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.

  • SmarTone launches multi-device Wi-Fi calling

    SmarTone launches multi-device Wi-Fi calling

    Hong Kong’s SmarTone has introduced Wi-Fi calling for multiple devices using equipment provided by Ericsson.

    The new Wi-Fi calling service allows customers to pair up to five personal devices that lack SIM cards – including tablets, computers and smart watches – to enable operator voice calls via Wi-Fi connections.

    Devices can be located across different Wi-Fi access points, and calls can be seamlessly transferred to a user’s smartphones. The service also supports multiple simultaneous calls using the same number.

    Ericsson has adapted its existing Wi-Fi calling offering to support multi-device functionality. The company is offering an end-to-end platform comprising the evolved packet core, IMS, user data management and OSS/BSS.

    “SmarTone has always focused on delivering outstanding experience to our customers. With the trend of more and more customers using multiple devices nowadays, we offer Wi-Fi calling for multi-device service to our customers,” SmarTone CTO Stephen Chau said.

    “We believe the new capability to extend our voice service to devices without a SIM-card is adding genuine convenience to our customers.”

    A recent Ericsson ConsumerLab survey of basic Wi-Fi calling users in the US showed that four in five are very satisfied with the service. Around one in three international smartphone users are aware of the technology, Ericsson said, and of these seven in 10 find the prospect appealing.

    Lees ook:

  • Thailand’s Dtac calls for frequency act amendments

    Thailand’s Dtac calls for frequency act amendments

    Dtac’s new chief corporate affairs officer Paradai Theerathada gave evidence at the National Legislative Assembly committee on the new National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Act.

    Paradai joined Dtac from TMB (formerly Thai Military Bank) on June 26.

    Dtac has called for an early auction clause with the new licence taking effect the day after the old licence expires.

    This would solve the problem of uncertainty for operators and users alike who fear that their SIMs may be rendered dead after an auction.

    Paradai pointed out that without a provision for an early auction, Thailand has ended up with extension after extension in the name of consumer protection that benefits nobody. An early auction would also mean that the state gets the licence fees earlier too.

    Dtac also calls for the law to enable spectrum trading. The current draft only allows for spectrum sharing and spectrum leasing. Paradai said that spectrum trading would allow a new entrant to enter the market without waiting for an auction and would allow for a graceful exit with the spectrum sold off if need be.

    Paradai said that spectrum trading would keep incumbents on their toes and lead to better service as a new entrant with a better business plan could enter the market at any time.

    He said that rules would need to be put into place to prevent someone bidding for spectrum to sell off with no intention of operating a business.

    Finally Dtac reiterated its call for a clear spectrum roadmap going forth.

    Thailand still has an acute shortage of spectrum. Of the 1960 MHz of spectrum the ITU has earmarked for data by 2020, Thailand only has 320 MHz available today. Paradai called for clear, five year plans, open to the public so that operators can plan their investments in advance.

    Lees ook:

  • HTHKH 1H profit falls 26%

    HTHKH 1H profit falls 26%

    Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings (HTHKH) has reported a 26% year-on-year decline in net profit for the first half of the year to HK$376 million ($48.5 million), due to weaker than expected smartphone sales.

    Total revenue fell 52% to HK$5.42 billion, with mobile revenue down a significant 62% to HK$3.47 billion.

    Hardware revenue shrank from HK$7.15 billion to HK$1.49 billion as a result of a lack of popular smartphones to sell during the period, the company said in its first-half report.

    Roaming revenue also declined 19%, or HK$87 million, contributing to a 6% decline in mobile net customer service revenue to HK$1.97 billion.

    HTHKH ended June with around 3.1 million customers in Hong Kong and Macau, including about 1.5 million postpaid customers. While the company’s postpaid base stayed largely flat compared to 2H15, churn was reduced to 1.3% from 1.9% over the same period.

    Blended local postpaid net ARPU grew 6% year-on-year to HK$168 as the launch of various new infotainment content and data plans resulted in the acquisition of more data centric customers.

    Fixed line service revenue for the half-year period meanwhile grew 4% year-on-year to HK$2.07 billion, due largely to an increase in revenue from the international and local carrier market. This was driven by growing data demand from OTT applications and IoT-related devices.

