This document discusses the potential for carrier Wi-Fi networks to help address Africa's broadband crisis. It notes that despite new submarine cable capacity, true high-speed broadband may not be available for a decade in Africa due to congested mobile networks, insufficient spectrum allocation, and lack of infrastructure investment. Carrier Wi-Fi could provide a lower-cost solution for mobile operators by offloading data traffic onto Wi-Fi networks. New Wi-Fi standards have improved integration with mobile cores, and Wi-Fi offloading could open new business opportunities for mobile operators while reducing spectrum and backhaul costs. The document argues carrier Wi-Fi may be a panacea for Africa's broadband challenges if mobile operators and regulators embrace this technology.

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E book 9 -2014 dated 11 july 2014
From a blog dedicated to provide Strategic Insights for Telcos and CSP's
Blog Source : www.maliksadiq13.wordpress.com
Table of Contents
About Sadiq Malik ( Telco Strategist )
1 What every Telco CxO needs to know about the Broadband Era !!!
2 VDI : Gold lining on the Telco Cloud
3 Carrier Wifi : panacea for the African broadband crisis ???
4 Multimedia Collaboration for the Virtual Enterprise ? Your Telco SP can do ii !!
5 Thinking innovately about Wireless Broadband : Key Insights
6 Strategic Insight : Blue Ocean opportunities for Converged Telcos !!

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About
Sadiq Malik is Principal Consultant at Broadband Gurus Network which provides a portfolio
of consultancy services to address the ongoing business challenges faced by organisations
throughout the telecoms value chain.
Broadband Gurus Network , a think tank that is focused on helping Telcos and Government
Regulators on how best to monetize broadband in the pursuit of bridging the Digital Divide in
Developing countries.
At Informa Telecoms Media’s Middle East & Africa region Sadiq spearheaded the design and
delivery of consultancy packages to help telcos and CSPs succeed in a fast evolving market
landscape with alternative business models . At BCT Global, Sadiq led the formation of the
telco services division where he secured contracts concerning a range of innovative services in
the broadband arena.
As strategic projects consultant for Motorola, he initiated projects with a long-term impact on
the company’s intellectual and brand competitiveness such as the establishment of Africa’s first
cellular training centre.Sadiq has managed several key projects for Telcos / CSP’s including:
LTE Business Planning; Fixed Mobile Operator Consolidation assessment; monetising VAS
strategic planning and Smart Cities Evolution (technical and commercial planning).
Sadiq is speaker at telco conferences and conducts CxO workshops for CSP’s in Malaysia ,
Dubai, Cairo and Johanesburg. Some of the workshop themes : Convergent Billing , Hybrid
Broadband Architectures , IPTV Commercial strategies , 3G LTE and Wimax Technical and
commercial aspects , Telco 2 business models , Mobile network optimisation and Capacity
planning , Business case build up Mobile TV etc.
In the last 5 years he has trained over 1000 managers from the Telco industry in MEA and Far
East.

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1: What every Telco CxO needs to know about the Broadband Era !!!
A historic
opportunity awaits the communication industry in the years ahead – a chance to connect 7
billion people using broadband wireless and wireline technologies. But it will take more
extensive use of technology with improved performance to offer true broadband connectivity
to achieve this level of penetration. Telcos used to be the center of gravity in the mobile value
chain, but no longer. In the new basis of competition, ecosystems like Apple iOS or Google
Android have become the focal point for service creation and distribution, ironically with help
from telcos in the form of device subsidies. In the space of five years, ecosystems have
mushroomed to take control of what took telcos nearly 30 years to build.
Telco Execs must understand role of new generation applications, content and platforms to
generate revenue from broadband networks assets as well as the critical role of billing
engines and CRM systems and how to convert these into revenue generating assets. Success in
broadband lies not just in deploying exciting new technology, but specifically in deploying a
network and service creation infrastructure that is both cost effective, and capable of
delivering – over time – the range of services that appeal to potential subscribers .Operators
evaluating broadband ( wired and wireless ) investments must extend their consideration
beyond the accepted virtues of the technology and consider how the platform fits into their
specific near and long term business model, measuring cost of ownership with potential for
harnessing time-to-market advantages to grow subscriptions and generate revenue.
Today, communications service providers deliver traditional and IP services that span voice,
data, video, content, prepaid and postpaid, fixed and mobile. To succeed, service providers
must change to an infrastructure that supports new business models, real-time customer
interactions, and new partners and channels. Driving this transformation are underlying
business applications such as billing and revenue management (BRM), customer relationship

