< PreviousCommsMEA and the ITP Tech Team caught up with Alpha Barry, CEO for Africa and Khadim Gueye, Global Client Executive for the Middle East and Africa at Atos, to find out how African telcos are enhancing their digitalisation efforts in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic INTERVIEW ATOS 30www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020 INTERVIEW FAST TRACKING AFRICA’S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 30www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020has become compulsory to enable value- added services on top of convergent IT and network platforms to sustain the heavy investments made by the CSPs to keep their infrastructures up-to-mark. ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE LAUNCH OF 5G SERVICES, BUT IN AFRICA IT’S ACTUALLY THE DENSIFICATION AND BUILD OUT OF 4G INFRASTRUCTURE THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE NEW SERVICES THAT TELCOS CAN OFFER TO THEIR CLIENTS WITH THE DIGITALISATION OF THEIR TELECOM NETWORKS AND THE EXPANSION OF 4G? The Covid 19 pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of digitalisation efforts around the globe, with connectivity emerging as the crucial lifeblood that has facilitated the continuation of peoples’ daily lives as we enter the ‘new normal’ of the post- pandemic world. A plethora of work from home and remote learning initiatives have meant that hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people have been able to continue their daily routines, albeit through a digital platform. But digitalisation is about far more that enabling remote working and studying practices – it opens up an entire world of digital interactions that benefit consumers and enterprises alike. With one of the fastest growing populations of any continental market, Africa is accelerating its own digital development, as it looks to bounce back from the impact of Covid 19. We spoke to Alpha Barry, CEO for Africa and Khadim Gueye Global Client Executive for the Middle East and Africa at Atos, to find out how African telcos are leading from the front on their own digitalisation initiatives. THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS SHOWN US THE CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTIVITY AND DIGITAL SOLUTIONS ACROSS THE WORLD, AND CONNECTIVITY HAS BEEN THE CATALYST THAT HAS ENABLED PEOPLE TO LIVE FULL DIGITAL LIVES DURING THE PANDEMIC. HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC EXPEDITED THE DIGITALISATION OF TELCOS OPERATIONS IN AFRICA? Alpha: Africa, similarly to the rest of the world, has been seriously impacted by the containment measures taken by governments during the pandemic and remote home working for structured companies was the solution to ensure service continuity. In Africa, Atos has been able to move 97 per cent of its employees’ workstations from the company network to secured home workstations, in just a few days. This provided some challenges in terms of WIFI availability for some areas, and we have provided specific prepaid network devices to allow workers to access the internet and the company intranet. On the client side, we observed a significant growth in supporting mobile data, broadband services and mobile payment platforms. The underlying reason for such growth is to be found in the virtualisation of the network and the digitalisation of IT applications that allows the launching of new services in time-record. Atos is a well-recognised key-player in enabling these digital transformations based on its solid portfolio, strong local-presence and close relationships with the operators. Connectivity, although essential, isn’t enough in isolation any longer. It Africa is on the cutting edge of digital innovation in area›s such as mobile money solutions. Africa is the most advanced place in the world regarding innovation on mobile services, based initially on money transfer and now moving to mobile banking products such as insurance and loans. The international mobile money market is predicted to grow from $34.9 billion in 2018 to $112.29 billion by 2021, at an estimated Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 39.64 per cent from 2016 to 2021.” Alpha Barry, CEO for Africa, Atos. ATOS INTERVIEW 31www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020in 2018. These transactions and volumes are the basis of revenue generation for the Telecom companies in Africa. The primary goal of operators in Africa is to deploy a multivendor platform as a service (PaaS), fully virtualised, centrally orchestrated that allow seamless onboarding of cloud-native applications and flawless deployment of network function as a service (NaaS). However, there is a long way to go before reaching this ultimate target. Today, Atos is supporting operators in Africa making strides in their full-mesh rollout of 4G proportionally in line with the growing demands. Atos Global Delivery Centres in Africa, with up to 2,000 experts spread over the region, are