Telecom Review continued its dedication and commitment to the ICT industry and exceeded all expectations by holding the best and largest high-level executive ICT gathering. The Telecom Review Excellence Awards, held on Dec. 6, recognized industry leaders for their efficient and hard work in 2017, and are a special way for Telecom Review to help celebrate the winner’s success.
This year there were 302 nominations for the Telecom Review Excellence Awards. Telecom Review wants to thank all of the judges who worked tirelessly on reviewing and judging the nominees. Winners were chosen based on recognized and demonstrated capabilities in their specific sector by an independent panel of 15 experienced industry veterans.
“This year’s award winners represent the absolute best in our industry and we are very proud to honor these winners with such a distinguished award,” said Toni Eid, CEO of Trace Media International and founder of Telecom Review.
Commenting on the gathering of Industry Leaders, Jeff Seal, Managing Partner of Telecom Review North America noted, “Once again Telecom Review has brought together the leaders of the ICT/telecom industry.”
Best Chip Maker Developer Award
Their FP4 is the result of years of engineering and research and leverages the latest advances in silicon. This year’s winner is Nokia.
Best BSS Provider
Their UAE product represents a paradigm shift in mobile for the UAE with their focus on “righting the mobile wrongs” in the market and using digital as a platform in order to make the value proposition and customer experience simpler, fairer, and better for the consumer in the UAE. This year’s winner is Virgin Mobile.
Best Satellite Provider
They own and operate two geostationary satellites at 44 degrees East and 98.5 degrees East providing comprehensive coverage of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia, covering 2/3rds of the whole world. This year’s winner is Thuraya.
Best Middle Eastern Operator
At this years’ GITEX, they announced Tesla Model X with its connected platform empowering one of the first global electric cars with its technology and network. This year’s winner is Etisalat.
Best African Operator
They serve over 56 million customers, including 50.7 million Mobile customers throughout the 10 countries where the Group operates on the African Continent. This year’s winner is Maroc Telecom.
Best VAS Provider
Their success in assisting their clients within the industry to achieve well in excess of 2 billion dollars of submarine cables achieving Ready for Service, stands testament to the Value-Added service that they provide. This year’s winner is AP Telecom.
Best 5G Innovation
They keep wide cooperation with industry partners on 5G. Plays key roles in 5G associations, such as: 5G PPP, NGMN, 5G AA and, IMT-2020. This year’s winner is Huawei.
Best Customer Service Provider for Operators
They continue to provide the highest level of service to their client base. This year’s winner is du.
Best Smart City Initiative
Recognizing the potential impact of the blockchain technology on city services coupled with a worldwide blockchain adoption trend that saw $1.1 billion invested by the private sector in blockchain technology in 2016 alone, Dubai launched a city wide blockchain strategy in October 2016 with the objective of becoming the first blockchain powered city by 2020. This year’s winner is Smart Dubai.
Best Smart City Technology Platform
Uniting all aspects of Dubai’s smart city roadmap, Smart Dubai Platform (SDP) will be unlike any other in the world today. Built on an intricately structured digital backbone through a collaborative and interactive process with all city stakeholders, SDP is an embodiment of Smart Dubai’s efforts to reshaping the way government services are structured to meet the needs of the customer, not the other way around. This year’s winner is Smart Dubai.
Best Middle Eastern Wholesale Operator
During the last 12-24 months, they have become one of the biggest voice carriers globally carrying around 16 billion minutes. This year’s winner is Etisalat.
Best International Wholesale Operator
As many as 19 additional Point of Presence (POPs) for IPLC and IP have been deployed in the last year and a half in Mexico, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Egypt, UAE, Qatar, Ivory Coast and Djibouti. This year’s winner is PCCW Global.
Best Cloud Provider
Today’s organizations operate in a business climate of breakneck speed and continuous change. Their Cloud enables businesses to transform their IT operations so that they can respond to these changing market forces faster, and deliver customer value more effectively, all while containing costs to be more competitive. This year’s winner is Ericsson.
Best Carrier Enterprises Service
Since winning the second DSP (Data Service Provider) license after STC in 2005, they have built an enviable list of industry firsts, challenging a highly commoditized industry and quickly establishing a foothold in an industry dominated by well-entrenched giants. This year’s winner is ITC.
Most Innovative Product/Service for Operators
NaaS offers a breadth of services that are applicable to market segments ranging from enterprises to mid-market. This winner was one of the first globally-to offer this fully scalable solution allowing IT teams, with already thin budgets, a new way to divert IT resources and focus from strategic projects that drive growth and profitability. This year’s winner is TELUS.
Most Innovative Product/Solution for Vendors
Their Cloud Communications Platform for Voice and Messaging is a new technology that decouples phone numbers from devices and eliminates the need to carry multiple phones. T-Mobile launched the first commercial deployment of this unique and game-changing programmable cloud communications platform, with DIGITS—the service that finally moves the user identity from the device to the person. This year’s winner is Mavenir.
Best Telecom Brand
They are the largest Telecom Brand in the Middle East for 2017, with a brand portfolio worth US$ 7.728 billion, and a brand value of US$ 5.5 billion, increasing by 45% over 2016 from US$ 3.77 billion. This year’s winner is Etisalat.
Best Industry Vendor
They have built a strong presence in the region in a relatively short period in comparison to many vendors who have decades of global operational experience and have entered the region quite early. Even still, they are a leading innovator in the Middle East, bringing its global expertise to further drive infrastructure developments across the region. This year’s winner is Huawei.
Industry President of the Year for Vendors
Mr. Srage has led Qualcomm's business operations in the regions and manage its strategic relationships with regional customers, including network operators and infrastructure equipment providers. This year’s winner is Mr. Jay Srage, President Qualcomm, Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Industry CTO of the Year for Operators
Ibrahim Gedeon is one of the global telecommunications industry’s most colorful and respected executives. He has carved out an international career by combining tremendous insight and skill as an applied scientist with a lighthearted and thoroughly non-conventional approach to leadership.
As Chief Technology Officer for TELUS, a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, he is responsible for technology strategy, service and network architecture, service delivery and operational support systems, as well as service and network convergence, and network infrastructure strategies and evolution. Under his leadership the TELUS wireless broadband network has become one of the best in the world. This year’s winner is Dr. Ibrahim Gideon, CTO of TELUS.
Industry CEO of the Year
Under his leadership STC has continued to grow and retain profitability. In addition, he has made sure that digitization is addressed for the future at STC and that STC will focus on keeping up with the variables of cloud computing, information security, Internet of things, digital financial services, and digital media. This year’s winner is Dr. Khaled Al Byari Group CEO of STC.