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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.

  • Delhi leads India by internet readiness

    Delhi leads India by internet readiness

    The state of Delhi leads India in internet readiness, according to a new report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Nielsen.

    In the report titled Index of internet readiness of Indian states, Delhi has overtaken last year’s winner Maharashtra and is followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

    According to the report, Delhi has won top spot because of its superior infrastructure and online participation.

    Releasing the report, Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeiTy), Government of India said: “We are hopeful that India will leapfrog from the present 155th position to world’s top fifth in connectivity, within the next 5-6 years. India today is one of the most rapidly digitizing economies in the world with the telecom industry leading the change. Things have improved multifold with state governments of Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana among others taking proactive steps to improve connectivity and internet reach.”

    “The combination of various indigenous digital platforms along with innovative and disruptive startups holds the greatest scope for digital transformation in India. Post demonetization, the country today has 3 million POS as compared to 1.5 lakhs POS earlier which is clearly a transformation and going forward, the infrastructure for digital payments will grow 3X within a span of one year,” she added.

    The North East has ranked low in terms of overall internet readiness. Much more needs to be done in the form of investment and infrastructure development in the region. Among the north eastern states, Nagaland tops the list, closely followed by Manipur and Tripura. Nagaland leads in IT environment and performs moderately well in other categories to get to the top.

    Internet readiness index is a composite benchmark of four components: e-Infrastructure index, e-Participation index, IT-Environment and government e-services index. All four components have equal weightage in this model. Separately, a fifth Index (named the Core Internet Index) has been created this year, consisting of select variables already used in constructing the above indices.

    The purpose of the index is to give a sharper perspective for digital industries looking to expand their business in India.

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  • IMDA warns StarHub over October outages

    IMDA warns StarHub over October outages

    Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has issued StarHub a warning over two brief home broadband outages from October last year, after finding that the disruptions were caused by a surge in legitimate DNS traffic.

    StarHub Online’s home broadband network was disrupted on October 22 and October 24, causing fiber customers in parts of the market to lose connectivity intermittently for around 130 minutes and 55 minutes respectively.

    The initial symptoms of the outage bore the hallmarks of a DDoS attack, and the timing coincided with the massive DDoS attacks on DNS provider Dyn in the US.

    But IMDA said an in-depth investigation involving reviewing logs of StarHub DNS servers and consumer devices identified as responsible for the disruptions did not uncover any evidence to suggest that the cause was a DDoS attack.

    Instead, a higher-than-usual build-up in StarHub DNS traffic just prior to the disruption appears to be to blame, as these mostly legitimate DNS requests eventually overloaded part of StarHub’s home broadband infrastructure.

    IMDA and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) identified areas of improvement in StarHub’s network infrastructure during the investigations, and said StarHub has taken steps to mitigate the risks of further outages, including boosting home broadband DNS server capacity and enhancing traffic monitoring.

    In an emailed statement, StarHub said it noted the findings that the outages did not fit typical DDoS patterns.

    “The authorities have acknowledged the fact that we have increased our DNS processing capacity and taken additional security measures to better avert similar incidents,” the statement reads.

    “We assure our customers and the regulator that we will continuously review our security posture and enhance network resilience in partnership with network and security providers.”

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  • M1 shareholders may seek sale to China Mobile

    M1 shareholders may seek sale to China Mobile

    Major shareholders in Singapore’s M1 have reportedly approached China Mobile with an offer to sell their majority stake in the operator.

    Malaysia’s Axiata Group, Singapore Press Holdings and Keppel T&T – which together hold a controlling 61% stake in M1 – are reviewing their investments in the operator in the wake of lackluster financial results and intensifying competition.

    The shareholders have now reached to China Mobile as well as other prospective bidders with a proposal to sell the stake, citing unnamed sources.

    Negotiations are still at an early stage and it is unclear whether China Mobile was receptive to the offer, the report notes.

    M1 is worth around S$1.9 billion ($1.36 billion), and has long been considered an acquisition target due to its smaller size and diverse shareholder base. Rumors were circulating last month that rival StarHub may be considering acquiring or merging with M1, but later reports disputed those rumors.

