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Category: Telecom

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Telecom & Telco news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Ericsson swings to $120.4m Q2 loss

    Ericsson swings to $120.4m Q2 loss

    Ericsson has revealed plans to accelerate its turnaround strategy after swinging to a 1 billion kronor ($120.4 million) loss in the second quarter.

    Net sales for the quarter fell 8% to 49.9 billion kronor, or 13% adjusted for constant currency. Ericsson also reported a 1.2 billion operating loss, of a slim 300 million kronor profit excluding restructuring charges.

    Ericsson’s operating margin fell to 10%, with networks operating margin reaching 7%, due to the rough economic environment for the telecoms sector. Ericsson warns it expects a high single digit percentage decline in the RAN equipment market for the full year.

    “We are not satisfied with our underlying performance with continued declining sales and increasing losses in the quarter. Execution of our focused business strategy is gaining traction. However, in light of current market conditions, we are accelerating the planned actions to reduce costs,” Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm said.

    “The decline in the networks result in the quarter was mainly caused by lower software sales, driven by two key factors; unusually strong software sales in the second quarter last year and cautious mobile broadband investment levels.”

    He said the vendor will continue to explore performance improvements in the segment by pursuing cost reductions and continuing the ramp-up of its Ericsson Radio System product. The company has also started to increase R&D investments in networks to safeguard its market position in the future.

    Ericsson is considered a bellwether for the telecoms sector, so the results serve as something of an indication for the health of the equipment market.

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  • The most promising 5G operators named

    The most promising 5G operators named

    Although 5G is still a few years from becoming a reality, Juniper Research has identified five mobile carriers as the “most promising 5G mobile network operators” – namely SK Telecom, NTT Docomo, KT Corp, China Mobile and AT&T Mobility.

    South Korean mobile carrier SK Telekom ranked No 1 for the extent of 5G trials over the past 24 months in the fields of millimetre wave spectrum, MIMO (Massive Input, Massive Output) transmission and network slicing.

    The ranking process included analysis of time in development, breadth and value of partnerships and progression of 5G network testing, Juniper Research says in its new report.

    Additionally, the research firm forecasts that 5G operator-billed service revenues will reach $269 billion by 2025, rising from $851 million in 2019 – achieving 161% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over the first seven years of 5G services.

    Two thirds (66%) of all the revenues will come from North America and Far East & China by 2025.

    Meanwhile, as 5G spectrum auctions and infrastructure build-out costs would necessitate a diverse range of strategies to maximize operator return on investment, this need is compounded by the ongoing fall of average revenues per connection.

    As such, adoption of software-based network solutions will lower investment costs, enabling operators to begin realizing a return on investment as early as 2024, Juniper predicts.

    The research firm also emphasizes the importance of these technological solutions in addressing varying 5G use cases.

    “Network virtualization will become increasingly prominent as operators aim to lower expenditures,” notes research author Sam Barker. “Adoption of the technology is critical to the wide-ranging demands of future 5G networks.”

    Juniper says the research is based on the latest market data and takes into account the accelerated status of current operator and vendor developments, with network launches expected to occur during 2019, a year earlier than originally anticipated.

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  • Global telecoms revenues to grow 2% in 2017

    Global telecoms revenues to grow 2% in 2017

    Worldwide IT spending is expected to increase by 4.5% in 2017 in constant currency terms, a significant improvement on last year’s growth of 2.5%, according to IDC.

    The latest addition of the research firm’s  Worldwide Black Book forecasts that total IT spending this year will reach $2.1 trillion and is forecast to increase by another 4% in 2018 as positive momentum continues into next year.

    Including telecom services, which will increase by just over 2% in constant currency terms this year, the overall ICT market will reach $3.5 trillion in 2017.

    Growth is being driven by stronger upgrade cycles for infrastructure and mobile devices.

    APeJ will post the strongest regional growth in IT spending this year, IDC predicts, with the company projecting an 8% increase in constant currency terms.

    China and India are both expected to post overall IT spending growth of 10% in constant currency terms this year, although China is likely to see a moderating pace of growth in the next few years as the economy begins to slow.

    The strongest growth this year will come from infrastructure hardware, enterprise software, and mobile devices. With cloud service providers expected to accelerate their datacenter investments in order to keep pace with growing demand for cloud services, total server spending will increase by 4% this year and 5% in 2018.

    Smartphone sales will improve compared to 2016

    Last year saw a significant slowdown in the smartphone market, as increasing maturity and price competition affected many markets. Stronger growth is expected in the second half of 2017, as premium vendors launch significant new products while smartphone penetration and value continues to grow steadily in key emerging markets including China.

    Overall smartphone spending will increase by 7% this year to $439 billion, a big improvement on last year’s 1% growth.

