Katerina Naunovska - Salience Consulting

FTTH business case & network design support in Tajikistan

Salience provided pilot project in Dushanbe and Khujand, network rollout supervision, advices on vendor selection and systems procurement and integration.

Salience supported Tcell in performing market plan and understand the cost and the revenue parts vs. its capability to progress further with the project.

• Market feasibility study and developed a business case
• Investment needs and what if analysis
• Implementation and resources planning
• Support services for a successful technical and commercial execution of FTTH pilot project in the city of Khujand.
• Strategic Advice for design, implementation, supervision of network rollout
• Support to establish customer care
• Commercial products test and operation procedures test

Telecom infrastructure services in Saudi Arabia

Salience’s work include comprehensive due diligence and deep audit on 14000 sites.

Salience in partnership with Al-Babtain LeBlanc, is conducting due diligence and a deep audit of Tawal’s infrastructure and consolidation of the audit data into a business intelligence platform.

• Comprehensive Site Asset Database and full data integration
• Back up data of all audited sites
• Reconciliation of physical assets to the fixed asset registry (FAR)
• Completion of tagging of all assets
• Comprehensive report on a status of all FAR’s assets
• Providing support for FAR reconciliation and asset verification with STC
• Full Due Diligence Project Management
• Project Reporting
• Production of different test manuals: batteries back-up autonomy test; ATS; tower verticality: etc.

Qiddiya Infrastructure PPP

Salience’s work include developing strategic recommendations for future deployments.

Development of giga projects is one of the initiatives to achieve the strategic objectives of the Government of Saudi Arabia. Salience has the role of Qiddiya’s technology advisor relating to ICT.

• Review of network design documentation for ICT and telecom network
• Strategy support with overview of the strategic options that need to be
analysed, in terms of the ICT and Telecom network and
recommendations that should be taken in consideration for future
deployments.
• Selection of PPP partner support

Broadband Competence Development

Salience provided Country Engagement and Plan (CEAP) to help achieve specific national broadband and digital economy goals in EBRD region

The objective of the assignment was to design a comprehensive, integrated and coherent framework which EBRD can draw upon to engage with policy makers, regulatory authorities, investors and other sector stakeholders in the EBRD region. The framework provided evidence-based experience and accompanied by technical assistance which could help achieve specific national broadband and digital economy goals in EBRD countries.

Country Engagement and Plan (CEAP) consisting of:
✓ information and data to overview effective international practice, trends and common issues experienced internationally
✓ identification of the information to enable outline determination of current national market status for broadband and telecom sector generally
✓ identification of activities to overcome impediments and ensure effective planning and execution of a successful national broadband programme
✓ Activity Modules covering Telecom infrastructure, National Programmes, 5G policies and Emerging Technologies
• Workshop and presentation of overall findings and recommendations

Privatisation Analysis for the EBRD Region

Salience provided recommendations for 4 EBRD countries- Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Tunisia concerning the best privatisation method of the state-owned dominant incumbent.

The key objective of the assignment was to provide policy makers in the EBRD region an evidence-based guidance
on how to successfully undertake privatisation of state-owned dominant incumbent in the telecommunications
sector.

• Overview of the privatisation experiences around the world and quantitative data analysis on:
✓ service portfolio subject to privatization
✓ state of development of the broadband market before and after) the privatisation
✓ performance of incumbents before and after the privatisation experiences
✓ impact on the development of equity markets in the case of privatisation through IPO and SPO
• High-level review of broadband markets in selected countries
• Provide concrete recommendation for the privatisation method and likely experience for each
of the countries
• Workshop and presentation of overall findings and recommendations

National Broadband Strategy in Serbia

Salience has provided the technical and commercial feasibility, cost and revenue potential as well as PPP and PFI Public financing options for a national fibre-optic deployment focused on underserved areas of the country.

The Republic of Serbia has embarked on program of significantly expanding broadband infrastructure to reduce the broadband development gap between urban and rural areas.

• Identify different incentives for investment and growth of fibre and identifying government initiatives to promote use by SME and enterprises.

• Enabling infrastructure supply legalization and clarity in wholesale markets and developing a viable investment framework covering all areas including under-served and rural areas (white spots)

• Evaluating options for better use of available infrastructure and recommendation on a viable model for use of utility and municipality fibre networks

• Enable efficient sharing of all relevant infrastructure

• Develop and deliver a proof of concept plan to verify the assumptions behind the recommended concept

National Broadband Strategy in Rwanda

Salience provided options study that identifies and evaluates various scenarios that would lead to the optimization of national broadband network.