    The report adds that Singapore trading rules would require the purchaser of the stake to make an offer to buy out the rest of M1.

    The review comes ahead of the arrival to the market of new entrant TPG Telecom, the Australian fixed line operator that recently won the auction to become Singapore’s fourth mobile operator. TPG is also planning a mobile foray in its home market.

  • PT Telkom launches TV-based video calling

    PT Telkom launches TV-based video calling

    Indonesia’s PT Telkom has soft-launched the market’s first TV-based video communications service, in collaboration with Huawei.

    The IndiHome Video Call service will allow subscribers to PT Telkom’s triple-play IndiHome fiber broadband, telephony and TV service to also use their TV to place video calls.

    The service combines IPTV and IMS functionality, incorporating a set-top box with integrated video communication capabilities and a webcam to support video communication between TV and TV, TV and smartphone as well as smartphone and smartphone.

    IndiHome Video Call supports high-definition video with a resolution up to 720p as well as HD voice.

    PT Telkom plans to launch the service commercially in the East Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara area by the middle of next month.

    “With the soft launching of IndiHome Video Call, we hope that the presence of IndiHome may be useful to the community of East Java, Bali, and Nusa Tenggara,” PT Telkom’s district executive vice president for the region Suparwiyanto said.

    “IndiHome is easy and practical, a complete digital solution as well as a positive entertainment.”

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  • SoftBank taps Ericsson to improve indoor coverage

    SoftBank taps Ericsson to improve indoor coverage

    Japan’s SoftBank plans to deploy Ericsson’s Radio Dot system across Japan to improve indoor coverage for its large subscriber base.

    The operator will target medium to large buildings in high-density urban areas including Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya with the deployment, Ericsson said. Deployment will commence in the densest areas of the three cities, in buildings including office towers, shopping malls and train stations

    SoftBank began testing Radio Dot technology in Japan in June 2015 as the company explored ways to better meet the huge demand for improved indoor coverage in urban areas. Now after extensive testing and verification, the operator is ready to enter the mass deployment stage.

    “We are always interested in adopting the latest technologies to ensure our subscribers receive the best possible network service,” SoftBank SVP Hideyuki Tsukuda said.

    “After evaluating a number of options, we concluded that the Ericsson Radio Dot System was the most cost-efficient solution for large buildings. Its deployment in crowded urban indoor environments will enable us to meet user expectations for a consistently high quality of network coverage.”

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  • Singtel lines up $2.94b in credit facilities

    Singtel lines up $2.94b in credit facilities

    Singtel has lined up a total of S$4.1 billion ($2.94 billion) in credit facilities for debt refinancing and general corporate purposes.

    In Singapore, the operator’s subsidiary Singtel Group Treasury has entered into a three-year S$2.5 billion revolving credit facility with 12 banks.

    These include Australia’s ANZ, Bank of America Singapore, BNP Paribas, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Citibank Singapore, DBS Bank, HSBC Singapore, Mizhou Bank, OCBC, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Singapore and United Overseas Bank.

    Singtel’s Australian subsidiary Optus has meanwhile signed a three-year A$1.5 billion ($1.13 billion) credit facility with 15 banks, including local branches many of the above banks as well as Australia’s Westpac and Commonwealth Bank.

    Both credit facilities are guaranteed by the respective operators and certain subsidiaries, Singtel said.

    “The Singtel Group is very pleased with the level of support demonstrated by our bankers in Singapore and Australia, which reflects their confidence in the Singtel Group’s credit quality and business fundamentals.” Singtel group CFO Lim Cheng Cheng said.

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  • Thailand plans to build Bangkok-China-Hong Kong cable

    Thailand plans to build Bangkok-China-Hong Kong cable

    The Thai government is eager to build a new subsea cable linking China, Bangkok and Hong Kong, as part of the efforts to transform Thailand into Southeast Asia’s digital hub.