    Looking ahead, HTHKH chairman Canning Fok said the company is “planning ahead cautiously in the face of economic uncertainty locally and globally, after developing into a multi-play telecommunications service provider that launches a diversity of  products  and services to meet changing customer demand.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Singtel, Ericsson complete SEA’s first 5G demo

    Singtel, Ericsson complete SEA’s first 5G demo

    Singtel and Ericsson have completed the first live demonstration of 5G prototype technology, achieving a peak throughput of 27.5Gbps.

    The demonstration used Ericsson’s 5G radio prototypes to showcase the capabilities offered by the new networking technology, which also included demonstrating a latency as low as 2ms.

    At the demonstration, Singtel and Ericsson also showcased the world’s first end-to-end low latency live video streaming over 5G.

    Ericsson and Singel signed an MoU last year to collaborate on testing technology candidates for the 5G standard. Last week, the companies completed a live trial of pre-standard License Assisted Access (LAA) technology over Singtel’s 4G network.

    Singtel group CTO Tay Soo Meng said the collaboration is aimed at ensuring the operator’s customers have access to the latest mobile technologies.

    “We strive to upgrade our networks with cutting-edge enhancements, constantly offering our customers all the possibilities that technology brings. Singapore is at the forefront of the most connected cities in the world and now we want to take it to the next level,” he said.

    “5G is very important to the Singtel Group as it will support advanced communication needs. To ensure the Group continues our technology leadership in the mobile communications domain, we are exploring, studying and trialling pre-5G technologies with Ericsson.”

    The operator is preparing for the anticipated standardization of 5G in 2020 by deploying key pre-5G technologies including carrier aggregation, 256QAM and NB-IoT.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • NTT Com to launch MVNE platform in HK

    NTT Com to launch MVNE platform in HK

    NTT Com and fellow NTT Group member Dimension Data have teamed up to launch Hong Kong’s first mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) platform.

    The service will allow MVNOs access to the infrastructure required to deliver 3G and 4G data services in the city. The platform will manage all mobile data connections, policy control, billing and signaling.

    NTT Com’s platform will use NFV architecture to ensure it will be scalable to future demand, and will be able to provide a quick turnaround by removing the requirement for functions to run on expensive proprietary hardware. The NFV approach was proposed by Dimension Data.

    NTT Com Asia CTO Taylor Man said Dimension Data is an ideal partner for the project.

    “Delivering a MNVE solution requires heavy upfront investment in specialized equipment, and high scalability and agility is required to cater to customer demand time,” he said.

    “It is crucial to find a partner that could work hand in hand with us to provide the required infrastructure to deliver on our MVNE ambitions. We believe that partnering with our group company Dimension Data would be an ideal option.”

    ICT product and service provider Dimension Data became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NTT Group in 2010.

    Lees ook:

  • Globe targets 95% mobile coverage by end-2018

    Globe targets 95% mobile coverage by end-2018

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has laid out a plan to extend mobile coverage to 95% of the nation’s municipalities and cities by end-2018.

    The operator has submitted a proposal with regulator NTC to use the spectrum due to be acquired through the co-purchase of conglomerate San Miguel Corporation’s telecoms assets, including its valuable 700-MHz spectrum, to help achieve its coverage target.

    Under the plan, Globe will deploy around 4,500 SDN-enabled base stations and upgrade the capacity of its existing equipment to improve the customer experience.

    By the end of the year, Globe plans to upgrade around 30% of its network nationwide, or around 2,200 existing cell sites, to support the new spectrum.

    With the submission the operator is implicitly making the case for being allowed to proceed with the purchase of the SMC telco assets.

    Antitrust body PCC plans to conduct a full investigation into the buyout, and the chief of the new Department of Information and Communications Technology recently ordered a spectrum audit as a result of the deal.

    Globe has also committed to providing ultrafast broadband in 2 million households by 2020, and plans to invest $2 billion for its fixed broadband expansion program.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Maxis to offer Vodafone IoT services

    Maxis to offer Vodafone IoT services

    Malaysia’s largest operator Maxis has arranged to offer Vodafone’s IoT services for its business customers.

