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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.

  • Oracle, Fujitsu launch public cloud services in Japan

    Oracle, Fujitsu launch public cloud services in Japan

    Fujitsu and Oracle Japan have launched Oracle Cloud Platform services, including Oracle Database Cloud Service, via a Fujitsu data center, a first for Japan.

    Oracle and Fujitsu have a long history of collaboration when it comes to processors, servers, and software. This synergy now extends to the data center, where Oracle’s cloud services will be available locally to Japanese customers backed by Fujitsu.

    Fujitsu has the largest number of Oracle-certified Oracle Cloud engineers in Japan, and offers a coordinated portfolio of services to assist in the deployment and operations of Oracle Public Cloud, to help organizations build new modern cloud-based solutions and transition their enterprise systems, including mission-critical operations, to the cloud.

    Fujitsu and Oracle formed a strategic alliance in July last year, based on a strategic collaboration to deliver enterprise-grade, world-class cloud services to customers in Japan and their subsidiaries around the world.

    Together with making Oracle Public Cloud services available from Fujitsu’s robust and reliable data center in Japan, can now be used as part of Fujitsu Cloud Service K5, Fujitsu’s public cloud service.

    “The Oracle Cloud Platform running in Fujitsu’s Japan datacenter alongside Fujitsu Cloud Service K5 DB powered by Oracle Cloud is a natural continuation of the three decade history Oracle and Fujitsu have working together to help customers achieve competitive advantage,” said Edward Screven, Chief Corporate Architect, Oracle.

    “By combining Fujitsu’s system integration expertise with Oracle’s cloud services, Fujitsu and Oracle will accelerate the transition of our joint customers’ enterprise systems to cloud.”

    Oracle Cloud offers a complete range of public cloud services across SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Oracle Cloud Platform, which includes Oracle’s analytics, application development, data management, and integration services, has experienced steady growth, adding thousands of customers in fiscal 2017.

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  • Nokia forms smart city alliance with Tianfu New Area

    Nokia forms smart city alliance with Tianfu New Area

    Nokia has signed an agreement with the Tianfu New Area Chengdu Administrative Committee to collaborate on digital city development.

    Under the agreement, both parties will collaborate on the construction of a data center and related telecoms infrastructure, deploy an IoT trial network in the city and jointly incubate IoT applications and devices.

    The partnership will also involve the deployment of an end-to-end optical network in the Tianfu New Area of Chengdu – one of the three most populous cities in Western China with an urban population of over 10.1 million.

    “The TianFu New Area development project presents an exciting opportunity to build a smart city – or actually a smart region – from the ground up,” Nokia president of Greater China Mike Wang said.

    “The communications network will serve as the brain and nervous system of the smart city, and we welcome the opportunity to apply Nokia’s technology and know-how to the challenge of building the digital infrastructure that will support this groundbreaking effort.”

    Nokia will be following its Smart City Playbook strategy for the project. This strategy was launched in late 2016 and outlines best practices for smart cities.

    The agreement also marks a key development in Nokia’s efforts to expand its customer base outside of the traditional telecoms sphere.

    The Tianfu New Area modernization project was launched in late 2011. It covers three cities, seven counties and 37 towns and villages.

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  • Viettel plans to expand to Indonesia, Nigeria

    Viettel plans to expand to Indonesia, Nigeria

    Vietnam’s Viettel is reportedly eyeing a foray into Indonesia and Nigeria as part of its international expansion drive.

    The military-run operator’s Viettel Global subsidiary is planning to enter the two markets due to their large populations.

    As of June last year, Indonesia had a population of 258 million while Nigeria had a population of 187 million. Viettel expects that this large addressable market will help establish the conditions that would allow it to expand to other markets in the future.

    Viettel Global had a combined 24 million subscribers in nine overseas markets – Laos, Cambodia, East Timor, Cameroon, Haiti, Mozambique, Burundi, Peru, and Tanzania. The company reported revenue of $1.04 billion last year and is targeting $1.3 billion in revenue this year.

    Viettel is also moving to enter the Myanmar market, having won the tender to be the 49%-owned partner to a consortium of local ICT companies that will become the market’s fourth operator.

