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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.

  • China Telecom revenue grows 6.4% in 2016

    China Telecom revenue grows 6.4% in 2016

    China Telecom has reported a 6.4% increase in operating revenue for 2016 to 352.28 billion yuan, as the company doubled its 4G subscriber base.

    Net profit for the year fell 10.2% to 18 billion yuan, due to the positive impact in the prior year associated with the sale of its tower assets to telecommunications infrastructure joint venture China Tower. Excluding this impact, profit would have grown 11.7%.

    Service revenue increased 5.6% to 309.64 billion yuan, with mobile service revenues up 10.5% to 137.61 billion yuan.

    Total mobile customers grew by 17.1 million to 215 million, giving China Telecom a mobile market share of 16.2%. Total 4G users doubled to 122 million, representing a penetration rate of 57% and giving China Telecom a total 4G market share of 16% – up 1.9 percentage points from end-2015.

    As a result of this growth, total 4G data traffic meanwhile increased by 130% during the year and mobile data revenues grew by 43%.

    Fixed service revenues meanwhile increased 1.9% to 172.03 billion yuan, with wireline broadband revenues up 3.3% over the prior year.

    China Telecom added 10.06 million fixed broadband subscribers during the year, taking its total to 123 million. FTTH subscribers accounted for 106 million of these customers, with total subscribers up 35%.

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  • PLDT launches “Fibr city” in Cebu

    PLDT launches “Fibr city” in Cebu

    PLDT has ramped up its FTTH rollout with the launch of what it calls its first “Fibr City” in Cebu, which provides residents of Toledo City with speeds of up to 1Gbps.

    The initiative, named after PLDT’s Home Fibr branded FTTH service, has been conducted in collaboration with the Toledo City government.

    PLDT has invested $6 billion over the past ten years to roll out 150,000km of fiber infrastructure, and its FTTH services had a footprint of around 2.8 million premises by the end of last year.

    Last month, the operator announced plans to expand the reach of the network by around 80% this year, taking the total number of premises passed to around 4.4 million. The operator has also started adopting hybrid fiber technologies such as G.fast to boost data rates significantly over existing copper connections.

    By next year, PLDT aims to ensure that all its subscribers are accessing smart home services enabled by the fiber network.

    The company selected Toledo City to pioneer the Fibr City concept as part of its expansion plans in Central Philippines, the report states.

  • Cloud components market to hit $41b by 2021, says report

    Cloud components market to hit $41b by 2021, says report

    Ongoing customer build-outs of hybrid environments is fueling cloud components growth as IT vendors modernized hardware and software portfolios.

    According to a report from Technology Business Research (TBR) the cloud components market, which encompasses the foundational building blocks for on premises cloud environments, will grow from an estimated $27 billion in 2016 to $41 billion in 2021 at an 8.4% CAGR.

    Cloud hardware components revenue will generate most of total cloud components revenue; however, we expect long-term market growth will be sustained by cloud software components as hybrid cloud demands rise and underlying cloud infrastructure becomes commoditized, TBR said.

    Sanjay Medvitz, TBR cloud analyst, said, “Enterprise hybrid IT environments continue to grow, increasingly encompassing disparate on-premises and cloud assets as well as infrastructures from multiple vendors, driving up the importance for software solutions that provide efficient management, orchestration and cloud services capabilities to ease complexities.”

    “Accordingly, vendors such as IBM and Oracle are shifting focus to cloud software businesses that offer high-value opportunities for long-term success,” Medvitz said.

    From a hardware perspective, customers’ ongoing migrations to public cloud services and software-defined storage-enabling hyper converged platforms will render standards-based servers as critical aspects of cloud computing environments across a range of customer segments.

    Meanwhile, TBR notes that customers will invest in flash storage capabilities, along with gradual build-outs of virtualized network implementations to further accelerate performance, simplicity and reliability of their hybrid and heterogeneous cloud data centers.

    Industry stalwarts Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Dell EMC and Cisco held top market share among cloud components vendors in 2016, leveraging legacy hardware and software strengths and large install bases alongside investments in private and hybrid cloud-enabling technologies such as hyper-converged to win customer modernization engagements.

    Market leaders will continue to modernize legacy assets, innovating hardware and software together to create common architectures and building out cloud based versions of traditional solutions to promote flexible cloud on-ramps and meet evolving customer hybrid IT needs.

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  • IoT adoption in retail set to take off

    IoT adoption in retail set to take off

    Retailers will connect 12.5 billion business assets such as products, digital signs and Bluetooth beacons to IoT platforms by 2021, up from 2.7 billion in 2016, Juniper Research has predicted.

