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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.

  • 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.”

  • Avaya taps COL as Hong Kong distribution partner

    Avaya taps COL as Hong Kong distribution partner

    Business communications and ICT solutions provider Avaya has appointed COL Limited as its distribution partner for the Hong Kong market.

    Under the agreement, the two companies will collaborate to drive adoption of Avaya solutions in the market and helping Hong Kong organizations achieve their digital transformation ambitions.

    COL, a subsidiary of fixed line operator Wharf T&T, will provide the full range of Avaya products – including unified communications and collaboration, contact center, cloud-based communication applications and networking solutions – to resellers in Hong Kong, and later to the wider region. Resellers will be able to offer products to enterprises of all sizes.

    COL has a more than 40 year history in Hong Kong. Its flagship product is its data center and business continuity solution, which has an 80% market share in the financial and multi-national corporation market segments.

    “This distribution agreement signals the start of an exciting time for the industry and for us. Avaya has the reputation, the reach and the commitment to deliver quality communication applications,” COL VP for the business market Kam Poon said.

    “Together and through our resellers, we will make a highly positive impact in delivering future-proof communications solutions to business customers with proven competence to design, build, implement and operate.”

  • Consortium contracts ASN for INDIGO cable system

    Consortium contracts ASN for INDIGO cable system

    A consortium consisting of Asian operators, Google and telecommunications infrastructure company Superloop have commissioned a new subsea able system linking Singapore, Indonesia and Australia.

    Singtel, Indonesia’s Indosat Ooredoo as well as Australia’s Telstra and education sector network provider AARNet have joined Google and Superloop’s SubPartners to join the INDIGO cable system.

    The cable system, formerly known as APX West and Central, will be deployed by Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks.

    It will span around 9,000km between Singapore and Perth on the west coast of Australia, and onwards to Sydney on the east coast. A ranching unit with two additional fiber pairs will connect Singapore and Jakarta.

    Construction of the cable is expected to be complete by mid-2019. The system will use an open cable two fiber pair desgin, providing consortium members with spectrum ownership and giving them the ability to independently adopt technology advancements and upgrades as required.

    “With internet data consumption growing by 70% in Asia last year alone these sorts of investments in international networks are critical for meeting the needs of connected consumers and businesses,” Telstra group MD for global services and international David Burns said.

    “The construction of INDIGO is timely to meet the rising demand for high-speed broadband between Asia and Australia. This cable system complements our global connectivity that links Asia, the US, Europe, Australia and the Middle East,” Singtel Enterprise VP for carrier services Ooi Seng Keat added.

    Superloop has inherited its membership in the INDIGO consortium via the recent acquisition of subsea cable operator SubPartners for $2.5 million. As part of the acquisition Superloop has provided a guarantee involving the meeting of SubPartners’ construction capex costs for the project.

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  • Global telecoms service revenues due to rebound

    Global telecoms service revenues due to rebound

    The global telecommunications services market is on track to rebound after a long period in decline, reaching $1.3 trillion by 2021, MarketLine has projected.

    The market has declined at a negative CAGR of 3.4% between 2012 and 2016 due to downward price pressure motivated by intensifying competition, MarketLine analyst Nicholas Wyatt said.

    “4G mobile internet is now standard in many markets, particularly developed ones, so the only way lots of mobile operators can differentiate themselves from the competition is on price,” he said.

    “This has forced prices down and negatively impacted a market that has reached saturation point in many countries.”

    MarketLine estimates that the wireless segment contributed around $775 billion in sector revenues during 2016, or 64.9% of the $1.2 trillion total market value.

    Growing demand for mobile data is expected to help stimulate a 2.2% CAGR in the market between 2016 and 2021, driving the total market to a value of $1.3 trillion.

    Growth is expected across all regions, with APAC growing slightly higher than the US and Europe due to the region’s relatively lower saturation level.

    “Subscription volumes have plateaued in recent years, but a slight uptick is expected as populations expand and businesses require increasingly mobile staff,” Wyatt said.

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  • Singapore to raise $815m from spectrum auction

    Singapore to raise $815m from spectrum auction

    Singtel has emerged as the biggest spender in Singapore’s latest mobile spectrum auction, bidding nearly half of the total S$1.14 billion ($815.2 million) set to be raised.

