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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.

  • GTT deploys new low latency routes

    GTT deploys new low latency routes

    Yesterday, GTT Communications announced a series of new low latency routes around the globe, and simultaneously launched a new time  synchronization service.

    The new low latency routes include Hong Kong to Tokyo, Hong Kong to Singapore, Mumbai to Singapore, New York City-Mexico City and Johannesburg to London. They bring the company’s total low-latency portfolio to more than 60 routes connecting over 130 financial exchanges.

    Meanwhile GTT’s time synchronization service aims to give financial customers a single source of time across their global trading footprints.

    This answers the question of what one gets when one combine’s Hibernia Networks’ financial business and transatlantic cable with the international network relationships that GTT acquired with the earlier deal for the Inteliquent/Tinet backbone.

    GTT’s more recent M&A moves have been in the US with the acquisition of Global Capacity and pending purchase of Transbeam. However, I wonder whether the next targets might come from overseas.

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  • Myanmar internet-led models yet to scale but heading towards transactional phase

    Myanmar internet-led models yet to scale but heading towards transactional phase

    New internet-enabled businesses are making an appearance in frontier Myanmar, which is witnessing a telecom boom period with operators putting their might on expanding network infrastructure to meet the growing demand for data services.

    While e-commerce and consumer internet startups are yet to scale, they are slowly heading towards the “transactional” phase and launching new models borrowing from successful regional ideas but adapting them to the local market.

    Consider these developments: In the new office in Mingalar Taung Nyunt township of local content creator Myanmar Online Creations (MOC), an employee at  Onlyinburma.com, targeted to be a destination point for locals, and Langyaung.com, a local business directory, is busy uploading content for the sites.

    The company has got five apps running since its launch late last year and it is already looking to roll out a few more to touch 10 apps by the end of 2017. MOC, led by Win Ohn, also the CEO and president of Canada-based MediaNation, aims to bring new dotcom technology in Myanmar language.

    Meanwhile, in mid-August, an online wedding gift service platform named MingalarLetPhwet.com was launched to address the issue of unwanted and repetitive wedding gifts. The site has brought together suppliers of over 5,000 wedding gift related products while it is free to use for customers.

    In July, Swiss media group Ringier and Myanmar-based Information Matrix Co Ltd joined hands for their ventures, marry.com.mm (based on popular Vietnamese model marry.vn) and parenting platform kalay.com.mm. Revenue model for these engines are built around wedding fairs and workshops.

    The market also saw the launch of Flair Eyes, which allows local photographers to upload photos and video clips for use through a subscription or per piece basis.

    Ecosystem enablers

    The development of such business oriented platforms indicate the improved contribution from different stakeholders in the ecosystem in Myanmar since the military ceded power in 2011.

    The expansion of the telecom market, since the approval of foreign telecom operators, Telenor and Ooredoo, has by May 2016 reached a coverage of 43.72 million compared to the country’s total population of 54 million. Also compare the current SIM card cost K1500 ($1.3) to the previaling rates of  a staggering K4000,000 ($3,412) in 2006.

    Apart from the favourable macro indicators, the region is also beginning to see action surrounding funding of startups. Ride hailing platforms like Uber and Grab’s announcement of $100 million investment in Myanmar has captured the attention of investors.

    Recent startup funding developments include freelancing platform Chate Sat and comic application White Merak raising a six-digit investment each. JobNet.com.mm, a job website under the umbrella of MMOne Online Co Ltd, also raised a seven digit investment this year. Prior to that, their sister company, ShweProperty.com raised a six digit sum from some institutional investors.

    Other significant updates from the startup world include MyPlay’s acquisition by ASX-listed iSentric and Malaysian movie streaming company iflix establishing presence in Myanmar.

    Sumit Jasoria, MD, shop.com.mm feels, “the mindset has changed after global players came in. Local investors are also looking at the right team.”

