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.

  • Colt launches Ethernet on-demand service

    Colt launches Ethernet on-demand service

    Colt Technology Services has announced the expansion of its SDN-enabled on-demand portfolio.

    The company said the new solutions are designed to “enable the digital transformation of today’s demanding businesses.”

    Colt’s Ethernet on Demand service supports dynamic real-time ordering, provisioning and flexing of high bandwidth connectivity between locations connected to the Colt IQ Network, the company said.

    This includes more than 5,000 enterprise buildings and 200 data centers that are currently eligible across 11 countries in Europe, creating an industry breakthrough never before realized on this scale. Colt also plans to further expand its reach to additional locations during 2017, including Asia.

    The new service allows businesses located in Colt-connected enterprise buildings to intelligently meet variable additional demands for high-bandwidth applications, such as cloud connectivity, disaster recovery or real-time data backup.

    Colt’s Ethernet on Demand service is the latest innovation available from the company’s On Demand Portfolio. It follows the launch of Colt’s DCNet On Demand in 2016, which transformed the user experience for managing high bandwidth connectivity between data centers.

    Colt’s On Demand Portfolio, which allows enterprises to consume Ethernet connectivity services on the Colt IQ Network in real-time via an intelligent online customer portal, bypasses the legacy service delivery processes.

    It also gives customers full control and the ability to flex bandwidth requirements up and down instantaneously, using the portal. The on-demand flexibility also extends to pricing, giving customers the option to choose per-hour pricing plans, as well as more traditional fixed term contract durations.

  • Telefónica selects Huawei to build virtual EPC network in 13 countries

    Telefónica selects Huawei to build virtual EPC network in 13 countries

    Spanish telco Telefónica has contracted Huawei to virtualize its 4G networks in 13 countries as part of its UNICA program.

    The Spanish telco said the two companies are building a large scale virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC), an industry-approve framework for providing converged voice and data on 4G LTE networks, in Latin America and Europe.

    The vEPC network will cover 11 countries in Latin America:  Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, México, Colombia, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala; and two in Europe: Germany and Spain.

    Telefónica will be using Huawei’s vEPC solution, called CloudEPC, that will allow the operator “to build agile networks that quickly scale to match the performance demands of new services”, the companies said in the statement.

    Telefónica and Huawei have been jointly working and testing Huawei CloudEPC performance, in Telefónica’s NFV Reference Lab in Madrid. During the test, Huawei CloudEPC showed one of the best performances in both data and signaling planes by good cloud-formation architecture and by using EPA (Enhanced Platform Awareness) technologies.

    The companies are currently testing the onboarding of the CloudEPC solution over Telefónica´s UNICA infra cloud platform that will allow full automatization of the vEPC deployments and life cycle management within Telefónica networks.

    “This large scale vEPC network deployment is a further step within the Telefónica UNICA virtualization program where a smooth migration to UNICA infra cloud capabilities will be reached following extensive test in Telefónica Lab,” Javier Gavilán, planning and technology director at Telefonica said.

    “These results provide the confidence needed to continue with the adoption and deployment of virtualized solutions and to enable the transformation to software-driven networking.”

  • AWS dominates public cloud market in Q4, says report

    AWS dominates public cloud market in Q4, says report

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) is maintaining its dominant share of the burgeoning public cloud services market at over 40%, new fourth quarter data from Synergy Research Group showed.

    The research firm also said that the three main chasing cloud providers – Microsoft, Google and IBM – are gaining ground but at the expense of smaller players in the market.

    In aggregate, the three have increased their worldwide market share by almost five percentage points over the last year, helped by particularly strong growth at Microsoft and Google, and together now account for 23% of the total public IaaS and PaaS market.

    The next ten cloud providers in the ranking have slipped off the pace a little, though this group does include Alibaba and Oracle who continue to grow at impressive rates. There is then a very long tail of small-to-medium sized cloud service providers, whose collective market share has now dropped to just 18%.

