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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.

  • Experts concerned over NBTC’s plan to control OTTs

    Experts concerned over NBTC’s plan to control OTTs

    Thai regulator NBTC could be on shaky legal ground with its plan to control overseas OTT service providers by requiring them to set up local entities, legal experts have warned.

    Lawyers stating that if the NBTC goes ahead with the plan, Thailand would be the first country to require OTT providers to set up local entities to make them easier to regulate.

    A key challenge in regulating OTT services is that the internet is borderless and service providers can set up entities anywhere in the world, the experts added. The NBTC lacks the jurisdiction to force foreign players to set up local entities.

    Such a move would also raise concerns over extra-territorial jurisdiction and international free trade arrangements.

    The time-consuming requirements for establishing a local entity could also discourage foreign players from entering the market, the report adds.

    The Thai government aims to level the playing field between operators and international OTT communications service providers. In April, the NBTC floated a plan to require OTT providers that utilize existing mobile networks to secure an operating license and pay internet bandwidth fees or value-added taxes to operate in the country.

  • IoT spend on pace to $800b in 2017

    IoT spend on pace to $800b in 2017

    Worldwide spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) to grow 17% year over year in 2017, and to be near $1.4 trillion by 2021, according to IDC.

    “The discussion about IoT has shifted away from the number of devices connected,” said Carrie MacGillivray, VP for Internet of Things and mobility at IDC. “The true value of IoT is being realized when the software and services come together to enable the capture, interpretation, and action on data produced by IoT endpoints.”

    The IoT use cases that are expected to attract the largest investments in 2017 include manufacturing operations ($105 billion), freight monitoring ($50 billion), and production asset management ($45 billion).

    Smart grid technologies for electricity, gas and water and smart building technologies are also forecast to see significant investments this year ($56 billion and $40 billion, respectively).

    While these use cases will remain the largest areas of IoT spending in 2021, smart home technologies are forecast to experience strong growth (20% CAGR) over the five-year forecast. The use cases that will see the fastest spending growth are airport facilities automation (33% CAGR), electric vehicle charging (21% CAGR), and in-store contextual marketing (20% CAGR).

    The industries making the largest IoT investments in 2017 are manufacturing ($183 billion), transportation ($85 billion), and utilities ($66 billion).

    From a technology perspective, hardware will be the largest spending category until the last year of the forecast when it will be overtaken by the faster growing services category. Hardware spending will be dominated by modules and sensors that connect end points to networks, while software spending will be similarly dominated by applications software. Services spending will be about evenly split between ongoing and content services and IT and installation services.

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  • Thailand to link 3,920 villages with fiber by mid-2018

    Thailand to link 3,920 villages with fiber by mid-2018

    Thailand’s first state-provided high speed fixed broadband services for rural areas are on track to launch by mid-2018, according to reports.

    The fiber-based service will be offered to 3,920 border villages across 62 provinces by this time, providing broadband at speeds of at least 10Mbps.

    The low cost services will start at just 50 baht ($1.47) per month for a 10Mbps connection with unlimited data, 150 baht or less for a 15Mbps connection and 200Mbps or less for a 20Mbps connection.

    An initiative of regulator NBTC, construction of the network will be funded as part of the 14 billion baht Universal Service Obligation (USO). It will also involve the construction of 5,229 free Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as 763 public internet centers that will fuction as community centers for 2-4 villages.

    The NBTC has just launched a tender process to select the project’s contractor, and plans to hold an online auction to choose a winning bidder in July. Networks must be capable of a minimum 30Mbps connection speed, and the service packages must be offered for at least five years.

    The NBTC is also finalizing the details of construction of a broadband network for an additional 15,732 villages, as part of its plan to deploy a low-cost broadband infrastructure spanning 40,432 underserved villages nationwide to help bridge the digital divide between urban and rural Thailand.

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  • Mobile users cringe at new photo ID requirements in Vietnam

    Mobile users cringe at new photo ID requirements in Vietnam

    Many subscribers say they have already provided copies of their ID cards, so why is the new regulation necessary? Mobile subscribers in Vietnam are objecting to a government regulation which requires them to provide a portrait photo of themselves when they register with a provider to clarify their personal information in an effort to get rid of spam messages.

    Under the amended telecommunications law, existing subscribers will have until next April to furnish network providers with photos.

    After the deadline, networks will be fined if they are caught offering services to users who provide false information.

