Retail News CRM

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.

  • CITIC Telecom posts record $109.5m profit for 2016

    CITIC Telecom posts record $109.5m profit for 2016

    Hong Kong-based CITIC Telecom International has reported a record high operating profit of HK$850.1 million ($109.5 million) for 2016, up 6% from the prior year.

    During the year, CITIC Telecom launched its new City Link roaming services supporting data sharing in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, based on a network of more than four million Wi-Fi hotpots in the three markets.

    This launched helped the operator capture a 57% share of Macau’s 4G market, and increase its mobile broadband users by 17%.

    CITIC Telecom also achieved 100% coverage in Macau with its optical network, and completed the acquisition of 340,000 square feet for CITIC Telecom Tower, which once complete will become one of the largest data centers in Hong Kong.

    Internationally, the company commenced the process of acquiring Linx Telecommunications, which serves 14 countries in Europe and Asia. This deal was completed last month.

    The company also recently completed the acquisition of Singapore-based cloud, technology and managed services provider Acclivis Technologies and Solutions, and achieved growth with its data flow trading platform DataMall through a collaboration with China Mobile.

  • Arrow holds IoT innovation showcase in Shenzhen

    Arrow holds IoT innovation showcase in Shenzhen

    Arrow Electronics has held an internet of things (IoT) innovation showcase in Shenzhen aimed at connecting innovative Hong Kong startups with technology companies in China.

    The event attracted 500 attendees from all sections of the IoT ecosystem in Hong Kong and China, providing a platform for IoT businesses in China and Hong Kong to collaborate.

    As well as startups and entrepreneurs, international technology manufacturers, IoT solution providers and system integrators attended.

    Notable attendees included Analog Devices, Cypress, Honeywell, Infineon, Intel, Nexperia, NXP, ON Semiconductor, Qualcomm, and STMicroelectronics.

    Arrow Electronics components president for APAC Simon Yu said that recent research from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University found that entrepreneurship in Hong Kong and Shenzhen has grown 206% and 284% respectively between 2009 and 2016. But innovation in some major areas including the IoT is being held back due to limited engineering expertise and production resources.

    “Arrow has long supported technology innovation in Hong Kong and China,” he said.

    “Our engineering expertise and IoT industry reputation, especially in the greater China area, can definitely assist IoT startups in removing key barriers and connecting them with the ecosystem players on their road to innovation entrepreneurship and social impact.”

    Arrow Electronics last year opened the Arrow Open Lab at Science Park to help support entrepreneurship and innovation in Hong Kong. This week’s event built on that initiative.

  • Chunghwa Telecom Global launches SD-WAN

    Chunghwa Telecom Global launches SD-WAN

    CHT Global (Chunghwa Telecom Global) has launched its SD-WAN services on a global scale to help enterprises transition from traditional static hardware to software-based WAN.

    The company is partnering with VeloCloud Networks, a Cloud-Delivered SD-WAN company, to provide the underlying infrastructure for the service.

    CHT Global has one of the widest international cable line networks in the Pacific and beyond through its undersea submarine cables that direct global voice and data traffic.

    Its leverage in the Asia-Pacific in conjunction with its SD-WAN services will allow customers to ensure reliable wide-area network connections, whether they are DSL, cable, or LTE.

    “CHT Global SD-WAN will minimize the congestion that commonly occurs with traditional broadband Internet that would otherwise interfere with the delivery of time-sensitive applications and lower the QoE for end users,” CHT Global CEO and president Joe Yang said.

    “By pairing up VeloCloud’s technology and knowledge of managed services with CHT Global’s submarine cable network, businesses around the world can increase operational efficiency and maximize performance.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Globe launches 4CC LTE-A

    Globe launches 4CC LTE-A

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom announced it has become the first operator in the nation to implement 4-component-carrier aggregation LTE-Advanced using the 2600-MHz band.

    The upgrade effectively doubles LTE capacity in areas covered by the deployment, the company said, and will be capable of generating speeds of up to 400 Mpbs once compatible devices hit the market.

    So far Globe has implemented the upgrade at 110 sites mostly in Metro Manila, including most areas in Makati and certain areas in Quezon City, Marikina, Antipolo, and San Mateo.

    The operator aims to deploy the technology in more than 500 sites this year across more of Metro Manila as well as key areas of North Luzon and South Luzon.

    Globe is using its new 2600-MHz band spectrum allocation acquired through its joint purchase with rival PLDT of conglomerate San Miguel Corporation’s telecommunications assets last year.

    Since acquiring the spectrum, the company has also deployed around 1,200 2600-MHz LTE sites mostly in Visayas and Mindanao.