    The operator will offer a service combining its high speed data network with Vodafone’s IoT platform to help assist business customers looking to implement IoT services in their operations.

    The IoT offerings have been designed with multiple layers of security between IoT devices and applications, and to be scalable to support the constantly increasing number of connected devices.

    At a recent media event, Maxis showcased potential applications for the IoT in key sectors including automotive, retail, logistics, banking and financial, smart cities and manufacturing.

    “The exponential growth of data and how people use them has had a huge impact on how businesses operate,” Maxis head of marketing and products Shanti Jusnita Johari said.

    “Through our agreement with Vodafone, which brings with it a global standard of service, unrivalled IoT experience and highly ranked by analysts, we are equipping businesses in Malaysia with more than just connectivity through our advanced data network, but a suite of IoT solutions to digitalize and transform their operations.”

    Lees ook:

  • SKT, Nokia develop portable PS-LTE network

    SKT, Nokia develop portable PS-LTE network

    SK Telecom and Nokia have completed the development the first all-in one portable public safety LTE system for emergency first-responders.

    The system is compact enough to fit in a backpack, and comes with all the elements required for mobile communications, from a base station, switching system including an evolved packet core to push-to-talk technologies.

    It can be used to create an independent LTE communications network in the field for use by public safety and emergency services workers. The resulting network can be set up in less than three minutes, has a 5km coverage and can accommodate up to 400 users.

    SK Telecom and Nokia achieved the breakthrough of alleviating the need for PS-LTE systems to connect to a backhaul network by applying NFV technologies to the core networking elements. This has allowed the partners to fit the technology into a small rectangular-shaped server.

    The system can also support other communications services including group messaging for public service agencies.

    SK Telecom has announced it plans to trial the system within the year, and use the technology to expand the national disaster safety wireless network as well as its LTE-Maritime project in 2017.

    “The portable all-in-one PS-LTE system is a ground-breaking solution that enables communication among first responders by setting up an independent LTE network when regular communication networks are disrupted by disasters,” SK Telecom executive vice president and head of infrastructure Lee Jong-bong said.

    “SK Telecom will not only utilize the innovative system to build disaster safety wireless networks in Korea, but also plans to share its expertise and know-how with many other countries around the world.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • DoCoMo grows Q1 profit by 38.1%

    DoCoMo grows Q1 profit by 38.1%

    Japan’s NTT DoCoMo grew its net profit for the June quarter by 38.1% year-on-year as the operator made progress adapting to an evolving business environment.

    The operator reported a net income for its fiscal first quarter of 206.9 billion yen ($2.01 billion), on the back of a 31.8% increase in operating revenues to 1.08 trillion yen.

    Operating revenues from the operator’s core telecoms business grew 1.9% to 878.6 billion yen despite a decrease in equipment sales revenues.

    The company ended the quarter with 71.6 million mobile customers, registering new LTE subscriptions of 2.4 million.

    During the quarter, DoCoMo expanded the coverage of its Premium 4G branded LTE-Advanced network to 1,203 cities across Japan and 30,900 base stations, and added the 3.5-GHz carrier to further improve network quality.

    DoCoMo’s quarterly report states that “the environment surrounding our business has changed significantly,” with competition intensifying as a result of the market entry of MVNOs and the government’s pro-competition policy.

    “In addition, technical advancements in the areas of cloud services, IoT, big data and artificial intelligence (AI), etc., and new policy developments such as the full liberalization of the electricity

    retail market, brought about active competition and collaboration with new players from other industries, accelerating competition in new markets that transcend the conventional boundaries of telecommunications business.”

    In response to this, DoCoMo aims to use the current financial year to make “a vibrant leap toward further growth,” concentrating on reinforcing its core telecommunications business while expanding into “smart life” and other areas, the operator said.

  • Airtel sees no “great need” for more spectrum

    Airtel sees no “great need” for more spectrum

    Bharti Airtel’s CEO Gopal Vittal has suggested that the operator’s participation in India’s upcoming massive spectrum auction may be limited.

