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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.

  • Ericsson wins contract extension with NBN

    Ericsson wins contract extension with NBN

    Ericsson has announced an extension of its managed services agreement with NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia’ national broadband network, through to 2020.

    Under the renewed agreement, Ericsson will continue to be responsible for providing network operations for the fixed wireless component of the NBN as well as ground systems operations for the network’s two dedicated communications satellites.

    The agreement also covers customer connections and assurance for both technologies, which are being used to provide connectivity in regional and remote areas where it has been deemed not cost effective to deploy fixed line technology.

    The fixed wireless and satellite services currently cover more than 980,000 premises in these areas with more than 290,000 premises connected to date.

    NBN Co provides wholesale access to the national broadband network to its retail service provider customers.

    Ericsson has been NBN Co’s managed services provider since 2011, when it was appointed to build and operate a TD-LTE based fixed-wireless broadband network. This agreement was extended in 2014 to include operations of the NBN’s long-term satellite solution.

    “As we extend our strategic partnership with NBN Co, we look forward to continuing the delivery of fixed wireless and satellite services to regional and rural Australia,” Ericsson Australia and New Zealand managing director Emilio Romeo said.

    “The availability of ubiquitous broadband to homes and businesses across Australia will help to bridge the digital divide and support economic and community growth.”

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  • Singtel to develop IoT smart meter infrastructure

    Singtel to develop IoT smart meter infrastructure

    Singtel has entered an agreement with global smart metering vendor EDMI Limited to develop a smart electric metering infrastructure for Singapore.

    The partners have been testing the use of smart electric meters over Singtel’s nationwide LTE Cat-M1 cellular IoT network to enable the wireless transmission of real-time meter readings to the power grid.

    The companies plan to offer their IoT-powered smart metering solutions for residential, commercial and industrial areas as part of the Energy Market Authority’s plan to roll out smart meters in the city in the second half of 2018.

    Singtel is already providing M2M connectivity for EDMI’s digital electric meters in Singapore.

    “Giving electricity suppliers real-time data on electricity consumption allows them to optimize the distribution of electricity to certain areas and times of the day especially when demand is peaking,” commented Andrew Lim, business group managing director at Singtel’s Group Enterprise.

    “The pairing of smart meters with our IoT network will give consumers more accurate meter readings and ultimately bring cost savings.”

    Singtel launched its Cat-M1 IoT network in September and has been conducting trials with over 20 potential partners at its joint IoT innovation lab with Ericsson, which was established earlier in the year.

  • Ooredoo launches 1.2Gbps mobile speeds

    Ooredoo launches 1.2Gbps mobile speeds

    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.”

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  • North Korea’s sole 3G player Koryolink said to shut down

    North Korea’s sole 3G player Koryolink said to shut down

    North Korea’s sole 3G operator Koryolink may have shut down operations as a result of international sanctions over the nation’s ongoing nuclear testing.

    Koryolink’s owner, Egypt’s Orascom Telecom is preparing to withdraw from the company as it faces mounting pressure from the US and UN Security Council to comply with the sanctions, according to a UPI report.

    The report itself cites a Japanese article that cites Japanese intelligence officials and unnamed industry sources. The sources say that Koryolink’s customers have been transferred to state-run GSM operator Byol.

    Orascom holds a 75% stake in Koryolink with the remaining 25% owned by the North Korean government. The operator reportedly racked up around 3.5 million customers. Orascom has revealed it invested around $250 million in its North Korean operations.

    While Orascom had hoped to continue its operations in North Korea within the framework of the international sanctions, the Japanese report suggests that the company has given up on these ambitions as a result of international pressure.

    But it adds that Orascom has yet to officially announce its withdrawal from the market due to needing more time to smoothly handle exit procedures.

    Orascom first entered the North Korean market in 2008, but has reportedly faced difficulty withdrawing its earnings from the operations as a result of the sanctions.

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  • Morten Lundal to step down as Maxis CEO

    Morten Lundal to step down as Maxis CEO

    Morten Lundal will be stepping down from his position as chief executive officer of Maxis next year after serving the Malaysian telecoms operator for nearly five years.

    In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Maxis said Lundal will be leaving the company when his contract expires on March 31, 2018.  No official reason was provided, and Maxis will reveal a successor in due course, the operator said.

