Airtel Completes Largest Network Transformation in African Telecoms History

Bharti Airtel, a leading telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, said that it has undertaken an end-to-end network transformation programme across its mobile operations in 16 African countries. The programme, which is the largest of its kind on the African continent, in partnership with Ericsson involved a comprehensive upgrade and expansion of network elements on all of Airtel’s African operations, including switching, radio, network management, data, charging, and consumer-services platforms and systems.

This network transformation program, under which Ericsson has deployed latest wireless technologies, will enhance Airtel’s network capacity and robustness and help deliver best-in-class services to customers at affordable rates. This also makes Airtel’s networks fully ready for next generation services that include high speed data and value added services. 

 In addition, a full upgrade of the charging platforms across all operations was implemented introducing the latest version of Ericsson’s Charging System, enabling Airtel to offer subscribers new and innovative value-added services such as mobile wallets. This project which will result in Airtel’s 60+ million customers having a better experience on their networks.

 Eben Albertyn, Chief Technical Officer, Airtel Africa said “Customer is at the core of everything we do at Airtel. The implementation of this transformation program will enable us to further enrich our customer experience across the region. It allows us to provide Airtel subscribers with the best network possible while meeting the growing usage of mobile data. Our long-standing relationship with Ericsson gave us confidence in their ability to manage and deliver such a large and complex project.”

Backed by 12,000 consulting and systems integration professionals across the world, over one hundred resources worked onsite to ensure successful delivery of this complex project – the largest network modernization program in Africa’s telecom history. Ericsson's systems integration organization delivers more than 1500 systems integration projects per year in multi-vendor and multiple-technology environments. Projects range from single-solution integrations to end-to-end solution transformation projects such as this one.

 Lars Lindén, head of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, says, “In the transition to a Networked Society in Africa, operators are facing growing challenges in meeting the rapidly evolving demands of consumers. The focus of this project was transforming Airtel Africa’s networks to meet current and future consumer demands."

This transformation programme follows the 2011 announcement of an ongoing five year multi-country managed services agreement, wherein Ericsson would manage and optimise Airtel's mobile networks across Africa.

Ericsson Launches Developers Competition For ICT Innovators

Ericsson has announced the launch of a regional competition for application developers, startups and visionaries living in sub-Saharan Africa. The competition titled ‘Apps for African City Life’ is part the global 2013 Ericsson Application Awards (EAA 2013) - an ongoing annual competition for application developers worldwide, organized by Ericsson.

Applications are an integral part of Ericsson’s vision of a Networked Society, where anything that benefits from being connected will be connected, as applications enable mobile users to create bespoke internet connections to give and receive information to suit their lifestyle.

Lars Lindén, Head of Ericsson Region sub-Saharan Africa said, “This competition is designed to highlight potential uses of technology and innovation to address global challenges and individual hardships. It is an ideal way to harness ideas and showcase talent from across the region. Last year one of the regional finalists went on to win EUR15, 000 in the global competition, with their MedAfrica app, which was designed to increase access to health-care related information and services via mobile phones.”

The regional competition opened on October 29, runs until January 25, 2013. Entries will be accepted in two categories - one for students and the other for small and medium-sized enterprises. Teams are required to develop an application based on the Android platform that addresses the theme, ‘Apps for African City Life’ which is designed to promote the development of innovative ideas and mobile applications to address situations particular to urban centers across the region.

The market for mobile applications has exploded over the past few years, and is expected to be worth more than U.S. $21 billion in 2014. This growth has been driven by the rise of smartphones, the development of mobile internet, and the advent of several operating systems including the open-source Android mobile operating system.

In tandem, the rate of urbanization in Africa is widely recognized as the most rapid in the world. In 2010, 47 African cities had populations in excess of one million. By 2020, Africa is expected to have 70 cities with populations over 1 million, including 11 mega-cities with 5 million inhabitants or more. According to the latest United Nations projections, between 2010 and 2030 the urban population of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double, from 298 million to 595 million.

