Retail News CRM

Category: Telecom

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Telecom & Telco news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Telstra to invest in two HK-US cables

    Telstra to invest in two HK-US cables

    Australia’s Telstra has announced plans to invest in two new subsea cable systems connecting Hong Kong to the west coast of the US.

    The company will invest in a half fiber pair on the Hong Kong Americas (HKA) cable and the equivalent of 6TBps over the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN).

    The HKA cable is expected to be ready for service in 2020 and the PLCN to be complete in 2019.

    Once complete, the two cables will be able to act as more direct routes between the US and Asia than Telstra’s part-owned Asia-America Gateway (AAG) cable system, helping to reduce latency and meet increasing demand for connectivity between Greater China, ASEAN and the US.

    “As economic growth continues in China and South East Asia, so too does the demand for data. Together with the current AAG cable on which Telstra carries the most traffic today, these two investments will provide us with increased capacity across the important Hong Kong to US route, one of the fastest growing routes in the world for capacity demand,” Telstra group managing director of global services and international David Burns said.

    “Our investment in capacity on PLCN and HKA will also provide our customers with greater resiliency due to bypassing areas prone to natural disasters and offering two direct, alternative paths to the AAG cable which connects South East Asia to the US west coast via Hong Kong, Guam and Hawaii.”

    Meanwhile fellow Australian operator Vocus Communications has selected the ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) STT Tai Seng 1 data center to act as the point of presence in Singapore for its planned Australia Singapore Cable (ASC) subsea cable system.

    The 4,600km ASC will link Singapore with Perth in Western Australia via Indonesia. It is expected to be completed in the third quarter.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • ZTE launches 5G core product based on SBA

    ZTE launches 5G core product based on SBA

    ZTE has launched a new 5G core product based on service based architecture (SBA) and fully compliant with the 3GPP Release 15 standard from September.

    The ZTE Cloud ServCore consists of 3GPP network function services and common network function services in the control plane, and distributed media planes supporting flexible deployment and high-performance forwarding.

    These distributed planes interwork with the control plane through Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP).

    It is based on the micro-service cloud native architecture ad utilizes micro-service components, DevOps tools and containerized deployment.

    The platform uses a fully virtualized architecture decoupled from the underlying cloud platform, and supporting hardware and software acceleration.

    ZTE said it anticipates that China Mobile could adopt the technology as part of its 5G core trials. The China Mobile Research Institute has been conducting joint research with ZTE in its 5G Core Lab and has praised the design of the Cloud ServCore product.

    Lees ook:

  • Teletalk and Robi sign network sharing deal

    Teletalk and Robi sign network sharing deal

    Bangladesh operators Teletalk and Robi Axiata have arranged to share network sites across the country to improve the network experience for their respective customers.

    The two operators have signed an agreement on the network sharing deal at a meeting this week attended by company executives including Robi CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed and Teletalk managing director Kazi Md Golam Kuddus.

    The agreement is also aimed at accelerating the 4G network rollout process once LTE licenses are awarded to mobile operators.

    Bangladesh’s 4G auction is scheduled to take part in February, and is expected to draw participation from the two operators as well as Grameenphone and Banglalink.

    CityCell, which recently had its operations suspended as a result of failure to pay required license and related fees, has also raised the prospect of participating in the auction in order to re-enter the market.

    The auction will encompass spectrum in the 2100-MHz, 1800-MHz and 900-MHz bands. The deadline for applying to take place is January 14 and the auction will be held on February 14. Operators will need to deploy a 4G network nationwide within 36 months as part of the auction terms.

    Lees ook:

  • Ncell Axiata expands LTE network

    Ncell Axiata expands LTE network

    Nepal’s Ncell Axiata has revealed it has expanded its LTE network to cover two more cities – Lahan and Dhangadhi.

    The operator’s 4G network now spans 21 cities, giving Ncell the widest 4G coverage in the market at more than 15% of the population.

    Ncell launched 4G mobile broadband in the 21 cities last week. The company is giving customers the ability to acquire a 4G SIM with the same mobile number for just 1 rupee ($0.0098).

    The new SIM will be bundled with 1GB of 4G data valid for three days, as well as a buy 1 get 1 free offer providing the equivalent of double the 4G data for any data packs. The offer will also be bundled with a 30 day subscription to the Yonder Music digital music library.

