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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.

  • How new network technology helps Singapore’s traditional retailers to cut expenditure

    How new network technology helps Singapore’s traditional retailers to cut expenditure

    While Internet-based competition has created serious issues for traditional retailers, the Internet is now benefiting established retailers by becoming a conduit for substantially reducing their computer network costs while offering increased flexibility, reliability and new options for servicing customers.

    Lower communications costs are helping traditional retailers to shrink the advantage gained by digital retailers whose go-to-market strategies have significantly lower operational expenses. These on-line traders have eliminated costs such as store rental, store staffing and store connectivity from headquarters.

    In response, conventional retailers are developing strategies that leverage their store and staffing investments to provide ‘value added’ in-store experiences that digital retailers are unable to match. Their tactics include introducing upgraded customer loyalty schemes and customer knowledge programs, better demonstration facilities, improved customer tracking, and increased investment in online customer service and sales training.

    Compounding the issues of raising the capital expenditure to invest in these strategies, established retailers are finding that their new IT-based solutions are increasing the volumes of data being sent to and from each of their stores, inevitably resulting in higher monthly costs.

    The answer lies in new technology – the software-defined wide area network, or SD-WAN.  This allows organizations to replace or augment their present networks, which run on a technology called multiprotocol label-switching (MPLS), with the far less expensive commodity Internet links. The cost advantages can be as high as 60 percent.

    SD-WAN is the latest iteration of data communications, which began with dedicated bandwidth via copper cable through telephone exchanges. In the early 2000s, these ‘pipes’ were replaced by frame relay technology which delivered greater flexibility and more bandwidth and lower costs. In turn, frame relay was replaced by MPLS, further reducing cost.

    Now SD-WAN is becoming the next stage of the evolutionary process, offering retailers a spectrum of technical and monetary benefits. It can help with most of the initiatives that traditional retailers are introducing to combat Internet-based retailers.

    The traditional retailers are working to create a compelling in-store experience, a key area where Internet sales organizations are unable to compete. Free Wi-Fi and the tracking of customers as they move through the store are projects that can benefit from inexpensive and flexible Internet-based networks, rather than MPLS networks. Using the Internet via SD-WAN, a store that wishes to demonstrate 4K television to a customer can simply download the demo from head office without delay or incur prohibitive costs.

    A marked trend among conventional Singapore retailers is to retain a brick-and-mortar presence while conducting business around an online e-store. Omni-channel retailing entails the maintenance of a seamless experience and connectivity across channels from physical stores, the mobile app and the website to drive sales.  Retailers must be prepared to handle the increase in customer data and improve their store-to-store communications.

    Loyalty plans are a trend at present, as stores reward good customers. Contactless payments such as e-wallet services like Apple Pay which was introduced last year in Singapore as well as mobile payments are changing the way traditional retailers collect payment.

    As these initiatives became globalized we expect a trend to their becoming cloud-based solutions, with data on customers stored in remote data centers. At present, most traditional retailers are using expensive MPLS bandwidth to reach their data centers.
    Many lack the network capacity to minimize computer equipment in each of their stores and do not have the option of administering their networks centrally.

    By switching to SD-WAN these retailers can gain low-cost Internet communications to all their branches, enabling them to run their software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions more efficiently and cost-effectively.

    Another issue that SD-WAN can help resolve arises among retailers that need to backhaul all their network traffic, including cloud applications, to the data center then out to the Internet and back. This infrastructure is a source of network bottlenecks and poor application performance. SD-WAN is able to make this an all-broadband route, savings substantial costs, and increasing traffic speed.

    The rise of SD-WAN

    So how are Singaporean retailers and other organizations responding to the emergence of SD-WAN technology? We saw 2016 as the year of proof-of-concept. Organizations are looking to add branch or store locations incrementally by taking advantage of a localized SD-WAN solution initially and slowly, over time, migrating toward full SD-WAN coverage.

