrated operators active
on other platforms with a market
share of over 50 per cent in the
pay-TV sector may compete only
for a single multiplex. Excluded
altogether from parti- cipation in the
auction are operators holding three
or more DTT multi- plexes, such as
RAI, Mediaset and Telecom Italia
Media.
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turntables, bagging hopper
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