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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.

  • TOT wants telcos to be made to rent its pipes

    TOT wants telcos to be made to rent its pipes

    Thai state-owned operator TOT is calling on the government to use its legislative powers to force telecoms and broadcasting companies to move their overhead cables in Bangkok into TOT’s underground pipes.

    The operator has argued that the move will accelerate the government’s target of removing all overhead power and telephone cables in three provinces to 2019, compared to the 2021 currently scheduled.

    The move to remove overhead cables in Bangkok, Samut Prakan and Nonthaburi is being managed by five state agencies – the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), TOT, National Broadcast and Telecommunication Commission, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Royal Thai Police.

    Under the plan, MEA will be responsible for replacing all overhead power lines with underground lines, while TOT will be responsible for providing an underground duct system and grouping all existing telecoms and broadcast cables into these ducts.

    But TOT has argued that it lacks the authority to compel operators to relocate their cables, and that only the government can make an order.

    TOT wants the operator to be legally forced to rent the company’s pipes in the Bangkok. The company currently charges telecoms companies a monthly fee of 18,000 baht ($543) per km to access this underground infrastructure.

    TOT currently owns around 2,000km of the 5,000km worth of underground pipes in the Bangkok metropolitan area, and is set to inherit a further 1,500km next month after True Corporation’s existing fixed line phone build-operate-transfer concession with the state-owned company expires.

    The report states that TOT is ready to expand its pipe capacity to cover all 5,000km if it is assigned the installation of underground cables as part of the project.

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  • Huawei promos cloud alliances with operators at annual event

    Huawei promos cloud alliances with operators at annual event

    “In 1943, IBM’s Thomas Watson said the world market for computers would be about five,” said rotating CEO Guo Ping during his keynote at Huawei Connect 2017.

    That number is significant, said Guo, as he spoke of Huawei’s vision to build one of the five major world clouds it predicts will be created in the future. The concept is based on airline alliances—Ping said that his firm would build a “cloud alliance” in partnership with operators like BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica and Orange.

    “Only 2-3 companies can do what we do, he said.” About 50% of people globally use Huawei networks.”

    In a later press conference, Guo reiterated a point he made during his keynote. “The biggest difference between Huawei & traditional OTT companies is that Huawei does not monetize user data,” he said. “We monetize our technology.”

    Guo also provided details on Huawei’s hybrid cloud solutions that target the needs of governments and enterprises. “Huawei Cloud builds on the company’s decades of experience in devices, networks, clouds, and other digital domains, and is better equipped to achieve synergy between devices and the cloud,” said the company in a statement.

    Zheng Yelai, president of Huawei’s Cloud Business Unit, mentioned case studies from 12 automobile companies (including Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz), Philips, ICBC, and several Chinese government service platforms currently using Huawei Cloud and cloud services from Huawei’s partners.

    “Our people have an in-depth understanding of our customers’ business scenarios,” said Zheng. The aim is to “help enterprises go digital more smoothly, and help ensure the success of more companies who are willing to innovate,” he said.

    At the event, Huawei also announced the launch of its new Enterprise Intelligence cloud services, which the company will provide with a platform of general and scenario-specific solutions. “To prevent vendor lock-in, Huawei offers hybrid cloud solutions that enable integration with third-party public cloud platforms, including those from Amazon and Microsoft,” said Huawei in a statement.

    “Huawei has worked with its partners to build a cloud network that has global coverage, providing complete solutions that help Chinese companies go global, and that also help companies outside China enter the Chinese market,” said the firm.

    Yang Xiaoling, CDO of China Pacific Insurance Company (CPIC), also spoke on his firm’s use of Huawei technology—specifically, using OCR technology to handle health insurance claims. Customers are able to take photos of their medical documents and upload the images to CPIC’s system, which will automatically read them and create structured claims documents.

    Li Qiang, division chief from the Shenzhen Traffic Police Bureau, referred to his analysis of intelligent urban transportation as Shenzhen’s “Traffic Brain.” Li claimed a ten-fold increase in image screening efficiency by using Huawei’s AI platform. “The intelligent traffic solution jointly developed by Huawei and the Shenzhen Traffic Police Bureau was honored with the ‘2017 Innovative Road Traffic Offering’ award from the Chinese Road Traffic Safety Association,” said Huawei.

