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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.

  • Viu OTT service users hit over 6m in 14 markets

    Viu OTT service users hit over 6m in 14 markets

    PCCW Media said its Viu OTT video service has reached over 6 million active users in one and half year after launch and is driving 3G/4G acquisition and mobile data consumption for its telco partners in the region.

    Speaking at Broadband Forum Asia in Hong Kong Tuesday, Helen Sou, senior vice president and digital media head of OTT at PCCW Media, said Viu is now available in 14 markets in Southeast Asia, Middle East and India and the company is expected to continue to see strong growth in its user base.

    As of February, Viu had 6 million monthly active users, 80% of which were Generation-X with high disposal income and millennials who were receptive to digital ads. These users, Sou said, are highly engaging and valuable viewers, consuming an average of 1.8 hours of content per day or 12 videos per week.

    “These 6 million users are very sticky and consistent. They are not just coming in and leave in two months, they view video quite often and consume quite a long while,” she said.

    “They are valuable users for us, our advertisers and telco partners, because they are willing to spend money, consume data, pay for content and be responsive to digital advertisements.”

    Sou said Viu service has also created quantifiable value for its telcos partners in the region, driving up mobile data usage and 3G/4G customer acquisition in the markets where the service is available.

    “We’ve heard a lot of good things from partners, especial telco partners…In some markets, there are users afraid of buying data plans or either buy low-end data plan, but because of Viu they upgrade their data plans or their smartphones, and in some cases, some extend their Wi-Fi plans from hourly to weekly or migrate to the mobile network,” the executive said.

    Citing statistics from telco partners from one unidentified country, she said the Viu service has helped telcos achieve 3.5GB average monthly mobile data consumption per user and 25% incremental data revenue and APRU growth in three months.

    Launched in October 2015, Viu targets emerging markets with strong potential growth for 4G, where there are expected to have 600 million 4G users in 2020, according to the GSMA.

    The company is currently working with 20 telco partners in the region, including U Mobile, Maxis, TM, Indosat, AIS, Vodafone, Airtel, Digi, Idea Cellular and Singtel.

    According to Sou, OTT video revenue, including subscription revenue and advertising revenue, is expected to grow tremendously in these emerging markets next four years, with Middle East growing at CAGR 33%, India CAGR 62.8% and South East Asia CAGR 27.3%.

    There is also strong potential for OTT video, which is expected to account for around 75% of mobile data traffic, generating 69 exabytes in 2020, compared to 8.5 exabytes of mobile data traffic in 2016, she added.

    Sou said Viu is now a dominant OTT player in the region, attributing its success to good product, localization and good content for the success.

    Instead of Hollywood content, the company started with premium Asian video content – Korean, Bollywood, Japanese and Chinese dramas – and variety shows from over 200 content partners. The company also differentiates with fast local subtitling by promising viewers to deliver popular content as fast as 8 hours after local telecast.

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  • Huawei pushing into public cloud market

    Huawei pushing into public cloud market

    Huawei is entering the public cloud market, placing the company in competition with AliCloud, AWS and other major global public cloud providers.

    At the Huawei Global Analyst Summit in Shenzhen yesterday, Huawei said it will work with industry partners to promote ten scenario-specific cloud services covering HPC Cloud, SAP Cloud, IoT Cloud and other common scenarios.

    “Cloud technology is becoming the new growth engine as digital transformations accelerate,” Huawei president of cloud business unit and IT product line Zheng Yelai said at the event.

    “Huawei has continued to step up its R&D, one result culminating in the cloud service offering. Huawei has become the preferred partner for many of the world’s top customers and will continue to provide high-quality cloud services with our partners as we persist in building a healthy ecology in the sector.”

    The vendor is establishing a dedicated cloud division with 2,000 staff and last month launched 54 full-stack public cloud services in ten categories. Huawei said since the launch it has attracted customers in China, Europe, North America, Latin America and the South Pacific.

    Huawei is also working with operators including China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica to provide tailored public cloud services to their respective customers.

