CIOopinion
OPINION
CIO OPINION
“
THE
RESTRICTIONS WE
ARE FACING HAVE
FUNDAMENTALLY
REDEFINED THE WORLD’S
EXPECTATIONS OF
NETWORKS.
Mohamed Samir, Vice President of Global Services for Middle East
and Africa, Nokia
The critical role of
digital infrastructure
At the beginning of the
pandemic, Nokia worked
with operators to help them
respond swiftly to the first
phase of reducing congestion
through network optimisation
and upgrades. Mohamed
Samir, Vice President of Global
Services for Middle East and
Africa, Nokia, explains the two
key priorities for operators in
the next phase.
The Middle East and Africa is one
of the most diversified telecoms
market in the world. Stretching
from Senegal to Pakistan and from South
Africa to Iraq, it spans regions with highly
advanced connectivity where 5G roll-outs
are happening at pace, as well as isolated
rural areas with some of the most limited
connectivity on the planet.
The market is, therefore, a microcosm
of the wider world, and at a time when
half of the global population has been
under confinement, the challenges
faced by its telecoms networks are
representative of those currently being
faced across the globe.
Over just a couple of weeks, we have
seen approximately 30% traffic growth
in MEA networks – the same kind of
growth that we would usually expect
in a year. It is not just the scale of the
increase that is testing operators but
also the significant behavioural changes
as whole populations move abruptly
to a new digital way of working and
living, leaving city centres deserted and
placing unprecedented pressure on
residential networks.
Across several countries In MEA we have
noticed a massive increase of the usage
of certain applications, for example,
Zoom traffic has increased by 1,000%,
Webex by 500% and Netflix by 50% –
while YouTube usage is up 5 to 10% and
social networking apps like Instagram
and Facebook have seen spikes in traffic
of 5 to 15%.
Combined, this presents a stark challenge
to networks across a varied range of
markets; it is a challenge our industry has
risen to admirably but one we can expect
to endure.
We have now passed the initial surge
in network use. We are seeing demand
peaks stabilise as citizens across the
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