16 Giants of African Telecoms Named

The question at hand is 'who is the leading CEO in African telecoms' - and we at +Total Telecom don't know the answer - YET!

We will soon, because you are going to help us find out, by voting for CEO of the Year for the first ever Total Telecom Africa Awards.

The shortlist has come from the industry, who have been busy nominating their favourites, and now it's time to narrow this down to the one who stands head and shoulder about their peers.

Have your say and vote now.

The contenders are:

•  Abdeslam Ahizoune - Maroc Telecom
• Bob Collymore - Safaricom Limited
• Chris Wood - WIOCC
• Eng. Saeed AlHamli - Etisalat Misr
• Joseph Ged - Ooredoo
• Karim Khoja - Smart Telecom
• Lex van Wyk - Teraco Data Environments
• Michael Ikpoki - MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd
• Nic Rudnick - Liquid Telecom
• Shameel Aziz Joosub - Vodacom
• Sifiso Dabengwa - MTN Group
• Sipho Maseko - Telkom SA SOC
• Stanley Jegede - Phase3 Telecom
• Sunil Joshi - Neotel
• Theo Klein - Telecom Namibia
• Ziad Dalloul - Africell

All votes must be cast by Friday 24 April 2015 - VOTE HERE

The 5 most powerful CEOs in African telecoms

Just five African telecom operators made it into the annual Total Telecom Global 100 report.

Are these five CEOs the most powerful in the industry in Africa? We’d love to hear from you.

Discover our round-up of the Top 5 most powerful CEOs in African telecoms. We'd love to hear your thoughts as well!

Find out which CEOs make the list based on Total Telecom's Global 100 telco rankings. This ebook was developed in association with Total Telecom Africa Awards (May 25th, Johannesburg) - the preeminent telco awards ceremony in the region.

VIEW THE EBOOK NOW

Interested in attending? Contact Claudia for more information on all the opportunities available.

Discover the 20 candidates for #WCA14 CEO of the Year and vote for your favourite

The candidates for this years World Communication Awards CEO of the Year are in, and represent a eclectic list of 20 of the most powerful, innovative and outspoken names in global telecoms. Now it's time to decide the winner and that's down to you, but first here's the list and some of those reasons why they all have the X-factor.

• Abdullah Orkun Kaya: TTNET
• Ahmed Mekky: GBI
• Akira Arima: NTT Communications

Akira has already been recognised as a winner this year, being named CEO of Year for the Asia Communication Awards in June, just one of several awards taken by NTT Com - see the roll of honour here 

• Alex J. SInaga: PT Telkomsel

Interviewed at last years Total Telecom Festival

• Chris Wood: WIOCC
• Daniel Hajj Aboumrad: America Movil 
  

Daniel is leading the South American companies battle with the regulators, whilst also battling for control of Telekom Austria

• Ernest L. Cu: Globe Telecom
• Gavin Patterson: BT

Leading BT to reenter the mobile space

• John Legere: T-Mobile US 
  

Sharing his forthright views, especially on the competition!

• Masayoshi Son: Softbank
• Michalis Tsamaz: Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE)
• Napoleon L. Nazareno: Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company
• Nasser Marafih: Ooredoo
• Paul Taylor: Botswana Telecommunications Corporation

Read the interview about transforming the country’s telecom incumbent into a customer centric, world class operator

• Randall Stephenson: AT&T Inc.

Boosting TV and video business

• Saleh Al Abdooli: Etisalat 
  
• Vinod Kumar: Tata Communications Ltd
• Vittorio Colao: Vodafone 

Encouraged by signs of stability in Europe

• Yiannos Michaelides: GO plc, Malta
• Yousuf Abdulla Al-Kubaisi: Ooredoo

CAST YOUR VOTES FOR THE CEO OF THE YEAR

The winner will be announced at the World Communication Awards on the 2 December 2014

Vote NOW

Everyone's on Twitter Right? Wrong... Asian telco's on Twitter #ACA14

Today we expect everyone to be on Twitter, at least every company, it's even on our Salesforce profiles, the field that says Twitter handle, so I did a quick check against the companies of the CEO of the Year candidates for this years Asia Communication Awards.

