< PreviousAI & Machine Learning thwarts threat to enterprise messaging ecosystems For more stories, check out commsmea.com. Follow CommsMEA on Twitter: @COMMSMEA Deshbandhu Bansal, chief operating officer, Messaging Solutions at Comviva Technologies looks at the importance of controlling messaging Enterprise loves messaging; it allows them to engage their customers in the most cost effective manner, moreover, in today’s highly competitive markets messaging provide businesses with a channel to drive customer life-time value with highly inter- active and engaging communications, de- signed to cater to each individual’s unique persona and requirements. Similarly, the growth of messaging has allowed operators to create new sources of revenue besides rising up the value chain in the messaging economy. Since the messag- ing opportunity is so critical for operators, as well as the enterprise segment, there is a growing interest in AI & Machine Learning to ensure the continued growth and health of the overall messaging ecosystem. RISING DEMAND FOR ENTERPRISE MESSAGING One of the biggest factors for messaging popularity is the increasing penetration of Grey Route compromises the ability of the operator to monetise the messaging opportunity leading to operator losses running into billions.” Deshbandhu Bansal, Chief Operating Officer, Messaging Solutions at Comviva Technologies. Deshbandhu Bansal - chief operating officer, Messaging Solutions at Comviva Technologies. 10www.commsmea.com UPDATE OPINION CommsMEA November 2019 For more stories, check out commsmea.com. Follow CommsMEA on Twitter: @COMMSMEA mobile. According to GSMA Intelligence, today there are more than 8.97 billion mo- bile connections, surpassing the world pop- ulation by more than a billion. Similarly, there are 2.71 billion smart-phone users to- day, constituting almost 35 per cent of the global population. Secondly, SMS has made B2C commu- nications easier. Businesses can reach out to anybody with a mobile phone with short messaging services. SMS is also a high ROI messaging channel, where SMS open rates are measured in seconds. Studies have shown that four out of five customers will read an SMS within 30 seconds, which is a higher rate than any other medium. Now, if we compared this number to email open rates, it will become easy to understand why SMS has become so critical for enterprise communications today. Thirdly, the growth of analytics, com- bined with the customer’s willingness to share their data if it leads to better service, have made it easier for enterprises to un- derstand the impact and ROI of each mes- saging platform, and fine-tune it to different customer personas and requirements. OPERATOR OPPORTUNITY With operator’s voice and SMS business declining rapidly, there is a growing need for operators to generate fresh revenue streams. In this context, A2P is critical for operators, as it guarantees consistent rev- enues for them in the near future, espe- cially with the app ecosystem growing by leaps and bounds. However, in order to fully monetise the A2P opportunity, the opera- tor will have first have to tackle the problem of Grey Routes. In order to understand the Grey Route problem, we will have to distinguish be- tween a P2P message, which is the transfer of SMS messages between two individuals, and A2P message, which is the transfer of SMS between and application and an indi- vidual. The problem arises when the A2P message is masked as a P2P message, with the objective of saving A2P termination charges, or if the message sender wants to hide his identity for the purpose of spam- ming.There are several ways to mask an A2P message, such as GT spoofing, SIM farms. In GT faking: the message’s global title is altered, hiding its identity. In SIM farms, hoards of SIMS are collected and used for sending out A2P messages in the guise of P2P messages. When enterprises or aggregators try to send commercial messages via illegitimate or zero rated routes, it is known as grey routes. Grey Route compromises the ability of the operator to monetise the messaging opportunity leading to operator losses run- ning into billions. Besides revenues losses, Grey Routes have an impact on the operator’s ability to drive quality traffic on its networks. Also, without the means to distinguish between good and bad traffic, the operator is unable to prioritise message delivery. The result- ing traffic congestion, may eventually lead to slower message delivery in critical in- dustries such as banking, where a customer wants to be notified immediately for every withdrawal, for example, at the ATM. In the event of this happening, it is the enterprise that has to bear the brunt of the irate cus- tomer. Similarly, if the sender is using the system for spamming, it puts the operator’s credibility under the sword. THE WAY FORWARD Traditionally, operators have been using rules based SMS firewalls for safeguard- ing the network from misuse. Rules based firewalls use a combination of blacklisted numbers, key word search, URL destina- tions for categorising