    With most of the major operators having now released their earnings data for Q4, Synergy estimates that quarterly public cloud infrastructure service revenues (including both public IaaS and public PaaS) have now reached well over $7 billion and continue to grow at almost 50% per year.

    If managed private cloud services are included, quarterly cloud revenues are now well over $9 billion. The cloud providers and rankings are very different in the managed private cloud, where IBM continues to lead while Rackspace and traditional IT service providers feature more prominently than they do in public cloud.

    “While a few cloud providers are growing at extraordinary rates, AWS continues to impress as a dominant market leader that has no intention of letting its crown slip,” Synergy Research chief analyst and research director John Dinsdale said.

    “Achieving and maintaining a leadership position in this market takes huge ongoing investments in infrastructure, a continued expansion in the range of cloud services offered, strong credibility with the large enterprise sector, consistently strong execution, and the wholehearted and long-term backing of senior management. AWS is checking all of those boxes and any serious challengers need to do likewise.”

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  • HGC launches iBizCloud in Indonesia

    HGC launches iBizCloud in Indonesia

    Hutchison Global Communications (HGC) has teamed up with Indonesian ISP PT Centrin Online Prima to launch a cloud service tailored for the Indonesia market.

    The launch of ibizCloud in Jakarta aims to provide a one-stop global cloud service that meets the infrastructure and speed requirements of local and international enterprises.

    HGC is providing cloud technologies and service design, as well as international connectivity, while Centrin Online provides local connectivity for the service. This launch aims to help the latter meet increasing demand for data exchanges from corporations operating in Indonesia.

    Offered as a total solution, ibizCloud aims to enable Indonesian businesses to access reliable cloud storage without having to make hefty upfront investment in infrastructure.

    The service grants access to a cloud environment via infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), bandwidth-as-a-service (BaaS) and dedicated bandwidth-as-a-service (DBaaS).

    Customer organizations can also choose to use on-demand Virtual Leased Line (ODVLL), which facilitates end-to-end data transmission over a secure network. ibizCloud comes complete with virtualised infrastructure such as virtual machines, CPU cores, RAM and storage.

    “Making ibizCloud available in Jakarta represents a great start to 2017 for HGC,” commented Andrew Kwok, Limited president of international and carrier for HGC parent company Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong).

    “The new cloud site strengthens ibizCloud’s market position in Asia, following launch of the service in Hanoi last December. HGC works tirelessly to enhance ibizCloud features in order to meet ever-rising demand from multinationals. One of the value-added features to look out for in early 2017 will be a resource pool arrangement by which customers can allocate additional resource promptly, without having to go through a subscription process.”

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  • Level 3 opens DDoS scrubbing centers in APAC

    Level 3 opens DDoS scrubbing centers in APAC

    Multinational companies located in the Asia-Pacific region now have access to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation solutions from Level 3 Communications.

    The new scrubbing centers in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore signify an expansion of the company’s security service functionality. The company says its security solutions provide layers of defense through enhanced network routing, rate limiting and filtering that can be paired with cloud-based scrubbing for a more comprehensive mitigation solution.

    The Asia-Pacific region is key for both Asian and multinational enterprises which demand global security services — making Level 3’s cybersecurity solutions and global presence essential.

    Level 3 began operating in Asia Pacific in 2004. The company has 14 on-net markets throughout Asia Pacific with service reach to more than 50 markets in the region. Level 3 offers its customers in the region VPN, direct internet access, Ethernet VPL, managed services, unified communications, CDN and security solutions.

    Level 3 opened the additional scrubbing centers to provide customers with infrastructure in the region to quickly mitigate attacks with less disruption to business operations.

    Level 3’s DDoS ingest capacity, 4.5 terabits per second, provides a high capacity to ingest massive attacks so customers can get back to business as usual.

    The service is carrier agnostic and pulls all customer traffic into Level 3’s globally located scrubbing centers for cleansing before forwarding legitimate traffic through a private connection or the public internet.

    Level 3 now has 11 scrubbing centers on four continents. Other locations include São Paulo, Frankfurt, London, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC.

