August 16th, 2012 — Issue 34 Summer 2012
As LTE is commercialised in an increasing number of markets across the globe, Laura Merling, Alcatel-Lucent’s senior VP of Application Development Platform and Strategy, details how service providers, enterprises and developers can work intelligently to ensure they remain an integral part of the rapidly evolving wireless data ecosystem 
Laura Merling is Alcatel-Lucent’s senior VP of Application Development Platform and Strategy
August 11th, 2012 — Issue 34 Summer 2012
With smartphones having entered the affordability ranks, the device game is being spruced up with the drive towards enhancing supporting applications and content. Set to up the stakes in the mobile content space, Qualcomm is taking new routes to drive the content ecosystem
Moheb Ramsis is senior director of business operations for North Africa, Qualcomm
July 31st, 2012 — Issue 34 Summer 2012
I was quite surprised when I attended the now traditional Arab Advisors telecommunications conference this year. Not by the topics. Not by the content of the presentations. What was most surprising to me was the “mood” expressed publicly or in private by many of the senior managers present: for the first time in nearly ten years, I could not sense a clear direction about where the industry is going and what the industry needs to do. That was a first.
Philippe Vogeleer is an executive with Vodafone Group. He works on long-term development in the Middle East and Africa region
June 12th, 2012 — Issue 33 June 2012
The Middle East’s pre-eminent MVNO, Friendi Group has agreed to merge operations with Virgin Mobile South Africa, with the combined entity set to pursue opportunities across the Middle East and Africa. Such a tie-up will be the ultimate litmus test as to whether a hereto underperforming business model can find wide scale success in the region
Branson attending the ill-fated launch of Virgin Mobile in Qatar in 2010
May 24th, 2012 — Issue 33 June 2012
As telecom networks become more complex in their design and operation, partnering with a knowledgeable and capable managed services partner offers numerous advantages. As service providers in the Middle East move to launch LTE commercially, Alcatel-Lucent’s Nazih Lebbos explains the benefits of managed services in such an environment, and identifies where Alcatel-Lucent is gaining significant traction
Nazih Lebbos is Alcatel-Lucent’s Director, Services Business Development for Middle East and Africa
Batelco has successfully activated 5G coverage across Bahrain, which is available in all four governorates, covering 95% of the nation’s population. The telco’s launch of the network makes Batelco the first operator to provide national 5G coverage in Bahrain.
Omantel has renewed and expanded its managed services agreement with Ericsson for a further five years, with the renewed agreement being more outcome-based and customer-centric.
South Africa-headquartered MTN Group CEO Rob Shuter will step down from his role at the end of his fixed four-year contract in March 2021, having given no explanation why he would not seek to stay on beyond that date.
Nokia CEO and president, Rajeev Suri, is set to step down from his position later this year, to be replaced by Pekka Lundmark, currently CEO and president of energy company Fortum. The move comes as Nokia struggles to keep pace with the global shift to 5G.
Following Zain Group’s regional milestone announcement in November 2019 that its operations in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia had successfully launched the first 5G roaming service across the MENA region, Bahrain telco Batelco has announced partnering with the UAE’s du to deliver 5G international roaming services in the UAE.
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