at the helm of the digital transformation with the launch of critical network modules to expedite the circuit and packet network convergence. The main example is the ongoing launch of VoLTE and VoWifi mobile services that enable a new user experience to telco customers. While 5G will present an opportunity for the operators to embrace new growth segments, most of them will first remove the biggest chunk of their legacy technologies, as 5G will not only be about very-high throughput but also about low latency, end-to-end quality of service and growing demands on quality of experience. WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHALLENGES FOR OPERATORS LOOKING TO FAST TRACK THEIR OWN DIGITALISATION EFFORTS ACROSS THE CONTINENT? Khadim: When it comes to fast tracking digital transformation for those joining the movement a bit late, it becomes necessary to lay on agile, agnostic and scalable solutions. The main challenge for operators is to follow a global transformation roadmap from current to future mode of operation while maintaining a hybrid configuration that allows old services to run flawlessly with no impact on new services deployed on separate or convergent platforms. To help our customers in the region, Atos leans not only on the large range of competences in its local Global Delivery Centres, but also on its skill-centres spread across the globe. The sharing of best practices gives our delivery and solution teams the possibility of building and deploying the best results on time, at cost and at specification. ATOS WORKS VERY CLOSELY WITH A NUMBER OF TOP- TIER OPERATORS ACROSS THE CONTINENT. HOW ATOS IS FACILITATING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FOR THEM? Khadim: In both the most advanced cases and those who are just at the start of their digital transformation journeys, the major concern for operators all over Africa has always been to define a reliable and sustainable digital transformation strategy. That is where Atos plays a crucial role from the early stage, being part of the consulting team to help define the most The primary goal for operators in Africa is to deploy a multivendor platform as a service offering. Alpha: It is true that Africa is still deploying 4G infrastructure next to existing 3G and even 2G networks that are running in several countries across the continent. However, despite this situation, Africa is the most advanced place in the world regarding innovation on mobile services, based initially on money transfer and now moving to mobile banking products such as insurance and loans. The international mobile money market is predicted to grow from $34.9 billion in 2018 to $112.29 billion by 2021, at an estimated Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 39.64 per cent from 2016 to 2021. Mobile money continues to play a vital role in financial inclusion. Globally, around 1.7 billion people still lack access to safe, reliable and convenient financial services. Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 66 per cent of the total volume of these transaction Atos’ wealth of digital experts allows us to build trust and intimacy with operators, helping them to develop business models that boost operational efficiency. To make this happen, Atos experts are driving customers to think, build and operate all the key steps together.” Khadim Gueye, Global Client Executive for the Middle East and Africa at Atos. INTERVIEW ATOS 32www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020viable approach that can be incrementally implemented with no impact on the continuity of existing services. Atos’ wealth of digital experts allows us to build trust and intimacy with operators, helping them to develop business models that boost operational efficiency. To make this happen, Atos experts are driving customers to think, build and operate all the key steps together. Our teams enhance their customers’ experience by creating on demand, personalized and contextualised services enabled by their digital transformation. LET’S TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SECURITY. AS AFRICA EMBARKS ON ITS OWN DIGITALISATION JOURNEY, WHAT ARE THE KEY CHALLENGES FOR OPERATORS LOOKING TO SECURE THEIR DIGITAL ASSETS? Alpha: With the development of mobile phones, the rapid digitalisation of processes and the exponential value of data, cyber security has become one of the major challenges for operators; these must provide security for their own infrastructures and their end-users. To secure their digital assets, the key challenge for operators is to first understand their cyber posture and then to set up a dynamic system to manage the various cyber risks to which they are exposed. Ultimately, whatever controls are put in place, humans remain the weakest element in the security of any technological system. It is necessary to train and sensitize all employees to ensure that they are sufficiently immersed in the security culture. Moreover, to protect themselves against the