It was quite an interesting exercise. 19 companies from 16 Asian countries, searching via Google for their main corporate Twitter account. And the results; one with more than 300,000 followers (@smartcares), one with no apparent corporate Twitter account (Roshan - although a huge number of Facebook fans), six with more than 100,000 followers, and 4 with less than 1,000 followers.

Some you'd expect to have less presence, @pacnet for example won't have a following from the general public, but it's very interesting to see the contrast between those with huge followings and those that have only a relatively small presence - and it doesn't necessarily reflect the number of subscribers, for example Smart have over 54 million subscribers, compared to Etisalat's 6.3 million, but have only 25% more Twitter followers.

It will be interesting to see if there is any correlation between Twitter followers, and the number of votes their CEO's generate for the Asia Communication Awards....

VOTE NOW FOR THE CEO OF THE YEAR FOR THE 2014 ASIA COMMUNICATION AWARDS

Three leaders in Asian Telecoms #ACA14

Now that the voting is open for the 2014 CEO of the Year, several people have asked who the previous winners have been for this prestigious title, which is now into it's forth year at the Asia Communication Awards.

So, looking back at the previous years:

In 2011 we were delighted to name Mr Yue Li, the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager at China Mobile Communications as the inaugural CEO of the Year. He headed a fantastic line up for our first ever Asia Communication Awards, presented at Raffles in Singapore, which included Smart Communications being named Operator of the Year. You can view all the 2011 winners here.


In 2012 the awards dinner moved across to the larger Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore as more companies discovered the ACA.

One thing that didn't change was Smart's success, once again walking away with the Operator of the Year trophy, but this time the winners list was headed by Mr. Hu Houkun (Ken Hu) Deputy Chairman of the Board and Rotating CEO of Huawei, who also took Vendor of the Year for the second year running.

And so to 2013 with another new venue in the shape of the imposing Conrad Centennial Hotel, where the Asia Communication Awards will also be presented in 2014 [book your tickets - final night of CommunicAsia: party party party!], which saw some things change, but others stay the same. Huawei completed the hattrick, walking away with Vendor of the Year for the third consecutive year, whilst local player StarHub took the trophy for Operator of the Year. CEO of the Year went to the widely admired Vinod Kumar of Tata. You can view the entire roll of honour here.

So who will be CEO of the Year in 2014? Well that's still up to you. Voting is currently open HERE but remember you must get your vote in by the 20 April 2014. The winner will be revealed at the awards dinner in Singapore on the 19 June.

VOTE NOW FOR CEO OF THE YEAR

BOOK YOUR TABLES FOR THE GALA DINNER

19 candidates for the #ACA14 CEO of the Year

The nominations are in and 19 candidates have been gathered for CEO of the Year at the 4th annual Asia Communication Awards.

Last years' winner, Vinod Kumar of Tata Communications makes the list again and is joined by a stellar line

up of industry talent comprising:

• Ahmad Al Hanandeh: Zain Jordan
• Akira Arima: NTT Communications Corporation
• Carl Grivner: Pacnet
• David Thodey: Telstra
• Dr. Amer bin Awadh Al-Rawas: Oman Telecommunication (Omantel)
• Ehsan Bayat: Afghan Wireless Communication Company
• Karim Khoja: Telecom Development Company Afghanistan (Roshan)
• Lalith De Silva: Sri Lanka Telecom
• Masayoshi Son: Softbank
• Naeem Zamindar: Wateen Telecom
• Napoleon L. Nazareno: Smart Communications
• Yousuf Abdulla Al-Kubaisi: Ooredoo Group
• Nguyen Manh Hung: Viettel Group
• Osman Sultan: du
• Salih Al Abdooli: Etisalat
• Salman Abdulaziz Al-Badran: Kuwait Telecom Co. VIVA
• Tan Sri Dato' Sri Zamzamzairani: Telecom Malaysia
• Tan Tong Hai: StarHub
• Vinod Kumar: Tata Communications Limited Group

To cast your vote for this years CEO of the Year, go to the poll hosted by Survey Monkey

The winner will be revealed during the spectacular gala dinner in Singapore on the 19 June 2014, the last night of CommunicAsia, so why not come along as a fitting end to a busy week?

