UAE's Etisalat becomes the first LTE provider in the country

Etisalat has announced the launch of its 4G LTE service in the UAE.

The LTE-FDD mobile network will cover all major cities in the country in the first deployment phase, with Etisalat promising data download speeds of up to 100 Mbps for its customers.

More than  700 base stations have been renovated and equipped to provide 4G services in the country for the LTE network. Etisalat is planning up to 1,000 fully operational base stations by the end of 2011.

The technology is integrated with the country’s fibre optic network. The ongoing work aims to continue to cover the entire UAE with this network, which will also offer potential in terms of fixed internet services, offering speeds of up to 100MB/s and advanced high definition TV services, Etisalat said.

“Advanced telecommunications are a key basis for a developed society, and this 4G network can contribute to developing various sectors including education, finance, healthcare as well as the economic and business sectors, the latter of which will be a direct beneficiary of 4G,” said Nasser Bin Obood, acting-CEO at Etisalat.

Matthew Willsher, CMO at Etisalat, added: “In recent times, there has been a tremendous surge in both, subscriber numbers and data usage. Smartphones are growing at almost 90 percent a year. A whole new computing platform for mobile broadband has emerged, creating a thriving market for mobile apps – and changing the way we interact with the Internet.”

“LTE technology will deliver customers the dual benefits of super fast data speeds and much lower latency. It is a transformational force that will improve the digital lifestyles of our customers.”

UAE's Etisalat and Saudi's Mobily are battling to become the first LTE provider in the region

Mobile operators Etisalat in the UAE and Mobily in Saudi Arabia are vying to become the first LTE operator in the Middle East.

Both have announced plans to launch LTE in 3Q11, although it looks as though Etisalat may now be delaying its rollout until the fourth quarter of the year.

Etisalat’s CTO, Marwan Zawaydeh, said at Informa Telecoms and Media’s LTE MENA 2011 conference, held in Dubai in April, that the firm was satisfied with its trials of LTE and that the market was ready for the technology, giving the impression that a launch was imminent.

However, according to Matthew Reed, senior analyst and head of Mobile Research MEA at Informa Telecoms and Media, Etisalat has altered its marketing messages to reset consumers expectations and that the service will now be available towards the end of the year.

“It doesn’t seem to be a technical issue that’s holding it up but more of a marketing issue. They don’t want to launch it prematurely and want to have a clear and compelling pricing strategy,” he said.

“There’s also the seasonal nature of the Middle East, the third quarter is when Ramadan and Eid fall, which slows down business activity, particularly in Dubai. So it’s likely that Etisalat will launch towards the end of the year.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian operator Mobily faces hurdles of its own. Problems with the allocation of LTE spectrum in Saudi Arabia mean that operators in the country cannot follow their preferred choice of launching FDD-LTE in the 2.6GHz band, it is currently being used by the military. Mobily will therefore launch a TD-LTE service using spectrum that it holds through a subsidiary.

A Dubai Metro station

United Arab Emirates-based operator du has announced the launch of the first mobile WiMAX network in the Emirates.

The network launched in Dubai, which played host to the recent 14th annual GSM>3G Middle East Telco World Summit, and is available on the recently launched Dubai Metro both in stations and in carriages.

When completed, the Dubai Metro will be the longest fully automated rail transport system in the world. The Red Line, which is 52km long, is already functional and is expected to be followed by the Green line in early 2010. Once completed, the Metro will have 47 stations, four of which will be underground.

Using infrastructure supplied by Motorola, du will offer users wireless internet access whilst travelling on the metro at speeds of up to 90km per hour via wifi. The WiMAX element will be used for backhaul. Motorola’s involvement in the deployment of the network included network design, installation and optimization in order to ensure peak performance for nomadic data services to mobile customers across the Dubai Metro system.

“Offering city-wide internet access on the Dubai Metro is part of ongoing efforts to ensure our customers enjoy the convenience of exceptional connectivity, on-demand, wherever they travel,” said Hatem Bamatraf, senior vice president, network development, du.

