Andrea Faggiano

Partner

Head, TIME Practice, Middle East

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates

Andrea advises telecom clients on strategic, competition and regulatory topics by leveraging key topics such as network economics, M&A and spectrum management.

Education

University of Rome
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering

Past Experience

Wind Telecommunications
Network Manager & Investment Planner

Andrea is a Partner at Arthur D. Little based in Dubai, leading the TIME Practice in the Middle East and our global competence center, “Strategic Advisory Services for Competition and Regulation” (SASCAR), which is dedicated to telecommunication clients.

As a senior member of our global TIME Practice, Andrea combines expertise in network, infrastructure and regulatory management with strategic investment & market orientation.

Over the 15 years at Arthur D. Little, Andrea has delivered numerous projects in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America for telecom operators (both mobile & fixed) and MVNOs. He is passionate about technology- and regulations-centric topics such as network and technology strategy development, infrastructure economic analysis, wholesale management, M&A support, NGAN & IP interconnection strategies and regulatory & spectrum management.

Additionally, Andrea has delivered many market-oriented projects for telecom operators, focusing on growth strategy, product portfolio design & business planning.

Before joining Arthur D. Little, Andrea worked as a Fixed Network Engineer at Wind Telecommunications.

Telcos: Outsource international voice!
Telcos: Outsource international voice!
Providing voice services is among the core functions of telcos. It may seem counterintuitive but outsourcing international voice services has the potential to create value and enhance service quality. In this Viewpoint, we summarize the options available for stand-alone telcos and small telco groups to manage the decline in international voice business and illuminate benefits they can gain from outsourcing international voice. We also highlight the outsourcing process and strategies to mitigate common challenges.
CPAAS: Beyond the hype
CPAAS: Beyond the hype
As the communications-platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) hype fades, questions arise over where the industry will find future value. Two trends are coming to the fore. First, enterprise customers are starting to request features beyond application-to-person (A2P) and “best effort” legacy solutions to enable future omnichannel and 5G-based use cases like the metaverse. Second, classic CPaaS services are finding a new market for an ever-increasing savvy mid-market. Both trends are allowing operators to stamp their mark on the CPaaS industry.
Consolidation onset: How to sustain accelerated CPaaS value creation
With CPaaS market consolidation on the horizon, players must move from messaging toward AI and higher-value services
Edge computing: Hype or ripe?
Pivoting the international carrier business
The international carrier industry has not brought much satisfaction over the past years. Traditional international carrier products are suffering low growth or are in structural decline, while service and asset innovators emerging in the adjacencies are making a mark in value creation. Telecom groups could have captured those trends through their international wholesale departments or subsidiaries, but their potential as trend hunters has been hindered by fragmentation or missing purpose.
The future of enterprise networking
Consumers and businesses around the world increasingly demand virtually instantaneous digital experiences in whatever they do. Many industries have already embraced the related opportunities in serving their customers instantaneously and seamlessly, and in reengineering their business models and digital production methods accordingly. The more companies digitize – whatever that may mean in each individual context – the more instant digital interactions matter. These expectations are the key driver behind industrial digitization.
With the Internet of Things (IoT) every- where, can regulation be far behind?
The IoT ecosystem is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years, with mainstream deployment already prevalent across many vertical industries. Increased IoT penetration across use cases poses unique challenges for ICT policy-makers and regulators beyond traditional telecom-focused regulatory topics such as spectrum, numbering, and roaming. The complexity and scale of the IoT brings increased focus on elements such as the safety of various stakeholders, new business models, data security and privacy.
Utilities’ contribution to national fiber development
The ultra-broadband demand-supply balance remains an unsolved equation
Telecom retail & consumer protection
Telecom players dedicate significant resources to complying with retail & consumer protection (RCP) regulation, having created complex horizontal processes and tools spanning several departments. Despite this, the complexity of the subject and the continuous flow of new rules often translate into unwise actions (eventually punished by regulatory institutions).
The OTT conundrum for MENA telecoms
In this Arthur D. Little regional telecom report we aim to provide a nuanced view of the growth patterns within the MENA region, as well as deconstruct the growth to its underlying reasons in four key markets. An important focus area is the threat of core revenue disruption by over-the top (OTT) players in messaging, voice and video. On the surface, there exists a deceptive view of homogeneity for the South Asia, Middle East and North Africa region, and for especially the subregions of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), such that these markets appear very similar.
Looking Under the Hood of the Internet
Over the last decade, the nature of the traffic for which the Internet and its ecosystem was initially developed has fundamentally changed. Next-generation content and applications are being designed all the time, but there are some hidden bottlenecks preventing these from achieving their full value creation potential. The Internet has effectively become a new media platform as its usage has shifted to richer types of content, particularly streaming video.
LTE Spectrum and Network Strategies
The LTE spectrum auctions across Europe are the start of LTE becoming market reality. Operators are focusing on one of two spectrum strategic options: major investments into 800 MHz or smart hybrid multiband solutions with >1GHz spectrum on 1800, 2600 FDD and TDD bands.