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management (CRM), and enterprise resource planning (ERP). The new enterprise opportunity is
a credible source or new revenue but there is still great confusion over where to start, how to
scale and which divisions within telcos should be targeting these markets. Cloud Computing has
captured the interest of enterprise customers because it offers flexibility and an ability to
control costs. It fits well with the new Telco philosophy as it is about supplying assets as
services
Governments and Enterprises the world over are embracing technology to improve service
delivery and smooth transactional efficiency …in essence e-Government is about transforming
government to be more citizen oriented. Broadband technology can play a critical role by
increasing worker efficiency and reducing total costs for service delivery for municipalities.
While designing new business models, Broadband operators must deploy networks with
capabilities, such as mobility, messaging, location, presence, profile and call control, and
combine these with internet-style services such as social networking, search, advertising, direct
marketing and mapping, thereby enabling richer, more compelling and more personalised
services than the Internet players can offer.
Instead of creating and distributing mobile applications themselves to their subscribers, mobile
operators must increasingly add access to multiple wireless stores on their devices. In many
ways, the switch makes mobile operators look more like owners of a shopping center, while
device makers, operating system developers, and other third parties own the shops that sit in
these virtual carrier malls. While this new model has spurred a great deal of innovation, it’s
also fragmented the market. And even though, operators may not be selling these virtual
goods to consumers, they still want a portion of the profits since they have invested billions on
the access networks.
Media convergence is becoming a reality. Carriers must start to integrate IPTV, mobile TV and
Web TV/video offerings into an integrated user experience in and out of the home, and build
new value added services on top of it. The new media offerings and ways to deliver content
over-the-top are fast emerging as a sound way to distribute and consume content online. The
vast amount of content (video, audio, photos, etc.) suggests that a new way to discover media
and personalize the experience is needed. Creating a next generation telco means looking
beyond traditional telco business models in the context of the changing telecom value network.
Fixed-mobile Convergence (FMC) has traditionally been used by the telecom industry when
discussing the physical integration of wireline and wireless technologies. Simply defining
convergence as how wireless technology should integrate with wireline technology effectively
misses the broader importance and implications of convergence which is also about
convergence between the media, datacom and telecommunication industries. Convergence will
influence a host of companies and change the way end-users access their information, thereby
enabling a new paradigm of “anytime, anywhere, any device” information exchange and
access.
The so called “Web2.0” is the most influential driver in the combined Internet and telco
industry. Players like YouTube, Facebook and MySpace have become some of the most used
services and known brands on the Internet. OTTs do not compete for telco service revenues;
instead, they compete to control key links in the digital value chain, with business models that
span consumer electronics, online advertising, software licensing, e-commerce and more. Telcos

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must diversify data products are beyond the simple SP , with a mixture of hybrid consumer
and business products and fixed/mobile products.the telco digital business needs to be
measured not by direct revenues, but according to whether it helps to grow and protect core
telco business by increasing usage, creating user lock-in and driving subscriber acquisition.
Telcos are being disrupted because the basis of competition in mobile has fundamentally
changed. It has changed from “reliability and scale of networks” to “choice and flexibility of
services”, representing transition from “mobile telephony” to “mobile computing”. Telcos need
to move their innovation focus from technologies (be it HTML5, NFC, IMS, VoLTE, M2M or RCS-
e) to ecosystems. That requires a much better understanding of how ecosystems are
engineered, and how ecosystems absorb and amplify innovation. The change in the basis of
competition is fundamental and irreversible.
Sadiq Malik ( Telco Strategist )
2 : VDI : Gold lining on the Telco Cloud
According to leading
analyst firms, the hosted virtual desktop (HVD) market will accelerate through 2013, growing
from 500,000 to 49 million units. And worldwide revenue will reportedly grow from about
$1.3 billion in 2009 to somewhere around $65.7 billion in 2013 — or roughly from 1 to 40
percent of the worldwide professional PC market. As more enterprises adopt cloud computing
and lowered total cost of ownership, cloud-based VDI implementations are forecast to nearly
quadruple in the next five years. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is
the growing demand for highly secure remote access interfaces.
Desktop virtualization is a transforma¬tive, game-changing technology that can enable
productivity gains, cost savings, increased security and more efficient use of IT infrastructure.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) introduces a new way of managing user environments. VDI