WiMAX is gaining some traction in the Middle East, where it is being used to extend wireless coverage in areas with low fixed line broadband penetration and difficult territories to serve with cellular broadband.

The Burj Dubai will open in 2010

As the rest of the world has struggled in the grip of the economic crisis, the Middle East has remained a reliable engine of growth. But as Dubai welcomes the telecoms industry’s biggest and brightest players, it is recovering from a financial setback which has shaken the local market in recent days.

When Dubai World, the country’s main government-backed development group announced a restructuring of its substantial debt obligations, many expected a day of reckoning. But what took place was effectively a brief market panic followed by a state of calm. At the same time, construction on Dubai’s newest crown jewel and the world’s tallest building – the Burj Dubai, standing at more than 800 metres high – was drawing to a close.

Work started on the Burj back in 2004 when Dubai’s confidence was at a peak and business everywhere was booming. So when the tower opens in early January 2010, it will stand as a symbol of how not just Dubai, but the wider Middle East region, has weathered the global economic storm and emerged in a new age with a new, perhaps more conservative, outlook.

While the Middle East and Gulf region has benefited from the liberalisation of markets in many states, through reduced regulations on foreign ownership and investment which have acted as an incentive for foreign and private sector business, it’s fair to say the effects of the economic climate are still being felt. Indeed, the opening focus of this week’s GSM>3G Middle East Telco World Summit was on international expansion opportunities for Middle Eastern operators. The participants in the plenary session, which included Dr Saad Al Barrack, CEO of Zain and Jamal Jarwan, group chief international investments officer for Etisalat,  investigated how carriers can maximise opportunities for expansion as a result of the economic crisis.

“Since the onset of the recession, investors in telecoms have become more cautious, in stark contrast to the bubble that built up in telecom-asset prices over the previous few years,” said Matthew Reed, principal analyst for the Middle East at Informa Telecoms & Media. “Egypt pulled plans to offer a second-fixed license because of the recession, for example. And at a retail level, consumers appear to have become more price-conscious – though increasing price competition is a consequence of the debut of new operators in Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as much it is due to a change in consumer sentiment.”

Nowhere is regional competition more intense than in Saudi Arabia, which is the third largest mobile market in the Middle East, with over 33 million mobile subscriptions, and the introduction of a third player, Zain, in 2008. Speaking to telecoms.com, Hany Mokhtar, executive manager, business segments, for Mobily, Saudi’s second biggest mobile operator, said: “The impact is really tough on North Africa, Egypt and Levant, yet it is mild when coming to the Gulf region, yet in all cases, the telecommunications sector is now working from a cost effective perspective rather than a sole solution or business tool, which is being reflected in most of the operators’ ads.”

2009 also saw the launch of the first two MVNOs in the Middle East, which commenced operations in Oman in the second quarter and fuelled competition. Friendi made its debut in April, and Renna followed shortly after. Both Friendi and Renna are hosted on the network of Oman Mobile and have each said that they had attracted more than 50,000 subscriptions within two months of launch.

In order to combat this competitive intensity, there was much talk at the event on how mobile operators are using Value Added Services (VAS) like music and entertainment-related content, location-based services, and social networking to derive new revenue streams from tech-savvy customers.

Yes, it does sound like the synopsis to a science fiction novel, but the firm this week released the results of some research it recently carried out which suggests that connectivity is more of a lifestyle issue across age groups, than the yoof phenomenon we might otherwise be led to believe. “Being accessible at all times is seen as a necessity across generations (Millennials, 79 per cent; Gen Xers, 64 per cent; Boomers, 65 per cent),” Moto says.

And granny and gramps are just as likely to influence the technology habits of their grandkids as little Johnny is to influence theirs. Farewell to the whisker-lipped peck on the cheek and a fluff covered Werther’s Original, and welcome to heated debate over tea and biscuits about which is the best fart app to buy for the iPhone.