    Singtel will pay S$563.7 million for 75MHz of spectrum, consisting of 40 MHz of 700-MHz spectrum, 10 MHz of 900-MHz spectrum, a right of first refusal for a further 10 MHz of 900-MHz spectrum and 15MHz in the 2.5-GHz band.

    The auction of spectrum in the four bands had four winning bidders. StarHub was the next highest bidder, committing to pay S$349.6 million for 30 MHz of 700-MHz spectrum, 20 MHz in the 2.5-GHz band and a right of first refusal to 10 MHz of 900-MHz spectrum.

    M1 bid S$208 million for 20 MHz of 700-MHz spectrum and a right of first refusal to 10 MHz in the 900-MHz frequency band.

    New market entrant TPG Telecom will meanwhile pay S$23.8 million for 10 MHz of 2500-MHz spectrum. TPG last year won the auction to become Singapore’s fourth mobile operator after bidding S$105 million for a provisional allotment of 60 MHz of 900-MHz and 2.3-GHz spectrum.

    A total of 175-MHz of spectrum was allocated during the auction, and this includes the 900-MHz spectrum due to be re-farmed following the retirement of 2G services. But the total allotment was 50 MHz lower than the 225 MHz requested by the industry, because no other spectrum was available for allocation.

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  • Massive shift towards hybrid infrastructure underway

    Massive shift towards hybrid infrastructure underway

    By 2020, enterprise spending on cloud, hosted and traditional infrastructure services will be more or less on par, Gartner has predicted.

    The research firm said the growth of cloud and industrialized services and the decline of traditional data center outsourcing (DCO) indicate a massive shift toward hybrid infrastructure services.

    “As the demand for agility and flexibility grows, organizations will shift toward more industrialized, less-tailored options,” said DD Mishra, research director at Gartner.

    “Organizations that adopt hybrid infrastructure will optimize costs and increase efficiency. However, it increases the complexity of selecting the right toolset to deliver end-to-end services in a multi-sourced environment.”

    Gartner predicts that by 2020, 90% of organizations will adopt hybrid infrastructure management capabilities.

    The traditional DCO market is shrinking, according to Gartner’s forecast data. Worldwide traditional DCO spending is expected to decline from $55.1 billion in 2016 to $45.2 billion in 2020. Cloud compute services, on the other hand, are expected to grow from $23.3 billion in 2016 to reach $68.4 billion in 2020.

    Spending on colocation and hosting is also expected to increase, from $53.9 billion in 2016 to $74.5 billion in 2020. In addition, infrastructure utility services (IUS) will grow from $21.3 billion in 2016 to $37 billion in 2020 and storage as a service will increase from $1.7 billion in 2016 to 2.7 billion in 2020.

    In 2016, traditional worldwide DCO and IUS together represented 49% of the $154 billion total data center services market worldwide, consisting of DCO/IUS, hosting and cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS). This is expected to tilt further toward cloud IaaS and hosting, and by 2020, DCO/IUS will be approximately 35% of the expected $228 billion worldwide data center services market.

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  • New Zealand cellcos propose joint rural expansion program

    New Zealand cellcos propose joint rural expansion program

    New Zealand’s mobile operators Spark, Vodafone New Zealand and 2degrees have submitted a joint proposal to improve rural broadband and mobile infrastructure under two government programs.

    The operators have applied to be selected for the Rural Broadband Initiative Extension and Mobile Black Spot Fund programs.

    If selected, the companies have committed to investing “hundreds of millions of dollars” in the project, including NZ$75 million to deploy the infrastructure, as well as opex costs, spectrum and other resources.

    The operators said their proposed expenditure would more than match the government’s own planned NZ$150 million ($104.6 million) contribution to the program, which would come from the Telecommunications Development Levy.

    Under the proposal, the partners would roll out around 500 new cell sites providing a 25% increase in land coverage across New Zealand, providing access to fast broadband for thousands of rural households and businesses and extending mobile coverage to more than 1,200km of state highways.

