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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 to end domestic roaming fees by October

    China to end domestic roaming fees by October

    China’s big three mobile operators have revealed plans to stop charging domestic roaming fees by October.

    China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have announced they will end the practice of charging inter-province roaming voice and data fees.

    The operators are also planning to introduce discount pricing for small and midsize businesses in a bid to encourage corporate customers to adopt more network technologies such as cloud computing.

    The operators are responding to pressure from the government to reduce the price of telecoms services to spur consumer spending and encourage greater adoption of network technologies.

    China has also been seeking to encourage price competition in the mobile sector, and opened up the market to MVNOs in 2013.

    These efforts were also extended to the fixed broadband market in 2014.  According to the Reuters report, the government recently announced it has approved applications from 198 private enterprises seeking to provide broadband services under a pilot project.

    China’s move to abolish domestic roaming will take the industry one step closer to meeting current GSMA chairman and Bharti Airtel founder Sunil Bharti Mittal’s recent call and doing away with roaming altogether – including international roaming.

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  • Orange taps Huawei for public cloud services for MNCs

    Orange taps Huawei for public cloud services for MNCs

    Orange Business Services, the B2B arm under Orange Group, has contracted Huawei to support the delivery of a new global public cloud offering to multinational corporations.

    Under the agreement, Huawei will provide a turnkey solution, including the hardware, develop the technology platform and OpenStack operating system, as well as level-three support. Orange will provide the data center facilities, network and security infrastructure, customers’ infrastructure and applications management, and professional services to support cloud migrations.

    Announcing the partnership at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Philippe Laplane, director of Orange Cloud for Business at Orange Business Services, said initially the company will target three major verticals – healthcare, public transportation and smart cities – for the new offering.

    With the new offering, Orange is extending its international cloud strategy with a portfolio of advice, integration and managed services for cloud infrastructure and applications.

    The new offering is aimed at helping multinational corporations migrate their legacy enterprise application to the cloud. It is designed to complement the company’s existing private cloud portfolio, Laplane added.

    Orange plans to roll out new services across Western Europe and Southeast Asia in April, followed by the US in October. The Middle East and Africa are scheduled for next year.

    Laplane said the French operator will host two sites in Western Europe and an additional one in Singapore for MNCs with a presence in Asia.

    “Our customers have a genuine need for an international public cloud offering that will allow them to adapt to the uses imposed by new technologies and meet the challenges of transforming their IT services on a global scale,” the executive said.

    “To continue to support them, it is essential for us to have the best technology, combined with the highest levels of security and services, that can meet the challenges of both digital transformation and international development.”

  • Ooredoo launches 10Gbps FTTH services

    Ooredoo launches 10Gbps FTTH services

    Ooredoo has used Mobile World Congress 2017 to announce it is launching a new 10Gbps FTTH service.

    The company has been offering 10Gbps fiber speeds to select VIP customers in Doha in Qatar, ahead of a planned wider nationwide commercial rollout later this year.

    Ooredoo has been trialing the service since December. In Doha, itt currently costs 7,500 rial ($2,059) per month, bundled with the Ooredoo tv service.

    Ooredoo Qatar CEO Waleed Al Sayed said the ongoing 10Gbps upgrade will also support Ooredoo’s broader strategy involving introducing 5G services, offering 8K TV streaming and positioning Qatar as the world’s best-connected country.

    “We’re delighted to be officially launching our 10Gpbs Fibre service for Qatar at Mobile World Congress,” he said.

    “This week is all about demonstrating Ooredoo’s data experience leadership, and we continue to set new milestones by expanding and enhancing the Ooredoo Supernet for mobile and fiber customers.”

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  • Mobile commerce in Singapore to pass $850m in 2017

    Mobile commerce in Singapore to pass $850m in 2017

    Despite a slower economic outlook, more than a third (38%) of online adults in Singapore interviewed in a 2016 study by PayPal say they will be spending more online this year, largely due to the convenience it brings.

