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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.

  • China Mobile, SAIC, Huawei demo 5G remote driving

    China Mobile, SAIC, Huawei demo 5G remote driving

    China Mobile, SAIC Motor and Huawei have jointly demonstrated the first 5G-based remote driving technology with a consumer car.

    The demonstration at Mobile World Congress Shanghai involved using a Huawei-provided 5G solution connecting SAIC Motor’s smart concept car the iGS, with China Mobile providing the connectivity.

    The remote driving field test involved a driver located over 30km away from the vehicle, and used HD video cameras installed on the vehicle to send multiple real-time video feeds to provide the driver with a 240-degree view of the vehicle’s surroundings, more than the average binocular peripheral vision.

    Control signals for steering, acceleration and brakes were also transmitted over the 5G network in real time using 5G’s ultra-low latency capabilities.

    End-to-end latency for all vehicle control functions was less than 10 milliseconds, providing an eight centimeter distance between breaking and actual deceleration when the vehicle was traveling at 30km/h.

    Remote driving can be used to augment autonomous vehicles and has a range of potential applications, particularly in harsh or dangerous environments like mining or waste disposal sites, Huawei said.

    The technology could allow a single person to manage a fleet of autonomous vehicles, providing human intervention as needed such as in emergency situations.

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  • China Telecom taps Silver Peak for managed SD-WAN services

    China Telecom taps Silver Peak for managed SD-WAN services

    China Telecom has forged a partnership with Silver Peak to provide its multinational enterprise customers with fully-managed software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) services using Silver Peak’s Unity EdgeConnectSP and Unity Boost SD-WAN products.

    The collaboration enables China Telecom to deliver managed SD-WAN services, including security services, SaaS optimization, cloud application performance, visibility and control to its large enterprise customers as well as existing enterprise customers with connectivity requirements.

    The partnership is signed between Silver Peak, a developer of SD-WAN technology and hybrid WAN products, and China Telecom Shanghai Ideal Information Industry Group, a wholly owned subsidiary under China Telecom.

    China Telecom Shanghai Ideal Information Industry is also partnering with Westcon-Comstor, a global distributor for Silver Peak, to help distribute the product globally.

    Westcon-Comstor has integrated EdgeConnectSP into China Telecom’s NetCare unified customer network monitoring and management platform using the EdgeConnect RESTful API. This enables China Telecom to offer real-time and proactive managed SD-WAN service monitoring and management to existing and new clients, according to Sliver Peak.

    “We are excited to partner with one of the world’s largest service providers, China Telecom, to bring fully managed tiered SD-WAN services to multi-national enterprises that are struggling with management challenges associated with cost effective global connectivity while maintaining WAN performance and security” said Shayne Stubbs, vice president service provider and cloud at Silver Peak.

    Stubbs said the new managed SD-WAN services help China Telecom cost effectively address the international connectivity, performance and security requirements for multinationals based in China seeking to expand out of region.

    Silver Peak’s SD-WAN solution also enables China Telecom to offer “tiered” managed SD-WAN services, including SLA-based performance for on premise and cloud-hosted applications, the executive added.

    He described the partnership with China Telecom as a “very strategic” move for Silver Peak’s expansion into the service providers market.

    In addition to China Telecom, Silver Peak has also worked with a handful of such service providers – including NTT Communications, Hyundai HCN in South Korea, TeliaSonera Finland and Interoute – to deliver managed SD-WAN services.

  • China Mobile, Huawei showcase 5G SBA proto

    China Mobile, Huawei showcase 5G SBA proto

    China Mobile and Huawei have used Mobile World Congress Shanghai to showcase the world’s first 5G core network prototype using service-based architecture (SBA).

    The prototype is based on the 3GPP’s 5G SBA standard. Under SBA, core network functions are defined as loosely coupled, combinable services that can be flexibly scheduled based on standard interface protocol. These elements are self-contained, reusable and able to be independently managed.