However, urbanization in Africa has yet to deliver the economic development and degree of prosperity that might have been expected. Inadequate education and physical infrastructure have constrained the efficient use of resources, and the industrial development that might have come with it. While ICTs, and in particular mobile technology, has dramatically transformed the way we live, work and play, there is still an untapped potential for it to be used in supporting social and economic growth, and well-being in the region.

This year, members of the winning teams in the regional competition will each receive top of the range android tablets and all application submissions will be automatically entered into the global competition - EAA 2013 – ’Apps for City Life’, for the chance to win a €25,000 cash prize.

Last year’s winners of the global competition – Shimba Technologies - came from Kenya with their MedAfrica app which was designed to increase access to health-care related information and services via mobile phones.

  

Interested developers are required to register teams of two to four people online at http://www.ericssonapplicationawards.com/apps-african-city-life and submit an Android-based application on city life in Africa before January 25th, 2013.

Ericsson Launches Stadium-optimized Wi-Fi Solution

Social networking and Video apps are used heavily during major events such as sports matches and concert and mobile traffic in stadiums is usually high. To offer the most seamless experience for mobile device users at stadiums, Ericsson has launched a stadium-optimized Wi-Fi solution which addresses user density and interference challenges to deliver high-performance coverage for mobile video and data apps.

  

The new Ericsson product is a stadium-optimized Wi-Fi solution which consists of two products - the AP 5114 stadium-optimized Wi-Fi access point and the WIC 8000 Wi-Fi controller – which together create a Wi-Fi network that is integrated with the mobile network.

The product is in response to the fact that even though attending a sports match, concert or other event in a full stadium is a great experience that many people instantly want to share with friends and family, by – for example – uploading videos and photos to social networking sites, interacting via Facebook, Twitter or SMS during such events can sometimes be challenging due to the sudden increase in network traffic.

 In its Traffic and Market Data report, Ericsson forecasts that mobile data traffic will increase 10-fold between 2011 and 2016, mainly driven by video. This predicted growth, combined with the popularity and ubiquity of Wi-Fi on mobile devices, has created a trend toward operators deploying their own Wi-Fi networks. Given that social networking and video apps are used particularly heavily during major events, mobile traffic in stadiums is especially high.

The result is that, from the operators’ perspective, stadiums are like very dense metropolitan “villages” that require a wide range of wireless solutions – such as small cells, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and Wi-Fi as a complement to the existing macro network – to address all of the coverage and capacity requirements.

 “This Wi-Fi solution ­– which represents our first Wi-Fi product launch since our acquisition of BelAir Networks in April this year – enables stadium owners and managers to provide fans with the same options that they have when watching events at home, including instant replays and multi-view content feeds. Our solution meets all of the requirements that operators have for comprehensive, coordinated and integrated wireless coverage in stadiums,” said Dave Park, Ericsson’s head of Wi-Fi product line. 

Delivering additional radio network capacity and coverage through the deployment of small cells as part of a heterogeneous network is central to most mobile operators’ mobile broadband strategies, and Wi-Fi is a key element. With Wi-Fi fully integrated into mobile access and core networks, users will enjoy seamless access to high-performance mobile broadband, whether they are connected over 3GPP or Wi-Fi, and operators will be able to choose connectivity to optimize the user experience.

The Global Market Forecast report released by Strategy Analytics in February 2012 states that by 2015, annual sales of Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets will reach 1.7 billion units.  Meanwhile, Ericsson’s Traffic and Market report predicts that mobile data traffic will grow with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of around 60 percent (2011-2017), driven mainly by video.

World: Ericsson Calling on Students and SMEs to Apply for Ericsson Application Awards 2013

Ericsson is calling for students and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who have an idea for a great app to enter the Ericsson Application Awards 2013.

The Ericsson Application Awards gives apps developers an opportunity to gain a foothold in the app industry while also earning recognition and making contacts within the telecom industry.

This year, there will be two categories: one for students and one for small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 100 employees.

The theme for this year’s competition is “Apps for City Life”, in support of Ericsson’s vision for a Networked Society in which – through a combination of mobility, broadband, the cloud, applications and services – anything and everything is connected.Participating teams also need to develop an application based on the Android platform that addresses the theme.

