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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.

  • Nokia launches 5G-ready Smart Plan Suite

    Nokia launches 5G-ready Smart Plan Suite

    Nokia has launched a new real-time charging, policy control and customer engagement suite specifically designed for advanced digital experiences.

    The cloud-native, 5G-ready Nokia Smart Plan Suite uses continuous delivery principles and DevOps automation to stay constantly updated with the latest capabilities.

    The suite is designed to allow service providers to deliver personalized and contextualized offers to enhance subscribers’ digital experiences, and can integrate with webscale offerings including Google’s Mobile Data Plan Sharing API.

    It forms part of a wider monetization portfolio covering mediation, digital sales, real-time decision making and machine learning powered analytics software. Nokiaasserts that the portfolio can help operators increase subscriber campaign take-up rates by more than 400%.

    Nokia president of applications and analytics Bhaskar Gorti said the portfolio is designed to allow operators to engage with their customers in ‘digital time’.

    “This means delivering the right service through the right channel the moment they need it. We do this by providing ‘connected intelligence’ — we connect insights, people, processes and technologies to help service providers monetize their services, push the limits of automation and delight their customers,” he said.

    “Service providers need a new approach if they are to deliver the personalized, contextualized and immediate experiences consumers have become accustomed to from leading webscale companies. Most revenue management systems in use within telcos today are monolithic in nature and weren’t designed to support such modern experiences,” Analysys Mason senior analyst John Abraham commented.

    “The industry needs to adopt a different approach, and solutions based on a cloud-native architecture such as Nokia’s Smart Plan Suite are key to helping CSPs cross the chasm in enabling a new class of innovative and engaging customer experiences.”

  • Telcos must transform service delivery: MyRepublic CIO

    Telcos must transform service delivery: MyRepublic CIO

    Founded in 2011, MyRepublic is best known for being the first ISP in Singapore to launch 1Gbps broadband plans at mass-market pricing. Seen somewhat as a disruptor, the Singaporean brand is now active in 4 markets in the region. Within the next two years, the company has plans for an IPO and already has teams actively looking for partnership opportunities for four further expansions. Potential sites include Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

    Eugene Yeo, Group CIO at MyRepublic, has been a part of the company since its earliest days, and started coding when he was in his early teens, he told Enterprise Innovation in an exclusive interview. But “rather than go to university and get a degree in IT, which I felt was not going to value add, I felt that I wanted to foray into something different,” he revealed. Yeo attended SMU to study business administration, which allowed him to learn about managing business, running an organization, and growing a team.

    Early adopters of cloud

    “We are firm believers of using IT as a strategic tool to make sure our company remains innovative and a disruptor, staying ahead of everyone,” said Yeo. “As we grew the company over the last 5 years, we realized that there was a huge potential. The way we do things is very different from the incumbents,” said Yeo. “Embracing open source, embracing technologies out there to help us become more agile and efficient …we realized that there’s huge value in them and that there’s potential to grow the business into something much bigger.”

    As a firm believer of utilizing IT to stay ahead of the competition, MyRepublic adopted cloud technology even before the idea of cloud infrastructure gained wide traction. This significantly differed from other telcos that had invested heavily in legacy infrastructure, according to Yeo.

    They also developed their own business support systems (BSS) and operations support systems (OSS), believing this to be a move critical to their agility as a company. MyRepublic originally adopted public cloud for their BSS and OSS stack, but placed network-critical applications on traditional VMs in their data centers.

    Eventually, their infrastructure evolved to be cloud native. Yeo highlighted: “We really wanted to move to a hybrid cloud infrastructure across the organization and leverage an on-premise private cloud to supplement our public cloud strategy.”

    MyRepublic started their first on premise cloud in Australia, and have now brought it across to their centers in Singapore and Indonesia, moving all core network applications onto the on-premise cloud. Setting their foundations in cloud allowed MyRepublic to scale flexibly and expand rapidly into new markets – taking fewer than 60 days for their Australia and New Zealand markets.

    “Because we already had our foundation set with cloud, for us to be able to scale from 300 thousand [cutomers] to a million to 5 million isn’t really a big challenge”, said Yeo. “Even though we are a fairly young company, we believe in continuous improvement, and we’re actually embarking on our own transformation program internally. We’re embarking on what we call a customer experience transformation within the entire organization – to make sure that customer-centric culture is right at the root of MyRepublic.”