    Functions of the 5G SBA prototype include service registration, discovery and authorization, as well as service operations and service-oriented 5G basic business processes such as device registration and connection establishment and release.

    “The service-based architecture shows that 5G is a truly Cloud Native design. It makes carrier networks more agile, flexible, scalable, and open,” China Mobile Research Institute GM Yang Zhiqiang said.

    “We will work to reduce its complexity, and look forward to working with all industry players to accelerate completion of international standards and product R&D. Our goal is to quickly put SBA into large-scale commercial use and enable 5G operations.”

    The companies said the successful demonstration of the 5G SBA prototype provides a foundation for the IMT-2020 Promotion Group’s 5G core network testing.

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  • 5G connections in China to reach 428m by 2025: GSMA

    5G connections in China to reach 428m by 2025: GSMA

    Chinese operators are on track to launch commercial 5G networks by 2020 and are expected to establish the nation as the world’s largest 5G market by 2025, Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA, said during a keynote at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai.

    5G connections in China will reach 428 million by 2025, accounting for 39% of the 1.1 billion global 5G connections expected by that point, Granryd said, citing a new study by GSMA Intelligence and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) released Wednesday.

    “In its early phase, 5G will offer an enhanced mobile broadband experience that will enable next-generation consumer services such as augmented and virtual reality, while at the same supporting mission-critical applications across a range of industry verticals,” the executive said.

    Granryd said mobile operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom- in China plan to run a phased testing period for 5G networks from 2017 to 2019 before launching commercially in 2020.

    The trio is expected to deploy ‘standalone’ 5G networks, which will require the construction of new base stations to site 5G equipment, backhaul links and a core network.

    Yet, some mobile operators in Asia are considering to deploy ‘non-standalone’ 5G networks that would run on existing infrastructure supplemented by targeted small cell deployment in areas of high density, allowing 4G and 5G services to run in parallel, the report noted.

    Granryd said 4G penetration is China has increased fivefold to 61% over the two-year period to March 2017 and there remains significant headroom for 4G growth.

    That said, 4G and 5G networks are expected to co-exist in China for a considerable period of time. The rate of 5G network rollout and adoption in China is also expected to be slower than it was for 4G, which Chinese operators were able to deploy rapidly earlier this decade within a mature 4G ecosystem.

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

    In their early phase, 5G networks will concentrate on boosting the capacity of 4G networks to support rising cellular data traffic demands.

    Meanwhile 5G will also enable enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services such as 4K/8K Ultra-HD video and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications.

    Though some services will require devices with new form factors, the smartphone is expected to remain the principal 5G interface at launch. The first 5G smartphones are likely to be priced at a premium to 4G models, as they will require an enhanced chipset and RF module supporting multiple sub-6 GHz, and possibly extremely high frequency bands (mmWave), as well as, potentially, a 4K or 8K screen.

    Enterprise is considered to offer operators the largest incremental revenue opportunity. Key vertical markets for 5G applications include automotive and transport, logistics, energy and utilities monitoring, security, finance, healthcare, industrial and agriculture.

  • SK Telecom conducts 5G trials in 3.5-GHz

    SK Telecom conducts 5G trials in 3.5-GHz

    SK Telecom, Samsung and Nokia have jointly conducted a 5G trial demonstration using the 3.5-GHz frequency band.

    The operator worked with Samsung to develop a 3.5-GHz 5G end-to-end network comprising a 5G virtualized core, virtualized RAN, distributed baseband and radio unit and test device based on the 3GPP 5G new radio (NR) standards established so far.

    The 3GPP has standardized the key physical component technologies of the 5G air interface. The companies’ trial 5G NR system has been developed based on this specification, incorporating innovations including subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, transmit time interval (TTI) length of 0.25ms to reduce latency and low-density parity-check channel coding.

    SK Telecom has also collaborated with Nokia to co-develop 5G base station equipment and test devices for 3.5-GHz spectrum, achieving Gbps level throughput during a field trial near the operator’s Bundang Office Building.