    “Cloud and mobile are still the big drivers for IT spending, despite the attention devoted to new technologies like augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics,” IDC VP for customer insights and analysis Stephen Minton said.

    “New technologies will drive a larger share of market growth in the next 5-10 years, but the short term will also see a resurgence of growth in markets tied to 3rd Platform opportunities, including cloud services, mobility and big data.”

  • Davao gains first Globe Telecom Gen3 store

    Davao gains first Globe Telecom Gen3 store

    Globe Telecom has opened its first Gen3 store for Davao City, at Gaisano Mall of Davao.

    It is described as “a new retail experience” by Irra Zarina Escandor, who owns GMI Global Ventures, the first Gen3 store owner in Davao City.

    Gmall Globe Gen3 store retail manager Ace Cabana says customers will experience lifestyle vignettes designed to catch attention. There will not be any queues as a tablet will be used to help customers.

    Cabana says the topography of the store is reconfigurable and interactive. Globe products and services will be showcased within different zones featuring video-on-demand providers, music providers, plan packages and gadgets.

    Designed by Tim Kobe, founder/CEO of Eight and designer of Apple Stores and Nike pop-ups, the Gen3 stores were first launched simultaneously in Mindanao’s Limketkai Mall in Cagayan de Oro City, and at SM North Edsa in Quezon City.

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  • South Korea leads APeJ by IoT readiness

    South Korea leads APeJ by IoT readiness

    South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia are the most IoT prepared countries for the IoT, according to IDC.

    The research firm’s Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) IoT Readiness Index  ranked 13 APeJ nations (mix of developed and developing) across 13 critical parameters such as economic stability, technology spends, innovation potential, etc. as articulated in the global G20 study.

    While globally United States, South Korea and United Kingdom led this model, in the region the top three countries are South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand respectively. These have the most efficiencies for nationwide IoT adoption across all criteria.

    APeJ comprises a significant portion of spend in the IDC IoT Spending guide. The regional economies provide a rich diversity and quality of overall economic stature, business readiness, and technological preparedness along with different levels of efficiencies that loT solutions can create.

    “Countries are keen to demonstrate their relative digital competitiveness, and as such are looking to The Internet of Things as one of those initiatives,” IDC associate vice president for the IoT in APeJ Hugh Ujhazy said.

    “Knowing where a country stands in the IoT index will help global and local IT vendors know what opportunities lie ahead of them as they line up their strategies at federal, local, and enterprise levels.”

  • Globe commences Massive MIMO rollout

    Globe commences Massive MIMO rollout

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has commenced the commercial deployment of massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology to improve the mobile connectivity experience in dense urban areas.

    The commercial deployment follows initial testing of the technology in the Makati financial district of Metro Manila. The testing demonstrated the ability of the technology to improve capacity up to six times compared to a regular site.

    Globe’s initial rollout will cover 150 cell sites, mostly in Southern Luzon and Northern Luzon, according to Joel Agustin, SVP for program governance at the operator’s Network Technical Group.

    “The use of massive MIMO technology is an important component of our goal to stay ahead of the demand curve for data capacity in densely populated and high-foot traffic areas,”  he said.

    Globe this month also became the first operator in the world to activate massive MIMO using two-carrier aggregation, the company said.

    The deployment makes use of Globe’s 2.6-GHz spectrum holdings. Globe acquired additional 2.6-GHz spectrum from last year’s joint purchase of San Miguel’s telecoms assets with rival PLDT.

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  • Chunghwa taps Ericsson for trial NB-IoT system

    Chunghwa taps Ericsson for trial NB-IoT system

    Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom has contracted Ericsson to deliver a trial narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) system, and plans to use the system to test a range of IoT devices and applications at its laboratory.

    Ericsson will provide an end-to-end NB-IoT solution comprising a radio system, massive IoT RAN software, virtual EPC, virtual subscriber data management and an IoT smart device and application service.

    The two companies have also agreed to continue to work together to identify 5G use cases and applications for the digital transformation of industry verticals such as transportation and utilities. Ericsson and Chunghwa Telecom signed a 5G collaboration memorandum of understanding at Mobile World Congress 2017 in February.

    NB-IoT, a 3GPP standards-based low power wide area (LPWA) technology promises significant improvements in areas including indoor penetration, power consumption and system capacity that will be needed to support future IoT applications.

    “Ericsson has long been our leading network provider and has demonstrated the strong device life-cycle management and integration capabilities that are required for a system of this type,” Chugnhwa Telecom EVP and president of Telecommunication Laboratories Chen Shyang-Yih said.

    “NB-IoT technology is one of our primary focuses in 2017, and we are keen to explore more opportunities based on the new technology.”

    Chunghwa also recently announced plans to introduce four-carrier aggregation (CA) this month using the 1,800-MHz spectrum refarmed following the nation’s 2G switch-off.