    The Digital Economy and Society ministry is drawing up a master plan for the cable project, and lso aims to attract foreign investors to the project.

    According to the report, the government is currently in the process of identifying a marine route for the planned cable system.

    Thai cabinet has approved a 5 billion baht ($145.5 million) investment in the system. The investment will be handled by state-owned operator CAT Telecom via the Neutral Gateway Network & Data Center project.

    Investment in the cable forms part of the government’s Thailand 4.0 strategy, which aims to transform the nation’s economy with a focus on digitally-enabled innovation and establish the nation as a digital hub for the wider region.

    As part of this project, the government is also investing in establishing Digital Park Thailand, a planned new digital business economic zone, and has just approved the establishment of he facility along the Eastern Economic Corridor.

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  • APeJ Ethernet switch market grew 21% in Q4

    APeJ Ethernet switch market grew 21% in Q4

    The APeJ Ethernet switch market grew 21% during the fourth quarter, with vendor revenues of $131.23 million, IDC research indicates.

    Increased spending from the enterprise segment due to technology refreshes drove the overall LAN market in Q4 2016.

    There was a significant increase in uptake of L3 and ADC switches in both the enterprise and service provider segments in Q4 2016. Investments in the government, education, telecom, professional services and BFSI were the key drivers for growth this quarter.

    But the router market witnessed a year-on-year decline of 4% to $69.2 million.

    The router market was propped up mainly by investments from the service providers for 4G rollouts and technology refreshes in Q4 2016. Increased uptake of high end router from the service provider segment and the enterprise segment drove the market.

    With the evolving network environment and the huge amount of data available, adoption of advanced analytics in this area is becoming mainstream. This will enable efficient network management for improved performance. Also in 2016, there was an increased uptake of SDN deployments and NFV POCs.

    Cisco continues to be dominant in Q4 2016 with a 65.74% market share, followed by Huawei and HPE. Avaya posted a significant growth in Q4 2016 mostly due to increased investments in the enterprise space.

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  • CTM, csl launch VoLTE roaming between Hong Kong and Macau

    CTM, csl launch VoLTE roaming between Hong Kong and Macau

    Hong Kong’s csl, Macau’s CTM and PCCW Global have jointly launched the first service offering end to end VoLTE and video over LTE calling services between Hong Kong and Macau.

    The new service will be available to mobile customers of the csl, 1O1O and CTM brands at no extra charge. It makes use of csl sister company PCCW Global’s high-speed IP connection between the two markets.

    CTM and csl jointly launched he Call Macau Home Pass voice, data, SMS and video call roaming service last year. The service has a monthly fee of HK$138 ($17.75) or a daily fee of HK$38.

    “CTM was the first telco in Macau launching the VoLTE and ViLTE services last year. This year, we are delighted to have achieved new breakthroughs in the service level through the collaboration with and PCCW Global on a broader horizon,” CTM CEO Vandy Poon said.

    “Upcoming, we will continue to develop our local and roaming services to facilitate Macau’s trade and economic exchange with foreign countries and to promote the diversified development of the Macau economy as well as the enhancement of our customer experience.”

    Former monopoly CTM still dominates the Macau mobile market. Earlier this month, the Macau Business Daily published a collective statement from the operator’s rivals calling on the MSAR government to even the playing field by reducing the cost of leased line access and creating conditions that would encourage investments in competing network infrastructure.

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  • HKBN profit falls 66% in 1H17

    HKBN profit falls 66% in 1H17

    HKBN has reported a 66% decline in net profit for the first quarter of 2017 to HK$46 million ($5.9 million), due in part to investments associated with the operator’s entry into the mobile market as an MVNO.

    But revenue grew 25% to HK$1.53 billion as the company accelerated growth in both its residential and enterprise businesses.

    HKBN said that since the beginning of the financial year, the Hong Kong operator’s residential focus has shifted from subscriber to revenue growth.

    The company traded off a slowdown in broadband net additions – to 21,000 from 38,000 in the same quarter a year earlier – for an improvement in ARPU to HK$192 from HK$166 over the same period.