    The trial also involve the measurement of link quality depending on the distance between a moving vehicle and base station to generate data to be used in the design of optimal 3.5-GHz 5G networks.

    SK Telecom plans to deploy commercial networks using both 28-GHz or another above 6-GHz frequency and the 3.5-GHz band, using the former in highly-concentrated areas and the latter to achieve wide area coverage.

    “With the successful demonstration of 5G communications using the 3.5GHz spectrum, SK Telecom has secured all key technologies for building commercial 5G networks using 3.5-GHz and 28-GHz frequency bands,” SK Telecom SVP and head of network R&D Park Jin-hyo said.

    “We will maintain our leadership in 5G by enhancing our technologies for both above 6-GHz and below 6-GHz frequencies, while playing an active role in the standardization and commercialization of 5G technologies.”

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  • Cisco launches intent-based networking solutions

    Cisco launches intent-based networking solutions

    Cisco has unveiled a new networking paradigm it is calling intent-based networking, with the aim of creating an intuitive system that anticipates actions, stops security threats in their tracks, and continues to evolve and learn.

    The new solutions are designed to help businesses to unlock new opportunities and solve previously unsolvable challenges in an era of increasing connectivity and distributed technology.

    They involve a shift from hardware-centric to software-driven networking to improve agility, productivity and performance.

    This new network is the result of years of research and development by Cisco to reinvent networking for an age where network engineers managing hundreds of devices today will be expected to manage 1 million by 2020.

    “The network has never been more critical to business success, but it’s also never been under more pressure,” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said.

    “By building a more intuitive network, we are creating an intelligent platform with unmatched security for today and for the future that propels businesses forward and creates new opportunities for people and organizations everywhere.”

    Today companies are managing their networks through traditional IT processes that are not sustainable in this new age. Cisco’s approach creates an intuitive system that constantly learns, adapts, automates and protects, to optimize network operations and defend against today’s evolving threat landscape.

    With the vast majority of the world’s internet traffic running on Cisco networks, the company has used its unique position to capture and analyze this immensely valuable data by providing IT with insights to spot anomalies and anticipate issues in real time, without compromising privacy.

    Already, 75 leading global enterprises and organizations are conducting early field trials with these next-generation networking solutions, including DB Systel GmbH, Jade University of Applied Sciences, NASA, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Scentsy, UZ Leuven and Wipro.

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  • Singtel launches $1.89b IPO for NetLink Trust

    Singtel launches $1.89b IPO for NetLink Trust

    Singtel has launched an up to S$2.63 billion ($1.89 billion) IPO for its fiber broadband subsidiary NetLink NBN Trust.

    NetLink NBN Trust is the holding company for NetLink Trust, the company operating the passive infrastructure for the next generation nationwide broadband network (NG-NBN).

    NetLink NBN Trust has filed a preliminary prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore ahead of the planned IPO and listing of the company on the Singapore stock exchange.

    In its role as the NetCo for the NG-NBN, NetLink Trust designs, builds, owns and operates the ducts, manholes, fiber cables and central offices and other passive infrastructure for the network. Its assets include around 76,000km of fiber cable.

    The company sells wholesale dark fiber services to licensees including Singtel itself, StartHub, M1 and MyRepublic. It recorded revenue of S$299 million and net profit of NZ$79.4 million in the most recent financial year ending in March.

    The IPO is expected to give NetLink Trust an initial market capitalization of between S$3.09 billion and S$3.59 billion.

    It will also fulfill Singtel’s regulator-mandated requirement of divesting at least 75% of the trust before next April, as part of the structural separation requirements for the state-led NG-NBN project.

    The IPO is on track to become Singapore’s largest public float since the S$7.6 billion listing of Hutchinson Port Holdings Trust in 2011.

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  • China Telecom to expand JV with AT&T

    China Telecom to expand JV with AT&T

    China Telecom has agreed to extend its partnership with AT&T to cover the development of more advanced network services for multinational companies operating in China.