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  • Chunghwa Telecom to deploy 4CC CA this month

    Chunghwa Telecom to deploy 4CC CA this month

    Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom plans to introduce four-carrier aggregation (CA) by the end of the month to take advantage of its refarmed 1,800-MHz spectrum following the nation’s 2G switch-off. The operator also plans to increase its number of 4G base stations by 40% this year, mostly in urban areas.

    With the upgrade to four-carrier aggregation, Chunghwa Telecom expects to boost peak speeds to up to 500Mbps, up from 300Mbps over three-carrier aggregation.

    The upgrade will first commence in urban and commercial areas of Greater Taipei as well as some northern Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp stations. By the end of the year, the upgrade is to be extended to all metropolitan areas as well as 12 train stations.

    In remote areas, Chunghwa plans to deploy UMTS 900 base stations to allow subscribers to continue making calls over 4G after the 2G switch-off.

    The operator has a capex budget for the year of NT$30.3 billion ($993.7 million), to be spent primarily on 4G and fiber deployments.

    Chunghwa Telecom had 7.12 million 4G users by the end of March, around two thirds of its total subscriber base. The company also had the largest number of 2G hold-outs at the time of the 2G switch-off at the start of the month – around 60,000.

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  • Siemens launches Digitalization Hub in Singapore

    Siemens launches Digitalization Hub in Singapore

    Siemens has launched its first fully integrated Digitalization Hub in Singapore in a bid to bring its expertise and innovations in the IoT to the Southeast Asian market.

    The company will be co-creating future digital applications with customers and partners to build a digital ecosystem.

    Supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the Hub brings together data scientists, solution architects, software engineers, system experts and domain specialists from the urban infrastructure, industrial and healthcare sectors. These professionals will experiment, learn, develop and test-bed innovations and future-ready digital solutions that help businesses become more efficient and sustainable.

    An integral part of the Digitalization Hub concept is MindSphere, an open, cloud-based IoT operating system that offers data analytics, connectivity capabilities and tools for developers, applications and services. This platform helps evaluate and process data to gain insights and optimize asset performance for maximized productivity.

    “Singapore is the ideal location for this Hub because of its distinctively advanced industrial and urban infrastructure development, combined with the government’s Smart Nation thrust to enable a digital economy,” Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser said.

    Sixty specialists from a variety of disciplines will work at the Hub at the outset. The number of digitalization experts is expected to reach 300 by the year 2022. The key target areas for the Hub are urban infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and healthcare.

    To mark the launch of the Siemens Digitalization Hub, three collaboration agreements were signed with Singapore partners. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) will partner with Siemens to create and showcase data-driven innovations for urban infrastructure.

    SP Group will collaborate with Siemens to build a next-generation energy management software platform for SP’s 24/7 control centers, to enable more robust planning, surveillance and predictive maintenance of Singapore’s electricity network.

    The electronics arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering, Singapore Technologies Electronics, and Siemens also signed a partnership agreement to co-create and proactively market innovative digital use cases in the field of transportation (roads, harbors, airports and mass transit).

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  • Telkomsel trials FDD-LTE Massive MIMO

    Telkomsel trials FDD-LTE Massive MIMO

    Indonesia’s Telkomsel has completed Indonesia’s first FDD-LTE massive multiple input multiple output (Massive MIMO) field trial in collaboration with ZTE.

    The achieved a nearly four-fold increase in data throughput compared to existing 2×2 MIMO FDD-LTE networks to 468Mbps.

    It was conducted at one of the largest and most densely populated cities in eastern Indonesia – Makassar. The trial used ZTE’s FD-LTE Massive MIMO solution n existing commercially available handsets and MiFi units in a simultaneous 4 handsets / MiFi configuration.

    ZTE and Telkomsel have now agreed to continue with the next phase of FDD-LTE Massive MIMO field trials before a potential wider rollout to the Telkomsel LTE network.

    “We are constantly improving our technology and readiness of our next-generation networks to cope with the growing global trend,” Telkomsel VP of technology and system Indra Mardiatna said.

    “This is in line with our vision of digital transformation to always be at the forefront of implementing the latest mobile cellular technologies that will provide substantial benefits to the people of Indonesia in the future.”

    ZTE is currently collaborating with over 20 major operators worldwide on Pre5G development, trials and deployments, and has been conducting Pre5G Massive MIMO pilot projects since 2015.

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  • Australia’s Vocus gets two takeover bids

    Australia’s Vocus gets two takeover bids

    Australian fiber network operator Vocus Communications has revealed it has secured two competing non-binding takeover bids valuing the company at A$2.2 billion ($1.69 billion).