    “This is the first time that a telco operator in the Philippines is making use of this 4-component carrier spectrum LTE-Advanced technology and we are maximizing the potential of the new spectrum assigned to us for the benefit of our customers,” Globe SVP for program governance Joel Agustin said.

    “This technology milestone significantly improves customer experience as smartphone penetration in the country continues to increase.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • UN calls for “new deal” on mobile broadband

    UN calls for “new deal” on mobile broadband

    The UN Broadband Commission has called for a “New Deal” involving fresh industry collaboration and public-private partnerships to help connect the 5 billion people who lack mobile broadband access.

    At the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development’s 2017 Spring Meeting in Hong Kong yesterday, participants debated the need for a new deal between all broadband stakeholders to work towards full global connectivity and digital transformation.

    Discussions had a particular emphasis on remote and rural areas – especially in the UN’s list of Least Developed Countries – which represent the biggest challenge for the industry.

    The Commission underlined the need to build an ecosystem with government, with all ministries and the private sector working together for more efficient investment and taxation, as well as issues associated with the cost of spectrum auctions in markets with the widest digital divides.

    “Our central conviction is that broadband and ICTs are critical if we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” ITU secretary general and Broadband Commission co-vice chair Houlin Zhao said.

    “ICTs underpin vital achievements and modern services in many sectors, and governments and industry must increasingly work together to create the conditions so badly needed to facilitate the growth of broadband for sustainable development.”

    Lees ook:

  • Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand subsea cable launches

    Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand subsea cable launches

    A new subsea cable connecting Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand has been launched in Cambodia, adding at least 30Tbps of regional capacity.

    The Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) cable system was designed and deployed by Huawei Marine for Cambodia’s EZECOM, Telekom Malaysia and Symphony Communication of Thailand.

    The 1,300km cable system uses 100Gbps technology, and will connect to other submarie cable systems, including the Asia-America Gateway (AAG).

    Speaking at the launch of the system, EZECOM CEO Paul Blanche-Horgan said the launch is the culmination of six years of work. He said the launch of the cable will improve the security of Cambodia’s connection to the internet.

    “With this cable, we are now directly connected POP to POP, which means a much more secure connection for Cambodia. This is of great importance, as [Cambodian deputy prime minister and minister of interior] Samdech Krolahom does understand, for the context of national security as well as certain key sectors like banking.”

    Samdech Krolahom himself said that with the new cable, “Cambodia now has faster, more reliable, more affordable and, most importantly, a more secure internet connection for all.”

  • Nepal Telecom reaches 500,000 4G subscribers

    Nepal Telecom reaches 500,000 4G subscribers

    Nepal Telecom has revealed that its 4G subscriber base has passed 500,000 less than three months after launching the services.

    The operator, currently Nepal’s only 4G provider, announced that it now has over 524,000 subscribers. Nepal Telecom launched 4G services at the start of January, initially in the Kathmandu and Pokhara areas.

    But of the operator’s total 4G subscriber base, only around 67,500 are postpaid, whereas the remainder are prepaid. Nepal Telecom launched prepaid LTE services in February.

    The total 4G base also currently only makes up a small portion of Nepal Telecom’s roughly 8.1 million mobile internet users, the report indicates.

    Nepal Telecom is also currently limited to providing 4G using a mere 5 MHz of 1800-MHz spectrum, capping peak data rates at 32.4Mbps, but is currently seeking more spectrum from the government to offer faster services.

    To mark the occasion of this year’s Holi spring festival in Nepal, the operator has meanwhile introduced new data and SMS offers for subscribers, including 200MB of bonus data for GSMA/CDMA prepaid users on a top up of 200 rupees ($1.88).

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • 9 in 10 operators look to real-time assurance for revenue protection

    9 in 10 operators look to real-time assurance for revenue protection

    Among global operators, 91% view real-time assurance as the most important priority for revenue protection, according to a research from telecom.com and Openet.

    The study shows that, without a transformed approach to revenue and service assurance, over half of respondents admit that they will risk losing more than 3% of the revenues expected to come from digital services (i.e. TV services, etc) in 2017 alone.

    The forecast leakage represents a significant level of risk as over 60% anticipating that revenues from digital services will account for 10% of total revenues, and 30% seeing this revenue figure at over 20% of total revenues.

    Also, over three quarters (77%) of those surveyed believe that existing revenue assurance systems would struggle to collect relevant data in real-time from virtualized networks for new services.

    The majority (87%) agreed that most existing revenue assurance systems were designed for traditional telecoms networks. With the advent of virtualization across operators’ infrastructure promising increased efficiency in the long-term, at a network level, it significantly increases complexity in the short term.

    With this in mind, 83% of operators believe the complexity of network virtualization is adding greater need to solve the challenge of dynamic data collection for assurance in this sense.