    Ohn says, what is currently hurting e-commerce adoption and growth is lack of universal gateway. However, online retailers and users have seemingly found a way around it by relying on cash on delivery option. “It is a ‘a very creative way and a grassroot step as we evolve into e-commerce shopping and buying. I forsee a lot of solutions addressing the universal online banking credit card payment solution,” said Ohn.

    Meanwhile, a lot of payment solutions are appearing to address the issue of online payments such as Wave Money, a financial service provider of Telenor and Yoma Bank; Ooredoo’s mobile wallet M-Pitesan and 1-Stop, a partnership between Singapore-based payment service 2C2P and Myanma Awba.

    Popular retail platforms like Rocket Internet’s shop.com.mm is experimenting with offering more discounts on usage of card payments. “The idea is to create an ecosystem which helps consumers to also try cards,” said Sumit Jasoria, managing director of shop.com.mm, which has been in Myanmar for three years.

    He argues that 70 per cent of businesses in neighboring Asian countries are still using cash on delivery while the number for Myanmar is just higher, making about 90 per cent. “I think it is catching up, soon it will change for sure,” said Jasoria.

    Internet models, local twist

    Jes Kaliebe Petersen, CEO of Phandeeyar a leading Innovation Lab in Myanmar, says, the next wave of startups will be targeting a much broader audience, people present outside the city, and the new generation of smart phone users. The majority of those residing outside large cities in Myanmar use data only for Facebook and Viber.

    “The business that will emerge as the leaders in the area (online business platforms) are those who manage to handle the logistics and payments issues in a reliable manner and get people not just to buy on Facebook but also from their own apps,” said Petersen.

    A recent survey by MyanZen – the winner of Telenor Myanmar’s first accelerate program that allows social sellers to effectively sell on social network – shows that there are over 3,500 Facebook stalls involved in online shopping business in Myanmar.

    While the emergence of new business ideas are keeping up, Ohn says, it is encouraging to see a lot of companies like them starting to build the platforms and grow the awareness of the general public.

    Business ideas, that are successful in neighbouring countries, find favour in Myanmar.

    “We will always encourage the people in our accelerator to look at what’s going on elsewhere and use that as an inspiration for what can be done in Myanmar,” said Petersen.

    Shop.com.mm is also starting to replicate models of Daraz’ work in other countries and introducing fashion related products from Korea and Thailand on their platform after evaluating the consumer preference in Myanmar.

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  • PT Telkom adopts Palo Alto firewalls

    PT Telkom adopts Palo Alto firewalls

    Indonesia’s PT Telkom has moved to strengthen its security capabilities by adopting Palo Alto Networks’ next-generation firewalls.

    The operator will deploy Palo Alto’s Next Generation Security Platform for its security operations center to support its global expansion plans. Telkom aims to become one of the five largest telecoms operators in Southeast Asia.

    Telkom has replaced its legacy firewall systems with eight Palo Alto firewalls, as well as its network security management solution Panorama and its contextual threat intelligence service AutoFocus.

    Panorama provides  static rules and dynamic security updates to simplify the management of a changing threat landscape.

    “Palo Alto Networks has enabled us to take our security operations to a higher level. I now have complete visibility of threats, the team has become more skilled, and we’re better able to focus on the development of new services,” Telkom Indonesia VP of IT strategy and governance Sihmirmo Adi said.

    He said the operator expects the platform to help it save billions of rupiahs in future capex and spend significantly less time managing its network.

  • SKT expanding use of TANGO AI platform

    SKT expanding use of TANGO AI platform

    SK Telecom is expanding the use of its AI-assisted network operation system TANGO to all its telecommunications networks.

    The operator has already been using TANGO (the T advanced next generation operational supporting system) to help manage its fixed line network, and is now extending the application of the system to the mobile network.

    TANGO uses machine learning to automate the optimization of network operation based on network traffic information broken down by area and period.