    Notably, another 78% who predicated an increase in their online spend also cited convenience as the reason.

    Specifically, survey results showed that Singaporeans are turning their attention to spending on day-to-day items, with predicted growth for household goods (21%), groceries, food and beverage, and alcohol (15%), and baby and children’s supplies (12%) topping the list.

    Results indicate an increasing growth in mobile spend as Singaporeans spend more time on their mobile devices, with mobile shopping spend predicted to increase by 42% this year over 2016. This amounts to more than S$1.2 billion ($848 million), almost a third of the forested total online spend of S$3.5 billion in the country.

    The numbers explain the mobile first attitudes of firms in the region, and makes sense when one considers that the Asia Pacific is the leading region in terms of mobile connection penetration.

    In addition, two thirds (68%) of all cross-border shoppers interviewed in the region have made a cross-border purchase on a smartphone in the past 12 months, which is the highest net incidence out of all regions surveyed.

    “2017 looks to be a year of growth and opportunities for savvy businesses that are equipped to take their sales online, on mobile and in-app. This in turn provides endless choices and possibilities for the mobile-savvy generation as they live their lives on the go,” said Rahul Shinghal, general manager for PayPal Southeast Asia.

    PayPal’s study dovetails with another study late last year which concluded that the Asia Pacific region leads the world in mobile payment. Conducted by Kantar TNS, the study of over 70,000 consumers found that over half of connected users use their smartphones to pay for goods or services at point of sales via apps.

  • Optus, Huawei complete Massive MIMO field test

    Optus, Huawei complete Massive MIMO field test

    Australia’s Optus and Huawei have announced they have completed a successful infield test of Massive MIMO as part of the operator’s upgrade path to 5G.

    The trial used 128 transmit 128 receive Massive MIMO technology, achieving aggregate cell throughput of 665Mbps over a single 20 MHz carrier on the 2300-MHz frequency band, shared by 16 devices.

    Optus managing director for networks Dennis Wong said the trial demonstrated an aggregated speed improvement of up to eight times the capacity of existing 4G cell sites.

    “We’re seeing a 75% year on year increase in data consumption. Massive MIMO is an important step along the journey to 5G as it allows us to immediately increase cell site capacity and spectrum efficiency,” he said.

    “For customers, this means that their experience will be of consistently high standard even in high usage situations – regardless of whether your neighbour is downloading movies, or the person across the hall streaming 4K videos off YouTube.”

    He said the testing also indicates that the beamforming capabilities of Massive MIMO can deliver significant improvements in areas with high density populations, such as high-rises.

    In January, Huawei also completed field verification of the first FDD-based Massive MIMO technology, in collaboration with China Unicom. Major vendors showcased Massive MIMO technologies at Mobile World Congress 2017 this week.

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  • Ooredoo launches 10Gbps FTTH service

    Ooredoo launches 10Gbps FTTH service

    Ooredoo has used Mobile World Congress 2017 to announce it is launching a new 10Gbps FTTH service.

    The company has been offering 10Gbps fiber speeds to select VIP customers in Doha in Qatar, ahead of a planned wider nationwide commercial rollout later this year.

    Ooredoo has been trialing the service since December. In Doha, itt currently costs 7,500 rial ($2,059) per month, bundled with the Ooredoo tv service.

    Ooredoo Qatar CEO Waleed Al Sayed said the ongoing 10Gbps upgrade will also support Ooredoo’s broader strategy involving introducing 5G services, offering 8K TV streaming and positioning Qatar as the world’s best-connected country.

    “We’re delighted to be officially launching our 10Gpbs Fibre service for Qatar at Mobile World Congress,” he said.

    “This week is all about demonstrating Ooredoo’s data experience leadership, and we continue to set new milestones by expanding and enhancing the Ooredoo Supernet for mobile and fiber customers.”

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  • Amdocs launches aia to enable the “self-driving telco”

    Amdocs launches aia to enable the “self-driving telco”

    Amdocs has used Mobile World Congress 2017 to introduce aia, a new digital intelligence platform for the telecoms and media industry designed to enable the “self-driving telco”.

