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The GSMA, which represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry, today presented His Excellency Mr. Samuel Poghisio, Minister for Information and Communications for Kenya, with the mobile industry’s prestigious annual Government Leadership Award. The Award recognises the leadership role played by Kenya in extending the benefits of mobile technology to more consumers by cutting tax on mobile phones and information communication technology (ICT) equipment and promoting the early roll-out of mobile broadband.
During 2009, Kenya eliminated both import duty and sales taxes on mobile phones and other ICT equipment, making access for consumers more affordable. The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has also demonstrated an established and ongoing programme of modernisation of the telecoms sector. The CCK facilitated the landing of two fibre optic cables, TEAMs and SEACOM, heralding a new era of abundant broadband capacity for Kenya and the East African region. The CCK also enabled the development of a vibrant mobile broadband market by licensing new spectrum and by launching a number of ICT/mobile projects aimed at promoting education and health in rural communities. This programme of initiatives will boost the Kenyan economy and improve the well-being and future prosperity of its citizens.
"This award acknowledges the pioneering leadership of the Kenyan government and its determination to improve the lives of Kenyans by making access to mobile broadband and ICT more available and more affordable," said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA. "Mobile broadband is a great enabler, and it is imperative that government and industry work together to realise its potential to positively transform society.”
“I am delighted that the great efforts and progressive policies of the Kenyan Government have been recognised by the presentation of this award, which I accept on behalf of all those involved in our programme,” said His Excellency Mr. Samuel Poghisio, Minister for Information and Communications of Kenya. “Kenya is developing and investing in the mobile and ICT technology tools that we need to deliver modern and innovative social and economic improvements for all our citizens.”
The GSMA hopes that other African countries will follow Kenya’s lead, especially by acknowledging the importance of:
The Government Leadership Award was presented during the Ministerial Programme, which has now become an integral part of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and this year attracted approximately 300 government delegates from over 80 nations, including many Communications Ministers. This distinguished programme offers an invaluable opportunity for policy makers and industry leaders to discuss strategies for shaping the future of the mobile industry and its potential to accelerate economic growth and advance social development around the world.
This year, the programme also hosted a CEOs & Ministers Roundtable, co-chaired by Rob Conway, CEO GSMA, and Francisco Ros, Spain’s Secretary of State for Telecommunications and the Information Society, in the year of its European Union Presidency. At the meeting, ministers and CEOs discussed a common vision for ‘the internet of things’ that will link both people and machines and will help transfer the economic productivity and efficiency gains associated with mobile penetration to key sectors such as health care, education, transport, the environment and government services. • 16-2-10
The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry.
In response to a recently adopted regulation, European mobile operators are seeking solutions that will enable them to cease charging their customers for received voicemails while roaming and will reduce operators’ costs, according to top personnel at Starhome.
This search has been triggered by recently adopted EU legislation set to take effect next summer, which states that customers should not have to pay for voicemails while abroad.
“The mobile industry is a competitive one, and most operators cannot currently afford to simply stop charging for roaming voicemails without a negative impact on their revenue,” said Amit Daniel, Vice President of Marketing for Starhome. “In the past, the ‘international tromboning’ phenomenon has raised operators’ costs, which they have passed on to the customers. Today, a solution exists that eliminates this phenomenon and reduces operators’ costs.”
Trombones are created when a roamer cannot answer a call while roaming. The visited network routes the call back to the home voicemail system (the default setting for most roamers), forcing the roamer, or the operator, to pay international tariffs for voicemail deposits.
The high cost caused by international tromboning causes many roamers, and operators, to disable voicemail forwarding while roaming, or even turn off their handsets, which results in a loss of voicemail-generated revenue. Roaming subscribers, unaware of the high cost of voicemail-forwarded calls, often complain to Customer Care about the charges. This wastes operators’ human resources. Some operators solve this issue by absorbing the cost of the trombone, which impacts their bottom line, or passing it on to customers, which will soon be prohibited in the European Union.
Operators that are currently charging their roamers for the international trombone on voicemails will soon be required to absorb the international charges. These operators will pay approximately 0.35 Euros per minute for each voicemail deposit. An operator with approximately 25,000 outbound roamers per day will be losing over 1 million Euros annually due to voicemail deposit charges.
Mobile operators who have successfully implemented solutions that eliminate international tromboning report that they have increased customer satisfaction and reduced costs, while providing seamless caller access to voicemail, Caller ID retrieval and direct forwarding of calls to voicemail, or to any preset forwarding destination.
“Next summer’s deadline has mobile operators actively seeking solutions that will enable them to comply with the new regulation,” said Daniel. “This is truly a win-win situation because operators will select a solution that will allow them to comply with the regulation, lower costs and increase customer satisfaction.” • Source: Starhome (25-6-09)
NEC Corporation (NEC) announced at the Mobile World Congress (Booth 8A125, Hall 8) that it is supporting Telefónica O2 in its trial of LTE (Long-Term Evolution) 4G next-generation mobile services in the UK.
O2 deployed NEC’s flagship microwave backhaul solution, PASOLINK, to provide a high-capacity, resilient transmission link to one of O2's key LTE trial sites in the Slough area, Berkshire, UK. NEC’s PASOLINK is used to carry high-definition video streaming, mobile gaming, high-speed file transfer and video conferencing.
"NEC provided us with the high performance and flexible access link to trial our next generation LTE mobile service," said Nigel Purdy, Head of Networks, Telefónica O2 UK Limited.
Building on its market leadership in microwave backhaul, NEC is continuing to invest in and develop its solutions for network operators. Also at MWC, NEC announced its “Intelligent Converged Platform” for mobile backhaul which comprises the evolution of NEC’s mobile backhaul solutions and services to plan, build and operate next-generation mobile broadband for mobile operators.
"The massive demand for smartphones and data, along with plans for next-generation mobile network technologies such as LTE, has brought network quality and time to deployment right to the heart of a successful strategy for mobile operators," said Richard Hanscott, vice president, NEC Europe. "Our backhaul solution, PASOLINK, has led the industry in high-quality network provision and we continue to lead the way with an insight and understanding of the evolving requirements and challenges faced by mobile operators."
Since the launch of PASOLINK in the early 1980s, NEC has actively promoted the system's research, development and sales. Following in step with the rapid growth of worldwide mobile markets, PASOLINK has enjoyed increasing sales as a communications system that links the base stations of mobile communications carriers, and has been shipped to customers throughout 136 countries. The shipments of PASOLINK have surpassed more than 1 million total units. Most recently, shipments to mobile telephone carriers in such markets as Asia and the Middle East, where rapid economic expansion has taken place, have contributed significantly to PASOLINK breaking through the 1 million total shipments mark.
It is widely anticipated that demand for PASOLINK's advanced technologies will continue as the need for base station access grows in response to the rapid global growth of mobile phone subscribers, the spread of mobile Internet services and the creation of new broadband markets. Accordingly, NEC will continue the proactive development and marketing of these versatile systems, as a business leader among ultra-compact microwave communications innovation. • 16-2-10
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