    The company has argued ‘next-gen’ processes, such as personalized retail, could be achieved by integrating enterprise software and emerging technologies, with data from connected IoT assets.

    Juniper forecasts that software spend for enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to integrate this data would reach $11.3 billion annually in 2021, from $1.5 billion in 2017.

    The research firm also predicted that radio-frequency identification (RFID) will re-emerge as the industry’s ‘killer app’ becoming the key factor in the IoT retail ecosystem.

    RFID tags, used to identify and locate retail assets in real-time, are now at a low enough price point for mass deployment and integrate well with new IoT systems and analytics. New services, such as dynamic pricing or enabling promotional offers via in-store digital signs are also poised for growth.

    “Innovative retailers such as Rebecca Minkoff have combined RFID with smart mirrors,” said research author Steffen Sorrell. “Integrating these systems allows real-time information to improve the store experience and bridge physical and virtual worlds – in this case, the concept drove a 200% increase in sales.”

    Juniper believes that physical retail spaces still have many benefits, not least in terms of being able to avoid the sterility of online shopping. It predicts online retailers’ focus would be on technologies such as machine learning to provide digital assistance, or digital performance management.

  • Singtel teams up with Microsoft on Office 365

    Singtel teams up with Microsoft on Office 365

    Singtel and Microsoft have announced a new partnership for the Singaporean incumbent to offer Microsoft’s cloud-based Office 365 suite to its customers.

    With this new offering, customers who subscribe to Singtel’s fiber broadband and postpaid mobile services can sign up for either Office 365 Home or Office 365 Personal plans through Singtel.

    Singtel also said customer can enjoy savings of at least S$46.80 ($34) per year or over 30% off regular online price. In addition, customers can enjoy the added convenience of paying for their Office 365 subscriptions together with their monthly Singtel bills.

    “With this new offering, customers will also enjoy ease of payment and enhanced productivity. We will continue to engage different partners to offer solutions that are suitable for our customers’ digital lifestyles, whether for work or play,” said Yuen Kuan Moon, CEO consumer Singapore at Singtel.

    Singtel customers can select the plans that best suit their needs, the company said.

  • Nokia, Ciena providing gear for Jio’s major 4G rollout

    Nokia, Ciena providing gear for Jio’s major 4G rollout

    Nokia and Ciena have both detailed their roles in providing equipment for disruptive Indian newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm’s greenfield pan-India 4G rollout.

    Reliance Jio finally launched LTE services for the public in September last year, and has signed on 100 million new users in just 170 days due to its aggressive strategy of initially offering all services for free.

    Nokia announced that its optical deployment for Jio covers over 90,000km across India, making it one of the biggest 100G deployments in the world.

    The vendor provided switches with 100G DWDM capabilities as well as generalized MPLS intelligence to support capacity management and restoration

    “In only 170 days, Jio has signed on 100 million new users. With growth rates of this magnitude we had to ensure we deployed the highest capacity, most resilient transport network to build out the 4G network,” Reliance Jio president Jyotindra Thacker commented.

    “Nokia’s next-generation DWDM portfolio provides the ability to scale easily as Jio continues to expand the network to reach the underserved areas of India with digital services in key areas such as communication, education, healthcare, payments and multi-media entertainment.”

    Ciena meanwhile deployed multi-terabit converged packet optical technology for Jio’s 4G network core, operating at speeds of up to 200Gbps.

    The Ciena packet optical platforms use Ciena’s WaveLogic coherent technology for the core network, which connects all major cities of India.

    • “With Ciena we are not only able to provide robust scalability to offer new levels of data consumption, which is already 8 to 10 times above market levels, but also a supreme level of confidence in our network’s reliability and level of service that stands out in our marketplace,” Thacker said.
    • “Ciena’s coherent technological offerings and proven control plane technology is helping to make us the fastest growing 4G network in the world.”
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  • Cellcos to spend $250m on pre-standards 5G networks by year-end

    Cellcos to spend $250m on pre-standards 5G networks by year-end

    Mobile operators will spend more than $250 million on pre-standards 5G network rollouts by the end of 2017, according to SNS Research’s latest report.

    Despite the lack of sufficient LTE coverage in parts of the world, mobile operators and vendors have already embarked on R&D initiatives to develop 5G, the next evolution in mobile networks.

    5G is expected to provide a single network environment to deliver not only existing mobile broadband and IoT services, but also new innovations such as self-driving cars, cloud robotics, 3D holographic telepresence and remote surgery with haptic feedback.

