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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.

  • Nokia makes big moves in 5G, IoT

    Nokia makes big moves in 5G, IoT

    Nokia is stepping up its efforts in 5G competition with the launch of 5G First, its debut 5G product.

    The 5G First, which will be available in the second half of 2017, helps mobile carriers prepare for 5G-ready architectures and gives them “first to market advantage”, Nokia said, adding that the 5G product is underpinned by technical specifications outlined by the Verizon 5G Technology Forum ecosystem.

    Announcing the launch at a news conference ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Sunday, Nokia president and CEO Rajeev Suri said “the 5G launch is not hype but soon to become reality.”

    He said Nokia is working with Verizon and Intel to supply equipment for pre-commercial 5G services to homes in select Verizon markets such as Dallas. The companies will also deploy 5G-enabled “next-generation video and entertainment services”, which are set to launch in Dallas later this year and expand to other US markets by the end of 2017.

    In addition, Suri predicted that investments in 4G, particularly advanced 4G technology, will pick back up this year in key markets, like Japan.

    “Even with 5G coming, the need for more capacity grows everyday with no sign of slowing,” the executive said.

    Suri also revealed that Nokia has won a three-year contract from Telefonica to boost the performance of its 4G networks in London as data demand grows. The deal includes Nokia 4.5G Pro technology, he added.

    Earlier this month, Nokia reported its profits for the fourth quarter of 2016 fell less than expected, helped by cost cuts and the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent.

    The Finnish telecoms equipment vendor is also looking to broaden its footprint in faster-growing areas including software and the utilities and transport markets with IoT and cloud, in a bid to offset the weakening revenues from the telecoms sector.

    For example, Nokia has recently launched WING, its IoT network grid, which is aimed at providing a full-service model offering IoT connectivity across different technologies to manage a client’s IoT connectivity needs and assets.

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  • Infinera to interconnect Yahoo Japan’s Osaka DCs

    Infinera to interconnect Yahoo Japan’s Osaka DCs

    Yahoo Japan has selected Infinera Cloud Xpress to interconnect its data centers in Osaka. The Cloud Xpress enables Yahoo Japan to interconnect data centers with hyper-scale density, operational simplicity and low power consumption.

    Working closely with Infinera partner Itochu Techno-Solutions, Yahoo Japan deployed the Infinera Cloud Xpress to address the need for more capacity. Itochu Techno-Solutions provides Yahoo Japan with IT and data center maintenance services. Yahoo Japan has now deployed the Cloud Xpress and Infinera XTM Series in its metro networks.

    With the Cloud Xpress, Yahoo Japan benefits from Infinera’s photonic integrated circuit technology which delivers a 500 Gbps super-channel over 150 kilometers without additional multiplexers and amplifiers.

    The Cloud Xpress incorporates Infinera’s Instant Bandwidth technology to allow customers to software-activate line-side bandwidth in 100 Gbps increments as and when needed.

    In addition, the Cloud Xpress is designed for plug-and-play installation with simplified provisioning and support for data center automation using open SDN APIs.

    “The compact design, ease of use and scalability of Cloud Xpress and the XTM Series stand out in metro data center interconnect applications where data center operators need to grow capacity rapidly while minimizing the cost of space and power,” Infinera VP of regional sales for APAC Andrew Bond-Webster said.

    The Infinera Cloud Xpress Family is designed to deliver cloud-optimized wavelength division multiplexing solutions to cloud service providers, internet content providers, Internet Exchange service providers, enterprises and other large-scale data center operators.

    The Cloud Xpress Family offers customers the choice of 10 GbE, 40 GbE and 100 GbE client interfaces to meet their specific requirements. Infinera recently introduced the Cloud Xpress 2 based on the Infinite Capacity Engine, scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 2017.

  • SmarTone deploying smart robots at retail stores

    SmarTone deploying smart robots at retail stores

    Hong Kong’s SmarTone is deploying “smart robots” at its psychical retail stores to help enhance the customer experience. The initiative, launched last week on Valentine’s day, involves the leading mobile network operator in Hong Kong deploying the NAO robot at its stores.

    It marks the first time SmarTone is using actual robots for enhancing the customer experience. The idea is to streamline the customer experience while adding fun and improving engagement.

    At the launch ceremony at SmarTone’s apm store, NAO joined local Web-celebrity Lilian Kan to sing, dance and play games with customers while uttering words of love.

    Not to be outdone, Pepper, another smart robot, joined in the festivities as well. It was the first time both robots were pictured together.