high number of attacks, operators must combine Artificial Intelligence and Big Data to their cyber security system. On the other side, telecoms operators can take advantage of opportunities to provide cybersecurity services to their customers. At Atos we are building SOC (Security Operations Centre) for our Telecom customers, to address their B2B ecosystem. We have implemented various SOCs and we will expand in several other countries. DOES AFRICA HAVE SUFFICIENT CYBER SECURITY EXPERTS TO MANAGE THIS OR ARE WE SEEING A SKILLS GAP ON THE CONTINENT? Alpha: Across the world, there is a skills gap in the area of cybersecurity. Especially in Africa, Cybersecurity is something new to our education system, but we are starting to see a lot of training programmes developing around the subject. In addition, human resources are being trained more and more with international certifications available in e-learning platform. For several years, Atos has been supporting its customers in Africa in their cyber protection through a range of offerings, including consulting, services and products. At the beginning of this year, we opened a cybersecurity department based in Senegal covering the needs of our customers in terms of consulting, ethical hacking, access and identity management and managed security services like SOC. We also have partnerships with some cybersecurity players on the continent. For example, in South Africa Atos has partnered with BCX to set up a SOC which will offer a full spectrum of advanced detection and response services and consistently update customers on their environments. Considering the typology of the African market, this kind of mutualised offering will enable local companies to have access to high quality services at a lower cost. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT SOME OF YOUR EXPERIENCES, WORKING WITH OPERATORS IN THE REGION TO SECURE THEIR NETWORKS? WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED? Alpha: We have had the opportunity to accompany MTN in Nigeria and the SONATEL Group (Orange) in West Africa on various Cybersecurity projects. This has included penetration testing, Security Operation Centre developments, Devsecops assessment and strategy initiatives. The challenges are multiple because cybersecurity is a fairly new subject and conducting this type of project requires excellent involvement of all stakeholders. Furthermore, some senior managers believe that cybersecurity should be managed by IT specialists, whereas cybersecurity is primarily a business challenge. LOOKING AHEAD OVER THE NEXT 12 TO 18 MONTHS, WHAT PREDICTIONS DO YOU HAVE FOR AFRICA’S DIGITAL ECONOMY? Alpha: Digitalisation is a fantastic chance for Africa to significantly develop its economy and the live of its population. As mentioned above, mobile money, mobile banking and FinTechs, in general will be a strong driver of the digitalization through the Telecom operators. Khadim: Outside telcos, we believe that public and utilities sectors will launch significant digitalization projects to improve efficiency and grow income. Alpha: In Africa, recent market analysis has shown that the digital economy will undoubtedly unlock new opportunities for inclusive growth while enabling new jobs among the youth and consequently reducing poverty and unemployment rate over time. Although great strides have been made in mobile connectivity all over Africa, it still lags behind the rest of the world in broadband deployment, which enables value-added-services, properly matching low-latency, jitter requirements, large bandwidth, high QoE and unfailing QoE. These are unavoidable prerequisites that plant the seeds of digital transformation. Atos, based on its great connection with both the local operators and the government institutions, is pioneering such an immutable transformation building close relationships with the major actors in Africa to materialise these promising digital dividends. Over the next three years, the internet access will keep expanding throughout Africa; therefore, increasing the adoption of digital technology by most of the businesses, empowering entrepreneurship with efficient toolsets and greater productivity. This requires a strong focus on each and every pillar towards setting up a comprehensive and consistent digital roadmap: virtualised infrastructure, platform as a service, digital services creation and entrepreneurship enablement. Atos, as a major actor of the digital transformation worldwide, will keep bringing its entire know-how towards implementing a successful digital roadmap for Africa. ATOS INTERVIEW 33www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020Thibault Werle, managing director & partner at Boston Consulting Group, Faisal Hamady, partner at Boston Consulting Group and Rachid El Ameri, principal at Boston Consulting Group look ahead to what’s in store for the telecoms industry in 2021 WHAT HAS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OVER THE PAST 12 MONTHS IN