Salience has provided the Government of Rwanda with an options study that identifies and evaluates various scenarios that would lead to the optimization of national broadband network. Prefeasibility studies on the pricing structure for wholesale services, financial model, legal and regulatory framework, as well as technical and operational considerations were conducted to provide the necessary information to formulate a set of options from which the Government could select from.

• Assessment of the telecom sector in Rwanda and especially the role of the LTE wholesale network and roadmap towards 5G

• Technical due diligence and operational technical audit

• Legal and regulatory due diligence;

• Demand analysis and financial modelling

• Investment plan and assumption of the financial modelling

• Business cases for the options, international benchmarking and the implementation plan

Comprehensive Assessment of the Digital Market in Croatia

Salience delivered recommendations for effective enhancement of investment, competition and innovation in the sector.

Undertaking an assessment of digital infrastructure and policy, including broadband, Internet of Things, digital platforms, cloud and data infrastructure, to identify specific gaps pertaining to digital infrastructure, policies & regulations and investments. The objective includes assessment of the potential of emerging technologies in Croatia and analysis the opportunities to leverage available EU programs and resources.

• Reviewing the existing digital sector indicators for Croatia

• Comparing Croatia’s performance against EU benchmark countries

• Collecting data on sector structure and analysing the competition and liberalization of the various markets within the digital sector

• Reviewing the legal and regulatory framework for digital infrastructure

• Identifying key market inhibitors, including market barriers (if any) which may restrict entry, competition and growth of market players

• Identifying and assessing private as well as government, regulator and international agencies’ interventions in the market

• Identifying growth potential and opportunities such as emerging technology niches for Croatia

Tower Rationalization and Permitting in Bahrain

Salience developed a plan and policy for legalisation of existing towers and guidelines for deployment of towers and masts going forward.

In its efforts to encourage a highly competitive mobile market, Bahrain had allowed mast and towers to be deployed with little oversight. To institute some control and address concerns relating to the visual and perceived safety issues, the Government ordered the TRA to establish guidelines, form an operational unit that will permit mast and tower deployment, thus solving a massive legacy problem.

• Audit of sample of existing masts and towers to better understand the state of the infrastructure

• Analysis of the current deployment issues

• Creation of organisational design, processes and business case for the new permitting unit

• Development of an RFP and selection of new tower inventory (MMIS) system

• Development of plan and policy for legalisation of existing towers

• Creation of guidelines for deployment of towers and masts going forward

National Strategy & Implementation Support for Saudi Telecom Company

The Salience solution provided STC with a powerful tool for understanding the impact of technology on STC profits.

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) was looking to establish a business case for deploying next generation mobile and fixed network to address new broadband market opportunities as it faced increased competition from Mobily in this segment. The Salience team was part of a larger project team that was tasked to deploy STC assets and structure roll-out of new solutions in a cost-effective while considering the pressure STC was facing from its competition.

• Analysed the market opportunity and the CAPEX needed to invest in network expansion.

• Performed financial analysis of the STC options to determine on an area-by-area basis exactly which fixed and mobile broadband technologies to deploy to maximize the STC market coverage at the most efficient financial investment.

• Salience produced detailed forecast models to demonstrate to STC the most effective roll-out strategy and the proper technology to use in each scenario.

• Delivered granular financial details required to continue deployment of network technology and maximize the impact on enterprise and consumer services. This enabled STC to realize the most effective use of their fixed and mobile network budget in support of any given demographic

Private national fiber network and TETRA strategic &
technical analysis in Saudi Arabia

Salience provided an improved implementation plan for the network including transmission, handsets and data services.

The ministry of interior needed help deploying a national TETRA network was running behind schedule. The objective of the project was to identify the causes of delay, assess the quality of design and delivery by the vendors and to provide recommendations for immediate and long-term improvements for the deployment. At the same time the ministry was looking at understanding whether private fibre network build and managed by them is a better option then outsourced network.

• Strategic advice and business case for private national network

• Provided procurement and radio subject matter experts working on network and operational modernizations of the MOI.