5 Most read News Articles of 2014 So Far

At the end of the first full week of 2014, it's interesting to note what the industry is reading on Total Telecom, so here's the five top stories of the year so far:

Vodafone lining up Tata Teleservices bid
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?C=0&ID=484906

New era for Deutsche Telekom as Höttges becomes CEO
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?C=0&ID=484894

Telefonica to table TIM Brasil takeover bid this month
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?C=0&ID=484909

IMS core spending to creep up to $4bn by 2017
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?C=0&ID=484912

AT&T offers T-Mobile customers $450 to switch
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?C=0&ID=484910

To keep up with the latest content from Total Telecom, sign up for our Daily Newsletter or follow our page on LinkedIn

Final Shortlists Published: CEO, Best Place to Work, and User's Choice #WCA2013

The finalists for the eagerly awaited voted and research based categories for this year's World Communication Awards have been released, with some outstanding names on the shortlist.

They are, in alphabetical order:

THE USER’S CHOICE AWARD
(Based on a study of real enterprise customers by Ocean82 and Total Telecom)

• NTT Communications
• Orange
• Singtel
• T-systems

BEST PLACE TO WORK
(Based on a survey of company employees)

• AT&T
• Globe telecom
• Idea Cellular
• Orange Business Services
• Smart Communications
• TeliaSonera International Carrier

CEO of the YEAR
(Based on industry voting)

• Ahmed Mekky - Gulf Bridge International
• Hannes Ametsreiter - Telekom Austria
• Lowell C. McAdam - Verizon
• Napoleon L. Nazareno - Smart Communications, Inc.
• Olaf Swantee - EE
• Randall L. Stephenson - AT&T

The winners will be revealed at the prestigious gala dinner in London on the 3 December 2013. Book your seat today at www.worldcommsawards.com

12 Leading Telco CEO's Named #WCA13

The CEO of the Year shortlist has been compiled for this years World Communication Awards and brings together 12 of the most influential names in global telecoms. One of them will be named CEO of the Year at the awards dinner on the 3 December 2013, the winner determined by your votes.

Those making the list have been compiled through nomination from the industry and the careful deliberations of WCA judges and Total Telecom editors, so here's the list and a recent editorial reference:

• AT&T - Randall L. Stephenson. The winner in 2011 leads the worlds largest telco by revenue, amongst the success stories this year we covered the ACQUISITION of Leap Wireless
• EE - Olaf Swantee. The story at EE has been one of the UK's first 4G network, and despite some doubters, it looks like Oalf has lead them to meet or beat target for LTE SUBSCRIBERS.
• Globe Telecom, Inc. - Ernest L. Cu. The Philippines might be a long way from London, but Globe seeks to serve it's customers on a global basis and in July announced the launch of an MVNO
• Gulf Bridge International - Ahmed Mekky. This Middle East companies FIBRE OPTIC CONNECTIVITY is enabling some exciting new partnerships, opening up markets such as Iraq.
• Ooredoo - Dr. Nasser Marafih. This years rebrand no doubt helped the Qatari telco push PROFITS up 44%
• SK Telecom - Sung Min Ha. The South Korean operator has achieved great success with LTE-A and LTE ROLLOUT and told Total Telecom all about their plans and strategy. 
• Smart Communications, Inc. - Napoleon L. Nazareno. More activity from the Philippines, this time with a massive FIBRE ROLLOUT delivered 6-months ahead of schedule.    
• Softbank - Masayoshi Son. Rarely out of the news this year, one of the highlights from Softbank was a doubling of quarterly NET PROFIT
• Telekom Austria - Hannes Ametsreiter. Calls for a truly SINGLE EUROPEAN MARKET have abounded this year with Hannes being one of the loudest
• Telenor - Jon Fredrik Baksaas. More strong PROFIT PERFORMANCE with the Norwegian operator seeing strength from the East
• Verizon - Lowell C. McAdam. Verizon outperformed the competition and deliver OUTSTANDING SUBSCRIBER GROWTH of 941,000 postpaid subscribers
• Vodafone - Vittorio Colao. And last but not least, last years winner has delivered another strong performance. We will wait to see what develops after they launch their 4G offering in the UK

12 outstanding CEO's, but only one can be named CEO of the Year - it's in your hands. VOTE NOW

Voted categories open #WCA13

The voted categories are now open for the 2013 World Communication Awards.

