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BusinessExcellence Weekly ISSUE No. 29 | www.bus-ex.com

CeskĂŠ Radiokomunikace:

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Developing and strengthening its market position by a continual improvement of services

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Nyrstar Tennessee Mines

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contents 6 Crisis management

6

Crisis? What Crisis?

If not managed correctly, a crisis can spell the end for a company’s brand reputation, says Simon Orme.

12 Comment: Cloud computing

14

Disaster recovery in the cloud

Mike Gault argues that disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) brings welcome cost reductions and increased capacity.

14 Nyrstar Tennessee Mines

Galvanized into action

One of America’s most reliable and highest grade source of zinc comes from Nyrtsar’s underground mines in Tennessee.

34

24 Westshore Terminals Canada’s coal cornucopia

The largest coal terminal in Canada handles more than the combined capacity of other ports on the North American west coast.

34 Ceské Radiokomunikace Making waves

Providing a full range of voice, data and internet services across the Czech Republic, as well as TV and radio broadcasting.

BE Weekly | 3

Mobile You can now read our latest magazines on your mobile devices

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contents

44

44 Telefónica

M2M: not just for B2B

This Spanish telecoms giant is taking full advantage of machine to machine (M2M) technology.

52 Sri Lanka Telecom Connecting a nation

52

CEO Greg Young discusses how the company is helping transform Sri Lanka into an information and telecommunications hotspot.

62 Spanco: Respondez Answering the call

The Respondez brand is introducing Spanco’s outsourcing solutions to Africa’s thriving telecommunications sector.

72 Port of Dar es Salaam

Handled with care

The first port of call for ocean-bound imports and exports, the port makes a huge contribution to Tanzania’s growth.

82 TCM LDA

Delivering the goods

72

Now a leading logistics organisation, playing its part in the development of Mozambique.

BE Weekly | 5

Crisis?

What Crisis?

Crises are for multinationals, aren’t they? It could never happen to you, could it? If not managed correctly, however, a crisis can spell the end for a company’s brand reputation written by: Simon Orme

6 | BE Weekly

Crisis management

BE Weekly | 7

T

here have been plenty of highprofile crises in the media over the last few months. In the UK we have had the phone hacking scandal and the recent Barclay’s Libor-fixing debacle to name but two. As we watch the media dissect these cases and inform the world of every last detail, it’s hard to imagine ourselves being in such a position.

The crises we have seen of late have involved huge, multinational enterprises so if you are a smaller organisation, you could be forgiven for thinking this could never happen to you.

However, all businesses are at risk of crises – they can happen to anyone at any time. If not managed correctly, a crisis can spell the end for a company’s brand reputation. Avoiding a crisis completely is not

always possible, so what can you do to limit the damage?

And what exactly constitutes a crisis?

Managers perform their roles in environments over which they do not have absolute control. From time to time life throws them a curve ball which causes disruption to their orderly lives. When the disruption is severe, they become exposed to a crisis.

Characteristics of a crisis Crises can have a serious impact upon the organisation or individual manager. They can arise from external or internal events, but they have a number of common characteristics. They are most often unexpected, their causes are not always obvious, their outcomes tend to be unpredictable, but above all, they require immediate attention—an

“When a crisis arises it has a similar impact to being told that one has a serious disease” 8 | BE Weekly

Crises can have a serious impact upon organisation or individual manager

n the

Crisis management unattended crisis can lead to disaster.

External events include market shifts, regulative impacts, competitor actions, customer events and economic factors. Internal events include product failure, staff resignations, technical problems, cash shortage and sales failures.

When a crisis arises it has a similar impact to being told that one has a serious disease. Reactions include: • Shock – how did this happen?

• Defensive denial – I don’t believe it!

• Acknowledgement – so what does it mean?

• Adaptation and change – so how do I fix it?

These are human reactions that occur in any crisis. The first point is to recognise their existence and the second is to decide how to manage them. The other aspect to recognise is that crises are part and parcel of the life of a manager; they occur with some regularity due to the fact that management is an art not a science.

Behavioural scientists

have identified three stages in crisis management: • Pre-crisis: the period leading up to the actual crisis. Although most crises are described as being unexpected events there are generally indicative signs that a crisis is looming.

Unfortunately these signs are frequently ignored. A useful management technique is to ask the question – ‘if this set of events continues what will be the outcome?’

This is crisis avoidance and is much preferable to crisis management.

• Crisis: where the pre-crisis signs have been ignored or the event was entirely unpredictable before the crisis stage is reached.

• Post crisis: the typical post crisis stage is characterised by recrimination. This takes a number of forms ranging from personal acceptance of failure to shedding the blame on others. The important dimension is to ‘learn lessons’ from the crisis and take steps and actions to seek to ensure that it does not occur again.

Some ma nagement thinkers maintain that a manager has not fully

BE Weekly | 9

matured in the job until a crisis has been experienced and coped with.

Managing a crisis A crisis is often caused by operational failure – quality management, market analysis, poor people management, sales performance or inadequate c a sh m a n a g em ent .

Whatever the cause, the first stage of crisis management is impact analysis. I have found it useful to develop three impact scenarios:

• Direct impact – what it does to my area of responsibility • Indirect impact – what it will do to the company • Disaster impact – the worst case scenario – if it all goes wrong.

By taking a cold look at the impact in this way, it becomes possible to identify the range of corrective actions needed. Just fixing the direct impact may cause further crises to occur in the future – beware of the ‘quick fix’ approach. The financial crisis we’re still going

Crisis avoidance is much preferable to crisis management

10 | BE Weekly

through now demonstrates what happens when a ‘patch-and-go’ approach is taken – the sacking of Fred Goodwin from RBS for example, kept the public happy for a while, but RBS failed to do anything about the huge pension and reward scheme in operation, leaving the banks vulnerable to greedy fat cats and public outrage.

Following on from this, the effect analysis will help to identify the actions that need to be taken. As an

Crisis management

“Any major crisis will have a large audience—bad news travels” example – I once had a crisis caused by the failure to win a large deal. This would have insulated our profit target for the year. We confidently expected to win the order, but at the last moment, the prospect was acquired by another company and the deal was cancelled.

The impact analysis was

about the effect of the loss of revenue, but the effect analysis told a bigger story – without the expected revenue, we could breach our banking facilities and could go bust. I had to cut headcount immediately to avoid this and introduce an austerity programme – I also had to find a replacement opportunity very quickly so there was huge pressure put on the sales team.

Impact identifies what has happened, effect identifies what it means.

Communication and problem resolution Any major crisis will have a large audience—bad news travels. The immediate and natural response to a crisis is denial, but a better strategy is open and honest recognition of the problem, coupled with a statement about how it will be dealt with.

This is the next step in crisis management

– problem resolution.

Clearly this will depend upon the nature of the crisis but the key point is to let all involved know that the problem is being addressed and that it has high priority.

Attempts at cover-up almost always fail and tend to make the crisis bigger.

The final stage in crisis management is reconciliation. All parties affected by the crisis need to be kept in touch with the resolution actions, along with regular progress reports and action plans.

Once the problem has been solved, it is important to let all who have been affected by the crisis know, and inform them that measures have been taken to ensure this doesn’t happen again in future.

Simon Orme is the managing director of Emros Partners. www.emrospartners.com

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by: Mike Gault

Disaster recovery

in the cloud

D

isaster recovery, like insurance, seems like a waste of time and money until disaster strikes. At that point, quick and easy system and data recovery are essential and well worth the price.

