CEM Deployments [349]: Etisalat [UAE] to Use Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent announced that it and Etisalat have "signed an agreement to deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s Motive Customer Experience Management (CEM) portfolio for Etisalat’s mobile and fixed-line customers in the UAE.

• Etisalat will use Motive CEM solutions to automatically detect, diagnose and resolve device issues to substantially reduce call resolution times
   
• Etisalat will be able to offer subscribers self-care channels to resolve technical issues at their convenience, reducing the number of calls to the care centers
   
• Alcatel-Lucent is providing elements of the Motive CEM portfolio, including device management, service management and orchestration, analytics and content management.

See "Alcatel-Lucent and Etisalat to give customers in UAE greater control over their service" - here.

Optimization Deployments[328]: Etisalat [Egypt] Uses JDSU's ariesoGEO

JDSU announced that "Etisalat Egypt has deployed its ariesoGEO solution to enhance service quality and optimization for postpaid customers. JDSU’s geolocation services will enable Etisalat to focus performance engineering investment and resources on strategic locations for its high value customers".

Related post - "JDSU Acquires Arieso for $85M to Increase Visibility to the RAN" - here.
"Etisalat chose ariesoGEO for scalability and wide ranging support for different vendors and technologies. This allows the solution to be immediately deployed across Etisalat’s existing 2G and 3G networks with the support for their future LTE investment already in place. ariesoGEO offers integrated support for 2G, 3G and LTE technologies, using location intelligence to transform RAN planning and performance engineering, providing information in near real-time for every subscriber, enabling efficient segmentation and focus on important groups"

See "Etisalat Egypt Selects JDSU’s ariesoGEO platform for Geolocation Services" - here.

DPI Deployments [296]: Etisalat[UAE] Expands Sandvine Solution

Sandvine announced that it has "received a multi-million dollar follow-on order for current customer, Etisalat ..  Sandvine customer since 2006. This order represents Etisalat’s ongoing commitment to innovation and providing subscribers with a superior Internet experience.

With the order, Etisalat has expanded its deployment of Sandvine’s best-in-class technology and solutions, including Network Analytics, Fairshare Traffic Management, Network Protection and Usage Management. The order is part of a planned multi-year, multi-phased project and will cover Etisalat’s leading fixed and mobile networks, including FTTH and LTE technologies".

Etisalat uses Alcatel-Lucent's PCRF (here).

See "Sandvine Provides Etisalat With Innovative Solutions To Take Customer Experience To Next Level" - here.

Who is Using ALU's PCRF?

A document by Alcatel-Lucent posted to PolicyChargingControl provides some insights into the vendor's deployment list of its 5780 Dynamic Services Controller.

Source: PolicyChargingControl

According to the document, ALU's PCRF and Diameter Router is deployed by the following operators: Antel Uruguay, Big River Broadband, Etisalat Sri-Lanka, Etisalat UAE, Blegacom [here], Fuego Telecom, West Central Wireless, C-Spire, Telesis Tanzania, Sasktel, Regional Telecom [Iraq] and BT.

See "Alcatel-Lucent 5780 Dynamic Services Controller (DSC) Product Highlights" - here.

Facebook Offers Free Messaging Through 18 MNOs

While offering free Wikipedia ("Wikipedia Zero" - see "VimpelCom - Free Access to Wikipedia" - here) maybe considered a true innocent move with real educational intentions, the new step by Facebook is different, and may call for more countries to consider their Net Neutrality rules.

Facebook announced in a blog post a "partnerships with mobile operators to provide free or discounted data access to Facebook messaging for their subscribers. Through this promotion, free or discounted data access will be available in the coming months on Messenger for Android, Messenger for iOS and Facebook for Every Phone, which is now optimized for chat.

"This promotion will be available from more than 18 operators in 14 countries. Operators committed to special pricing for Facebook messaging include TMN in Portugal, Three in Ireland, Airtel and Reliance in India, Vivacom in Bulgaria, Backcell in Azerbaydzhan, Indosat, Smartfren, AXIS and XL Axiata in Indonesia, SMART in Philippines, DiGi in Malaysia, DTAC in Thailand, Viva in Bahrain, STC in Saudi Arabia, Oi in Brazil, Etisalat in Egypt, and Tre in Italy".