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  • Singtel’s Amobee completes acquisition of Turn

    Singtel’s Amobee completes acquisition of Turn

    Singtel has enhanced its digital marketing capabilities with the acquisition of marketing technology platform provider Turn.

    Singtel’s Amobee digital marketing arm has acquired Turn to provide the ability to offer an end-to-end advertising and data management platform for marketing companies worldwide.

    The platform will cover all channels, formats and devices and also provide access to Amobee Brand Intelligence analytics and insights.

    “The acquisition of Turn underscores Singtel’s commitment to grow and scale Amobee to become a global digital marketing leader,” Singtel Group Digital Life CEO Samba Natarajan said.

    “The powerful combination of Amobee and Turn addresses the rapidly changing digital marketing landscape. Together, we will bring marketers the most innovative, efficient, and data-driven approach to better understand and reach their customers, and enhance the way they engage them on a global scale,” added Amobee CEO Kim Perrel.

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  • Australia’s TPG to enter local mobile market

    Australia’s TPG to enter local mobile market

    Fast-growing Australian fixed line operator TPG Telecom has bid A$1.26 billion ($944.8 million) to acquire 2×10 MHz of valuable 700-MHz spectrum, and plans to build its own mobile network using the bandwidth.

    TPG has revealed plans to spend A$600 million over three years to deploy a mobile network that covers 80% of the Australian population.

    As well as its imminent 700-MHz holdings, TPG also holds spectrum in the 1.8-GHz and 2.5-GHz bands. The operator plans to deploy a network consisting of around 2,000 to 2,500 sites, and use its extensive 21,000km fiber network as backhaul.

    TPG currently operates as an MVNO over Vodafone Australia’s network, but now plans to invest in deploying its own network. The company estimates it can break even with around 500,000 subscribers.

    CEO David Teoh said TPG expects to have several advantages over incumbent operators Telstra, Optus and Vodafone due to the ability to operate fewer mobile towers and deploy advanced mobile technology on its network, without the requirement to support legacy equipment and networking standards.

    “We believe that our mobile strategy will be complementary to our ongoing fixed line business, with the ability to bundle mobile and fixed services expected to have a beneficial effect on our already low fixed services customer churn,” he said.

    TPG was also recently selected to become Singapore’s fourth mobile operator after bidding S$105 million ($74.8 million) for a license and spectrum, and last week successfully bid S$23.8 million for 10 MHz of 2500-MHz spectrum.

    The Australian 700-MHz auction raised more than A$1.5 billion – significantly higher than the A$857 million reserve price – with Vodafone Australia also securing 2x5MHz of spectrum for A$285.9 million.

    The licenses will commence in April 2018 and expire at the end of 2029.

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  • M1 launches cross-border mobile remittance

    M1 launches cross-border mobile remittance

    Singapore’s M1has launched new cross-border digital mobile remittance supporting transfers to multiple APAC destinations.

    The service named M1 Remit is available to users of M1 mobile phone numbers holding valid NRIC/FIN/Work Passes in Singapore.

    Users of the service can access real time exchange rates and remit funds to their designated recipients anytime, anywhere, through a mobile app or a browser on their smart device.

    Unlike typical remittance services where customers have to queue at a physical outlet to deposit funds, payments for M1 Remit transactions can be made at any one of the 915 AXS machines located in shopping malls, office buildings and other sites islandwide using an ATM card.

    Customers who do not have bank accounts or ATM cards can opt to make cash payment at M1’s IMM and Paragon outlets in Singapore, after completing a one-time verification process.

    Recipients will be able to cash out as quickly as within an hour of the transaction from over 23,000 cash agents and 640 banks available at the various destinations.

    M1 Remit currently offers eight remittance destinations – Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the Philippines. Thailand, Vietnam, and other remittance destinations will be made available progressively. For a limited time, M1 Remit is also waiving the remittance fee to these destinations.