Organizational service level agreements continue to drive the need for disaster recovery strategy and services, causing more and more businesses to seek solutions that will offer the right protection at the right cost.

More choices than ever are available for disaster

12 | be weekly

recovery schema and practices with cloud services becoming more popular and available every day. Does it make sense to go to the cloud for DR? Is disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) a viable option at all?

Traditional disaster recovery often means creating a duplicate system that replicates both applications and data in two separate geographical areas.

The plan is for the system to fail-over to a duplicate system in the event of unfortunate service disruption. When IT services were less vital

to daily operations, this approach was acceptable.

The internet and the expansion of computing power and usage changed all that.

Duplicating a system sufficiently to run operations as needed during extreme exigency has become very costly. Choices of necessary versus non-necessary applications must be made, meaning less service can be provided during down-time.

Total business continuity is impossible, and the farther away the duplicate system is from the home office, the

comment: Cloud computing slower the transaction.

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) recreates a system virtually within the cloud. This brings welcome cost reductions and increased capacity to disaster recovery planning a nd implementation.

Virtualized provisioning for computing, networking, and storage for backup servers allows for a more extensive set of services to be offered while the homesite is off-line.

DRaaS provides the same advantages as all cloud computing, namely, decreased infrastructure needs, f lexibility in applications offerings and storage, and thirdly, increased mobility and portability. With 60 percent of companies placing a high or critical priority on their disaster recovery plans, more players will be entering the marketplace to offer these types of services, particularly as cloud-based solutions.

A clearly defined service level agreement (SLA) is essential when working with cloud service providers, particularly in the case of a

60% Companies placing a high or critical priority on their disaster recovery plans disaster recovery. A realistic determination of what is absolutely needed for business continuity will keep SLA costs down without sacrificing performance and productivity.

A business impact analysis should cover questions concerning recovery methodology and timeframe. Testing and validation for backups and system restores must be part of the guarantee for the fail-over process, including how long it takes to switch over and make data and applications accessible.

By approaching disaster

recovery as a service, the cost of business continuity drops while services are maintained at the expected rate. Not only is it more likely that service disruption is minimal with DRaaS, testing the system becomes much easier as does the recovery of all data with full integrity intact.

The savings for the business hit with server failures, power loss, building destruction, or security problems, is even greater. The firm’s reputation and customer base remains intact during and after service failures and customer acquisition opportunities abound as those unfortunate enough to be doing business with a less prepared organization decide to change to a more reliable hedge against the next disaster.

Do you have your DRaaS covered?

Mike Gault

Mike Gault is CEO of Guardtime, a developer of digital signatures that algorithmically prove the time, origin and integrity of electronic data.

Mike.Gault@guardtime.com www.guardtime.com

BE weekly | 13

Galvanized into

Zinc, one of Nyrstar’s primary products, is vital to Am industrial regeneration, and one of the most reliable an grade sources comes from its underground mines in Te written by: John O’Hanlon research by: Dan Finn

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Nyrstar Tennessee Mines

into action

merica’s nd highest ennessee

BE Weekly | 15

The Nyrstar smelter in Clarksville now has all of its ore supplied by the mines in Tennessee

Nyrstar Tennessee Mines

N

yrstar was formed in 2007 by combining the zinc smelting and alloying operations of Australian mining company Zinifex and Umicore, a Belgian materials technology specialist.

The combination included a Zinifex zinc refinery located four kilometers southwest of Clarksville. The smelter was built in 1978 to handle the high zinc content, low impurity Tennessee Valley zinc concentrates, something at which it excels – and in any case it is the only primary zinc producer in the United States, with an established reputation as a supplier of quality high grade zinc and alloys.

In 2009, Nyrstar announced its intention to become a mining as well as a processing company, to take advantage of rapidly improving zinc fundamentals resulting from, among other things, economic development in China. It is well known that China is continuing to ramp up steel production to satisfy its massive urbanization projects – and zinc is required to galvanize the structural steel components.

The mid-Tennessee complex of three mines was accordingly acquired in early 2009 as a distressed asset of the former Mid-Tennessee Zinc Corporation. The complex of three mines was in a bad way.

“The mine was completely flooded with little infrastructure in place,” says Craig Jetson, now general manager of Nyrstar Tennessee Mines (NTM). A few months later in December 2009 Nyrstar bought from Glencore the East Tennessee complex comprising a further three mines, 250

BE Weekly | 17

miles to the east of the Clarksville smelter, and NTM was established.

All six mines are underground operations at a similar depth of some 1,200 feet, though the ore bodies differ considerably in their geology and physical characteristics. They are very much focused on the zinc ore for processing by the Clarksville plant, which now has its entire capacity supplied by NTM. There are no current plans to increase capacity at Clarksville, he adds, though the smelting plant is currently assessing the business case for extracting a by-product of the ore. Germanium is in demand for optics and electronics, and is found in the ore yielded by Middle Tennessee though

18 | BE Weekly

not at East Tennessee. NTM is also looking at introducing operational efficiencies, in common with all Nyrstar operations. The commissioning in early 2011 of a new oxide washing facility eliminated the need to import oxide materials and has allowed the smelter to treat local North American sources of material.

If Middle Tennessee has grown from a standing start, East Tennessee has been no less successful in ramping up to full production. Current production rates have been reached in a number of ways and East Tennessee is now producing at a rate beyond any achieved by previous owners, says Jetson. “We have done that through a range of lean production, or

Nyrstar Tennessee Mines

When the mines restarted in 2009, they had a handful of employees. Today, they employ nearly 1000

de-bottlenecking processes, using a program we call ‘operational excellence’.” Working with the Brazilian consultancy Instituto Aquila, Nyrstar has been able to improve its grades, increase throughput, de-bottleneck its processes and improve its planning and production methodology, he says.

“The result of the operational excellence program has been that in the fourth

quarter of 2012 East Tennessee is meeting production rates we had planned for 2013, and there have been significant increases at Middle Tennessee too. We are going to stabilize the business over the next twelve months at those numbers.”

NTM is a single business made up from six separate mines. The mindset of the company, which is global, is to

“We have a range of lean production, or de-bottlenecking processes, using a program we call ‘operational excellence’” BE Weekly | 19

share best practice across all operations.

In Tennessee this is put into practice by spreading management responsibility across the six mines with Jetson himself and his safety, HR, finance, mine technical services and engineering managers traveling between sites and only the two operational managers at Mid Tennessee and East Tennessee staying put.

The company’s balanced business

strategy (BBS) is a five-year rolling strategy that throws out a yearly detailed plan as to how targets are to be reached, using what he describes as ‘mining for value’ methodology to improve Nyrstar’s bottom line. “We are looking at things like equipment reliability, cycling times for equipment, traveling times underground, hoisting times, changes of shift, improvement in capacity of equipment, incremental growth in mining

“We are looking at things like equipment reliability, cycling times, traveling times underground, hoisting times, changes of shift, etc”

A pair of thickening tanks at the Middle Tennessee mill, with the conveyer belt that routes the agricultural lime to its storage area

20 | BE Weekly

Nyrstar Tennessee Mines

Inside the Gordonsville mill

capacity – we also looked made public in the report at mine plans and mining and resource statement methods; changing our due to be published at the mining plans significantly start of 2013. to make underground Another way of getting Nyrstar employees at the mining more efficient than the most value out of a Tennessee mines it was in the past.” mine is ‘remote mucking’ Mining can be in which Nyrstar uses sustained from current fully automated loaders to resources at current rates for at least remove ore that couldn’t previously have five years – but in practice it will go on been safely reached. “We use remotely for considerably longer. An aggressive operated equipment to reclaim ore drilling program through the remainder from areas that were closed down many of 2012 and throughout the following years ago.” Equipment availability has year is aimed at extending the resource increased by 22 percent; consumption of and upgrading inferred classifications everything from tires to explosives and to proven – a revised assessment will be fuels has been optimized, he adds.

950

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Nyrstar already supplies ten percent of the industrial zinc requirement in the US

Nyrstar Tennessee Mines When the mines were purchased in 2009 they sustained just 30 employees. Today more than 950 work in them, many of them never having worked in a mine before. The impact on the community in mid-Tennessee has been dramatic – when Nyrstar came on the scene regional unemployment stood at 13.2 percent, now it is about seven percent, less than the national average. But this has placed a burden of training on the company. “We are very proud of our safety performance,” says Jetson. “Some of our mining operations have gone for more than a year without an LTI (lost-time injury) which is an impeccable record in this industry.”

After a long checkered history these mines in Tennessee face some stability at last under the ownership of Nyrstar, which is good news for the employees, too.

It is typical of mining that an asset will operate happily when prices are high but go into mothballs when they fall. “We have a good mining plan that we are turning into an efficient and effective production plan. We are managing the business so we can achieve operational value at a range of different zinc prices.” So, a lot less uncertainty for the community and a sustainable business for the longer term.

The business is well on track for ISO 14001 accreditation by 2014 – and already supplying ten percent of the nation’s industrial zinc requirement.

For more information about Nyrstar Tennessee Mines visit: www.nyrstar.com

BE Weekly | 23

Canada’s coal

Westshore is far and away the largest coal terminal in Ca than the combined capacity of other ports on the North Am

24 | BE Weekly

Westshore Terminals

l cornucopia

anada handling more merican west coast

written by: John O’Hanlon research by: Dan Finn

BE Weekly | 25

I

f Denis Horgan, VP and general manager of Westshore Terminals, has a few problems, they are mainly high class problems. Westshore stands in a privileged position in the North American coal value chain, which is characterised these days by a slackening in domestic demand balanced by a healthy export market. Coal falls into two main categories – thermal coal burnt to produce energy and the higher spec coking or metallurgical coal needed to produce steel. Both are badly wanted by countries like China, which shifted from being a net exporter to a net importer of coal in 1995, or Korea and Japan, two steel producing countries that have little in the way of domestic resources themselves.

Canada, particularly the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, has enormous coal resources – between them the Peace River and Kootenay coalfields alone are estimated to hold more than two billion tonnes. Westshore’s largest customer Teck has six operating coalmines in the region, and expects these to be producing for 25 years as a minimum. At present rates of use Canada has 200 years of coal reserves. Then there’s the United States. Forced to export more of the coal from its western coalfields in Wyoming and Montana it has no really viable coal ports on its western coastline from which to ship coal to Asia. Westshore, though, is just over the border and easily accessible by rail.

Westshore Terminals is 42 years old this year. It is one of a handful of profitable standalone coal terminals in the world – most are owned by shipping groups or

26 | BE Weekly

Three major railways serve Westshore including Canadian National

Westshore Terminals

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Westshore Terminals

Both of Westshore’s deep sea berths will be kept busy in the last quarter

governments. The facility covers 133 acres $49 million equipment upgrade in 2007 on a man-made island at Roberts Bank pushed capacity up from 23.5 to 29 million out in the delta just over 20 miles from tonnes per annum and a $53 million project Vancouver and is linked to the mainland by involving the replacement of the single a road and rail causeway. Six trains a day rotary railcar dumper with a new tandem dump their cargo which is transported by dumper together with other improvements high-speed conveyor to stockpile using one such as equipment automation and new of the four giant stackerredesigned transfer chutes, reclaimers Westshore has will increase the capacity to on site, although these days 33 million tonnes per annum around 30 percent of the by the end of the year. “We incoming coal is directed shipped more than 8 million straight onto ships waiting tonnes of American coal last at one of the terminal’s two year, mostly from Montana. deep water berths.

We could easily ship a So what is the problem? further 20 million tonnes if Area of Westshore “We are turning away we had the capacity.”

Terminals facility business,” says Horgan. A It is always heartbreaking

133

acres

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Ships up to 170,000 tonnes can be loaded at Berth 2

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for a business to have to turn away so much potential income, but Westshore is approaching maximum efficiency as an operation, which is cause for congratulation.

“Rail car dumping was our bottleneck, but following the installation of a new dumper and ancillary equipment, we are now more or less right-sized.”

Some equipment could do with updating and upsizing – one of the older stackerreclaimers is 40 years old, but all four yard machines have been automated and can now be controlled centrally. The automation system followed has been used at Western Europe’s largest bulk terminal, the Rotterdam EMO (Europees Massagoed-Overslagbedrij) for the last eight years, he adds. Operations are driven by a rigorous continuous improvement (CI) philosophy that was an integral part of the debottlenecking operation. Drives, belting and gearboxes were upgraded, and in April this year four of the seven major transfer towers on the site were replaced.

With ships booked in daily and the size of these ships having increased over the last five years to a point where 170,000 tonnes is commonplace, the pressure is on to process stocks as efficiently as possible. “Despite the pressure we have managed to operate without any significant delays over recent years,” claims Horgan. This is in contrast to Australian ports, for example, where ship queues are the bane of the bulk shipping companies.

Historically Westshore has been primarily a shipper of coking coal, with thermal coal representing only about 10 percent of throughput. However over the

Westshore Terminals

MV Tanya loading at dusk at Berth 2

past couple of years shipments of thermal coal have increased dramatically with the advent of US coal from the Powder River Basin, to the extent that in 2011 thermal coal represented 40 percent of shipments through the terminal. Demand for coking or met coal is still strong and increasing, and in 2011 Westshore signed several long term agreements with its customers. In September 2012 the agreement with the biggest customer of all, Teck, was extended from 2016 to 2021. Under the new agreement Teck will ship between 16 and 19 million

tonnes of coal a year through Westshore, at a fixed rate per tonne and not at variable rates based on the sale price of the coal as in was the case prior to April 2011.

Coal from each of Westshore’s customers has different characteristics and cross contamination is totally unacceptable – as Horgan explains. “Any mistake could be a million dollar mistake so we don’t make any! There are a lot of checks and balances in place.” Managing the storage and onward shipment reliably is a vital part of Westshore’s customer relationship and

“Any mistake could be a million dollar mistake so we don’t make any!”

BE Weekly | 31

Westshore’s fourth and newest monster Stacker-Reclaimer 44

Westshore Terminals is only one part of its good stewardship portfolio. Though it’s on an offshore island the terminal is only three miles from residential communities on the shore and there’s a vigilant environmental lobby ready to draw attention to any pollution Westshore might cause. “We spend a lot of time on dust control. Historically we have relied on rain guns and if it is going to be windy we wet the site down thoroughly.”

Rain guns are rather like agricultural irrigation sprayers, mounted on the ground.

They are augmented by five 125 foot spray towers within the stockpile area and 38 mast sprayers around the perimeter.

Bulk ports the world over are moving toward greater equipment automation, where remotely-operated machines, such as stacker-reclaimers, are becoming the norm.

Westshore, says Horgan, will continue to embrace these advances so that it can remain competitive as Canada’s premier coal export terminal and the busiest single coal export facility in all of North America.