And if indeed we are defined by our technology choices, then Motorola must be pleased that it’s backed Android. There are reports floating around the web that the Droid device is selling like hot cakes and Motorola may even be on track to shift one million units before the year is out. The handset comes to Europe as the Milestone next week, which may give it even more of a boost over the Christmas shopping period.

Even though he’s traditionally of the Bah, humbug! school of thought, it fills the Informer with seasonal joy to have written three paragraphs of, well, not necessarily bad news about Motorola, so why stop there? Is the epithet “struggling handset vendor” about to be replaced with “resurgent handset vendor”?

Very much in keeping with its tech theme, the company has also invested in a developer of multi-touch platforms and “natural user interfaces” known as Sensitive Object. Apparently the company has developed technology “capable of “tactilizing” any surface, using acoustics to analyze sound waves departing from the point of a touch to precisely and cost-effectively transform any product into a touch device.” Eh?

Take that iPhone! Take that Symbian!

Or maybe not. Handset giant Nokia has plans of its own for Symbian you see, and is planning a major overhaul of its Symbian user interface in 2010.

Speaking at the Nokia capital markets day on Wednesday, Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, put paid to rumours that the world’s biggest handset maker is preparing to shift its focus away from Symbian. The Nokia chief said the company is working to improve the user experience on its Symbian devices and is re-engineering its UI in preparation to deliver a major product before mid-year 2010, and another major product milestone before the end of the year.

“In 2010, we will drive user experience improvements, and the progress we make will take the Symbian user interface to a new level. As an operating system, Symbian has reach and flexibility like no other platform, and we have measures in place to push smartphones down to new price points globally, while growing margins,” said Kallasvuo.

Developers will also get a look in, with Nokia set to provide third party app creators with better tools to create applications and content for the Ovi ecosystem. Earlier this week the company unveiled the latest version of Qt, the cross platform application and user interface framework acquired with Trolltech, providing support for more platforms including Symbian, Windows 7, Mac OS 10.6 and Maemo 6.

The Informer recently had a chat with John Forsyth, whose business card says he is ‘leadership team’, Symbian Foundation. He was enthusiastic about getting Qt onto Symbian. “Application development has not been great for Symbian, there’s no sense in hiding this, and that’s due to a mixture of tools that have been good but not best in class and an environment that’s brilliant for making phones, but too complex for making applications,” he said.

“So in the roadmap we have a couple of big thrusts: Getting Qt into the platform – there are already 300,000 developers that love Qt, and it’s a fun productive environment; and there’s also the web runtime, so you will be able to program just in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and write an application that uses all the underlying native services,” Forsyth added.

But Nokia’s reliance on Symbian is well documented, and it seems the Finn is hedging its bets, with Kallasvuo revealing that the company is investing in its Linux-based Maemo platform, and will deliver its first Maemo 6-powered device in the second half of 2010.

There’s a lot of speculation floating around at the moment that Nokia is going to make a big deal out of Maemo, using it on more and more high end handsets. We’ll have to wait and see whether that’s true or not, but one thing’s for sure – the device guys are still looking for a way to stave off the ever present threat of the iPhone. Last week UK supermarket Tesco said that it would be stocking the device in time for Crimbo, and this week the Informer has heard that the other UK networks may not be so far behind as first thought in getting their mitts on the Apple gadgetry.

3UK is already dishing the iPhone out to “select user groups,” the Informer’s not sure what this means, and none of his buddies appear to be in 3′s required demographic. So it’s probably just for the big spenders then at present. Also, Vodafone UK has started priming its business customers who pre-registered their interest in the device, despite expectations it wouldn’t arrive ’til January. Maybe Christmas has come early.

Sticking in the UK, and O2 is investing in the mobile advertising dream, seeking to position itself as the advertising partner that actually makes good use of all its customer data.