    As well as the two new cities, Ncell’s 4G network covers Nagarkot, Banepa, Dhulikhel, Pokhara, Damauli, Biratnagar, Birtamode, Damak, Dharan, Bharatpur, Hetauda, Birjung, Bhairahawa, Butwal and Nepalgunj, Kolhpur and Birendranagar.

    “We are very much delighted to announce introduction of 4G service in Lahan and Dhangadhi, bringing more people into access of new technology based high speed mobile connectivity,” Ncell corporate services director Pranay Acharya said.

    “By making the 4G service accessible to more than 15% of population, we have been able to swiftly deliver on what we have committed, contributing towards the goals of National Broadband Policy and Digital Nepal.”

    Expansion to other parts of the country is already underway.

    Lees ook:

  • Akamai could be up for sale

    Akamai could be up for sale

    A recent report claims that Akamai is working with Morgan Stanley to explore strategic alternatives. On the table, apparently, is a sale of the company. To whom, though?

    The move may be in response to pressure from Elliot Management Corp, which holds a 6.5% stake in Akamai and has been pushing the company to consider ways to maximize shareholder value. The thesis is that Akamai’s core business is being challenged by big content’s moves to bring such capabilities in-house.

    Now, it’s not the first time Akamai has faced overall trends that threatened to divert revenue away from the middle man, yet the company always seems to come out on top. We believe that this time is the same, but just as a theoretical exercise let’s consider who might do the buying.

    From the network infrastructure side, it would probably take a major network operator like Verizon or AT&T or Comcast or CenturyLink to do such a deal. In particular, Verizon’s appetite for Yahoo and other content certainly could fit well with Akamai. If the opportunity were right, We think they might jump at it. But We doubt they’d pay the premium required in this case.

    It’s a bit more interesting from the content/cloud side of course. Since they are building such infrastructure in-house, it’s not such a stretch to think that one of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, or Amazon could decide to drop $12 billion to 15 billion to instantly scale it. But there are channel conflicts in there that give me pause.

    The other option would be for private equity to move in and take the company private. If there is private equity out there that thinks Akamai isn’t taking advantage of all the opportunities on its plate and that it could grow faster and more profitably if not tethered to a publicly floated stock, then sure. But again, it’s not as if Akamai is hurting for resources to invest.

    Lees ook:

  • Idea Cellular plans to raise $1b

    Idea Cellular plans to raise $1b

    Indian operator Idea Cellular said Thursday that its board has approved plans to raise up to 67.5 billion rupees ($1.06 billion) in the sale of new shares, in a bid to strengthen its capital position ahead of completing its planned merger with Vodafone India.

    The company, which is poised to merge with Vodafone’s India unit to create the country’s biggest mobile carrier, will raise 32.5 billion rupees by selling shares to its controlling shareholder the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) and raise the remaining 35 billion rupees by selling shares to institutional investors or a rights issue, the company said.

    As a result, ABG will buy a minimum of 2.5% of the merged entity from Vodafone, or such higher stake as required in order for ABG to ultimately own at least 26% of the merged entity.

    The purchase of the 2.5% interest by ABG follows the increase in its ownership in Idea to 47% from 42%, as a result of a fundraising by the Indian carrier.

    Under the original merger agreement, ABG is expected to reach a shareholding of 26% in the merged entity.

    Vodafone will receive minimum proceeds of 19.6 billion rupees from such sale and its ownership in the combined entity is expected to be approximately 47.5% at the completion of the merger.

    The companies said such changes to the capital structure were already contemplated in the scheme of arrangement for the merger. Vodafone’s stake in the combined entity in excess of 45.1% will not be subject to any lock-up.

    The merger of Vodafone India with Idea Cellular — the country’s second and third-largest mobile operators, respectively–was announced in March 2017. The proposed deal has already been approved by shareholders and creditors and the Competition Commission of India, but still needs clearance from the Department of Telecom and the National Company Law Tribunal.

    The companies expect to complete the merger in the first half of calendar 2018.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Taiwan to switch off 3G networks at year end

    Taiwan to switch off 3G networks at year end

    Taiwan’s telecoms regulator has revealed that the nation’s 6.4 million 3G users will need to migrate to a 4G network by the end of the year, when operators’ 3G licenses are due to expire.

    The 3G licenses are scheduled to expire on December 31 and services will terminate in 2019, as reported.

    Four operators are still offering 3G services – Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, Far EasTone Telecommunications and Taiwan Star. Asia Pacific Telecom switched off its 3G service in 2017.

    According to the report, officials expect the 3G switch-off to be smoother than last year’s 2G service termination, as operators have retained ownership of their 2,100-MHz spectrum holdings and will be able to use these frequencies to serve their 3G users.