    The system is also designed to enhance the accuracy of network management by measuring the quality of network operations delivered to customers, and incorporates virtualization capabilities to help mobile operators adopt new network capabilities including IoT and 5G.

    Last month, SK Telecom entered an agreement to provide the TANGO platform to India’s largest operator Bharti Airtel.

    “The AI-assisted network operation technology based on big data analytics will be essential in the 5G era,” SK Telecom SVP and head of network technology R&D Park Jin-hyo commented.

    “SK Telecom will continue to improve the functionality of TANGO aiming at providing the best-performing network for customers to enjoy.”

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  • China Unicom 9M17 profit grows 155%

    China Unicom 9M17 profit grows 155%

    China Unicom has announced it expects to report a strong 155% increase in net profit for the first nine months of the year, driven by robust service revenue growth and lower expenses.

    The operator’s preliminary results estimate that net profit reached 4.1 billion yuan ($618.6 million) for the period, with service revenue up 4.1% to 187.9 billion.

    China Unicom also reduced its selling and marketing expenses and handset subsidy spending as part of its new Focus Strategy.

    But the company still added over 13 million new mobile customers during the nine month period, taking its total to 277 million.

    Total 4G net additions were 55.7 million, with the operator’s total 4G customer base growing to 160 million. In September alone, Unicom gained 3.82 million new mobile customers and 7.56 million new 4G customers – a company record for both metrics.

    Despite the strong results, Unicom warned that the recent regulator-mandated abolishment of domestic long-distance and roaming fees – coupled with a cyclical increase in market competition – is expected to place increasing pressure on the company’s financial performance in the fourth quarter.

    “Going forward, the Group will actively address challenges, continue to deepen Focus Strategy and earnestly capitalise on the implementation of mixed-ownership reform to raise efficiency and returns,” China Unicom said in a statement.

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  • Alibaba Cloud teams up with Red Hat

    Alibaba Cloud teams up with Red Hat

    Alibaba Cloud and Red Hat are joining forces to bring Red Hat’s open source solutions to Alibaba Cloud’s customers around the globe.

    Alibaba Cloud is now part of the Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider program, joining a group of technology industry leaders who offer Red Hat-tested and validated solutions that extend the functionality of Red Hat’s broad portfolio of open source cloud solutions.

    The partnership extends the reach of Red Hat’s offerings across the top public clouds globally, providing a scalable destination for cloud computing and reiterating Red Hat’s commitment to providing greater choice in the cloud.

    In the coming months, Red Hat solutions will be available directly to Alibaba Cloud customers, enabling them to take advantage of the full value of Red Hat’s broad portfolio of open source cloud solutions. Alibaba Cloud intends to offer Red Hat Enterprise Linux in a pay-as-you-go model in the Alibaba Cloud Marketplace.

    Launched in 2009, the Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider Program is designed to assemble the solutions cloud providers need to plan, build, manage and offer hosted cloud solutions and Red Hat technologies to customers.

    The Certified Cloud Provider designation is awarded to Red Hat partners following validation by Red Hat. Each provider meets testing and certification requirements to demonstrate that they can deliver a safe, scalable, supported and consistent environment for enterprise cloud deployments.

    In the coming months, Red Hat customers will also be able to move eligible, unused Red Hat subscriptions from their data center to Alibaba Cloud. Red Hat Cloud Access is an innovative “bring-your-own-subscription” offering that enables customers to move eligible Red Hat subscriptions from on-premise to public clouds.

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  • ZTE profit grew 36.6% in 9M17

    ZTE profit grew 36.6% in 9M17

    ZTE has revealed it expects to report a solid 36.6% growth in net profit for the first nine months of 2017, with its results bolstered by growth in its carrier networks and consumer businesses.

    The Chinese vendor has published preliminary results [PDF] estimating a net profit for the nine month period of 3.9 billion yuan ($589.1 million).

    Operating revenue grew an estimated 7% over the same period to 76.58 billion yuan, while operating profit surged 455.1% to 5.28 billion yuan. Gross profit margins are expected to have been stable at 31.64%.