    “M1 Remit offers a wholly digital experience for money remittance. Nobody likes to queue, and now our customers can skip the queue and make better use of their time with and M1 Remit – Singapore’s most convenient, secure and cost-effective way to remit funds to their loved ones,” M1 chief innovation officer Alex Tan said.

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  • 3 Hong Kong upgrading network to prepare for 5G

    3 Hong Kong upgrading network to prepare for 5G

    Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holding’s mobile division 3 Hong Kong has teamed up with Huawei to upgrade its mobile network in preparation for the 5G era.

    The operator is adopting five component carrier aggregation (5CC CA) using its extensive spectrum holdings across the 1800-MHz, 2100-MHz, 2300-MHz and 2600-MHz bands with both FDD and TDD technology.

    Huawei will also upgrade the network to support 4×4 MIMO and 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) technology, to enable 3 Hong Kong to provide customers with data download speeds of over 1.2Gbps.

    In addition to these 4.5G technologies, 3 Hong Kong has started planning for the deployment of 4G technologies based on network cloudification.

    The partners have already deployed Huawei’s CloudEdge technology on the 3 Hong Kong core network and are now applying CloudRAN technology to the wireless access network. The operator also plans to adopt Huawei’s CloudAIR air interface cloud technology.

    A Massive MIMO base station has also been built in Causeway Bay to conduct field tests of the 5G technology, and 3 Hong Kong plans to continue the deployment of Massive MIMO in key locations within the year.

    “As we move towards the 5G and IoT era, 3 Hong Kong is actively deploying 5G technologies and upgrading its existing network architecture,” HTHKH executive director and CEO Cliff Woo Chiu-man said.

    “In addition to using CA technology with 5CC, we have conducted research and carried out trials for various technologies, such as small cell installations, network cloudification, NFV and Massive MIMO towards the 5G era. These  efforts will enable the timely launch of services to meet market demand as soon as the 5G  standard and Hong Kong’s spectrum plans are confirmed.”

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  • Australia’s nbn trials Nokia’s universal GPON tech

    Australia’s nbn trials Nokia’s universal GPON tech

    Australia’s nbn, the company in charge of rolling out the National Broadband Network, has achieved 102Gbps aggregate speeds during a lab trial of Nokia’s universal NG-PON fiber technology.

    Universal NG-PON (next-generation passive optical network) combines TWDM-PON (time wavelength division multiplexing PON), XGS-PON (10 gigabit symmetrical PON) and GPON (gigabit PON) technology on the same fiber to support blazing fast speeds.

    It is designed to serve as a simple upgrade path to the current fiber technology used in FTTP deployments, saving the time and additional costs associated with laying new fiber.

    During the trial at Nokia’s Melbourne laboratory, nbn tested TWDM-PON with 40Gbps symmetrical, XGS-PON with 10Gbps symmetrical and GPON with 2.5Gbps, achieving aggregate download and upload speeds of over 102Gbps over a single shared access fiber.

    “Our successful trial of NG-PON2 technology with Nokia is another example of our ongoing commitment to continually develop the capabilities and speed of the nbn network,” nbn CTO Dennis Steiger said.

    “While we continue to deploy the nbn network at pace with over 2 million end-users now receiving nbn services and nearly 5 million able to order a service, we also have a very sharp focus on the future. The NG-PON2 trials we have conducted with Nokia have shown us the huge potential this very exciting technology has in terms of helping us deliver on our future bandwidth and capacity requirements.”

    But the current government’s decision to abandon the previous government’s plan to use FTTP for around 93% of connections, in favor of a multi-technology mix incorporating last-mile copper technology purchased from incumbent operator Telstra, complicates the potential upgrade path to the new technology.

  • Cloud boom fuels demand for identity-as-a-service

    Cloud boom fuels demand for identity-as-a-service

    The rising adoption of cloud computing, especially among small and medium organizations, is fueling demand for new identity and access management business models such as Identity as a Service (IDaaS), Frost & Sullivan said.