    Operators are also expected to continue to use circuit-switched fallback technology to offer voice over 3G.

    But the nation’s 6.4 million 3G customers may need to switch to a 4G SIM and a new 4G plan in order to continue using services. This represents around a fifth of the market’s mobile customers and compares to roughly 22 million 4G users.

    Lees ook:

  • Axiata Group appoints heads for business service, info security

    Axiata Group appoints heads for business service, info security

    Axiata Group has made two key appointments for its business services and information security, as part of its transformation efforts into a “new generation digital champion.”

    The Malaysia–based telecoms conglomerate has recently appointed Asri Hassan Sabri – Axiata’s group chief business operations officer since January 2016  –  as chief executive officer of its newest subsidiary, Axiata Business Services. His appointment is effective January 1, 2018.

    Asri has 30 years of experience in various management, consulting and entrepreneur engagements in the IT and telecom industries. Prior to joining Axiata, he was a strategic partner with Provident Capital Partners, an established South Asia private equity company.

    Operating under the brand Xpand, Axiata Business Services will drive the group’s enterprise and Internet of Things (IoT) business across all of Axiata’s footprint in ASEAN and South Asia.

    The subsidiary was established in 2017 as a new area of focus for the group, one which is earmarked to achieve double-digit growth and holds great promise as a multi-billion dollar addressable market within the next few years, according to a company statement.

    Axiata has also hired Abid Abdul Adam as group chief information security officer, as part of the operator’s continued focus and commitment to improving cyber security capabilities. Abid will also assume the position of group head of privacy given the increasingly critical nature of data privacy and protection.

    Abid joins Axiata from South Africa where he was the chief information security officer and deputy information protection officer for a leading financial services organization. He brings to the table over 15 years of experience in developing, implementing, and leading an Information security and technology risk management function.

    Commenting on the appointments, Axiata president and group CEO Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said the move is in line with the group’s hope to build a leading digital company, beyond its core mobile business.

    “Asri’s role as CEO of Axiata Business Services is to scale up this addressable area of growth in the enterprise and IoT space and to ensure that group aggressively capitalizes on the opportunities in the ASEAN and South Asia market, to eventually bring a significant uplift in revenue,” he said in a statement.

    “Abid’s two led functions work in tandem to help us to achieve cyber resilience and data privacy across the group.”

    Lees ook:

  • China Unicom, Kuang-Chi sign cooperation agreements

    China Unicom, Kuang-Chi sign cooperation agreements

    China Unicom has signed business cooperation framework agreements with Kuang-Chi Technologies and KuangChi Science, subsidiaries of Kuang-Chi Group.

    The agreement is an integral part of a series of cooperation framework agreements which Unicom signed with strategic investors in key industry verticals participating in its mixed-ownership reform, the Chinese operator said in a statement.

    Under the agreement, Unicom will work closely with Kuang-Chi Technologies and KuangChi Science in areas such as military-civil integration, public security, smart cities and smart transportation. The companies will also cooperate to explore new opportunities in cloud computation, big data, internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), digital content and payment finance.

    Unicom announced its 77.9 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) ownership reform plan in August 2017, bringing in 14 new strategic investors including large internet companies, industrial groups and industry vertical companies and financial enterprises.  The operator has already signed framework agreements with internet and e-commerce giants Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Jingdong (owner of the JD.com brand).

    Lees ook:

  • Huawei teams with Baidu on AI development

    Huawei teams with Baidu on AI development

    Huawei has entered a partnership agreement with Chinese search giant Baidu covering AI platforms and technology, internet services and content ecosystems.
    The two companies plan to develop an open mobile and AI ecosystem using Huawei’s HiAI platform and Baidu Brian, a collection of AI assets and services.
    The HiAI platform is being developed on Huawei’s embedded AI chipset, the Kirin 970. The chipset was used in the Huawei Mate 10, the world’s first smartphone powered by an embedded AI chipset, which launched earlier this year.
    The planned joint AI ecosystem will use Huawei’s neural network processing unit and Baidu’s PaddlePaddle deep learning framework to empower AI developers and provide consumers with a rage of AI offerings and smart services.
    In addition, the partners will work together on voice and image recognition for smart devices to enable more efficient human-machine interaction, and jointly build an augmented reality ecosystem for consumers.
    “The future is all about smart devices that will actively serve us, not just respond to what we tell them to do,” commented Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group.
    “With a strong background in R&D, Huawei will work with Baidu to accelerate innovation in the industry, develop the next generation of smartphones, and provide global consumers with AI that knows you better.”
    Lees ook:

  • Kingsoft Cloud picks Equinix for SEA expansion

    Kingsoft Cloud picks Equinix for SEA expansion

    Chinese software and Internet service company Kingsoft Cloud Holdings has selected the Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in Singapore to expand into Southeast Asia.