    The operators have signed a framework agreement to explore ways to develop new IoT, cloud-based big data, VoLTE roaming and SDN based services.

    AT&T, China Telecom and Shanghai Information Investments entered a joint venture in 2000, Shanghai Symphony Telecommunications (SST). The companies now plan to expand the scope of SST as well as the locations it serves.

    Under the agreement, China Telecom and AT&T aim to help establish industry standards for SDN, explore ways to collaborate on IoT platforms and solutions, launch bilateral roaming tests and explore the potential of VoLTE roaming.

    “Working with AT&T, China Telecom is creating future business solutions that use enterprise mobility, cloud, IoT and other technologies,” China Telecom executive director and EVP Gao Tongqing commented.

    “Global businesses have to be innovative and agile to succeed today. Growing our relationship with China Telecom, AT&T is helping multinational customers have consistent access to the advanced solutions they need in China,” added Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO of AT&T Business Solutions and International segment.

  • UnaBiz secures IoT license in Taiwan

    UnaBiz secures IoT license in Taiwan

    IoT-dedicated network operator UnaBiz has secured a license to operate an IoT network in Taiwan from the National Communication Commission (NCC).

    As the first of its kind to receive an IoT network operator license from the NCC since Taiwan’s announcement of the use of the unlicensed spectrum, UnaBiz is on track to become a nationwide network operator in Taiwan.

    As a provider of a dedicated communications service for the IotT, the Sigfox low power wide-area network (LPWAN) is currently present in 32 countries worldwide and target to reach 60 countries by 2018. The roll out of the commercial grade global network is in line with Taiwan’s “Asian Silicon Valley” initiative, a vision to transform Taiwan from an ICT specialist to an IoT specialist.

    UnaBiz’s vision is to empower massive IoT in Asia. The network operator will actively engage and collaborate with industry partners, academic institutions and government agencies to help Taiwan address the global IoT market potential.

    “This is a milestone for UnaBiz but also for Taiwan industry which henceforth can boldly step into the Sigfox global IoT market and ecosystem,” UnaBiz MD and co-founder Philippe Chiu said.

    In 2017, UnaBiz will focus on deploying the IoT network in the six main municipalities – Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung – effectively bringing Sigfox service coverage to more than 80% of the population in Taiwan.

    The deployment will cover both urban and rural areas, and the LPWAN network will be extended to cover 95% of the population in Taiwan in 2018.

    Along with the fast-paced deployment of the network across Taiwan, the local IoT ecosystem and stakeholders can already evaluate and start developing products and solutions using the royalties-free Sigfox technology. This happens at an excellent timing for Taiwan’s industry looking for transformation and new business opportunities, especially at a global scale.

    The global IoT sensors market is expected to reach $17.81 billion by 2020, and although Taiwan is big in semiconductor manufacturing (60% of global market), it only accounts for 15% of the global sensor manufacturing. Given the predominant impact of Taiwan in the conception, production and integration of smart sensors into electronic hardware in the global IoT market, Taiwan joining the Sigfox ecosystem represents a significant milestone.

    Chiu notes, “To significantly build up the IoT industry, we need a sound ecosystem of highly-engaged players from semiconductors to device manufacturers and all the way up to cloud platforms. That is why, on top of providing Sigfox communication service, UnaBiz is also acting to catalyze IoT opportunities by establishing partnerships and providing keys to address the Sigfox global IoT market.”

    “According to studies, the explosion of the global IoT market will create the largest device market in the world,” UnaBiz CEO and co-founder Henri Bong said.

    “The number will double of that of the current market of personal PC, tablets and wearable technology combined. The growth of this ecosystem not only creates more jobs in Taiwan’s manufacturing industry but will eventually spur a paradigm shift in Taiwan’s entire workforce to that of a more innovative and creative economy, one that engages higher skilled and hence higher-paying workers.”

