Page 20 - SAMENA Trends - July-August 2023

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

rectors in August of 2022. In just his first rience offerings powered by AI, while posi- I’ve felt that Alan was the right man for the
year in the role, Masarek led the company tioning Avaya for long-term success. Jon job when coming to Avaya, and in short or-
through a remarkably successful, financial Arnold, Principal, J Arnold & Associates, der, he has delivered.” Arnold added, “Well
and business restructuring, and garnered has judged many UC Awards categories done on the award and I hope to see this
extraordinary results. The transformation and acknowledges that the Leader of the great momentum continue for Avaya.” UC
eliminated nearly $4 billion in debt, while Year is his favorite. He says all the entries Today relies on an outside, impartial panel
securing $650 million in incremental invest- highlight strong technologies, so select- of judges, including renowned industry an-
ment. Avaya emerged from its restructuring ing a winner can prove to be challenging. alysts and influencers. This year’s panel in-
with significant financial strength and am- “What’s harder to come by is visionary lead- cluded: Zeus Kerravala, Tim Banting, Melis-
ple liquidity to accelerate the company’s ership, and in my view, Alan brings that in sa Swartz, Blair Pleasant, Dom Black, Evan
investment in its innovative, cloud-based ways I didn’t see from other entries in this Kirstel, Jon Arnold, and Kevin Kieller.
portfolio, especially across customer expe- category,” said Arnold. “From the outset,

Avaya’s U.S. and Canadian Customers Can Now Procure Avaya Products

and Services Directly or Through an Authorized Partner on a Cooperative
Contract

Avaya, a global leader in customer and nonprofit organizations, saving these said Jenifer Bond, Vice President of SLED,
experience solutions, announced that it has organizations time and money in their Avaya. “Securing a Sourcewell cooperative
been awarded a cooperative purchasing acquisition process. The contract delivers purchasing contract in the Unified
contract in the Unified Communications and immediate value to these customers Communications and Contact Center
Contact Center categories at Sourcewell because the competitive solicitation is categories amplifies our reach, enabling
- the leading Government Cooperative complete and ready to use, streamlining us to simplify the contractual process for
Purchasing Organization in North America acquisition, and allowing immediate an increased number of customers. This
with more than 500 competitively solicited delivery of Avaya’s preferred products development empowers them to transition
contracts to government, education, and services. Avaya’s 48-month contract their communications technology to the
and nonprofit entities. Avaya is the only is open to U.S. and Canadian customers, cloud at a pace and budget that aligns with
major communications and collaboration allowing them to procure the full catalog their unique needs.” Jim Benson, Supplier
solution provider that can offer public, of Avaya products and services directly or Development Administrator at Sourcewell,
private, or hybrid cloud at enterprise scale via authorized Avaya partners. “At Avaya, welcomes Avaya to its purchasing
to customers. Sourcewell awarded Avaya we are committed to facilitating seamless consortium in North America and looks
this contract after following a rigorous cloud migrations for our customers, forward to working with the team. “Avaya
request for proposal process resulting fostering innovation without causing offers a portfolio of solutions to make the
in contracts that meet, or exceed, local disruption, and eliminating the costly and jobs of those in government, education,
procurement requirements. Sourcewell’s prolonged 'rip and replace' methodology and non-profit organizations more efficient
contracts capture the buying power of typically associated with updating their while saving them time and money,” said
more than 50,000 government, education communication technology infrastructure,” Benson.

China Mobile ‘Home’ and ‘Business’ Divisions
Drive H1 Revenue Growth

Chinese full-service provider China Mobile – retail mobile services; ‘Home’ – fixed up a little over 57% of the group’s service
has booked net profit of CNY76.17 billion voice and broadband, pay-TV and smart revenue, generating turnover of CNY259.40
(USD10.6 billion) for the six months to home services and applications; ‘Business’ billion for the six-month period. The group
end-June 2023, up 8.4% year-on-year, – a broad range of services including counted a total of 985.39 million mobile
driven by an increase in operating revenue corporate services, mobile cloud, industrial customers as at end-June 2023 (up from
of 6.8%, to CNY530.72 billion. EBITDA for 5G solutions and data centers; and ‘New’, 969.85 million in H1 2022), including
the period grew by 5.5% to CNY183.46 consisting of international services, digital 393.26 million 5G network subscriptions
billion. Mobile reported a 6.1% uptick in content and financial technology solutions. (262.64 million IN June 2022). Revenue
service revenue, including growth across The Customer market saw the smallest growth in the segment was hampered by
all four it’s ‘CHBN’ segments: ‘Customer’ increase in revenue at just 1.3% but makes price competition, with overall mobile ARPU

20 JULY-AUGUST 2023