This year’s pick of CEOs has had to work doubly hard in order to secure their positions on the list. The fact that the telecom sector is becoming increasingly nuanced as operators look to generate new revenue streams and partner with new value chain participants, means corporate leaders are having to juggle safe-guarding their existing revenues, managing costs, and trying to grow income all at the same time 
The decisive dozen
January 20th, 2013 — Issue 36 November/December 2012
Evolution to LTE in the Middle East will require DSI
December 9th, 2012 — Issue 36 November/December 2012
Middle East operators know that brand innovation relies on the speed at which they adopt LTE. Concurrent to LTE investments should be investments in Diameter signalling infrastructure – critical behind-the-scenes communications necessary to make LTE succeed
Doug Suriano, CTO, Tekelec
Change of guard
December 4th, 2012 — Issue 35 September/October 2012
Mohamed Shameel Joosub became CEO of Vodacom Group effective September 1, inheriting a cellular operation that remains a market leader in South Africa, but a second-tier pan-regional African player, with presence in four other sub-Saharan markets. Digital content, enterprise services, and the leveraging of its relationship with parent group Vodafone appear to be Joosub’s early strategic positions for the cellco
Shameel Joosub is an experienced Vodacom executive so it will be interesting to see whether he is able to inject some fresh dynamics into the cellco
Coming full circle
November 30th, 2012 — Issue 35 September/October 2012
In September, Zain Group announced it had entered into a Partner Market agreement with Vodafone; nearly six years after MTC (Zain’s former name) ended its co-branding arrangement with the UK operator in Kuwait and Bahrain. Much has changed in the cellco space in the Gulf since 2006, and the latest deal between Zain and Vodafone begs the question: Have the changes been fundamental or cosmetic?
The MTC Vodafone co-branding deal extended to Kuwait and Bahrain, and at the time increased the visibility of the Gulf operator significantly
Connect more, reach more, create more
November 27th, 2012 — Issue 35 September/October 2012
Qualcomm’s IQ 2012 event for the EMEA region was held in Berlin in September, where the technology provider emphasised the central role it is playing in the creation and delivery of ever greater quantities of mobile digital content. Qualcomm chipsets have never been in higher demand as the smartphone frenzy shows no signs of dissipating across emerging as well as developed markets. Comm. reports from Berlin
Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm’s CEO, was not present at the EMEA’s IQ event 2012, instead taking part at the equivalent shows in Brazil and India
