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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.

  • SK Telecom, CAT to launch IoT network in Thailand

    SK Telecom, CAT to launch IoT network in Thailand

    SK Telecom has teamed up with Thai state-owned operator CAT Telecom for a project to deploy a LoRa-based IoT network and services in Thailand.

    Under the agreement, the operators plan to deploy a LoRa-based IoT pilot network in Bangkok and Phuket and launch IoT pilot services from April.

    SK Telecom will be responsible for deploying LoRa-based IoT networks in central areas of Bangkok and the entire Phuket province. The company has also been contracted to provide consulting services.

    In Phuket, SK Telecom and CAT will initially launch a LoRa-based vehicle location tracking service, and plan to follow this up with more IoT services including smart metering and smart street lighting services.

    In central Bangkok, the companies plan to offer an IoT-based location tracking service for tourists, designed to prevent children and the elderly from going missing near the Grand Palace during the mourning period recently deceased king Bhumibol Adulyadej.

    “SK Telecom will contribute to the growth of the ICT industry in Thailand by working together with CAT Telecom in the area of IoT, while nurturing a new ICT ecosystem by cooperating with many related companies,” SK Telecom EVP and head of IoT Cha In-hyok said.

    “Going forward, SK Telecom will collaborate with CAT Telecom in more areas to create more success stories in Thailand and other Southeast Asian markets.”

    SK Telecom and CAT also announced that Tree Pay, the joint venture established by the two companies as well as Korean digital payment company NHN KCP, has launched a payment gateway service in Thailand.

    Tree Pay will combine technologies from SK Telecom and NHN KCP to develop an innovative payment gateway supporting online, offline and mobile payment. CAT will meanwhile work with the Thai government to develop business opportunities for the new venture.

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  • Singapore leads Asia by digital readiness

    Singapore leads Asia by digital readiness

    Singapore leads the way in Asia in terms of possessing the requrired building blocks to ensure business success in a connected world, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

    The EIU’s “Connecting Capabilities” report includes the first ever Asian Digital Transformation Index, a quantitative ranking of 11 Asian markets and three global comparators using 20 indicators across three key categories relevant to business performance — digital infrastructure, human capital and industry connectedness.

    The EIU has surveyed more than 850 businesses and 94% said a country’s infrastructure is important to their organization’s digital transformation, reinforcing the fact that access to high quality telecommunications and technology services is vital for business success.

    Singapore’s strong performance is primarily due to its well-developed digital infrastructure, as well as a highly supportive and coordinated set of government policies in support of infrastructure development, business use of technology and entrepreneurship.

    The city state ranks behind Japan in industry connectivity, which is broadly, the ability to draw on resources external to the organization such as digital partnerships with other companies, networks or communities.

    Recruiting the right talent is a challenge in Singapore, which ranked fourth on human capital. Building talent pools with advanced digital skills and expanding data sharing to enrich its firms’ digital partnerships are key areas for improvement.

    While several Asian countries are performing well, a comparison with the other three markets United States, Australia and the United Kingdom shows the region as a whole is behind when it comes to digital infrastructure and human capital.

    “In the EIU survey, 87% of companies globally agreed digital transformation will be important to their organization over the next three years, but if your business lacks access to the necessary infrastructure, skills and ideas, then it would be difficult to take full advantage of the opportunities created by digital technology,” Telstra group MD for international Paul Tyler said.

    “In this regard, 55% of companies in Singapore say the country has been only ‘somewhat successful’ in providing an environment for digital transformation,” said Tyler.

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  • Cognizant opens new office in Hong Kong

    Cognizant opens new office in Hong Kong

    Cognizant, a leading global provider of information technology, consulting and business process services, today announced the expansion of its operations in Hong Kong with the opening of a new office.

    Cognizant’s expanded presence in Hong Kong will enhance its existing operations in the Greater China region and enable Cognizant’s global, regional and local clients to leverage the technical and business capabilities available in the region, while delivering deep local insights and time zone advantages to the company’s growing roster of customers in Asia Pacific.

    Cognizant currently employs more than 300 professionals in Hong Kong, delivering a broad range of services—across digital business, operations, and systems and technology—to more than 30 leading organisations in industry sectors such as financial services, insurance, retail, consumer goods, energy, utilities, and travel and hospitality.