• High level audit of the existing MOI TETRA network and systems and progress reporting and measures review, incl. across 800 towers.

• Contracts review to identify of the causes of delay with a focus on the payment milestone plans and a gaps between the existing contractual requirements and the current state of deployment.

• Detailed supply-chain analysis and technology assessment of the network design and handset specifications. Create new vendor management plan and procurement strategy.

• Detailed assessment of how the network architecture could be improved

Implementation of Bahrain Permitting Unit

Salience deployed a team and implemented the Falcon Towers Management System to automate the permitting and sharing process in Bahrain.

After the finalization of the Towers Standards and Permitting Regulations, the TRA Bahrain has relied on Salience to deploy a team to enforce the Regulations on behalf of the TRA.

• Salience established an office in Bahrain, employing critical staff such as Project Manager, senior Civil and Construction Engineers and local resources
• Salience implemented a Towers Management System to automate the permitting and sharing process
• Salience support was also used to issue permits, prepare annual reports, develop performance and compliance dashboards and manage KPIs
• Salience further supports the TRA with on-going compliance audits and surveys of key percentages of the tower

The Falcon Tower Management System provides the following:

• Full access and administrative control to add users and remove from each category
• Full access to all areas and facilities to progress workflow, dashboards for simple view and CSV outputs and customisable reports for any stakeholder meetings or reviews
• Location mapping of the sites and adding new sites
• Coordinated inventory of available sites offered for sharing from each operator and the process for requesting and executing sharing

Strategic Options for a TowerCo in the Kingdom of Bahrain

The operators in Bahrain tend to erect Build-to-Suit ad-hoc towers. Although this approach reduces time to market for operators, the lack of tower sharing leads to high CAPEX, OPEX, legalization costs and network inefficiencies. Salience has benchmarked multiple TowerCo business models, conducted an in-depth financial analysis, and provided the TRA advice to implement a win-win business model that would benefit the operators and the regulator to encourage the sharing and legalization of towers.

Salience’s Financial and Telecom experts:

• Benchmarked globally leading TowerCo business models
• Conducted comprehensive financial analysis assessing the pros and cons of each option
• Analysed how the options perform in addressing common challenges, such as: growing demands; rectification of non-compliant towers; cost savings and increased need for sharing
• Provided advice on the preferred option based on the conducted analysis

Tower Rationalisation and Permitting in Bahrain - Setting Standards and Design Pilot

Recently, the Salience FTMS system has been deployed with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the Kingdom of Bahrain. For the TRA in Bahrain Salience have delivered the following:

• Assessment – Reviewing large number of towers in Bahrain, the majority of which were non-permitted or non-compliant. The cost to legalize all the towers will be very high.
• Framework – Salience provided a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) solution, incorporating the creation of the regulatory framework necessary to evaluate tower compliance and permitting.
• Feasibility – With the growing demand of new towers in the next five years, Salience has supplied several business case scenarios to optimize the operator’s costs on legalizing the towers.
• GIS System – Implemented the Towers Management System mapping locations, providing visibility of tower sites suitable for sharing and the status of the permitting process; giving full access and administrative control to each of the three groups: Regulators, Operators and relevant bodies.

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The Mission Critical arm of Saudia Arabia’s incumbent operator and second largest operator in the Middle East, STC, has been mandated to become the Kingdom’s trusted Critical Communications Provider.
To support their transitional phase, Salience provided subject matter expertise to assure network capability and commercial launch of innovative, lifesaving services.

Cross functional subject matter expertise provided:
• CEO Advisory – Holistic assessment of capability and high impact recommendations for transition to a Mission Critical-grade operator
• Technology Expert Support – Subject matter expertise and interim Technology PMO provided to assure network readiness of TETRA Services
• Marketing Development – Expertise and support in establishing the marketing foundations for growth and scale in terms of marketing strategy planning, execution and on-going governance, with knowledge transfer for long term benefit
• TETRA Go to Market – Interim Commercial PMO for successful TETRA service launch, whilst building internal launch capability through coaching & training
• Business Development & Innovation – Partner ecosystem development mission critical grade solutions in Safe Cities and Public safety including IoT, Big Data Analytics, Ground to Air Comm and Connected Vehicle technologies

Bridging Public Safety and Digital Innovation to Save Lives

The Mission Critical arm of Saudia Arabia’s incumbent operator and second largest operator in the Middle East, STC, has been mandated to become the Kingdom’s trusted Critical Communications Provider.
To support their transitional phase, Salience provided subject matter expertise to assure network capability and commercial launch of innovative, lifesaving services.