    Emphasis on open source

    Apart from being a firm believer in the cloud, Yeo is also a staunch supporter of open source, and partnered with RedHat to deploy OpenStack earlier this year.

    MyRepublic’s open source journey started when they introduced their engineers to the open source community to kick-start their understanding on how the technology worked, what potential challenges might be faced, and the general sentiment of the community through feedback. MyRepublic started with three engineers – but now with a team of 70 – 80 engineers, Yeo believes the time has come to contribute heavily back to the community.

    “We would have never got to the first version of our software without open source – from open source databases, to open source libraries, workflow engines etc. These actually helped us get to the next level faster,” said Yeo.

    With internet giants likes Facebook and Google being very active in the open source community, there has been massive ratcheting up of input into the open source space over the past few years. To this, Damien Wong, Vice President and General Manager, ASEAN, Red Hat, added: “Innovation is still happening in the proprietary space. I don’t think open source is the only way of innovation, but I think that it has gained such momentum that it cannot be ignored by any organization.”

    The evolving telco industry

    Arguably, the telco industry is traditionally one of the most conservative industries when it comes to innovation, disruption and transformation, Yeo believes. With disruptive technologies such as cloud, open source, 5G, machine learning, and IoT looming on the horizon, the telco industry is transforming to keep up with the times.

    Traditional means of texting and calling are a thing of the past, replaced by alternative platforms – such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger – powered by mobile data. The rise of smartphones and the power to consume applications also changes the needs and requirements of customers. In the telco space, it is apparent that telcos are trying to move from being communication service providers to becoming digital service providers.

    “You want services provided by the service provider to be intelligent, relevant, affordable, and accessible – all those attributes have to be there. With all the technologies that have evolved and been created… I think it is quite clear that telcos are moving from hardware-based infrastructure to software-based infrastructure for reasons of agility,” said Wong. “Moving forward, we are going into 5G, and people who can capitalize on that 5G infrastructure are going to be extremely successful.”

    In the shorter term – over the next 3 years or so – telcos need to become very efficient in the way that they deliver their services, according to Yeo. Connectivity is going to become a utility like water or electricity. “It’s not about optic fiber, mobile SIM, etc – people don’t care. In the end, they just want to be connected. That’s really the value proposition and the demand from the consumers. They just want connectivity in the fastest and most affordable way, and don’t care how you deliver it to them. Telcos need to understand that and know how to create the efficiency in that space,” he said.

    “We are moving to the data world, and data is money,” said Yeo. “There will come a day where you don’t need to pay for a SIM card, because your data will already pay for that connectivity. Telcos’ business models have to evolve – I see that telcos are going to start moving towards monetizing the data that they get, figure out how best to innovate using that data, and then use that data to fund the growth of the business.”

  • Telstra adds SD-WAN to Programmable Network

    Telstra adds SD-WAN to Programmable Network

    Australian operator Telstra has expanded the capability of its Telstra Programmable Network service with the introduction of a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) and virtual branch.

    In partnership with VeloCloud, an SD-WAN provider based in the US, Telstra has introduced the ability for businesses to shift their branch network to the cloud. Telstra announced an investment in VeloCloud through its Telstra Ventures subsidiary in March.

    Business customers can achieve the migration by deploying a  single Juniper Networks Universal CPE device on site and using a marketplace of virtual network functions to self-provision bandwidth and required services.

    “Cloud adoption continues to grow and new WAN architectures such as Hybrid and SD-WAN are rapidly evolving. We are unlocking this technology for our customers who depend on having the fastest and most highly available digital experiences possible,” Telstra Global Products executive director Michelle Bendschneider said.

    “Businesses need to constantly adjust in a rapidly evolving technical world, so we really looked at this release from a customer’s perspective with flexibility front of mind. The addition of SD-WAN provides a more intelligent layer to that flexibility, enabling customers to do more with their network as they digitally transform their business and scale and deploy additional applications when and where they need to.”

    She said Telstra plans to offer both VeloCloud SD-WAN as a virtual network function and SD-WAN as a more traditional physical solution in recognition of the fact that there is no one sized fixed all approach to business networks.

    The Telstra Programmable Network is available in over 30 countries in Asia, EMEA and North America.