YOUR OPINION? The Covid 19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of change within the industry. During this time, we have rediscovered how critical digital infrastructures are in order to maintain normalcy and quality of daily life. Digital connectivity and access have played a major role in enabling remote work, e-learning, and general continuity in daily routines during the recent global lockdown, and this has been possible through decades of infrastructure investments by telcos. While telcos’ efforts to ensure that connectivity remains largely uninterrupted have generated praises, the digital divide between people who don’t have access to high-speed internet connectivity and those who do has become even more apparent. This is a vital element to address, given the new reality of remote working and living. According to our recent research, reducing the digital divide globally by half over the next five years will require a $2.1 trillion investment, where if the public and private sectors collaborate, they can provide high-speed internet access to around 80 per cent of the world’s population by 2025, compared to just 53 per cent today. We believe these changes over the past 12 months will continue to evolve into the next years, and it will be key to be agile and prepared for the year to come. According to our recent research, reducing the digital divide globally by half over the next five years will require a $2.1 trillion investment.” Boston Consulting Group. HOW HAS THE MIDDLE EAST REGION PERFORMED IN REGARD TO 5G ROLLOUT? Preparations and construction work on 5G in the Middle East began two years ago, mainly concentrated in the GCC with INSIGHT BCG 34www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020some activities in the Levant and North Af- rica region. The Middle East has continued on a fast adoption path for 5G propelled by proactive and consistent government support and streamlined decision-making processes on vendor risks. To date (October 2020), there have been more than 350 5G commercial deployments sites in the GCC, deeming the region at par with the likes of South Korea, who was among the pioneers in 5G piloting and adoption, with approximately 300 commercial 5G site deployments to date. Given the accelerated delivery and de- ployment of 5G networks in the Middle East to facilitate business continuity and combat the pandemic’s implications, the region has continued on a strong momen- tum with key vendors reporting the ME as one of their top markets for 5G rollout. HOW EFFECTIVELY DID THE TELECOMS INDUSTRY COPE WITH THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC? The new reality of remote life in both the professional and personal capacity has driven a substantial shift in consumer usage patterns. A major increase in us- age of telco services was observed during a time where digital platforms became paramount to enabling work from home, accessing media content, and staying connected with family and friends. Overall, the telecom industry has ena- bled the world to continue forward dur- ing hardships faced in the pandemic by providing reliable connectivity and by also playing a unique role in building and sustaining connections during disrup- tive times. Also, telcos played a critical role in assisting governments around the world in their crisis response. Looking to the year ahead, telco’s should chart the course in three areas to ensure optimal readiness for a post-COVID-19 reality: • Delaying, continuing, or accelerating the roll-out of FTTH and 5G • Create a view on the optimal industry structure that will support society in the best way and engage with the government accordingly – also in the context of 5G auctions that are coming up • Expect the growing shift to digital channels, and the importance of pro- viding value for money and customer experiences to services offered BCG INSIGHT 35www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020game-changing innovations. Three key trends will define the telecommunica- tions landscape in 2021: The higher connectivity needs of customers who work, consume content, and socialise from home will be addressed. We can expect to see telcos invest in building and sustaining connectivity through data boosters, work from home packages, and so forth. In addition, telcos may invest resources to proactively identify capacity shortages and push upgrades when limits are approached. Critical machine type communication such as Industry 4.0 and Digital Health will drive the prominence of 5G rollout. This will lead to an increase in propositions centered around high volume, high-quality data-consumption, remote working, and e-learning; explore additional services in- cluding improved cybersecurity solutions, health monitoring, self-diagnostics, and telemedicine offerings. Widespread commercial launches of 5G technology launches will see the rise of enhanced mobile broadband applications and shape future investments. We may witness new use cases