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Paul Budde: the person in the centre of the “smart cities”

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The smartcities are one of the most popular topics among experts and enthusiasts of the “internet of things” and of new technologies. The idea of a futuristic city, populated by hi-tech devices and where everything is connected and controlled via an app, is no longer material for imaginative writers but an ever closer reality. VuBlog has already addressed this issue by dedicating a large press review to it. We return to talk about this in an interview with Paul Budde, an expert in the field of “smart cities” and founder of Budde Comm., an independent research and consulting firm specialising in the telecommunications market.

VueTel Italia is one of the companies supporting the project Open Hub Med

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Open HUB Med will be located at Italtel in Palermo Carini. Within a short space of time, the structure aims to become second centre for Italian telecommunications after Milan. The Hub will be operational by the end of 2015, with further growth forecast in 2016, through the opening of a second office in Bari. The project aims to ensure Italy is at the centre of submarine telecommunications routes linking Asia and Africa with Northern Europe and the US.

From the early beginning VueTel Italia has expressed a strong interest in the project recognising in it the same vision that has guided the Company since its foundation: building bridges to and from the African continent.

The project aims to revive Italy and in particular the international telecommunications sector by taking advantage of the country’s geographical location to make it a major participant in Mediterranean markets. Sicily plays a pivotal role in the global network of submarine cables by virtue of its strategic location in the heart of the Mediterranean. All these are key success factors in building a digital bridge between Africa and the rest of the world with Open Hub Med.

A press release on the initiative will follow.

Open Hub Med: a truly neutral and open Hub for the Internet Traffic Exchange opens in Sicily, Italy

The project aims to make Italy the main Submarine cable hub for the Mediterranean Basin and will be operational within Q4 2015.

Milan, July 28th 2015 – Interoute, Mandarin, MIX and TelecityGroup Italia, the main promoters of the Open Hub Med (OHM) project, have chosen Italtel’s Carini site as the location where the second Italian Telecommunication Pole, after Milan’s, will be developed. This new TLC business hot spot will be operational within Q4 of 2015 and the project will see a second expansion phase with the opening of a node in Bari, on the east coast of southern Italy, within 2016. This ambitious technological project – merging an open and neutral site with one of the major European Internet Exchange – has already gained the participation of NGI, SUPERNAP Italia and Italtel as technological partner, while KPNQwest Italia, Vuetel Italia and other operators of primary importance have announced their intention to join. The new site will start with 1,000 sqm. data and interconnection center space, which can be easily expanded up to 10,000 sqm. .Given the presence of a large number of operators since the launch phase, the new Sicily hub has the ambition to become the natural collector and interconnection point for the 135,000 km of Submarine cables currently reaching Sicily island. Thanks to the presence of MIX, Milano Internet eXchange, recreating the collocation and interconnection ecosystem of Milan (Via Caldera Hub), Open Hub Med will not be a mere Landing Station facility, but it will have a strategic role such as other internationally recognized landing and interconnection points, like Marseille’s in France. The “tri-pole Palermo-Bari-Milan” will be the new privileged route for the internet traffic coming from Asia, Middle East and Africa regions heading to Northern Europe, re-launching Italy’s role within the Global Telecommunication business.

Open Hub Med will offer optimal interconnection conditions among operators in strategic locations in Southern Italy. These points are natural aggregation areas for Internet backbones in the Mediterranean basin able to guarantee key advantages like minimizing wet capacity cable sections and lower network latencies compared to other European interconnection sites. OHM is based on an open multi-stakeholder governance model, and it will be the only Sicilian hub able to guarantee real Neutrality and Openness to every network provider, mixing a strong global/international attitude and solid roots in the Italian and Sicilian territory.

All the players who have decided to invest in this initiative hold the solid record of having promoted an open telecommunication market in Italy over the last 15 years, and firmly believe that this new joint venture is a great opportunity to enhance Italy’s strategic geographical positioning in the submarine cable global scenario, generating new technological value for Sicily and Italy as a whole. This important initial investment is expected to generate new investments in the countrywide telecommunication infrastructure, technologies and fiber optic adoption with beneficial outcomes for the regional economics as well as boosting the digitalization process of the entire country, which is one of the main points in Mr. Renzi’s, Italian PM, agenda.

VueTel Italia continues its development path

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VueTel Italia continues its growth and development path, and has established itself as one of the most esteemed players in the sector of wholesale voice and data services in Africa. 2014, in fact, met with important changes in terms of the company structure and solid business results.

The balance sheet, approved on 7th May, showed a rise in turnover up to nearly 90 million, with an increase of more than 40% compared to 613 million in 2013. This allowed to show a profit, for the second consecutive year, amounting to 297,471 euros (+1000% compared to the previous year).

The other important new event of 2014 was the change in the company structure, that is the result of the decision to equip itself with an even more solid structure to go on pursuing an ambitious plan of business development.  