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  • New IoT botnet discovered in the wild

    New IoT botnet discovered in the wild

    Check Point researchers have discovered a brand new botnet – dubbed ‘IoTroop’ – that is evolving and recruiting IoT devices at a far greater pace and with more potential damage than the Mirai botnet of 2016.

    IoT botnets are internet connected smart devices which have been infected by the same malware and are controlled by a threat actor from a remote location. They have been behind some of the most damaging cyberattacks against organizations worldwide, including hospitals, national transport links, communication companies and political movements.

    While some technical aspects lead Check Point to suspect a possible connection to Mirai, this is an entirely new and far more sophisticated campaign that is rapidly spreading worldwide.

    It is too early to guess the intentions of the threat actors behind it, but with previous Botnet DDoS attacks essentially taking down the internet, it is vital that organizations make proper preparations and defense mechanisms are put in place before an attack strikes, the company said.

    Ominous signs were first picked up via Check Point’s Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) in the last few days of September. An escalating number of attempts were being made by hackers to exploit a combination of vulnerabilities found in various IoT devices.

    With each passing day the malware was evolving to exploit a growing number of vulnerabilities in Wireless IP Camera devices such as GoAhead, D-Link, TP-Link, AVTECH, NETGEAR, MikroTik, Linksys, Synology and others. It soon became apparent that the attempted attacks were coming from a variety of different sourcesand IoT devices, meaning the attack was being spread by the IoT devices themselves.

    “So far we estimate over a million organizations have already been affected worldwide, including the US, Australia and everywhere in between, and the number is only increasing. Our research suggests we are now experiencing the calm before an even more powerful storm. The next cyber hurricane is about to come,” Check Point said.

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  • Idea taps ZTE for 100G WDM backbone

    Idea taps ZTE for 100G WDM backbone

    India’s Idea Cellular has contracted ZTE and other vendors to deploy a 100G WDM backbone and metro area network (MAN) for the operator.

    ZTE announced it has secured a 95% market share in the MAN project, and will deploy an OTN device with ultra-large cross-connect capacity.

    Idea Cellular is upgrading its existing transport network from a 10G system to a 10G-100G hybrid transport system to ensure it is able to meet the exponential growth in demand for traffic for its mobile services.

    The solution ZTE will deliver will cover all scenarios from the edge aggregation layer to the core backbone layer to meet Idea Cellulars’ requirements for transparent transmission, flexible scheduling, aggregation processing of mass data services and service management monitoring.

    Idea Cellular is India’s third largest mobile operator with around 189 million subscribers. The company provides GSM, UMTS and FDD-LTE services India-wide.

  • Singtel unveils managed SDN solution for enterprises

    Singtel unveils managed SDN solution for enterprises

    Singaporean incumbent carrier Singtel has launched a new network solution to support enterprises’ evolving networking needs across the globe.

    The new solution, touted as Singtel Managed Software-Defined Branch (Singtel SD Branch), is delivered through a “white box” or generic hardware that enables enterprises to manage multiple and virtualized network functions at their existing sites or when they expand into new branch offices, Singtel said in a statement released Monday.

    Goh Boon Huat, vice president of global products at Singtel Group Enterprise said the new managed SDN solution is designed to help enterprises to tackle challenges of complex hybrid WAN architecture encompassing private and public Internet networks.

    “Singtel SD Branch provides a way to spin up and take down services seamlessly, offers full service visibility and manageability up to the application layer. This simplifies their WAN infrastructure, enabling agile managed network solutions to keep pace with growing business needs in different geographical regions,” Goh said.

    With Singtel SD Branch, enterprises are assured of enhanced security and optimal performance of their networks and applications.

    They can better monitor network usage, issues real-time as well as add new functions, such as unified threat management, to the same hardware without incurring additional installation charges. These will in turn reduce their capital and operating expenditures, Singtel said.

    Singtel SD Branch is available globally and integrated with Singtel’s underlay assets of submarine cables, IP VPN network of 428 Points of Presence, and its Global Internet service in more than 200 countries.

    Developed based on the network functions virtualization (NFV) concept, Singtel SD Branch is the latest addition to Singtel’s suite of next generation SD network solutions following the launch of its SD-WAN in 2015 and cloud-based NFV service last year.