With the rise in popularity of the voted categories over the last few years, we expect to see even more participation for 2013, the 15th year of the prestigious World Communication Awards, and to ensure the competition is stronger than ever, we've been reviewing the assessment methods to ensure the most worth winners are named on the 3rd December 2013 at the awards dinner.

For success in the voted categories you need to enlist the assistance of your staff and clients, so don't delay, start working on them today:

1. CEO of the Year - one of the most prestigious of all categories, won last year by Vittorio Colao, Vodafone [watch his acceptance video here]. This category relies first on nominations and then on a public vote. In the first instance, start nominating if you want your CEO to be in the running. NOMINATE HERE

2. Best Place to Work - launched in 2012, this category has been refined for 2013 with the emphasis firmly on the opinions of those who know - your employees. The winner is determined based on net promoter scores, and to be assessed you need at least 50 responses. ENCOURAGE YOUR STAFF TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY

3. The Users' Choice - now in it's 5th year, this is a research based category with studies carried out in parallel by Total Telecom and our partners at Ocean82. Winning this category is particularly valued by operators, as it is the views of their enterprise customers that count. WHY NOT SHARE THE SURVEY WITH YOUR ENTERPRISE CLIENTS. Last years winner was Orange Business Services

This year the World Communication Awards forms part of the Total Telecom Festival. Find out more by visiting www.totaltele.com/festival

Who's your Asian CEO of the Year?

Votes are coming in thick and fast, but it's not yet a foregone conclusion as to who will be named CEO of the Year at this year's Asia Communication Awards.

Make sure you get your vote in before the 25 May 2013 to have your say.

VOTE NOW

The winner will be named on the 20 June 2013 at the dinner in Singapore. At the same time finalists in this years awards will find out if they have been success. Check out if you made the shortlist at
www.asiacommsawards.com

Nominate your Asian CEO of the Year #ACA13

We've started calling for nominations for the CEO of the Year for the 2013 Asia Communication Awards.

To be eligible, nominees must be CxO level executives from Asian HQ'd telecom companies, either operators or vendors.

Last year's winner was Ken Hu of Huawei, whilst in 2011 China Mobile's Li Yue was victorious. Who will be the 2013 winner?
To be considered, your CEO must be nominated on THIS FORM by the 28 March 2013.

The Asia Communication Awards judges will determine a shortlist from the nominations that will then be put to a public vote, so make sure your favoured CEO is nominated.

The nomination form is hosted on Survey Monkey, and the link is: www.surveymonkey.com/s/ACACEO2013

Confirmed sponsors of the Asia Communication Awards 2013 are Huawei, Starhub and ZTE. Find out more about sponsoring at www.asiacommsawards.com

Ben Now & Then

As Alcatel-Lucent posts a €1.37 billion net loss in Q4, chief executive Ben Verwaayen steps down (Read the article).


Yet just 9 months ago the industry named him CEO of the Year at the prestigious World Vendor Awards, you can see what he said back then in the video below.



So who'll follow Ben? Let us know who you think in our quick survey...
www.surveymonkey.com/s/FollowingBen

COMPLETE THE SURVEY: Who'll follow Ben?

Acceptance Speech: CEO of the Year 2012 #WCA12

On Tuesday Vittorio Colao of Vodafone was named CEO of the Year at the World Communication Awards. You can view his acceptance speech here.

The other major winners of the night were Orange Business Services and Telstra Corporation. OBS won several awards, including being named Best Global Operator for an amazing fifth time, retaking the trophy from BT.




Read about all the winners here

Final 5 named for CEO of the Year #WCA12

Voting has now closed for CEO of the Year for the 2012 World Communication Awards and the winner will be one of the following five:

Osman Sultan, CEO, du (Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co)

Stéphane Richard: France Telecom-Orange 

Ernest L. Cu: Globe Telecom

Lowell McAdam: Verizon Communications 

Vittorio Colao: Vodafone  

The winner will be revealed at the World Communication Awards, in London, on the 13 November 2012.

To meet the winners, book your seat today.

Final 2 days of voting #WCA12 CEO of the Year

Who will be your CEO of the Year 2012? You have just 2 days to vote . The winner will be revealed at the World Communication Awards on the 13 November 2012.