    “We are pleased that Cognizant has established a new office in Hong Kong, underscoring its long-term commitment to the region” said Arthur Wong, Chief Information Officer at China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited [CCB (Asia)], a leading provider of commercial, corporate, consumer and private banking services. “CCB (Asia) has been using Cognizant’s high-quality financial services and technology expertise for years to manage and operate essential business processes more efficiently, lower operating costs through automation, enhance risk management, and deliver better business outcomes. Technology is key to realizing our vision of innovative and smart banking in today’s digital era. In Cognizant, we have a partner who can help us unlock the full power of our technology environment and create competitive advantage through process and technology excellence”

    “We congratulate Cognizant on the inauguration of its new office in Hong Kong,” said Gary Ma, Chief Information Officer at BOC International Holdings. “Over the past few years, Cognizant has been providing us with a range of technology services. We look forward to a continuing and collaborative partnership.”

    “We continue to steadily grow our presence and investment in Hong Kong,” said Jayajyoti Sengupta, Asia Pacific Head at Cognizant. “Hong Kong’s booming information and communication technology sector is among the world’s most advanced. That, combined with Hong Kong’s specialist business and technology talent, makes the city a great location for us to deliver mission-critical transformative services to our clients in Asia Pacific and elsewhere, helping them navigate the shift to the digital era and enabling them to build stronger, more agile and innovative businesses. Our expansion in Hong Kong underscores our confidence in the ability of the city’s talent pool to help our clients win in today’s technology- and data-intensive world.”

    Cognizant runs an active graduate recruitment programme in Hong Kong to hire entry-level technical and management talent from premier institutions and has been hiring graduates from institutions such as Hong Kong University, Chinese University, and City University. As part of its commitment to building talent for the future, Cognizant provides technical and soft skills training to entry-level hires in line with global benchmarks and deploys them to technology and consulting projects upon the successful completion of the training.

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  • Trai to allow Jio to continue free data offer

    Trai to allow Jio to continue free data offer

    Indian telecommunications regulator Trai has determined to allow disruptive new market entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm to continue with its free data offer, despite objections from rivals.

    Trai has rejected petitions from incumbent operator Bharti Airtel as well as Idea Cellular calling for the regulator to prohibit Reliance Jio from maintaining what it calls a predatory promotional offer.

    Indian regulations prevent operators from running a promotional campaign for longer than three months, and Reliance Jio has now been offering free services to subscribers for longer than this time, having recently decided to extend the offer to March 31.

    But to circumvent the restriction, Jio is calling its current promotional offer the Happy New Year offer, and has argued that this was distinct from its initial Welcome offer.

    Trai has now sided with Jio, finding that the new offer is a distinct promotion and cannot be considered an extension of the earlier offer. On this basis, Jio will be allowed to continue to offer free services.

    Jio’s aggressive marketing is triggering a fresh price war in India, which could have a significant impact on an already hurting industry. The report cites an executive from one of the big three operators stating that if the price war continues, there will be job losses.

    Operators are meanwhile exploring consolidation in order to survive in the strictly competitive environment. Indian media recently reported of a four-way merger between Aircel, Reliance Communications, Telenor India and Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL).

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  • Hugo Barra leaves Xiaomi to join Facebook

    Hugo Barra leaves Xiaomi to join Facebook

    Hugo Barra, the international head at Xiaomi, is returning to Silicon Valley to head Facebook’s VR efforts, after spending three and half years in Beijing leading the Chinese smartphone maker’s global division.

    The announcement was made by Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg via his Facebook page last Wednesday.

    “I’m excited that Hugo Barra is joining Facebook to lead all of our virtual reality efforts, including our Oculus team,” Zuckerberg said in an announcement made in virtual reality.

    Barra will spearhead virtual reality efforts as Facebook’s VP of virtual reality. His relationship with Zuckerberg goes back years to when he broke ground on the Android operating system.

    More recently he worked at Xiaomi’s Beijing office as VP of International, serving as the face of the company and taking active part in product launches. Barra joined Xiaomi in 2013 from Google, where he worked as head of product management for Android, to oversee the company’s international expansion.

    Barra’s appointment comes over a month and a half after former Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe stepped down from his position in order to assume a leadership position within the company’s VR group.