    The platform combines AI and machine learning capabilities – including cognitive computing services from IBM’s Watson – to deliver real-time intelligence into customer needs.

    Real-time data will be used by aia to make predictions, automate decisions and directly manage conversations with customers. Self-learning capabilities will be used to adapt to changing dynamics.

    The platform has the ability to manage around 50 operational business processes covered by the Amdocs OSS portfolio.

    “Imagine a world where your business intuitively understands your customers’ needs and automatically adapts to address them, where service providers embrace cognitive learning within their operational strategies, boosting customer experience, dynamically managing the product catalog and optimizing increasingly complex networks,” Amdocs CMO Gary Miles said. “aia will make that world a reality.”

    aia uses a data model compliant with the SID information framework component of TM Forum’s Frameworx digital transformation blueprint.

    Cloudera CEO Tom Reilly commented that Amdocs is “uniquely positioned to integrate intelligent data into a service provider’s Hadoop-based ecosystem.

    “The relevance of AI for service providers is very real and they get it; the question is how quickly they can act on it. By injecting intelligence into our portfolio, aia gives them a pragmatic and straightforward way to embrace AI into their business.”

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  • Singtel working with Ericsson to build shared IoT ecosystem

    Singtel working with Ericsson to build shared IoT ecosystem

    Singtel and Ericsson are using Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona to conduct a joint demonstration of their Assured+ integrated IoT platform.

    The companies are working to co-create a shared IoT ecosystem for operators, networks and devices.

    The jointly-developed Assured+ will support IoT applications including elder care, connected cars and other IoT applications focused on providing connected life management for consumers.

    It aims to address industry challenges associated with a fragmented IoT market, whereby most devices developed today are place-centric and closed.

    “In order to realise the full potential of IoT and offer our customers the best user experience, we need to ensure collaboration between people, devices and networks,” SingTel CEO consumer Singapore Yuen Kuan Moon said.

    “Singtel believes an open ecosystem and the Assured+ solution will enable us to achieve these aims. By integrating standalone applications into one solution, Assured+ will bring convenience to our customers and also pave the way for more IoT solutions, such as smart home, to be launched in a seamless manner.”

    Ericsson has projected in its latest Mobility Report that there will be 18 billion IoT related devices by 2022.

    US operator AT&T has separately forged a long term agreement with members of the Bridge Alliance mobile operator group aimed at extending connected car initiatives into new territories.

    The two organizations will work to grow the number of connected cars on the road in territories covered by Bridge Alliance members, which spans the Asia-Pacific and MEA regions.

    The agreement sets forth a framework to extend the geographic coverage AT&T will be able to provide to automotive manufacturers for their infotainment and other offerings.

    Bridge Alliance members will meanwhile be able to access solutions like Wi-Fi hotspots, internet radio and live traffic for car makers to implement.

    “Our collaboration with AT&T is based on the alignment and integration of processes,

    platforms and propositions. This presents exciting possibilities for the automotive industry,

    helping to accelerate the delivery of cutting-edge connected car solutions in our markets,” Bridge Alliance CEO Eileen Tan said.

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  • China Mobile, Ericsson demo IoT-powered factory

    China Mobile, Ericsson demo IoT-powered factory

    China Mobile and Ericsson have completed a trial involving what the companies say is the world’s first cellular IoT-based connected factory.

    The companies are presenting the outcomes of the trial at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona.

    The factory is implementing multiple applications for low-power wide area (LPWA) networks and devices, including production line monitoring, warehouse monitoring and package and materials tracking.

    Ericsson’s demonstration in Barcelona highlights a connected high-precision screwdriver, with motion sensors attached to NB-IoT modules that transmit real-time data from the tools to the cellular IoT network.

    The factory has around 1000 high-precision screwdrivers that each require routine calibrations and lubrications based on usage.