    Most have long-term contracts in place with telecoms providers for their communications links, so we are unlikely to see full savings of the new technology for two or three years as contracts come up for renewal. Singapore’s retailers can use the intervening time to proof SD-WAN and make sure it works optimally. When the time comes to retire their MPLS links, they will have a deep knowledge of the new technology and be well versed to appreciate the differences in cost and flexibility. They can switch over safely knowing it delivers the goods.

    Initially, we expect to see smaller retailers going 100 percent with SD-WAN, while larger organizations with more applications in their data centers will use a hybrid MPLS/SD-WAN setup. In this architecture, they would use MPLS only to exchange secure information between a store and the in-house applications at head office.

    Some are already leveraging SD-WAN to bring their idle Internet links to life, adding broadband Internet as part of a hybrid MPLS-Internet network, or even ditching MPLS and implementing dual broadband connections to the branch.

    The proven SD-WAN capabilities, including dynamic path control, zero-touch provisioning and path conditioning, which delivers forward error correction and real-time packet order correction, make Internet connectivity simple to deploy and manage and deliver retailers a more cost-effective means of achieving 99.99 percent service availability.

    Offerings from leading vendors such as Silver Peak are already linking users securely to their applications via the most cost-effective source of connectivity available. The flexibility of SD-WAN allows retailers to augment or replace MPLS with any combination of transport connectivity, including broadband, DSL, LTE and more. Its visibility and control allow network administrators to see and control all applications, and encrypt all WAN overlay traffic with AES-256 for maximum security.

    An SD-WAN-enabled architecture resolves the issues of high cost and complex MPLS; shows clearly what cloud applications are consuming a network; and puts an end to users complaining about poor application performance over distance.

  • Airtel profit slumps 54% due to Jio effect

    Airtel profit slumps 54% due to Jio effect

    India’s Bharti Airtel has reported a steep 54% decline in net income for its fiscal third quarter, as the operator grappled with competitive pressure from disruptive new market entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm.

    Profit for the quarter ending in December fell to 5.04 billion rupees ($74.1 million), with revenue staying flat at 233.36 billion rupees.

    Revenues from India grew 1.8% year-on-year, despite a slowdown in mobile revenue growth due to the competition posed by Reliance Jio, which has been offering free voice and data services as a promotional exercise since launching LTE services nationwide in September.

    Mobile data revenues also declined 3% year-on-year to 30.37 billion rupees, despite a 22% increase in mobile broadband customers to 37.7 million.

    “The quarter has seen turbulence due to the continued predatory pricing by a new operator,” Airtel CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal commented.

    “The present termination costs at 14 paise which are well below cost has resulted in a tsunami of minutes terminating into our network. This has led to an unprecedented year on year revenue decline for the [Indian telecoms] industry, pressure on margins and a serious impact on the financial health of the sector.”

    But he noted that despite the competitive pressures, Airtel’s revenue market share in India grew to a record-high 33%. The company’s Indian mobile base also grew 2.3% quarter-on-quarter to 265.85 million.

    Airtel’s other Indian businesses, including digital TV, business services and home broadband, also recorded healthy year-on-year growth.

    African revenues meanwhile grew 6% year-on-year in constant currency terms – the highest in the past nine quarters. Data revenues grew 24% to $153 million, with data customers growing 21.3% and traffic up 91%.

    Airtel CEO for Africa Raghunath Mandava said Africa is now generating positive free cash and is profit before tax positive in constant currency.

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  • Higher attrition rate seen among digital consumers

    Higher attrition rate seen among digital consumers

    Customer retention dropped by 7% in 2016 compared to one year previously, a study from Verint Systems shows.

    This research was commissioned by Verint from June 23 to July 20, 2016 in association with Opinium Research. Interviews were conducted among 24,001 consumers in Australia, Brazil, India, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States.

    Results show that consumers who prefer to do business through digital channels are more likely to swap providers than those that engage with businesses through human touch interactions, such as those that take place by phone via the contact center or in-store.