On Wednesday O2 UK launched O2 More, an opt in programme for subscribers that will match user data with voluntary preferences and deliver ads via mobile accordingly. We’ve heard it all before, yet the carrier maintains this will lead to highly personalised campaigns for advertisers and trotted out the following scenario: If a customer says that they are interested in sports and O2 knows they roamed in Switzerland over the winter, a deal on a skiing holiday could be offered to that customer.

It all sounds so simple, but no one has yet achieved the Holy Grail of wide reaching mobile advertising. O2 subscribers signing up to More will receive no more than one ad per day, but the initiative has more than a whiff of Blyk about it. Yet, unlike Blyk, O2 is offering no incentive except for the ad content itself. At launch, offers will include discounts from high street retailers and restaurants, special holiday offers and trials of new services or information about forthcoming launches.

Over 50 brands have already signed up to the More scheme, including Adidas, Cadbury, Interflora and Blockbuster, O2 said. The Informer wonders what the advertiser to subscriber ratio is like.

Despite some impressive response rates – O2 claims it got a 52 per cent response rate for a Blockbuster campaign on Top up Surprises, while Blyk, the MVNO which repositioned as a managed services provider, claimed typical rates of 25 per cent – mobile advertising has failed to get off the ground. The problem, it seems, is that it lacks the kind of reach that advertisers are used to buying through more established media. Despite lots of talk about how well equipped telcos are to deliver more personalised advertising, no service provider has yet got advertising down to a fine art, as brands seem more interested in reach.

Still, Shaun Gregory, managing director of O2 Media and a former Blyk exec, reckons all this will change. “Mobile advertising has been slow to deliver on its promise. Much of that has been down to a lack of understanding, limited opportunities and no real accountability or measurement. At O2 we understand the value of personalisation and putting the customer at the heart of everything we do,” he said. “Because customers opt in we can deliver truly relevant content that provides an experience and a richer opportunity for marketers.”

Just as Orange, which incidentally was Blyk’s first partner, did a couple of years ago, O2 Media is also opening of a central London office dedicated to mobile advertising, complete with a “rapidly expanding team,” in order to show its dedication.

The Christmas party season is in full swing and the Informer is showing dedication to his rapidly expanding waistline. But it might be a cold, cold Christmas over in Germany. It’s not often the Informer writes about Siemens anymore, given its departure from the telecoms space. But the firm is still paying dearly for its joint venture with Nokia, on Thursday announcing an impairment charge of €1.634bn on its partnership in Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). Ouch.

For the quarter to the end of September, Siemens recorded a net loss of €1bn, a 56 per cent increase on the €2.4bn loss reported in the same period last year. This included a charge of €1.634bn on its stake in NSN as well as a direct quarterly loss of €328m related to the JV.

NSN was established at a time when the market looked like it was growing, but the venture’s augers didn’t see the crash coming, or perhaps anticipate the painful and considerable integration process.

Last month NSN said that almost 6,000 more staff face the axe as it seeks to reduce annualised operating expenses and production overheads by €500m by the end of 2011. And this is despite having fully achieved its original merger integration savings. “Changes in the global economy and competitive environment make further cost reductions necessary,” the company said. NSN estimates that total charges associated with these reductions will be in the range of €550m over the course of 2010-2011.

Nokia CFO, Timo Ihamuotila, said the company expects a flat market in euro terms for the mobile and fixed infrastructure market in 2010, but NSN is targeted to grow faster than the market.

That’s about it for the news this week, the Informer’s jetting off to Dubai shortly to cover the GSM>3G Middle East Telco World Summit. In preparation for the event the Informer has been chatting with some of the region’s leading lights and one of the topics was how lightly the regional market had got off in terms of exposure to the global credit crunch. Well, that all changed this week didn’t it. Well, sort of. They know how to have a recession over in Dubai – one day the market is in uproar about how exposed everybody is to the investment monstrosity that is Dubai World, then 24 hours later it’s all blown over. It’s all fascinating stuff and there shall be news from the front line in next week’s AWIW.

Until then, take care

the Informer.