    But the company is facing tough competition in Africa from rivals such as Orange, MTN, Movistar, Claro, Digicel, and Axiata.

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  • Robi completes LTE trial in Dhaka

    Robi completes LTE trial in Dhaka

    Bangladesh’s Robi Axiata is gearing up to launch 4G services after completing a successful trial of the technology in conjunction with Ericsson.

    The operator conducted an LTE demonstration using a combination of 1800-MHz and 2100-MHz spectrum in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, achieving download speeds of over 90Mbps.

    Ericsson provided cutting-edge base station, radio units and baseband technologies for the trial, the companies said.

    The demonstration was also intended to explore how the technology can help facilitate adoption of high-speed broadband applications including HDTV and videoconferencing.

    “Although there are some barriers to the adoption of 4G/LTE technology such as low penetration of compatible smartphones, we recognize and appreciate our customers’ growing demand for high speed internet which can only be served using this technology,” Robi Axiata CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said.

    “Unfortunately, we feel the licensing framework proposed by the government make the business case for 4G unviable in Bangladesh. However, we are very keen on introducing this technology in our telecom market considering the customers’ interest… We hope the government will kindly consider revising the licensing framework to make it more enabling for 4G business.”

    Last month, Bangladesh’s regulator prepared its guidelines for the proposed 4G licensing regime for the nation.

    These include requiring operators to pay a 15% gross revenue share – compared to 5.5% for 2G and 3G services – as well as a 150 million taka ($1.8 million) 15-year license fee and a further 75 million taka in annual fees.

    Bangladesh is the only country among its neighbors to have yet to introduce 4G services.

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  • Cisco to buy Viptela for $610m

    Cisco to buy Viptela for $610m

    Cisco’s has announced plans to acquire Viptela and combine the San-Jose-based vendor’s SD-WAN technology with its own efforts, moving further toward a software model that produces more reliably recurring revenue.

    SD-WAN is emerging as this year’s big networking, taking the fabric of software defined networking and turning it into an enterprise-focused product.

    SD-WANs promise to redefine the way enterprises build and operate their wide area networks, making it easier to to hook up branch locations, data centers, and company headquarters with flexible infrastructure.

    Cisco will be paying $610 million in cash and assumed equity awards for the acquisition. Viptela’s talent will join the company’s Enterprise Routing team, working with them to enhance Cisco’s SD-WAN technology with their own.  The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2017.

  • Axiata taps Thaicom satellite to connect remote areas of Indonesia

    Axiata taps Thaicom satellite to connect remote areas of Indonesia

    The deal allows Axiata Business Services to purchase the remaining capacity on the IPSTAR-1 broadband satellite so that its operating company, PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL), can deliver more than one gigabit per second of High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capacity for broadband services in Indonesia.

    Axiata Business Services will use up to seven Ku-band shaped and spot beams on IPSTAR-1 located at 119.5 degree east to provide services including broadband access directly to residential and enterprise premises.

    “We are leveraging Thaicom’s capabilities in Asia to grow our enterprise business quickly and flexibly while providing reliable broadband services to all potential customers, regardless of location,” said Axiata group chief business operations officer Asri Hassan Sabri.

    “Where terrestrial-based connectivity is limited or unavailable, HTS connectivity serves as an enabler to unlock the digital ecosystem for new market opportunities,” he said. “As the world’s first-ever HTS, launched in 2005, Thaicom’s IPSTAR helps us connect users in remote and underserved areas of Indonesia cost-effectively. We are confident that the partnership will enable us to continue to grow our business faster without infrastructure limitations.”

    XL chief executive Dian Siswarini noted that many areas and islands in Indonesia are still without Internet access.

    “We believe the availability of HTS will help us to cover these unserved areas with considerable economic potential. On top of that, it will enable us to support the local community’s economic growth and the Indonesian government’s vision to accelerate the national development of digital economy across Indonesia.”

    Thaicom chief commercial officer Patompob Suwansiri thanked Axiata for its “trust” in inking the deal.

    “We are committed to working with leading mobile-network operators throughout Asia-Pacific to facilitate the growth of wireless broadband and other digital services in remote and underserved areas.”