    Across all sectors, 57% of consumers have been with their service providers for more than three years. Banks led in terms of customer retention, with 73% of consumers reporting they have been with their provider for more than three years, whereas only 8% said they have been with their bank for less than a year.

    Mobile operators ranked second best, with 63% of consumers remaining with their provider for more than three years.

    Japanese companies had the highest retention rates of all countries surveyed—an average of 64% of consumers have been with their providers for more than three years.

    French and American companies also fared well, with 60% of French consumers and 55% of American consumers  staying with their providers for more than three years.

    The study also shows a clear link between communication channel preferences and retention. Consumers who prefer to engage with organizations digitally are more prone to switching providers.

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  • OnePlus taps CyberSource for payment management

    OnePlus taps CyberSource for payment management

    Smartphone startup OnePlus is tapping CyberSource’s suite of payment management solutions to securely accept digital payment methods through both web and mobile channels.

    OnePlus will deploy CyberSource’s full suite of payment, fraud management and tokenization services. Through the CyberSource global payment gateway, OnePlus will be able to process a wide range of international online and mobile payments from multiple credit card issuers, as well as certain alternative payment methods.

    Since its founding in 2013, OnePlus has grown rapidly in a short time and operates in more than 30 countries today. As the company continued to expand overseas, OnePlus wanted to offer preferred payment options and currencies in local markets to expand customer reach, without increasing payment security or fraud risk for customers in Europe and North America.

    “OnePlus needs to continue building trust among our customers for sustainable growth,” said Steven Gao, head of global eCommerce at OnePlus.

    “This relationship with CyberSource is important to that strategy as we are now able to accept a greater variety of payment modes and streamline payment acceptance, thus improving the entire customer experience.”

    Additionally, OnePlus will use CyberSource Decision Manager, which features a fraud detection Radar. With insights from over 68 billion transactions processed annually by Visa and CyberSource, supplemented by over 260 real-time global validation tests, OnePlus will be able to automatically screen more inbound orders faster, with increased accuracy and less manual interventions.

    This will significantly enable OnePlus to better mitigate its online fraud rate with the ability to accept more genuine orders with confidence, while minimizing the rejection of valid ones.

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  • Cambodia’s Cellcard to expand and modernize networks

    Cambodia’s Cellcard to expand and modernize networks

    Cambodia’s Cellcard has engaged Nokia to expand and modernize the operator’s 3G and LTE networks to help meet surging mobile broadband demand.

    As part of the agreement, Nokia will deploy around 1,500 new cell sites to expand the operator’s mobile broadband reach. Cellcard first launched LTE in Phnom Penh in 2015 and has since been expanding the network to other areas.

    Nokia will also provide its global services and Single RAN technology to allow Cellcard to host simultaneous 2G, 3G and 4G operations on a single platform, as well as IP edge routers to modernize the network in preparation for the arrival of 5G and the IoT.

    Cellcard will also use a Nokia microwave packet radio platform to help transform its legacy microwave transport network to keep up with Cambodia’s booming data consumption. The operator will meanwhile migrate its billing platform to Nokia’s convergent charging and billing solution SurePay.

    “We are proud to work with Nokia in our initiative to offer the best LTE coverage and services to our subscribers,” Cellcard CEO Ian Watson said.

    “The expansion of our state-of-the-art mobile broadband network will play a critical role in helping the government enable Cambodians to take advantage of mobile broadband. Nokia’s proven expertise will enable us to provide better coverage and quality of services to our subscribers.”

  • Telecom giants must develop equitisation plans

    Telecom giants must develop equitisation plans

    The three telecommunication groups under direct management of the Information and Communications Ministry (MIC) will have to develop their equitisation plans in 2017, according to the Minister of Information and Communications, Trương Minh Tuấn.

    The three groups are the Việt Nam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), Việt Nam Multimedia Corporation (VTC) and MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation (MobiFone).