    Telstra’s Cynthia Whelan to chair Foxtel

    Telstra has appointed group executive of new businesses Cynthia Whelan as the new chairman of Foxtel, the Australian incumbent’s 50/50 pay-TV joint venture with News Corporation.

    Whelan replaces Robert Nason, who retired from Telstra in 2015 and has been Foxtel chairman since June 2012. She has been a member of the Foxtel board since September last year.

    “Cynthia Whelan is an ideal chairman for Foxtel and will provide suitable leadership for the organization as it navigates a period of intense competition and technological evolution. She has significant experience in Australia and overseas in senior management and director roles,” Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said.

    Telstra’s partnership with News Corp over Foxtel allows Telstra to appoint the pay-TV firm’s chairman, while News Corp has the management control.

    Whelan will assume her new role on February 17. Telstra CFO Warwick Bray is also on the Foxtel board and the company will soon appointed a third director to replace Nason, the telco said in a statement.

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  • Cellcard aims for nationwide LTE by April

    Cellcard aims for nationwide LTE by April

    Cambodia’s Cellcard reportedly plans to roll out nationwide LTE services by April, becoming first past the post in the race to deploy 4G services covering the whole country.

    The operator recently contracted Nokia to expand and modernize its 3G and LTE networks, including by deploying around 1,500 new cell sites.

    Now Cellcard aims to achieve nationwide coverage by April. The operator has reportedly invested around $150 million in the 4G expansion project.

    Cellcard’s main rivals Smart and Metfone are also investing heavily to expand their 3G and 4G presence. According to the report, Smart has to date rolled out 4G coverage to areas in all 25 provinces of the country and has upgraded around 65% of its roughly 2,100 base stations to 4G.

    The company now plans to invest around $80 million towards upgrading around 80% of its base stations to 4G by the end of the year.

    Metfone meanwhile aims to cover nearly the whole country with 3G and 4G coverage, with a goal of having 3,000 base stations supporting both technologies, but has not disclosed a timeline for meeting this target.

    According to data from the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia, mobile internet subscriptions reached nearly 7.5 million in November, compared to a total mobile subscription base of around 19.5 million.

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  • Nokia beats estimates with Q4 earnings

    Nokia beats estimates with Q4 earnings

    Nokia has reported a narrower-than-expected 64.6% year-on-year decline in fourth quarter net profit to $682 million, as the company’s efforts to expand its portfolio to compensate for a shrinking mobile equipment market bore fruit.

    The company’s ebitda declined 27% over the same period to $1.01 billion, but analysts had been projecting a decline to $850 billion.

    Net sales fell 14% year-on-year to €6.7 billion ($7.21 billion), in a result Nokia said reflects challenging market conditions during the quarter.

    But Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri said the company’s diversification strategy helped compensate for these conditions somewhat.

    “At the start of the year, Nokia was focused primarily on mobile networks,” he said.

    “We ended the year as a company with a complete portfolio spanning mobile, fixed, routing, optical, stand-alone software and more; with solid opportunities to drive higher returns through expansion into new customer segments; with emerging businesses in digital health and digital media; and with greatly expanded patent and brand licensing activities.”

    For the full year, net sales fell 10% to $23.94 billion, while operating profit fell 25% to  $2.17 billion.

    “Our ongoing intense focus on execution, cost management and pricing discipline was critical to offset the impact of challenging market conditions over the course of the year,” Suri said.

    “While I remain disappointed with our topline development in 2016, we continue to expect our performance to improve in 2017 and see the potential for margin expansion in 2017 and beyond, as market conditions improve and our sales transformation programs gain further traction.”

  • Half the world is now online

    Half the world is now online

    Internet penetration increased by 10% in the last 12 months to hit 3.773 billion, or 50% of the world’s population, according to a report from social media management platform Hootsuite and social media agency We Are Social.

    The report also showed that global social media use has increased by 21% in the last 12 months, reaching 2.8 billion users globally.

    Another finding is that mobile social media use has increased by 30% year-over-year to surpass 2.5 billion users globally, with 91% of social media users accessing social from mobile.

    In APAC, mobile data traffic leads significantly over other regions, with 4.12 billion gigabytes consumed, compared with 1.24 gigabytes from North Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

    Social media growth rates increased by over 50% year-on-year. More than 1.5 billion people across APAC now use social media on a monthly basis, 95% of whom access social via mobile devices – the highest ratio in the world.

