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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.

  • Ooredoo Maldives readies fixed broadband services with Alepo

    Ooredoo Maldives readies fixed broadband services with Alepo

    Ooredoo Maldives has selected Alepo to provide a fixed broadband charging and customer care solution for its nationwide fixed broadband network.

    The introduction of fixed broadband services — realized by a new fiber optic submarine cable — is expected to strengthen Ooredoo Maldives’ positioning as the most advanced fixed mobile service provider in the SAARC region.

    In its selection of Alepo, Ooredoo Maldives cited the company’s strong presence in the SAARC region, owing to its multiple recent projects in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.

    “Alepo gives us confidence in the successful delivery, monetization, and customer experience of Ooredoo Maldives’ new fixed broadband services,” said Vikram Sinha, CEO at Ooredoo Maldives.

    To support Ooredoo Maldives’ fixed broadband business, Alepo will deploy its signature B/OSS framework, Alepo Service Enabler (SE).

    The carrier-class platform brings together convergent charging and billing, CRM, web self-care and mobile self-care, real-time analytics and business intelligence, in a single software environment.

    With Alepo SE, Oordeoo Maldives expects to be able to fully monetize and manage its data services, take data offers to market quickly, and ensure a convenient and modern customer experience.

    “Ooredoo Maldvies continues to set new technological precedents for communications service providers in the region,” said Vani Manian, technical Alepo’s director of Asia Pacific.

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  • Company founded to revive Nokia mobile brand

    Company founded to revive Nokia mobile brand

    A new company has been established to revive the Nokia handset and tablet brand. The company, HMD Global, has lined up deals with Microsoft and Nokia to fulfil this goal.

    Nokia has agreed to grant the new company an exclusive global license to create Nokia-branded phones and tablets for the next ten years.

    In return, Nokia will receive royalty payments for all sales of Nokia-branded devices covering both brand and IP rights.

    Microsoft has meanwhile conditionally agreed to sell its feature phone business to HMD and Foxconn’s FIH Mobile for $350 million. With the deal, HMD will also acquire related design rights from Microsoft. This transaction is expected to close in the second half of the year.

    FIH is acquiring assets from Microsoft including device manufacturing, sales and distribution. HMD and FIH then plan to collaborate to build a global business for Nokia-branded mobile devices.

    With the moves HMD will become the sole global licensee for all Nokia-branded mobile devices, and plans to produce a full range of feature phones, smartphones and tablets. The new company plans to invest over $500 million in the next five years to support its foray into the market.

    After the Microsoft transaction closes, HMD Global will be led by Arto Nummela, a former Nokia executive who is currently the head of Microsoft’s mobile devices business for APAC and MEA, as well as Microsoft’s global feature phones business.

    Fellow former Microsoft executive Florian Seiche, now SVP for Europe sales and marketing at Microsoft Mobile, will also join the company as president.

    “Branding has become a critical differentiator in mobile phones, which is why our business model is centered on the unique asset of the Nokia brand and our extensive experience in sales and marketing,” Nummella said.

    “We will work with world class providers in manufacturing and distribution to move quickly and deliver what customers want.”

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  • Globe rolls out fiber in world’s oldest Chinatown

    Globe rolls out fiber in world’s oldest Chinatown

    Globe Telecom has entered a collaboration with the city government of Manila to roll out fiber broadband technology in Binondo. This initiative will provide internet connectivity with speeds of up to 1Gbps to the world’s oldest Chinatown.

    Early this year, Globe made a call for local governments’ support for its initiative to build on its network infrastructure and provide better a internet experience for its customers, as part of efforts to transform the Philippines into a digital nation by 2020. The city government of Manila, led by Mayor Joseph Estrada, was the first government to respond to the call.

    The fiberization of the entire Binondo district, an age-old center of commercial activities in the capital, is expected to benefit business and residential establishments in the area and is expected to drive business growth in the district. The project will be completed in the third quarter of the year.

    “Globe is able to deploy fiber broadband technology in Binondo only because we are united with the local city government in realizing a vision of developing ‘connected communities’ where both enterprise clients and customers at home get to experience the full benefits of having world-class data connectivity,” Globe chief commercial officer Albert de Larrazabal said.