    Vittal told attendees to an earnings call that the operator is “in a very solid position” with its current specturum holding, and does not “see great need of spectrum” at this point in time.

    Vittal did note that the operator needs some spectrum to “fill a few gaps here and there.” But Airtel has historically been one of the major bidders in previous allocations, and his comments suggest that this is unlikely to be the case with the upcoming auction.

    The government has announced plans to auction off more than 2,300 MHz of airwaves across seven frequency bands, ranging from 700-MHz to 2,500-MHz, and recently approved the reserve prices for the bands.

    Based on the reserve prices the government expects to raise up to $83 billion, but analysts expect bidding to fall far below these lofty expectations.

    At least one operator has already decided not to take part due to the proposed prices, with Norway’s Telenor revealing plans to sit out as it evaluates whether to remain in the market.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Australia regulates retail access to high-speed networks

    Australia regulates retail access to high-speed networks

    Australian competition regulator ACCC has decided to require most operators of high-speed broadband networks to grant wholesale access to rival providers.

    Fiber and VDSL network services with a downstream data rate of over 25Mbps have been declared, meaning network owners must provide wholesale access on request.

    Where commercial terms cannot be agreed upon, the wholesale access must be provided at a regulated rate of between A$22.14 and A$27 per port per month, or A$17.50 to A$29.27 per Mbps per month.

    Exceptions apply for high-speed broadband services in metro areas, where competition is already effective, and for network operators with fewer than 20,000 customers. There is also a moratorium for specific networks in some areas that need to be reconfigured to support wholesale provision.

    “This is an acknowledgment that all superfast broadband networks – regardless of their size – display natural monopoly characteristics. What this access declaration does is provide retailers with the opportunity to enter superfast broadband markets, and in turn increase competition,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

    “This decision will also help to simplify and clarify the existing regulations that apply to superfast broadband services, allowing all retail providers to compete on their relative merits, regardless of the technology used, when the network was constructed, or who operates it.”

    In practice, the move also means that competing commercial high-speed broadband networks to the wholesale only National Broadband Network (NBN) will have to compete on a similar footing.

    This is in line with regulations designed to prevent retail providers from cherry-picking by concentrating their deployments only on the most profitable areas, in contrast to the NBN which needs to provide universal access.

    Lees ook:

  • Australia’s Megaport expands to Europe

    Australia’s Megaport expands to Europe

    Australian interconnection upstart Megaport has long been planning to invade Europe this year.  Today they not only formally launched their elastic interconnection platform on the continent, but they revealed two acquisitions that let them hit the ground running in a big way.

    Megaport has signed an agreement to buy Berlin-based Peering GmbH, Germany’s second largest IX provider. ECIX serves some 180 customers across 30 PoPs in Germany, giving Megaport immediate depth in the continent’s biggest market. The deal is expected to close in early August.

    Megaport’s other M&A move gives them an immediate presence in eastern Europe via the acquisition of Bulgarian-based OM-NIX Group AD.

    As one might infer from the IX part of their name, OM-NIX also specializes in interconnection, with extensive reach in Eastern Europe and especially the Balkans. Beyond the ECIX footprint, the deal adds another 18 locations to Megaport’s reach in Europe.

    Put those together with 9 other locations they have been developing organically, and Megaport’s European launch will span 57 locations in 19 cities in 13 countries. The acquisitions cost them some A$3.1 million ($2.3 million) and bring in annualized revenue of A$4.5 million.

    Over the past year, Megaport has expanded its interconnection footprint in markets throughout North America. The buildout has been quite rapid, and the move into Europe accelerates it even further.

    While the next phase is likely more adding revenue on top of the infrastructure they have built out, I have to wonder if they won’t keep going east. It wouldn’t take much to add a PoP or two in the Middle East and India on their way back around the globe to Singapore and Australia.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • SoftBank lifts June quarter profit by 19.1%

    SoftBank lifts June quarter profit by 19.1%

    Japan’s SoftBank lifted its net profit for the June quarter by 19.1% year-on-year to 254.16 billion yen ($2.42 billion), largely as a result of solid growth from the company’s domestic telecoms business.