The company is a member of CETOA, the Coal Exporting Terminals Operators Association, an international body that shares best practices and innovations. At its latest meeting in Norfolk, Virginia in late September Denis Horgan was not short of best practices to share with other operators from America, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia and Colombia.

For more information about Westshore Terminals visit: www.westshore.com

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M

A w

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CeskĂŠ Radiokomunikace

Making waves

A modern broadcasting and telecommunications company with the aim to develop and strengthen its market position by a continual improvement of services written by: John O’Hanlon research by: David Brogan

BE Weekly | 35

Václav Aulický’s unique telecommunications tower in Prague

eské Radiokomunikace

K

amil Levinsky has been at the helm of eské Radiokomunikace, the company he joined in 2007, for just over a year. This is an exciting time for the much evolved broadcaster with a strong stake in communications infrastructure, new platforms and constantly changing modes of data interchange – not to mention runof-the-mill developments like the shift from analogue to digital radio and TV currently being implemented in the Czech Republic. eské Radiokomunikace traces its origins back to 1963 when it was the Czechoslovak government department for radio communications. Privatised after the restoration of democracy in 1989, it went through restructuring to become a full service provider of electronic communications and broadcasting services. In 2010 it was acquired by MIRA, a fund management company within the Macquarie Group, now the sole shareholder.

One of the largest telecoms organisations in the modern Czech Republic, it has three principal business streams. It provides a broadcasting platform over the airwaves for government and licensed broadcasters; it offers comprehensive voice data and internet services; and since it owns hundreds of structures and buildings throughout the country, including Václav Aulický’s unique telecommunications tower in Prague from which, as from its other assets, it leases space to other telecommunications operators.

Twelve digital television and eight radio stations broadcast from the Žižkov Television Tower as well as another six

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60% Czech households receiving digital TV

Top of a broadcasting tower

38 | BE Weekly

analogue VHF radio channels. And eské Radiokomunikace is the operator of three out of four digital TV multiplexes in the Czech Republic—it owns two commercial DVB multiplexes including that of Czech Digital Group acquired in 2010, and operates the multiplex owned by the national broadcaster eské televize. With the switch over from analogue to digital complete, the company is now focusing its efforts on the rollout of DVB-T2, the second generation digital system that is more effective as a carrier of HD (high definition) TV content with the ability to provide pay TV over terrestrial platform. Around 60 percent of Czech households are now receiving digital TV, which launched in 2008, and that number is rising steeply. Cable and satellite remain fairly flat at around 20 percent.

In July 2012 the Czech Telecommunication Office gave the go-ahead to eské Radiokomunikace to start experimental DVB-T2 broadcasting from Prague and Plze – in time to show HD coverage of the London Olympics. “We negotiated inclusion into an experimental DVB-T2 multiplex with eská televize, Prima and Barrandov for HD. Since so many Czech households now have widescreen HD sets, migration to higher standard TV broadcasting is a logical and

eské Radiokomunikace

Multiplex - digital broadcasting technology

natural step. We are committed to showing the viewers that terrestrial broadcasting can provide them for free with the same high quality content as via cable TV or satellite.”

Radio is still broadcast as an analogue service in the republic, and though radio is a highly diversified field, eské Radiokomunikace broadcasts 98 percent of the stations transmitted domestically, including Radio Prague and the regional stations operated by the national carrier eský Rozhlas. In addition it supports the four competing mobile phone companies Telefónica O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone and

U:fon, offering them space on its 600 towers. “Using our infrastructure in rural areas is a lot more cost effective for mobile operators than building and owning their own towers,” he points out.

Control of the infrastructure is an important strategy. “We live or die by our reliability in the market, particularly in corporate data services,” says Levinsky.

“We own the city networks and also 2,600 kilometres of fibre and microwave infrastructure.” He goes on to say that this is a 100 percent redundant system. Redundant in the engineering sense that there is always

“Since so many Czech households now have widescreen HD sets, migration to higher standard TV broadcasting is a logical and natural step” BE Weekly | 39

TV HEADENDS CONTRIBUTION & DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS • MPEG Compression and Multiplexing in Highest Broadcast Video and Audio Quality • Contribution and Distribution Systems for TV and Radio • Management and Control Advanced Control for Headends and Contribution Networks

www.triton.eu

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at least one alternative route for any data communication – the client will never detect a failure; a very significant asset for corporate clients for whom security of communication is business critical.

However, for these clients the security of their data is just as critical. In 2010 eské Radiokomunikace came to realize that the telephony market was on the decline – at least as far as the fixed network was concerned – and that having established itself as firmly in control of the physical infrastructure it needed to start looking at the future of business communications. It concluded that the path led clearly in the direction of smart cloud services – so it launched Smart Cloud a year ago. Smart Cloud offers business clients the opportunity to store, manage

eské Radiokomunikace

Microwave radio technology (at Prague tower)

and distribute all their data using eské Radiokomunikace’s infrastructure, which has been extended to a data centre based in the Prague Tower.

At first, take-up was slow, Levinsky admits. “Though the savings to our clients are truly significant – they typically work out at around 60 percent of their IT spend – businesses are reluctant to lose control, as they see it, of their critical data: but they

don’t lose control of it! When we launched the Smart Cloud services we were the only company in the Czech Republic that could link its ring-fenced virtualized server to its own telecommunications network. It is a completely secure environment for running business applications.” This message is beginning to get though as companies realise that they can get reliable IaaS (infrastructure as a service), PaaS (platform

“We live or die by our reliability in the market, particularly in corporate data services” BE Weekly | 41

“It’s only a cloud based system in the sense that it is virtual – the data remains inside a private network”

The 91 metre Ješted broadcasting tower in the north of the Czech Republic

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eské Radiokomunikace as a service) and flexible data management over powerful servers with data backup and long term archiving.

Clients still need a lot of reassurance before they will entrust their data to a third party, but this offers them state of the art outsourcing firmly located in their own backyard – understandably they don’t like the idea of their data being warehoused in Ireland or India. eské Radiokomunikace needed to populate its data centre with servers that delivered virtualization and costefficiencies but were entirely secure, so it deployed the Cisco Unified Computing System, consisting of 30 servers powered by Intel 5600 Xeon processors that provide all the control they could wish for – as Levinsky explains: “Some people are scared off by the name.

It’s only a cloud based system in the sense that it is virtual – the data remains inside a private network.” An added advantage for business clients, he adds, is that the service is completely scalable, and if their business is seasonal their fees will contract or expand with their demands.

The business has changed radically since Levinsky joined it five years ago. It is financially much more stable, relying less on short term contracts and more on sustained partnerships. “We got out of activities where we didn’t think we could

The 59 metre Radhošt broadcasting tower in the eastern Czech Republic

add value, like retail telecommunications and now we are concentrating on business to business solutions.” Moving into the ICT space and staying ahead in that space is his number one priority as the bread and butter channels become commoditised.

Some large government outsourcing contracts are coming up for tender: if eské Radiokomunikace can land these contracts and significantly increase its stake in public sector data and voice services Czech taxpayers will gain the benefit already seen by corporate clients.

For more information about Ceské Radiokomunikace visit: www.radiokomunikace.cz

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Telef贸nica

M2M: not just for B2B Digital communications are opening many new opportunities. This Spanish telecoms giant is taking full advantage of machine to machine (M2M) technology written by: Alan Swaby research by: David Brogan

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Telef贸nica flagship store

Telefónica

O

n any visit to Spain, it’s impossible not to notice the presence of Telefónica.