    As a result, organizations in APAC should plan to transform their communications strategy to increase customer engagement and real-time interaction across the customer journey.

    “Half of the world’s population is now online, which is a testament to the speed with which digital connectivity is helping to improve people’s lives,” We Are Social’s Simon Kemp said.

    “Given this latest data, it’s probably time for us to stop referring to social as ‘new media’, and integrate it more seamlessly into our day-to-day activities.”

    The report compiles data from the world’s largest studies of online behavior, conducted by organizations including GlobalWebIndex, GSMA Intelligence, Statista, and Akamai.

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  • XL Axiata swings back to profit in FY16

    XL Axiata swings back to profit in FY16

    Indonesia’s XL Axiata swung back to a 376 billion rupiah ($28.1 million) profit in 2016, as the company benefited from its $250 million tower sale and a stronger rupiah.

    The sale of 2,500 telecoms towers to local tower operator Protelindo, announced in March, helped the operator recover from a 25 billion rupiah loss the year before.

    But service revenue declined 4% to 19.19 billion rupiah due to the ongoing shift from legacy services to data. As a result of this rebalancing, data grew to account for 53% of the operator’s service revenue as of the fourth quarter, up from 35% a year earlier.

    Data traffic also surged to 515,304 terabytes, up from 196,341 terabytes a year earlier. The surge was driven by a 21 percentage point increase in smartphone penetration among XL’s subscribers to 63%, totalling 29 million customers at the end of FY16.

    During the fourth quarter, service revenue grew for a second consecutive quarter, albeit a slim 1% sequentially.

    XL Axiata’s results show that the company rolled out over 25,000 new base stations during the year, taking its total to 84,484 by the end of the year. Of these, 8,204 are 4G e-Node base stations, 38,731 are 3G node base stations and 37,549 are 2G sites.

  • Telkom Indonesia to launch third satellite this month

    Telkom Indonesia to launch third satellite this month

    Telkom Indonesia plans to launch a third satellite in less than two weeks as part of efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign satellites.

    The state-owned operator will launch the Telkom 3S from the Guiana Space Center on February 14. The satellite was constructed by Thales Alenia Space and will be launched abord Arianespace Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket.

    Once operational the Telkom 3S will carry 24 C band, 8 extended C band and 10 Ku band transponders. The satellite will substitute for the Telkom 3, which failed to reach orbit in 2012, and will take the orbital slot of the current Telkom 2.

    In turn the Telkom 2 will be moved to another orbit, and is expected to remain operational until 2021.

    The Telkom 1 and Telkom 2 satellites have a combined 140 transponders, but according to the report, Telkom said at least 300 transponders are needed to serve the operator’s consumer and business customers. The new Telkom 3S will cut down on the satellite capacity the company needs to source from foreign satellites.

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  • Telenor India said to seek merger with RCom, Aircel

    Telenor India said to seek merger with RCom, Aircel

    Norway’s Telenor is reportedly seeking to get in on the proposed merger between Aircel and Reliance Communications.

    Telenor is proposing to combine its Indian business, customer base and spectrum with the merged Aircel-RCom entity. Under the proposed terms, Telenor would own 10% of the combined company, while Aircel parent Maxis and RCom would each own 45%.

    The report cites a telecoms industry executive as stating that negotiations between the three commenced around Christmas, but have been in limbo after the Supreme Court threatened to revoke Aircel’s license if promoted Ananda Krishnan didn’t appear for a corruption case. As part of the decision the court also issued an interim ban on the sale of Aircel’s 2G spectrum.

    Telenor is also reportedly in parallel discussions with Bharti Airtel, even though Airtel has only offered cash value for Telenor’s spectrum rather than a proposed merger. The sources stated that Telenor is eager to exit India as soon as possible and will take the Airtel deal if it will close faster.

    RCom last year agreed to merge with Sistema Shyam Teleservices as part of the wave of telecoms industry consolidation.

    A combined RCom, Telenor, Aircel and SSTL would have a total subscriber base of around 236 million, making it India’s second largest operator behind Bharti Airtel, which has nearly 260 million customers.

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  • NBTC plans to allocate 380 MHz more mobile spectrum

    NBTC plans to allocate 380 MHz more mobile spectrum

    Thailand’s telecoms regulator NBTC plans to release 380 MHz of additional spectrum to the industry to set the stage for 5G and accommodate burgeoning demand for mobile data and IoT services.