    “We hope to replicate the realization of this vision in many other areas in the country as we all aspire to further drive local economic growth.”

    The deployment of fiber broadband technology in Binondo will deliver ultra- fast internet to at least 5,000 new business and home subscribers as part of the initial rollout, Larrazabal said.

    Globe will also roll out small cell technology in various parts of Binondo as part of its efforts to expand network coverage and capacity.

    The pilot rollout of fiber broadband technology in Binondo forms part of Globe Telecom’s initiative of creating an internet super highway nationwide. By forming partnerships with other local government units, the operator plans to deploy fiber in 20,000 districts by 2020 that will provide internet access to around 2 million homes nationwide.

    Parallel to this, Globe will also invest in capacity enhancement for both mobile and wireline using different technologies that include 3G, LTE and Wi-Fi.

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  • TrueMove backs out of 900-MHz auction

    TrueMove backs out of 900-MHz auction

    Thai mobile operator TrueMove has decided not to participate in the upcoming 900-MHz auction on May 27 after all.

    The decision was made public late last night in a leaked filing to the stock market regulator. Dtac had already announced it was not participating, which would likely leave AIS as the sole bidder in the auction.

    The auction for 10 MHz of 900-MHz spectrum will start at $2.1 billion, the last price by Jasmine in the December auction before it forfeited its deposit after being unable to raise funds to pay for the licence.

    The letter to the Securities Exchange Commission said that following the board’s meeting on May 16, True’s board has decided not to participate in the auction. True already has enough high frequency spectrum for capacity (on 1800 and 2100-MHz) and low frequency spectrum for coverage (850 via CAT and 900) to meet demand. True has a total of 55 MHz of spectrum which is enough for 2G, 3G and 4G services.

    Just days earlier at a panel organized by Thailand’s IT Press Club NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit strenuously defended “his” decision to include True in the auction. “I have listened to every side of the argument. Whatever decision I make, it is possible I will be investigated and may face jail,” he said.

    Takorn also announced at the ITPC panel that AIS had decided to participate in the auction.

    Takorn had indeed decided to include True, but that decision was overturned by the NBTC board on spectrum cap grounds. The NBTC board in turn was overturned by the junta using article 44, the absolute power clause, in the interim constitution.

    Junta order 16/2559 section one paragraph 3 clearly states that the NBTC is to hold the auction in a way that is fair for the benefit to the state and to the people or to ensure competition. In order to do so the NBTC may amend any regulations needed but it has to report to, and receive authorization from, the leader of the national council for peace and order.

    The leader of the NCPO is Prime Minister General Prayut Chanocha.

    With Dtac firmly against participating in the auction at the elevated price, the need for a competition was used to overturn the NBTC board and allow True back in for more 900-MHz spectrum.

    Prime Minister and Junta leader Prayut Chanocha is currently in Russia so any decision is likely to be deferred until he gets back.

    All eyes are now on AIS which is understood to be convening its board to make a decision today (May 17) whether or not to participate in the auction.

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  • Nepal Telecom lays fiber to Nepal-China border

    Nepal Telecom lays fiber to Nepal-China border

    Nepal Telecom has revealed it has completed a project to lay fiber at the Nepal-China border, paving the way for an interconnection with China Telecom.

    The company has deployed fiber from Kathmandu to the Rasuwagadhi border point via two other Nepalese districts. The deployment uses all-dielectric self-supporting (ADSS) technology, which allows fiber to be deployed without the use of a support or messenger wire to save on deployment costs.

    A spokesperson for Nepal Telecom told that the operator has already commenced installation of equipment for an interconnection with China Telecom’s extensive fiber footprint.

    This will allow the operator to directly link to the Hong Kong Data Centre – one of the two largest data centers in the Asia region – and to establish global connectivity through Hong Kong via China. The company will also connect with a hub in Singapore via India.

    Through these arrangements Nepal Telecom plans to improve the speed and increase the price of its services.

  • AIS abandons plan to rent TrueMove’s 2G network

    AIS abandons plan to rent TrueMove’s 2G network

    Thailand’s AIS and TrueMove have abandoned plans to enter a mobile network rental agreement after being unable to accept mutually agreed upon terms.