    The solution being developed for the factory covers terminals, networks to the platform and analytics.

    It is powered by Ericsson radio equipment and NB-IoT software, as well as Intel’s pre-commercial NB-IoT software, an Intel modem embedded in a Fibocom module and China Mobile’s OneNet IoT platform.

    “The combination of cellular IoT and Industry 4.0 has so far been fairly unexplored,” Ericsson head of north east Asia Chris Houghton said.

    “Enabling IoT network technology such as Cellular LPWA, together with cloud-based solutions, give manufacturing firms access to more information than ever before. The opportunity to use data to increase productivity is not only beneficial to a firm, but the whole of society as well.”

    China Mobile has been helping to lead the development of cellular IoT technology, having completed the world’s first lab testing on NB-IoT and moving towards large-scale field trials.

  • Huawei unveils CloudMetro for telco cloud transformation

    Huawei unveils CloudMetro for telco cloud transformation

    Huawei has released during Mobile World Congress its CloudMetro solution, which it says can help operators accelerate their digital transformation and business success.

    CloudMetro allows metro networks to utilize cloud technology to enable resource pooling, service agility, operation automation and open platforms.

    With the rapid introduction of heavy applications like 4K and VR, enterprise cloud interconnect, and the increasing service diversity brought by 5G , together with the new services we can’t yet predict, metro networks must remain at the forefront of business innovation and constantly explore ways to enhance the user experience.

    Wei Feng, CMO of Huawei’s network product line said “only a metro area network capable of rapid integration, efficient operations, and network capability openness can meet the commercial needs of the new services.

    “To exhibit these features, a metro network must use a cloud-based architecture,” he noted.

    The CloudMetro solution, based on cloud-native architecture, comprises two parts: upper-layer network cloud engine (NCE) and underlying E2E slicing-capable bearer network. It separates the functional modules, cloud operating system, and underlying physical devices into different layers, and moves management and service functions to the NCE to provide an on-demand LEGO-style service provisioning capability.

    By introducing service function chains to allow for on-demand service function selection and deployment, the CloudMetro solution can lower trial costs, shorten service time to market from months to days and automate O&M for greater efficiency gains, Wei said.

    The resource pooling function, for example, improves network utilization by 100%, while automated operation improves efficiency by 10 times, the executive added.

    Wei said China Unicom has deployed CloudMetro solution to provide commercial SD-UTN (software-defined unified transport network) smart government and enterprise leased line services in Guangzhou.

    Huawei has also opened the standard northbound interfaces to third parties, allowing more applications to be supported. The company provides a lab for remote online integration verification, marking a departure from independent development to joint development with partners.

    The company said unified service management, centralized resource control, and flexible resource scheduling across layers, domains, and vendors allow for online self-service service subscription, one-touch service provisioning, cloud-based service upgrades, and visualized O&M, improving O&M efficiency tenfold.

    Wei said Huawei has also released what it called is the industry’s first network slicing router for operators to construct an E2E slicing-capable network. At MWC, Huawei and DT are conducting a joint demonstration on 5G network slicing.

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  • China Mobile, GSMA, Huawei to address NFV reliability

    China Mobile, GSMA, Huawei to address NFV reliability

    China Mobile, the GSMA and Huawei have agreed during Mobile World Congress 2017 to jointly build an assessment framework for achieving carrier-grade NFV reliability.

    The project aims to combine industry efforts to construct a scalable framework for NFV in telecoms networks enabling proactive, flexible and intelligent network maintenance.

    Because of the difficulties surrounding locating network faults when using complex network technologies such as NFV, operators are looking to move towards a proactive network maintenance model to eliminate potential issues before user services are affected, the partners said.

    GSMA technical director Michele Zarri commented that carrier-grade NFV-reliability is a critical aspect of the virtualization of mobile networks, and is in-line with the industry body’s 5G Network Virtualization project.

    “There will be numerous business opportunities and challenges in the 5G era. However, Five-9s reliability is required for virtualized networks,” he said.