    IDaaS will strike a balance between on-premise and cloud identity management, as well as significantly lower the cost of ownership of IAM solutions.

    The research firm noted that IAM challenges are more business-centric than technology-centric. Segments such as administration, authentication and auditing are developing technologies to improve service accuracy and cost efficiency.

    Emerging services like Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) are contributing heavily to the growth of IAM technologies.

    “The shifting of enterprise solutions to the cloud has created a complex architecture that requires more advanced IAM solutions than the ones currently offered by traditional identity management vendors,” noted Frost & Sullivan TechVision Industry Analyst Swapnadeep Nayak.

    “The emergence of IDaaS has proven beneficial to enterprises, as it will assist with regulatory compliance, reduce the expenses involved in extending on-premise solutions to the cloud, and support the same features as enterprises’ legacy systems.”

    As most of the recent IT trends have been mobile centric, IAM solution providers need to ensure their innovations are mobile friendly to attract the attention of enterprises. Supporting cross-platform visualization and advanced analytics, as well as portable biometric technology, will give a huge boost to technology adoption rates.

    “Biometric authentication is a key area that is experiencing significant technology development, especially with regard to accuracy levels of validation and flexibility of usage,” noted Nayak. “Analytics is also growing rapidly due to the emergence of futuristic solutions like neural networks and machine learning.”

  • China Unicom parent seeks private investment

    China Unicom parent seeks private investment

    China Unicom’s parent company China United Network Communications plans to open up to private investors in response to government pressure to reform the ownership structure and competitiveness of the market’s big three operators.

    The company plans to welcome in a strategic private sector investor as part of a pilot designed to evaluate having subsidiary China Unicom operate more like a private company.

    China Unicom itself is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange along with rivals China Mobile and China Telecom, but China United Network Communications owns a controlling 75.9% stake in the company.

    As the least profitable of China’s big three operators – Unicom reported a 94.1% slump in net profit for 2016 – the government has selected Unicom to pilot the mixed ownership reform model.

    The operator has already taken steps towards becoming a leaner, more competitive company. Unicom cut its planned capex budget to 45 billion yuan ($6.52 billion), from 72.1 billion yuan last year, to ensure it has the resources needed to fund its 5G rollout once the technology launches.

    The pilot of a mixed ownership model forms part of the government’s wider plans for state-owned enterprise reform. The government has previously announced that substantial reforms will be needed across seven industries including the telecoms sector.

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  • Trai cracks down on Jio’s free service offers

    Trai cracks down on Jio’s free service offers

    Indian telecoms regulator Trai has finally ordered an end to disruptive new operator Reliance Jio Infocomm’s practice of offering free services to customers as promotional exercises.

    The regulator has instructed Jio to withdraw its Summer Surprise offer, which would have entitled new customers to three months of free services upon making their first recharge payment of at least 303 rupees ($4.70).

    The regulator has declared that the offer does not fit with India’s regulatory framework covering promotions, which places limits on the duration that discounts can be offered.

    Jio has announced it will comply fully with the order, but that customers who have already signed up for the offer will remain eligible.

    Jio’s latest offer follows an initial promotion providing completely free services that had run for three months, and was subsequently expanded for a further three. This aggressive strategy helped the operator sign up over 100 million customers  in less than six months of commercial operation.

    Rival operators had objected to the offer extension, but Jio had insisted that the second offer represented an entirely new promotion and so did not violate the regulations limiting promotions. At the time, Trai sided with Jio, but this latest decision indicates that the regulator’s patience is wearing thin.

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  • NBTC may require OTTs to secure licenses

    NBTC may require OTTs to secure licenses

    Thai telecoms regulator NBTC is considering requiring OTT communications service providers to secure an operating license and an internet bandwidth fee to ensure a more level playing field between OTT players and telecoms operators.

    NBTC secretary general Takorn Tantasith told that a fee could be imposed on OTT services by 2018.

    Initially OTT services running over mobile networks could also be expected to secure an operating license from the NBTC and pay a value-added tax the same as traditional businesses, he said.