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  • Asia-Africa-Europe 1 cable system launches

    Asia-Africa-Europe 1 cable system launches

    The consortium behind the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) subsea cable system has announced the launch of the new cable, with services commencing from Europe to far east Asia.

    The 40Tbps, five fiber pair cable system is the first cable to link all major Asian, African, Middle Eastern and European regions, combining both subsea and terrestrial routes.

    It spans 19 nations and territories – Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France.

    The AAE-1 provides termination with Telecom House in Hong Kong and Equinix and Global Switch in Singapore, as well as three termination options in Europe.

    The system has been designed from the outset with 100Gbps technology and is upgradeable in the future to meet growing demand. The consortium said the AAE-1 is the largest subsea cable system to launch in more than a decade.

    Members of the AAE-1 consortium include China Unicom, CIL, Djibouti Telecom, Etisalat, GT5L, Mobily, Omantel, Ooredoo, OTEG, PCCW, PTCL, Reliance Jio, Retelit, Telecom Egypt, TeleYemen, TOT, Viettel, VNPT and VTC

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  • Public cloud adoption growing globally

    Public cloud adoption growing globally

    The use of public cloud is increasing globally, with many organizations seeing substantial process and financial benefits, according to a new report conducted by Vanson Bourne for Barracuda Networks.

    On average, organizations have nearly 40% of their infrastructure in the public cloud today, with the expectation to increase this to 70% over the next five years.

    Four in 10 reported that their organization relied on public cloud deployments to expand their services, often replicating those over multiple regions, while 30% said they only migrated selected services to the cloud and kept the balance on premises.

    Overall, the survey found that organizations are growing more comfortable with hybrid environments that deploy a range of public cloud services along with more traditional on-premises infrastructure.

    The research surveyed 1,300 IT decision makers from organizations using public cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) from the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and from Asia Pacific (APAC).

    Of the 450 APAC IT decision makers who participated in the survey, 150 of them were from ASEAN countries Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. The report outlines the respondents’ use of public cloud, benefits of public cloud, challenges with public cloud, and public cloud security.

    However, there are still a significant number of organizations that are not clear on the shared security model and the implication to their data and applications.

    “The challenges in migrating legacy security appliances and architectures require having the right infrastructure for securing hybrid cloud solutions. Organizations need to select cloud-ready security solutions that are designed for the new architectures and capabilities enabled by public and hybrid cloud adoption,” Barracuda SVP and GM of security Hatem Naguib said.

    Nearly all the respondents (99%) said that their organization has seen benefits as a result of moving to the public cloud, including greater scalability and reduced IT expenditures. The survey found, on average, that organizations didn’t use a single cloud provider for everything, and cited a number of reasons for this: Top of mind was that different providers had different strengths (63%), followed by the view that this increased security (51%) and helped keep costs down (42%).

    But the public cloud also involves fresh challenges. Security remains to be the biggest challenge when it comes to using the public cloud – 71% felt that security concerns restricted their ability to migrate workloads to the public cloud. Nine in 10 (91%) of organizations reported they worried about their use of public cloud, with cyberattacks being the chief concern at 54%. Phishing (50%), DDoS (47%), APTs (45%), and ransomware (41%) were the main threats that most conerned them.

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  • DoCoMo launches prepaid SIM for foreign visitors

    DoCoMo launches prepaid SIM for foreign visitors

    Japan’s NTT DoCoMo will this week launch a new prepaid SIM service for foreign visitors to Japan providing access to its network for 15 days.

    The Japan Welcome SIM offering will launch on July 1. It will allow travelers to apply for the service online prior to leaving their home country and pick up their SIMs in locations such as international airports upon their arrival in Japan.

    Visitors will be able to subscribe to one of three 15-day plans, including a 1,000 yen ($8.90) plan providing unlimited 128kbps internet access and a 1,700 yen plan providing download speeds of up to 682Mbps for the first 500MB used. Additional high-speed access can be purchased for 200 yen per 100MB of 700 yen per 500MB.