messages. However, sophisticated scammers are easily able to overcome traditional detection and pre- vention techniques based on deterministic rules, limited pattern search and blacklists. Another problem with these deterministic platforms is that they are not 100 per cent accurate, which means that legal traffic may also be blocked if they meet the criteria set by the platform. On the customer experi- ence front, it may lead to poor experience, as they miss out on promotions. Therefore, in the interest of the overall messaging eco- system, it is time to take a more nuanced ap- proach to the problem. In this context, AI capabilities take a more comprehensive view. Using new ad- vances in the field of natural language pro- cessing, the AI-based SMS firewall auto classifies a message into different catego- ries. Unlike conventional platforms which provide limited pattern search, AI platform leverages the past training with millions of similar messages and it analyses words us- ing pattern matching techniques and the context in which the words are used to pre- dict the category to which a given message belongs. Once the messages are categorised, the operator can enforce policy control on a much granular level, which will help to pro- tect the subscribers from spam and fraud, arrest revenue leakages and reduce opera- tional effort for the operators ensuring low subscriber churn from their network. 11www.commsmea.com UPDATE OPINION CommsMEA November 20195G brings its challenges as well as its benefits For more stories, check out commsmea.com. Follow CommsMEA on Twitter: @COMMSMEA Virginie Hollebecque, managing director for Western Europe and Middle East at Ciena investigates 5G technicalities Networks are facing incremental band- width growth, and network providers are the first to feel the burden, being faced with pressure for increasing capacity which is stressing existing infrastructure and CAPEX budgets. Meanwhile, the cost per bit is driven down by increased com- petition, setting the need for sweeping ef- ficiency gains. As a result, network design- ers and engineers are left with the complex challenge of coming up with solutions that deliver a lot more for much less, leveraging existing assets to their full capabilities. To address the many existing and possi- ble new use cases in a timely and cost-effec- tive manner, 5G mobile networks will like- ly be based on logical (virtualised) building blocks rather than traditional (physical) building blocks. This way, enterprises can reduce the time-to-market for new and innovative service offerings. Ciena understands that the challenges network operators face and is helping by delivering field proven wireline network solutions that provide industry-leading scale and automation that is compat- ible with current 4G networks and future 5G rollouts. We are also participating in the open movement and industry stand- ards groups (IEEE. ITU, NGNM, X-RAN, ONAP, 3GPP) to help translate 4G/5G wireless performance into wireline net- work requirements. There are many tech- nologies that are flourishing supported by the increased adoption of 5G networks, in- cluding Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and also Augmented Reality (AR). The higher download speeds and re- duced latency are a great enabler for such Virginie Hollebecque, managing director for Western Europe and Middle East at Ciena. 12www.commsmea.com UPDATE OPINION CommsMEA November 2019 For more stories, check out commsmea.com. Follow CommsMEA on Twitter: @COMMSMEA emerging technologies. In addition, the lower latency from 5G will make it possible to communicate in near real-time, mak- ing many new applications and use cases a reality. These include fixed broadband residential internet access, autonomous self-driving cars, improved user mobility (high speed trains, for instance), broadcast communications services (e.g. mobile tel- evision), critical lifeline services and ultra- reliable communications (remote eHealth monitoring, for instance). Network providers in the Middle East understand the benefits of 5G and are well on the way to offering the backbone sup- port for the smart city vision. In fact, great- er return from network investments comes from 5G network solutions that are built upon an open and flexible architecture, using a strategy based on best-in-breed products and technologies. This provides the ability to select products to address im- mediate 4G needs, with the option to invest over time as 5G evolves and matures. Telco’s are facing an increasing demand for bandwidth driven by a surge in con- nected devices, which can put strain on their existing networks. 