    In fact, many mobile operators are betting on 5G to diversify their revenue streams, as conventional voice and data service ARPUs decline globally.

    At present, the 3GPP and other SDOs (Standards Development Organizations) are engaged in defining the first phase of 5G specifications. However, pre-standards 5G network rollouts are already underway, most notably in the United States and South Korea, as mobile operators rush to be the first to offer 5G services.

    Although 2020 has conventionally been regarded as the headline date for 5G commercialization, the very first standardized deployments of the technology are expected to be commercialized as early as 2019 with the 3GPP’s initial 5G specifications set to be implementation-ready by March 2018.

    Between 2019 and 2025, SNS Research expects the 5G network infrastructure market to aggressively grow a CAGR of nearly 70%, eventually accounting for $28 billion in annual spending by the end of 2025.

    These infrastructure investments will be complemented by annual shipments of up to 520 million 5G-capable devices.

  • Equinix expands Hong Kong footprint to meet demand

    Equinix expands Hong Kong footprint to meet demand

    Equinix is expanding its Hong Kong footprint to accommodate local interconnection needs and increasing numbers of inbound cloud service providers.

    This latest expansion of Equinix’s Hong Kong footprint adds over 1,400 new cabinets and brings the company’s total investment in the city to over $250 million.

    The expansion in Hong Kong includes 515 new cabinets in HK1 and represents an incremental investment of $16 million and adds 900 new cabinets in HK2 and represents an incremental investment of $39 million. It is the latest in a series of expansions across Asia-Pacific to meet the rising demand for interconnection services, with other recent expansions including Melbourne, Tokyo and Sydney.

    The new development will enable Equinix to support the growing needs of an increasing variety of enterprises – such as FSI and FinTech, e-payments and logistics – to interconnect with cloud and technology providers.

    Equinix’s cloud and IT ecosystem has continued to gain momentum in Hong Kong. Its cloud customer-base has grown significantly since 2014, as local and international internet security and CSPs are increasingly choosing to deploy with Equinix Hong Kong as their initial entry point or hub location for the Asia-Pacific region.

    Major cloud service providers in Equinix Hong Kong now include Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, Microsoft Azure & Office 365 and Google Cloud. According to Cisco, global cloud IP traffic will almost quadruple in over the next 5 years, this expansion will enable Equinix to meet the needs of Hong Kong customers looking to take advantage of this growth.

    One Hong Kong customer taking advantage of Equinix’s increased capability is ClusterTech Limited, which specializes in using cloud, high performance computing and big data technologies to solve challenging technical problems and improve operational efficiency for their customers. The company is in the process of adding more resources within Equinix’s IBX data centers to launch a new solution that will enable environmental engineering companies to run complex simulation applications.

    In addition to supporting the core cloud needs of customers, Equinix is now also in an excellent position to accommodate the growing trend towards multi-cloud convergence and “interconnected commerce” that Equinix experts predict will be a key feature of the IT landscape over the coming year.

    The additional capacity comes online at a time when Equinix is predicting IoT will become a concrete reality – evolving from independent, single-vendor solutions to those that talk to each other and rely on the same data.

    With the Hong Kong expansion, Equinix will relieve the growing pressure on corporate-centric networks by distributing the traffic more broadly, as well as better control the performance of the streaming IoT information for more real-time business and operational insight.

  • Nokia announces major restructuring

    Nokia announces major restructuring

    Nokia has announced a restructuring of its mobile unit into two groups, focused on mobile networks and services respectively, in response to the planned departure of the company’s current mobile networks chief.

    The company said it will establish two units called Mobile Networks and Global Services respectively.

    The company’s current chief innovation and operating officer Mark Rouanne will lead up the mobile networks business group, which will be focused on areas including 4G, 5G, cloud core and small cells.

    The Global Services division will meanwhile be led by Igor Leprince, the current executive vice president of global services.

    These executives are taking over from current head of mobile networks Samih Elhage, who is leaving the company on April 1 but will stay on as an advisor until May 31. In a statement, Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri said Elhage has decided to leave now that the integration with Alcatel-Lucent is mostly complete.

    “From helping lead the transformation at Nokia Siemens Networks and creating a disciplined operating model that remains a competitive advantage, to being one of the driving forces behind the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent and its fast and successful integration, Samih’s contributions to Nokia have been remarkable,” Suri said.

    “He has been a close friend and advisor through times both good and bad, and I fully support his desire for a change.”

    As part of the restructuring, the position of chief innovation and operating officer (CIOO) will be dissolved and the duties split. Responsibility for operations will be transferred to the newly-created position of group chief operating officer (COO), innovation will be taken over by Nokia’s chief technology officer (CTO) and incubation will be assumed by Nokia’s chief strategy officer.