    MobiFone and VinaPhone, two of the biggest mobile service providers in Vietnam, have already started taking photos of new subscribers. Viettel, the country’s largest provider, said it will start taking photos of new users from next month.

    A VinaPhone representative told that the company has faced strong opposition from customers, with many refusing to provide a photo.

    A MobileFone staff member in Hanoi also said that customers simply don’t want to sit down for a photo.

    Registering new customers is already a headache, and obtaining photos from existing users will be a much bigger problem.

    VinaPhone said it is planning to offer incentives to current customers who provide the company with photos, while Viettel said it is still working on a solution to deal with existing customers.

    Last week, Duong, the owner of a mobile subscription service run by MobiFone in Hanoi, received a text from the company asking her for a photo.

    Duong said she was surprised as she has been using MobiFone for nearly 20 years and has already provided the company with her personal information.

    “I have already submitted a copy of my ID with a photo on it but the staff at MobiFone said the photo isn’t clear enough and they need a new one,” she said.

    When she learned that operators will bar outgoing calls after 15 days and disconnect after 30 days if subscribers refuse to submit their photos, Duong’s first reaction was that it could be a breach of contract. She was also concerned about the security of her personal information.

    Many people echo Duong’s opinion.

    Others simply said the whole idea is a waste of time, and questioned whether mobile operators will be able to protect their personal information.

    The regulation, which is aimed at eliminating spam messages, states that telecom companies will be fined VND30 million ($1.320) to VND50 million for leaking customers’ personal information, and VND50-70 million for trading that information, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

    Nguyen Chien, vice chairman of the Vietnam Bar Association, said the regulation risking breaking contracts signed by existing subscribers if they are cut off for not providing a photo.

    This requirement should only be applied for new subscribers and existing subscribers who have not provided enough personal information, he suggested.

    Official data show millions of spam messages are sent in Vietnam every day. Most of them come from prepaid phone accounts that are unregistered or registered with false information.

    The messages are not only annoying but dangerous as they can be used by criminals and terrorists, according to the ministry.

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  • IoT standardization picks up pace in Taiwan

    IoT standardization picks up pace in Taiwan

    IoT interoperability and standardization has moved forward in Taiwan after oneM2M, the global standards initiative for M2M and the IoT, held its fourth interoperability testing event in Taipei.

    Interop 4 gave organizations implementing oneM2M standards the opportunity to check end-to-end functionality via oneM2M interfaces and validate interoperability, with a total of 13 companies taking part.

    A conference held the day before the event featured presentations from leading companies and members of oneM2M’s leadership team to promote oneM2M to Taiwanese businesses in the IoT sector.

    The event was held as the Asian Silicon Valley Development Agency (ASVDA) works to transform and upgrade Taiwan’s industrial infrastructure with IoT technology. The agency aims to have a 5% stake in the global IoT market by 2025.

    “Taiwan is looking to become a major player in the IoT and Interop 4 helped drive this goal by giving organisations in the country and the wider Asia region the opportunity to test and improve their deployments,” said JaeSeung Song, Associate Professor at Sejong University and Test Working Group Chair at oneM2M.

    “Interop 4 was our second interoperability event of the year and its success highlights the continuous growth of oneM2M’s standards.”

    Hosted by TTA and ETSI – two of oneM2M’s founding partners – along with the Taiwan-based Institute for Information Industry (III), Interop 4 allowed participants to take part in interoperability scenarios from TS-0013 – oneM2M’s testing specification.

    Testing at the event was based on oneM2M’s set of standards, Release 1 and Release 2 and covered functional architecture, service layer core protocol and Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), HTTP, Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and WebSocket protocol binding.

    The event allowed companies to check interoperability levels of their implementations and ensure they had interpreted oneM2M’s standards correctly. Conformance Testing to help debug products was also available.

    Organisations which participated in this event include: Spirent Technologies, Institute For Information Industry, NTT, TTA, Sporton, DEKRA, KETI, C-DOT, ETRI, Sejong University, Easy Global Market, nTels and Sensinov.

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  • DoCoMo adopts SAP HANA to boost customer service

    DoCoMo adopts SAP HANA to boost customer service

    Japan’s NTT DoCoMo will adopt the SAP HANA platform as the foundation of its data needs to improve customer service.

    Large volumes of data, as large as 18TB, will be collected from various touch points, including nationwide DoCoMo Shops, for processing and analysis.