    The equitisation of the three telecom giants has to be speeded up in accordance with a December 2016 decision by the Prime Minister on criteria to differentiate State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and State-invested companies, he added, speaking at a meeting on January 23.

    Along with the decision, the PM also published the list of 240 SOEs that have to be equitised by 2020. On the list of 240 SOEs to be equitised, VNPT and MobiFone are the two among 27 firms in which the Government will hold 50-65 per cent ownership. VTC is among 106 SOEs in which the State’s stake will be reduced to below 50 per cent.

    Among the rest of the 240 SOEs, the State’s ownership will remain 100 per cent in 103 SOEs while its stake will stay over 65 per cent in four others.

    VNPT in 2016 recorded revenues of VNĐ135 trillion (US$6.09 billion), up 7 per cent from 2015, whereas income rose by 20 per cent to VNĐ4.16 trillion.

    MobiFone reported revenues of VNĐ38.4 trillion, up 14.5 per cent from 2015 with 19 million subscriptions. VTC surpassed their goal for 2016, with total revenues reaching VNĐ5.2 trillion, up 39 per cent compared to 2015.

    The Government has enhanced divestment from SOEs, ranging from breweries to dairy producers. Those deals have attracted intense attention from foreign investors given that Việt Nam is one of the fastest growing economies due to its young population and rapidly increasing export turnover, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

    In the past 15 years the number of SOEs has fallen from around 6,000 to over 700. Between 2011 and 2015 almost 600 SOEs were equitised, 96 per cent of the targeted number.
    Read more at https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/350276/telecom-giants-must-develop-equitisation-plans-mic.html#0TOutqLCIzMYb4Ew.99

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  • M1 profit falls 16.1% in 2016

    M1 profit falls 16.1% in 2016

    Singapore’s M1 has reported a 16.1% slump in net profit for 2016 to S$149.7 million ($105.3 million), blaming lower international call and roaming revenues as well as rising expenses.

    The operator’s service revenue for the year fell 2% to S$805.5 million, due to the ongoing impact of OTT substitution. But fixed-line revenue grew a strong 21.4% to S$104.2 million, growing to account for 12.9% of service revenue.

    Besides the decrease in revenue, M1 said depreciation and amortisation expenses grew due to an increasing 4G network fixed asset base, and additional spectrum acquisition costs also contributed to the profit decline.

    M1 added 52,000 postpaid customers and 39,000 prepaid customers during the year, bringing its total mobile customer base up to 2.02 million. Mobile churn meanwhile stayed flat at 1%.

    During the year, mobile data consumption grew to account to more than half of M1’s total service revenue, increasing 7.7 percentage points year-on-year during the fourth quarter to 54%.

    M1 meanwhile added 32,000 fiber customers during the year, taking its total to 160,000 and contributing to the growth in fixed service revenue.

    Capex for the year grew to S$140.5 million, up from $133.5 million a year earlier,

    “We continue to invest and innovate to enhance our service offerings to better serve our customers, as well as capitalize on new opportunities in the digital economy such as solutions for smart nation and  IoT services,” M1 CEO Karen Kooi said.

    “These initiatives, together with the foundation that we have laid over the years, will enable us to create and deliver long-term value to our stakeholders.”

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  • NTU Singapore launches seventh satellite

    NTU Singapore launches seventh satellite

    Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has launched its seventh satellite, the AOBA VELOX-III, into space from the International Space Station (ISS) on 16 January.

    It is the first Singapore satellite to be launched from the ISS, the 110-meter habitable human-made satellite that orbits the Earth. Unlike the conventional way of launching a satellite directly into space from a rocket, the two-kilogram VELOX-III was shot into orbit around the earth using a special launcher by a Japanese astronaut at the ISS.

    The AOBA VELOX-III is a joint project between NTU and Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech), one of Japan’s leading universities for satellite research and engineering. It is now orbiting 400 kilometers above Earth and will be conducting several tests, including the made-in-NTU micro-propulsion system, a new wireless communication system developed by Kyutech and experiments to evaluate the durability of commercial off-the-shelf microprocessors in space.