    The bottom line was also aided by pre-tax investment income of around 426 million yuan related to the sale of 10.1% of mobile phone subsidiary Nubia Technology, as well as 1.75 billion yuan in investment income from its remaining 49.9% stake in the venture.

    For the full year, ZTE is anticipating a net profit of between 4.3 billion and 4.8 billion. This would be a significant turnaround from the 23.57 billion yuan loss recorded in 2016, which was the result of a $892.3 million settlement agreement  with the US government.

    ZTE paid the penalty to settle an investigation over allegations that the company shipped telecoms equipment containing US components to Iran, in contravention of US trade sanctions on the nation.

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  • Telkomsel wins 2.3-GHz spectrum auction

    Telkomsel wins 2.3-GHz spectrum auction

    Indonesian state-owned mobile operator Telkomsel has emerged as the winner of an auction for 30 MHz of 2.3-GHz spectrum with a bid of 1 trillion rupiah ($73.9 million).

    The company beat out four other operators, including XL Axiata and Indosat, to secure the spectrum.

    Telkomsel will need to pay an upfront fee of double its bidding price – 2 trillion rupiah – within 10 days as well as an annual license fee.

    With the acquisition of the additional spectrum Telkomsel is expected to be in a position to expand its network capacity by 30%, the report states.

    Telkomsel is Indonesia’s dominant mobile operator with 178 million subscribers and 150,000 base stations across the nation. It is the mobile subsidiary of state-owned operator PT Telkom.

    Under government regulations Telkomsel will now be unable to bid during the next spectrum auction, scheduled to commence next week.  Indosat, XL Axiata and Hutchison 3 Indonesia are expected to participate in the auction for two blocks of 2.1-GHz spectrum.

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  • Star Telecom expands retail to underserved markets

    Star Telecom expands retail to underserved markets

    Filipino tech company Star Telecom Alliance Resources, the group behind Starmobile, is expanding its retail distribution to include sari-sari stores and loading stations.

    For its initial phase, just launched, Starmobile feature phones have been made available in more than 20 sari-sari stores and loading stations in Metro Manila, Cagayan De Oro and Zamboanga. This business strategy extends the company’s sales touchpoints beyond branded stores and kiosks, multi-brand vendors, its own online shop, partner e-commerce websites, and even convenience stores.

    With more than a million sari-sari stores in neighborhoods all over the Philippines, the move will enable the company to penetrate underserved markets, especially in the provinces. It also aligns with Starmobile’s objective of democratizing technology, says sales and marketing head Gerardo Balderrama.

    Prizes are being offered for customers as part of the company’s STAR-Tagal campaign.

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  • Interoute evaluating selling up

    Interoute evaluating selling up

    Late last week, an infrastructure M&A rumor managed to slip past my nets. The pan-European network and cloud infrastructure operator Interoute was revealed have brought in Credit Suisse and Evercore to help evaluate a sale of the company.

    Interoute is majority (70%) owned by the Sandoz family with Aleph Capital and Crestview Partners holding the remainder. The company’s network was built off of assets from the dot-com crash via a combination of organic and inorganic growth, with the most recent inorganic moves being the acquisitions of Vtesse in 2014 and EasyNet in 2015.

    In the first half of 2017, Interoute posted €354 million ($416.9 million) in revenue and €79.6 million in adjusted ebitda while spending €36.1 million in capex. As the EasyNet integration winds down, the company’s ebitda margins have risen up toward the 22% mark. The rumors indicate they’d be looking for a multiple of somewhere in the 7-10x ebitda range, which puts the value of any potential deal at somewhere in the $1.5 billion to $2 billion range.