  • Australia to remove 2-GHz spectrum cap

    Australia to remove 2-GHz spectrum cap

    The Australian government has announced plans to remove the current cap on spectrum holdings in the 2-GHz band to allow all operators to bid for leftover spectrum from previous actions.

    But the government, acting on the advice of competition regulator ACCC, has elected to retain the current allocation limits in the 1800-MHz band.

    Meanwhile there will continue to be no allocation limits on holdings in the 2.3-GHz and 3.4-GHz bands, communications minister Mitch Fifield announced.

    The government plans to hold a multiband residual lots auction late this year, and has decided to hold a single auction process for all four bands rather than several smaller auctions.

    Telecoms regulator ACMA will conduct the auction on behalf of the government.

    The government has meanwhile proposed a new spectrum management reform that will replace current legislative arrangements with new legislation that seeks to streamline licensing for a simpler and more flexible framework.

    Under the proposed reforms, spectrum pricing will be reviewed to “ensure consistent and transparent arrangements to support the efficient use of spectrum and secondary markets.”

    The draft law is currently undergoing a second round of consultation before it is finalized and sent to parliament.

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  • Smart upgrades LTE in Cebu region

    Smart upgrades LTE in Cebu region

    The Philippines’ Smart Communications has completed an upgrade to its LTE and 3G networks in Cebu, the nation’s second largest urban hub.

    The upgrade has increased median download speeds of Smart’s LTE service in Cebu to 17.6Mbps, compared to the operator’s nationwide average of 11Mbps, Smart said.

    By the end of the year, Smart plans to roll out LTE in more than 25 areas in the Cebu province, including some of the province’s most popular tourist areas. Smart is meanwhile introducing LTE support for customers of its Sun Cellular brand, which has a plurality of its subscriber’s in Cebu.

    This will be accompanied by network expansions elsewhere. Smart has set a target of covering 70% of the Philippines’ population with LTE by the end of the year.

    “Smart is committed to bring LTE to more areas in the Philippines and to make it available to even more Filipinos. We are encouraging our customers to check their SIMs and upgrade them so they can fully enjoy our improved network,” commented Mario Tamayo, SVP for network planning and engineering at Smart and parent company PLDT.

    “We are also partnering with device vendors to make more LTE-capable handsets, especially those utilizing the 700 MHz frequency, available for those who already have LTE SIMs but may not have an LTE device just yet.”

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  • CK Hutchison hit with $5b tax bill in India

    CK Hutchison hit with $5b tax bill in India

    CK Hutchison Holdings has been hit with a 320.32 billion rupee ($5 billion) tax demand in India over the sale of its Indian mobile business to Vodafone a decade earlier.

    The demand includes a base tax claim of 79 billion rupees, as well as 164.3 billion rupees interest and a 79 billion rupee penalty, CK Hutchison said in a stock exchange filing.

    The company received an initial demand in February and a further notice earlier this month, the filing states. But CK Hutchison has received legal advice that the claim is not enforceable and is therefore expected to have limited impact on its finances.

    Indian tax authorities have been attempting to tax Vodafone over the 2007 sale for a long time, and the government even went so far as retroactively changing tax lawfollowing a Supreme Court decision ruling that the acquisition was not taxable as it involved two offshore holding companies.

    But Vodafone has long resisted paying and is currently involved in international arbitration seeking to have the demand revoked. Now authorities have opened a new front by attempting to tax the seller in the transaction.

    One of Vodafone’s arguments in resisting the claim has been that if the transaction is taxable it should be paid by the seller rather than the buyer.

    CK Hutchison said the legal advice it has received is that retroactively changing the tax law to circumvent the Supreme Court verdict is in violation of the principles of international law.

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  • New Zealand expanding national fiber network

    New Zealand expanding national fiber network

    The New Zealand government plans to extend its Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) national fiber network to 190 more small towns.

    The government has announced plans to spend NZ$130 million ($93.4 million) to extend the network to 60,000 new households and businesses across the nation and complete the UFB deployment by 2022.

    A further NZ$130 million will be spent to expand the concurrent Rural Broadband Initiative (UFB) to bring non-fiber broadband to another 74,000 rural premises, and to extend mobile coverage to an extra 1,000km of rural highways as part of the Mobile Black Spot Fund.