    24/7 Security Operations Centers detect anomalies in global NetFlow sessions, perform impact analyses, notify customers of threatening conditions and then help them mitigate the issue.

    Australia, China and Hong Kong are listed among the most vulnerable to cyberattacks, according to a report by Project Sonar.

    IoT-compromizing malware research by Level 3 Threat Research Labs reveals many connected devices are being compromised and enabling attacks reaching in excess of 600 Gbps.

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  • NEC wins deal with Philippines public broadcaster

    NEC wins deal with Philippines public broadcaster

    NEC Philippines signed a contract to provide digital terrestrial TV equipment for the People’s Television Network (PTNI), the public broadcasting service for the Republic of the Philippines.

    This contract supports the expansion of digital terrestrial TV broadcasting in the Philippines, which has been gaining momentum since November 2013, when the country adopted the Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Technologies (ISDB-T) standard.

    Under this contract, PTNI is scheduled to introduce digital terrestrial TV transmitters and compression multiplexers across six locations in the Philippines by July 2017.

    NEC is providing total support for the introduction of these units, including their provision, installation, and the training of personnel.

    The equipment that NEC is slated to provide features some of the world’s highest levels of power efficiency, and is highly evaluated for superior reliability in the broadcasting field.

    “NEC is proud to be working with PTNI to expand the delivery of high-quality broadcasting to a larger audience in the Philippines,” said Elizabeth Pangan, president of NEC Philippines.

    “As part of NEC’s focus on providing Solutions for Society, this equipment will help to ensure that broadcasting and access to information is reliably maintained, especially during times of emergency, such as when powerful storms strike the region,” said Pangan.

    NEC began providing digital terrestrial TV transmitters for international markets in 1998, when it provided equipment for the world’s first commercial digital terrestrial broadcasting service in the United Kingdom. Since then, NEC has shipped more than 4,500 transmitters to over 50 countries throughout the world.

  • StarHub Q4 profit falls 33.2%

    StarHub Q4 profit falls 33.2%

    Singapore’s StarHub revealed its fourth quarter profit fell 33.2% to S$54 million ($38.6 million), as a result of higher costs and growing competition.

    Revenue for the quarter stayed flat at S$634.8 million, but service revenue grew 1% year-on-year to S$567.1 million.

    Higher handset subsidies, a higher finance expense and other costs all contributed to the decline in profit during the quarter.

    Mobile revenue decreased slightly to S$311.8 million, with both postpaid and prepaid ARPU declining by S$2 year-on-year to S$70 and S$15 respectively. Pay TV revenue also decreased 6% year-on-year to S$93.9 million.

    Broadband revenue by contrast grew 4% year-on-year to S$54 million, with ARPU growing S$2 year-on-year to S$37. But residential broadband customers fell by 1% year-on-year to 473,000.

    Enterprise fixed line revenue also grew 10% year-on-year to S$107.2 million due to a higher take-up of data and managed services.

    For the full year, SartHub’s net profit fell 8.3% to S$341.4 million, with total revenue down 1.9% to S$2.39 billion. Mobile revenue was up 2% to S$1.2 billion, broadband revenue was 8% higher at S$216.6 million and enterprise fixed revenue increased 3.9% to S$400 million.

    “Despite increased competition, we have registered growth in key areas. Mobile, which accounts for half of our total revenue, showed resiliency as we saw an increase in subscriber base and data revenue. Momentum for our broadband revenue was maintained and we also witnessed a consistent revenue growth in our enterprise fixed business,” StarHub CEO Tan Tong Hai said.

    “In the new year, we remain focused on our customer-centric approach to deliver innovative solutions to both our consumer and enterprise customers.”

    Based on the current outlook, StarHub is currently projecting roughly flat service revenue for the current year. The operator has a capex target of around 13% of total revenue.

    The Singaporean mobile market is facing renewed competitive pressure due to the upcoming entry of Australia-based TPG Telecom as well as the impact of disruptive 4G MVNO Circles.Life.

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  • 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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