Nokia Siemens Networks celebrates first anniversary

The company's regional head, Jan Cron noted the progress during the year since its parent companies merged to create a singular force in telecommunications. In 2007, some of the largest deals it concluded came from the Middle East and Africa region - with Zain in Saudi Arabia accounting for almost $1 billion of mobile network implementation.

The region comprises of 44 countries and is estimated to have a communications infrastructure market size of around 11 billion. The statement said that the key to future growth and increased connectivity in Africa is to reach the rural communities as approximately 70% of Africa's population lives in villages.

Village Connection Solution

In East Africa, Vodacom Tanzania is currently trialing Nokia Siemens Network's Village Connection Solution which is designed to connect rural and suburban communities for the first time. It employs a unique business model that incorporates local entrepreneurs and provides communications for unconnected communities where many households have a low fare to spend on telecommunications.

In South Africa, the company is finalising the preparations for a trial of the solution in Dwesa, a remote rural area on the Wild Coast.

Head of the Southern Africa Sub Region for Nokia Siemens Networks Linda Khumalo said the company would continue to sail the local ship strongly despite some challenges. "Achievements include the R10m on training sub-contractors on our new product portfolio. Our corporate social responsibility is also firmly on track, with a focus on community involvement and uplifting people through education projects such as the Adopt-a-School and Tomorrow Trust initiatives," she said.

With a continued global strategic focus on solving network operators' most pressing businesses challenges, the year ahead for Nokia Siemens Networks globally will feature the company delivering simplified network architecture to help operators transform their businesses. This will assist them to meet challenges including, amongst others, environmental compliance and energy efficiency. For example, for the 2008 Beijing Olympics the company's energy efficient network hard and software technology will assist the official telecommunications supplier, China Mobile Group Beijing Ltd. to provide "green connectivity" that would enable the millions of people to connect to the world in the most energy efficient way.

2010 FIFA World Cup

Looking ahead to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Khumalo commented: "We are working with our customers to help them understand the challenges we see in the future and to start planning for them now." As has been done for the Beijing Olympics; the official telecommunications supplier to the 2010 FIFA World Cup will have to find optimal ways to save costs and reduce power consumption.

Nokia Siemens Networks, with a robust workforce of over 700 qualified employees, has offices in SADC countries: South Africa, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The company has offices in other African countries including Kenya and overall in Africa it has around 4000 employees.

In the Middle East and Africa region, Nokia Siemens Networks operates with a workforce of 4000 employees across 44 countries, of which 3000 are service professionals, with key locations in Dubai, Cairo, Riyadh, Islamabad and Pretoria.

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