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allows IT administrators to host and administer user desktops on Virtual Infrastructure in the
data center.
All VDI ( Virtual Desktop Infrastructure ) solutions have virtualization of the user’s desktop in
common. A complete VDI solution may also include other design elements that compliment,
extend, or leverage the core features of a virtualization platform. A full spectrum VDI solution
starts with the user’s access device and includes a number of logically sequential components
spanning the full lifecycle of user activity. The major use cases currently driving adoption of
VDI are:
• Outsourcing: Companies looking to outsource development while retaining close control of
their data and source code can use VDI to present developers with a fully functional desktop
capable of installing development tools and rebooting without affecting other users.
• Extending PC Lifecycle: Companies facing a PC upgrade cycle or deployment of a major
operating system upgrade might instead migrate to a server based computing model,
redeploying existing PCs as Thin Client access devices.
• Unifying IT Strategy: Companies that have already invested in virtualization strategies in the
data center and are seeking to unify desktop and server side processes have an opportunity
to leverage server and client side computing loads across a common platform. Simplified
disaster recovery, enhanced data security, and reduced headcount can result from such
consolidation.
• Performance Driven VDI: Companies needing to introduce a demanding new application that
strains current PC hardware might elect to deploy the new application as a link from the
native desktop to a VDI session. This offloads CPU demands from the local desktop, both
extending the PC lifespan and ensuring adequate performance of the new application.
• Enterprise Desktop Replacement: Companies seeking to escape the constraints of legacy
desktop computing and move towards utility computing will benefit from more advanced VDI
configurations with dynamic provisioning and personalization of the virtual desktop made
available to stateless user access devices.
Virtualised servers and desktops hold the key to more efficient IT management. Although
virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) has historically been deemed too expensive, the recent
surge of cloud computing offers a cost-effective, managed platform for VDI that stands to
revolutionise the structure of enterprise IT.Cloud compute IaaS ( via which HVD / VDI is
delivered ) constitutes the largest segment of the addressable market (the broader market
also includes cloud storage, backup and archiving).
While SME’s offer the biggest growth potential many of these companies simply do not
understand the concept of the Cloud solutions. Many consider it to be unsecure which is rather
ironic, considering that most Cloud solutions are more secure than the average SME’s Pcs. As
such to compete aggressively in the expanding Virtual Desktop Solutions market a Telco must
consider the following realities :

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• Ensure “ Reliable cloud,” achieved through redundant infrastructure clustering; thus able to
offer a very high SLA for infrastructure availability — often as high as 99.999% . In general,
monthly availability SLAs of 99.95% and higher are the norm, and are typically higher than
availability SLAs for managed hosting.
• Offer a shared resource pool (SRP) pricing model or be flexible on pricing the service. In the
SRP model, customers contract for a certain amount of capacity (in terms of CPU and RAM),
but can allocate that capacity to virtual machines in an arbitrary way, including being able to
oversubscribe that capacity voluntarily; additional capacity can usually be purchased on
demand by the hour.
• A single architecture, feature set and cross-cloud management, for both public and private
cloud IaaS, make it easier for customers to combine and migrate across service models as their
needs dictate, and allow the provider to leverage its engineering investments more
effectively.
• Offer a firewall (intrusion detection system/intrusion prevention system) as part of their
offering, as well as access control lists (ACLs) and additional security services that will meet
regulatory compliance needs.
• Support the use of Internet-based IPsec VPN, including allowing customers to use their own
Internet Protocol address ranges. Some providers use Internet based Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) VPN to enforce secure access to management consoles.
• Offer a portal and self-service mechanism that is designed for multiple users and that offers
hierarchical administration and role-based access control (RBAC). Telcos may offer monitoring
as an option, with a hybrid hosting or other managed services offering.
The deployment of high-speed fibre and LTE networks means that organisations no longer
need to deploy or own any IT infrastructure. Instead, they can use Telco networks to simply
rent hardware capacity and software applications as and when they need them from so-
called cloud service providers. With a culture of aiming for five nines (99.999% uptime)
reliability, Telcos are well-suited to the delivery of cloud services ( such as VDI ) which are
dependent on continual connectivity , appropriate bandwidth, quality of service, billing
relationship , end-to-end security and hopefully customer trust.
Sadiq Malik ( Telco Strategist )