    He said the regulator is making the move to reflect the dramatic increases in revenues generated by OTT providers and the strain demand for services such as YouTube places on mobile networks and accordingly operator revenues.

    The NBTC plans to hold an open forum to discuss the issue in Bangkok in September, and will invite representatives from all telecoms regulators in the Asean region, as well as 50 operators across the region and the major OTT service providers.

    The NBTC’s decision was motivated by a meeting of the Asean Telecommunication Regulators’ Council focused on the challenges OTT services pose to business ecosystems.

  • PCCW Global, Keppel launch ICX in HK

    PCCW Global, Keppel launch ICX in HK

    Hong Kong based PCCW Global has teamed up with Keppel Data Centres to launch a joint international carrier exchange (ICX) in Hong Kong.

    The PCCW Global-Keppel International Carrier Exchange has more than 7,800 square feet of dedicated network facility management space.

    It is located in the same building as the Hong Kong point of presence for the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) subsea cable and connects to the subsea cable landing station of Hong Kong hyper scale data centers via PCCW Global parent HKT’s extensive domestic fiber network.

    PCCW Global and Keppel Data Centres entered into a long-term agreement covering the development of the ICX last year. It aims to use the region’s subsea cable capacity to provide fast and robust connections to Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America.

    The partners said the initiative is ultimately aimed at addressing the demand for access performance and network security arising from cloud services, big data, and rich media in business critical applications

    “We are very pleased to see the exciting ICX opening which highlights our very positive relationship with (Keppel Data Centres parent company) Keppel T&T,” PCCW Global CEO Marc Halbfinger said.

    “Our customers and carrier partners now have more low-latency Hong Kong Island choice in accessing digital solutions for responding to the increasing cloud adoption in the region.”

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  • Japan’s EneCom expanding 100G OTN

    Japan’s EneCom expanding 100G OTN

    Japan’s top utility communications provider, Energia Communications (EneCom), has contracted Nokia to support a 100Gbps optical network rollout in Chugoku.

    The operator will deploy a cutting-edge OTN integrated with 100G/200G coherent technology covering the cities of Okayama and Hiroshima.

    Under the contract, Nokia will supply a photonic service switch to support ultra-wideband wavelength routing and switching to help EneCom meet its unpredictable traffic demands.

    EneCom also plans to use the new network to provide protection during natural disasters, due to the real-time optical fiber supervision technology which is able to monitor and locate fiber breakage.

    “We are committed to continue offering our subscribers reasonable, reliable, and high-quality services,” EneCom CEO Satoshi Kumagai said.

    “To do so, we need to meet the huge increase in traffic driven by cloud-based services, WiFi offloads, rich video content and the future demands of IoT and 5G. The disaster recovery function will provide stable services even during natural disasters.”

    “As Japan is exposed to many earthquakes and typhoons, the region requires infrastructure that can automatically reroute services upon failure and provide geographic redundancy,” Nokia Japan head Jae Won added.

    “Our solution including the 1830 PSS allows for a simple and robust operation model based on integrated fiber monitoring. This, along with a fully flexible optical transport system and end-to-end network management, is the ideal fit for EneCom’s upcoming service deployment.”

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  • Mobitel appoints Nalin Perera as CEO

    Mobitel appoints Nalin Perera as CEO

    Sri Lankan mobile operator Mobitel has appointed Nalin Perera as its CEO. Perera started his career at Mobitel in 2001 as general manager of marketing and was later promoted to the positions of senior general manager of marketing and senior general manager of contact center operations respectively. He also held the position of CMO and took over the responsibilities of COO at Mobitel in 2015.

    Commenting on the appointment, Mobitel said Perera’s strong track record “makes him the natural choice to lead the company on a forward momentum to the next phase of its evolution.”

    “He brings to the table strong insights into product and channel development, human resource management and more importantly, his understanding of the telecommunication industry as a whole, apart from his expertise in mobile telephony. His contribution to Mobitel has earned the company many accolades, including several local and international awards.”