    “The successful deployment of the AOBA VELOX-III is a testament to the strong satellite engineering expertise at NTU. Building up the local satellite talent pool and developing disruptive technologies like the micro-thruster in the AOBA VELOX-III is important for Singapore’s budding space industry,” said Lim Wee Seng, director of the NTU Satellite Research Center.

    He said the NTU will now be developing its second joint satellite with Kyutech, which could lead to small and maneuverable satellites being used as space probes in future.

    Professor Mengu Cho, Director of Kyutech’s Laboratory of Spacecraft Environment Interaction Engineering, said the launch of AOBA VELOX-III is the tangible result of research collaboration between Kyutech and NTU for the past three years. AOBA VELOX-III is an important milestone in the Japan-Singapore inter-university space exploration.

    “We are looking forward to another joint satellite that is under development and scheduled to be launched in 2018. The long-term goal of the Kyutech-NTU joint space program is to do a lunar mission using the technologies demonstrated by these two satellites.”

    Professor Yoon Soon Fatt, Chair of NTU’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said conducting real satellite missions are key to training local talents for Singapore’s future satellite industry.

    “Satellite technology is a field that requires strong expertise across several disciplines, from power systems and batteries to integrated circuits and wireless communications,” he said.

    “The actual designing, building and operating real satellites in space gives a huge boost to the learning journey of our students and is an unparalleled experience for those seeking careers in the space industry.“

    Lim added that these space experiments by AOBA VELOX-III will enhance the university’s satellite building capabilities, paving the way for the next generation of nanosatellites that are more advanced and reliable.

  • CUG signs IPX peering deal with 3 APAC telcos

    CUG signs IPX peering deal with 3 APAC telcos

    China Unicom Global (CUG) has signed an IPX direct interconnection bilateral agreement with regional peers PCCW Global, Hutchison Global Communications (HGC) and Chunghwa Telecom.

    The direct IPX peering agreement will allow CUG to expand its mobile roaming coverage areas.

    In a statement, CUG said the agreement will also help provide mobile customers within the region reached by its new partners with high quality mobile voice and data roaming services as well as advanced IP services including VoLTE and HD video calling.

    CUG executive vice president Yuerui Ma said CUG IPX will become a critical platform for the operator’s international roaming data exchange.

    He said CUG aims to jointly promote direct-connection among mobile networks in Asia-Pacific by using IPX direct-connection. This would allow operators in the region to provide faster, stabler and more secure international roaming services for mobile customers.

    CUG, China Unicom’s wholly-owned international subsidiary, has a presence in 28 branches worldwide. Its main businesses include leased line, internet, system integration, cloud computing, data center, video conferencing and MVNE services.

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  • Mobile operators should embrace LTE Broadcast now

    Mobile operators should embrace LTE Broadcast now

    Mobile operators, especially those with multi-screen assets and ambitions of providing superior mobile video and data experiences to customers, should adopt eMBMS, or LTE Broadcast, more aggressively, says a new report by Strategy Analytics.

    Accessing mobile TV services, particularly live events, over the mobile network will only increase in future as competition drives larger data bundles to 4G users, the research firm predicts.

    To meet growing mobile video demand while maintaining performance for all users mobile operators must embrace LTE Broadcast to drive support from smartphone vendors such as Apple.

    The LTE Broadcast market has changed from optimism to caution in the last two years. No other mobile operators have launched commercial LTE Broadcast service since Verizon Wireless did so in 2015.

    Strategy Analytics believes two main impediments are holding momentum for LTE Broadcast back — the lack of a reliable monetization model and weak mobile device support.

    “Although LTE Broadcast is the best tool to deliver the same content simultaneously to multiple users using the broadcast channels, therefore ideal for covering live events, for example, sports or concerts, live video alone is not enough to make a paid for service,” says Wei Shi, analyst of wireless media strategies at Strategy Analytics .