    The group COO position is going to Monika Maurer, currently the company’s COO for fixed networks, while Marcus Weldon will retain the post of CTO and Kathrin Buvac will remain chief strategy officer.

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  • Vodafone India, Idea to merge into India’s top cellco

    Vodafone India, Idea to merge into India’s top cellco

    India’s second and third ranked mobile operators, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, have revealed plans to merge to create the India’s largest operator by market share.

    The companies have announced that Vodafone will combine its Vodafone India subsidiary with Idea Cellular in a deal worth around $23 billion.

    The combined company will have around nearly 400 million subscribers and is expected to have a revenue market share of around 40%, propelling it ahead of current market leader Bharti Airtel.

    Under the terms of the agreement, Vodafone will take a 45.1% stake in the combined company while the owner of the Idea brand – the Aditya Birla Group – will have about 26%.

    Vodafone will transfer a stake of around 4.9% of the company for around 39 billion rupees ($579 million) as part of this transaction, and there will be a mechanism in place designed to equalise the shareholdings within four to nine years. Until this takes place, the voting rights will be equalised.

    The marger excludes Vodafone’s 42% stake in Indus Towers, the joint venture established between the Bharti Group, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular to manage the operators’ tower infrastructure.

    “The combination of Vodafone India and Idea will create a new champion of Digital India founded with a long-term commitment and vision to bring world-class 4G networks to villages, towns and cities across India,” Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao commented.

    “The combined company will have the scale required to ensure sustainable consumer choice in a competitive market and to expand new technologies – such as mobile money services – that have the potential to transform daily life for every Indian. We look forward to working with the Aditya Birla Group to create value for all stakeholders.”

    Meanwhile fellow Indian operators Reliance Communications (RCom) and Aircel are one step closer to executing their planned merger.

    RCom announced in a regulatory filing that it has secured approval from the Competition Commission of India for the proposed merger, which was announced in September last year.

    The companies have already secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India as well as the BSE and NSE stock exchanges, but still requires the go-ahead from the National Company Law Tribunal.

    Under the terms of the planned merger, RCom and Aircel parent Maxis Communications will each hold 50% of the combined company.

  • Thailand’s Mobile LTE gets satellite license

    Thailand’s Mobile LTE gets satellite license

    Thai mobile broadband provider Mobile LTE has secured the nation’s second satellite service provider license, positioning the company to compete against incumbent Thaicom.

    Mobile LTE has received a Type Three Satellite Business License with a 15 year term valid until January 2032. The license covers the operation of satellites and satellite services.

    Mobile LTE CEO Varayuth Yenbamroong said the operator plans to differentiate from Thaicom by focusing on providing services using new technologies that are distinct from those existing in the market.

    “[We] want to launch a satellite onto [the] country’s unused and reservation orbital slots as soon as possible as some slots will expire very soon,” he added.

    “This will help utilizing the existing resources in another way for the benefit of the country in order to promote and support the expansion of communication satellite business to ASEAN and other countries.”

    He said the operator aims to use its satellite business to target people and government agencies in remote areas, in order to improve digital inclusion and further the government’s Digital Thailand initiative.

    But Mobile LTE noted that it will still require approval from the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society before launching such services.

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  • AT&T and Akamai extend their global alliance

    AT&T and Akamai extend their global alliance

    Akamai and AT&T have renewed their global alliance, extending it through 2019.

    The agreement will keep Akamai’s CDN and web security services on AT&T’s business solutions menu, including the addition of DDoS capabilities. Akamai will also be able to further extend it’s server footprint out onto AT&T’s edge.

    The partnership between AT&T’s IP network and Akamai’s CDN and cloud networking infrastructure was put in place just over four years ago. AT&T moved its own CDN infrastructure onto Akamai’s platform, and gained access to AT&T’s network. Things seem to have gone pretty well since.

    There was a time not so many years ago that every network out there wanted to have its own CDN infrastructure. It seemed like the two industries were about to merge, but it never fully happened and Akamai is still going strong.

    The fact that CDNs and networks remained separate in most cases was perhaps a sign that the more general cloud opportunity would also not gel that well purely within telecoms walls.

     

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  • Cloudbric opens IDCs in Hong Kong and Vietnam

    Cloudbric opens IDCs in Hong Kong and Vietnam

    Web application firewall (WAF) service provider Cloudbric announced the opening of five internet data centers, including facilities in Hong Kong and Vietnam, in response to the growing, global demand for cloud services.