Last year’s winner in the company category was MedAfrica app, a mobile health-care app developed in Kenya by Shimba Technologies while the first prize in the student category was awarded to a painting and chatting app developed in China. A medico-social platform that provides access to medical information developed in Egypt won the Technology for Good prize.

Overall, 143 teams from more than 50 countries took part and a total of 242 ideas, videos and apps were submitted – twice as many as in the previous year.

This year, several prizes will be awarded in each category:

·         First place: EUR 25,000

·         Second place: EUR 10,000

·         Third place: EUR 5000

·         Fourth and fifth place: certificates

The prize money will be shared equally among the registered team members with the winning teams being contacted to ensure payment of prize. Winners will be announced on: www.ericssonapplicationawards.com

The deadline for submitting entries for Ericsson Application Awards 2013 is February 28, 2013 with evaluation of entries starting in March 1, 2013. Announcement of semi-finalists (top 5) in each category will be done on March 16, 2013 while the global evaluation of semi-finalist entries will be done on March 20, 2013 before the finalist teams ( 2 in each category) can be announced on April 25, 2013.

The submitted applications will be evaluated according to:
- Android application (Native or Web)
- Addresses the theme "Apps for the Networked Society"
- Working application prototype
- Innovative solution
- Business potential

ECA briefs Africa IGF on 2013 Innovation Prize for Africa, Calls for More Entries

Cairo-- In order to create increased awareness about the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) initiative and further get more tech-innovators to submit their entries during next year’s awards, the ECA briefed delegates attending the Africa Internet Governance Forum on the status of the initiative.

At a pre-event workshop held on Tuesday October 2, Ms Eskedar Nega, a Programme Officer at ECA’s ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD) described the IPA initiative, founded by ECA and the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) in 2012, as an “African programme that promotes and encourages innovation in the continent.”

       

“The IPA focuses on African-led solutions aimed at recognizing innovative breakthroughs to unlock new African potential and mobilizing leaders from all sectors to fuel African innovation,” said Ms Nega, adding that the theme for the IPA 2013 is“the Future We Innovate” with deadline for entries being October 31, 2012.

So far, applications have been received from various countries – including Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Rep. of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Mali.

“Just like last year, most of the applicants are drawn from Nigeria and Kenya and we hereby urge innovators from other African countries to submit their innovative ideas and projects. IPA has further benefits for the finalists and winners in that it links them venture capitalists to fund their project and also offers training as well as networking opportunities,” said Ms Nega at the Africa IGF pre-event workshop held at the Smart Village in Cairo, Egypt.

Dr. Mohamed Sanad - who emerged overall winner of the 2012 IPA with his low-cost, base station antenna has that can cover all wireless applications at different frequency bands including WiMax, digital TV, CDMA and GSM – highlighted the features of his invention and the impact the Prize had on his work in Egypt and globally.

Dr Sanad  said that with initiatives such as IPA aiming at promoting innovation, Africa should be able to export technology rather than being a mere importer of technology, noting that the continent’s youth should be encouraged to build confidence and become competent globally.

The workshop recommended that policymakers need to promote an innovation ecosystem aimed at strengthening the capacity of innovators and entrepreneurs; establish public and private institutions which can drive innovation and increase the availability of resources to better nurture the capacity of potential innovators in Africa. The session further recommended that there is a need to raise awareness on the importance of intellectual property rights to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa.  

The IPA prize honours and encourages innovative achievements that contribute toward developing new products, increasing efficiency or saving cost in Africa. The prize also promotes among young African men and women the pursuit of science, technology and engineering careers as well as business opportunities with potentials of contributing to sustainable development in Africa. 

Overall, it aims to among other things: mobilize leaders from all sectors to fuel African innovation; promote innovation across Africa in key sectors of interest through the competition: promote science, technology and engineering as rewarding, exciting and noble career options among the youth in Africa by profiling successful applicants and encourage entrepreneurs, innovators, funding bodies and business development service providers to exchange ideas and explore innovative business opportunities.

The IPA anticipates that it will in future results will be evident from increased commercialization of research and development (R&D) outputs in Africa; increased funding of start-ups, adoption of new and emerging technologies and accelerated growth of an innovative and dynamic private sector; and increased economic activity and African led development that results in lasting impact.