Rapid Spread of 3G Anticipated
Interest is growing in the 3G mobile phone services across the Middle East, after the successful introduction in Bahrain of such services. “The Middle East region is witnessing an increase in the adoption of advanced telecom services as mobile operators start pushing for new technologies and proactively put 3G on their road maps,” Dr. Marwan Al-Ahmadi, chief strategy officer at MTC Group, told the 3G World Mobile Forum held in Japan.
3G is a mobile protocol that supports much higher data rates than standard GSM services. In addition to being the CSO at MTC Group, Al-Ahmadi is the chief operating officer of MTC Vodafone Bahrain. He is a nationally recognized IT expert with a proven track record. Al-Ahmadi joined MTC Group in 2004 after four years as Cisco’s country manager for Saudi Arabia.
MTC Group was the first mobile operator to launch 3G in the region. That came in Bahrain in 2003, when it won the second mobile license. Since then the group has adopted a strategy of deploying 3G because it improves efficiency and enables the company to establish a clear technical lead over other mobile operators who have not yet implemented 3G.
The total population of Bahrain is just 700,000, yet Al-Ahmadi said MTC Vodafone Bahrain had achieved approximately the same number of 3G subscribers as the UAE with a population of more than three million. Less than three years after the introduction of 3G, the company has 100 percent 3G coverage in Bahrain and a 23 percent market share.
“We are very proud of this achievement and are moving forward with more enhanced 3G advanced services, such as high speed Internet access, on demand multimedia download and push services,” remarked Al-Ahmadi. Push services entail sending information to customers, as opposed to pull services where customers request the information themselves.
The implementation of 3G in the region has not been easy and MTC learned many lessons.
“One of the major key lessons is that we needed to continue improving affordability and service customization through market segmentation,” said Al-Ahmadi. “By dividing the market into various types of customers we are better able to customize our services more to meet their needs.”
Today various operators in the region are either in the process of testing 3G services or of providing the regulation needed before they can be launched. In Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, 3G testing is taking place, while in Egypt a 3G/2G license is being prepared. Because of all this, there are more opportunities for the adoption of 3G in the Middle East. Al-Ahmadi believes that with its existing low penetration for advanced data/multimedia services, the Middle East is well positioned to be the next market for 3G after Asia and Europe in the next three to five years.
He added that with more and more customers in the region ready to use advanced mobile data services, “we expect the adoption of 3G to evolve with reasonable speed. We also foresee regulators easing the constraints on licenses and pushing for more competition.”
Riyadh to Host Telecom and Security Exhibitions
Saudi Communications 2006, the 11th International Telecommunications Exhibition, will be held from Feb. 12-16, 2006. The exhibition is to be staged concurrently with ASTEX 2006, the 7th Arabian Security, Civil Defense and Life Safety Technology Exhibition.
The UFI certified Saudi Communications Fair is held every two years in Riyadh by Riyadh Exhibitions Co. Traditionally, leading telecommunications firms take part in the show and send participants to the many associated conferences. With partial privatization of the Kingdom’s telecom market, mobile phone use continuing to rise, increasing demand for Internet services and a strong market requirement for secure high-speed data equipment, it is expected that this year’s exhibition will be quite an attraction.
NCB Selects HP for New Data Center
The National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Saudi Arabia has reached an agreement with HP in which HP will provide NCB with state-of-the-art mission critical infrastructure that will improve the bank’s services by reducing ownership costs, enabling better security and enhancing overall performance.
As part of the deal, HP will supply NCB with a new IT Data Center to complete mission critical hardware infrastructure along with a new 64W Superdome, 8CPU upgrade to the current Superdome and a 16W 7420 for the data warehouse system. In addition, two new NonStop systems S7800 model with 16 CPUs, 2 ESL and an MSL series tape library along with data protector software and 65 ISS servers will also be installed. The contract also includes the signing of a three year mission critical support agreement with NCB.
“This is a positive extension to our rewarding partnership with NCB in the Kingdom. We are delighted that they have chosen HP to implement their new IT data center as they seek to grow their business with a secure, efficient and agile IT environment using HP’s Adaptive Enterprise strategy,” said Abdullah Al-Mohaisen, general manager, HP Saudi Arabia.
The solution that HP will implement for the National Commercial Bank includes new business mission critical servers and an upgrade to the current infrastructure. In addition, it includes two new non-stop systems and an upgrade to the current infrastructure. HP will also upgrade and deliver a new state-of-the-art backup and recovery solution.
Commenting on the new agreement, Khalid Ali Khan, head of Systems Production Department, NCB, said: “HP has been our strategic business partner for quite some time now, having worked with us in a professional consultative role. As global technology leaders with strong local presence, HP has assisted NCB in reducing IT costs and complexity as well as adapting in real time to our business needs. They have a proven track record in delivering end to end solutions to our specialized banking requirements and we value that experience and local knowledge.”