such as Internet of Things (IoT) deployment, mobile ultra HD content, AI-enabled predictive maintenance, fully remote and automated NOC operations, Thibault Werle Faisal Hamady Rachid El Ameri To date (October 2020), there have been more than 350 5G commercial deploy- ments sites in the GCC, deeming the region at par with the likes of South Korea, who was among the pioneers in 5G piloting and adop- tion, with approximate- ly 300 commercial 5G site deployments to date.” Boston Consulting Group. Telcos have played a unique role in the func- tioning of society during unprecedented times. As the business impact of the COVID-19 crisis mounts, telcos will have a crucial role to play in supporting governments in protecting people’s health, bolstering the economy, and develop- ing both practical solutions and game changing innovations.” Boston Consulting Group. WHAT WILL BE THE KEY TRENDS FOR 2021 IN THE TELECOM SECTOR? Telcos have played a unique role in the functioning of society during unprec- edented times. As the business impact of the COVID-19 crisis mounts, telcos will have a crucial role to play in support- ing governments in protecting people’s health, bolstering the economy, and de- veloping both practical solutions and robotic process automation in back- office operations, e-service capabilities, leveraging AR & VR in product offerings, for customer services, and much more. These possible use cases will shape the coming years and will begin to drive the profile of investments in technology. INSIGHT BCG 36www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020Adrian Pickering, regional general manager, EMEA, Red Hat, looks at how open source solutions are helping to drive digitalisation for telcos across the Middle East REDHAT OPINION 37www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020HOW IS OPEN SOURCE ARCHITECTURE HELPING TO FAST TRACK DIGITALISATION? Massive global changes are shifting the way people live and work—requiring organisa- tions to rethink their teams, processes, and technologies to stay competitive. If your company isn’t already transforming digi- tally, now is the time. Open source software (OSS) can create positive disruption—engaging both cus- tomers and employees—by encouraging collaboration and productivity. It offers a low-cost way to kick-start innovation. Es- tablished organisations are beginning to ex- plore how trending technologies such as AI and blockchain can play a part in address- ing their customers’ needs. OSS source lan- guages, tools, and platforms can be power- ful accelerants for attaining competency. Any organisation’s development team can use open source to quickly prototype innovative ideas, experiment with trend- ing technologies, and build on these trends. When coders can engage with domain ex- perts and contribute their own work to an OSS ecosystem, job satisfaction and crea- tivity often grow, along with engineering discipline, product quality, and efficiency. Participating in an OSS community can provide junior developers an opportunity to read code written by more experienced colleagues in their field or even by highly creative pioneers who are driving their domains forward. By engaging with their peers in an OSS community, more experienced developers—particularly those in enterprise IT leadership positions—can continuously freshen their skills, while keeping their finger on the pulse of the latest technologies, programming languages, and tools. This information, in turn, can inform their own recruiting, retention, and training programs. The OSS community expects develop- ers to contribute code as well as consume it. Today, many companies are consuming more than they’re contributing back to the open source world. Beyond skill develop- ment and professional growth opportu- nities that open source offers code writ- ers, firms are realising that the ability to contribute to the OSS ecosystem strikes a chord with a generation of millennials who intrinsically value giving something back to the wider world. OSS is a powerful tool for building and maintaining morale among IT tal- ent. Being able to take software from the OSS ecosystem—and share their own in return—has helped boost job satisfaction and sparked creativity. Developers are not the only stakehold- ers here. Compliance and risk teams re- quire auditability. Here, too, OSS shines brightly because it makes source code open to all for inspection. As you think about the benefits of using OSS in your organisation, remember to first consider your mission, vision, and values. As the old saying goes: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Em- bracing open source can be part of a broad- er effort to modernise tech operating and delivery models, but don’t underestimate the importance of (and challenge of) the required cultural shift. Nearly any CTO should find open source software worth considering. If your job requires a quick adaptation to fast- moving emerging tech domains? OSS frees you to do so. If