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  • RCom cleared to merge with SSTL

    RCom cleared to merge with SSTL

    India’s Reliance Communications (RCom) has secured approval from the Department of Telecom to merge with Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL), operator of the MTS India brand.

    The telecoms ministry has granted final approval for the share swap deal.

    Under the terms of the merger agreement, SSTL shareholders will receive a 10% stake in RCom. RCom will meanwhile take on SSTL’s spectrum installment payment obligations, which amount to 3.9 billion rupees ($59.9 million) per year for eight years.

    RCom will in return 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.

    The operator projects that the merger will contribute additional annual revenue of around 7 billion rupees. RCom reported total revenue of 35.9 billion rupees for the year ending in June, down 33% year-on-year.

    RCom had also been pursuing a merger with Aircel as part of the wave of consolidation sweeping India’s mobile market, but this deal collapsed recently due to regulatory uncertainty and opposition from some of the operator’s creditors. The operator is seeking to reduce its roughly $6.8 billion in debt by around $3 billion, and may pursue an asset fire sale to achieve this goal.

  • Vietnam’s Mobile World plans pharmacy chain

    Vietnam’s Mobile World plans pharmacy chain

    Vietnam’s Mobile World is recruiting pharmacists, with a plan to expand into pharmacy retailing.

    In a job ad on Pharmalink, Mobile World is seeking experienced pharmacists to set up business, train employees and help operate a pharmacy chain.

    Mobile World’s representative confirmed its plan to test new business model without revealing the numbers of stores to be set up.

    In shareholders’ meeting in March, Mobile World’s president Ngo Duc Tai shared the group’s expansion plan by merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in groceries, pharmacy and others, with a budget of US$110 million.

    Ngo revealed that in upcoming years, the group might test medicine retailing via M&A with some pharmacy chains which already has 10-15 stores, and would expand to 500 stores.

    In August, Mobile World finished its first M&A deal with Tran Anh electronics chain.

  • China – the world’s biggest 5G market in 2025?

    China – the world’s biggest 5G market in 2025?

    According a study conducted by GSMA Intelligence and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), China is set to become the world’s largest 5G mobile market in 2025.

    The China 5G study predicts that 5G connections in China are expected to reach 428 million by 2025, accounting for 39% of the 1.1 billion global 5G connections expected by that point.

    The country’s three major mobile operators – China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom – are stepping up their efforts towards 5G deployment, with plans to run a phased testing period for 5G networks from 2017 to 2019 before launching commercially in 2020.

    China Mobile, for example, early this year started conducting the first phase of its 5G field trials in five major cities across the country with Datang, Huawei, ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson. The first phase of the trial will focus on PoC system field trials this year and the operator will move to pre-commercial trials for interoperability tests in 20 sites or cities next year, said Wang Xiaoyun, general manager of technical department at China Mobile.

    The trial is expected to expand to over 100 sites or cities in 2019, before the rollout proceeds to the commercial launch stage in 2020, Wang told reporters at Mobile World Congress Barcelona in February. China Mobile has also set up what it claims is the world’s largest 5G field trial in Huairou district in northern Beijing, he said.

    Together with these partners, China Mobile has conducted trials of key technologies including massive MIMO on the 3.5GHz band, as well as carried out performance testing of mmWave spectrum on different frequency bands, such as 15GHz, 28GHz and 73GHz, said Wang.

    China Unicom and China Telecom also plans to test capacity and performance across six cities over 2017-2019 before a commercial launch in 2020.

    Chinese cellcos go for “standalone” 5G deployment

    The study further points out that the three Chinese mobile carriers are expected to deploy ‘standalone’ 5G networks, which will require the construction of new base stations to site 5G equipment, backhaul links and a core network.

    That said, 5G investment in China will follow a more gradual path compared to elsewhere in Asia and over a longer timeframe than 4G, roughly seven years, from 2018 to 2025-with capex not expected to account for more than 25% of operator revenue prior to commercial launch.

    The rate of 5G network deployment and adoption in China is also expected to be slower than it was for 4G, which Chinese operators were able to deploy rapidly earlier this decade within a mature 4G ecosystem. In their early phase, 5G networks will concentrate on boosting the capacity of 4G networks to support rising cellular data traffic demands.