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3 : Carrier Wifi : panacea for the African broadband crisis ???
Despite the arrival
for so much submarine cable bandwidth it seems the hapless African broadband consumer will
not experience true high speed broadband for atleast a decade. So what is the current
situation with the Operators in South Africa ? Congested networks , refarmed 1800 spectrum
for LTE which is ruining the HSP + experience , smartphone flood , insufficient Spectrum ,
disgruntled customers , declining rather than value based pricing etc etc. Not to mention the
fact that some Operators become professional spectrum squatters without the financial means
to build a national broadband network. As for the rest of Africa : the same lamentable
situation.
The Regulators are stubborn since they refuse or delay the allocation of Spectrum in the 2.6
and 800 mhz for LTE. The Operators are asinine since refuse or delay in look at non licensed
Spectrum to rollout a RAN. Infact the Regulators and Operators spend more time in criticising
rather than collaborating with each other. The Digital Dividend is a pipe dream for the
majority of the African population. Most Africans don’t have access to electricity or clean
water what in the world are they going to do with Broadband ?? Nobody gives a hoot !
The profitability of mobile Internet services is at risk, unless mobile operators and Regulators
look to new, complementary technologies that can serve data traffic with a dramatically lower
cost curve than the traditional, cellular-only RAN and backhaul solution. It takes many years
and billions of dollars for mobile operators to acquire and build out new licensed spectrum.
Operators cannot simply double their use of spectrum and double the number of cell sites in
their network each year.If no changes are made demand could exceed capacity within two to
three years and with today’s architectures operators could rapidly run out of spectrum and
money. Operators need to harness a solution that will further dramatically bring down their
backhaul and RAN costs, while allowing them visibility and control of the new RAN,
maintaining the same ease of use for their subscribers.

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The Wi-Fi offloading has became lately the most hotly debated business opportunity that
provides solutions for MNOs for a lot of challenges like spectrum licensing, running costs,
coverage gaps ,deployment delays, and congestion. In addition, Wi-Fi can give new business
opportunities to MNOs to access new types of users like laptop, tablet, and home
users.Offloading to Wi-Fi is the fastest way to achieve this dramatic reduction in backhaul
costs (compared to fixed broadband) and RAN costs, without the need to purchase additional
spectrum. Wi-Fi offers an immediate solution to operators worldwide looking to increase
capacity and coverage. Its availability is widespread and growing, with over one million
commercial hotspots today. Unlike cellular radio technologies, Wi-Fi uses the same frequency
bands worldwide and users have had few problems sharing this unlicensed spectrum.
Over the years Wifi has undergone a resurrection of sorts with new standards that integrate it
more tightly into the Mobile Core. The revolution of smartphone industry, which rose after the
Apple iPhone®, had a vast spread of Wi-Fi technology along with smartphones. The 3rd
Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a collaboration between groups of telecommunications
associations aims to make a globally applicable third-generation (3G) mobile phone system
specification, became aware of the increasing role of Wi-Fi and started putting standards for
Wi-Fi and Mobile Networks interoperability. Some mobile operators, Wireless Internet Service
Providers (WISPs), and vendors saw the potential in Wi-Fi as generic and low cost wireless
technology to provide their data and Internet services to millions of users through their already
equipped Wi-Fi in smartphones, tablets, laptops, and PDAs.
And oh yes : Wifi is now CARRIER GRADE !!!
• The Wi-Fi Alliance Passpoint certification program and the Hotspot 2.0 specifications
provide seamless Wi-Fi access in public hotspots and when roaming. With SIM-based
authentication, mobile devices can automatically connect to any hotspot operated by a mobile
operator or any of its partners, as they do with cellular data roaming.
• The Wireless Broadband NGH initiative provides a roaming framework that facilitates
roaming agreements among mobile and Wi-Fi operators, and establishes roaming best
practices for Wi-Fi.
• ANDSF facilitates discovery and selection of non-3GPP networks in mobile devices. With
ANDSF, operators can use PCRF-defined policies and real-time traffic management across
mobile and Wi-Fi networks.
• 802.11n : 802.11n is an amendment which improves upon the previous 802.11 standards by
adding multiple-input multiple-output antennas (MIMO). 802.11n operates on both the 2.4
GHz and the lesser used 5 GHz bands. It operates at a maximum net data rate from 54
Mbits/s to 600 Mbits/s.
Hotspot 2.0 was created by the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2012, a technology intended to render Wi-
Fi technology similar to cellular technology with a suite of protocols to allow easy selection
and secure authentication. It allows the mobile devices automatically select the Wi-Fi network
based on its SSID. It also allows reacting some useful information such as Network and venue
type, list of roaming partners, and types of authentication available.