    “However, the cost saved from offloading the traffic data, largely generated by mobile video consumption, from unicast to multicast will justify operators’ limited investment to upgrade the network,” adds Wei. “In addition to packaging LTE Broadcast as part of operators’ service portfolios, there are other non-live video opportunities for the technology, for example, batch software updates, public information dissemination, and supplementing terrestrial broadcasting.”

    Out of the 26,000 models tracked by Strategy Analytics’ SpecTRAX, more than 1,000 are using eMBMS capable chipsets, though very few devices are shipped with the feature enabled. None of the iPhone models, which account for a combined 15% of smartphone installed base, supports eMBMS.

    The launching and expanding of LTE Broadcast Alliance in 2016 is a positive sign that the industry, led by a group of leading operators and technology companies, is actively addressing the device support issue.

    “Leading mobile device makers have not rushed to equip a large number of their phones and tablets with the LTE Broadcast feature, the most obvious absence being Apple’s iPhones and iPads,” adds Nitesh Patel, the firm’s director of Wireless Media Strategies.

    “One of the main objectives of the Alliance is to shore up the mobile device support for LTE Broadcast. More important than the publicity, operators should take the lead to break the ‘no business therefore no device, no device therefore no business’ cycle,” notes Patel.

    “By embracing LTE Broadcast more seriously, operators will send a clear signal to the device makers, including Apple, that it is time they should bring the feature to a broader portfolio of their products.”

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  • Indosat Ooredoo enters alliance with Thuraya

    Indosat Ooredoo enters alliance with Thuraya

    Indonesia’s Indosat Ooredoo has entered an alliance to provide a range of enterprise services combining its products with satellite connectivity from Thuraya.

    Under the agreement, new services will be developed using Indosat SIMs roaming on the Thuraya network, as well as satellite services bundled with Indosat Ooredoo digital applications.

    In the near future, the partners said they plan to expand this alliance to cover new services for the fast-growing IoT market.

    Indosat will target the bundled products at market segments that benefit from remote connectivity extending beyond the reach of terrestrial networks and in a range of extreme environmental conditions. Examples include oil and gas, mining, military and police as well as boating and fishing.

    “We look forward to working with Thuraya to offer communication services beyond terrestrial reach,” Indosat Ooredoo director and chief of wholesale and enterprise Herfini Haryono said.

    “The cooperation will expand the reach of our digital services such as unified communications, and provide a truly seamless experience. By adding satellite connectivity from Thuraya to the Indosat Ooredoo Business portfolio we continue to deliver on our strategy to lead in digital transformation.”

    Thuraya chief commercial officer Bilal Hamouri added that the agreement is an important step towards a long-term collaboration between the two companies.

  • Mobile phone market recovers

    Mobile phone market recovers

    Mobile phone sales, which did not see the usual spike during last month’s festive season, seem set to surge in the run-up to Lunar New Year.

    “During Christmas and Western New Year, sales remained the same as in previous months, but the situation has improved and we expect sales to double from now through Lunar New Year,” Đoàn Văn Hiểu Em, mobile phone director of Thế Giới Di Động, was quoted as saying in the Thời báo Kinh tế Việt Nam (Việt Nam Economic Times) newspaper.

    Mai Triều Nguyên of Mai Nguyên in HCM City said December was for long the best month for mobile phone sales.

    “This year December sales were not high because the market did not have any striking product.

    “Besides, this year the western and Lunar New Year are so close to each other, and people were preoccupied with wrapping up their work that sales of everything, including mobile phones, were at a standstill.”

    According to FPT Shop, Iphone 7 and Iphone 7 Plus are the two top selling products followed by Galaxy J5 Prime.

    Iphones are also the bestsellers in smaller stores.

    At Thế Giới Di Động, the country’s largest telephone retailer, used Iphones top sales in terms of numbers though in terms of turnover Galaxy J7 Prime and Oppo F1s account for 60 per cent.

    At Di Động Việt, Iphones, Galaxy J7 Prime and Oppo F1s top sales while other brands are not in great demand.