    AIS no longer intends to rent TrueMove’s 900-MHz network to allow it to continue serving its 900-MHz 2G customers in the wake of the expiration of its 900-MHz license, telecoms regulator NBTC’s secretary-general told.

    The two operators had been negotiating a network rental agreement since mid-April, concentrating on network roaming on the 900-MHz spectrum and customer migration between AIS’s and TrueMove’s networks.

    The government had been encouraging AIS to rent True Move’s existing network to allow it to retain some of its existing 2G customers in order to end a dispute over an extension of AIS’s use of its 900-MHz network.

    AIS is reportedly also facing government pressure to hand over 8 million 2G customers to TrueMove to free up the 900-MHz spectrum due to be re-auctioned on May 27.

    But AIS intends to participate in the auction, and may therefore be able to secure the spectrum needed to ensure service continuity.

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  • AWS to be anchor customer for Hawaiki cable

    AWS to be anchor customer for Hawaiki cable

    In March, the Hawaiki cable project announced its contract with TE Subcom had come into force. They had raised the necessary funds to kick off the construction phase, and yesterday we learned where some of those funds came from.

    Amazon’s AWS division has stepped up for a large chunk of capacity on the system, becoming a high profile anchor customer on a submarine cable system for the first time.

    The Hawaiki cable is the latest project aimed at hooking up Australia and New Zealand directly with the west coast of the USA, stopping in Hawaii and branching off to American Samoa with options to reach several more.

    It’s a route dominated today by the longstanding Southern Cross cable system, and one on which we have seen several failed attempts to build an alternative – especially by partisans on the New Zealand side. This is the first time the money has finally added up though. As currently planned, the cable will stretch 14,000km and deliver as much as 30Tbps of capacity.

    Amazon AWS joins Vodafone, REANZ, and American Samoa Telecom as anchor customers. It’s Amazon’s first foray into the world of submarine cable systems, but surely not its last.

    The cloud giant is merely joining its tech brethren like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft in taking an active role in the underlying infrastructure they all depend on, taking up some of the slack as global telecommunications operators themselves continue to shy away from undersea investments in favor of wireless and terrestrial fiber.

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  • China Unicom to invest $2.1b in Shanghai

    China Unicom to invest $2.1b in Shanghai

    China Unicom has announced a significant investment project involving expanding and upgrading its telecoms infrastructure, building new a IoT platform and data centers in Shanghai.

    The move comes shortly after the operator signed an “Internet+” cooperation agreement with the Shanghai municipal government.

    As part of the agreement, Unicom has committed to invest 14 billion yuan ($2.15 billion) to expand and upgrade its fixed optical network and wireless infrastructure in Shanghai over the next five years.

    The operator said it plans to deploy tri-band carrier aggregation on its 4G networkto boost network speeds from 150Mbps to 500Mbps by 2018 and to 1Gbps by 2020, according to C114.net.

    The company, China’s second largest mobile carrier by subscribers, aims to offer high-speed fiber and mobile broadband services at speeds of up to 1Gpbs in some key areas in the city.

    In addition, Unicom will deploy 10Gbps passive optical technology, which is expected to cover 6 million residences with FTTx by 2018 and 7 million by 2020. The operator aims to have citywide VoLTE coverage – including HD audio and video calls and VoWi-Fi services – this year.

    To help turn Shanghai into a smart city, Unicom said it will also deploy a city-wideNB-IoT (Narrow-band Internet of Things) platform for applications such as intelligent parking and environmental monitoring.  Construction of the NB-IoT network is expected to be completed in 2017 with the deployment of 3,000 network base stations.

    The operator also plans to build new data centers and big data infrastructure to provide could computing applications and services for urban management and social services.

    Unicom will also support SMEs’ “Internet+” transformation with innovative information services and its big data platform and cloud services.

    Another area of focus is to help address the basic needs of general public by promoting the use of innovation applications in various fields, such as transport, healthcare, education, travel and smart home.