    The new platform will initiate better customer services by helping to identify areas of operational improvement at the storefronts and uncover best practices for applying insights and lessons from other stores.

    The implementation took eight months to complete and officially went live in March 2017.

    DoCoMo needed a new IT platform system to meet three key objectives – strengthen its competitive edge, propose and deliver services that meet customer needs, and enhance data utilization efficacy and operational efficiency of the sales team.

    “Before we implemented the new system, we lacked the capability to deliver information to the sales force. It took the backend office at least a week or two to generate and deliver information” stated Taku Hasegawa, GM of DoCoMo’s Information Systems Department.

    “Now with SAP HANA, users can pull out the latest data whenever they need to. An increase in performance has also helped individual storefronts to monitor status of sales promotions. Moving forward, we expect to see an improvement in service at docomo Shops.”

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  • Juniper Networks unveils Cloud-Grade Networking

    Juniper Networks unveils Cloud-Grade Networking

    Juniper Networks has launched a new Cloud-Grade Networking portfolio to help operators and enterprises more rapidly build and deploy cloud networks.

    Cloud-Grade Networking introduces a new set of principles for the way applications and services are designed and delivered, utilizing telemetry, automation and machine learning capabilities.

    The paradigm comprises four principles –  a platform-first approach, disaggregation, the concept of a self-driving network and software-defined security.

    As part of the platform-first approach, Juniper Networks has introduced a new Junos Node Slicing service model to enable operators to  run multiple services or instances on the same router but use a separate administrative design for each.

    A new Universal Chassis is meanwhile designed to disaggregate the network so operators can standardise all routing and switching deployments across data center and the WAN in a unified platform.

    Juniper Networks said these new approaches can reduce the operational complexity of managing end-users’ application needs by up to 60% and reduce platform qualification requirements by up to 50%.

    The company has also introduced two new professional services offerings to advance the concept of the self-driving network, which combines telemetry, workflow automation, DevOps, and machine learning in a single infrastructure.

    “The demand for cloud-based services continues to create disruption, resulting in complexity for operators and enterprises that need to pivot quickly. In order to establish a foundation to innovate across IT layers, organizations need to rethink the network,” Juniper Networks VP of marketing Paul Obsitnik said.

    “This is the next wave of cloud transformation, and Juniper is delivering it with Cloud-Grade Networking. We have been on this journey for a number of years and we believe Cloud-Grade Networking encapsulates the key tenets that organizations need to follow in order to reimagine how networks ultimately enable them to drive business success.”

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  • Google launches first SEA Cloud Platform region

    Google launches first SEA Cloud Platform region

    Google has launched its first Google Cloud Platform (GCP) region in Southeast Asia. Named “asia-southeast1”, the region, located in Singapore, has been established in a bid to improve latency for both GCP customers and end users in or near Singapore.

    The Singapore region is GCP’s third in Asia and primarily caters to customers in Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. GCP’s other two Asian regions are located in Taiwan and Tokyo. Google had initially intended to open a data center in Hong Kong but plans were abandoned in 2013 due to land availability issues.

    According to a blog post by Dave Stiver, a product manager at GCP, customers in Southeast Asia can expect to enjoy between 51% and 98% improvements in round-trip time (RTT) latency, compared to using other GCP regions such as Taiwan and Tokyo.

    Google already runs a data center in Singapore, and the addition of a second facility next to the first is expected to cater to an expanded customer base across all company sizes as GCP widens its footprint in the region.

    Current GCP customers in the region include Blackberry Messenger (BM), Carousell and Go-Jek.

    BM has selected IT services firm Pythian to assist in migrating its mission-critical infrastructure from Blackberry’s on-premise data centers in Canada to GCP in Asia. The move is aimed at catering to a significant increase in media consumption by its users worldwide, as the messaging platform seeks to move into the commerce and services space.

    “We are excited to be able to deploy into the GCP Singapore region, as it will allow us to offer our services closer to BBM Messenger key markets. Coupled with Google’s global load balancers and extensive global network, we expect to be able to provide a low latency, high-speed experience for our users globally,” said Matthew Talbot, CEO of Creative Media Works, the company that runs the BBM Messenger Consumer service globally.

    GCP also counts Carousell, Indonesia’s Go-Jek, Avaya, Adidas, Deloitte, HSBC and Netflix as customers.