your job requires a means of more effectively attracting, engaging, de- veloping, and retaining talent? OSS frees you to do that as well. Finally, if your job calls for a solution built with utility, qual- ity, auditability in mind, OSS can free you to do that too. WHAT CYBER SECURITY THREATS DO TELCOS NEED TO BE MINDFUL OF AS THEY ROLL OUT THEIR DIGITALISATION INITIATIVES? As telecoms pivot toward a more digital future, they will very likely encounter entirely new types of cybersecurity risks to data, applications, and networks. Yet according to findings from The Global State of Information Security, many tel- ecommunications companies are not do- ing enough to address cyber threats for today—or the future. As the frequency and scope of cyberse- curity and privacy risks continue to mount for telcos, they need to be mindful of three key security factors: 1. Digitisation has transformed how tel- ecoms operate, provide services, and communicate with customers. This dis- ruptive business ecosystem, combined with increasingly frequent and sophis- ticated cyber risks, demands a commit- ment to cybersecurity that focuses on highly trained personnel, up-to-date processes, and the right tools to detect, analyse, and respond to threats. 2. A robust cybersecurity practice also can create competitive advantages by boosting customer trust in the organi- sation’s brand and reputation, giving the company a leg up in launching new services like mobile payments. 3. While breaches have typically targeted customer data, there is growing con- cern that ultra-sophisticated adversar- ies like nation-states, organised crime, and hacktivists will initiate attacks OPINION REDHAT 38www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020hundreds of millions of new devices glob- ally connecting to the network every year. According to experts, there are five key trends that will transform the industry in the near future: 1. Telcos evolve their focus from NFV to cloud native: Telcos will invest their resources on evolving to cloud native principles. This includes shifting from VNFs (virtual native function) to CNFs (cloud native function). This will enable dynamic network capabilities and will massively streamline the cost and time to market for digital services. 2. A move to speed-based pricing for mobile: 5G mobile broadband offers substantial improvements in network speeds, capacity and quality and consumers are increasingly getting used to paying more and more for the best connectivity. Analyst group CSS that disrupt services and even cause physical damage. As the telecommunications industry rein- vents itself and cyber-risks evolve, cyber- security will continue to be top of mind for telecom executives, Boards of Directors, and consumers alike. It is an all-encom- passing, persistent risk issue that is critical to the resilience and revenues of today’s increasingly digital telecoms and retaining connected customers. WHAT PREDICTIONS DO YOU WAVE FOR THE INDUSTRY OVER THE NEXT 12-18 MONTHS? The telecommunications environment is growing increasingly complex. Service providers are virtualising their networks, building for rapid traffic growth with lim- ited revenue growth, and grappling with the Internet of Things (IoT) impact from Insight, predicts that the majority of 5G operators will transfer to speed-based pricing by 2021. This will be particularly relevant for operators that want to offer mobile broadband and fixed wireless access in the 5G era. 3. Innovation in spectrum will enable the rise of new 5G operators: 5G will see new players coming into smart cit- ies, IoT devices and private networks to disrupt the market. These will drive innovation and regulation in terms of allocation. Traditional CSPs (commu- nication service providers) will develop to open cloud networks, network shar- ing, network slicing and new spectrum, to reach the cost structures, agility and innovation to compete in 5G. 4. A rise in the number of private 5G net- works in the coming 2 years. The net- works will be a local area network (LAN) and will involve operators using 5G tech- nology to build and create a network. Such networks are expected to carry all the features associated with 5G includ- ing, low latency and increased speeds. 5. 5G indoor coverage will gather momen- tum: wireless coverage systems will be easily upgraded to facilitate 5G. This is a cost-effective solution for them and can provide both venue owners and op- erator’s longevity and ROI (return on investment) for purchases. Service providers are virtualising their networks, building for rapid traffic growth with limited revenue growth, and grappling with the Internet of Things (IoT) impact from hundreds of millions of new devices globally connecting to the network every year.” Adrian Pickering, regional general manager, EMEA, Red Hat. Telcos will increasingly look to evolve their focus from NFV to cloud native solutions, according to Pickering. REDHAT OPINION 39www.itp.netCommsMEA December 2020Next >