See "Discounting Data Access to Messaging on Mobile" - here.

Huawei: New Traffic Management Products and Deployments

Huawei issued a number of press releases related to traffic management solutions:

• Value Growth Solution 2.0 (VGS2.0) - "the company’s second generation traffic management solution, which integrates an operator’s IT & CT layers, offering innovative approaches to boosting user experience and traffic revenue. This solution highly integrates analytic engine, dynamic charging system, PCRF, PCEF and network enabler, shortening TTM via IT & CT orchestration and preset cases. It realizes dynamic policy control and implementation of flexible tariff plans, improving network utilization efficiency by E2E network resources allocation. At the same time, it gives power to the users so that they are able know and control their data consumption in real time".    
  
  "Huawei VGS has been successfully deployed by 150 operators in 60 countries, including China Mobile, MegaFon (Russia - see "MegaFon[Russia] Uses Huawei (and Cisco and NSN) for Traffic Management" - here.), Etisalat (UAE), and Telenor (Norway)"
  
  See "Huawei to Debut Value Growth Solution 2.0 at Mobile World Congress 2013" - here.
   
• Successful completion of trials for its Service Quality Improvement (SQI) solution - "..on networks in Turkey, Belgium, and Spain. Huawei's SQI solution objectively measures network service quality, precisely identifies network quality issues, and realizes quality of service (QoS) improvements.
  Huawei's SQI solution makes a set of KQI definitions that more precisely measure real user experience. With revamped related-analysis methodology, it locates E2E the root cause of a network issue. Compared to traditional network KPI optimization routines, the SQI solution's innovative methods improve voice and data QoS while reducing costs and increasing efficiency".
  
  See "Huawei SQI Solution Shown to Improve Quality of Service on Networks in Turkey, Belgium, and Spain" - here

• Video call quality assurance solution -  "based on a new Flow Priority Indicator (FPI) technology. The solution provides end-to-end quality assurance and charging functions for subscribers of video call service packages, improving user experience and bringing new revenue potential for operators .. Huawei's FPI technology was designed to meet the needs of both operators and subscribers. In scenarios where bandwidth is limited, subscribers who have purchased video call service packages supported by FPI are given a higher priority and can enjoy better video call service quality. Utilizing the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), the solution matches the services subscribers are using with their purchased subscriptions to prioritize limited network resources. FPI also precisely calculates service assurance duration and uplink and downlink traffic, supporting operators for content charging and operation of premium and high-value services".
  
  See "Huawei Launches FPI Video Call Quality Assurance Solution for Operator Revenue Growth" - here.

Ad Insertion Deployments [170]: Etisalat Deploys ALU's Optism

Etisalat Nigeria announced the launch of a "..permission- and preference-based mobile advertising service, in collaboration with Alcatel-Lucent. Etisalat Nigeria is to deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s Optism, the software-based mobile marketing solution which allows subscribers to share their interests and preferences with their mobile operator and ‘opt-in’ to receive personalized, relevant advertising and special offers on their mobile phones from their favorite brands"

Etisalat Nigeria has 13M subscribers and is one of the 17 operations of the Etisalat Group, serving a total of 172M subscriebrs (end of Q2, 2012).

Wael Ammar, Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, said: “Optism is enabling us to achieve a number of exciting and important objectives. First, we are bringing the power of permission-based mobile advertising to the Nigerian market with our EasyAdz service. This simply means that we will provide customers with advertising content relevant to their specific locations and choices. We are also providing a large and highly profiled audience base for brands and advertisers as well as creating an avenue to connect with our most important asset – our growing base of over thirteen million subscribers”

See "Etisalat Nigeria introduces permission-based mobile advertising to over thirteen million customers using Alcatel-Lucent’s Optism™" - here.