    “SmarTone has always been pushing the frontiers of innovation, committed to innovating customer experience in the industry,” SmarTone head of marketing and sales Josephine Lam said.

    “The introduction of NAO will enable a fun and interactive experience, deepening in-store engagement with customers.”

    NAO can perform detailed actions and is multi-lingual. It offered details about the latest service plan offerings while providing recommendations on phone accessories.

    “Robotics is one of the hottest technologies and we know they will have a significant impact on our lives in the future,” SmarTone head of products and services Alex Kun said.

    “We will continue to seek ways to introduce the latest robotics technologies into our business as well as provide opportunities for local enterprises, organizations, and individuals to experience the technology.”

    SmarTone is not just looking to robotics to improve customer services and operational efficiency.

    The company is looking to improve overall robotics appreciation as a territory-wide effort. For example, it will include the introduction robot rental services and the organization of coding workshops to spur interest in robotics among the youth.

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  • GSMA launches IoT, big data directory

    GSMA launches IoT, big data directory

    The GSMA has launched the IoT Big Data API Directory, which will make harmonized data sets from multiple sources worldwide available to developers and third parties, enabling them to create innovative new Internet of Things (IoT) services.

    The directory, which is the first of its kind, is designed to encourage a common approach to data sharing that will help the IoT to realize its full potential and encourage the development of new projects across transport, the environment and smart cities.

    Global mobile operators China Mobile, China Unicom, KT Corporation, Orange and Telefónica have already implemented solutions enabling them to share harmonized IoT data.

    “The IoT generates a huge amount of data that is currently retained in vertical silos. However, in order for the IoT to reach its full potential this data needs to be released and made available to developers and third parties,” said Alex Sinclair, CTO of GSMA.

    “A common, collaborative and interoperable approach to big data will remove the commercial and technical barriers to capitalizing on the IoT opportunity and usher in a new era of IoT solutions that will help the market to scale,” said Sinclair. “We encourage mobile operators to collaborate with the wider industry to benefit from the big data opportunity.”

    The IoT Big Data API Directory provides details of IoT and context data sets covering machines, devices, automotive, roads, environment, smart home and agriculture.

    All of the data sets are harmonized and can be viewed on github. A common approach to data sharing lowers costs and creates opportunities for IoT developers, data brokers and data providers.

    The IoT Big Data Framework defines how mobile operators can approach the delivery of IoT big data services. It is designed to enable industry participants to work together collaboratively to deliver big data services and support an ecosystem of third-party application developers.

    Mobile operators are seen as key participants in the delivery of an IoT big data ecosystem, although much of the IoT data that is collected will come from a range of data provider partners.

    The document provides a framework for the delivery of IoT big data services that recognizes the many different approaches towards the services that are offered and the technology choices that are made. The proposed architecture promises a degree of flexibility which allows IoT big data services to be offered in multiple ways.

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  • Indonesia to hold limited spectrum

    Indonesia to hold limited spectrum

    The Indonesian government plans to hold a limited tender for unused spectrum in the 2.1-GHz and 2.3-GHz bands by the middle of the year.

    Communications and informatics minister Rudiantara has announced that the government expects to issue the terms of the tender process by the end of March, and to announce the winner by mid-year.

    Only existing operators will be entitled to participate in the limited tender, the minister said.

    The 2.1-GHz band is used by operators including Telkomsel, Indosat Ooreedoo, XL Axiata and Hutchison 3 Indonesia for 3G services, while the 2.3-GHz band is used for 4G wireless broadband services in parts of the country.

    Plans to reallocate the unused capacity in the 2.1-GHz band returned by Axis Telecom in 2014 following its merger into XL Axiata have been in the works since 2015, but the process has been delayed by technical and other difficulties.

    According to the report, only half of the unused 30 MHz of capacity in the 2.3-GHz band will be allocated.

    Indonesian operators, facing a spectrum crunch in major cities, have responded enthusiastically to the announcement, and are urging the government to ensure there are no further delays.

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  • 5 operators are already testing 5G

    5 operators are already testing 5G

    Despite 5G standardization not being expected until 2020, 25 mobile operators have already commenced lab testing 5G technologies, according to industry data from network testing company Viavi.

    Of the 25 operators testing 5G, 12 have progressed to field testing, the company said. An additional four operators have announced plans for 5G trials but have not yet commenced them.

    Five operators have achieved data speeds of at least 35 Gbps in 5G trials, including Optus, M1 and StarHub.

    To date, Etisalat has the speed record at 36Gbps, Viavi said, with Ooredoo close behind at 35.46Gbps. All operators conducting 5G trials have reported data transmission speeds of at least 2Gbps.