VueTel Italia changed its name into VueTel Italia Holding; simultaneously the new company “VueTel Italia S.p.A” was set up, controlled at 100% by the holding company, which was entrusted with the wholesale activities amounting to 7.45 million euros.

Following this strengthening line, there is also the choice of having a code of conduct ensuring transparency in the management business. It is a decision not required by law which adjusts VueTel Italia Holding to the highly rated companies.

The news of the excellent results from VueTel Italia was also reported by Corriere della Sera, Milano Finanza and TGCom24. The complete press review is here available.

Mobile technology leads the African digital revolution

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GeoPoll, a statistical analysis platform, and World Wide Worx, a leading company in the market research for the technology sector, have written the report “The mobile Africa 2015” describing what mobile phone services are the most exploited by African users. Research involved 5 major countries of the continent (South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda), for a total of 3500 people interviewed.

infografica

Results vary considerably from country to country. En Nigeria, for example, the use of mobile telephones for activities related to social networks is widespread: 72%. Ghana, on the contrary, registers the highest percentage of users who use the mobile to browse the Internet: 51%. Download of applications allows getting the greatest results in South Africa (34%), while in Kenya mobile telephones are very used to send SMS (55%). Finally, Uganda is the country where there is the highest number of people who, through their mobiles, listen to the radio broadcasting in FM (46%).

On the whole, as also explained Arthur Goldstuck, CEO of World Wide Worx, “South Africa is the country where broadband infrastructures are most solid”; in other countries, in fact, some services are spread among a greater number of people, but they are used less intensively.

VueTel Italia and Epsilon together to grow in Africa

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VueTel Italia chooses Epsilon as its development partner.

A company’s strength can be often measured by its power to attract and choose the right partners, and this is certainly one of the reasons that brought Vuetel Italia to become one of the two leading italian telecom companies to provide services across the Mediterranean and African countries. Amongst it’s tight nit network of strategic partners there is Epsilon, one of the main carrier and service providers in the world, with over 500 operators in over 170 countries.

In 2014 Vuetel Italia and Epsilon inked an agreement that guarantees Vuetel’s access to Epsilon’s network through the POP Global Hubs. The objective is to assist Vuetel’s strategic business plan over a five year period. In fact the two companies have a common vision: planning for growth means investing in the future.Accordingly, in 2014 Vuetel Italia increased by 50% its presence on Epsilon’s offices in London, which still remains one of Vuetel’s main hubs.

La presenza di Epsilon nel mondo

La presenza di Epsilon nel mondo

Africa’s expanding telecommunication market.

“Epsilon has the expertise, the experience and the connections in Africa to give strength to our activities”

said Emanuela Bevilacqua, Vuetel Italia’s CTO, after the agreement was signed. The african telecom sector is a growing market with a great potential. For this reason it attracts more and more operators, and Epsilon has been witnessing this phenomenon.

“La rapida crescita delle TLC in Africa ha comportato che un numero sempre crescente di operatori avesse bisogno di un accesso efficiente alla connettività locale” afferma Clint Collins, responsabile Medio Oriente e Africa di Epsilon, “Per questo ci siamo concentrati sullo sviluppo delle nostre relazioni nei mercati africani. Il nostro modello di servizi si sposa perfettamente con le esigenze di questi ultimi”.

Vuetel Italia has been one of the first companies to understand the potential of investing in the African continent. It’s strategy was based on two cornerstone principles: co-development and integration of knowledge and expertise. These are rewarding efforts that the company will certainly continue to undertake.

Giovanni Ottati (VueTel Italia) to Il Sole 24 Ore: “We intend to thrive in Tunisia”

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The 750 Italian entrepreneurs who actively work in Tunisia represent a 25% of the country’s businesses. In the aftermath of the attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, they seem determined to stay, refusing to be cowed by those who want to undermine the country’s economic and political stability.

Roberto Bongiorni from “Il Sole 24Ore” interviewed some of these entrepreneurs to tell their stories and their plans for the future. Amongst them also Giovanni Ottati, CEO of VueTel Italia, a telecom company that plays an important role in the Tunisian economy, considering that the telecommunications sector represents 55% of the country’s GDP.

Giovanni Ottati, CEO of VueTel Italia

Giovanni Ottati, CEO of VueTel Italia

Vuetel Italia has been investing in the North African country for quite a long time now, with great results. At the moment it controls the 65% of Vuetel Tunisia.

“In 2010 our turnover was 2,7 millions of euros” said Ottati “in 2011 it was 12 million, in 2013 we reached 61 millions, and 90 millions in 2014. Tunisia is the gateway for the promising sub saharan market”.