    Lundal joined Maxis as CEO back in October 2013, bringing over 16 years of experience in the telecoms industry onboard. He was previously CEO of Digi, before joining Vodafone in various global positions within the British telecoms giant in 2008.

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  • StarHub launches autonomous delivery robot

    StarHub launches autonomous delivery robot

    Singapore’s StarHub has entered a partnership with ST Kinetics to supply autonomous delivery robots to local businesses.

    Under the partnership, the companies will deploy Aethon TUG robots to business environments, starting with a roll out in three hotels to streamline the laundry supply chain.

    TUG robots (pictured) were designed by ST Engineering’s land systems business Aethon. They are designed to transport materials of up to 635kg per trip.

    The robots are integrated with a customer’s Wi-Fi infrastructure, elevator and IT systems to allow it to navigate autonomously on premises, including by opening doors and riding elevators.

    TUG will be the second robotics solution introduced by StarHub for corporate customers. The operator is offering managed robotics solutions through an as a service business model, which includes round-the-clock technical support and maintenance services.

    In addition, the partnership is part of StarHub’s connected building initiative to provide IoT solutions for companies to solve environmental sustainability, productivity or safety challenges.

    “Faced with continued manpower crunch, the hospitality industry is increasingly turning to innovation and automation to drive better business outcomes,” StarHub chief of enterprise Dr Chong Yoke Sin said.

    “We are pleased to partner ST Kinetics to offer the TUG to our customers, for tasks involving heavy lifting. This can help reduce lifting hazards and boost productivity, ultimately saving costs for customers.”

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  • DoCoMo trials 4K video streaming for cars over 5G

    DoCoMo trials 4K video streaming for cars over 5G

    NTT DoCoMo joined forces with Toyota, Ericsson and Intel on a trial of 5G technologies for automobiles, achieving data speeds of up to 1Gbps in a vehicle traveling at 30km/h.

    The trial of 4K video communications was conducted along Tokyo’s Odaiba waterfront. It involved a moving vehicle mounted with an Intel GO 5G automotive platform terminal equipped with an on-board antenna head.

    The trial environment was constructed by DoCoMo using multiple Ericsson base stations and the Cloud RAN platform. Live 4K video was streamed at data speeds of up to 1Gbps downlink and 600Mbps uplink.

    Further trials will be conducted by the four companies to test the practicality of advanced services for 5G connected cars and other applications.

    The technology will also be demonstrated at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo from November 9 to 11 as part of the DoCoMo R&D Open House 2017.

    NTT DoCoMo parent company NTT Group and Toyota have meanwhile agreed to collaborate on the research and development of an ICT platform for 5G connected cars.

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  • SK Telecom Q3 revenue grows 4.7%

    SK Telecom Q3 revenue grows 4.7%

    SK Telecom has reported a 4.7% year-on-year increase in revenue for the third quarter to 4.44 trillion won ($3.99 billion), on the back of a solid performance across the operator’s core segments.

    Net profit surged 146.2% year-on-year to 793 billion won due to higher gains on the operator’s equity method investment in chipmaker subsidiary SK Hynix.

    Mobile service revenue grew 1.7% over the same period to 2.74 trillion won, driven by solid subscriber and data usage growth.

    SK Telecom’s total customer base increased by 705,000 to 30.16 million, with LTE data users accounting for 74.8% of these subscribers.

    Broadband subsidiary SK Broadband meanwhile reported a 1.2% increase in revenue to 760.2 billion won due to growth in IPTV subscription and paid content sales. High speed internet customers increased 1.1% sequentially to 5.4 million.

    Internet platform unit SK Planet posted a 5.8% improvement in revenue to 285.1 billion won, due primarily to the growth of its online commerce business, but still reported a loss of 55.2 billion won.

    Overall capex increased 5.3% year-on-year and 68.3% quarter-on-quarter to 556.7 billion won, while marketing expenses were up 10.8% year-on-year to 797.6 billion won.

    Looking ahead, SK Telecom said it continues to explore opportunities in new businesses such as AI, IoT and autonomous driving to ensure mid- and long-term growth.

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  • Telstra buys MTData to bolster connected vehicle business

    Telstra buys MTData to bolster connected vehicle business

    Telstra has announced the acquisition of GPS and telematics fleet management solutions provider MTData in a bid which the incumbent says will boost its IoT offerings in the global connected vehicle market.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    MTData was founded in 2003 and has operations in New Zealand, the US, Canada and the Middle East as well as Australia.