    Perera brings 30 years of experience in mobile industry to his CEO role. He commenced his career in mobile telephony with Celltel in 1989, and led the introduction of the prepaid concept to Sri Lanka and its entire supportive ecosystem, which revolutionized the mobile industry and was the main contributor for the rapid growth in the sector in the country.

    BT appoints James Hennah to head Southeast Asia operations

    BT has appointed James Hennah as managing director for its South East Asia operations. He succeeds Ron Totton, who has recently taken on a new role as vice president in charge of BT’s operations in Switzerland, Nordics, Central & Eastern Europe and Russia (SNCR).

    Hennah will lead BT’s South East Asia team from Singapore, focusing mainly on Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.

    Hennah joined BT in 1997, and was most recently CEO for BT’s global Media & Broadcast business and MD of carrier, channel and MVNO sales in BT’s Wholesale & Ventures division.

    Mark Russell to have an expanded role as MD of GCX International

    Mark Russell, president of Europe at Global Cloud Xchange (GCX), is expanding his role at the company after working for the Reliance Communications subsidiary for two years.

    Russell will take over the role as managing director of GCX International in charge of the company’s global sales across all segments, while continue to working for the company as president of Europe, GCX said Wednesday in announcing the appointment.

    Russell joined GCX in 2015 as president of Europe, where he has been instrumental in building the company’s capabilities and driving organic and inorganic growth across GCX’s European footprint, the company added.

    Russell has over 25 years of telecoms and technology experience. Prior to joining GCX, he had held senior management roles at companies including NetApp, UK software company Empower Interactive and MCI (now Verizon Business).

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  • China Telecom, Huawei hold NB-IoT symposium

    China Telecom, Huawei hold NB-IoT symposium

    China Telecom and Huawei co-hosted a symposium in Shenzhen yesterday aimed at exploring the potential of narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) technology in smart city applications.

    The symposium attracted participants from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) as well as representatives from industries including water, gas, smart meters and other fields.

    Attendees were told that the wide coverage and massive simultaneous connection capabilities of NB-IoT meke it ideally suited for deployment in smart city areas including water and gas management, street lighting and car parking.

    “NB-IoT-based Smart Water and Smart Gas are the main components in Smart City, fully exhibiting the informatization level in the public service provisioning sector of a city,” China Telecom GM of government and enterprise Sun Jian commented.

    “China Telecom and Huawei have initiated together pilot NB-IoT applications on Smart Water and Smart Gas with industry partners, including Shenzhen Water and Shenzhen Gas. Through comprehensive cooperation on standards formulation, technological research, network construction, service development, business model exploration, and associated aspects, all parties wish to jointly promote informatization construction for water and gas industries.”

    Huawei president of marketing and solutions Zhang Shunmao added that Huawei is currently shipping 200,000 NB-IoT capable chips per month, and expects to increase this to 1 million per month in the future.

    This year the company is also scheduled to deploy more than 30 NB-IoT networks for Smart City applications – particularly for public service provisioning – in over 20 countries this year.

    Separately, IoT provider Thinxtra has announced a partnership with Hong Kong wireless technology company Victory Concept to develop IoT devices for Asia-Pacific enterprises to implement using the low-power-wide area (LPWA) Sigfox network.

    Thinxtra recently announced plans to deploy a Sigfox network throughout Hong Kong by June. The devices will also be compatible with Sigfox networks in 32 countries worldwide.

    “The Thinxtra network will offer companies and researchers in Hong Kong the chance to create new products and services based on IoT. We believe that Hong Kong has the potential to be a world-leading IoT design and manufacturing hub,” Thinxtra Asia MD Murray Hankinson said.

    “With the skills and facilities to provide a reliable supply of high-quality, low-cost devices in Hong Kong, Victory Concept is helping us create the right conditions for IoT innovation to flourish here and spread around Asia Pacific and to the world.”