  • 25 cellcos test 5G in Q1, says GSA

    25 cellcos test 5G in Q1, says GSA

    The GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) has said that in the first quarter alone at least 25 operators from 15 countries have demonstrated 5G technologies, or announced 5G tests, or trials.

    And 18 operators are currently committed to the implementation of services based on pre-standards 5G technology by or before 2019, says the GSA quarterly “Evolution from LTE to 5G” report.

    Although the GSA does not name all the specific pre-5G operators within the report, it does mention Etisalat, Telia Sonera, TIM and Verizon as four examples.

    A further 26 operators are trialling, deploying or planning LTE-Advanced Pro networks exhibiting multiple Rel-13 features such as those related to carrier aggregation, modulation scheme, MIMO, latency and MCPTT (mission-critical push-to-talk).

    An important milestone was reached in March 2017 when the 3GPP agreed on an intermediate target for early completion of Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G NR mode for enhanced mobile broadband. NSA mode anchors connections in 3G, using 5G NR carriers to augment data rates and reduce latency where needed. It was agreed to work towards finalization of the NSA standard by March 2018.

    At the same time, the group said it was still committed to completing the standard for Standalone (SA) 5G NR mode by September 2018. In February 2017, a large group of operators and vendors had lent their public support to this new approach, expressing the view that it will enable standards-based field trials to begin in 2019.

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  • DoCoMo wins Indian court case over TTSL exit

    DoCoMo wins Indian court case over TTSL exit

    India’s Delhi High Court has found in favor of Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and local holding company Tata Sons in their dispute with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) over an international arbitration settlement.

    With the verdict DoCoMo will be entitled to collect the $1.18 billion award reached in a settlement agreement in the London Court of International Arbitration, associated with DoCoMo’s planned exit of the Tata DoCoMo Indian telecoms joint venture.

    When DoCoMo first entered the joint venture in 2008 via an investment in Tata Teleservices, it was with the condition that the operator would be entitled to sell its stake in the venture at a predetermined sum if it chose to leave the venture.

    DoCoMo attempted to exercise this option in 2014 after the joint venture failed to perform as desired, and when Tata Sons failed to find a buyer the holding company applied to the RBI to make the acquisition.

    But the RBI blocked the transaction on the grounds that it violates Indian regulations restricting the sale of shares at a price higher than market value.

    DoCoMo entered international arbitration with Tata Sons and Tata Teleservices in an attempt to break this deadlock, and the court awarded DoCoMo with $1.17 billion in damages.

    But the RBI objected to this transaction, and DoCoMo accordingly brought the case before the Delhi High Court. DoCoMo and Tata entered a settlement agreement in February, but the RBI once again sought to block the enforcement of this agreement on the grounds that it would be circumventing Indian regulations.

    Tata Sons was required to deposit the $1.18 billion with the court while the case was being held. The settlement can now be transferred to DoCoMo in exchange for the operator’s shares in Tata Teleservices..

  • Ericsson, MTS test new 5G features

    Ericsson, MTS test new 5G features

    Ericsson have built a prototype 5G network and completed a successful test of new radio network features.

    The scope of the trial covered features such as massive and multi-user MIMO (multiple input multiple output), beam tracking and dynamic TDD (time division duplex), concepts and technologies that are available in Ericsson’s commercial portfolio, and included stationary and mobile test cases.

    The prototype system comprises a base station with integrated multiple antennas and two sets of user equipment, and is located in Moscow.

    The massive and multi-user MIMO features are based on hardware including up to 512 smart antennas with integrated transceivers per cell, which significantly improves throughput for subscribers.

    Also, the multi-user MIMO feature enables operators to serve multiple subscribers in one sector of a cell with the same spectrum, and thus increase the efficiency of frequency use and the cell capacity.

    “With a scalable and dynamic 5G network as a base, an array of new services and revenue streams will be available to operators,” said Hannes Ekstrom, head of customer unit MTS in Europe & Latin America. “It will enable the automation and business transformation required for the Internet of Things, as well as services like virtual and augmented reality.”

    Ericsson and MTS plan to further develop the 5G prototype system to an extended 5G demo zone in time for the 2018 international soccer competition in Russia.