    The regulator is aiming to auction 180 MHz of 2600-MHz spectrum this year as part of this process, citing NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith.

    According to the plan, this will be followed by auctions of 90 MHz of 1800-MHz spectrum and 20 MHz of 850-MHz spectrum by March 2018, then 90 MHz of 700-MHz spectrum by 2020.

    While to date up to 420 MHz of bandwidth has been allocated for mobile use, Takorn said this will not be sufficient to keep pace with rapid developments in network technology and online service innovation, let alone the eventual deployment of 5G and the new use cases it will bring.

    The planned auctions will bring the total bandwidth allocated for telecoms use up to 800 MHz, significantly higher than the 700 MHz recommended by the ITU, the report notes.

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  • South Korea’s Race To 100% Internet Access

    South Korea’s Race To 100% Internet Access

    The proliferation of smartphones in the hands of the entire population — but mostly the elderly and children — are the main cause of these rising internet implementation rates. It’s been reported that senior citizens are one of the larger user groups surfing the web. Dubbed “silver surfers,” those above the age of 60 are mainly using the internet as a means of communication in instant messaging apps.

    From map navigation to shopping, banking, cloud usage and more, nearly every connected area imaginable is rising in South Korean user activity. Data shows three-fourths of respondents were utilizing maps, and over half were playing online games three to four times per week. Of particular interest is the popularity of instant messaging, as survey results show 88.3 percent are using some form of a messenger app.

    Now, although internet connectivity is normally seen as a good thing, there’s always a not-so-shiny side. It was found that 99 percent of respondents go online at least once per week, where they spend an average of 14.3 hours. Teenagers have shown signs of internet addiction, and parents are now enrolling their children in rehab centers for treatment. Given our world’s continual increase in connected devices and services, receiving help for this particular type of addiction may be a very tough road ahead for us all.

    As more people get online to communicate with one another, we just may see internet addiction rehab centers popping up all over.

  • Thai MVNOs must use fingerprint SIM registration

    Thai MVNOs must use fingerprint SIM registration

    Thailand’s MVNOs will need to implement a new online fingerprint ID registration system for both prepaid and postpaid mobile SIMs by March, after regulator the NBTC declined to exempt them from complying with the new registration regime.

    The online registration system is being introduced as a requirement for both mobile operators and MVNOs as part of an NBTC decision from late last year.

    But MVNOs had been calling on the regulator to exempt them from the order on the grounds that it will impose additional costs that may make it difficult for them to compete with the major operators.

    NBTC secretary general Takorn Tantasith as stating that the regulator has decided that consumer interests must be put first, and a fingerprint system will be required to ensure greater security in mobile banking as Thailand moves towards becoming a cashless society.

    He also said operators will be able to deduct the costs of implementing the system from their annual universal service obligation fee.

    The new online fingerprint ID system will complement the existing compulsory SIM registration system. While operators are required to implement access to the system, end-users will choose whether to submit their fingerprints.

  • Telstra launches Gigabit LTE in key CBDs

    Telstra launches Gigabit LTE in key CBDs

    Australia’s Telstra has launched the world’s first commercial Gigabit LTE network in the central business districts of key state capital cities.

    The operator’s LTE-A network in these CBDs has been upgraded to support 4X4 multiple input multiple output (MIMO), three carrier aggregation and 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) on the downlink.

    The network also supports 64QAM and two carrier aggregation on the uplink for a peak upload speed of 150Mbps.

    Telstra, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Netgear jointly developed the first Gigabit-class commercially ready LTE network and Gigabit-class mobile device in October.

    Netgear’s Gigabit LTE device, the Nighthawk M1, will launch in Australia late this month, which will allow customers to use the Gigabit LTE service. The Nighthawk M1 utilizes 4×4 MIMO to support 4-way receive diversity.

    “Gigabit LTE is also an important step on our journey to 5G and demonstrates Telstra’s commitment to delivering Australians a world class network now and into the future,” Telstra group managing director for networks Mike Wright said.

    “We are well placed to evolve our 4G network and are putting the building blocks in place for Australia to be ready for 5G – this will deliver more bandwidth and lower latencies which are critical for emerging applications such as downloading 4K video, IoT, autonomous vehicles, augmented reality and shared virtual reality.”