Page 94 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2023
P. 94

WHOLESALE UPDATES  SAMENA TRENDS


                                              WHOLESALE NEWS





        Zain, Omantel Combine for Wholesale Play


                                                               will  have  their  wholesale  requirements  met  by  the  new  entity.
                                                               The pair noted bringing the two operations together will reduce
                                                               costs  and  increase  their  competitiveness.  VOI  will  be  led  by
                                                               current Omantel VP wholesale Sohail Qadir. It plans to target a
                                                               variety of global  connectivity  and infrastructure providers with
                                                               its services. Alongside managing existing assets, the VOI will aid
                                                               in  development  of  various  new  subsea  and  terrestrial  systems.
                                                               Zain  CEO  Bader  Al-Kharafi  noted  the  new  entity  is  “positioned
                                                               to evolve into a significant international player on the wholesale
        Operator group Zain and Omantel formed a joint venture targeting   telecommunications scene that will benefit both Zain and Omantel
        providing regional providers, international  carriers, global   on financial, commercial and operational levels”. Qadir added VOI
        hyperscalers and various other players with wholesale services   will deliver “differentiated services to regional and international
        in the Middle East. The Zain Omantel International (VOI) venture   customers  alike, and providing increased value and enhanced
        will combine  relevant assets of both  companies  and aims to   customer-experience  to all  associated stakeholders  across  our
        be  the  leading  sector  player  in  its  region.  Between  them,  Zain   extensive operational footprint”.
        and Omantel have operations  in eight markets in MEA,  which




        ACCC Begins Consulting on Wholesale Regulation


        The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
        has instigated  a combined  public  inquiry into whether  nine
        wholesale telecommunications  services should  continue  to be
        regulated. With existing declarations for the nine market segments
        in question set to expire in June 2024, the regulator has published
        a  discussion paper and is  seeking  submission  from interested
        parties by a deadline of 12 July 2023. The nine declared services   include services that are regulated under NBN Co’s Special Access
        which are the subject of this inquiry are: domestic transmission   Undertaking  or  ‘Superfast  Broadband  Access  Services’  on  high
        capacity service; unconditioned local loop  service;  line sharing   speed networks other than the National Broadband Network (NBN).
        service; wholesale line rental (WLR); local carriage service; fixed   Commenting  on  the  matter,  ACCC  Commissioner  Anna  Brakey
        originating  access  service;  fixed  terminating  access  service;   said: ‘Our inquiry will consider whether ongoing regulation of these
        wholesale ADSL; and domestic mobile terminating access service.   declared services promotes the long-term interests of Australians.
        Broadly  speaking,  these  services:  enable  access  to  fixed  line   We want to know if recent developments including investments
        incumbent  Telstra’s  legacy  access  network,  interconnection  of   in optical fiber, the completion of the NBN and declining usage
        networks for the purpose of voice calls, the resale of analogue   of Telstra’s copper network mean that competition is protecting
        fixed  line  phone  services,  data  transmission,  and  ADSL  resale.   customers and what that means about whether or how we should
        Notably, the service being examined as part of the inquiry do not   regulate these services.’




        Regulator Approves Mila Wholesale Tariff


        The  Electronic  Communications  Office  of  Iceland  (ECOI)  has   without VAT per month for every 100 lines of connector headers
        approved the cost analysis of Icelandic wholesale operator Mila as   in a connector rack. This is a 27% increase on the current tariff for
        the basis for the wholesale tariff for access to copper cables and   monthly fees, which came into effect on 1 June 2019. The increase
        connection infrastructure. The fee for access to copper home lines   is partly because set-up fees are being abolished. The new tariff
        will be ISK1,978 (USD14.52) per month without VAT and ISK1,553   comes into effect from 1 June.



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