Since it was established in 1994, Comium Group has witnessed an evolution, growing into a telecoms group spanning four continents with operations in a number of countries, from Cote d’Ivoire to Lebanon, France, Brazil and the US.

Founded and chaired by Nizar Dalloul, Comium has honed its know-how and expertise through the years, allowing it to manage and operate GSM networks in four West African countries while offering Data and VoIP services in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Operating in Africa for over half a decade, Comium has served nearly two and a half million customers and has become a staple and an integral part of African communities.

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The mobile industry is adopting green policies in line with global initiatives to focus on sustainable and renewable power sources and lessening climatic impact on the environment. Developing markets have been quick to trial and adopt these new initiatives – both from a corporate social responsibility perspective, as well as in order to reduce OPEX associated with maintaining off-grid base stations (BTS) in challenging environments. Green Giraffe’s Michèle Scanlon reports

Markets such as India and Nigeria are often cited as examples
of the high cost of power as related to the operation of diesel-powered generators. In 2008, Indian operators used an estimated two billion litres of diesel to power their networks. OPEX splits from operators indicate that on average a third of OPEX is directly attributable to power and fuel consumption whilst in rural areas this exceeds 50 per cent of OPEX. Similar issues face most operators in developing markets. Caribbean and South Pacific operator Digicel reports it spent US$11 million on diesel in 2008 to power its Haitian network, though a generator/ battery hybrid solution has already proven to show 35 per cent savings in diesel OPEX in trials in the country.

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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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