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Mobile IP allows the mobile device to have dual IPs to communicate with each access
technology; with the H1 interface the Home Agent (HA) manages the mobility between the two
access technologies.
The 3GPP provided further enhancement with release 10; a completely seamless Wi-Fi
offloading, where the mobile device can have multiple connections to each technology
managed by the 3GPP core network. Some heavy traffic like video streaming and P2P
downloads can be routed via Wi-Fi and the HTTP and VoIP traffic through the cellular
Network.
Wi-Fi is expanding its role in carrying wireless broadband traffic in both private and public
networks. As it becomes more deeply integrated into the mobile network infrastructure, Wi-Fi
will provide the same seamless experience that subscribers are used to in cellular networks.
Automatic SIMbased authentication, optimized network selection, secure connectivity, and
policy-based service options will increase the value of Wi-Fi access even as operators move to
higher-capacity, faster LTE networks.
WiFi data offload can alleviate mobile network congestion, reduce churn and lock in
customers with bundled WiFi/3G services. It can reduce operating expenses through the use of
lower cost infrastructure, and increase revenue through subscriber retention and increased
market share.Wi-Fi roaming also delivers important benefits to operators. Analysts agree that
operators will greatly increase the amount of data traffic they offload to Wi-Fi and
femtocells. They estimate that 30% to 60% of total data traffic will be offloaded from 3G
and 4G mobile networks by 2015. At this rate, by 2015 commercial Wi-Fi networks will carry
as much mobile data traffic as was carried by all mobile networks in 2010.
Leading Mobile Operators are using carrier grade Wireless Mesh as part of the Data
Offload and incremental revenue strategy. In 2010 Mobily Saud Arabia ( who launched the
first TD LTE commercial network in the world ) noticed a massive increase in data usage,
fuelled by offering unlimited data subscriptions. Against this backdrop of increasing data
usage, Mobily saw Wi-Fi as an efficient way to reduce the cellular capex investment in
broadband infrastructure needed to match this spike in data usage. Today Mobily has around
350-400 public hotspots with each Hotspot comprising of multiple Wi-Fi Access Points covering
multiple business verticals including cafes, hotels, hospitals, outdoor, and some challenging
venues such as stadiums and Holy Pilgrimage areas.
Mobily’s business model is predicated on a hotspot portal based Wi-Fi virtual network with
multiple service monetization models for both Mobily and non Mobily subscribers PLUS a
cellular-to-Wi-Fi offloading virtual network, offering seamless and secure user experience with
the use of EAP-SIM protocol and WISPr clients. Mobily intends to “offload” at least 20% of
current mobile broadband traffic onto Wi-Fi networks and is designing the Wi-Fi network to
meet this key performance objective . The Hotspot 2.0 standard will open the door for
inbound roamers to connect seamlessly and securely to Mobily’s Wi-Fi network while their
usage is being charged back to their home operator.
The devices using the most mobile data – smartphones, laptops and tablets – all support Wi-
Fi. Currently, laptops and tablets ubiquitously support Wi-Fi and support of Wi-Fi by
smartphones will increase from 50% to 95% by 2014.With smartphones and Broadband

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‘dongles’ consuming considerable volumes of data very easily bill shock refunds have plagued
Mobile Operators in advanced countries. As such, communications such as that sent by AT&T,
particularly to iPhone users, advising them turn off Data roaming and suggesting the use of
Wifi alternative have been quite common.
A seamless Wi-Fi offering will provide an attractive up-sell opportunity to existing mobile
data bundles; either as a flat-fee, mobile roaming charge (MRC), or perhaps a free feature
that can then be charged through usage. A good data offload solution can potentially play a
wider role in extending service support to other technologies such as WIMAX or LTE, e.g.
providing support for interworking of voice and messages services between 2G/3G and LTE.
Essentially, capex can replace opex in the short term if it is justified by a longer-term return on
investment. Therefore, ‘LTE readiness’ becomes crucial from a corporate as well as an
operational perspective.
So what about reliable high speed Broadband for the masses ? Don’t be surprised if it is not
LTE running on 800mhz because the allocation of Digital Dividend has been delayed in Africa
: It might be Wifi backboned on terrestrial fibre ( esp in the rural areas ) to give the the
african subscribers what they deserve after years of patchy low speed connectivity languish !!
Sadiq Malik ( Telco Strategist )
4 : Multimedia Collaboration for the Virtual Enterprise ? Your Telco SP can do it
For some enterprises,
video conferencing has proven to be a powerful collaboration tool that has lived up to the
promise of significantly reducing travel. Many have found the complexity, inconvenience, and
expense of traditional, location dependent video conferencing exceeds the value anticipated
by their enterprise. As the workforce increasingly shifts to mobile employees and teleworkers,
location dependent video communication becomes a hindrance. Instead, what is needed is the

