FRiENDi GROUP wins ‘Best New Entrant’ award at the prestigious fifth annual CommsMEA Awards

Dubai, 01 December, 2010: FRiENDi GROUP the MVNO in the SAMEA region, last night took home the coveted title of ‘Best New Entrant’ at the prestigious CommsMEA awards held at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai.

The award ceremony, part of the 3GSM Telco World Summit, the premier communications event in the Middle Eastern region, was held to acknowledge individuals and operators who have taken a leadership role, invested in technology and developed services in the region’s fast growing telecoms sector. FRiENDi GROUP was recognised as ‘Best New Entrant’ for their innovative and successful launches of the company’s MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) businesses in Oman and Jordan.

Commenting on the award, Mikkel Vinter CEO, FRiENDi GROUP said; “Since its launch, FRiENDi GROUP has enjoyed a very warm welcome from the customers in both Oman and Jordan, and we are very pleased with this now being recognised by FRiENDi GROUP receiving the CommsMEA award as “Best New Entrant”.

With the launch in Oman in April 2009, FRiENDi GROUP established the first MVNO/Mobile Reseller in that country and in the Middle East region in general. Providing a pre-paid mobile experience based around empowering customers to stay connected to their family and friends locally and internationally, whether they are expatriates or nationals, the FRiENDi GROUP proposition combine exciting services and competitive prices. Winning the hearts and minds of end-users, FRiENDi GROUP launched a second MVNO service in June 2010 in Jordan.

Mikkel Vinter added, “The South Asia, Middle East and Africa region, where FRiENDi GROUP has its geographic focus, offers a great opportunity for our business model. In Europe alone there are over 300 different MVNOs, whereas there is only a handful today in this region, so we certainly expect the regional mobile industry to move towards a more segmented approach with new brands being introduced to replace the ‘one-size-fits-all” single brand approach” of the past.

FRiENDi GROUP is currently delivering on the company vision of establishing a pan-regional footprint, and is deploying its advanced MVNO/MVNE technical platform plus global operational experience to support the roll-out of several new countries to be announced in the near future. With mobile operators and telecom regulators increasingly recognizing the fresh impetus and value the wholesale business model can bring to mobile markets across the region, FRiENDi GROUP is positioned as a leader in this exciting development for the regional telecommunications industry over the coming months and years.
About FRiENDi GROUP

FRiENDi GROUP was established in 2006 and is headquartered in Dubai Internet City, UAE. FRiENDi GROUP is an award-winning innovative telecommunications group operating as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) and Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) across the SAMEA region (South Asia, the Middle East and Africa)

The MVNO/MVNE model is a proven business model delivering significant benefits to mobile consumers and telecom operator partners.

The FRiENDi GROUP management team includes senior level team members from a variety of successful regional and global mobile operators as well as MVNOs. FRiENDi GROUP has a strong financial foundation and is supported by well-reputed and highly experienced global and regional shareholders.

For more information please visit: www.friendigroup.com

Dubai, 01 December, 2010: FRiENDi GROUP the MVNO in the SAMEA region, last night took home the coveted title of ‘Best New Entrant’ at the prestigious CommsMEA awards held at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai.

The award ceremony, part of the 3GSM Telco World Summit, the premier communications event in the Middle Eastern region, was held to acknowledge individuals and operators who have taken a leadership role, invested in technology and developed services in the region’s fast growing telecoms sector. FRiENDi GROUP was recognised as ‘Best New Entrant’ for their innovative and successful launches of the company’s MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) businesses in Oman and Jordan.

Commenting on the award, Mikkel Vinter CEO, FRiENDi GROUP said; “Since its launch, FRiENDi GROUP has enjoyed a very warm welcome from the customers in both Oman and Jordan, and we are very pleased with this now being recognised by FRiENDi GROUP receiving the CommsMEA award as “Best New Entrant”.

With the launch in Oman in April 2009, FRiENDi GROUP established the first MVNO/Mobile Reseller in that country and in the Middle East region in general. Providing a pre-paid mobile experience based around empowering customers to stay connected to their family and friends locally and internationally, whether they are expatriates or nationals, the FRiENDi GROUP proposition combine exciting services and competitive prices. Winning the hearts and minds of end-users, FRiENDi GROUP launched a second MVNO service in June 2010 in Jordan.

Mikkel Vinter added, “The South Asia, Middle East and Africa region, where FRiENDi GROUP has its geographic focus, offers a great opportunity for our business model. In Europe alone there are over 300 different MVNOs, whereas there is only a handful today in this region, so we certainly expect the regional mobile industry to move towards a more segmented approach with new brands being introduced to replace the ‘one-size-fits-all” single brand approach” of the past.

FRiENDi GROUP is currently delivering on the company vision of establishing a pan-regional footprint, and is deploying its advanced MVNO/MVNE technical platform plus global operational experience to support the roll-out of several new countries to be announced in the near future. With mobile operators and telecom regulators increasingly recognizing the fresh impetus and value the wholesale business model can bring to mobile markets across the region, FRiENDi GROUP is positioned as a leader in this exciting development for the regional telecommunications industry over the coming months and years.
About FRiENDi GROUP

FRiENDi GROUP was established in 2006 and is headquartered in Dubai Internet City, UAE. FRiENDi GROUP is an award-winning innovative telecommunications group operating as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) and Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) across the SAMEA region (South Asia, the Middle East and Africa)

The MVNO/MVNE model is a proven business model delivering significant benefits to mobile consumers and telecom operator partners.

The FRiENDi GROUP management team includes senior level team members from a variety of successful regional and global mobile operators as well as MVNOs. FRiENDi GROUP has a strong financial foundation and is supported by well-reputed and highly experienced global and regional shareholders.

For more information please visit: www.friendigroup.com

Juniper Networks Acquires Advanced Video Delivery Technology from Blackwave

Dubai, UAE., Dec. 1, 2010 - Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) has announced it has acquired the intellectual property assets of Blackwave, an innovator in Internet video storage and delivery infrastructure, further enhancing the company's solutions for delivering Internet video content with exceptional scale, performance and efficiency. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.


Juniper plans to integrate Blackwave's technology with Juniper Networks® Media Flow Controller, creating one of the most comprehensive converged content delivery solutions. This move reinforces Juniper's continued investment in technologies that bring value to service providers, content providers and content delivery networks (CDNs).

“The acquisition of Blackwave technology continues Juniper's commitment to the new network by serving the rapidly escalating appetite for high-quality video from anywhere to any device, ” said Rajan Raghavan, vice president and general manager, Content and Media Business Unit, Juniper Networks. “The Blackwave technology brings storage performance and scaling capabilities that, combined with the Media Flow platform and Juniper's high-performance networking systems, will provide a compelling solution for our customers who require scalable and efficient distribution of content and high-quality video over the Internet.”

Juniper Networks Media Flow portfolio includes advanced software and hardware designed to address the challenges of rich media delivery. Media Flow is a converged content delivery and caching solution that dramatically improves the performance of rich media delivery by leveraging unique innovations such as hierarchical caching, superior media-aware intelligence and massive scalability. With Media Flow, customers can profitably and efficiently deliver rich media content at massive scale.



About Juniper Networks


Juniper Networks is in the business of network innovation. From devices to data centers, from consumers to cloud providers, Juniper Networks delivers the software, silicon and systems that transform the experience and economics of networking. The company serves customers and partners worldwide, generating revenues exceeding $3 billion over the last year. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks (www.juniper.net).

Orga Systems strengthens commitment to Gulf Region, LEVANT and Africa

Paderborn (Germany), Dubai (United Arabic Emirates) 30 November 2010: Orga Systems,

#1 choice for real-time charging and billing, confirms its commitment to the Gulf

Region, LEVANT and Africa. It will strengthen its regional engagement and closeness

to customers in this area. Revealing Orga Systems’ plans for business activities during

a press conference in Dubai today, CEO Ramez Younan announces to be a long term

business partner for current and prospect customers in the region. Due to its dedication

to quality and industry leadership, Orga Systems is a reliable business partner for more

than 40 operators worldwide, serving more than 350M subscribers on its highly scalable

real-time based convergent platforms.



Highly scalable systems for future success

Mobile services in Middle East and Africa have seen tremendous growth during the past

decade. This was based on ever increasing mobile market penetration. In light of today’s

increasing competition, the region is facing a new challenge: sustainability of business. This can

only be achieved by retaining and acquiring customers through sophisticated offerings designed

to meet customers' lifestyle. Only convergent billing systems can handle this significant volume

of all prepaid and post paid subscribers.



“One of our systems handles 65+ M subscribers on one single real-time platform. All customers

– prepaid, postpaid, retail and corporate – are managed on this single system. This has

enabled our customers to increase their market share dramatically through launching the

most innovative tariff plans in the industry,” states Ramez Younan, CEO Orga Systems, at

today’s press conference. “Unlike many other vendors, we are committed to first class, future-

proof solutions. This enables MNOs success and makes us a long term, strategic partner for

customers in the region.”



Convergent services for prepaid airtime distribution and mobile money

“Our mobile payments solutions are enabling true convergent services in the area of prepaid

airtime distribution and mobile money for more than 200M subscribers in the Americas,” says

Steven Wakefield, VP Sales MEA Orga Systems, “The option to sell ‘bundled’ products in

the area of voice, data and financial transactions will offer dedicated advantages to MNOs in

the Gulf Region, LEVANT and Africa as well.” Orga Systems’ mobile payments solutions are

leading in distribution management including the handling of revenue sharing, commissions and

fees as well as sales targets and bonus.

Additional turnover through dynamic bandwidth management

With Smartphone usage on the rise, the amount of data traffic has increased dramatically.

Network capacities of many MNOs are already hitting their limits. With Orga Systems’ NGCP,

instant authorization of individual users and dynamic bandwidth management for better control

of applications that are particularly bandwidth-demanding can be secured. Furthermore,

differentiated offers allow MNOs to generate additional turnover.

Realization of highly complex projects by Orga Systems

In contrast to many other software suppliers, Orga Systems has its own integration and

project resources, as well as an experienced and acknowledged track record of executing and

managing complex projects. This allows for realization of highly complex projects within short

time frames and will help MNOs in the Gulf Region, LEVANT and Africa to secure their future

business.