    The RBI involves a combination of upgrades to existing fixed line infrastructure and fixed wireless infrastructure.

    “We started UFB in 2010 with the original goal of connecting 34 towns to world-class fibre-to-the-premises. Earlier this year we expanded it to 200 more towns and today’s announcement will bring us to 390,” New Zealand communications minister Simon Bridges commented.

  • SoftBank, Ericsson to trial 5G in 4.5-GHz

    SoftBank, Ericsson to trial 5G in 4.5-GHz

    Japan’s SoftBank plans to work with Ericsson to conduct a joint trial of 5G in the 4.5-GHz band in dense urban areas of Japan.

    The end-to-end trial will involve two 5G new radios, a virtual RAN and EPC, beamforming, Massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) functionality and test support services.

    The trial is set to commence once Softbank obtains an experimental 5G license, Ericsson said.

    In March, SoftBank and Ericsson also teamed up for a 5G trial in the 28-GHz millimeter wave band, which followed more basic tests in the 4.5-GHz and 15-GHz bands in Tokyo in 2016.

    SoftBank aims to be one of the first operators to deploy 5G services once the standardization process is complete and seeks to position itself as a pioneer of 5G.

    The operator also recently announced plans to deploy Ericsson’s Radio Dot system across Japan to improve indoor coverage in high-density urban areas. Softbank has been testing the technology since 2015.

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  • Axiata more than doubles Q2 profit

    Axiata more than doubles Q2 profit

    Malaysia’s Axiata Group has reported a strong 115.5% year-on-year surge in Q2 profit to 479.1 million ringgit ($112.2 million) due in part to record-high revenue.

    Group revenue increased 13.9% year-on-year and 3% sequentially to 6.1 billion ringgit, despite increased losses from Axiata’s 19.75% stake in India’s Idea Cellular due to that market’s ongoing weakness.

    Revenue and ebitda at both Malaysian mobile unit Celcom Axiata and Indonesia’s XL Axiata both improved, while Cambodia’s Smart Axiata had another strong quarter, the company said.

    Data revenue grew nearly 11% from the previous quarter to account for 44.1% of service revenue.

    In the group’s South Asian Markets, Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata increased its mobile data revenue by 44.1% sequentially, Bangladesh’s Robi Axiata’s year-to-date data revenue grew 95.6% sequentially and Nepal’s Ncell posted data revenue growth of 16.9% quarter-on-quarter.

    For the first six months of the year, group revenue grew 15.7% quarter-on-quarter to 11.9 billion ringgit with profit up 17% over the same period to 741.1 million ringgit.

    “While the Group achieved better-than-expected half year performance, there remain considerable macroeconomic and industry challenges. As such, the Board is supportive of the ongoing turnaround of key units, while balancing the need to remain fiscally disciplined in terms of dividend and investment policies,” Axiata chairman Tan Sri Azaman Hj. Mokhtar said.

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  • Telekom Malaysia Q2 profit grows 51%

    Telekom Malaysia Q2 profit grows 51%

    Telekom Malaysia has reported a 51% year-on-year increase in net profit for the second quarter, as forex gains more than compensated for declining revenue.

    Net profit for the period reached 210.48 million ringgit ($49.3 million), with the operator reporting a foreign exchange gain of 50 million ringgit.

    But revenue declined 2.3% year-on-year to 2.98 billion ringgit, as a result of lower data, voice and other telecommunications service revenue.

    For the first half of the year, revenue increased a slim 0.7% to 5.94 billion ringgit. The company increased its broadband customer base to 2.36 million, while its LTE coverage grew to reach more than 80% in major cities.

    Capex for the six month period amounted to 899 million ringgit or 15.1% of total revenue.

    “This is a challenging period for the industry where we see flattish growth trends and cost headwinds. Our internet revenue, has seen commendable growth at 8.5% YTD,” Telekom Malaysia group CEO Dato’ Sri Mohammed Shazalli Ramly said.

    “We are focused on empowering digitization in our daily operations to optimise processes and productivity. We are expediting our fiber rollout and expanding our reach with our ongoing investments, for example to high-rise buildings; and made some key execution leadership appointments to facilitate this, amongst others.”