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  • Singapore leads region by online video consumption

    Singapore leads region by online video consumption

    Singaporeans lead the region in online video consumption, spending two hours every day tuning into video content, according to the results from a new YouTube Consumer Insights study conducted by Google Singapore and Kantar TNS.

    The survey of 1,035 Singaporeans aged 16 to 60 found that 78% of Singaporeans are turning to YouTube as their first stop for their daily dose of video. And perhaps not surprisingly, 6 in 10 agree that they visit YouTube for one video and end up looking at others.

    The study also found that Singaporeans are watching videos away from a desktop, with more than half of YouTube watch-time originating from mobile devices. Moreover, more than half are finding more content that they want to watch on YouTube than on TV, according to the study.

    Google pointed to recent research that it conducted with Ipsos that found attention to paid advertising on YouTube is 84% higher than advertising on TV. In addition, 95% of video ads on YouTube are also played with sound on, ensuring brands’ messages reach their audiences as intended.

    There is no question that the popularity of online video is at an all-time high; Google says that the hours of YouTube content uploads from Singapore has doubled compared to the previous year.

    “YouTube is popular with Singaporeans of all ages – who come to YouTube for entertainment, education, shopping and much more. With Singaporeans using YouTube to search for products, businesses looking to grow should use YouTube to tell their story and build their brands,” said Joanna Flint, country director of Google Singapore.

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  • VoIP and SIP trunking revenues growing strongly

    VoIP and SIP trunking revenues growing strongly

    The benefits of VoIP access and SIP trunking services are prompting enterprise customers to transition to fully converged, IP-based networks, without having to overhaul existing IT networks, according to Frost & Sullivan.

    The research firm forecasts that market revenue will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.5% from 2015 to 2020, and a user base at a CAGR of 18.1%.

    Businesses aiming to lower operational expenditure and obtain significant returns on investments are being drawn to SIP trunking’s attractively priced services, layered with value additions such as voicemail, mobility and collaboration tools.

    Disruptive pricing, packaging, feature/functionality and business models within the existing VoIP access and SIP trunking market, as well as the emerging Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) space, are accelerating adoption among enterprises and heating up competition among service providers.

    “There are significant opportunities for providers of IP-based voice access to build on current successes and branch out into the emerging CPaaS arena,” said Frost & Sullivan Digital Transformation Industry Analyst Michael Brandenburg.

    “CPaaS offerings are emerging as an on-demand alternative to traditional communications services, prompting companies to build, buy or partner, to enable an application program interface (API)-level integration with voice services.”

    While the current adoption of CPaaS is largely limited to app developers and aggressive startups, customer demand for multiple ways to communicate with businesses, including voice, video and text messages will drive adoption among larger enterprises as well.

    “This is the right time for service providers to penetrate the emerging CPaaS arena through mergers and acquisitions that add breadth and depth to the existing portfolio and customer base,” noted Brandenburg.

    “Targeting competitors such as start-up CPaaS providers and API developers will provide complementary network footprint and service capabilities, helping the market grow significantly.”

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  • Nokia narrows losses for Q1

    Nokia narrows losses for Q1

    Nokia has reported a first quarter net loss of €435 million ($472.7 million), an improvement from the €712 million loss recorded in the same quarter a year earlier.

    Operating profit actually grew 9% year-on-year during the quarter, but net profit was impacted by higher operating expenses accrued as the company invested in digital health and digital media businesses and faced increasing licensing-related litigation costs.

    Revenue declined by a lower than expected 4% to €5.38 billion, with the revenue decline in Nokia’s networks business slowing to 6% from 14% in the previous quarter.

    Networks revenue fell to €4.9 billion, with ultra broadband networks accounting for €3.59 billion of this total and IP networks and applications making up most of the remainder.

    Nokia Technologies revenue grew 25% year-on-year to €247 million, mostly due to higher patent and brand licensing income and the acquisition of French consumer electronics company Withings in June last year.

    “Nokia’s first quarter 2017 results demonstrated our improving business momentum, even if some challenges remain,” Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri said.

    “We slowed the rate of topline decline and generated healthy orders in what is typically a seasonally weak quarter for us. We also continued to see expansion of cross-selling across our full portfolio, delivered excellent gross margins and improved group-level profitability.”

    Suri said he is cautiously optimistic about Nokia’s performance in the year ahead, and expects to meet its guidance of ahieving a profit for the full year.

    But net sales for the year are expected to decline in line with the expected “low single digit percentage” decline in the primary addressable market for the company’s networks business.

  • NBN achieves 1.1Gbps speeds in fixed wireless trial

    NBN achieves 1.1Gbps speeds in fixed wireless trial

    Australia’s nbn, the state-owned company building the National Broadband Network, has achieved speeds of over 1Gbps during a trial of fixed wireless technology.

    The company used carrier aggregation to combine seven 3.4-GHz carriers with four in the 2.3-GHz bands, achieving a downlink speed of 1.1Gbps and upstream speeds of 165Mbps.

    Using a range of various carriers across the two bands, nbn also demonstrated trial peek speeds of 400Mbps/55Mbps, 250Mbps/50Mbps and 100Mbps/400Mbps.

    The fastest 1.1Gbps speed was achieved by using three next generation Wireless Network Termination Devices (WNTDs) while the others were achieved with a single such device.

    The trial was conducted with Ericsson, NetComm Wireless and Qualcomm, and used speed testing technology from Mill Software.

    nbn has pledged to launch a 100Mbps fixed wireless product for the regional business segment in 2018.

    “Our ability to deliver gigabit speeds on fixed wireless demonstrates our continued focus on identifying and implementing tech advancements as and when they are needed, across all technologies,” nbn CEO Bill Morrow said.

    “It’s particularly exciting to be able to reaffirm our commitment to delivering a great experience to the 600,000 premises in regional Australia that will be served by the fixed wireless network. Our fixed wireless network has already been recognised as a world leader and we are determined to maintain that position by making sure regional Australians get access to the same high speed broadband available in our cities.

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  • SK Telecom to build O2O platform with Bluebell

    SK Telecom to build O2O platform with Bluebell

    SK Telecom has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Bluebell Korea to cooperate on bringing cutting-edge ICT to the luxury retail industry.

    Bluebell Group is a leading operator of luxury brands in Asia, which also specializes in consulting, and has eight branches in Asia distributing products from over 100 brands. Bluebell Korea is in charge of distributing luxury goods to duty free shops and shopping malls in Asia.

    Under the MOU, SK Telecom and Bluebell Korea will work together to build an O2O (offline to online) platform to enhance travelers’ shopping convenience; bring innovative changes to luxury goods stores and distribution channels; and develop luxury goods based on ICT.

    SK Telecom plans to apply its industry-leading ICT – including its cloud-based digital signage platform “Smart Signage” and IoT-based location tracking solution – to luxury brand stores and goods so as to increase customer loyalty and sales of luxury brands.

    The luxury industry has so far strictly adhered to the craftsmanship of products and traditional sales channels – that is, offline stores. 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.

    “Through the MOU with Bluebell Korea, SK Telecom expects to bring innovative changes to the luxury market through the application of its state-of-the-art ICT including IoT technologies,” said Cha In-hyok, EVP and head of IoT business division at SK Telecom.

    “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.”

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  • SoftBank working on eSIM platform for IoT

    SoftBank working on eSIM platform for IoT

    SoftBank is developing an embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) platform as part of its efforts to promote Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

    The platform, which is scheduled to start operating in 2017, enables remote eSIM provisioning by connecting to carrier communication networks with the required profiles.

    When selling vehicles and other items embedded with machine-to-machine (M2M) equipment to markets abroad, until now it was necessary to prepare dedicated SIM cards with the necessary profiles to connect to the respective communication networks of overseas carriers.

    With eSIMs integrated into IoT products and M2M equipment, and by using the eSIM Platform, corporate customers will be able to remotely provision eSIMs with the profiles required for connecting to various carrier networks.

    For tablets, wearables and other consumer devices equipped with eSIMs, the eSIM Platform will also enable the remote provisioning of pre-registered contract information and other types of information, in addition to the necessary profiles for network connection.

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