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  • Nokia demonstrates XGS-PON for mobile fronthaul

    Nokia demonstrates XGS-PON for mobile fronthaul

    Nokia Bell Labs has announced the first successful demonstration of ultra-low latency 10G passive optical networks (PON) for mobile fronthaul.

    In the demonstration, Nokia Bell Labs showed how it is possible to use a commercial next-generation PON to transport ultra-low latency CPRI streams via a standard single fiber running between the Baseband Unit (BBU) and the Remote Radio Head (RRH).

    The proof-of-concept demonstration indicates how existing fiber networks can be used to cost-effectively transport mobile traffic, which could accelerate the transition to 5G.

    The trial used XGS-PON technology that runs on existing fiber access networks and allows operators to use GPON platforms to deliver high-capacity services.

    “This is an important milestone in the industry and in the advancement of 5G, showing for the first time how a PON network can effectively be used to support very high capacity, low latency applications,” Nokia Bell Labs head of access research Peter Vetter said.

    “It demonstrates the flexibility of PON to support traditional CPRI and evolving mobile specifications, such as fronthaul over simpler native Ethernets, and validates the readiness of PON for the 5G era.”

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  • India’s digital economy can reach $4tr by 2022

    India’s digital economy can reach $4tr by 2022

    India’s digital economy has the potential to reach up to $4 trillion in just four years, according to India’s tech firms. This outshines the government’s goal of making India a $1 trillion digital economy by 2022.

    IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who chaired a meeting with industry captains to chalk out a growth plan, said the government will formulate a new set of strategies to support growth including a new electronics policy, software product policy and a framework for data security and protection.

    “There was unanimity among all the participants that $1 trillion digital economy is an understatement. India has the immense potential to go to [a] $2 trillion to $3 [trillion] to $4 trillion digital economy,” he said.

    The meeting was attended by top experts such as Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar, Google India’s Rajan Anandan, Wipro’s Rishad Premji, Indian Cellular Association national president Pankaj Mohindroo, NIIT chairman Rajendra Pawar and Hike Messenger CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal, among others.

    The government has projected that Indian digital economy will be worth $1 trillion by 2022, from around $450 billion at present.

    As of now, the Indian telecoms market is estimated to be around $150 billion, its electronics market is worth around $ 100 billion, its IT sector is around $150 billion, e-commerce $30-40 billion. The remainder is contributed by the sharing economy such as taxi hailing services, as well as startups.

    The Ministry of Electronics and IT has projected that the IT and IT enabled services sector will grow to $350 billion by 2025, while the electronics sector is poised to touch $300 billion by the same time.

    Telecoms and e-commerce are projected to grow to be worth $150 billion each, while the sharing economy and digital skilling each presents a further $30 billion opportunity.

    Digital payments, cyber security and Internet of Things — all of which are expanding rapidly — are expected to touch $50 billion, $35 billion and $20 billion respectively.

    It was also projected that the digital economy will generate 30 million employment opportunities by 2024-25, which is double than the current scenario. The ministry has identified digital payments, Make In India, Start-Up India, Skill India among the key drivers of the digital economy.

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  • India’s telecoms sector under “severe financial stress”

    India’s telecoms sector under “severe financial stress”

    India’s Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked the nation’s finance ministry to cut its target for non-tax revenue to be raised from the telecoms industry by nearly 40% due to the “severe financial stress” the sector is facing.

    The Finance Ministry has set a revenue target of 473.04 billion rupees ($7.3 billion) to be raised by the telecom ministry. But the department has asked for this to be cut to 295.24 billion rupees in light of the rapidly declining revenues from all the major operators.

    Non-tax revenue from the sector comes from sources including license fees, spectrum usage charges and spectrum acquisition costs. But the DoT believes there is little prospect of holding the next round of spectrum auctions this year.

    In addition, because license fees are paid as a proportion of revenue, license fees that had been projected to total around 166.64 billion rupees are likely to decline to 92.55 billion rupees in the current financial year.

    Spectrum usage charges are also tracking to be lower than anticipated at 49.7 billion rupees.

    Major operators have been grappling with declining revenues since the entry into the market of disruptive pan-Indian LTE operator Reliance Jio Infocomm with its aggressive free services promotion.

    While the free service period is now over, experts expect the trend of falling revenues to continue for some time as operators feel the brunt of the large tariff cuts they made to stay competitive.

  • SK Telecom sets distance record with quantum repeater

    SK Telecom sets distance record with quantum repeater

    SK Telecom has announced it has developed and successfully tested a quantum repeater over a 112km pilot fiber network.