5G promises many improvements for telco’s around increase in bandwidth (up to 1,000 times per unit area), number of connected devices (up to 100 times more), and network energy utili- sation (up to 90 per cent reduction), along with up to 10 Gbps connection rates to mo- bile devices in the field. Telecom operators are already prepar- ing their networks for 5G. The key, is to build networks with sufficient capacity and flexibility to enable any use case which makes commercial sense, now or in the fu- ture. Fibre throughout the network, and flexible resource management across fibre and radio, will be essential. Establishing 5G ready networks will require modern technologies and capabili- ties, such as the adaptive network – which uses the power of intelligent automation and intent-based policies to manage specif- ic areas on the network. High-bandwidth and low-latency will also be important in addressing the needs of specific applica- tions, most notably HD video steaming and VR/AR technologies and other bandwidth- hungry applications. Anything that increases differentia- tion of mobile network services will surely be looked at closely by MNOs, as the com- moditisation of mobile bandwidth is al- ready well underway where price is the differentiator. In addition, the ability to guarantee top network slices for essential services that need guaranteed metrics - such as driverless cars and public services provided by the city itself (emergency re- sponse, public safety, public data visibil- ity and more) will help not only drive rev- enue for operators, but also to ensure the effectiveness of cutting-edge smart city technologies that will improve the lives of citizens. The future of 5G will change eve- rything in terms of network performance and enabling an incredible amount of new services and applications. An example of this is smart cities where hundreds of thousands of sensors are add- ed to the network every minute, making cities “smart” by gathering, analysing, and acting upon vital collected sensor data. The UAE’s two biggest telecom opera- tors are already working to provide 5G ser- vices, which places Dubai on the path to realising its smart city goals. In addition, some of the leading GCC countries are already furthering the de- ployment of 5G networks and according to the latest GSMA Report for the Mid- dle East, by 2025, 15 markets will have launched 5G mobile services across the MENA region1. Indeed, the new 5G mobile technolo- gies are a great enabler for several services, such as an advanced video-friendly net- work environment that capitalises on edge compute/cloud. These opportunities come with the challenges of deploying a new and dynamic wireless architecture incorporat- ing virtualisation and edge compute which will support private, public, and hybrid cloud use cases. The rollout of 5G mobile networks tack- les disruption and makes sure that the var- ious requirements for latency, bandwidth, and reliability for different services can be met, and all on the same physical network. This approach is called network slicing, which is about providing the required end- to-end network performance – across stor- age, compute and connect resources for each network slice. Through 5G network slicing, MNOs will be able to offer virtual networks the same physical mobile network infrastructure, each with end-to-end performance and as- sociated price points. This will mimic the same network per- formance as the replaced dedicated net- work in terms of capacity, speed, latency, and most importantly, availability. 5G technologies will improve the lives of all citizens.. Telco’s are facing an increasing demand for bandwidth driven by a surge in connected devices, which can put strain on their existing networks.” Virginie Hollebecque, managing director for Western Europe and Middle East at Ciena 13www.commsmea.com UPDATE OPINION CommsMEA November 2019INTERVIEW CHARLES YANG www.commsmea.com14CommsMEA November 2019 Charles Yang, Huawei ME president 15CommsMEA November 2019www.commsmea.com INTERVIEW CHARLES YANG DIGITAL INCLUSION LEAVING NO-ONE BEHIND Inclusive innovation can empower the world writes Charles Yang, Huawei ME president Our world is rapidly advancing as technology accelerates the advent of the intelligent society. But, while the convenience of science and technology propel the evolu- tion of society, it is also creating what has become known as a digital gap, which separates members of the community who are technologically savvy versus those who are less familiar. Bridging this gap by actively pursuing digital inclusion is essential in order to create a cohesive society in which everyone benefits equally. The digital gap is a global phenomenon. In many cities in China, elderly people may be unable to hail a taxi on the street because taxis today are booked predominantly through mobile phones. Inhabitants in the Comoros Islands, as recently as two years ago, were isolated from the outside world because they had no communications network. In Bangladesh, women in particular have lim- ited opportunities to learn about computers. As the infrastructure of the intelligent world, the information and communications technology (ICT) industry has played a vital role in promoting national economic growth, as well as boosting social welfare and happiness. ICT can contribute to the realisation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), enabling humanity to address challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental deterioration, economic issues, and healthcare problems. In an intelligent world, the ultimate goal is to leave no- one behind. Digital inclusion means every individual and organisation can equally access and use information and communications technology. Technology shouldn’t sit in an ivory tower. When it is accessible to all, it has the potential to be life-changing; it can provide visually impaired children with the joy of endless reading, enable people to decipher the frequen- cies that whales sing to their loved ones, and open up whole new worlds of experiences. Access to technology education is the first step. Build- ing an ecosystem that can benefit entire communities is the next. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, and smart devices are by no means limited to big industry, office workers or personal use. They can be applied in healthcare, for example, to make an immeasur- able difference in treatments. 16CommsMEA November 2019www.commsmea.com INTERVIEW CHARLES YANG screen, which stimulates their eyeballs. The DIVE system collects gaze data and transmits it to a smartphone app. Between the capabilities of the smartphone and AI, doctors can analyse data and detect the signs of eye diseases. What’s perhaps more remarkable about this technology, though, is that trained parents can also use the app to detect visual impairment in their children, in exactly the same way as a skilled doctor. We estimate that this fast, simple, and efficient method can benefit 19 million visually impaired children around the world. This is the true meaning of digital inclusion. By working with international NGOs, we can address problems related to healthcare, education, development, and the environment on a much bigger scale. UNESCO understands that ICT and AI will help to achieve the SDGs more rapidly. The World Wildlife Fund will integrate AI into the monitoring, research, and conser- vation of endangered animals. These are just two of many examples in which technology is being used for the bet- terment of our planet as a whole, not just for humanity. Technology will enable people, homes, and organisations to enjoy the beauty of the world, whether that is our natural environment or the digital landscape. It can help to protect vulnerable groups and make ordinary people extraordinary. We are just at the beginning of realising how far we can go when using technology as a tool for positive change. Collaborative efforts between all members of society will be key to unleashing its full potential. Technological advancements are ac- celerating the advent of the intelligent world. While enjoying the conveniences of science and technology, we must also look at the other side of the story. The digital gaps still exist. Digital inclu- sion means using digital technology to promote inclusive development and leav- ing no-one behind. Two years ago, we announced our companywide vision and mission: to bring digital to every person, home, and organi- sation for a fully connected, intelligent world. Digital inclusio" best reflects the so- cial value that Huawei can create through its vision. Against this backdrop, Huawei’s TECH4ALL was born, a recently launched global initiative targeted at helping another 500 million people benefit from digital technology in the next five years. We want to protect vulnerable groups and make ordinary people extraordinary. This is the unique value of technology. Digital inclusion will need the joint efforts of businesses, governments, and so- ciety at large. Currently, we have just made the first small steps. We welcome more people and organisations to join us. For now, though, digital literacy, digital access, and digital infrastructure are all equally important components of an intel- ligent world – especially a world in which no-one is left behind. In an intelligent world, the ultimate goal is to leave no-one behind. Digital inclusion means every individual and organisation can equally access and use information and communications technology.” Charles Yang, Huawei ME president The Huawei Innovation Day incorporated three sessions: a 5G Ecosystem Conference under the title 5G, Gear Up; an AI Conference under the theme Advance Intelligence, and a Huawei Devel- oper Day Dubai 2019 session, which focused on building a better ecosystem for Huawei partners and developers. The true meaning of digital inclusion In paediatrics, it can be difficult to diagnose a young child as babies cannot explain what’s wrong with them. Congeni- tal eye diseases amongst babies and young children are some of the most difficult to diagnose, and, if left too long without treatment, there can be life-long negative impacts. In Spain, Huawei is partnered with IIS Aragon, a medical research lab, and research centre DIVE, to develop a new device that can detect visual im- pairments in young children. It simply requires children to look at images on a 17CommsMEA November 2019www.commsmea.com INTERVIEW CHARLES YANG During its fourth annual Middle East Innovation Day at GITEX 2019, Huawei explored how new partnerships in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G