    “The GSMA will work to define network requirements and formalize the assessment framework including metrics and measurements for achieving carrier-grade NFV reliability.”

    Huawei GM for global customer support services Zhao Yongjun added that through the collaboration, the vendor aims “to consolidate industry efforts to explore new digital technologies and carry out joint-innovation to create tomorrow’s proactive intelligent network maintenance system.”

    He said the system will support “real-time, intelligent perception and preventative measures to meet increasing ultra-reliable network requirements.”

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  • Sunil Bharti Mittal declares war on roaming

    Sunil Bharti Mittal declares war on roaming

    Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of the GSMA and India’s Bharti Airtel, has called for an end to international roaming charges.

    Speaking on Monday’s morning keynote session at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, the newly elected GSMA chairman said the telecoms industry has “created a disaster” with high mobile roaming charges and pledged to resolve the issue of punitive roaming rates during his tenure.

    “As the chairman of GSMA, one of the major tasks to mind is to fix the problem of international roaming. The bill shocks are creating a lot of dishonest in the minds of customers,” Mittal said.

    “We have a global network…but very few people are allowed to enjoy it,” he said, noting that consumers turn off their phones or often buy local sim cards to avoid “bill shocks”.

    Mittal said 55% of people in the developed world switch off mobile data while roaming and he estimated 90% of travelers from the emerging markets switch off their mobile data, perhaps even voice when they travel.

    “It is a disaster our industry has created,” he said, adding that telcos should not stop regulators’ attempts to force down roaming rates.

    “What have we done to our industry? This must stop. As we leave this room we are going to shake this system. I can promise you within my term at GSMA, roaming charges and bill shocks will be a thing of the past,” Mittal said.

    Mittal’s comment came on the same day Bharti Airtel announced plans to scrap national roaming charges on call and data from April 1.

    In addition to roaming, Mittal also urged regulators to allow greater consolidation in the telecoms industry to leave it in a “healthier” shape.

    “Governments have got it wrong for too long. Regulators have always felt giving out new licenses means more money for the government and more competition for the customers. It’s quite the contrary,” he said, noting that large countries only need three telecoms service providers while smaller nations could be covered by two operators.

    “One doesn’t want a situation where there are one or two ‘healthy’ operators, while another similar number struggle… You really want a few sustainable solid operators, who can put out the investments that are required to deal with the new technologies, demand for data [and the] speeds that you want.”

    Mittal cited examples from the US and Europe, saying these issues are of concern to the telecoms industry globally.

    “In Africa, again and again when I meet regulators and ministers, they talk about issuing new licenses. The time for a license and 500,000 base stations creating a value is over. You can give as many licenses as you want but please allow consolidation,” he urged.

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  • Telstra to launch LTE-Broadcast this year

    Telstra to launch LTE-Broadcast this year

    Telstra has announced plans to launch LTE-Broadcast (LTE-B) services this year, and roll out the technology across Australia by 2018.

    The company is working with network vendor Ericsson to enable LTE-B in existing Telstra Media services this year.

    Telstra also plans to launch a 24×7 linear streaming channel using the technology, initially for certain compatible Samsung devices.

    LTE-B is a dedicated technology for broadcasting media over LTE networks for enhanced mobile video services such as mobile TV broadcasting and live streaming video services. The technology is also known as enhanced broadcast multcast services (eMBMS).

    LTE-B is designed to provide a constant bitrate data channel for broadcast content, with the bitrate not decreasing regardless of how many subscribers are watching simultaneously.

    Telstra group managing director for networks Mike Wright said 99% of Telstra’s 4GX-branded sites are already LTE_B compatible, and the operator aims to achieve nationwide coverage by next year.

    “Telstra’s LTE-B product roadmap will include 24 x 7 linear streaming, live sports coverage beyond stadiums, pre-loading of popular content, news clips and games highlights,” he said. “We plan on enabling LTE-B across many devices, and are excited to deliver an enhanced mobile experience to our customers.”

