Newsbyte: SAP Announces LTE Roaming Peering Hub; Etisalat First to Connect

WALLDORF, Germany, Aug. 11, 2013  /PRNewswire/ -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) has announced an IPX peering agreement with Etisalat UAE, the largest telecom operator in the Middle East and Africa, to deliver LTE roaming traffic to all of its mobile operators. This agreement further strengthens the commitment of SAP® Mobile Services, a division of SAP, to quickly and efficiently expand the LTE roaming community and create a seamless global roaming experience for mobile subscribers.

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This strategic LTE roaming peering agreement will help Etisalat operator companies to interconnect with SAP Mobile Services' strong IPX customer community and launch LTE roaming quickly. This agreement will also help SAP Mobile Services establish strong and steady growth in the Middle East and builds on the existing peering between SAP and Etisalat.

"We are committed to expanding the global peering community. Launching the LTE roaming peering hub enables SAP Mobile Services to rapidly and efficiently launch peering with other operator communities across the world and deliver increased business value to mobile operators," said Matthew Tonkin, vice president, Sales, IPX, SAP Mobile Services. "The next 12 months will see an acceleration of LTE network deployments, with operators looking for immediate and comprehensive international coverage. Collaboration with Etisalat, currently the only Middle Eastern IPX provider, helps SAP reach the largest operator community in the region and globally."

"We are delighted to be working with SAP Mobile Services to mutually enhance our customers' mobile roaming experience," said Ali Amiri, executive vice president, Carrier and Wholesale Services Etisalat UAE. "The agreement will also help SAP Mobile Services to establish a strong and steady growth in the Middle East and take LTE roaming services to a new level, building on the existing peering between the two companies. Etisalat SmartHub IPX is a strategic addition to the Etisalat SmartHub portfolio, which will enhance our role as a global communication hub. SAP will be an important part of this journey. Operators joining the Smarthub IPX will have access to the SAP community and vice versa, providing a single point of interconnect."

Etisalat is the Middle East's leading telecommunications operator and one of the largest corporations in the six Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with a market value of approximately US$22 billion (Dh81 billion) and annual revenues of more than US$9 billion (Dh32.9 billion). A multinational, blue-chip organization, Etisalat has operations in 15 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Nearly 42,000 people are directly employed by the company.

SAP Mobile Services is a global leader in mobile interconnection and mobile consumer engagement services. It provides mobile operators with unparalleled capabilities in global messaging interconnect, data roaming and an array of IPX-based services and enables enterprises to engage with their consumers through innovative mobile marketing and communication solutions. SAP Mobile Services helps businesses process 1.8 billion messages per day, reaching more than 990 operators and 6.1 billion subscribers across 210 countries.

For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Media Contacts:
Scott Malinowski, +1 (617) 538-6297, [email protected], EDT
Margherita Di Cerbo, +44 207 6485358, [email protected], GMT

SOURCE SAP AG