Cross functional subject matter expertise provided:
• CEO Advisory – Holistic assessment of capability and high impact recommendations for transition to a Mission Critical-grade operator

• Technology Expert Support – Subject matter expertise and interim Technology PMO provided to assure network readiness of TETRA Services

• Marketing Development – Expertise and support in establishing the marketing foundations for growth and scale in terms of marketing strategy planning, execution and on-going governance, with knowledge transfer for long term benefit

• TETRA Go to Market – Interim Commercial PMO for successful TETRA service launch, whilst building internal launch capability through coaching & training

• Business Development & Innovation – Partner ecosystem development mission critical grade solutions in Safe Cities and Public safety including IoT, Big Data Analytics, Ground to Air Comm and Connected Vehicle technologies

National Broadband Network launch in Qatar

Salience consultants worked to develop the Service Management framework, developing schemas and processes for systems and tools. Salience led the negotiations with Kahramaa and Ashghal to identify locations for central office sites and to build central offices inside electrical substation compounds

Salience delivered a comprehensive set of services to help QNBN define their strategy, mission and vision and operating model, delivered as part of a consortium of consultancies to launch Qatar’s NBN wholesale operator

• Delivered network master planning, optimization, rollout and implementation planning, with calculated CapEx, revenue and NPV calculations for each rollout-zone in Qatar
• Provided vendor management programme, project reporting, and procurement controls
• Provided implementation advice based on a detailed business model
• Set criteria and selection of suitable sites for Central Offices
• Hands-on implementation including activities such as defining and negotiating placement of POPs in electrical substations
• Assistance given with benefits management and delivery of a comprehensive system for capturing and reporting the benefits delivered by its own service.

Internet access for all

The World Bank selected Salience and our partner TMG, to deliver an analysis of that will be used to help regulators implement better policy decisions to stimulate investment for rural internet access. This high-profile analysis will be published by the World Bank

Our analysis will help inform regulatory policy changes. The main objective of the publication is to help the World Bank make better investment decisions.

• Cross-border and national fiber-optic network business models are being created to show the economics of sharing national infrastructure across borders.
• Spectrum re-farming and the digital dividend will demonstrate the best way of re-using spectrum and allocation bands for rural coverage.
• Recommendations and guidelines are being prepared that will be used to help regulators around the world implement more effective spectrum policy.
• Landscape overview of relevant and emerging global trends on spectrum policy and planning to identify how spectrum allocation can be optimized for rural access.

Establishing an effective ICT regulator for Kuwait

In support of the State of Kuwait’s program of reform of the country’s telecommunications sector, Salience has been engaged and is currently establishing the new regulatory body which will regulate, supervise and transform the telecommunications sector in Kuwait.

The program involves both the creation of a regulatory framework and the development of CITRA as an institution:

Creating an ICT licensing framework, spectrum policy and price regulation for retail and wholesale services
Defining CITRA’s management and organizational structure
Setting terms and conditions for interconnection between networks and access to infrastructure
Optimizing ICT competitive dynamics and defining consumer protection provisions
Defining ICT and telecommunication products and services, technical terminology and standards
Defining CITRA’s policy for the regulation and monitoring of private networks and unlicensed ICT product / service operation
Creating CITRA’s financing model & commercial framework

Tower rationalisation and permitting in Bahrain

Salience is delivering a comprehensive set of services as a Build Operate Transfer project to help the Bahrain TRA establish a new unit to track civil permits for radio towers.

Salience delivered a full and detailed assessment of the scope of work to create a permitting function, and delivered a detailed plan for implementing towers permitting:

• Six months feasibility study performed delivering a public consultation and a test of the automated workflow platform
• Five Year Build Operate Transfer (BOT) project is underway, including recruiting the local team, performing surveys of towers and establishing and operating a new business unit under the TRA as an interface between the operators and civil authorities.
• Software platform set-up within 6 months with automated workflow to obtain permissions from civil stakeholders including Civil Defense, Municipality,
• Health and Safety rules established and enforced by the system thus making Bahrain a safer place and rectifying or eliminating dangerous sites

Reducing the broadband gap between urban and rural areas

Salience was selected to deliver the creation of a National Broadband Plan, consistent with the European Union’s Digital Agenda, including the design of the network, the business case based upon a detailed demand analysis, and to deliver recommendations for improvements in government policy.