    Refurbished and second-hand Iphones at good prices are in demand this season. A used Iphone 6 Plus 64 GB is offered at VNĐ8.8 million (around US$400), a price at which customers cannot get a luxury phone.

    Nguyên warned: “Customers should be careful when buying secondhand products. They should choose prestigious shops and check the product carefully before buying.”

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  • Youku picks Nokia for 3D 360 VR content

    Youku picks Nokia for 3D 360 VR content

    Youku in China has chosen the Nokia OZO VR ecosystem of technologies “to bring the most immersive” VR content to the more than 500 million monthly active users engaged in its online video platform which has daily views of more than 1.1 billion.

    Youku users and content creators are promised the ability to experience and share the highest quality VR content including natively captured spatial audio.

    “China is one of the most progressive VR markets in the world with an appetite for high-quality virtual reality experiences that is enormous and growing,” said Paul Melin, VP of digital media at Nokia Technologies.

    Youku will use the entire OZO VR solution, which includes the OZO Camera, OZO Software Suite, OZO Live and OZO Player SDK in the creation and distribution of content ranging from film and television to news and documentary, as well as professional user-generated content featuring Youku’s top talent.

    Youku will be the first Chinese content producer and distributor to have fully integrated the Nokia OZO ecosystem of technologies.

    Also, Youku will integrate Nokia’s OZO Player SDK and OZO Audio solutions, which are designed “to deliver a superior consumer experience,” into all its platforms, mobile apps and consumer offerings, enabling its enormous audience to enjoy 3D 360 degree VR.

    The OZO Player SDK allows VR professionals to create amazing VR app experiences on most major platforms with a single, unified development interface. Full-featured reference players are also included in the SDK for all supported platforms.

    The multi-platform OZO Player SDK is now available in a free version as well as a Pro tier with more features and larger deployment options.

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  • Globe sets 2017 capex budget at $750m

    Globe sets 2017 capex budget at $750m

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has allocated a capex budget for 2017 of around $750 million as the operator invests to expand its data network.

    The operator will spend the majority of its capex budget for the year on data network expansion, including investing towards its target of providing ultra-fast fiber broadband to 2 million homes by 2020.

    Globe also plans to take advantage of the spectrum it acquired from the joint purchase of San Miguel Corporation’s telecoms assets last year by investing heavily in LTE.

    But the $750 million figure marks a significant planned reduction from the operator’s roughly $1 billion in capital expenditures last year.

    The report cites Globe CEO Ernest Cu as stating that the reduction marks a rebalancing from 2016, when the company needed to borrow money to fund its network spending.

    Cu told BusinessWorld Online that the operator’s priority with its capital investments will be revenue generation, which the company plans to achieve by focusing on high-value customers in order to improve ARPU.

    This will be important in light of the agreement Globe and rival PLDT signed with the government late last year to reduce their fixed and mobile voice interconnection rates.

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  • Nepal Telecom to launch prepaid 4G on Feb 4

    Nepal Telecom to launch prepaid 4G on Feb 4

    Nepal Telecom signed up around 40,000 LTE customers in the first 15 days since launching Nepal’s first commercial 4G network.

    The state-owned operator launched LTE services in the Kathmandu and Pokhara areas on January 1, and has seen a growing trickle of 4G subscribers, MyRepublica reported, citing comments from managing director Kamini Rajbhandari to Nepal’s parliament.

    According to the report, 4G services will be enabled for iPhones shortly, and for prepaid customers from February 4. The operator is also targeting nationwide 4G services within a year.

    But the parliamentary committee pressured the operator to address commonly-cited problems including weak network quality and credit recharge problems within a month.

    The committee also instructed Nepal Telecom to provide internet services in rural areas through the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund.

    Nepal Telecom, the Ministry of Information and Communications and regulator the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) have also been instructed to amend the nation’s 20 year old Telecommunications Act, as well as the 2003 Telecommunications Policy.

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