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capability to have video conferencing from any location. While multimedia applications such
as video conferencing, message management and telephone calls over the Internet aren’t new,
the way they can be used simultaneously with secure wireline or wireless remote access to the
network from anywhere, with a variety of devices, is new.
At the most basic level, virtual enterprises are now cost-effective, technically viable
alternatives to the traditional office because of the new capabilities of communications
networks. In the past, we had multiple networks – voice, data, wireline and wireless – all
functioning independently of each other and using different technologies for voice and data.
Today, these multiple networks are converging into one, using the same packet technology.
Packet technologies like Internet Protocol (IP) and Voice over IP (VoIP) convert voice, video
and data into tiny packets that can be transmitted together over a single, high-speed network,
eliminating the need for separate networks. When all voice or video or data information is
handled the same way – by one high-speed, packetized network, either wireline or wireless –
the boundaries are eliminated and simplified from having multiple networks that made it
difficult to use multimedia applications simultaneously. You can access the network through a
desktop computer on a wireline connection at home or be on the move with a wireless
connection for your laptop or Smartphone.
Virtual multimedia capabilities are valuable across all industry sectors. Take healthcare as an
example. A nurse needing help with a patient can immediately reach a doctor without wasting
valuable time calling office, mobile and home telephone numbers. The nurse could quickly
share pertinent medical information, prescriptions and even X-rays with the doctor, ultimately
providing better patient care. The benefits of video / multimedia solutions for the virtual
enterprise have been proven by many corporates whose associates around the world who
have been enjoying the freedom and mobility of virtual work for some time. A blue chip
Insurance company conducted a sample of full-time teleworking employees that showed a
15% increase in individual productivity and somewhere between 42% – 90% reduction in
telecom-related costs for mobile workers.
Real time collaboration and immediate access to information means the most remote,
geographically-dispersed workers in any industry sector can function as cohesive, integrated
teams increasing productivity and shortening decision cycles to be more responsive to business
or customer needs. Of equal importance is the potential for enterprises to drive their
operational costs lower. Telcos are in prime position to supply mobile video conferencing
solutions to the Enterprise sector. Their access layers ( Hspa+ and LTE ) are getting faster and
IP optimised , dual mode ( 3G + Wifi ) smartphones are being subsidized , converged billing
systems allow granular invoicing , PCRF middle ware can allocate bandwidth fairly etc.
Mobile collaboration systems combine the use of video, audio and on-screen drawing
capabilities using newest generation hand-held mobile devices to enable multi-party
conferencing in real-time, independent of location. Benefits include cost-efficiencies resulting
from accelerated problem resolution, reductions in downtimes and travel, improvements in
customer service and increased productivity.
Rather than traveling great distances in order to have a face-face meeting, it is now
commonplace to instead use a telepresence system, which uses a multiple codec video system
(which is what the word “telepresence” most currently represents). Each member/party of the

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meeting uses a telepresence room to “dial in” and can see/talk to every other member on a
screen/screens as if they were in the same room. This brings enormous time and cost benefits.
It is also superior to phone conferencing (except in cost), as the visual aspect greatly enhances
communications, allowing for perceptions of facial expressions and other body language.
British Telecom and AT&T have launched one of the world’s largest telepresence networks,
following successful trials conducted in 2009.The pair say the service is the first interoperable
exchange for telepresence, and will allow business customers to schedule meetings and connect
via Cisco endpoints.Meeting support, assistance and billing will be handled by customers’
individual service providers, and the operators plan to introduce a directory to help users
determine which other organizations can be contacted through the connection.
According to Dion Hinchcliff much has been made of the likely underperformance of a
particularly high-profile type of collaboration tool — enterprise social networks (ESNs) — if
rollout is conducted without the requisite supporting behavioral, cultural, and process changes.
We forget at our peril that collaboration is a fundamentally human activity. This implies that
any use of enabling technology without taking into account how people actually conduct their
work, their inclinations to share information and interact with each other, and in particular how
the proposed technology will empower them and alter their collaborative behavior for the
better/worse, is bound to disappoint.
Sadiq Malik ( Telco Strategist )
5 : Thinking innovately about Wireless Broadband : Key Insights
Mobile
Broadband has seen feverish enthusiasm in the last two years, as evidenced by the number of
LTE field trials taking place on a global basis. However full commercial deployments have

