For essentially all organisations, increasing global influence is a reality. Even organisations that seem to operate only locally are affected deeply by the global nature of communications and commerce. This fact is apparent in the corporate world. And in the public sector, new expectations are being placed on government and educational institutions, causing tremendous pressure to execute. The rate of change in a business or organisational environment might feel like a Darwinian struggle – meaning competition for survival, is fierce. The question is, will a business adapt quickly, efficiently and effectively enough to thrive within this relentless pace of change?

Alaa Alshimy is general manager for HP Procurve Middle East

It is commonly accepted today that the right IT can be crucial in making people and processes more effective. You must always be concerned about managing complexity effectively, about the burdens associated with regulatory compliance, about embracing the applications that best support your business processes and about minimising operational costs. Less commonly understood, however, is the importance of the right network infrastructure. Too often, even IT-savvy executives make the mistake of treating a network as simply a ‘pipe’ for moving data around. In an era of fast-paced global competition, this limited approach to networking can put you an enterprise at a disadvantage.

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In August last year Inmarsat launched the third of its fourth generation I-4 satellites, offering the world’s only global broadband coverage by satellite. Given the strong adoption of its land, aero and maritime voice and data services, Inmarsat has bet its US$1.5 billion investment in the new generation of satellites is money well spent, as it looks to dominate the broadband satellite space and extend the appeal of its services to an even wider audience

The Inmarsat-4 satellites are now located in three new satellite regions:I-4 Americas (98 degrees West); I-4 EME A (25 degrees East); I-4 Asia-Pacific (143.5 degrees East).

Samer Halawi, Inmarsat’s vice president of Strategic Corporate Development is pleased with the company’s commercial and operational performance in 2008, describing the period as a record year.

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Nokia Siemens Networks is two years old and in that time has silenced early critics that the combination of Finnish and German corporate cultures would be a difficult thing to manage. Whilst the company continues to operate at a loss, its participation in the telecoms infrastructure and services space is growing all the time, and evidence of this success is no more evident than within the Middle East and Africa region

Nokia Siemens Networks headquarters in Finland

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) reported that gross profit decreased 17 per cent to €1.1 billion (US$1.46 billion) in Q408 to end-December, compared to the corresponding period a year earlier, with a gross margin of 26.1 per cent, down from 29.7 per cent. Overall the vendor reported an operating loss of €179 million as compared with a reported break-even operating result in the fourth quarter 2007, with a reported operating margin of-4.1 per cent.

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It’s not new that broadband technology is revitalising the fixed line business as operators look to cash in on the runaway demand for data. What is new is the ways in which service providers are adapting their business models in order to garner as many users as possible, and the alliances they are forming with content and Internet players in order to remain relevant in the data revolution

The annual Broadband Global Summit held in Dubai last month brought together stakeholders excited with the prospect of creating an ecosystem that would hopefully enhance their relevance in the developments to come, while seeing them generate significant additional revenues from the new services being introduced.

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Last year Oman was catapulted to the forefront of the region’s telecoms sector through the decision by the sultanate’s regulatory authority to licence and award mobile reseller licences. While Jordan’s regulator preceded its Omani counterpart in terms of creating the first regulatory framework for the introduction of such a class of licensee in the region, the initiative passed to Oman as it became the first market in which agreements between a service operator and licensees were actually ratified

Oman’s two mobile reseller licensees – Friendi Mobile and Renna (Majan Telecommunication), are in the final stages of launching their commercial services respectively, having originally given a guide of looking to launch within Q109.

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