Page 84 - SAMENA Trends - November-December 2021

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

MTN Deploying 250 Rural Sites in South Sudan with NuRAN

Rural communications firm NuRAN to boost capacity, thereby increasing connected life therefore our strategy is to
Wireless has signed a ten-year deal with ARPU and overall revenue. Diatile Zondo, bring connectivity to these rural parts. We
MTN Group to deploy at least 250 sites CFO of MTN South Sudan, said: “At MTN hope that this is the beginning of a growing
across rural South Sudan. Under the terms we believe that everyone deserves a relationship with NuRAN.”
of the deal, NuRAN will deploy the sites
over the next two years, with the first 50
sites using towers already owned by MTN
to ensure the rollout has a swift start.
The infrastructure will be operated on a
network-as-a-service model (NAAS) basis
while revenue will be shared using the
BOOT (build, own, operate, and transfer)
model. Surveys on MTN’s sites have
already commenced, with NuRAN working
with local firm Tandem Solution on the
deployment. CommsUpdate reports that
the in its current form deal represents
approximately CAD57 million (US$44.5
million) in revenues, although it will be
possible to build out more sites as well
as leverage terrestrial backhaul networks

Telkom SA Builds Africa's Top VoLTE Network Based on Single Voice Core

As of Nov 2021, Telkom VoLTE users in 3M in last one year. The rapid development voice network. Telkom has always been
South Africa have reached 4.6M, becoming of VoLTE enables Telkom to re-farm 2G/3G committed to leveraging cutting-edge
the largest VoLTE service provider in Africa. spectrum for the development of 4G and technologies of telecom industry to roll
Telkom serves 16M mobile users, and 5G. As the global deployment of 4G and out new services and optimize networks.
launched VoLTE in 2018 and 5G NSA in 2020 5G becomes more and more widespread, Telkom chose Huawei's Single Voice Core
respectively. Regarding voice services, how to realize seamless transition from solution to develop VoLTE. This initiative
Telkom focuses on VoLTE services. In order last-generation to next-generation enables 2G/3G/4G/5G/Fixed users to
to develop VoLTE, Telkom orchestrated telecom technologies has become an access the same IMS network, solving the
a holistic KPI system and optimization urgent problem for all operators. "We had operation & maintenance and investment
plan, which has been proven to improve a successful introduction of VoLTE and problems caused by the coexistence of
the VoLTE user experience significantly. subscriber migration from 2G/3G to LTE and multi-generation networks. The simplified
Through intelligent identification of VoLTE VoLTE, and would like to shutdown 2G/3G network enables Telkom to pack lightly
users and auto-provisioning, Telkom services to make the spectrum available for and focus on 4G/5G. "The timing of Huawei
saves users the steps to activate VoLTE newer technologies. The legacy services SVC product is perfect for us." said Brite
services. In addition, Telkom cooperated do not allow us to immediately turn off Devassy. The achievement of VoLTE has
with Apple, Samsung, OPPO and other 2G/ 3G." said Brite Devassy, Executive showcased Telkom's capabilities to utilize
handset manufacturers to turn on the of Technology & Strategy, Telkom SA. On innovative solutions. Telkom will continue
terminal VoLTE switch by default. With October 13, 2021, at the 5G Core Summit to enable more and more users to enjoy
above measures, the number of Telkom in Dubai, Brite Devassy gave a wonderful high-quality VoLTE calls while surfing the
VoLTE subscribers has increased by over speech about the evolution of Telkom's Internet at high speed.

Kenya Power Considers Move into Retail Broadband Sector

Electricity distributor Kenya Power plans to connect millions of broadband operators including Safaricom, Wananchi and Jamii
homes in rural locations with broadband internet via its fiber- Telecommunications, but now plans to directly offer high speed
optic network infrastructure, reports Business Daily. The company internet services to customers in rural locations. Kenya Power
currently leases the fiber cables on its transmission lines to had over 8.2 million customers at the end of June 2021.

84 NOV-DEC 2021