    According to the Global Mobile Consumer Survey, published by Deloitte, mobile application usage such as social networking, messaging, and gaming, is increasingly popular within Southeast Asia. By strategically deploying its network into Equinix Singapore’s carrier-neutral Internet hub – Asia-Pacific’s network hub, Kingsoft Cloud is able to bring an improved connectivity infrastructure closer to Southeast Asia users for an enhanced mobile application performance experience.

    Offering cloud-based hosting, storage and database services, Kingsoft Cloud is the main cloud service provider in mainland China to Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi. It provides a bulk of the cloud storage on Xiaomi’s operating system that has helped the company serve its rapidly growing customer base both in China and in the world.

    With the increasing mobile adoption and usage in the Southeast Asia region, Kingsoft Cloud has selected Equinix’s Singapore facilities to reduce network costs and enhance user experience by bringing its cloud infrastructure closer to users in the region and interconnecting with multiple Internet Service Providers.

    Equinix’s data center campus in Singapore is the most network-dense across the Asia-Pacific region, housing many of the international and regional networks connecting South Asia. Together with a wide portfolio of interconnection solutions, the campus offers a private, secure, and highly reliable environment for Internet servers and telecommunication equipment, essential for the continuous operations of applications and business operations.

    Kingsoft Cloud’s move to expand in Southeast Asia is in line with the forecast of the Global Interconnection Index, published by Equinix. The Index anticipates more than fourfold growth in Asia-Pacific’s Interconnection Bandwidth, reaching 1,120 Tbps by 2020, with cloud and IT services alone expected to increase at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 42%.

    Lees ook:

  • Telenor Myanmar to buy more 1800-MHz spectrum

    Telenor Myanmar to buy more 1800-MHz spectrum

    Telenor Myanmar will pay $80 million to acquire additional 1800-MHz spectrum to help it optimize its 4G network.

    The operator will acquire an additional 2×10-MHz of 1800-MHz spectrum, doubling its holdings in the spectrum band.

    Telenor is exercising its right to acquire additional spectrum on a first come first served basis, as stipulated in the terms of the process the operator used to acquire its first 2×10-MHz of 1800-MHz spectrum – also for $80 million – in May.

    By the end of the year, Telenor expects that its 4G network will cover Myanmar’s top 50 cities and most famous destinations, which represents a footprint of around two thirds of the nation’s urban population.

    The operator has invested over $2 billion in Myanmar since winning a nationwide telecom license along with rival Ooredoo.

    “Myanmar has shown an exceptional hunger for mobile data, and to meet the incredible demand Telenor continues investing in a state-of-the-art network. Today, we are doubling our capacity for delivering high-quality 4G services, resulting in an immediate benefit for our customers who will experience smoother internet services and better indoor coverage,” Telenor Myanmar CEO Lars Erik Tellmann said.

    “Myanmar has clear ambitions of accelerating its digital economy, and I believe that increased deployment of an ultramodern mobile infrastructure will support Myanmar in its digital transformation.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Ooredoo launches 1.2Gbps mobile speeds in Qatar

    Ooredoo launches 1.2Gbps mobile speeds in Qatar

    Qatar-based Ooredoo has announced it has broken the 1Gbps speed barrier using commercial smartphones and a live network.

    The company said the company has made speeds of up to 1.2Gbps commercially available to customers in Qatar as it works to be one of the earliest adopters of 5G technology.

    Tests conducted on live sites across Ooredoo’s network achieved speeds exceeding 1Gbps.

    As well as its consumer operations, Ooredoo revealed that Qatar Airways has arranged become the first corporate 5G customer.

    When launched, Ooredoo’s 5G connected corporate commercial services will provide an alternative to wired networks for corporate customers in hard to reach or remote areas.

    In November, Ooredoo completed testing of massive multiple-input multiple output (Massive MIMO) technology in partnership with the airline.

    “Ooredoo will continue to invest heavily in our networks to make sure that everyone across our global footprint can enjoy the internet and its life enhancing benefits,” Ooredoo Qatar CEO Waleed Al Sayed said.