    From October, DoCoMo will also launch a plan providing free internet access in exchange for viewing a certain number of video ads and filling out a survey prior to their arrival.

    DoCoMo partners will also be able to bundle access to the Japan Welcome SIM service with their own services. Initially Tokyu Hotels and Booking.com will be providing the service. This will include the ability for reselling businesses to offer unmetered access to their own web services.

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  • ZTE, InfoVista complete SD-WAN solution interconnection

    ZTE, InfoVista complete SD-WAN solution interconnection

    ZTE and InfoVista said they’ve successfully completed interoperability testing of their combined SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) solution by integrating InfoVista’s Application Performance Orchestration Solution (Ipanema) with ZTE’s Micro Cloud Gateway (MCG) platform.

    The combined SD-WAN solution provides a single box overlay networking solution for hybrid WAN connectivity, guaranteeing  performance of critical business applications while also supporting a secure overlay VPN, zero touch installation and one-button recovery, the companies said in a statement.

    “This can be delivered at an extremely competitive price for enterprises looking to drastically reduce IT networking costs,” the companies added. “Service providers can also use the new platform to deliver value-added SD-WAN services to their enterprise customers as they implement hybrid WANs and augment their enterprise networks.”

    The combined SD-WAN solution can replace multiple enterprise and communications equipment deployed in traditional WANs. This enables fast distribution, deployment, data backup, and disaster tolerance one-button recovery on a cloud-managed platform.

    The solution also provides enterprises with Application Performance Orchestration capabilities that protect and guarantee the user experience of their business-critical applications essential to digital transformation strategies.

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  • Undersea internet cable out of action for another three weeks in Vietnam

    Undersea internet cable out of action for another three weeks in Vietnam

    Repair work on the broken international cable won’t start until July 3 and will take at least 10 days to complete. International internet connections in Vietnam are likely to remain slow for another three weeks with repair work to a major internet cable which broke off central Vietnam last week expected to take until July 14, a service provider said.

    The source told us that repair work on the Asia Pacific Gateway won’t start until July 3 and is expected to take 10 days. The cable should be fully reconnected by July 14, depending on the extent of the problem, said the representative.

    The cable snapped on Tuesday afternoon about 125 kilometers off the coast of Da Nang.

    Service providers such as Viettel and VNPT said they have prepared contingency routes to minimize downtime.

    No announcement on the cause of the problem has been made.

    The cable was officially launched on January 3, but was quickly hit by a technical problem that took two weeks to fix.

    The cable cost $450 million and has a capacity of more than 54 Tbps, promising to double internet speeds in Vietnam and ease reliance on the notorious Asia America Gateway, which has ruptured or been shut down for maintenance on numerous occasions since 2011.

    The new system took four years to build, and links Japan with Hong Kong, mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

    Nearly 49 million people in Vietnam, or more than half of the country’s population, are online.

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  • ZTE wins 75% of True’s Beyond-100G project

    ZTE wins 75% of True’s Beyond-100G project

    ZTE announced it has secured around 75% of Thai operator True Corporation’s Beyond-100G backbone WDM network upgrade project.

    ZTE will provide equipment for a 100G/400G backbone DWDM network to allow the operator to improve its network capacity and grow its 3G, LTE, fixed network and other operations.

    With the deployment, True aims to develop capabilities including ultra-large capacity OTN cross-connection, intelligent scheduling of optical networks and ultra-long-distance transmission.

    ZTE has been contracted to build three of the networks under the project. The company will supply software-defined optical networking technology including modulation and coherent reception technology, its digital signal processing algorithm and third-generation soft decision forward error correction.

    The project will also support the embedded optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) solution to facilitate real-time monitoring of fiber parameters and fault points in the existing network.

    Research firm Ovum last year estimated that ZTE is the world’s second largest vendor in the optical network market by market share. The vendor has deployed a total length of 300,000km of network fiber.