This is the institutional face of Spain’s principal telecommunications company which is presented to both the business and domestic sectors through the ubiquitous Movistar brand. Since 2006, O2, another of the bigger players in the cellular mobile market, has also been part of the Telefónica family.

In fact these days, Telefónica has moved a long way from what was once a purely national operation, set up in 1924 as CTNE with the aid of ITT. At the end of World War II, the business was effectively nationalised with the Spanish government taking 79.6 percent of CTNE shares and by the 1960s, CTNE had become the #1 Spanish enterprise with 32,000 employees.

By the time the Spanish government sold its shareholding and Telefónica had returned to completely public hands in 1999, the business was already international with interests principally in South America but also in key markets throughout Europe and the Far East. Today it operates in 25 countries and has a workforce of 287,000, generating revenues of €63 billion.

Telefónica is well and truly one of the leading integrated telecommunication providers, ranked 6th largest among terrestrial mobile phone network operators as measured by number of subscribers. As of June 2012, Telefónica’s total number of customers amounted to 311.8 million and of these, more than 75 per cent came from outside its home market.

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$8 Billion Estimated value of M2M market by the end of this year

Entrance to Telefónica’s flagship store

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It’s with this global market very much in mind that Telefónica announced in July this year that it was pressing for the establishment of international collaboration and cooperation in the advancement of cellular M2M technology and had helped form an alliance of like-minded telecoms operators.

In itself, there is nothing new about M2M – or machine to machine – communications.

The concept has been around in one form or another for decades under numerous titles.

Effectively it refers to any technology that allows a remote device to transmit data to an application somewhere else, either by wired systems or wireless. Originally, this invariably meant a remote network of machines relaying information back to a central hub before being re-directed to a PC for the data to be processed.

Even cellular M2M has existed for over two decades since Siemens launched a GSM data module based on one of its mobile phones for M2M industrial applications, enabling machines to communicate over wireless networks. Modern M2M communication progressed with the expansion of IP networks across the world, opening new business opportunities.

Now Telefónica has teamed up with

Telefónica

Telefónica is known to both the business and domestic sectors through the ubiquitous Movistar brand

leading mobile operators in Europe, the East and Australasia who will discuss ways in which they can provide a seamless solution for the provision of M2M communications to multinational customers. Although the initial grouping consists of seven businesses, Telefónica has stressed that the initiative is open to other operators.

The goal is to stimulate the sale of M2M communications across a number of distinct high-potential industries such as consumer electronics, automotive, energy efficiency, etc, enabling the development of new business models, the creation of new

products and services and a reduction in operational costs for these target industries.

The Telefónica initiative is based on using an existing platform from Jasper Wireless in the USA—one of the leading exponents of M2M technology. Jasper estimates that the M2M market will be worth $8 billion by the end of this year and by building on its technology, network operators can quickly enter the M2M market.

The traditional markets for M2M applications, such as fleet management, vehicle telemetry and energy monitoring smart meters are expected to be joined by

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other consumer directed offerings, many of which simply haven’t even been thought of yet, but will be once the technology is in place. As the Jasper platform has the advantage of being a cloud based service, both operators and customers should find faster times for products to get to market and continuous innovation.

Although Telefónica was a key mover in getting this alliance underway, it is very much a case of equality across partners, enabling all operators to benefit equally in

terms of providing better services at lower costs. The opportunity is there for all to develop partnerships with key regional players rather than expanding individually country by country.

And of course, it should never be forgotten that multi-operator schemes such as this are particularly attractive to key corporate customers who also work across global markets and want the simplicity of a compatible system for their communications across borders.

“The goal is to stimulate the sale of M2M communications across a number of distinct high-potential industries”

The CNSO (National Centre for Supervision and Operations) control room

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Telefónica

Telefónica and Mozilla pioneer first open web devices

The above scheme is ideally suited for Telefónica’s global plans but the company is equally keen to develop M2M on the local scene. It has recently jointly invested €3 million in the Barcelona based technology company AddFleet with the aim of promoting the commercialisation of the company’s products worldwide.

It has developed a new mobility system based on M2M technology and cloud computing that uses mobile devices to connect vehicles to taxi dispatch centres and to potential taxi users.

Taxi dispatch centres are currently managed using analogue radio systems, with the distinct disadvantage of not enabling direct communication between the three

parties: dispatcher, the vehicle and the user. Instead of expensive investments in communications that can only be used in the taxi, AddFleet’s technology allows the driver to receive the same information but via his mobile phone, paying only a small fee on the receipt of each new fare.

Telefónica has developed into the global force it is through the timely application of new technology and it expects that the growing interest in cellular M2M will contribute further to the company’s growth.

For more information about Telefónica visit: www.telefonica.com

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Connecting a nation

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Sri Lanka Telecom Chief executive officer Greg Young discusses the ways in which the company is helping transform Sri Lanka into an information and telecommunications hotspot

written by: Will Daynes research by: David Brogan

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High speed data fibre metro ethernet

Sri Lanka Telecom

S

ri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has built over 150 years of goodwill and trust with its valued customers protecting its brand image and company values. SLT‘s role in the continuing development of the Indian Ocean island is perhaps best summed up by its own slogan, “One Country. One Voice.”

SLT envisions a not-too-distant future where the citizens of the country are united through the concept of connectivity.

From the days when it was a part of Sri Lanka’s Department of Post and Telecommunications through to the present day, the company boasts a long and rich history. Now a fully integrated telecommunications operator, with a customer base of more than five million that include multinational corporations, public sector firms, and retail and domestic users, SLT today has achieved recognition as one of the most respected entities in the country.

“We provide triple-play services to our customers through fixed wire line (Megaline), public switched telephone networks (PSTN), asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) broadband access and our IPTV pay television service (PeoTV),” explains chief executive officer, Greg Young.

By owning and operating an extensive, national, optical transmission network connecting all parts of the country, SLT is able to meet the needs of both its fixed business customers and those of its fully owned mobile subsidiary Mobitel. In addition, the company has ownership in four

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submarine cables that leave Sri Lanka and connect up to South East Asia, the Middle East, Western Europe and surrounding nations such as India and the Maldives.

The telecommunications market in Sri Lanka has experienced rapid growth over the last six-to-seven years, driven by competition in the marketplace and the adoption of mobile telephony by the masses.

Today, it is the Sri Lankan government’s intention to build upon this growth and establish the country as an information and communication technology hub, with one specific strategy being to drive broadband penetration and availability. “As the national telecommunications provider, it is heavily incumbent upon us that we support these national growth

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Sri Lanka Telecom

SLT’s PeoTV controlling panel observe quality of feeds before IP multicasting via SLT broadband

objectives,” Young continues. “We take our role in this very seriously and thus have geared both our long-term strategy and short-term investment plans to ensure we deliver against these targets.”

One of the most important ways in which SLT is supporting the government to achieve its aims is through its flagship i-Sri Lanka project, which is geared towards driving nationwide network modernisation.

“Since 2011,” Young says, “we have embarked on our most ambitious and capitally intensive expansion programme over the last decade in order to bring improved service quality and innovative products to customers. Augmenting the existing copper-based network through fibre-to-the-node technology, i-Sri Lanka will revolutionise broadband access across the country.”

“SLT‘s role in the continuing development of the Indian Ocean island is best summed up by its own slogan, ‘One Country. One Voice’.”