    According to Telstra, MTData provides GPS telematics and fleet management services that assist customers with compliance and safety, improving productivity and reducing operating costs.

    Michelle Bendschneider, executive director of Telstra Enterprise, said the acquisition will provide Telstra with the technical capability and software expertise necessary to help fast track the operator’s enterprise connected vehicle offering as part of its growing business-ready IoT ecosystem.

    “The MTData acquisition provides Telstra with advanced technology and deep domain expertise in connected vehicle solutions,” said Bendschneider.

    “This strategic acquisition will enable us to capitalize on the business ready IoT capability on our network, deliver IoT solutions to our customers in the heavy vehicle industry and supports a natural transition towards future autonomous vehicle technologies.”

    Commenting on the acquisition, Matthew Bellizia, CEO and co-founder of MTData, said, “There are strong synergies with our technology and customer focused cultures and through our integration we will provide customers with access to new and existing technologies like Telstra’s IoT offerings.”

    The acquisition by Telstra will allow MTData to provide connected vehicles, asset tracking and location insights, in the utilities, agriculture and resources industries, Bellizia said.

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  • StarHub Q3 profit falls 11%

    StarHub Q3 profit falls 11%

    Singapore’s StarHub has reported an 11% decline in net profit for the third quarter of 2017 to S$77 million ($56.6 million), partly as a result of lower core service revenue.

    Service revenue fell 0.7% to S$545 million, with mobile revenue down 2.3% to S$297 million, broadband revenue declining 1.5% to S$53.2 million and pay TV revenue falling 7.9% to S$85.7 million.

    Enterprise fixed line revenue by contrast increased by a healthy 11.1% to S$109.4 million, growing to account for 18.8% of total revenue (including device sales).

    This quarter, we are further seeing the fruits of our growth strategy as shown by the encouraging double-digit increase in our enterprise fixed revenue. We will continue investing in the enterprise space to drive our future growth,” StarHub CEO Tan Tong Hai commented.

    “We have recently struck Singapore’s first bank-telco strategic partnership with OCBC Bank. By harnessing our collective data insights, we can better understand customers’ needs and deliver even more relevant services to enhance their connected lifestyles.”

    For the first nine months of the year, service revenue likewise fell 1% to S$1.62 billion with net profit down 18% to S$235 million. Mobile service, broadband and pay TV revenues declined 0.8%, 1.8% and 7.7% respectively but enterprise fixed service revenue grew 5%.

    StarHub’s postpaid mobile customer base decreased by 11,000 year-on-year due to a termination of 23,000 inactive legacy data-only lines. Postpaid ARPU dipped by S$1 to S$69, while prepaid ARPU declined from S$16 to S$15.

    Broadband customers meanwhile decreased by around 1,000 to 466,000 but ARPU remained stable at S$37.

    For the full year, StarHub is projecting roughly flat revenue, but expects total capex to decrease to around 10% of total revenue.

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  • RCom to stop offering 2G voice in eight circles

    RCom to stop offering 2G voice in eight circles

    Struggling Indian operator Reliance Communications will stop offering 2G voice services in eight circles from December as a cost saving measure.

    Telecoms regulator Trai has issued a direction stating that RCom plans to discontinue 2G GSM services in eight telecoms circles after the closure of the merger between RCom and Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL), providing only 4G data services.

    RCom also plans to use the merger to upgrade its network from CDMA to LTE using the 800-MHz band in nine circles including Delhi.

    Trai has requested that all operator honor any porting requests from existing RCom customers and directed RCom not to deny any such requests from its own subscribers until the end of the year.

    RCom has been reconsidering its operations after failing to clinch a proposed merger with Aircel due to regulatory uncertainty and the objections of some creditors.

    The operator is grappling with debt of around 450 billion rupees ($6.95 billion) and had been hoping that the merger could help it reduce this burden.

    The RCom-SSTL share swap merger by contrast was approved last month. RCom will acquire around 2 million new customers, as well as 30 MHz of 800-MHz spectrum in eight of India’s 22 telecoms circles including Delhi.

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  • Fortinet extends security fabric to IIoT

    Fortinet extends security fabric to IIoT

    Fortinet has extended its FortiGuard threat intelligence service to the industrial IoT (IIoT).