14. 14
been lagging because developing a coherent business case predicated on sound monetisation
strategies remains an elusive and complex and process. The broadband market represents a
tremendous opportunity, but there are definitely right and wrong ways to go about pursuing
it.The industry needs an avant-garde approach that will leverage the inherent nature of an IP
based architecture to accelerate the rollout out of profitable networks by paying specific
attention to some critical elements which can make or break the LTE / 4G business case.
Smart Billing means more revenue
When implementing billing and customer management platform several factors come into play
: integration with existing systems, managing multiple billing systems, installation and service
scheduling; trouble ticketing, billing blended services, managing channel relationships,
automated provisioning, customer self-service, provisioning flexibility, and reporting. In fact,
when properly integrated, a service based billing/CRM/Provisioning engine can evolve from
an expense item to a revenue engine. If properly managed, efficient billing and CRM can
translate into lowered costs, increased cash flow and increased profits.
Core Network Consolidation means reduced Capex
In an all IP world , multi-core processors coupled with powerful virtualization technology
enables the consolidation of all the physically discrete carrier-grade servers into a very
attractive platform for low-end scalability. Replacing 20+ carrier-grade servers with either 2
blades or 2 carrier-grade servers based on multi-core processors represents a dramatic way
to lower the cost of the core network elements required to serve the first subscriber; this type
of radical consolidation represents at least a 10:1 reduction in initial CapEx, plus a
comparable reduction in recurring operating expenses.
The greatest opportunity for revenue growth for wireless broadband presents itself in the form
of smaller markets with less than 100,000 subscribers. By dramatically lowering the cost to
serve the first subscriber using a consolidated core, new networks can be built on a campus or
targeted community basis with new services tailored to the specific needs of these smaller,
targeted markets.
Use of Smart Antenna technology
Radio technology factors into any multivariate ROI equation in three ways:
• Range: dictates the number of base stations required to reach initial coverage objectives,
driving the peak negative cash flow point
• Capacity determines how much revenue will be received per unit of capital expenditures on
spectrum, equipment, and site acquisition, as well as per unit of operating expenditures on site
leases and maintenance
• Coverage will affect marketing costs through its influence on unit subscriber acquisition
expense and churn rates.
Any successful broadband operator will find their network making a transition from range-
limited to capacity-limited site density much faster than typical voice networks. Simply because
subscriber usage is 10x higher for broadband data and available spectrum options are

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limited. One critical element responsible for the wide variance in network capacity concerns
how Operators use their antennas. Modern smart antenna systems (eg : MIMO ) employ
sophisticated techniques to control the distribution of radio energy in each sector Using
average sector throughput as the measure, LTE can provide four times the throughput of 3G
given the same amount of spectrum, but can scale to 10 to 15 times the throughput using a full
20 MHz of spectrum since LTE uses the most advanced antenna techniques.
Network Sharing can be beneficial
Site sharing entails two or more license holders to acquire and rent a common site to host the
Base Transceiver Station and transmission equipment. In addition, common equipment such as
antenna systems, masts, cables, filters, outdoor shelter, SSC etc. can also be shared. Analysis
has shown that sharing infrastructure will deliver healthy savings in capital expenditures (10%
– 30%) and operational expenditures (20% – 40%) over a ten-year period. The reduced
environmental impact is the green bonus for Telcos.
Develop the Hybrid Infrastructure mindset
By cleverly combining the capabilities of a different technologies, the resulting broadband
network architecture can provide high capacity for true broadband services ( full triple play )
and global coverage at an affordable cost. The various access, distribution and core network
technologies in the hybrid recipe include:
• Wireless: Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), Broadband Fixed Wireless Access (BFWA),
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Free Space Optics (FSO), Satellite and Stratospheric
platforms.
• Wire line: copper pair (for example xDSL), optical fibre, coaxial and power-line cable.
Mixing / bundling several technologies offers Flexiblility ( several deployment scenarios and
supported services can be fulfilled ; Scalability ( for low-cost initial deployment ) and
Enhanced technical performance: in term of coverage, capacity and throughput.
Final Thoughts
Telcos need to architect an easily managed network infrastructure that combines all the main
elements : a consolidated network core to reduce the capex /opex , an efficient billing and
CRM model that is generates revenue , smart antenna technologies that optimize the spectral
efficiency , mixing fibreoptic and satellite for cost efficient backhaul and site sharing to
accelerate the time to market.
In the final analysis the end-users will get a full set of broadband services at an affordable
price and Telcos will not lose money through ill advised investments in technology.
Sadiq Malik ( Telco Strategist )

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6 : Strategic Insight : Blue Ocean opportunities for Converged Telcos !!
Essentially, the future
of the convergent industry is in service provision with globalization and personalization
spurring consumer demand. The upsurge of convergence has brought not only opportunities,
but unparalleled resource advantages to operators. However, whether an operator can go
with the flow and thrive in the new environment depends not only on reformulating strategy
but also on its timely and effective implementation.
Their competition landscape has now shifted from a local and niche turf to the global arena,
competing with device manufacturers and application store owners. Operators need to realize
that extending connectivity alone cannot keep them afloat. Instead they require software,
device and service strategies that can add value and at the same time differentiate them from
competition.In the future, the primary operational mode for large players might well be as
aggregators of massive services. The key is to open the platform and gain as much partner
power as possible. This is the fundamental reason why concepts like Web2.0 and P4P
(Proactive Network Provider Participation for P2P) become important. So what is the killer
app in mobile boroadband ? PPP ?
Based on smartphones a PPP ( Personal Portable Portal ) is generated by integrating
frequently used personal applications into a terminal platform for easy and quick access.
These applications include vertical portals, professional services, communities, directories,
personal information management (PIM), location-based services (LBS), work, entertainment,
activities, images, IM, sports, music, reading materials, and Emails.A PPP is distinguished by its
inherent freedom, flexibility, and adaptability. Its features include a framework, user data
hosting and management, virtual resources, and independence from terminals.
Personal portals are easily configured, combined, updated on the web, and loaded onto
various terminals. A PPP service platform stores information, status, content breakpoints, past

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records, and the relationships between the application widgets uploaded to each PPP.The PPP
is destined to evolve into a platform oriented to massive volumes of personal applications like
an application store that supplies a steady stream of services and is expected to maximize the
spending power of personal information.
Believe it or not but due to their small size, the long tail providers ( Google , U Tube ,
Facebook etc ) are unable to conduct independent marketing activities, giving operators a
unique advantage. For Telcos , most value customers are real-name customers, unlike Google’s
anonymous and even nameless customers. Only operators can obtain data on user behavioral
patterns, which is a huge advantage over other competitors.Hence, operators are in a position
to help their partners promote their products and recommend suitable products to the right
customers. They can match massive services to millions of users. This is the service aggregators
core competitiveness, yet most operators have been asleep at the wheel and have not
collected, collated or utilized the data.
Many applications, such as home security protection, health and medical care, do not merely
involve information distribution and interaction, but require hardware deployment and
maintenance as well. The long tail providers find it hard to provide delivery or services in a
large area and operators with massive service teams can help them and profit as well. The
long tail providers lack branding power and a strong credit rating. When users purchase their
services, a guarantee is needed. Operators with long-term operations experience and a good
credit and credibility rating can play the role of guarantor. This means that operators must
qualify suppliers and control risk. Similarly, when users pay for a service, they usually will not
trust an unknown service provider. A third-party, reputable platform is needed for completing
settlement and payment actions. This is where operators’ existing mature billing platform can
really shine.
Telcos should build an open platform, utilize their long-term operational resources and
experience to integrate more and better services and provide desirable services to end users.
By doing so, operators can gradually move their commanding positions from network
connections to their own exclusive services or the services with the best user experience.
Pureplay broadband access – the mainstay of traditional telcos’ business today – will remain
the cornerstone of digital communication in the future for both landlines and mobile
communication. The “right” strategic orientation for each telco will depend on five key levers:
1) Personalization of service ecosystem and the customer experience
2) Uncompromising defense of relationships with end customers
3) Cost-efficient broadband network build-ups
4) Realignment and radical streamlining of operating models
5) Financial resources to drive digital transformation and consolidation.
In Africa the first order of business is consolidation. Against the backdrop of globalization,
local operators are not in a position to compete with the industry titans. Eventually, they will
either turn into mere conduits or be acquired. Telecom giants must keep expanding through
mergers, and control more users, thereby gaining the foundation to compete with the service
titans and even become new service aggregators.

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Telcos in Africa need to convince capital markets by presenting them with attractive
consolidation and streamlining scenarois, abandoning secondary activities and committing to
cooperative ventures that will ensure sustainable profitablity.They must slim down their various
network, sales and service business models, abandon secondary activities and use M&As or
collaborative ventures to penetrate fast-growing markets.
What role will telcos play in the future ? Will they be mere data pipes? Broadband access
and platform service providers? OTT service groups even? Whatever the future holds, all
companies are called on to refocus and realign – and to do so fast. Given the right strategy,
telcos can therefore consolidate their position at crucial links in the value chain.If telcos do their
homework with respect to broadband access strategy, transformation into a cost efficient lean
telco, and to consolidation they have a real chance gaianst the OTT players instead of
complaining they are becoming ” dumb pipes ” : YES ..you are dumb if you dont know how to
play the game !!!!
Contacts
email : sadiq.malik@broadbandgurus.net
skype : sadiqmalik1
web : www.broadbandgurus.net
Twitter : @sjm786
Linked In : za.linkedin.com/in/sadiqmaliksjm786/