Last November, US-based network specialist Ciena Corporation announced it had been selected as the successful bidder in the auction of substantially all of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel’s Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business. The deal capped a significant year for Ciena, which also saw the company establish a presence in the Middle East, with the view to quickly establishing a niche for itself

Ahmad has experience in the region, most recently as Gulf Carrier Sales Manager for Nortel

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It is no secret: we are operating in turbulent markets, and the telecom sector has shown resilience in 2009, despite being not totally immune to the overall economic conditions as initially hoped. Compared to other industries, the sector has performed much better and the rate of growth in the Middle East continues to outstrip most regions in the world. Much of this resilience comes from the fact that telecom services are increasingly being seen as essential purchases. Fixed voice and broadband access services are perceived as an indispensable staple in people’s lives.

This article was contributed by Zoran Vasiljev, partner at Value Partners

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Vincenzo Nesci is a 30-year veteran of Alcatel and Alcatel-Lucent, and at the beginning of this year became the non-executive president of Alcatel-Lucent’s operations in the MEA , giving way to Amr El Leithy to assume the executive leadership of the business. In an exclusive and informal interview with Comm., Nesci reminisces about the almost four decades he has spent in the region, and about the Alcatel-Lucent that exists today

Nesci joined Alcatel in 1980 and held several positions in Italy, East Africa and Belgium before becoming Alcatel vice president for the Middle East

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The annual Telco World Summit in Dubai gathers many of the Middle East’s operator community under a single roof to assess the overall state of the market. The event’s key themes were centred around customer acquisition and retention efforts, as well as how best to open new revenue streams while cutting back on infrastructure spending. Recurring themes as these may be, fresh from the sting of the economic slowdown, operators are looking at their businesses more critically with the view to preserving operating margins

Telecom World Summit 2009 had operators assessing whether the worse effects of the economic slowdown are now behind us

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In December 2008 STC-backed Viva Kuwait launched as the country’s third mobile operator. Incumbents Zain and Wataniya had waged a long war of words expressing scepticism for the need of a third player in the country of 3.4 million inhabitants. A year on and Viva is successfully carving out a niche for itself, and its CEO Najeeb Al Awadi sees no reason why it should not aim for the top spot

Najeeb Al Awadi says Viva is looking to garner a market share of 30-33 per cent as soon as possible, and sees no reason why it shouldn’t target the top spot

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