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The target of i-Sri Lanka is to achieve broadband speeds of up to 20 megabits per second for more than 90 percent of fixed customers by mid-2013. “With triple play,” Young enthuses, “this introduces a world of entertainment options through PeoTV to more than one million fixedline customers through the SLT Megaline connection, together with an enhanced broadband experience.”

Sitting behind the benefits that this fibre-to-the-node programme will bring to its customers are the advantages it will provide SLT. “Reducing the length of the copper cables significantly reduces maintenance costs, reduces the propensity for damage from lightning and replaces a lot of the decades old, aging copper that has become less reliable,” Young says.

“In turn this improves reliability and performance, and delivers an all-round better quality of service.”

SLT embarked on the transformation programme a number of years ago, laying the foundation for the favourable results of today. “Having laid the groundwork and infrastructure, and refocusing our plans,” Young elaborates, “we are well prepared for the changing demand for telecommunication solutions. We have

MSAN deployment

taken our role as a strategic partner in this future journey very seriously. Our strategies now focus on customer centricity which is primary and remains at the axis of our objectives. Innovation, responsiveness, teamwork, business processes, increased productivity, prudent cost management, strategic investment, governance and best practices, values, ethics, transparency and technological advancement have

“Augmenting the existing copper-based network through fibre-to-the-node technology, i-Sri Lanka will revolutionise broadband access across the country” 58 | BE Weekly

Sri Lanka Telecom

t and optical fibre laying by SLT technical staff, achieving pre-set goals of the ongoing flagship i-Sri Lanka project

and modernisation of the all been addressed in network. “This is being ou r c ompr eh en si ve Transformation evidenced through projects Programme.” such as i-Sri Lanka, the Nationwide Optical Fibre Th rough what it Year-on-year increase in Backbone Network (NBN), describes as ‘prudent group profits for the first international submarine and disciplined’ financial half of 2012 capacity, FTTN to drive management, SLT has ma naged to deliver broadband penetration and significant profit growth ICT enablement, as well as over the past two years. Before tax profit expansion of mobile broadband and voice for 2011 has shown itself to be three times coverage. A group investment exceeding that of 2009, while results from the first Rs. 25 billion in 2012, which is more than half of 2012 show a 15 percent year-on- double the annual average over the past year increase in group operating profit. decade, is also planned.”

Young asserts that this strong financial “On the mobile side of our business,” Young performance is being leveraged to fund says, “we are experiencing the same trends heavy capital investment into expansion being seen around the globe, specifically

15%

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SLT Technology Experience Centre facilitates customised communication requirements for small, medium and large enterprises

Sri Lanka Telecom

150+ Years spent serving its customers the rapid uptake of smart phones, mobile broadband and tablet devices. Meanwhile, from a fixed perspective, we are gearing heavily towards providing the best possible high speed broadband and IPTV services to our customers.”

As it stands at present, broadband penetration within Sri Lanka falls under seven percent, yet SLT expects this to increase dramatically over the next five years. One of the challenges that it must face head on, is how to service this demand in a cost effective manner.

“Household and per capita income in Sri Lanka is much lower than that of other developing nations, and therefore delivering services in an affordable way is a challenge we take very seriously,” Young concludes.

“While we already boast voice call rates that are among the lowest in the world, we recognise the importance of being able to re-engineer our networks in order to provide quality fixed and mobile broadband to our customers. That is exactly where we are making great strides and will continue to do so.”

For more information about Sri Lanka Telecom visit: www.slt.lk

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Spanco: Respondez

Answering

the call Through the work of its Respondez brand, Spanco Limited has introduced its outsourcing solutions to Africa’s thriving telecommunications sector written by: Will Daynes research by: Richard Halfhide

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Respondez provides high value, cost effective contact centre outsourcing solutions

Spanco: Respondez

T

hough still in its relatively early its expertise into the dynamic space of stages of development, Africa’s international contact centre management telecommunications market and BPO, thus the Respondez brand was is lauded as being one of the created. fastest-growing in the world.

Combining its voice, live web chat and Throughout the 2000s, mobile telephony email capabilities with the expertise of across the continent, particularly in sub- its back office support staff, Respondez is Saharan nations, skyrocketed to the able to provide customer care, sales and point where today it is substantially more technical support services to improve user widespread than its fixed line equivalent. satisfaction and deliver increased sales, while As is the case for many leading businesses, at the same time reducing operational costs.

Respondez has reacted to the rapid growth Committed to migrating and managing its of Africa’s telecoms sector by expanding client’s business processes effectively, the its presence in the region, partnering with company’s presence extends to a variety of some of leading players industries including retail and e-commerce, financial within the field. services, communications Established in 2002, and entertainment and Respondez prov ides high value, cost effective gaming publishers. contact centre outsourcing Respondez’s solutions through its own communications clients Number of worldwide employees multi-ling ual contact represent leading global headquarters. With its providers of satellite and solutions present in core digital cable, wireless, global epicentres including the US, UK and dial-up, digital subscriber line and cable India, Respondez acts as the global contact internet access, and cellular service and centre and international business processing equipment sales. These clients rely upon it brand of Spanco Limited. to support their existing customers, while Since its formation in 1995, Spanco has also cross-selling portfolios to deliver higher grown into one of the leading telecom revenue and attach rates per customer. systems integration and IT service It was in November 2010 that Spanco companies. Employing more than 7000 officially announced that it had put in place people across the world, Spanco is an a comprehensive strategy to tap into the active player in the field of information BPO opportunities present within Africa. and communication technology (ICT), Central to this plan was the leveraging of with dedicated system integration and its segment specific expertise and its deep business process outsourcing (BPO) arms. talent pool of English and French speaking In 2002, the company decided to leverage employees in order to provide high quality

7,000

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Spanco: Respondez services to potential African clients. Between 2011 and 2014, Spanco plans to invest around $20 million to create an infrastructure that will cater for the employment of approximately 10,000 people across the continent.

Arguably one of the more exciting developments to occur within Spanco’s short history within Africa was the decision taken by Bharti Airtel, India’s leading mobile phone firm, to award call centre contracts for its African operations. The second significant step in replicating Bharti Airtel’s hugely successful

outsourcing model on the continent, the five-year contract is estimated to be worth around $500 million, with Spanco due to earn a significant percentage of this. The contract to provide customer services was the first of its kind to be introduced to Africa where the back-office processing industry is seen to be in the early stages of evolution.

Under the agreement, Bharti Airtel, which owns and operates the Zain brand in 16 African countries, will outsource core customer service functions such as

MaaS: A coherent IT strategy for increased customer experience In the current economic world of costoptimisation, organisations face the pressure to implement efficient and effective ways to manage complex delocalised IT environments where 50-60% of workforce have gone mobile and remote offices gets created all over Africa. Connectivity has so far remained a challenge with most of IT costs going into breakfixes and IMACs. It is imperative that CIOs focus on a best practice governance model combining the technology, the people and the processes to cater for asset management, license metering, availability and capacity management, change management, helpdesk services and SLA compliances.

The IT Management as a Service (MaaS) philosophy leverages on shared-tenancy model technologies coupled with on-site shared personnel to bring a completely new business model to organisations allowing them to optimise cost while benefitting from a knowledge base of skills, thus ensuring a faster resolution time and higher adherence to SLAs resulting in an increased customer experience for the end user. Additionally, providing visibility at all times to organisations on their current IT infrastructure and systems performance in real-time (or near real-time) has become of paramount importance to management. www.mara-ison.com

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Experts in {HVAC-R} Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning Refrigeration services

Comfort Cooling Designed For People including but not limited to -Chiller systems, Vrf, Packaged and Split systems of all types of air conditioners in the market, from Domestic to Commercial & industrial cooling.