    Viavi’s data also show that operators are testing 5G across a wide range of bands, ranging from sub 3-GHz up to 86-GHz.

    The most commonly trialed bandwidth among operators that have disclosed their test spectrum is currently 28-GHz – with eight operators using it – followed by 15-GHz, which is being used by seven operators.

    Among equipment suppliers, five major vendors have announced an involvement in 5G trials – Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Samsung and ZTE. Many operators are working with multiple vendors on their trials, with KT including all five equipment providers.

    “The pace of 5G development is already beyond the expectations of many observers,” Viavi CTO Sameh Yamany commented.

    “Now, as the technical delivery of data is starting to coalesce, it is time to think ahead to how future 5G networks can manage the disparate requirements of high data rates, very low latency applications and large-scale IoT services while maintaining QoS.”

    He said network slicing, involving the automation and programming of multiple cloud-based functions within a virtualized network, will be important to achieving these goals.

    “Service providers and their partners will require solutions that are virtualized from one end of the network to the other and have automated and correlated intelligence across each network slice for monitoring, optimization and service assurance.”

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  • Vodafone New Zealand’s merger with SKY TV rejected

    Vodafone New Zealand’s merger with SKY TV rejected

    New Zealand regulator the Commerce Commission has declined to approve the proposed merger between Vodafone New Zealand and SKY Network Television on competition grounds.

    The commission held that a merger between the companies would negatively impact competition in the premium sports content market.

    “The proposed merger would have created a strong vertically integrated pay-TV and full service telecommunications provider in New Zealand owning all premium sports content,” Commerce Commission chair Dr Mark Berry said.

    “We acknowledge that this could result in more attractive offers for Sky combined with broadband and/or mobile being available to consumers in the immediate future…[but] the evidence before us suggests that the potential popularity of the merged entity’s offers could result in competitors losing or failing to achieve scale to the point that they would reduce investment or innovation in broadband and mobile markets in the future.”

    The Commerce Commission said it had particular concerns that the merger could impact the competiveness of key third players in these markets such as 2degrees and Vocus.

    “This is also against a backdrop of fibre being rolled out, making it an opportune time for the merged entity to entice consumers to a new offer,” Berry said.

    “If significant switching occurred, the merged entity could, in time, have the ability to price less advantageously than without the merger or to reduce the quality of its service. Given we are not satisfied that we can say that competition is unlikely to be substantially lessened by the proposed merger, we must decline clearance.”

    In a terse statement, Vodafone New Zealand acknowledged the regulator’s decision but made no further comment.

    Under the proposed merger, Vodafone Group would have taken up to a 51% stake in Sky TV, which itself would acquire up to 100% of Vodafone New Zealand. The merged entity would have been controlled by Vodafone Group.

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  • India’s Jio introduces its first price plans

    India’s Jio introduces its first price plans

    Disruptive new Indian 4G operator Reliance Jio’s free services offer will soon be coming to an end, but the operator has announced an aggressive new pricing strategy in a bid to retain as many of its new customers as possible.

    Jio launched nationwide services in September last year, but made all services available for free as a promotional offer. The company subsequently extended this promotion until March 31.

    The aggressive marketing strategy has helped Jio sign up new customers at a record rate – the operator recently revealed it is nearing 100 million customers. But a number of these are expected to port out once the free services period comes to an and, due in part to the current patchy nature of Jio services.

    In an attempt to limit churn, Jio has introduced a new Prime offer that will take effect from April 1. Under this offer, customers will be able to pay a one-time 99 rupee ($1.48) fee for prime membership, and another 303 rupees a month for unlimited voice calls and 30GB of allocated data.

    Jio’s rivals, which have already been feeling the impact of the operator’s entry into the market and been pushed into making their offers more competitive, may find themselves needing to further cut prices or increase allocations in response.

    This could put even more pressure on a hotly-competitive telecoms market and accelerate the consolidation trend.

  • 25 operators are already testing 5G

    25 operators are already testing 5G

    Despite 5G standardization not being expected until 2020, 25 mobile operators have already commenced lab testing 5G technologies, according to industry data from network testing company Viavi.

    Of the 25 operators testing 5G, 12 have progressed to field testing, the company said. An additional four operators have announced plans for 5G trials but have not yet commenced them.

    Five operators have achieved data speeds of at least 35 Gbps in 5G trials, including Optus, M1 and StarHub.

    To date, Etisalat has the speed record at 36Gbps, Viavi said, with Ooredoo close behind at 35.46Gbps. All operators conducting 5G trials have reported data transmission speeds of at least 2Gbps.