    So the question is, who might step up to the plate to buy Interoute? There are possible strategic buyers from both the US and Europe as well as some interesting private equity possibilities. Here are thoughts on a few candidates in no particular order:

    • Level 3 – A few years ago, Level 3 would have been the first answer to come to mind. The synergies to be derived are obvious, and the scale would help the company’s enterprise business on the continent a great deal. But the timing isn’t perfect given the impending tasks of the CenturyLink integration, so this possibility seems a bit less likely than it might have in the past. It’s still quite possible though.
    • Zayo – They could be a very strong candidate. After entering the Euro market a few years ago with the acquisitions of Geo, Neo, and Viatel, Zayo has a pretty good starter set in western Europe. They’ve been uncharacteristically quiet since then, but pan-European fiber and data centre assets like Interoute don’t grow on trees. Zayo won’t sit out the chance to bid and they won’t be shy.
    • Teliasonera – the Scandinavian-based giant has been growing its international network footprint steadily and almost entirely organically over the years. But this opportunity to add pan-European enterprise and wholesale depth may not be something they can pass up.
    • Colt – For a decade I saw Colt as a likely target of consolidation, but ever since Fidelity took them private they’ve been looking like they might be ready to sit on the other side of the table. A combination with Interoute would have significant synergies and few downsides when it comes to pure numbers.
    • euNetworks – While the company probably isn’t large enough to do it on its own, its private equity owners are completely capable of making a bigger move if the opportunity is sufficiently attractive. euNetworks metro depth in the UK and Germany would help raise margins on Interoute’s revenue.
    • Telxius – This is a bit of a longshot, but when Telefonica split off its infrastructure division and sold off a piece of it to KKR, they were doing so to help with the company’s debt issues. But as with Windstream’s spinoff of what is now Uniti Group, the resulting company could become a consolidator in its own right with private equity sitting in the driver’s seat.
    • EQT Infrastructure – These guys are perhaps the most aggressive private equity guys in the market over in Europe, and I can easily see them taking the opportunity to take Interoute off of the the Sandoz family’s hands.
    • Other private equity – The list of names is quite long
    • The billionaires – One can never count out personalities like Carlos Slim, Patrick Drahi, John Malone or even Naguib Sawiris, although none seem to jump out at me in this case.
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  • MPT has Myanmar’s fastest mobile speeds

    MPT has Myanmar’s fastest mobile speeds

    Myanmar’s MPT has the fastest internet speeds among the nation’s major mobile operators, according to a new report from Ookla’s Speedtest service.

    An analysis of the results of user-initiated tests over the Speedtest Android and iOS mobile apps indicates that MPT had an overall speed score of 11.45 during the first half of the year.

    The speed score is calculated by factoring in both a user’s download and upload speeds, with the former contributing to 90% of the final score and the latter constituting the remaining 10%.

    MPT had average download speeds of 12.41Mbps for the period covered in the report, and average upload speeds of 7.47Mbps.

    MPT is expanding its mobile network in collaboration with Japanese partners KDDI and Sumitomo.

    The operator’s closest rival, Telenor Myanmar, achieved a speed score of 10.51, based on download speeds of 10.97Mbps and upload speeds of 6.46Mbps. Ooredoo achieved a score of 6.23 with download speeds of 6.61Mbps and upload speeds of 2.87Mbps.

    Over the six month period, Myanmar’s average mobile download speeds reached 12.03Mbps and upload speeds reached 7.4Mbps after a sharp jump in both averages between April to June.

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  • More APAC enterprises benefiting from IaaS

    More APAC enterprises benefiting from IaaS

    The proportion of businesses in Asia Pacific reaping the benefits cloud infrastructure services has increased significantly in the last quarter, according to a global survey from Oracle.

    Nearly three quarters of respondents (74%) believe Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) makes it easier for businesses to innovate, a 9% increase over last quarter. The research also found that 65% of businesses believe IaaS delivers exceptional operational performance in terms of speed and availability, an 18% quarter-over-quarter increase.

    Over half of respondents (61%) found their organization experienced improved productivity from their migration to cloud, while just over half (53%) found their IT teams have greater scope to work on other value-adding projects.