are now scaling digital services to more people, homes, and organisa- tions than ever before. The Huawei Innovation Day incorporated three sessions: a 5G Ecosystem Conference under the title 5G, Gear Up; an AI Conference under the theme Advance Intelligence, and a Huawei Developer Day Dubai 2019 session, which focused on building a better ecosystem for Huawei partners and developers. “Since 2009, Huawei has invested $4 billion in 5G research. We are not only providing the best 5G network, but also willing to explore 5G busi- ness success with our customers and partners. To reach customer-oriented business success, we are committed to increasing investment in three major areas: 1. Continuous invest- ment in 5G technology capability, which adapts to customers' business requirements, and brings infinite possibilities not only for person but also for industries. 2. In terms of business development and 5G use case exploration, we will persistent invest human and financial resources in business development to provide more 5G use case solutions going to market with our customers… We will keep expanding and enhancing our collaborative partnership in the Mid- dle East to cultivate a strong and in- clusive 5G ecosystem in its journey to building a fully connected intelligent Middle East,” stated Anjian, president of Carrier Networks Business Group, Huawei Middle East. Involving regulators, telecom op- erators, industry partners, analysts, and other ecosystem players, the conference reviewed global 5G case studies and explored how 5G is bring- ing infinite possibilities not only to individuals but to vertical industries across the Middle East. To date, Huawei has secured more than 50 commercial 5G contracts while shipping more than 200,000 base stations worldwide. The Advance Intelligence session explored how local enterprises and governments are embracing AI as a key enabling technology advanced in- telligence. That transformation will be assisted by Huawei’s next-generation intelligent product strategy and new +AI products for the enterprise mar- ket. By adding Artificial Intelligence capabilities to the next-generation of ICT products, from Wi-Fi 6 to All-Flash Storage, Huawei will help customers address a new round of digital transformation challenges to achieve business success. “The increasing scale of intelligent technologies are bringing disruptive changes to enterprises across the Middle East. With the rapid devel- opment of cutting-edge technolo- gies such as AI, a diverse range of applications and massive amounts of data are being generated, which pose demanding requirements on real-time data processing. Data infrastructures must be upgraded to fulfil these demands. We believe that AI will promote innovation across the region and will change the way entire industries are run,” said Alaa ElShimy, managing director and vice president, Huawei Enterprise Business Group. It is reported that AI will contrib- ute $320 billion to the Middle East economy by 2030, which indicates the large impact AI will have on the region with the governments’ support and implementation. The countries expected to gain the most in their GDP from AI by 2030 are the United Arab Emirates with 14 per cent increase, followed by Saudi Arabia at 12.4 per cent. The combina- tion of 5G connectivity and Artifi- cial Intelligence will be particularly powerful as it enables more people, things, and devices to share advanced intelligence than ever before. Accord- ing to Huawei’s recent Global Industry Vision (GIV) report, the company predicts that nearly 60 per cent of the world's population will have ac- cess to 5G by the end of 2025, and 97 per cent of large companies will have deployed AI as applications. Alaa El Shimy, managing director and vice president, Huawei Enterprise Business Group HUAWEI MIDDLE EAST INNOVATION DAY 2019 REAFFIRMS DIGITAL AS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND TODAY’S ECONOMY Government, enterprise, and technology pioneers discuss gearing up for 5G expansion, the burgeoning ecosystem for AI innovation, and support for local developersIS TECHNOLOGY, BIG DATA SAUDI ARABIA’S NEW OIL? Riyadh Muawad, STC’s senior vice president of enterprise at telecoms operator STC, outlines how the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 plans are increasing investment opportunities in the digital economy 18www.commsmea.com INTERVIEW RIYADH MUAWAD CommsMEA November 2019Driving into a mall in Riyadh during peak shopping hours, one of the most frustrating elements can be finding a free car parking space. In a bid to solve this headache, Saudi telecoms provider STC has developed a smart park- ing service which uses wireless sensors to tell users where the nearest vacant parking slots are located. Innovations like this are all part of a $158 billion global pot of funding set to be invested in smart cities-associated technology investments by 2022, according to a report released last year by research company IDC. Of this figure, around $2.7 billion is fore- cast to be spent in the Middle