    Viavi’s data also show that operators are testing 5G across a wide range of bands, ranging from sub 3-GHz up to 86-GHz.

    The most commonly trialed bandwidth among operators that have disclosed their test spectrum is currently 28-GHz – with eight operators using it – followed by 15-GHz, which is being used by seven operators.

    Among equipment suppliers, five major vendors have announced an involvement in 5G trials – Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Samsung and ZTE. Many operators are working with multiple vendors on their trials, with KT including all five equipment providers.

    “The pace of 5G development is already beyond the expectations of many observers,” Viavi CTO Sameh Yamany commented.

    “Now, as the technical delivery of data is starting to coalesce, it is time to think ahead to how future 5G networks can manage the disparate requirements of high data rates, very low latency applications and large-scale IoT services while maintaining QoS.”

    He said network slicing, involving the automation and programming of multiple cloud-based functions within a virtualized network, will be important to achieving these goals.

    “Service providers and their partners will require solutions that are virtualized from one end of the network to the other and have automated and correlated intelligence across each network slice for monitoring, optimization and service assurance.”

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  • Huawei passes 5G NR field performance tests

    Huawei passes 5G NR field performance tests

    Huawei first to pass China’s 5G NR field performance tests

    Huawei has announced it was first to pass the recent field performance tests of 5G new radio (NR) technology in the 3.5-GHz band as part of the second phase of China’s 5G trials. The field tests commenced late last year within a 5G trial zone established by the IMT-2020 Promotion Group. Huawei demonstrated its 5G NR solution, proving it capable of meeting the ITU’s performance specifications for 5G, including 10Gbps throughput for for over one million simultaneous with an air interface latency of under 1ms.

    Singtel trialing Massive MIMO and Cloud RAN

    Singtel and Ericsson have teamed up to pilot Massive MIMO and Cloud RAN in Singapore on Singtel’s LTE network. Singtel aims to use the technologies to provide Gigabit-level LTE speeds and prepare its network for a smooth eveolution to 5G. The operator plans to use Massive MIMO and Cloud RAN to be able to offer faster speeds over its network by the end of the year. Singtel CEO consumer Singapore Yuen Kuan Moon said the company is investing to ensure its network can meet the exponential growth in demand for data traffic triggered by the rise of services including 4K video streaming, VR, AR and augmented reality.

    Nokia to launch “anyhaul” mobile transport portfolio

    Nokia has introduced a new “anyhaul” end-to-end mobile transport portfolio, combining technology across microwave, IP, optical, mobile and fixed access. The portfolio of solutions are designed and optimized to meet the requirements of the 5G era, employing a carrier SDN configuration for improved programmability and service assurance. The company plans to launch its new portfolio at Mobile World Congress 2017 next week. The portfolio has been optimized for 10Gbps cell site connections with enhanced capabilities including timing, synchronization and OAM.

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  • Philippines to crack down on spectrum hoarding

    Philippines to crack down on spectrum hoarding

    The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) plans to crack down on spectrum hoarders, threatening to recall unused frequencies and potentially auction them to a third or even fourth local player.

    A recent audit of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) shows that a number of companies are not using the spectrum that has been assigned to them, and many of these have unpaid spectrum usage fees owing.

    In response, the government plans to ask these companies to explain their lack of use or their non payment of spectrum fees. In cases where it is deemed warranted, the government plans to initiate recall procedures for the spectrum. The report cites DICT undersecretary Jorge Sarmiento as stating that there is enough unused spectrum in the Philippines’ airspace to allocate to a third or even fourth player.

    The NTC is preparing to hold a new entrant spectrum auction by the middle of the year, as part of efforts to attract new competition to break up the Globe-PLDT duopoly.

    The ministry is also under pressure to resolve consumer complaints about the quality of internet services in the Philippines, and recently announced it will hold a “no-holds-barred” summit to address these concerns.

    The audit shows that spectrum has been allocated but is not in use in the 400-MHz, 700-MHz, 800-MHz, 2500-MHz, 3.4-GHz and 10-GHz bands.

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  • Fujitsu enables biometric authentication for IoT

    Fujitsu enables biometric authentication for IoT

    Fujitsu Laboratories says it has developed a technology that enables safe and easy use of cloud services through IoT devices by leveraging the biometric authentication functionality and near-field wireless functionality of modern smartphones.

    In the era of IoT, various devices are connected to cloud services. When using these services such as parcel delivery lockers in apartments or public facilities, or when using car sharing services, user authentication will need to take place each time a service is used.

