The annual EurasiaCom event closed today on a high note with lively debates, great discussions and insightful opportunities

The annual EurasiaCom event closed today in Istanbul after two days of lively debates on the future of the telecoms and digital sector in the region.

After a first day focused on operator strategies, LTE and the Internet of Things, the second day looked at cost-efficiency, how to monetise content & apps services and mobile money opportunities. The discussions gave a very insightful overview of the major opportunities and challenges faced by operators in the region: growing profitability while investing in more powerful networks and facing renewed competition from OTT providers.

The event was hosted by operator Turkcell and sponsored by Mahindra Comviva. The speaker line-up gave a broad representation of the region's most dynamic companies, from large operators in developed markets to smaller players in emerging ones. Companies represented on the programme included operators Turk Telekom, MTS, Bakcell, Azqtel, TTNET, Azerfon, Mobitel, Deutsche Telekom, Mynet, Play Mobile, as well as regulators and vendors.

"EurasiaCom provides a great opportunity for very different operators and service providers to network, to share experiences,  and ultimately deliver better services to the end-users" says Julie Rey, Research Director at organisers Informa Telecoms & Media.

EurasiaCom is part of the Com World Series, delivering high-level strategic events to key emerging markets. The next event, East Africa Com will take place in Kenya in May. 


Have a look at what a few people had to say about EurasiaCom 2014:

“Professionally organized, effective usage of time, highly international audience, efficient networking possibilities. The sessions were very informative, with a great range of speakers."

Murad Onol

Protel and TUYAD

“Great speed networking sessions at EurasiaCom! Perfect way to meet and discuss our products with Turkish and CIS Mobile Operators. Thanks Aleksandra!”

Erik Van Thielen

VP Business Development

“Fantastic way to network with operators in short timeslots. Would love to engage in it AGAIN!”

M. Dimitrova

Anritsu

“The great speed networking event enabled me to meet many operators I would normally have a hard time hunting down in an event”

Lars Isaksson

Sales Director

Netadmin Systems

“Definitely an effective event to network in the region. We especially liked the “speed networking”; it helps to get to know regional players quite efficiently! Thank you!”

Ramin Ramezani

MoveEuropa Service

“Thank you so much for EurasiaCom. It was very interesting and well organized event. We will definitely come back again!”

SkyTel Mongolia

Visit the website to find out what else happened at EurasiaCom 2014.

Lebanese mobile market shake-ups: DT to withdraw?

A helpful colleague here at Informa Telecoms & Media recently forwarded me a story which reports changes on the Lebanese mobile market.

While preparing for our imminent GSM>3G Middle East conference in Dubai, I was surprised to receive news of a speaker cancellation. We had long planned to welcome the Chief Commercial Officer of Lebanese cello Alfa, one of the very first presenters to have confirmed his interest in sharing insights at the event. We have since replaced the planned presentation with one from Saudi Arabia's Mobily, but it's always disappointing to have to cancel a presentation which we have advertised for some time.

I cannot be sure, but we may have to assume that the Alfa cancellation is related to recent news that Lebanon's national unity government is forcing the company to abandon its contract to manage one of the country's two state-owned mobile phone networks, having criticsed its services. Alfa, a joint venture of Deutsche Telekom and Saudi Arabia's Fal Holdings, had to hand over control of the MIC1 network to the Telecommunications Ministry on 1 December, thereby ending its four-year management contract.

"With MIC1, we were not happy with the quality [of service] that we ended up with,"" says Gilbert Najjar, the head of the ministry's advisory board on the two networks.

The Kuwaiti operator Zain, which manages the country's second MIC2 network under its MTC-Touch brand, will also have to hand over its contract, but not until the end of January. Najjar has declined to criticise Zain's management of MIC2, and the Kuwaiti firm is therefore expected to rebid for its contract. Lebanon's telecoms regulator has indicated that Zain needs to reapply because the Council of Ministers (cabinet) is certain to change the terms of the contract.

"This is a legal and administrative issue. They are changing the terms of the contract so they cannot just renew the management contracts,"" says Lelia el-Khazen, a senior market analyst at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.