    Though some services will require devices with new form factors, the smartphone is expected to remain the principal 5G interface at launch. Enterprise is considered to offer operators the largest incremental revenue opportunity. Key vertical markets for 5G applications include automotive and transport, logistics, energy and utilities monitoring, security, finance, healthcare, industrial and agriculture.

  • SKT unveils Wi-Fi tech with 5G speeds

    SKT unveils Wi-Fi tech with 5G speeds

    SK Telecom has unveiled a self-developed Wi-Fi technology capable of delivering speeds of up to 4.8Gbps.

    The Wi-Fi technology and access point  is based on the new IEEE 802.11ax standard. It can deliver speeds nearly four times faster than the 1.3Gbps achievable with 802.11ac gigabit Wi-Fi

    The technology uses four antennas to transmit data over 160 MHz of bandwidth – twice that of 802.11ac, operating in both the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz frequency bands.

    In addition, the Wi-Fi technology supports orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFMDA), multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) and dynamic sensitivity control (DSC) technology to improve the efficiency of the network.

    SK Telecom plans to start deploying access points for the next generation Wi-Fi next year, concentrating on high traffic density areas. Handsets with chipsets compatible with 802.11ax will be able to benefit from the technology.

    The operator has constructed a Wi-Fi testbed within its R&D center in Bundang to test performance of the technology in various deployment scenarios, and is working on upgrading access points to be commercially deployable by the end of 2017.

    SK Telecom SVP and head of network R&D Park Jin-hyo said the next-generation Wi-Fi technology is expected to be an important complement to 5G networks.

    “By introducing the technology for the next generation Wi-Fi that can deliver as fast as 5G technology, we at SK Telecom have successfully laid foundation to offer better mobile services,” he said.

    “We are thrilled to work on the preparation on commercializing the technology and continue to innovate our capabilities to provide differentiated services to our customers.”

  • Myanmar to launch own satellite in 2019

    Myanmar to launch own satellite in 2019

    The Myanmar government plans to launch its own communications satellite in June 2019 at a cost of $155.7 million.

    MyanmarSat 2 will have six C-band transponders and six KU-Band transponders with 864MHz of total bandwidth.

    The satellite will be at least partly owned by the government, unlike the MyanmarSat 1 which is being used under a lease model.

    The government is considering three potential ownership models – paying to lease a condosat transponder from another country, a joint ownership model or total ownership of the system. The joint ownership model has been favored by the Union Minister of Transport and Communications.

    Because the project would be most effective if all the capacity of the satellite is being utilized, the government is also exploring co-operation with the private sector. State-owned MPT has already proposed to lease 72MHz of the satellite’s total capacity.

    News of the Myanmar project came days after the Cambodian government announced plans to launch its first communications satellite by as early as 2021. This project also has an estimated budget of around $150 million.

  • SAP uses machine learning to optimize shop experience

    SAP uses machine learning to optimize shop experience

    SAP this week introduced new technologies ranging from facial recognition, machine learning and IoT to enable targeted marketing campaigns and help consumers optimize their shopping experience.

    Offered through SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud, the new capabilities encompass an array of solutions to help companies ensure they use the right messages to target key customers, while ensuring that customers’ data and privacy are protected.

    One notable component would be the SAP Leonardo digital innovation system which offers facial recognition technology to help retailers engage in-store shoppers. Using facial analysis, the software connects shoppers’ genders and ages to a company or store’s available inventory and stock, enabling personalized product recommendations presented on large displays.

    The SAP Hybris Customer Attribution meanwhile provides marketers with accurate measurements of marketing campaigns and activities that lead to a customer purchase. Data is collected across all touch points of the customer journey, giving insight into what’s driving customer conversions and where to reallocate activities and budget in real time.

    With a nod towards the growing influence of the Chinese social media application WeChat, SAP also announced WeChat integration for SAP Hybris to help marketers expand their global footprint to more than 889 million users across China.

    The need for ensuring customers’ data and privacy is not an unimportant capability too. According to the 2017 SAP Hybris Consumer Insights Report, SAP found that the fastest way to lose customers is to share their data without their knowledge.

    On the other hand, the survey of 20,000 shoppers worldwide found that the easiest way to keep customers happy is to be responsive; nine out of 10 customers (89%) expect an answer to their query within 24 hours.