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  • Hong Kong’s TNG Wallet partners with 7-Eleven

    Hong Kong’s TNG Wallet partners with 7-Eleven

    Hong Kong digital wallet service TNG Wallet has partnered with convenience chain 7-Eleven to make top-up, payment and cash withdrawal services across more than 900 of the chain’s outlets in the city.

    The latest agreement brings TNG Wallet’s global cash pick-up points up to over 180,000.

    Holding a Stored Value Facilities license issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in August 2016, TNG has not limited its influence and ambitions to Hong Kong.

    Since its founding in 2012, it has built a service infrastructure and network that offers a number of financial services including global remittance, person-to-person (P2P) money transfer, global bill payment, global SIM card airtime top-up, foreign currency exchange and purchase, and cash withdrawal.

    Karen Lam, e-business and service controller for 7-Eleven in Hong Kong and Macau, called the collaboration a ground breaking convergence of retail and Fintech. She believes that this collaboration will upgrade its customers’ in-store experience.

    TNG Wallet allows users to make cash withdrawals of up to HK$500 ($63.90) for each time anytime at any 7-Eleven store in the city. Advanced service such as cash withdrawal is limited to verified SVIP and VIP users.

    Users can register for a SVIP account through a simple face-to-face identity process that takes around 15 minutes, whereas to register for a VIP account, users only need to upload their ID card copy digitally through the TNG Wallet platform.

    TNG’s financial inclusion ambition extends beyond the borders of Hong Kong. To date, verified TNG Wallet users can remit money instantly to anyone in the above countries with or without a bank account, and recipients receive money into their bank account or receive / withdraw cash from over 180,000 cash pick-up points globally.

    “We are accelerating our pace to build a global e-wallet FinTech service network, and paying close attention to different technological and business development opportunities, especially in countries along the ‘One Belt, One Road’ route. On top of laying a solid foundation for TNG’s long-term overseas business expansion, it is also our mission to bring digital financial services to a wider range of people,” Kong added.

  • South Korean cellcos won’t sue over subsidy hike

    South Korean cellcos won’t sue over subsidy hike

    South Korea’s mobile operators have reportedly decided against taking legal action over the mandated subsidy hike for regular telecoms subscriptions.

    The ICT ministry this month instructed operators to implement a 25% discount rate for regular new subscribers, up from the current discount rate of 20%. In response, SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus were said to be considering taking the government to court to request having the order rescinded.

    But the operators have now written to the ministry indicating that they will accept the discount hike.

    The discount is typically offered to customers on a two-year contract plan choosing not to take advantage of a handset subsidy.

    The ministry has estimated that the discount increase will allow a combined 19 million subscribers to achieve a combined 1 trillion won ($888.6 million) in savings per year. The current government has made reducing telecoms expenses for households a priority.

    But the operators have opposed the move on the grounds that it could dramatically impact their profitability, and that the decision was made without sufficient consultation with the industry. The operators have also expressed concern that the discount rate could be raised further in the future, compounding the impact on their finances.

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  • VMware, HP team for device lifecycle management

    VMware, HP team for device lifecycle management

    VMware and HP have teamed up to simplify device lifecycle management for all of an organization’s endpoints.

    Under the partnership, HP will add VMware Workspace ONE to its Device as a Service (DaaS) technology platform.

    Workspace ONE, an integrated platform powered by VMware AirWatch Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) technology, provides a holistic and user-centric approach to managing all endpoints in an organization – from mobile and desktop to IoT.

    HP DaaS offers a modern consumption model for computing in which hardware and lifecycle services are combined to improve the user experience and free up IT resources to drive growth.

    “In the mobile cloud era, employees, devices, applications and data increasingly live beyond the physical walls of the workplace, the datacenter, or the network,” VMware COO Sanjay Poonen said.

    “Digital enterprises are struggling to deliver a unified digital workspace due to disjointed technology and teams. We are proud to be the first to bring together identity, device management and application delivery on a single integrated platform so business can be conducted by mobile end-users regardless of platform, location, device or application.”

    VMware and Dell first entered a partnership in February 2016. CEO Pat Gelsinger spoke about the constantly expanding partnership during Dell EMC World in May this year.