VOTE NOW

12 Operator CEO's to Watch #WCA12

The short list is out for CEO of the Year for the 2012 World Communication Awards. The nominations that have made it to the final voting are:

• Daniel Hajj Aboumrad: América Móvil
• Osman Sultan: du (Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co)
• Stéphane Richard: France Telecom-Orange
• Xavier Niel: Free
• Ernest L. Cu: Globe Telecom
• Michael Lai: P1 (Packet One Networks Malaysia)
• Karim Khoja: Roshan
• Napoleon L. Nazareno: Smart Communications, Inc.
• Hannes Ametsreiter: Telekom Austria Group
• Darren Entwistle: Telus Corporation
• Lowell McAdam: Verizon Communications
• Vittorio Colao: Vodafone

The winner will be based up industry voting, so cast your vote on Total Telecom at http://www.totaltele.com/show.aspx?i=911

DEADLINE FOR VOTING IS FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER 2012

Total Telecom most read headlines #news

* UK upper house attacks broadband plan, claims government lacks strategy

* Telecom Italia starts to stem decline in Italy

* Huawei responds to US hackers

* Telecom Italia won't lose control of network - CEO

* Everything Everywhere to get MVNOs up and running in 10 minutes


UK upper house attacks broadband plan, claims government lacks strategy
House of Lords calls for nationwide network of open access fibre hubs to narrow digital divide; analysts sceptical.
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=475352

Telecom Italia starts to stem decline in Italy
Incumbent operator reports 1.7% increase in group revenue during first half of 2012.
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=475426

Huawei responds to US hackers
Chinese firm defends itself against accusations its routers are not secure.
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=475369

Telecom Italia won't lose control of network - CEO
Incumbent operator reportedly in talks with state-owned lender over funding for network improvements.
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=475416

Everything Everywhere to get MVNOs up and running in 10 minutes
U.K. mobile operator strikes MVNA deal with Viacloud subsidiary Atmovia.
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=475398

A day of mixed fortunes #WVA2012

It was a day of mixed fortunes for Alcatel-Lucent as shares fell sharply on reports of a wider operating loss but there was brighter news in the evening as UK & Ireland CEO, Lucy Dimes, lifted two trophies at the prestigous World Vendor Awards.

First up came Best Content Solution for their Digital Media Store, to be followed up by one of the highlights of the evening, CEO of the Year for Ben Verwaayen. Ben unfortunately couldn't make it to the dinner (something to do with first quarter results - see above!) but did send an acceptance video which you can watch. You can also read an interview with Ben Verwaayen conducted by ETNODigital on Total Telecom.

Joining Alcatel-Lucent at the World vendor Awards were a raft of other excited winners, including both the biggest in the industry (ZTE, Ericsson, Syniverse etc) and some less well known names such as fonYou, ADTRAN, and Momac. You can discover all the winners by downloading the Magazine of the Night.

Finally, speaking of awards, don't forget that entries are now open for the 2012 World Communication Awards, including the new category of Best Place to Work

Doing the double? #WVA12

The final two shortlists have just been revealed for the 2012 World Vendor Awards, bringing with them some interesting dynamics, both for CEO of the Year and for Best Brand. We'll find out who triumphs on the 26 April 2012.

First up we have three contenders for CEO of the Year. The potential double here sits with Alcatel-Lucent CEO, Ben Verwaayen. Ben has the almost unique distinction of being in the running for this gong, having been a previous winner of the top award at the WVA's larger sibling, the World Communication Awards, where in 2005 he was named Most Influential Person (forerunner to the CEO category) as CEO of BT Group.

Up against Ben we have Hans Vestberg of Ericsson, who arguably has one of the toughest jobs in telecoms having recently revealed reduced targets for the company, and  Jeff Gordon of Syniverse, who amongst other things leads a company playing in the fast growing IPX arena.

The other shortlist to be revealed is the other industry voted category, Best Brand. A slightly different angle here, but last years Best Brand, Ericsson, are in the running again, along with the company with the most valuable hardware brand in this years Top 500 Telecom Brands, Cisco. Also in the chase are 2010 winners, Juniper Networks, Syniverse, and who could under estimate the power from the East in the shape of ZTE?

To view all the shortlists, visit www.worldvendorawards.com and make sure you book your seats to avoid disappointment on the night!