    The new FortiGuard Industrial Security Service (ISS) builds on the threat intelligence services of FortiGuard Labs by providing application control and defensive signatures specific to critical infrastructure and industrial sector organizations.

    The company is particularly targeting the utility, oil and gas, transportation, and manufacturing sectors.

    FortiGuard ISS protects the most widely-used industrial control system (ICS) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) devices and applications. The service provides vulnerability protection, visibility and granular control over ICS and SCADA systems and is backed by real-time threat intelligence updates.

    Enterprise and consumer demand has created an explosion in the number of IoT devices connecting to global networks. McKinsey estimates that 20 to 30 billion IoT devices could be connected globally by 2020, up from 10 billion to 15 billion devices in 2015. However, as devices proliferate, security risks also increase.

    Traditionally, commercial and industrial networks and their IoT devices have operated in isolation, but the mainstreaming of things like smart cities and connected homes have begun to merge these devices within local, national and global infrastructures.

    This is requiring organizations to rethink how they secure increasingly converged IT, OT and IoT networks and devices. Integrating distinct security tools into a unified Security Fabric enables organizations to collect and correlate threat intelligence in real time, identify abnormal behavior and automatically orchestrate a response anywhere across this complex IoT attack surface.

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  • TrueMove aims for 33% market share

    TrueMove aims for 33% market share

    Thai operator TrueMove aims to increase its share of the mobile market to 33% next year, as the second-ranked operator takes aim at market leader AIS.

    The operator plans to invest in data capacity and introduce innovative new services and products to meet its expansion goals, the Bangkok Post reported.

    TrueMove currently has a market share of around 29% and a revenue market share of about 26%, which compares to 44.8% and 48.6% respectively for for AIS.

    In an interview, True Corp co-president for commercial management Vichaow Rakphongphairoj expects the arrival of 5G and the IoT to increase the penetration rate for mobile numbers and SIMs from the current 140% to up to 1,000%.

    While the operator will need to expand its spectrum holdings to develop the capacity to launch new services, Vichaow told the publication it is too early to say whether TrueMove will join the planned 5G auction for 1800-MHz and 850-MHz spectrum planned for next June. The operator’s participation will depend on the final conditions for the auction and the results of the operator’s feasibility study.

    True Move currently holds the highest amount of bandwidth among Thai mobile operators with 55MHz spread out across the 850-MHz, 900-MHz, 1800-MHz and 2100-MHz bands.

  • Zong upgrades backbone network to 100G

    Zong upgrades backbone network to 100G

    China Mobile’s Pakistani subsidiary Zong has upgraded its backbone network with 100Gbps technology to accommodate demand from its growing customer base.

    The operator has expanded its backbone capacity by over 10 times compared to its previous 10Gbps backhaul network.

    Zong launched 4G services in 2014 and currently operates the country’s largest 4G network with around 10,500 cell sites nationwide. The company currently has a more than 70% share of the 4G market.

    The operator is expanding its OTN backbone network to ensure ample capacity for its 4G subscribers and to future proof the network for later core network upgrades.

    “We are extremely excited to have successfully implemented this upgrade in record time, without any outages or downtimes on our network,” Zong head of corporate affairs and strategy Maham Dard said.

    “Zong 4G is the only cellular operator that remains committed to investing in nothing less than the cutting edge, continuously employing some of the most advanced technology available. I am confident that, this enhancement to our network infrastructure will contribute greatly to quality of service and end-user experience for many years to come.”

  • NTT Com launches lowest latency Tokyo-Chicago link

    NTT Com launches lowest latency Tokyo-Chicago link

    Japan’s NTT Com has launched a new ultra-low latency connectivity service between the financial markets of Tokyo in Japan and Chicago in the United States.

    The operator said the JPX-Chicago Co-Location Direct service offers the industry’s lowest latency for connectivity between Japan Exchange Group’s (JPX) colocation centre and the Cermak data center used by Chicago’s financial market.

    A point of presence in the JPX colocation center links directly to NTT Com’s PC-1 subsea cable to support high frequency trading between the two markets.

    Customers will be able to seamlessly use cross connections in both centres to ensure trades are implemented as quickly as possible.

    NTT Com also delivers connectivity services between JPX and financial markets in Hong Kong and Singapore.

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