    “There is no doubt that 5G services will have a huge impact on businesses and people, unlocking speeds for seamless browsing, next-generation business applications, and more. We are committed to being one of the first operators globally to make this service commercially available to our customers.”

    Lees ook:

  • Open standards key to tapping IoT value chain

    Open standards key to tapping IoT value chain

    Operators must adopt an open standards approach if they are to make the most of the revenue opportunities presented by IoT applications that use low power wide area (LPWA) networks.

    A common IoT service layer will result in increased cost-effectiveness, improved scalability and greater confidence that today’s IoT deployments will be future-proof.
    This is the key finding of a new white paper published today by oneM2M, the global IoT standards initiative. This most recent white paper is part of oneM2M’s ongoing work to accelerate mass deployment of the IoT which will bring value to both operators and end-users.

    “While the latest figures from Analysys Mason suggest there could be 3.4 billion LPWA connections by 2025, the forecasted revenue per connected device is relatively low unless CSP strategies to tap into the larger revenue opportunity provided through application enablement become mainstream,” oneM2M’s Technical Plenary Chair Dr Omar Elloumi said.

    “With the recent ramp-up of LPWA deployments worldwide, we have seen an increasing number of CSPs adhering to the oneM2M value proposition, but they will need to expedite their strategies to improve the value they are seeing from the IoT. oneM2M provides a great opportunity to monetize LPWA, effectively making it application developer-centric.”

    Open standards for the IoT were developed after enterprises that deployed the early wave of IoT connections found themselves restricted by a vertical approach to platform management. Working in this way restricted the applications’ scalability, limited cost-effectiveness and stifled interest from device manufacturers and app developers, who found themselves repeating efforts to integrate different connections and device management protocols.

    “The need for interoperability is what drives oneM2M’s architecture, which allows CSPs to break down the silos that inhibit growth and creates a single, horizontal platform for data sharing between applications,” said oneM2M’s Regional Marcom Vice Chair Chris Meering, of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). “This not only delivers OpEx savings from not having to manage multiple horizontal silos, but also opens up new service innovation opportunities. LPWA provides the means to deliver the IoT and a standards-based, horizontal approach makes it a stronger business case.”

    The white paper discusses the importance of normalizing data from different devices within a single platform – a common IoT service layer – that is agnostic of hardware and connectivity type. This gives app developers the confidence to create new and innovative services through easy-to-use application programming interfaces, knowing that they will work with all service provider networks and IoT deployments. By forming partnerships with these developers and device manufacturers through the use of oneM2M, operators can create value in the app space and ultimately via data analytics.

    “Using oneM2M makes it possible for app developers to build once and reuse often,” said Andreas Neubacher, Technology Innovation at Deutsche Telekom. “This creates a win-win situation – developers can create tailor-made apps that can easily be scaled, while CSPs and platform providers have a larger pool of resources as the developers reuse code and avoid duplication of efforts.”

    HPE’s Universal IoT Platform and InterDigital’s one TRANSPORT concept – an open service that enables public and private sector organizations to take advantage of shared data for use in intelligent transportation – or demonstrations like Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s smart home application portability are cited as examples of where oneM2M has encouraged IoT growth through a horizontal approach. The use of an open standards approach based on oneM2M by the South Korean government as the underlying principle for smart city deployments is also explored.

    The white paper concludes that oneM2M offers CSPs the ideal way to boost LPWA connectivity volumes by attracting device and application providers onto their networks. Examples of LPWA networks referred to by the white paper include NB-IoT, LTE Cat-M, and LoRa.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Philippines’ Duterte urges fast-track for third telco

    Philippines’ Duterte urges fast-track for third telco

    The Philippines’ president Rodrigo Duterte has announced plans to fast-track the entry of a third operator into the market, and wants the operator to be up and running within the first three months of next year.

    Duterte has directed the Department of Information and Communications Technology and regulator the National Telecommunications Commission to approve all applications and licenses within seven days of a completed submission.

    The president last month approached the Chinese government with the opportunity to become the Philippines’ third major player in partnership with a local company. The as-yet unnamed Chinese telco would take a 40% stake in the venture with a consortium of local companies expected to own the remaining 60%.

    Philippines’ courts have meanwhile been warned against interfering and prolonging the process of the entry of the third player.

    The government has meanwhile moved to allay fears that China’s entry into the telecoms sector may compromise national security in light of the ongoing South China Sea dispute, noting that foreign players already hold minority stakes in incumbent operators Globe and PLDT.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook: