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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.

  • 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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  • Tech advancements in SEA driving demand for IoT

    Tech advancements in SEA driving demand for IoT

    The rapid technological developments in Southeast Asia have led to great demands for Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, according to a recent survey from Asia IoT Business Platform.

    The survey indicates that more than 70% of local enterprises and organizations are currently in the process of exploring or finding possible IoT solutions to be deployed or implemented. However, only 7% of them report benefitting from any IoT implementation.

    Enterprises and organizations cite cost, legacy systems, and complexity as the top three concerns in adopting IoT.

    Following the great interest in IoT technologies but low benefits from implementation, Irza Suprapto, director at Asia IoT Business Platform, noted that it is now important to understand the challenges that enterprises face in trying to deploy IoT in their businesses.

    “The challenges that enterprises face in implementing IoT will determine how they view the benefits of IoT implementation and in turn, affects the demand for IoT technologies. Therefore, this year, we are inviting IT leaders of local enterprises and organizations to share more about their IoT projects or their digital transformation vision, as well as the challenges that they face in deploying IoT. This is to ensure that their concerns and challenges will be addressed and IoT adoption rates in the region will continue to grow, instead of being stunted,” Irza added.

    The Asia IoT Business Platform series will be returning to Southeast Asia for the fourth consecutive year. The programs, which are organized by Industry Platform Pte. Ltd, will take place in major cities across the region, including in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Jakarta, in July and August.

    The programs will continue to facilitate the digital transformation of enterprises and organizations in Southeast Asia. It will also have an additional focus on addressing challenges and issues that organizations face in adopting and implementing IoT technologies.

    The prestigious programs will involve government officials, senior business leaders in the IoT and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) sectors, as well as local enterprises that are looking to explore business growth and improved business efficiency with IoT.

    “We are excited to return to major cities in ASEAN this year, after many successful editions in the past couple of years. Since 2014, we have seen business partnerships among stakeholders being forged to drive the IoT adoption growth in the region. IoT developments are also apparent, especially in the different smart city initiatives, and the different IoT projects implemented by local enterprises. We are glad to witness these promising developments,” said Suprapto.

    The Asia IoT Business Platform series across ASEAN will feature a line-up of esteemed speakers comprising IT leaders from local enterprises such as Sampoerna Strategic (Indonesia), Garuda Indonesia, Bank of Thailand , Charoen Pokphand (Thailand), Petronas (Malaysia), Tenaga Nasional Berhad (Malaysia), Philippine Ports Authority, Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board

  • Nokia to launch world’s fastest router

    Nokia to launch world’s fastest router

    Nokia has revealed plans to launch what it says will be the world’s most powerful network processor chipset, routing platform and router as part of its new IP routing portfolio.

    The company has unveiled new products based on its high-capacity FP4 silicon, featuring the first 2.4Tbps network processor, up to six times more powerful than processors currently available.

    A service router capable of supporting a 144Tbps configuration in a single shelf and an extensible petabit-class routing system scaling to 576Tbps in a single system using the new chipset will be launched in the fourth quarter.

    Nokia said these new platforms will be the industry’s first capable of delivering terabit IP flows, which will be a tenfold improvement over the existing 100Gbps links used for the internet’s backbone.

    The new routing platforms will have embedded packet intelligence and control technology that can be combined with Nokia’s Deepfield IP network analytics solution to minimize security threats such as DDoS attacks while improving network efficiency and 192.168.0.1 router management.

    “Nokia has managed to combine the raw horsepower required to run historic amounts of traffic between data centers with intelligent, secure and adaptable capabilities necessary for a cloud-connected environment,” ACG Research CEO and principal analyst Ray Mota commented.

    “The company has seemingly struck the right balance with silicon and systems innovations that address investment protection and now has the fastest router on the market.”

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  • Yahoo signs off, completes sale to Verizon

    Yahoo signs off, completes sale to Verizon

    Yahoo’s chief executive Marissa Mayer resigned as Verizon finalized the $4.48 billion deal. Internet pioneer Yahoo ended its two-decade run as an independent company on Tuesday, completing the sale of its core online assets to telecom giant Verizon.

    Yahoo’s chief executive Marissa Mayer resigned as expected, as Verizon finalized the $4.48 billion deal integrating the Yahoo internet operations into a new unit called Oath, which includes another former sector leader, AOL.

    Tim Armstrong, former CEO of AOL, now holds the same title at Oath, a division in Verizon’s Media and Telematics organization.

    “We’re building the future of brands using powerful technology, trusted content and differentiated data,” Armstrong said in a statement.

    “We have dominating consumer brands in news, sports, finance, tech, and entertainment and lifestyle coupled with our market leading advertising technology platforms. Now that the deal is closed, we are excited to set our focus on being the best company for consumer media, and the best partner to our advertising, content and publisher partners.”

    Verizon has made no indication of how it will use the Yahoo brand — which is used by over a billion people worldwide — but indicated it is keeping the names Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail and more.

    Some reports have said more than 1,000 jobs would be eliminated as a result of the merger, but statements from Yahoo and Verizon on Tuesday made no mention of any cuts.

    Yahoo’s sale caps a long decline from when it had a peak market value of some $125 billion in 2000.

    The original Yahoo group now becomes a holding company with stakes in Chinese internet giant Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.

    On Friday, it will change its name to Altaba Inc. and on Monday begin trading under the ticker symbol “AABA.”

    Mayer, who was unable to stem the decline of the iconic Silicon Valley company, is getting a departure package worth an estimated $186 million, according to regulatory filings.

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  • Palo Alto sets up VC fund for security applications

    Palo Alto sets up VC fund for security applications

    Palo Alto Networks is forming a $20-million security venture fund to provide early stage investments to fuel development of security applications for the Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform.

    The fund will be aimed at seed-, early- and growth-stage security companies with a cloud-based application approach.

    These companies can accelerate their routes to market for their respective technology by developing cloud-based applications built upon the Palo Alto Networks platform and the new Palo Alto Networks Application Framework, easily engaging the tens of thousands of Palo Alto Networks customer deployments.

    The fund expects to collaborate with Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital to identify and evaluate innovative security applications for potential co-investment.

    By providing capital, the fund aims to enable entrepreneurs and security vendors to focus on developing high-value functionality for customers, instead of developing the infrastructure and data stores necessary to effectively deliver their applications and establish a foothold in the market.

    The investments in entrepreneurial security companies are designed to accelerate the development of new security applications for the Palo Alto Networks platform.

    Such applications will help customer organizations more easily access, evaluate, and adopt new advanced security capabilities and activate cloud-delivered security applications from different providers as their security needs change.

    “This new fund represents an essential part of our mission to help organizations prevent cyber breaches by inspiring and accelerating a groundswell of security innovation in a model that can be easily accessed and deployed by customer organizations,” Palo Alto Networks.SVP for business and corporate development Chad Kinzelberg said.

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  • AIS upgrades to Netcracker’s revenue management solution

    AIS upgrades to Netcracker’s revenue management solution

    Advanced Info Service (AIS) in Thailand is upgrading to Netcracker 12 to deliver a better digital customer experience and meet myriad internal business objectives.

    As part of the engagement, AIS has also extended its use of Netcracker’s Professional Services in order to ensure the long-term success of the platform.

    AIS is one of Thailand’s providers of mobile, fixed broadband and innovative digital services to approximately 41 million subscribers, advancing together with the evolution of the communications market to consistently meet the changing demands of the digital world.

    As Thailand’s needs for next-generation communications services increase, AIS’ use of Netcracker Revenue Management solution will enable it to deliver the best possible customer experience without disruption. Netcracker 12 will future-proof AIS’ systems, supporting its operations in the long term as digital and other complex services become more prevalent.

    Netcracker’s Revenue Management solution will also help AIS’ marketing and IT teams meet their sophisticated business and technical requirements, enabling more efficient and agile internal operations.

  • Airtel beats Jio by active customer adds in March

    Airtel beats Jio by active customer adds in March

    India’s largest operator Bharti Airtel beat out disruptive new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm in April in terms of active subscriber additions for the first time since Jio launched services last September.

    Analysis from Goldman Sachs finding that Airtel added 2.6 million active subscribers for the month, according to India’s voice location register. This compares to just 400,000 for Jio.

    Data subscriber additions are also starting to increase for Airtel now that Jio is starting to charge for data, and the analysts believe that Jio could continue to face challenges with subscriber growth in the future – Jio’s active VLR additions have now been decelerating for four straight months.