    Affinity Equity Partners has submitted a preliminary offer to acquire 100% of Vocus for A$3.50 in cash per share, subject to due diligence and other conditions. Vocus announced.

    The bid comes days after fellow private equity company KKR submitted a preliminary offer at the same A$3.50 per share price.

    Both private equity companies have been granted the chance to conduct due diligence on the potential takeover. The prospect of a bidding war has pushed Vocus shares on the Australian stock exchange up to A$3.595 as of around midday local time on Thursday.

    The price tag represents around a 16% premium on Vocus’ projected earnings for the current financial year, but the offer price may increase as negotiations progress.

    Vocus operates a range of telecoms brands serving enterprises, small businesses, government and residential customers, including Commander, iPrimus and Dodo.

    The value of the company has shrunk significantly lately due to concerns its profitability will be substantially reduced as customers migrate to the state-led national broadband network (NBN). A year ago the company has a valuation of around $5.5 billion.

  • Smart taps Redknee to keep up with demand

    Smart taps Redknee to keep up with demand

    Smart Communications, based in the Philippines, has awarded Redknee a services and support contract for an agile, flexible, and scalable converged billing, charging, and customer care platform.

    Redknee Unified promises service providers to enhance their competitiveness and maximize value by quickly launching new revenue streams and service offerings with multi-channel customer support.

    The solution provides a capable adaptive quota solution allowing customers to access data services on multiple devices at the same time, delivering an optimal user experience and an efficient use of resources.

    With Redknee Unified, Smart can benefit from improved time to market, by adding tool-based testing for product configuration and real-time configuration changes. Redknee’s multi-campus solution is deployed with geo-redundancy, enabling Smart to support its rapidly growing subscriber base with high quality and resilient backend, the vendor said.

    “We are excited to launch Redknee Unified in the fast paced Asia Pacific region,” said Danielle Royston, Redknee’s CEO. “Redknee’s strong client relationship with Smart allowed us to quickly transform the business support systems to deliver leading real-time monetization solutions to its major cellular brands.”

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  • Airtel to launch VoLTE later this year

    Airtel to launch VoLTE later this year

    India’s Bharti Airtel has announced plans to launch VoLTE services later this year to counter new market entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm.

    Airtel is trialing VoLTE in five cities and plans to become the second operator in the nation after Reliance Jio to launch the technology.

    The launch could potentially allow Airtel to better compete against Reliance Jio’s strategy of offering free voice calls and only charging for data. The entry of Jio into the market has triggered a price war and compelled the nation’s operators to pursue consolidation in response.

    Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal detailed the company’s VoLTE plans at an event announcing the launch of Project Next, its latest initiative aimed at improving the customer experience.

    As part of the new project, Airtel has introduced a data rollover program enabling customers to carry over up to 200GB of data left unused in the previous month.

    The new initiative will also include improvements to the operator’s app, website and in-store experience, including the Family Promise program designed to allow postpaid customers to develop multiple customized plans for each family member over the MyAirtel app, enabling savings of up to 20%.

    Airtel revealed plans to invest up to 20 billion rupees ($309.8 million) on Project Next, and through the program aims to transform into a truly digital service provider.

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  • Huawei joins CTO as ICT Sector member

    Huawei joins CTO as ICT Sector member

    Huawei has joined the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) as an ICT Sector member, the membership category open to the private sector.

    The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is the oldest and largest Commonwealth intergovernmental organisation in the ICT field, representing 36 of the member states of the Commonwealth.

    “It gives me great pleasure to welcome Huawei Technologies as one of our members. Members of the CTO greatly benefit from knowledge and experience sharing,” CTO sectretary general Shola Taylor said.

    “Huawei’s membership will help strengthen our organization and its contribution to the use of ICTs for development across the Commonwealth.”

    Huawei president of global government affairs Victor Zhang added that the CTO “is a highly respected international body and it provides a strong platform for both the public and private sectors to exchange best practices related to the promotion and use of ICT innovation in the world today.”

    Full member countries of the CTO include Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UK. ICT sector members include the GSMA, Intelsat, BSNL, Vodafone and Facebook.

  • Nokia wraps up Comptel acquisition

    Nokia wraps up Comptel acquisition

    Nokia said it has completed its acquisition of Comptel, a Finland-based telecommunications software company.

    Announced last February, the acquisition advances Nokia’s strategy to build a standalone software business at scale by expanding and strengthening its software portfolio and go-to-market capabilities.

    Comptel bolsters Nokia’s software portfolio by adding capabilities that help digital service providers bring new communications services to market faster, master the orchestration of services and order flows, capture data-in-motion and refine decision-making.

    When combined with Nokia’s OSS, BSS, analytics, security and cloud technology, Nokia will be able to offer the software intelligence and real-time network information to deliver better digital experiences and operations in a cloud environment.