Satellite communications solutions for Iraq banking industry
Posted: 2 September 2003
The Iraqis used to live in the shadow of primitive banking systems,
lagging far behind the modern banking methods applied in the advanced
and developing world.
Today, an opportunity presents itself to the banking industry to
roll out financial services quickly into a market that is hungry
for a variety of services — and establish the solid banking
infrastructure that is critical to the economic growth and financial
security of a nation.
Salem Al Jumaili, retailer and supplier of TV equipment in Baghdad,
said :"I think that the Iraqi banking sector needs to reconsider
and revamp its methods and technologies. This vital sector must
move forward quickly, in order to fulfil the needs of the great
reconstruction process in Iraq today, and the only way to accomplish
that is by adopting the latest technologies."
The Iraqi banks in the last decades were notorious for their bureaucracy.
For example, Iraqis were unable to withdraw money from different
branches of the same bank, due to the lack of an integrated computer
network.
Customers could only withdraw money through their account-holding
branch during working hours. The notion of ATM machines, as used
all around the world to provide customers with a number of services
whenever and wherever needed, did not exist.
While major banks operating in the region are doing their best
to accelerate the roll-out of banking services for the Iraqi citizens,
there remain many challenges due to the lack of a banking network
infrastructure to deliver transactions within Iraq and with the
outside world.
Mobile satellite communication systems offer the opportunity to
launch modern banking services in the Iraqi market quickly and effectively.
These systems can easily link individual bank branches together,
as well as integrating with international banking networks all over
the world. Gill Govier, Director of Enterprise Solutions at Inmarsat,
explains: "Despite their compact size, Inmarsat’s mobile
satellite communication solutions offer quick and easy access to
the Internet and private networks.
Supporting the added security of virtual private network (VPN)
technology, mobile satellite becomes an ideal solution for financial
and banking institutions that aim to provide advanced services throughout
Iraq. The use of satellite overcomes the lack of telecommunications
infrastructure in the aggressive timescale required."
Inmarsat has provided satellite-based communication technologies
to the banking sectors in a number of countries worldwide as a substitute
and complement for existing infrastructure. Recently its new Regional
BGAN service won a top banking award – the Network Infrastructure
(Retail and Wholesale Banking) award from the prestigious The Banker
Technology Awards 2003. In the words of the judges, Regional BGAN
demonstrated “its innovative approach to delivering high-speed
connectivity to financial institutions wherever they may be in the
world”.
Govier continued: ”Our award-winning Inmarsat Regional BGAN
system can deliver to the banking industry instant, secure, reliable
and fast networking capabilities. This means that modern networking
services in Iraq do not have to wait for the rebuilding cycle of
the country to be complete, but rather, be part of it.”
Inmarsat Regional BGAN is a wireless packet data service, based
on Internet Protocol (IP), which offers mobile, high-speed access
to the Internet and corporate computer networks via a small, lightweight
and portable satellite IP modem.
Regional BGAN is available in 99 countries, across the northern
half of Africa, Western and Eastern Europe, large parts of the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS), the Indian sub-continent, and throughout
the Middle East.
It is more than twice as fast as current terrestrial General Packet
Radio Service (GPRS) offerings and users only pay for the amount
of data sent and received, not for the amount of time online. This
enables user to stay ‘always on’, only paying when they
transfer data.
Govier explains that ATM systems highlight many of the capabilities
of the Regional BGAN. For an ATM machine to process certain customer
requests, it requires a connection with the control or operations
centre in order to validate the transaction.
Regional BGAN’s ‘always on’ nature provides an
ideal solution, often in a better way than fixed lines. Govier added
that Regional BGAN had decreased the need for physical infrastructure
and provided banks, other financial services businesses and individuals
with a fast, secure and reliable method to link remotely from major
cities and small villages.
Govier concluded: "Through the use of Regional BGAN, banks
no longer need a terrestrial infrastructure to operate ATM services.
In Iraq, customers could now begin accessing many of the same services
taken for granted in other parts of the world from either fixed
or mobile ATM solutions."
Hisham Al-Jourani, an Iraqi businessman specialising in importing
household electrical products and the owner of three Baghdad-based
companies, said that Iraqi banks for the last two decades have been
underdeveloped." I think that most of us are waiting for this,
the advanced banking services, to take shape, in order to facilitate
business transactions with the rest of the world and streamline
the construction process in Iraq," he said.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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