    “As the industry moves to roll out digital services enabled by new real-time systems and virtualized networks, revenue assurance needs a serious rethink,” said Jon Ross, GVP product and solutions management at Openet.

    “Many service providers are anticipating more than 20% of their service revenue coming from digital services in 2017, therefore it’s important that any potential for revenue leakage is addressed now,” said Ross.

    Lees ook:

  • HKT, Huawei co-found C-V2X consortium

    HKT, Huawei co-found C-V2X consortium

    The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), operator HKT and vendors Huawei and Qualcomm have formed a consortium aiming to build a smart mobility system for Hong Kong using cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technologies.

    The consortium aims to revolutionize Hong Kong’s transportation sector using C-V2X, a standard covering both network-based and direct communications for vehicles.

    A C-V2X powered smart mobility system will therefore enable vehicles to connect to both the cloud and each other, as well as to pedestrians and to traffic infrastructure.

    Vehicles can use the “co-operative awareness” this enables to improve mobility safety as well as autonomous driving, and can help law enforcement and traffic and urban planners to plan and monitor the safety and efficiency of traffic movements.

    The consortium aims to use C-V2X to introduce intelligent transport services including a warning mechanism for collision and control, assistance for cruise control and parking, and alert systems for speed and lane violations.

    It plans to work with government, the automobile industry and other stakeholders to realize this vision. The project is also expected to generate opportunities for other sectors including shipment, ridesharing, home-delivery, insurance, infotainment and mobile healthcare.

    “Hong Kong is a well-connected city with good infrastructure. If we complement these strengths with the latest innovation in science and technology, Hong Kong can become one of the most sophisticated and advanced smart cities in the world,” ASTRI chairman Wong Min-yam commented.

    “This Smart Mobility Consortium is a giant step in that leap. ASTRI is developing state-of-the-art applications, platforms and prototypes which can benefit not just Hong Kong, but potentially other cities in this region too. We, as the SAR’s largest technological R&D institution, are partnering with three eminent organisations to bring revolutionary changes to the way we manage our city’s traffic.”

    The consortium plans to carry out C-V2X pilot in the second quarter of this year. “Our trial sites will likely be at Hong Kong Science Park and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. We hope to extend the pilot to East Kowloon at a later stage,” said Peter Lam, managing director for engineering at HKT.

    “For C-V2X implementation, dedicated spectrum in 5.9GHz is needed. We will try to seek a spectrum testing license from the government to do the pilot,” he added.

    Lees ook:

  • Cloud-based online charging system debuts through Netcracker

    Cloud-based online charging system debuts through Netcracker

    Netcracker Technology has unveiled its Cloud-Based Online Charging System (OCS), a next-generation offering that has been optimized to meet the requirements of the digital world.

    As the industry’s first always-active OCS platform, Netcracker’s Cloud-Based OCS addresses all of the key pain points associated with legacy, hardware-based charging systems.

    The platform enables always-on availability at a lower cost as well as cloud elasticity and scalability in order to keep up with the demands of digitalization.

    The platform also enables converged revenue management scenarios; support for VoLTE, virtualized, 5G and IoT services; deployment flexibility across any physical and virtual environment; and embedded analytics.

    “Netcracker’s Cloud-Based OCS underscores the right approach for service providers that are looking to monetize cloud and virtualized services in today’s digital world,” said Karl Whitelock, global director of operations, orchestration, data analytics and monetization (ODAM) at Stratecast.

    “As a software-centric solution that relies on configurable parameters and not complex customized code, Netcracker’s scalable OCS can help to address any level of transaction processing need, which is essential for delivering future-proof operations in the journey to becoming true digital services providers,” said Whitelock.

    Sanjay Mewada, chief strategy officer at Netcracker, said traditional revenue management platforms have not been able to keep pace with the needs of communications service providers as they transform into digital service providers.

    “Netcracker has evolved its OCS to address these precise needs,” said Mewada. “Our Cloud OCS, with its unparalleled elasticity, always-on availability and embedded analytics, removes the barriers to digitalization and allows our customers to rapidly monetize digital offerings, such as VoLTE, 5G, virtualized and IoT services.”

  • Tecnotree launches two customer experience solutions

    Tecnotree launches two customer experience solutions

    Tecnotree has launched two new solutions to enable service providers to transform customer experience, boost revenues and simplify processes, while also supporting business decisions.

    Through its Business Analytics and Insight (BAI) dashboard, service providers around the world can now use highly relevant, pre-integrated and pre-defined KPIs to get the critical information they need to run their business.

    BAI presents a simplistic visual summary of key trends, comparisons and current states of key data points vital to a business, both on large screens and mobile devices.

    All this is gathered in one single screen to help users make more informed decisions, with metrics grouped into four key areas: revenue, products, customers and service usage.