Precision cooling Designed For Critical Electronic Equipment - We provide precision cooling in Data centers, Telecom enclosures, Hospital theatres, Radio & computer rooms, Pharmaceutical process plants through various closed control units (CCU).

Refrigeration Services We offer a wide range of refrigeration services from supply of Domestic refrigerators to installation of commercial & industrial refrigeration systems like Food Cold rooms, Mortuaries, display counters, flower cold rooms, cooling towers, blood & Human tissue Banks etc.

Kindly contact us for a full range of our services at: info@air-technics.com

‘We are proud to be associated with Spanco’ Air Techniques Ltd P.O. Box: 51157 - 00200, LeoMar Courtt, Westlands Rd, Nairobi, Kenya Phone: 020 2248862 Cell: 254 720 352 214 / 721247905 Email: info@air-technics.com

Spanco: Respondez

Customer service staff are multi-lingual

call centres and back office operations experiences of working with international as it prepares for the inevitable organisations in the communications sector. acceleration in growth throughout the It is thought by many industry experts region. Currently boasting more than and insiders that the widespread adoption 40 million customers across its African of the BPO model by Bharti Airtel across its operations, Bharti Airtel operations will also bring is looking to increase this tangible benefits to the development of the sector figure to 100 million by 2013.

Bharti Airtel’s decision in each country by creating to work with partners like additional job opportunities Spanco, IBM and Tech and developing local talent.

Mahindra will enable All three partners are also its mobile customers to committed to providing the necessary services enjoy world class customer Value of Bharti Airtel’s services, while said partners and infrastructure in each contract with Spanco and introduce best practices market that will build its partners and sustain the skills, based on their own unique

$500 million

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“Spanco anticipates its African employee headcount to increase from 2700 to 5000 during the course of the next 12-to-18 months� capabilities and resources that are acquired as a result of the contract.

Going forward, Spanco plans to utilise this contact centre contract to secure a larger foothold in the market for itself, through its Respondez brand. In the time since the contract was announced the

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company has entered into talks with at least three other large telecommunications businesses with the aim of providing similar services. Should its plans for the market come to fruition, Spanco anticipates its African employee headcount to increase from its current stated commitment of 2700

Spanco: Respondez

Spanco plans to invest around $20 million in infrastructure

professionals, as part of its agreement with Bharti Airtel, to 5000 during the course of the next 12-to-18 months.

Due to the company seeing Africa as a huge untapped market for BPO work, including customer lifecycle management for telecommunication customers, and collections and credit counselling services for banking clients, Spanco continues to seek out potential employees that it can hire to serve other clients that it signs up with in the months to come.

The significant roles that the development of the telecommunications industry and the work of businesses like

Respondez have had when it comes to the success of one of Africa’s more thriving sectors cannot be underplayed. For Respondez alone, the last 4000 employees that it has taken on are based on the continent. Statistics like this reinforce the belief that Africa’s presence on the global telecommunications stage will only go from strength to strength.

For more information about Spanco: Respondez visit: www.spancobpo.com www.respondez.com

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Handled with c As the first port of call for ocean-bound imports and exports, the Port of Dar es Salaam’s contribution to Tanzania’s growth as a nation is beyond measure written by: Will Daynes research by: Abi Abagun

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Port of Dar es Salaam

care

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F

rom the wilds of the Serengeti plains to the vibrant tropical beaches of Zanzibar, the country of Tanzania is home to an array of tribes and cultures. Steeped in tradition, the history of Tanzania dates back to the early days of mankind, with men and women across the world still considering it to be their true place of origin.

Situated on the edge of the African continent, the Tanzania of today is not only recognised for its historical significance and natural beauty, it is also home to a blossoming economy. Over the last 25 years, significant measures have been taken to liberalise the country’s economy and encourage both foreign and domestic private investment.

The results of this sustained effort are evident in the fact that between 1998 and 2007, Tanzania’s GDP per capita grew by more than 40 percent.

Playing a core part in the growth of the country is the Port of Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s principle port, it handles approximately 95 percent of its international sea trade. Located some 41 nautical miles southeast of the Port of Zanzibar, and around 170 nautical miles south of Kenya’s Port of Mombasa, the Port of Dar es Salaam is owned and operated by the Tanzania Port Authority.

Despite the fact that its harbour is almost virtually landlocked, the port acts as the main export point for the majority of the country’s agricultural and mineral exports.

With enough capacity for 4.1 million tonnes of dry cargo, six million tonnes of bulk liquid cargo, 3.1 million tonnes of general cargo,

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Dar es Salaam Waterfront

Port of Dar es Salaam

Port of Dar es Salaam

The port has capacity for one million tonnes of containerised cargo

and one million tonnes of containerised terminal, meanwhile, comes equipped cargo, it serves neighbouring countries with eight deep water berths that cater Zambia, Malawi, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda for dry break-bulk cargo. Boasting eight and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. sheds with a total floor area of 81,040 Not only is the port strategically placed to square metres, the terminal has an annual serve as a convenient freight link to and from capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. In order to handle such a high volume eastern and central African countries, it also has the of cargo it has 28 portal ability to serve customers cranes, 27 yard cranes, 119 forklift trucks, 44 tractors based in the Middle and Far and 86 trailers available.

East, Europe, Australia and the US. Among the fleet of Currently running at maximum capacity, the vessels at the port’s disposal Tanzania Port Authority are six berthing tugs, 16 light towing tugs, two pilot continues to invest heavily Tonnes of import and boats, two patrol boats and in infrastructure, personnel export cargo handled in 2010/2011 13 mooring boats. and various processes.

The port’s general cargo One of the more recent

2.441 million

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Jos. Hansen & Soehne GmbH is a well known and experienced German based supplier and engineering company with subsidiaries in Africa.

Jos. Hansen has structured its business to cater for 6 different sectors: • Machinery and Industrial Equipment; • Geodetic Instruments and Broadcast Systems; • Equipment for Research, Education and Health; • Pumps, Valves and Pipes; • Energy Industry Solutions; and • Water Engineering

Training by the Manufacturer’s Engineer on the supplied Heavy Duty Fire Tender to Dar es Salaam Port by Jos. Hansen & Soehne (Dec. 2011).

Heavy Duty Fire Tender Manufactured by BAI and supplied by Jos. Hansen & Soehne GmbH for Dar es Salaam Port (Dec 2011)

Head Office: Telephone: + 49 40 30 304 0 | Email:info@joshansen.com | www.joshansen.com | www.amiantit.com Local Office: Telephone: + 255 22 2112948 | Email:jhs-t@africaonline.co.tz | www.joshansen.com

Heard Tell us about your company and we’ll tell everyone else www.bus-ex.com

Port of Dar es Salaam examples of this investment Jos. Hansen & Soehne has seen the port enter Jos. Hansen & Soehne GmbH was established in 1919. For into a partnership with the more than 90 years, Jos. Hansen has played an active US, creating a One Stop role in Africa, including Tanzania. It has maintained a very Centre (OSC). Housing 11 close relationship with projects financier like: KfW, ADB, government agencies in one World Bank and EDF among others. Some of the projects building, where all cargo accomplished by Jos. Hansen for Dar es Salaam Port are: • Supply & commissioning of cargo gear & fittings; related paper work will be • Supply of workshop equipment & various plants; handled, the presence of • Supply of one reach stacker; the OSC will drastically • Supply of 20 ton mobile crane; and reduce clearing process • Supply of heavy duty fire and rescue vehicle. times and therefore reduce www.joshansen.com congestion at the port.