    With existing ID and password systems, users have to manage multiple IDs and passwords which make the authentication process cumbersome.

    Fujitsu Laboratories has developed technology that enables biometric authentication of a cloud service’s user without extracting biometric information from that user’s smartphone.

    The technology establishes a secure network between a cloud service, an IoT device and a smartphone, and then simultaneously verifies the identity of the user and that the user is in front of the IoT device.

    With the new technology, users can safely and conveniently access cloud services through a variety of IoT devices without inputting an ID and password, using just their smartphone’s biometric authentication.

    In addition, Fujitsu said this technology enables the provision of a strong personal authentication service using biometrics without requiring service providers to manage an individual’s biometric information for each device or service.

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  • Juniper Networks forms new SDSN alliances

    Juniper Networks forms new SDSN alliances

    Juniper Networks has announced technology alliance partnerships with several security providers, covering areas including endpoint security, cloud access security and network access control.

    The companies joining Juniper’s existing alliances include Carbon Black, Netskope, CipherCloud, ForeScout and HPE’s Aruba.

    These partners will integrate their technologies with Juniper’s software-defined secure networks (SDSN) platform, allowing customers to create cohesive security infrastructures with easily managed and deployed best-in-class products for advanced threat intelligence sharing and prevention.

    Through the addition of these partners, Juniper aims to expand the platform’s protection against cyber threats on-premises as well as off-premises. This includes defense in the network, at the endpoint and in the cloud.

    By enabling the network to be the center of a modern security infrastructure, Juniper said it will bring simplicity to a complex network of disparate security products and ensure customers have the flexibility to use best-of-breed solutions to protect mission-critical IT and business assets.

    These partners will leverage Juniper’s APIs to integrate their security capabilities into the SDSN framework and deliver comprehensive protection across the cyber crime lifecycle.

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  • Vodafone India, Idea may announce a merger soon

    Vodafone India, Idea may announce a merger soon

    Vodafone India and Idea Cellular are reportedly on the verge of finalizing the terms of a major merger that would create India’s largest operator by subscribers.

    The operators are expected to finalize the agreement within a month and could be ready to announce a deal by the end of the week.

    Vodafone Group has brought in former India head Martin Pieters to work on the proposed merger, according to the report.

    But the proposed merger could be complicated by the fact that Indian regulations prohibit an operator from holding more than 25% of the total spectrum allocated in a single circle, 50% of the spectrum from a single band within a circle and 50% revenue or subscriber market share.

    The operators may therefore need to agree to divest certain spectrum and other assets to secure regulatory approval.

    A merger between the two operators would create an entity with a revenue market share of around 40% and a subscriber base of over 380 million, propelling the combined company ahead of current market leader Bharti Airtel.

    India’s crowded mobile industry is going through a consolidation phase, triggered by intensifying competition as a result of the entry into the market of disruptive and deep-pocketed newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm.

    Aircel and Reliance Communications are reportedly also negotiating a merger, and Telenor India is said to be attempting to get in on the deal to make it a three-way merger. The combined company would be the second largest operator in the market behind Airtel, or the third largest in the event of a Vodafone-Idea merger

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  • Huawei launches GigaHome smart home platform

    Huawei launches GigaHome smart home platform

    Huawei launched its new GigaHome solution at the FTTH Conference 2017 in Marseilles, France last week, to help operators build smart and high-performance home networks for customers.

    The GigaHome platform is designed to support multiple digital home applications to deliver smart home services that are efficient, secure and accessible.

    The E2E solution focuses on home gateways and supports flexible Wi-Fi extension through media including CAT5 lines, power lines and wireless repeaters.

    Huawei said the solution can provide smart home coverage with a Wi-Fi speed rate of up to 300Mbps. Under the solution, home gateways adopt dual cores and enable gigabit Wi-Fi access by using technologies including Wi-Fi hardware forwarding, dual-band, 802.11ac and 4×4 MIMO.

    Ultimately the solution is designed to help operators shift focus from providing traditional home broadband to smart home services capable of generating a higher ARPU.

    Huawei Access Network president Jeff Wang said the vendor plans to continue to focus on helping operators accelerate their digital transformation by supporting them in offering video and smart home services.

    “Focus on customer demand is the driving force for Huawei’s continued development and continuous innovation,” he said.

    “Huawei’s home network solution provides a full Wi-Fi coverage, and a good performance home network infrastructure, operable and manageable cloud-based management platform and open ecological system to enhance the home network experience, operational efficiency and bring new value-added services to operators.”

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