    Residential revenue accordingly grew 5% year-on-year to HK$941 million, with HKBN increasing its market share to around 37.6% by end-December, from 37.2% as of August 31.

    Enterprise business revenue meanwhile more than doubled to HK$569 million, as a result of the HK$650 million acquisition of New World Telecom (NWT) in March last year. HKBN recorded 1,000 enterprise net additions to take its total base to 51,000, while ARPU was flat at HK$1,467.

    “This interim results mark the beginning of our quad-play harvest,” HKBN CEO William Yeung said.

    “We have a monthly billing relationship with over 870,000 broadband households, representing over one-third of Hong Kong households. We will continue to leverage this to expand from our double-play centric business on broadband and fixed voice to quad-play, which includes OTT and mobile service offerings.”

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  • Jio has India’s fastest average download speeds

    Jio has India’s fastest average download speeds

    India’s newest mobile operator Reliance Jio Infocomm had the fastest average download speeds  during March by a wide margin, according to the latest figures by regulator Trai.

    Jio recorded an average download speed of 16.48Mbps for the quarter, roughly double that of rivals Idea Cellular (8.33Mbps) and Bharti Airtel (7.66Mbps).

    As a 4G-only operator Jio has an inherent advantage in terms of average download speeds.

    Vodafone meanwhile recorded average download speeds of 5.66Mbps, compared to 2.64Mbps for Reliance Communication, 2.52Mbps for Tata DoCoMo, 2.26Mpbs for BSNL and 2.01Mbps for Aircel, Trai’s figures indicate.

    But the findings of the debut report from wireless coverage mapping company OpenSignal into the state of the Indian mobile market appear to contradict the official figures.

    OpenSignal’s analysis indicates that Airtel tops the rankings in terms of average 4G, 3G and overall speeds. The company measured Airtel’s average LTE download speed of 11.5Mbps, and said that both Vodafone and Idea have faster average speeds than Jio, which scored a mere 3.92Mbps.

    But Jio topped the rankings in terms of LTE availability, finding that testers on Jio’s network were able to find a 4G signal 91.6% of the time. No other Indian operator scored higher than 60%.

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  • Hong Kong’s IoT ecosystem taking shape

    Hong Kong’s IoT ecosystem taking shape

    The explosion of internet of things (IoT) has led to the growing need for connecting devices like sensors and actuators. As many IoT devices require relatively low speed and small amounts of data transmission, low power wide area networking (LPWAN) technologies have come onto the scene.

    Like many other countries, LPWAN technologies are getting lots of attention among service providers, hardware manufacturers and enterprises in Hong Kong. The building of LPWAN networks, the manufacture of IoT devices and testing are underway in the city.

    LPWAN technologies

    Compared to cellular or traditional wireless connectivity technologies, LPWAN has lower power requirements and offers a longer range of connectivity and battery life at lower costs.

    They are suited to applications such as city lighting, energy grid and meter management and parking space monitoring. These applications transmit small messages like temperature, movement, battery status and many more in just a few bytes.

    Generally speaking, LPWAN technologies can be separated into two discrete groups—technologies operating in a license spectrum like NB-IoT (narrow band IoT) and those using unlicensed spectrum like LoRaWAN and Sigfox.

    Proposed by 3GPP, NB-IoT leverages existing GSM or LTE cellular networks with software upgrades to existing base stations. More carriers are already moving ahead with NB-IoT functionality in their mobile networks.

    LoRaWAN is driven by semiconductor company Semtech and is supported by the LoRa Alliance. The alliance members include carriers and technology vendors.

    Sigfox is a network owned by the company of the same name, which has teamed up with third-party operators to deploy the network globally. Sigfox uses ultra narrowband, which means lower throughput. LoRaWAN is not as low power as Sigfox but can support higher bandwidth applications.

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  • SKT partners with Bluebell on new business

    SKT partners with Bluebell on new business

    SK Telecom is teaming up with Bluebell Korea, a local subsidiary of luxury goods retailer Bluebell Group, as the mobile carrier seeks to step up on-demand services as part of its business expansion.