    The repeater can dramatically extend the distance of quantum communication, and could pave the way for the application of quantum cryptography to commercial LTE networks.

    Quantum cryptography is the most secure form of communications equipment known that cannot be broken with any existing hacking technology. But the previous maximum transmission distance of 80km has been viewed as the largest obstacle to the commercialization of the technology.

    SK Telecom said its new Trusted Repeater can dramatically extend the distance of quantum key distribution (QKD), and has set a new QKD distance record of 112km. For example, the company would be able to transmit quantum keys from Seoul to Busan, at a distance of 460km, by installing five repeaters.

    The operator plans to work with global partners to apply quantum cryptography solutions including the repeater to commercial networks worldwide.

    “SK Telecom has opened a new chapter in the field of quantum technologies by developing the Trusted Repeater, an enabler for long-distance quantum communication,” said Park Jin-hyo, senior vice president and head of network technology of SK Telecom’s R&D Center.

    “SK Telecom will continue to focus on developing key quantum cryptography technologies and building a related ecosystem.”

    The company has been developing quantum cryptography technologies since 2011 at its Quantum Tech lab. In February, SK Telecom entered an agreement with Nokia to cooperate on the quantum cryptography business, and jointly established the Quantum Alliance with Deutsche Telekom.

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  • BT launches device security management platform

    BT launches device security management platform

    BT has launched a new security service that uses technology from IoT security company ForeScout Technologies to  provide real-time agentless visibility and control of devices connected to corporate networks.

    BT Managed Endpoint Access Security can support managed, unmanaged, private, BYOD and IoT devices.

    ForeScout’s agentless approach to network security is designed to real-time discovery, classification, assessment and monitoring of devices allowing end-customers to see what is on their network, from campus to cloud, and to securely manage it.

    ForeScout can also orchestrate a policy-based security enforcement operation, with leading IT and security management products to automate security workflows and accelerate threat response.

    “By bringing ForeScout’s technology into our portfolio, we extend our ability to protect organizations against the latest threats through improved visibility and control,” BT vice president for security David Stark said.

    “Whether it’s protecting a head office or a branch site, adding the ability to monitor just about any device connected to the network offers a much required additional layer of security to companies moving into the digital world.”

    The service will be available globally from June 2017.

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  • Huawei teams with Tableau on big data

    Huawei teams with Tableau on big data

    Huawei has teamed up with business intelligence and analytics company Tableau Software to provide comprehensive big data services for various industries.

    The companies have announced the mutual authentication of Tableau’s data visualization software with Huawei’s FusionInsight big data platform.

    FusionInsight is a converged data processing and service platform integrating the Hadoop ecosystem, a massively parallel processing database and big data cloud services. Tableau’s data visualization software can help customers analyze and share the collected data.

    “Tableau is the leading global visual analytics company,” Huawei president for IT cloud computing and big data products  Ren Zhipeng said.

    “Our collaboration with Tableau extends the value to our customers with even more comprehensive and diversified big data solutions, helping them to utilize the value of data effectively, as well as explore new business growth.”

    Tableau director of product management Robert Green added that the collaboration “aims to enable more people to see and understand their data more easily. Tableau’s wide range of technology partners help our customers make the most out of their analytics investments.”

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  • Singtel quad-play subs offered free Stingray Music access

    Singtel quad-play subs offered free Stingray Music access

    Singtel has launched a promotion granting its Singtel Circle quad-play customers free access to 50 live music stations operated by Canada-based music service Stingray Music.

    Subscribers to Singtel’s postpaid mobile, fier broadband and Singtel TV plans will be granted complementary 24/7 access to music genres in English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and other languages.

    The service will be available on Singtel TV, mobile devices and computers and will be added to the list of benefits available to quad-play customers.

    Singtel Circle also offers perks including free local data on Sundays, mobile plan discounts and an annual handset upgrade discount worth S$350 ($250).

    “We are always keen to explore new ways to add value to our customers’ lifestyle experiences,” Singtel CEO consumer Singapore Yuen Kuan Moon commented.

    “Singtel is pleased to be the first in the Asia Pacific region to introduce Stingray Music and provide countless hours of music entertainment for our Singtel Circle customers’ listening pleasure. We’re not stopping here and will continue enhancing Singtel Circle’s suite of benefits.”

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