Andrea is a Partner at Arthur D. Little based in Dubai, leading the TIME Practice in the Middle East and our global competence center, “Strategic Advisory Services for Competition and Regulation” (SASCAR), which is dedicated to telecommunication clients.

As a senior member of our global TIME Practice, Andrea combines expertise in network, infrastructure and regulatory management with strategic investment & market orientation.

Over the 15 years at Arthur D. Little, Andrea has delivered numerous projects in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America for telecom operators (both mobile & fixed) and MVNOs. He is passionate about technology- and regulations-centric topics such as network and technology strategy development, infrastructure economic analysis, wholesale management, M&A support, NGAN & IP interconnection strategies and regulatory & spectrum management.

Additionally, Andrea has delivered many market-oriented projects for telecom operators, focusing on growth strategy, product portfolio design & business planning.

Before joining Arthur D. Little, Andrea worked as a Fixed Network Engineer at Wind Telecommunications.

Telcos: Outsource international voice!
Telcos: Outsource international voice!
Providing voice services is among the core functions of telcos. It may seem counterintuitive but outsourcing international voice services has the potential to create value and enhance service quality. In this Viewpoint, we summarize the options available for stand-alone telcos and small telco groups to manage the decline in international voice business and illuminate benefits they can gain from outsourcing international voice. We also highlight the outsourcing process and strategies to mitigate common challenges.
CPAAS: Beyond the hype
CPAAS: Beyond the hype
As the communications-platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) hype fades, questions arise over where the industry will find future value. Two trends are coming to the fore. First, enterprise customers are starting to request features beyond application-to-person (A2P) and “best effort” legacy solutions to enable future omnichannel and 5G-based use cases like the metaverse. Second, classic CPaaS services are finding a new market for an ever-increasing savvy mid-market. Both trends are allowing operators to stamp their mark on the CPaaS industry.
Consolidation onset: How to sustain accelerated CPaaS value creation
With CPaaS market consolidation on the horizon, players must move from messaging toward AI and higher-value services
Edge computing: Hype or ripe?
Pivoting the international carrier business
The international carrier industry has not brought much satisfaction over the past years. Traditional international carrier products are suffering low growth or are in structural decline, while service and asset innovators emerging in the adjacencies are making a mark in value creation. Telecom groups could have captured those trends through their international wholesale departments or subsidiaries, but their potential as trend hunters has been hindered by fragmentation or missing purpose.
The future of enterprise networking
Consumers and businesses around the world increasingly demand virtually instantaneous digital experiences in whatever they do. Many industries have already embraced the related opportunities in serving their customers instantaneously and seamlessly, and in reengineering their business models and digital production methods accordingly. The more companies digitize – whatever that may mean in each individual context – the more instant digital interactions matter. These expectations are the key driver behind industrial digitization.
With the Internet of Things (IoT) every- where, can regulation be far behind?
The IoT ecosystem is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years, with mainstream deployment already prevalent across many vertical industries. Increased IoT penetration across use cases poses unique challenges for ICT policy-makers and regulators beyond traditional telecom-focused regulatory topics such as spectrum, numbering, and roaming. The complexity and scale of the IoT brings increased focus on elements such as the safety of various stakeholders, new business models, data security and privacy.
Utilities’ contribution to national fiber development
The ultra-broadband demand-supply balance remains an unsolved equation
Telecom retail & consumer protection
Telecom players dedicate significant resources to complying with retail & consumer protection (RCP) regulation, having created complex horizontal processes and tools spanning several departments. Despite this, the complexity of the subject and the continuous flow of new rules often translate into unwise actions (eventually punished by regulatory institutions).
The OTT conundrum for MENA telecoms
In this Arthur D. Little regional telecom report we aim to provide a nuanced view of the growth patterns within the MENA region, as well as deconstruct the growth to its underlying reasons in four key markets. An important focus area is the threat of core revenue disruption by over-the top (OTT) players in messaging, voice and video. On the surface, there exists a deceptive view of homogeneity for the South Asia, Middle East and North Africa region, and for especially the subregions of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), such that these markets appear very similar.
Looking Under the Hood of the Internet
Over the last decade, the nature of the traffic for which the Internet and its ecosystem was initially developed has fundamentally changed. Next-generation content and applications are being designed all the time, but there are some hidden bottlenecks preventing these from achieving their full value creation potential. The Internet has effectively become a new media platform as its usage has shifted to richer types of content, particularly streaming video.
LTE Spectrum and Network Strategies
The LTE spectrum auctions across Europe are the start of LTE becoming market reality. Operators are focusing on one of two spectrum strategic options: major investments into 800 MHz or smart hybrid multiband solutions with >1GHz spectrum on 1800, 2600 FDD and TDD bands.

More About Andrea
  • University of Rome
    Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
  • Wind Telecommunications
    Network Manager & Investment Planner