    Jio’s active subscribers as a percentage of total subscribers have also been in decline, falling to only 71% in April, compared to nearly 98% for the market’s top three operators Airtel,  Voafone India and Idea Cellular.

    But the report cites sources close to Jio as stating that the company doesn’t give much significance to VLR figures and stating that its total base of paid customers actually increased by around 8 million during April to over 80 million.

  • Globe Telecom picks Canvas for automation

    Globe Telecom picks Canvas for automation

    Globe Telecom in the Philippines has turned to Canvas to become the platform that integrates service functionalities and help Globe automate its office processes.

    This move is expected to reduce costs, increase operational efficiency, and further enhance the operator’s commitment to environmental protection and conservation.

    More importantly, this will enable Globe to take on a bigger role in providing digital services such as billing, logistics and customer service as well as opening more avenues for access to the Internet of Things (IoT) for its customers, the telco said.

    In the near-term, as it streamlines internal processes, Globe expects to save more than 1.5 million administrative hours company-wide each year by digitizing various processes such as customer relationship management, billing and other administrative services.

    As part of their partnership agreement, Globe also intends to make Canvas more widely available to its business customer base, building on the early high adoption among some of the Philippines leading companies. Globe’s business customers are already using Canvas to realize benefits for their own customers such as an increased level of customer care and reduced costs for services.

    “As an enterprise, the digital transformation we have undertaken is part of our continuing commitment to adopting efficient and viable IT solutions that will improve the experience of our employees and customers,” said Ernest Cu, president and CEO of Globe.

    “This strategic partnership with Canvas allows us to offer our millions of business customers in the Philippines a chance at a transformation of their own with similar productivity gains and green benefits.”

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  • Equinix expands collaboration with Alibaba Cloud

    Equinix expands collaboration with Alibaba Cloud

    Equinix has expanded its partnership with Alibaba Cloud  to cover interconnection in Hong Kong, Silicon Valley, Sydney and Washington DC.

    Equinix ptovide direct, scalable access to the Alibaba Cloud via its Equinix Cloud Exchange in its international business exchange (IBX) data centers in the four markets.

    Alibaba Cloud and Equinix first entered a partnership in 2015, initially to provide already provide access to the Alibaba Cloud from the Equinix Singapore IBX.

    The Equinix Cloud Exchange offers direct and private access to multiple cloud service providers. The service launched in Hong Kong in 2014.

    The US International Trade Administration predicts that the Chinese cloud computing market will grow at a 40% CAGR though to 2020, when it will reach US$20 billion.

    “The global reach of Equinix Cloud Exchange makes it simple for Alibaba Cloud to access new markets, Alibaba Cloud deputy GM Yeming Wang said. “We are pleased to provide greater value and bring our services closer to enterprises by leveraging Equinix’s powerful, on-demand cloud connectivity, and in particular to provide greater connectivity to the Chinese market.”

    Equinix VP of global technology partners and alliances Greg Adgate added that “Alibaba Cloud represents a significant partnership for Equinix as we continue to empower businesses around the globe to build secure, private clouds, without compromising network and application performance.”

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  • Over 1m new mobile internet subs to be added daily

    Over 1m new mobile internet subs to be added daily

    The telecoms industry is on track to attract more than 1 million new mobile internet subscribers per day between now and 2022, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report.

    The report predicts that there will be 2.6 billion new mobile broadband subscribers added through 2022, with LTE set to become the dominant access technology in 2018, making it the fastest growing mobile technology in history.

    Ericsson noted that it has taken just five years for LTE to cover 2.5 billion people, compared to eight years for 3G. There were 250 million new LTE subscriptions added in the first quarter of 2017 alone.

    Total traffic over mobile networks meanwhile grew 70% over the 12 months ending in Q1 – the fastest year-on-year mobile data growth globally since 2013 – and is set to increase to eight times its current level by 2022, the report predicts. Recent growth has been driven by explosive increases in consumption in India.

    Global growth in demand for mobile data will also drive 5G deployment. The report predicts that there will be more than 500 million 5G subscriptions globally by 2022, not including IoT connections. By this time, 5G is expected to cover around 15% of the world’s population.