Salience delivered a full and detailed assessment of the scope of work to create a permitting function, and delivered a detailed plan for implementing towers permitting:

• Identify different incentives for investment and growth of fiber and identifying government initiatives to promote use by SME and enterprises.
• Enabling infrastructure supply legalization and clarity in wholesale markets and developing a viable investment framework covering all areas including under-served and rural areas (white spots)
• Evaluating options for better use of available infrastructure and recommendation on a viable model for use of utility and municipality fiber networks
• Enable efficient sharing of all relevant infrastructure
• Develop and deliver a proof of concept plan to verify the assumptions behind the recommended concept
• Delivered financial analysis of the available options to determine on a detailed area by area basis exactly which fixed and mobile broadband technology to deploy to maximize the STC market coverage at the most efficient financial spend.
• Prepared detailed financial models to demonstrate the most effective roll-out strategy and the proper technology to use in a given scenario.

Subsea Strategy Connecting Middle East to the World

Salience delivered a five year strategic plan for GBI’s senior management to refocus the organization towards common objectives and to update the shareholders on the company’s current market, demand outlook and future operational cost forecasts

Salience performed a high-level analysis on the operational expenditure of the company and extrapolated a five-year cost forecast based on historical opex spending trends. This was combined with the additional expenditure that was needed to secure and deliver sales targets.

• Feasibility & Business planning: Delivered a five year strategic plan to better focus the organization towards a common objective with forecasts for future operational costs.
• Organizational transformation: Executive advisory on the organizational design for GBI, KPIs and selection of key staff including C-level executives.
• Processes overhaul: Conducted audit of the existing processes within the company across commercial and operations, and provided implementation timeline and methodology for introduction of new processes

End to end Retail Fibre Operator launch in Oman

To enable a Gigabit society in Oman, Salience conceived, developed, launched and provided interim management to run a new, award winning fixed broadband operator in Oman.

Salience provided Awasr with a clear feasibility analysis and roadmap for launch, based upon a detailed business case that provided reliable forecasts for sales, revenues and costs. We then managed a successful public launch event and Awasr began commercial operations only 9 months from the project start date. Seconded experts were then provided by Salience to lead in operations, commercial, customer care and technology to assure growth success.

• Three months feasibility study performed to analyze the market potential and create detailed business case
• Defined the operational basis for AWASR and the launch plan, including budgets, technology specification, partner selection, organizational design, marketing mix, sales enablement, operational policies and procedures.
• Two years management outsource contract based on specific objectives and milestones
• Trial set-up within 6 months with first consumer and enterprise customers connected!
• 2017 Speed Test Award Winner, fastest network in Oman (fastest network in MENA).

National Broadband Network Launch in Oman

Salience delivered a comprehensive set of strategic and technical services to help create and launch OBC. We provided a complete definition for starting-up the new wholesale operator, supported by reliable forecasts for budgets, revenues and

Salience defined OB’s, strategy, mission and vision, organizational structure and technology framework to create a detailed business model and launch plan. The work done by Salience included:
• Definition of OB’s strategy, mission and vision
• Delivery of a detailed budget forecasts and budget planning
• Preparation of a business model and financial model
• Definition of a operating framework and company structure
• Managing the asset transfer of fiber optic network from Haya Water
• Preparing broadband network deployment plans in conjunction with utility companies
• Providing long-term experts for hands-on management of finance, strategy and projects.

Address

14-16 Nelson Street, Douglas Isle of Man IM1 2AL

Email

info@salience.consulting

Address

Mazaya Business Avenue, AA1 Office 2407 Dubai, UAE

Office

+971 4 438 7041

Email

info@salience.consulting

Address

F-B-1, Facilities Building, Knowledge Oasis Muscat Al Seeb, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

Email

info@salience.consulting

Address

Office 91, building 142, Road 1607, Block 316, Manama Center Bahrain

Email

info@salience.consulting

Address

11 Oktomvri, 3A Square Macedonia 1000 Skopje Macedonia

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+389 2 60 90 929

Email

info@salience.consulting

About Katerina

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