    On the most part, brands should not shy away from seeking more information about their customers: Four out of five shoppers (80%) are willing to share some of their customer data with brands, with Colombia and India being the most inclined (92%) and with Japan being the least inclined (52%).

    Respondents from all countries, except Russia, are willing to share their e-mail addresses, but only half of Middle East-based consumers want to share their mobile phone numbers.

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  • Dtac profit falls 8.8% in Q3

    Dtac profit falls 8.8% in Q3

    Thailand’s Dtac has reported an 8.8% year-on-year decrease in net profit for the third quarter of 2017 as a result of declining revenue and costs associated with network investment.

    The operator reported a profit for the quarter of 601 million baht ($18.1 million), from 3.7% lower revenue of 18.81 billion baht. Service revenue fell 1.5% year-on-year to 15.96 billion baht.

    Voice revenue fell 36% year-on-year to 3.52 billion baht due to ongoing voice to data substitution, while data revenue increased 19% year-on-year to 11.15 billion baht. Handset and starter kit sales meanwhile fell 6% year-on-year due to controls on handset subsidies.

    Dtac’s total customer base meanwhile fell 6.9% year-on-year to 23.1 million, with postpaid net additions reaching 134,000 while prepaid subscribers fell by 642,000.

    The operator’s bottom line was also impacted by higher network opex and depreciation costs associated with its network rollout. Total cost of services increased 3.4% year-on-year to 10.97 billion baht and network opex grew 9% over the same period to 1.69 billion baht.

    For the full year, Dtac has maintained its outlook of flat service revenues and an ebtida at least as high as in 2016. The company expects its total capex for the year to be in the range of 17 billion to 20 billion baht.

    “Market competition is expected to remain intense. Attractive handset offerings continue to be employed to attract high value customers, and prepaid handset subsidies are expected to persist although at a less aggressive level,” Dtac said in its third quarter report.

    “Data services remain a growth driver thanks to higher demand from the growth of streaming services and superior 4G experience… We aim to gain consumers’ confidence with improving data network, digital products and services, and value for money position, and become [the top] digital brand in Thailand by 2020.”

  • LG U+, Huawei validate 4G-5G dual connectivity

    LG U+, Huawei validate 4G-5G dual connectivity

    South Korea’s LG U+ has collaborated with Huawei to complete technology verification for 4G-5G dual-connectivity technology.

    The field test involved linking a 3.5-GHz base station with a 28-GHz base station to allow terminals to simultaneously connect to both, achieving a peak downlink rate of around 20Gbps.

    It involved the use of two base stations at a LG U+ 5G testbed in Seoul. The operator had already verified the technology in a laboratory environment.

    LG U+ director of 5G strategy Kim Dae Hee said dual connectivity technology will provide the foundation for 4G-5G heterogeneous networks.

    “By demonstrating ‘Dual-Connectivity’ technology, which will play a key role in multi-operation of 4G and 5G wireless base stations, we will develop various next-generation technologies to provide a 5G service.”

    LG U+ and Huawei have been collaborating on 5G development since the two companies signed a 5G collaboration agreement in July 2015. Last month, the companies completed the first phase of an urban field test of 5G over the 28-GHz band.

    The companies pledged to continue to carry out 5G technical cooperation and verification activities in advance of the planned commercial deployment of the technology in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

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  • ZTE launches total pre 5G solution

    ZTE launches total pre 5G solution

    ZTE has announced the launch of what the vendor is calling a total pre5G solution designed to allow existing 4G subscribers to experience 5G-like services.

    The solution combines 5G enabling technologies and architectures including pre5G massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) and 4×4 MIMO.

    The pre5G portfolio also includes ZTE’s Cloud ServCore, a cloud native NFV-based 5G network functions management solution and its Cloud RAN product.

    In addition, 5G-oriented service applications including high data rate services such as ultra HD and virtual reality streaming and massive IoT applications based on narrowband IoT and enhanced machine-type communications (eMTC).

    Announcing the new offering, ZTE said 4G is expected to continue to dominate the market for up to a decade even as 5G deployments get underway. As a result, 4G network evolution and 5G rollouts will continue in tandem, so pre5G configurations will likely co-exist with full 5G deployments.

    The company said its pre5G related products and solutions have so far been deployed in more than 60 networks across more than 40 countries, including China, Japan, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

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