    He spoke about the integration of VMware AirWatch and Dell Client Command Suite client systems management tools which ultimately became part of Workspace ONE; to enable customers to empower their workforce to securely bring the technology of their choice (devices and apps) at the pace and cost the business needs.

  • SmarTone FY17 profit falls 16%

    SmarTone FY17 profit falls 16%

    Hong Kong mobile operator SmarTone has reported a 16% decline in group net profit for the financial year ending in June to HK$672 million ($858.8 million) as a result of falling revenue amid a challenging competitive environment.

    Service revenue fell 6% to HK$5.16 billion as handset revenue declined due to increased migration to SIM only plans, as well as weakness in the prepaid segment and falling voice roaming revenues.

    But without the effect of handset subsidy amortisation, underlying postpaid service revenue remained flat and local mobile postpaid service revenue increased by 2%. Roaming revenue declined due to ongoing OTT substitution, but its percentage of service revenue remained 14%.

    SmarTone lifted its local customer base by 4% to 2.06 million. The operator reported a churn rate of 1% and mobile postpaid ARPU of $285.

    As a result of the operator’s operational efficiency efforts, opex remained flat while capex fell by 14%.

    “While it is clear that the environment has been challenging and our profitability has been impacted, we have taken proactive measures to reposition our business for future growth,” SmarTone CEO Anna Yip said.

    “Active measures are in place to drive productivity improvements and we are taking a long-term view to investing in our business. Our focus remains on delivering the best experience for our customers.”

    But the operator warned it expects the challenging operating environment to continue, due to factors including higher spectrum costs, ongoing declines in voice roaming revenues, lower handset costs and severe competitive pressures.

    As a result, SmarTone is focused on improving productivity and accelerating growth of new revenue sources, such as IoT and M2M applications, AI and ICT services.

  • Myanmar’s MyTel to launch 4G in 1H18

    Myanmar’s MyTel to launch 4G in 1H18

    Vietnamese operator Viettel’s joint venture in Myanmar plans to launch 4G-only services in the first quarter of next year.

    The joint venture, MyTel, plans to cover 90% of the population by its official launch, deploying nearly 7,200 base stations and 33,000km of fiber. This footprint would be double that of its nearest rival.

    According to the news agency, in contrast to previous reports MyTel does not plan to deploy 2G or 3G in Myanmar but will instead jump straight to 4G.

    MyTel is a joint venture between Vietnamese military-run Viettel and a consortium of local ICT companies. The venture received Myanmar’s fourth telecoms license in January, and now has branches across the country and around 2,000 employees.

    The deployment has a total investment of around $1.5 billion, with Viettel contributing a 49% stake.

    MyTel plans to offer roaming to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia at prices equivalent to local charges, the report states. The company also plans to build on its deployment in Myanmar to pursue expansion to 10 overseas market, it adds without elaborating.

  • StarHub offers unlimited data on weekends

    StarHub offers unlimited data on weekends

    Singapore’s StarHub has launched a range of new postpaid mobile plans offering free unlimited local data access on weekends.

    The range of plans will offer unmetered access from 12am on Saturdays to 11:59pm on Sundays.

    During the week the plans range from 3GB of bundled data for S$48 ($35.46) per month to 15GB for S$238. Additional allocations of between 5GB and 20GB depending on the plan can be purchased for S$10 per month, and 2GB can be purchased for roaming in multiple destinations for 30 days for S$15.

    Data can be shared with family members for a small additional fee.

    Voice allocations will be 200 minutes for the base plan and 400 minutes for the S$68 plan, with unlimited voice for the higher tier plans. SMS will be charged at 5.35 cents for all but the highest-tier plan, which comes with unlimited SMS and MMS.

    Customers with compatible smartphones will be able to take advantage of StarHub’s nationwide 400Mbps LTE-A coverage, and the operator has started deploying gigabit-class network upgrades in anticipation of 1Gbps capable handsets.

    “Fueled by more advanced phones and pixel-heavy content, Singapore consumers’ appetite for data continues to grow. With our new data-focused plans, we are enabling our customers to do more of what they love on their smartphones freely and at much faster speeds too,” StarHub head of product  Justin Ang said.

    “We will continue to innovate in step with our customers’ changing digital lifestyles to boost customer satisfaction.”