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.

Dual-mode WiMAX/GSM device hits Russian market

Earlier this year WiMAX watchers Maravedis were talking up Russia as one of the world's top WiMAX/BWA markets. Some weight was added to this arguments when we hosted a, WiMAX Forum-endorsed and well-attended Russia/CIS conference in Moscow last month. Further evidence of Russia being a key market for WiMAX equipment and device vendors was reported yesterday by telecoms.com, who noted that Taiwanese PDA and handset maker HTC has officially unveiled a dual-mode mobile WiMAX/GSM handset to add to its 'Touch' range of devices using Windows Mobile OS. The first to get their hands on the HTC Max 4G, which is being heralded by its makers as the world's first commercially available device of this type, will customers of Russia's Scartel.

Scartel, currently building out a mobile WiMAX network in Moscow and St. Petersburg and offering services under the 'Yota' brand name, will offer the HTC device to subscribers from November 26th.

According to the telecoms.com piece, for voice, Scartel HTC MAX 4G users "will be able to make and receive GSM calls with any Russian mobile phone network operator; when both callers are Yota subscribers, calls will be routed as VoIP on the Scartel's mobile WiMAX network."

We hope that Scartel and HTC will both be represented at our 7th annual Russia & CIS Com conference (formerly GSM>3G Russia) in Moscow next June when, once again, we will be gathering high level executives from telecoms businesses mainly in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. For companies looking for good business development opportunities in the CIS, this event offers a very convenient one-stop shop for meeting operators of every type and size - fixed, mobile, integrated, cable MSOs and more. An earlier opportunity, relating more specifically to meeting prospects from the CIS markets of the Caucasus region and Central Asia (i.e. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) is our Eurasia Com conference. The next of these will be 31st March and 1st April 2009 in Istanbul. Companies which have already confirmed their high-level participation include: MTS, MegaFon, Kyrgyztelecom, Bakcell, AzEurotel and Megacom.

Bakcell CEO confirms company's involvement in Eurasia Com conference

I am pleased to announce here that Martin Quirke, the British CEO of Azeri GSM operator Bakcell has confirmed his intention to join the panel of speakers at our 5th annual Eurasia Com conference in Istanbul, 31 March & 1 April 2009. Martin and I are discussing how best he can contribute and Martin is considering possible presentation topics. Whatever his choice, I'm sure Martin will offer some useful insights for our delegates from the telecoms service providers of Turkey, the Caspian region and Central Asia.

Now that I am back on the subject of Eurasia Com and the region it serves, this is a good opportunity to attempt to clarify something I was musing about last week. I found myself wondering aloud here about the ownership of Kyrgyz MNO Megacom, which some have suggested is owned by Russian cellco MegaFon. This week, we were told directly by a contact at Megacom that the company is emphatically NOT owned by MegaFon, but that " [we] have... a partnership with Megafon in terms of technical support and roaming."