    Domestic telecoms service revenue grew 5.4% to 761.8 trillion yen following steady growth of the operator’s SoftBank Hikari fiber service. Total FTTH subscribers grew to 2.24 million, from 1.72 million in the previous quarter.

    The company meanwhile grew its mobile subscriber base by 580,000 year-on-year to 32.15 million, with smartphone and tablet subscribers outweighing net losses for feature phones.

    Total ARPU declined by 50 yen to 4,610 yen, but service ARPU increased by 40 yen to 560 yen, reflecting an increase in the number of subscribers to the operator’s content services.

    Revenues from SoftBank’s US subsidiary Sprint meanwhile declined 9.6% year-on-year to 848.09 billion yen, but remained largely flat in US dollar terms.

    SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son assured reporters at an event announcing the company’s results that Sprint is about to turn into a revenue generator for the company after multiple quarters of negatively affecting the company’s results.

    SoftBank paid $21.6 billion to acquire control of Sprint in 2013, and the company has repeatedly insisted that Sprint’s fortunes are about to turn around.

    Now SoftBank is planning another big bet. The operator recently arranged to acquire chipmaker ARM for $31 billion to pursue opportunities in the emerging IoT sector, which Son believes will be the “biggest paradigm shift in human history.”

  • Oracle will buy NetSuite for $9.3b

    Oracle will buy NetSuite for $9.3b

    Oracle has arranged to acquire pioneering cloud company NetSuite for $9.3 billion.

    The addition of NetSuite will enable Oracle to expand its ability to support customers of any size in more industries and more countries.

    Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz said the company expects this acquisition to be immediately accretive to Oracle’s earnings on a non-GAAP basis in the first full fiscal year after closing.

    The proposed transaction is expected to close in 2016. Until the transaction closes, Oracle and NetSuite will continue to operate independently.

    “Oracle and NetSuite cloud applications are complementary, and will coexist in the marketplace forever,” Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, said. “We intend to invest heavily in both products—engineering and distribution.”

    “NetSuite has been working for 18 years to develop a single system for running a business in the cloud,” said Evan Goldberg, CRO and chairman of NetSuite. “This combination is a winner for NetSuite’s customers, employees and partners.”

    Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, said the company will benefit from Oracle’s global scale and reach to accelerate the availability of our cloud solutions in more industries and more countries.

    NetSuite was established in 1998 as the world’s first company dedicated to delivering business applications over the internet.

    Today NetSuite provides a suite of cloud-based financials/Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software that runs the business of more than 30,000 companies, organizations, and subsidiaries in more than 100 countries.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Viavi, Brocade readying subscriber data analytics solution

    Viavi, Brocade readying subscriber data analytics solution

    Viavi Solutions and Brocade are developing a joint solution that enables mobile operators to capture and analyze subscriber data to quickly resolve quality of experience (QoE) issues.

    Viavi’s xSIGHT Targeted Subscriber Search (TSS) leverages the Brocade Packet Broker and Brocade Session Director to filter and deliver targeted subscriber traffic so only the data required to resolve customer experience problems is forwarded to xSIGHT TSS. In addition to significantly reducing resolution time for QoE issues, the solution enables mobile operators to open up opportunities for new value-added services.

    The joint solution is in production at a US Tier-1 mobile operator to help provide better QoE to their subscribers and enable new premium services.

    The xSIGHT TSS and Brocade Packet Broker target specific subscribers—for example, VIPs or corporate customers covered by SLAs—and capture correlated control and user plane traffic, at a scale applicable to a Tier-1 mobile network.

    By reducing the average time spent gathering end-to-end subscriber traces from several hours to minutes, xSIGHT TSS and the Brocade Packet Broker may save mobile carriers up to tens of thousands of labor hours per year.

    xSIGHT is Viavi’s customer experience assurance portfolio including an analytics platform fed by agents distributed throughout the network. The agents passively analyze traffic in real time, build network and application performance metrics and selectively store traffic for troubleshooting purposes. xSIGHT TSS is an agent which can be programmed to capture all control and user plane data for targeted subscribers defined by the service provider.

    Lees ook: