A key investment requirement remains on the terrestrial fibre side, specifically fibre backhaul, linking the land-locked countries in Africa to the coastal countries and the undersea cable landing stations.
The sale of Telefonica’s Czech and Slovak units to Czech investment group PPF has been closed.
Virgin Mobile’s Latin American MVNO is preparing to launch in two of the region’s largest mobile markets.
The explosion of mobile data demand has triggered operators to make global investments to upgrade existing 3G networks and to build 4G infrastructure.
Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency Badan SAR Nasional has selected solutions from Thuraya to improve its search and rescue efforts in the country.
Latin American mobile messaging aggregator Tedexis has selected a MMX Messaging Gateway from Anam Technologies.
The World Bank has a list of 331 indicators on which they measure the 'health' of a country.
Russian telecoms provider TTK has signed a network partnership agreement with cloud infrastructure firm Akamai.
We expect to see a significant increase in the number of operators in Africa rolling out VoIP services during 2014 as fibre continues to creep inland and the reliability, QoS and CAPEX issues previously associated with VoIP have all been resolved by vendors and operators working together.
India’s Department of Telecom (DoT) has approved all 8 applications to participate in the upcoming spectrum auctions, but has disallowed certain operators from bidding for pan-Indian spectrum.
2014 will continue to be a year of 3G deployments and expansion in emerging markets, with the start of initial LTE deployments.
We believe that 2014 will be the year for emerging markets and that Africa’s growth prospects, in particular, are bright indeed, especially in the Mobile Financial Services (MFS) sector.
Bharti Airtel is reportedly looking to sell off its tower assets in Bangladesh. The operator believes Airtel Bangladesh’s assets, which include 4000 towers, to be worth at least $200 million.
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) and Level 3 Communications have signed an agreement for Internet localisation services, enabling TM to cache high-demand content locally on its network, enhancing Internet connectivity, network efficiency, reliability and security.
Two related, if not complementary trends characterise telecoms today in developing markets.
In the mobile industry, and especially in emerging markets, 2014 will largely see the continuation and acceleration of trends from the previous year: the unstoppable expansion of mobile data networks, increased competition in the low- to mid-range smartphone market, further innovation in the mobile money and mobile banking segments, and growing importance of mobile devices in everyday life, worldwide.
Chinese vendor ZTE is currently discussing a 4G deal for the Mumbai and Delhi circles with Indian market leader Bharti Airtel.
Libya’s Deputy Minister for Communications and Informatics Mr Mohamad Benrasali has asked the ITU for support in preparing a master plan to modernise ICT infrastructure in Libya.
As a satellite communications innovator, we think there are a variety of applications worthy of investment, to meet demands for communications, entertainment, mobility, and convenience.
I believe investments in system-level vectoring will continue to be on many emerging markets agenda for 2014.
Telefonica Czech Republic will scrap 10% of its jobs over the coming year. While the operator is currently struggling, the redundancies actually date back to a 2011 restructuring initiative and are not related to investment group PPF’s recent bid for a majority stake.
Over-the-top content, VoIP over 3G, location-based services and gaming should see a strong year in many emerging markets.
Ocean Networks has commissioned Xtera Communications for the turnkey supply and installation of its SAPL (South America Pacific Link) submarine cable system.
After years of heavy Capital Investment on Infrastructure, customer acquisition and unsustainable price wars, priority is shifting in 2014 towards Business Optimisation to ensure profitability.
Reliance Industries’ surprise participation in India’s mobile spectrum auctions has increased the likelihood of frenzied competitive bidding.
The tension within IT on moving to the cloud will resolve as organisations recognise that a hybrid cloud model is needed to serve their application portfolio.
Latin American mobile provider NII Holdings, which operates as Nextel, has signed wholesale agreements with Telefonica that will grant its Mexican and Brazilian customers access to nationwide 3G voice and data services.
Japanese firms KDDI and Sumitomo are reportedly close to forming an alliance with the state-controlled mobile operator in Myanmar.
2014 is set to be a watershed year for contextual marketing. We will see service providers continuously engaging with customers and creating long-term goals of customer satisfaction and improving customer loyalty over a number of years.
Over-the-Top (OTT) services should experience strong growth in many emerging markets this year.
txtNation has launched its mobile billing solution in Kenya using Premium SMS. The solution will allow businesses to accept mobile payments throughout the country.
India’s leading operators have confirmed that they will participate in the country’s upcoming spectrum auctions, which look set to net the government a hefty return.
This year will be marked by the continuing tide of digital disruption and an accelerating pace of change in the telecom industry. In fact, potentially more of an acceleration than we’ve seen in the past.
Emerging markets are beginning to realize the benefits of IP-centric networks. A single IP network can transport multiple services, including voice, data, and the killer application, video.
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