One of the other challenges the Tanzania Port Authority is looking to overcome is the fact that, at present, the port is only able to handle vessels no more than 10.5 metres in depth and with a quay length of 240 metres. In order to cater for vessels of ever-increasing size, plans are underway to deepen the harbour and widen the port entrance.

During the 2010/2011 financial year, the performance of the Port of Dar es Salaam rose by 16 percent compared with the previous twelve months following the Tanzanian government’s decision to disband a monopoly of container handlers at the port. Under this monopoly, the port handled 304,155 containers Cargo ship enters port

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Port of Dar es Salaam The port has reduced the time taken by visiting vessels to offload their container shipments

during 2009 and 2010. Within a year of allowing other container handlers to operate in the port this figure had risen to 352,737 containers.

This notable improvement in performance has subsequently caught the attention of other importers and exporters from surrounding countries. The decision these businesses have taken to opt for the Port of Dar es Salaam to handle their consignments has seen the volume of handled imports and exports from neighbouring nations rise from 2.332 million tonnes to 2.441 million tonnes in the year 2010/2011.

Other significant improvements include a reduction in the amount of time taken by visiting vessels to offload their container shipments. Primarily a result of the port’s ability to now handle five vessels simultaneously, as opposed to just three previously, this has also contributed significantly to the reduction in its import container dwell time and ship turn-around times, the latter falling from eight days in June 2010, to 7.3 days in June 2011.

Over the past twelve months improvements at the Port of Dar es Salaam have continued and have resulted in its export volume increasing by around $1 billion in value. This in turn has contributed significantly to the growth of Tanzania’s total value of export goods and services to more than $8 billion.

For more information about Port of Dar es Salaam visit: www.tanzaniaports.com

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Delive

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TCM LDA

ering the goods Growing from a small family business into a leading logistics organisation, TCM LDA is playing its part in supporting the development of one of Africa’s fastest-rising nations written by: Will Daynes research by: Abi Abagun

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Transport networks are of fundamental importance to the country’s economy

B

lessed with rich and extensive natural resources, Mozambique’s recent past was sadly defined by the prolonged civil war that lasted from 1977 until 1992. In the two decades since, the country has risen from the ashes to become one of Africa’s up-and-coming points of interest for tourists and businesses alike.

Divided by the Zambezi River, the country’s northern and southern regions are very different, the former being regarded as one of the continent’s last frontiers while the latter has become the centre of Mozambique’s economic resurgence.

Although it remains dependent upon foreign assistance, the last 15 years have seen the country reach macroeconomic stability and experience impressive economic

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growth. This has resulted in significant investments being made in Mozambique’s infrastructure. In 2010, Mozambique’s GDP was estimated at $21.81 billion, representing an 8.3 percent increase on the previous year.

The economy of the country is largely based on agriculture, however various other industry sectors, including chemical manufacturing, aluminium and petroleum production and food and beverages are continuing to grow rapidly. Mozambique’s main trading partner and key source of foreign direct investment is South Africa, however it also counts Portugal, Spain and Belgium among its more important partners.

The diverse range of commodities that the country produces on a large scale include cotton, cashew nuts, sugarcane, tea,

TCM LDA

cassava, corn, coconuts, sisal, tropical fruits, Default Rating being classed as stable by potatoes, sunflowers, beef and poultry. Finch Ratings, the country spent the latter Its main industries meanwhile include months of 2011 re-negotiating legislation on food, beverages, chemicals, aluminium, taxes and royalties with mining companies petroleum products, textiles, cement, glass in order to significantly increase government and tobacco. Virtually all of the country’s revenues and reaffirm its commitment to manufacturing activities, meanwhile, are achieving long-term economic growth.

Transport networks are of fundamental located in the major urban areas of Maputo, importance to the country’s Beira, and Nampula.

A signatory of the economy with South Millennium Declaration, Africa and its land-locked Mozambique is able to neighbours, Ma law i, Zambia, Zimbabwe and bolster its domestic economy Swaziland all being key through the continued users of the Mozambican export of aluminium, prawns, cashews, cotton, transport system.

Established in 1991, TCM sugar, and timber and bulk 2010 GDP for Mozambique began life as a small family electricity. With its longterm foreign currency Issuer business. From its humble

$21.8 Billion

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TCM LDA

TCM has transformed into a major player within the transportation sector

beginnings, the company has grown through a simple combination of hard work and focus to become one of Mozambique’s largest and most efficient logistics organisations. As the region itself has developed, TCM has transformed into a major player within the transportation sector of the southern part of the country. Its state-of-the-art fleet of vehicles, capable of loading both normal and abnormal cargo, continue to help set it apart from its competitors.

By taking advantages of the benefits Mozambique has as a country over its land-locked neighbours, TCM has been able to expand its operations beyond the border and into the likes of Malawi,

Zimbabwe and Zambia. Wherever its activities take place, TCM is constantly striving to provide its customers with safe, efficient and on-time services.

The strides TCM has made over the last two decades have been rewarded, not only in the form of increased business opportunities, but also in the form of industry recognition and awards. Recently KPMG, one of the largest professional service companies in the world, identified TCM as one of the top 100 companies in Mozambique. This acknowledgment was subsequently backed up with it also being named amongst the top ten companies in the country operating within the field of logistics.

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Novo Mundo - Viagens e Turismo, Lda. was formed on the 22nd July 1997 and oficially opened her doors in May 1998 at the Rovuma Carlton Hotel Shopping Centre, where we are currently based. Our vocation is sales domestic and international air tickets, with one of her founders having many years of experience at Mozambique´s nacional airline, immediately expanding to all areas of outgoing tourism. In 2000, Novo Mundo affiliated herself with IATA and the Beira branch was born and at the same time expanding her activies to incoming tourism.

Visit us at: www.novomundo@odline.com

Heard Tell us about your company and we’ll tell everyone else www.bus-ex.com

TCM LDA By embracing technology Novo Mundo Viagens e Turismo, Lda as part of its operations, As travel and tourism consultants, we strive to provide and by updating solutions the best service possible, operating to high standards and developing new when serving the needs of all our customers, whether for technologies, the company business or leisure trips. puts itself in the best position We are proud to have been built upon ethics, morals, to meet the ever-changing commitment and sincerity and have done our best to promote these characteristics in our staff. needs of the market place.

We are privileged to be involved with and of service to One of its most important TCM Lda, and look forward to our continued professional developments in recent years working relationship. has been the introduction of www.novomundo.odline.com a 24-hour command centre.

Here the company has the technology needed to monitor each of its vehicles via satellite trackers. This further ensures that cargo deliveries get to their intended destinations on time and in perfect condition. Additionally, this technology allows TCM to monitor the wellbeing of its drivers and communicate any issues or challenges to its head office.

As Mozambique continues to grow as a nation, these are exciting times for those businesses operating therein. With increasing volumes of cargo entering the country, specifically through the Ports of Beira and Maputo, to service not only Mozambique, but also its land-locked neighbours, there is a growing demand for the services that TCM offers. It is for this reason that it understandably has high expectations for the future.

There is a growing demand for TCM’s services

“KPMG identified TCM as one of the top 100 companies in Mozambique�

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