    The new data centers are located in New Jersey (US), Hong Kong, Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) as well as Amsterdam (the Netherlands)

    Additionally, with Cloudbric’s growing partnership base, the expansion of IDCs means Cloudbric’s customers can benefit from greater WAF infrastructure and experience elite security better than ever.

    Enterprises of all sizes rely on and often expect websites to be up and running without any lapses. Maintaining this uptime depends on strategically placed data centers to handle high-volume requests. As a result, Cloudbric is not only increasing its network capacity through its IDC expansion but also introducing an all-inclusive, fully-managed WAF service to a wide range of IT service and solution providers.

    Regarding Cloudbric’s current partnership model, VP of Product & Technology TJ Jung says “From individuals to small or mid-size businesses and enterprises, we are growing our service to reach all parts of the globe by engaging in partnerships with different solutions providers in the IT industry, and Cloudbric is excited to continue in this endeavor. Partnering with data centers, for example, means Cloudbric can be deployed on their own infrastructures instead of relying on external networks – making the delivery of Cloudbric’s advanced WAF to their clients a seamless process.”

    Utilizing the precise, trusted technology created by Penta Security Systems, Cloudbric’s WAF can intelligently recognize and block both unknown and known web attacks with its logic analysis engine. Through Cloudbric, various service providers can also benefit from quality customer service and a user-friendly, intuitive dashboard and extend it to their own end users. With new IDCs and thus even greater bandwidth, Cloudbric’s ability to withstand cyber attacks such as DDoS attacks is augmented.

    Cloudbric currently has plans to open ten additional IDCs in Q2, specifically in cities across North America, the Middle East, and South America. Cloudbric will continue to appeal to various service providers in its expansion of WAF infrastructure.

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  • Singtel and Globe launch Tustwave MSS in Philippines

    Singtel and Globe launch Tustwave MSS in Philippines

    Singapore’s Singtel is bringing its Trustwave portfolio of managed security services to the Philippines, in collaboration with Globe Telecom.

    Under the collaboration, Globe is providing Trustwave’s services through its advanced security operations center (ASOC) in Manila, a new facility operated by Singtel’s Trustwave subsidiary.

    Globe’s ASOC will combine threat intelligence from Globe with global threat visibility from the global network of nine Trustwave ASOCs.

    The services will be supported by an ecosystem of global cyber security providers including Palo Alto Networks, FireEye and Arbor Networks.

    Singtel acquired a 98% stake in Trustwave for $810 million in a deal announced in 2015. In December that year, Singtel and Globe also signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen Globe’s cyber security capabilities.

    Singtel and its managed security services business unit Trustwave also recently expanded their collaboration with Palo Alto to bring managed security services to multi-national businesses and government agencies, and the new agreement extends Singtel and Trustwave’s partnership.

    “As the leading cyber security services provider in the region, our deep global capabilities allow Trustwave Managed Security Services to monitor, assess and defend our customers’ operations round-the-clock against cyber attacks,” Singtel CEO group enterprise and Trustwave chairman Bill Chang said.

    “The launch of Trustwave Managed Security Services is timely as it complements the Philippine government’s National Cybersecurity Plan 2022.”

    The government’s plan is aimed at safeguarding the Philippines’ critical information structures, as well as governments, businesses of any size and all citizens using the internet.

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  • Smart’s 2016 revenue grows 26% on mobile data growth

    Smart’s 2016 revenue grows 26% on mobile data growth

    The Philippines’ Smart Communications has reported a 26% increase in revenues for 2016 to 25.5 billion pesos ($509 million), in a result attributed to sustained growth in the company’s mobile data business.

    Smart, the wireless subsidiary of incumbent operator PLDT, said mobile data revenues for the year grew a strong 42% to 17 billion pesos.

    During the year, data revenues edged out voice calls and text messages as the operator’s largest wireless revenue source for the first time. Total usage reached 148,000 terabytes, up 49% from 2015.

    “The shift to data and digital services continues to gain momentum. With access to PLDT’s extensive fixed line network, Smart is rolling out the country’s fastest mobile internet network to address the growing demand of our subscribers for data services at home, their schools and offices and while on the go,” PLDT chief revenue officer Eric R. Alberto said.

    To help meet the steep rise in demand for mobile data, Smart has accelerated its rollout of LTE and 3G data networks and is incorporating the use of low-brand frequencies such as 700-MHz. The upgrade has now been completed in Metro Davao and is now underway in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.

    Smart is also adopting LTE-A technology in selected areas, and recently entered a 5G partnership  with Huawei aimed at preparing its network for an evolution to the standard.

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