    The study also revealed that two thirds of businesses (67%) believe that companies not investing in IaaS will struggle to keep up with those that are using it. The index also highlighted that moving to IaaS has significantly cut time to deployment of new applications and services and slashed maintenance costs for over two thirds of respondents (70%).

    “The responses clearly show that companies are getting increasing levels of benefit from using cloud infrastructure and it is being felt beyond the domain of the IT department,” commented Chris Chelliah, Oracle’s APAC group VP and chief architect for technology and cloud.

    “These investments are driving significant improvements in productivity and giving organizations the ability to shift resource to projects that make valuable contributions from those that are just keeping the lights on.”

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  • Cisco launches IoT lab in Hong Kong

    Cisco launches IoT lab in Hong Kong

    Cisco has launched its first smart city pilot program in Hong Kong, the Digital Living Lab.

    The Digital Living Lab is supported by Cisco’s new IoT operations platform Cisco Kinetic, which is designed to help extract, compute and move data from connected things to IoT applications to deliver better outcomes and services.

    Cisco and its partners have established a low-power RAN gateway (LoRaWAN) at Hong Kong Science Park to kick start the IoT program. The gateway will be used to provide demonstrations of IoT-enabled applications that are new to Hong Kong and helpful to the wider community.

    The company is also providing 80 IoT explorer kits to schools, startups and other organizations in Hong Kong to support their teaching and learning in IoT based technologies and facilitate data analytics and R&D development for IoT applications.

    “The ‘Smart Region’ initiative led by HKSTP and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is to make Hong Kong Science Park a testbed and wondrous showcase of the Smart City vision. We are glad that Cisco, as a worldwide leader in smart city technology, is launching ‘Digital Living Lab’ that aligns with our agenda in developing into a smart city,” HKSTP CTO George Lee commented.

    As well as HKSTP, Cisco’s partners in the program include Avnet, Pixel Networks, the Smart City Consortium (SCC) and the Technology Incubation Network (TIN).

  • Android ransomware abuses accessibility services

    Android ransomware abuses accessibility services

    ESET researchers have discovered DoubleLocker, an innovative Android malware that combines a cunning infection mechanism with two powerful tools for extorting money from its victims.

    “DoubleLocker misuses Android accessibility services, which is a popular trick among cybercriminals,” commented Lukáš Štefanko, the ESET malware researcher who discovered DoubleLocker.

    “Its payload can change the device’s PIN, preventing the victim from accessing their device and encrypts the victim’s data. Such a combination hasn’t been seen yet in the Android ecosystem.”

    On top of being ransomware, DoubleLocker is based on the foundations of a particular, already documented banking Trojan. According to Štefanko, the functionality for harvesting users’ banking credentials and wiping out their accounts can be added easily.

    “The additional functionality will turn this malware into what can be called ransom-banker,” warns Lukáš Štefanko, who claims he spotted a test version of such a ransom-banker in the wild in May 2017.

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  • SoftBank goes live with eSIM management platform

    SoftBank goes live with eSIM management platform

    Japan’s SoftBank has gone live with Gemalto’s On Demand Subscription (ODC) remote subscription management platform to allow customers to directly connect their eSIM-enabled secondary devices to the operator’s mobile network.

    SoftBank users will be able to take advantage of direct internet connectivity for eSIM-enabled smart watches, wearables and other secondary devices without the need to tether them to a smartphone.

    SoftBank arranged in April to adopt the Gemalto platform for both consumer and industrial IoT devices.

    Gemalto said it expects eSIM to become the default identification module for all cellular IoT devices. The vendor has to date delivered more than 50 eSIM subscription management servers for both consumer and M2M applications to mobile operators in Asia, Europe and North America.

    In the consumer space, the company has partnerships with OEMs including Samsung, Limmex, Microsoft and Lenovo. The vendor is currently the only fully GSMA security accreditation scheme-subscription management (SAS-SM) certified supplier.

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