The company’s investment goes beyond the mere infrastructure program, and taps into the human resources as well. As the CEO explains, Vuetel is already hiring young Tunisian graduates:

“The efficient Tunisian Universities produce competent technicians in the engineering and ITC sectors. The Tunisian people have struggled for a long time, and have now given themselves a renewed institutional balance. Even a moderate islamic party such as Ennahda has contributed to the country’s growth. We intend to remain here and thrive”.

Full version of the article.

 

VIDEO| SkyTg 24 Economia interviewed Giovanni Ottati, CEO of VueTel Italia

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After the serious attack which took place on the 18th March at the Bardo Museum in Tunis journalists, analysts and international public opinion have many questions and concerns.

Within the economic television program of Sky Tg24 on March 19th, the impact of the attacks claimed by Isis on society and the economy were fully discussed. In the episode hosted by Alessandro Marenzi and entitled “Terrorism S.P.A.”, among the important guests (Gabriele Iacovino of Ce.Si, Andrea Mele, VP of Astoi and Graziella Giangiulio of AGC Communication) there was also Giovanni Ottati, CEO of  VueTel Italia. Ottati brought his point of view to the discussion as an entrepreneur who has been working in Africa for years.

The following is an excerpt from the contribution by Giovanni Ottati on Sky TG 24 Economia after the attacks in Tunisia.

Alessandro Marenzi

Would we be too optimistic in describing Tunisia as a stable country, not to be destabilised by these events?

Giovanni Ottati

Tunisia is a more robust country than one might think: it is a very strong country as shown over the last three years since the revolution; it has been able to rebuild a fabric of society, new institutions and has succeeded in beginning a democratic path which is extremely important. Moreover, Tunisia is a country that is fundamental to the Mediterranean region and its economy and it also knows suffer. Tunisia was able to accommodate about two million Libyans…it is not easy to integrate two million Libyans in a country of 13 million inhabitants, if you consider the many social and political implications this entails. This shows how strong Tunisia is.

Alessandro Marenzi

VueTel Italia is active also in areas that are experiencing a more difficult situation compared to Tunisia, for example like Libya: is it still possible to do business there?

Giovanni Ottati

Definitely yes, while we mention the ISIS settlements in Sirte and Derna when we talk about Libya, we fail to mention there are extremely vital components of that country. If today we communicate by phone or exchange e-mail with Libya, it means that telecommunication systems are working, it means that there are people who work and ensure communications to and from Libya and the rest of the world. In additional there are companies in Libya working tirelessly: for example the local power company, Gecol, which ensures the smooth running of the electric power distribution network throughout the country.

There are a number of vital components in Libya which are currently running the country and the economy. There are certainly critical situations; there is a civil war. There are factions that are trying to find reconciliation.

Our Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, and the United Nations Special Representative Bernardino Leon as well as the President of Egypt, Abd al-Fattāḥ al-Sīsī, are working with extreme intelligence to assist the factions of this country to find reconciliation one day. Let me say this again, it will take time but there are some positive energies which we must work on to restart this country.

Project Lucy: IBM technology at the service of Africa

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Africa’s horizon.

One hundred million dollars of investment in 10 years to support Africa in its path of growth and development. These are the main numbers of Project Lucy, created and promoted by computer giant IBM that has decided to put ‘Watson’, its first cognitive computer, at the service of the African continent, in addition to the experience and expertise of its researchers.

watson

Watson – il primo cognitive computer di IBM

For the past decade Africa has been experiencing a phase of profound social and economic change. The strong GDP growth and the wide availability of natural resources predict it to be a future protagonist in the world’s economy. The development is accompanied however by huge social challenges. The increase in population, the water shortages, a mortality rate that is still very high, the climate change and its consequences on agriculture, these are all factors that jeopardize the materialisation of a truly equitable and inclusive growth. IBM believes that its technology can help Africa to live this “news deal” in the best possible way, making the most of the available potential.

Lucy: la rivoluzione pensata dall’IBM. Project Lucy symbolically takes its name from the primate discovered in Africa in 1974 and considered the first hominid in history. At the heart of the initiative there is Watson, the first cognitive computing system designed by IBM, able to learn from human language, store, process and correlate large amounts of data and highlight innovative connections between them.

According to Kamal Bhattacharya, vice president of IBM Research Africa,

“with the ability to learn from emerging models and discover new correlations, the cognitive abilities of Watson have the enormous potential to help Africa achieve in the next two decades what current developed markets achieved in two centuries.“

In Africa, the American company, along with their business and academics partners, will use Watson and the related cognitive technologies to analyze the big data available to develop commercially viable solutions to the big challenges of the continent. They will range through all policy and problematic areas: from health to education, from water management to sanitation, from agriculture to human mobility.

A complex analysis that will be put in the system, according to the plans of IBM, with the creation of a new pan-African Center of Excellence, for the Data-Driven Development (CEED), and three Innovation Centers, in Lagos (Nigeria), Casablanca (Morocco) and Johannesburg (South Africa).