    Following a successful pilot, Tecnotree also introduced the Social Media Engagement (SME) tool. With SME, customer service agents can engage all social media channels in one single place, increasing efficiency.

    SME provides notifications when relevant messages are posted and includes a thorough positive/negative sentiment analysis, which enables agents to quickly and accurately prioritize tasks. SME also helps to measure a service provider’s brand sentiment, allowing them to enhance and improve customer interactions.

    In addition, Tecnotree has launched the My Life Dashboard product, which provides a self-care solution to give customers of service providers real-time, easy access and control of their services whenever and wherever they choose. It also allows people to recharge, top up, pay bills and use loyalty points to purchase new services.

  • Swan Mobile picks Subex for fraud management

    Swan Mobile picks Subex for fraud management

    Swan Mobile, a Slovak telecommunications service provider, has selected Subex to provide its ROC Fraud Management Solution.

    As part of the implementation, Subex’s ROC Fraud Management will cover Voice, SMS and mobile data services for pre-paid and post-paid subscribers of Swan Mobile.

    “Being a progressive organization, we understand the significant impact fraud can have on telecom operators, from both a financial and operational perspective,” said Swan Mobile CTO Patrik Kollaroc.

    “This fact, coupled with the rapid growth we have been seeing, led to us to proactively look for an industry leading fraud management solution and we believe Subex’s Fraud Management solution will enable us to safeguard our business from the implications of fraud effectively,” said Kollaroc.

    Vinod Kumar, COO of Subex, said  the deployment of ROC Fraud Management will help Swan Mobile protect their business revenues and safeguard them against the threat of fraud.

    Subex’s ROC Fraud Management solution promises to ensure a rapid return on investment (ROI) by offering the strongest fraud management capabilities, increasing compliance, reducing risk, and providing economies of scope.

    Subex’s detailed business benefit modelling tools allow customers to determine ROI, build reliable business cases, and explicitly see the value that our solution can bring to their business.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Airtel to maintain controlling stake in tower arm

    Airtel to maintain controlling stake in tower arm

    India’s Bharti Airtel has called off plans to sell a controlling stake in its infrastructure division Bharti Infratel, but still plans to sell or transfer a minority stake in the company.

    The company’s board decided  in a meeting held this week not to sell a controlling stake in the division for now.

    Instead the company plans to sell or transfer up to 400 million shares in Infratel to either wholly-owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments, any other potential investors or both.

    After the transfer Airtel will hold a 50.33% stake in Infratel while Nettle or the new investors will hold 21.63%.

    Bharti Infratel’s portfolio covers around 90,250 towers, the report states. These include the company’s own towers and its share of the assets of independent tower company Indus Towers, which was jointly established in 2007 by Infratel and other Bharti Group members, as well as Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.

    The division reported a 25% increase in net profit to 6.2 billion rupees ($94.5 million) for the December quarter, which compares to a 50% decline in profit for Bharti Airtel.

    Lees ook:

  • Prysmian group claims record for densest subsea cable

    Prysmian group claims record for densest subsea cable

    Cable manufacturer Prysmian Group has supplied what it says is the densest and highest fiber count subsea cable ever made.

    The company has delivered a FlexTube cable containing 1,728 optical fibers for Australia’s Superloop for the TKO Express project.

    TKO Express is a project to provide broadband connectivity between the aras of SiuSai Wan on Hong Kong Island and the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate data center hub on the mainland.

    The company’s and industry’s previous record was a subsea FlexTube cable with just 720 fibers from 2014.

    Prysmian Australia CEO Frererick Persson said the construction was a major logistics and engineering challenge.

    The base cable was manufactured in France, then airlifted in Australia to apply moisture barriers and aluminum tape as well as double armoring layers of wrapped steel wires to ensure the cable could withstand being buried up to five meters into Hong Kong’s sea bed.

    “It was a logistics challenge indeed. Airfreighting a drum weighing 15 tons was something that we have never done before. But we mastered it and the drum was successfully delivered to the TKO Port three days before the promised date. It has been definitely great success for both companies,” he said.

    Lees ook:

  • India,Indonesia to enhance ties in cyber security,intelligence

    India,Indonesia to enhance ties in cyber security,intelligence

    India and Indonesia today decided to enhance cooperation in cyber security and intelligence sharing.

    This was decided at a meeting between Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and visiting Indonesian Minister for Security Gen Wiranto here.

    “The bilateral meeting with Indonesian Minister for Security and Coordination was very fruitful. The meeting focused on cyber security and intelligence sharing,” Rijiju said.

    The delegation level meeting was attended by senior officials of Ministry of Home Affairs and Indonesian Ministry of Security and Coordination.

    Lees ook: