SeaChange International is a provider of software applications, services and integrated solutions for the management and monetisation of video-on-demand (VOD), digital advertising, and content acquisition. The company recently attended GITEX in Dubai, believing the GCC region is ripe for the introduction of IPTV and real VOD services.

“Somebody else will offer video services over the top of your network, reducing you to being the dump pipe, and they will then command the relationship with the content owners and with the advertisers”

The initial market for SeaChange’s technology was in cable linear ad insertions, and that is a market which we command now and is very active because of high definition (HD) content, which is being inserted into cable networks.

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Millicom International Cellular won the auction for Rwanda’s third mobile licence, with a bid of US$60 million.

Millicom’s US$60 million Rwandan licence will extend the company’s operations to eight African countries

Millicom said it beat three other bidders for the 15-year licence, and will own 87.5 per cent of a new joint venture with local company Marathon Corporation.

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Turkey’s largest mobile operator Turkcell has won the largest block or ‘A licence’ of 3G spectrum with a bid of US$462 million in the country’s auction. The reserve price was set at US$405 million.

Vodafone and Avea also won licences for lower 3G bandwidths, with bids of US$323 million and US$276 million respectively.

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Citing the challenging world financial situation, the deadline for bids for Bahrain’s third mobile licence has been deferred a second time by the regulator until 3pm on January 11, 2009.

The original deadline was set for November 13, but following formal requests from the four registered bidders in the tender, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) extended the deadline for submission of bids until November 30. On November 24 this was extended again.

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When Info2Cell.com launched in 1998, it was the first Arab company to provide value added services (VAS) in the telecoms space. A decade on, it provides content to 30 mobile operators across the Middle East. Bashar Dahabra shares some of the challenges the industry faces

For many years in the late 1990s and early 2000s Info2Cell.com enjoyed a monopoly in the region. However, in recent years, as it has witnessed more content providers enter the regional market, Info2Cell has considered selling direct to consumers in a business-to-consumer (B2C) model through an Internet portal, as opposed to the traditional business-to-business (B2B) model, where operators market the services.

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