    In line with these ambitions, Telstra is also adopting technologies including session continuity and dynamic switching, and aims to introduce these capabilities to its network by November 2017.

    Session continuity allows for seamless transitions between unicast and broadcast areas during video streaming. Dynamic switching shifts the transmission between unicast or broadcast depending on which technology will deliver a superior experience based on the current number of simultaneous users.

    “This technology will be crucial to improving the LTE-B experience for our customers. For instance, when network capacity becomes limited and multiple users are consuming the same content, the MooD capability can shift the transmission to broadcast,” he said.

    Telstra and Ericsson are also members of the global LTE-Broadcast Alliance, which is holding its first forum at this week’s Mobile World Congress, the annual mobile industry conference held in Barcelona.

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  • AT&T, China Mobile team on IoT

    AT&T, China Mobile team on IoT

    AT&T and China Mobile have joined forces to further enable the IoT. Announcing the partnership ahead of Mobile World Congress 2017, AT&T said the deal will help the US telco’s global business customers connect and deploy their assets and offerings in the Chinese market.

    The pair is developing a new technology platform which AT&T say will seamlessly move its business customer’s IoT subscriptions over to China Mobile’s local service.

    The behind-the-scenes switch will help simplify the supply chain for AT&T’s customers looking to expand to China. This will help customers accelerate time to market and achieve greater efficiency in driving new revenue streams, said Chris Penrose, president of IoT solutions at AT&T.

    Penrose said AT&T is one of the first global operators to establish a relationship with China Mobile, which has the world’s largest 4G mobile network covering more than 1.3 billion subscribers.

    “China is one of the fastest growing markets. It holds incredible opportunity for our global business customers. Working with China Mobile means we can further develop that opportunity. This makes it an even more exciting time to be in the IoT,” the executive said.

    AT&T serves nearly 3.5 million business customers, helping them connect their devices around the world.

    “We look forward to helping AT&T business customers bring their connected solutions to our market,” said Dr. Li Feng, chairman & CEO, China Mobile International. “We believe this will help unlock new options and experiences for our customers while achieving one of our core goals – increasing the number of connected devices on our network.”

  • Telstra taps Ericsson for network evolution

    Telstra taps Ericsson for network evolution

    At Mobile World Congress 2017, Australian operator Telstra announced it has selected Ericsson to support its major “Network of the Future” transformation program.

    Ericsson will supply equipment and services to support the program, which includes a nationwide optical network transformation and expansion.

    The program will also include 5G new radio (NR) trials, the creation of a new Media Delivery Cloud to complement Telstra’s Telco Cloud project and deployment of CAT M1 functionality nationwide to establish Australia’s largest IoT network.

    Under the agreement, Ericsson will deliver a three-year optical transmission network and rollout plan to expand Telstra’s long haul, metro and regional optical networks, supplying and installing converged packet-optical technologies from Ciena.

    Ericsson, Telstra and Qualcomm will meanwhile collaborate on interoperability testing and an over-the-air field trial based on the 3GPP’s expected 5G NR specifications. Telstra is also a member of the group pushing for accelerated 5G NR standardization

    For the IoT initiative, Telstra and Ericsson have now commenced localized CAT-M1 trials in Melbourne and Tasmania in the first stage of a deployment across Telstra’s 4G network, which covers over 98% of Australia’s population.

    “These projects… provide the foundation for Telstra’s Network of the Future program, which is essential to delivering our customers a brilliantly connected future,” Telstra group managing director for networks Mike Wright commented.

    “Our expanded optical network will support important emerging network capabilities such as IoT, 5G and enhanced media delivery. And our move to virtualization through the Telco and Media Cloud projects will enable us to deliver our customers unique and differentiated services to meet their personal and business needs.”

    Telstra said its Telco Cloud network is now delivering live traffic. Telstra first announced its network function virtualization infrastructure (NFVi) program at last year’s Mobile World Congress and the company has now compled the first video call over a virtualized EPG.

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