    “Rural New Zealand is a key driver of our country’s economic growth and productivity and for these sectors to remain competitive they need fast broadband and mobile coverage – not just in offices, but on farms, in schools, and on the roads,” Vodafone NZ CEO Russell Stanners said.

    “The combination of the Government’s RBI funding and this investment by the three mobile network operators presents a once in a generation opportunity to deliver both competitive ultra-fast broadband and world class 4G mobile infrastructure to areas of New Zealand that today have neither.”

  • Nepal telcos told to adopt 10-second billing next week

    Nepal telcos told to adopt 10-second billing next week

    Nepal’s mobile operators will need to implement 10-second billing from next week and per-second billing from October under a new regulatory directive.

    The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has instructed operators to reduce billing durations for domestic calls from the current 20 seconds to 10 seconds from April 14.

    The reduction to per-second billing will subsequently need to be implemented from October 18 to coincide with the Nepali new year.

    The minimum billing unit for landline calls has meanwhile been fixed at 60 seconds. International calls will be reduced to 30 second billing from the April date and to 10 seconds from October.

    According to the report, the NTA implemented the reductions following consultations with the industry, but the regulator still plans to conduct checks to make sure the nation’s six operators follow the directive.

    The directive will need to be implemented by Nepal Telecom, Ncell, UTL, Smart Telecom, Nepal Satellite Telecom and STM Telecom.

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  • Telstra launches five new SaaS solutions

    Telstra launches five new SaaS solutions

    Australian operator Telstra is drawing on the investments made through its venture capital arm Telstra Ventures to add five new SaaS solutions for its international enterprise customers.

    The suite of new applications is designed to better help companies as they go through digital transformation by offering solutions that reduce the cost and complexity of utilizing digital applications.

    The new range of applications are designed to improve the way organisations manage interactions with their customers and employees.

    New solutions include Near, a location intelligence platform that provides near real-time information on places, people and products, as well as all-in-one application delivery platform Nginx Plus.

    The new additions to the portfolio also include Panviva, a cloud-based platform that provides real-time process guidance to facilitate staff productivity and reduce human process errors, vArmour, a distributed security system delivering application-aware micro-segmentation, and mobile threat defense platform Zimperium.

    These applications are in addition to DocuSign, Guest Services, Kony, TeleSign and Whispir, which are currently available in the Telstra Applications Portfolio.

    This suite of new applications will be available in select locations in Asia, Europe and North America. Near, Panviva and Zimperium will be available from 30 March, while, Nginx Plus and vArmour will be available in June.

    “Organizations know they need to transform digitally to compete in today’s market, but there are challenges to overcome,” Teltra director of global applications Gianpaolo Carraro said.

    “Recent research commissioned by Telstra found 76% of organisations believed they would be more effective if their technology and network platforms were more flexible and agile, while 67% said their ability to work more collaboratively and effectively is hindered by rigid technology and network platforms.”

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  • Extreme Networks to buy Brocade’s data center assets

    Extreme Networks to buy Brocade’s data center assets

    Software-driven networking vendor Extreme Networks has arranged to buy the data center networking business of Brocade for $55 million.

    Extreme Networks has entered an agreement with Broadcom – which itself arranged to purchase Brocade in November last year for around $5.9 billion – to purchase Brocade’s data center switching, routing and analytics business.

    The acquisition is expected to close within 60 days after the closing of Broadcom’s acquisition of Brocade, which is due during the quarter ending in July.

    Extreme Networks said it expects the purchase to be earnings accretive by fiscal 2018 and to generate over $230 million in new annualized revenue.

    “The addition of Brocade’s data center networking business significantly strengthens our position in the expanding high-end data center market and reinforces our strategy of delivering software-driven networking solutions focused on enterprise customers,” Extreme Networks president and CEO Ed Meyercord said.

    “Today’s announcement, coupled with our recent announcements regarding our position as the stalking horse bidder of Avaya’s networking business and the successful completion of the integration of Zebra’s wireless LAN business, along with Extreme’s organic investments in R&D, will result in a state of the art, newly-refreshed portfolio of enterprise solutions for our customers.”

    Broadcom announced an intention to divest Brocade’s IP networking business as part of its planned acquisition of the vendor, focusing on the company’s remaining fiber channel storage area network business.

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