East and Af- rica. Riyadh Muawad, senior vice president of enterprise at STC, says the smart parking service is just the tip of the iceberg, thanks to the advances being pushed forward as part of the Saudi government’s Vision 2030 strategy to diversify the economy away from a reliance on revenue from hydrocar- bons and towards a more technologically advanced society. “STC seeks to connect all things that are not connected to a network with the help of a vast array of services and technical solu- tions. This helps enterprises reduce their costs and increase the efficiency of their business,” Muawad says. “We offer fleet control services that tar- get enterprises that rely on fleet of vehicles to transport goods, deliver products or perform other services. Fleet control ser- vices ensure punctuality, fleet safety, high productivity and facilitate management and control anytime, anywhere… We also provide power saving services which help enterprises reduce their energy consump- tion and therefore reduce their costs.” DATA CENTRES Another technological area STC is involved in is big data analysis. The Saudi market urgently needs to develop its own big data database and STC is helping to make this a reality. The company recently opened the STC RDC data centre in Riyadh. The fourth of its kind in the kingdom, the centres are the largest of their kind in the Middle East, providing state-of-the-art infrastructure that benefits the various sectors operating in the kingdom. “We live in a world where big data drives business when it comes to large corpora- tions and government entities where huge amounts of data are generated on a daily ba- sis. This huge amount of data can be utilised through analysis, and many enterprises in large and emerging markets are relying on big data analytics to determine their busi- ness scope, which in turn changes the way these enterprises deal with the challenges they face. Big data analysis is the best way to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of business processes,” Muawad says. The centres can be used for data mining and predictive analytics, allowing compa- nies, government agencies, researchers and marketers to look at data that was not previously available to them, while main- taining information privacy. JOB CREATION “Saudi Arabia has recently witnessed remarkable technological developments across all fields, in both the public and private sectors. These developments have contributed towards creating new job opportunities for the people of Saudi Arabia,” Muawad says. “In this regard, I would like to point out that technological advancements and human resources are not negatively correlated as some believe. It is a misconception that technological STC seeks to connect all things that are not connected to a network with the help of vast array of services and technical solutions. This helps enterprises reduce their costs and increase the efficiency of their business.” Riyadh Muawad advancements will eventually result in a de- crease in the human workforce. In fact, the increased use of technology will help create even more job opportunities.” At present, 87 per cent of STC’s staff at its big data centres are Saudi nationals and Muawad says they are aiming to increase that figure by offering training courses at the company’s STC Academy to develop a new generation of big data analysts. BENEFIT TO SMES In addition to the misconception about job losses, Muawad says big data analysis and technological investments are not the do- main solely of large global conglomerates, and the company has set a goal to make sure this support and investment also filters down to smaller companies. “This sector is the backbone of the economy in most of the world’s economies. Small and medium enterprises account for more than 90 per cent of the total number of enterprises worldwide and contribute 50 per cent of its GDP. This sector is also an important source of employment. Statistics indicate that between 50 to 60 per cent of the total workforce is employed in enter- prises that are classified as medium and small,” he says. “At the national level, this sector is currently receiving increased attention… STC has made it a priority to provide ICT services for the small and medium enter- prises sector. STC has dedicated a special unit to provide customised services for the small and medium enterprise sector. It has also devoted part of its capital projects to building an infrastructure with advanced technologies, such as fibre optics and microwave networks, as well as deploying mobile networks all over the kingdom.” The focus on small and medium enter- prises, big data, and job creation is certainly pushing the company in the right direction and is reflecting positively in its financial results this year. STC reported revenue of SAR 26.989 bil- lion ($7.19 billion) for the first half of 2019, an increase of 6.1 per cent. At the same time, net income over the same period reached SAR 5.598 billion, an increase of 11.3 per cent. 19www.commsmea.com INTERVIEW RIYADH MUAWAD CommsMEA November 2019Next >