    The mobile carrier said Wednesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with Bluebell Korea to cooperate on new business opportunities, by bringing information and communication technologies to the local luxury retail industry.

    Bluebell Group operates luxury brands in Asia and specializes in consulting. The group has eight branches across Asia – in Korea as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan – to distribute products from more than 100 brands. Bluebell Korea distributes luxury goods – from cosmetics to clothes, jewelry, watches and accessories — to duty free shops and shopping malls in Asia.

    Under the deal, the two companies vowed to collaborate to connect offline shoppers over online services.

    For instance, a foreign traveler to Korea may receive the latest information about luxury goods on their smartphone through SK Telecom and shop at stores affiliated with Bluebell. The goods purchased from those shops are embedded with location tracking devices so that shoppers don’t have need to worry about losing them or having them stolen, SK Telecom explains. The top mobile carrier also plans to more actively mobilize its cutting-edge technologies including cloud-based digital signage platform, where information, images and videos about products sold are displayed to respective stores’ need and users may even interact what they see.

    “The luxury industry has so far strictly adhered to the craftsmanship of products and traditional sales channels,” SK Telecom said in a statement. “However, a slowdown in market growth coupled with the rise of young, tech-savvy consumers who are taking up a growing share of luxury spending is driving new changes in the conservative industry.”

    “The convergence between ICT and the luxury retail industry will not only create new business opportunities for both parties but also deliver enhanced value and experience for customers,” said Cha In-hyok, executive vice president and head of the Internet of Things business at SK Telecom.

    The global luxury industry is estimated at 300 trillion won ($263 billion) and its impact on related markets in the clothing and accessories is immense, he added. In this age of digital revolution, fashion and retail also have been undergoing significant changes, applying emerging technologies such as virtual reality, artificially intelligent chatbots and blockchains to their day-to-day operations.

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  • Viettel launches nationwide 4G services

    Viettel launches nationwide 4G services

    Vietnam’s Viettel has launched 4G services across Vietnam after completing a nationwide rollout in just six months.

    The operator has now achieved 95% coverage with its 4G network, and officially launched services on Tuesday.

    The network consists of 36,000 4G base stations using 4-transmit 4-receive (4T4R) technology to improve coverage and capacity, as well as around 320,000km of domestic fiber backbone.

    According to the report, the network delivers average real-world speeds of 30Mbps to 50Mbps, but services will be provided for 40% to 60% cheaper than current 3G services.

    Viettel also plans to offer 4G-capable smartphones for as little as 1.3 million dong ($57.17), and provide free 4G SIM exchanges.

    Vietnam’s deputy prime minister Vu Duc Dam has praised Viettel for achieving the seemingly “impossible” task of launching 4G services nationwide in just six months, and expressed appreciation for the fact that the network incorporates hardware and software researched and produced domestically by Viettel’s engineers.

  • Motorola scores managed mobility win in Australia

    Motorola scores managed mobility win in Australia

    Victoria Police in Australia will adopt a new managed service mobility solution for at least 10,000 police officers across the state.

    The A$50 million ($37.6 million) solution from Motorola Solutions will help increase situational awareness, safety and productivity for frontline officers.

    Motorola Solutions will lead a consortium of service providers to deliver the contract, including Optus, the second largest mobile operator in the country, as well as local IT provider CompNow. The managed service contract will run for a minimum of five years.

    The service will place real-time information at the fingertips of at least 10,000 police officers equipped with iPads and iPhones, helping them manage their daily work more safely, efficiently and productively.

    The solution is designed to help reduce the duplication of data entry by officers while increasing workforce collaboration by sharing vital information between frontline personnel and their colleagues working in control rooms.

    The technology will also help Victoria Police to preserve its mission-critical radio communications for essential emergency communications by removing lower priority traffic from the radio network.

    This investment represents a major goal within Victoria Police’s Capability Plan 2016-2025, which highlights the way the force will transform its service delivery to be more “agile, responsive, people-focussed and connected.”

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