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  • Singtel full-year profit grows 2% despite forex hit

    Singtel full-year profit grows 2% despite forex hit

    Singtel has reported a 2% increase in net profit for the financial year ending in March to S$3.87 billion ($2.81 billion), despite negative foreign exchange movements.

    But operating revenue declined 1.5% to S$16.96 billion, the operator revealed. Excluding the impact of forex fluctuations, net profit would have grown 6% and operating revenue would have risen 4%.

    Earnings growth for the year was driven by a strong performance at Singtel’s regional mobile associates, particularly increased earnings from Indonesia’s Telkomsel. Pre-tax earnings contributions from these associates grew 5% to S$2.6 billion.

    For the fourth quarter, net profit was flat at S$946 million but would have grown 4% in constant currency terms. Regional associates’ pre-tax contribution grew 12%.

    “Mobile data was the bright spot. Our regional markets are now making their respective transitions from mobile telephony to mobile internet and harnessing the benefits of extensive investments in 3G and 4G networks and services,” Singtel Group CEO Chua Sock Koong commented.

    “We worked with our regional associates to navigate this shift from voice to data. In Singapore and Australia, our businesses were the first to launch innovative data add-on plans and zero-rated music services to meet customers’ increasing demands for OTT content services and data allowances, driving further data monetization.”

    Looking ahead to the current financial year, Singtel said that based on current economic forecasts, the operator expects to report a low single digit growth in consolidated revenue.

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  • Ooredoo Myanmar to launch 4G this month

    Ooredoo Myanmar to launch 4G this month

    Ooredoo Myanmar has revealed plans to launch 4G services in two cities this month, becoming the first operator to introduce 4G into the market.

    Ooredoo Myanmar CEO Rene Meza told that the operator plans to introduce 4G in Yangon and Mandalay first.

    A more wide-scale deployment will require more spectrum, Meza said. Ooredoo has applied to purchase additional spectrum as stipulated in the terms of its license, and this application was recently granted.

    Meza said that while the government has not yet provided a concrete date for when additional spectrum will be released, it is expected to be over the next 12 months.

    The availability of spectrum is a hot topic among the players in Myanmar’s mobile industry. The nation’ telecoms ministry is considering making spectrum in the 900-MHz, 2100-MHz bands available, along with the 700-MHz, 1800-MHz, 2300-MHz and 2600-MHz bands.

    Myanmar’s mobile industry has undergone rapid development since the liberalization of the nation’s telecoms sector in 2013, which has contributed to growing demand for spectrum.

    The government recently selected Viettel as the foreign partner for a consortium of local companies that will be granted the market’s fourth telecoms license. The consortium will be competing against Ooredoo Myanmar, as well as Telenor Myanmar and the joint venture between Japan’s KDDI and Myanmar’s MPT.

  • SK Telecom signs MOU with Telkom Indonesia

    SK Telecom signs MOU with Telkom Indonesia

    SK Telecom today announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Telkom Indonesia (PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia), the largest telecommunications services company in Indonesia, to cooperate in new business areas including IoT, media and smart products/Lifeware.

    The MOU signing ceremony took place at Telkom headquarters located in Jakarta, Indonesia on May 12, 2016, and was attended by Lee Eung-sang, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Business Division of SK Telecom, and Indra Utoyo, Chief Innovation Strategy Officer of Telkom.

    Under the MOU, the two companies will work together to develop new business opportunities in the areas of smart city and IoT services. To this end, SK Telecom plans to introduce to Telkom its IoT platform ThingPlug and share its knowhow in deployment and operation of LoRa networks with the aim to jointly develop IoT technologies and services that are tailored to the Indonesian market/customers. Building on this, the two companies will also discuss the idea of building a joint venture for their IoT business within the next two years.

    SK Telecom and Telkom also agreed to collaborate in the development of cloud-based TV services/solutions for Telkom customers by utilizing SK Telecom’s media solution ‘Cloud Streaming.’

    Furthermore, the two companies agreed to work together to introduce SK Telecom’s laser pico projector ‘UO Smart Beam Laser’ to the Indonesian market. Going forward, SK Telecom plans to join hands with PINS, Telkom’s distribution subsidiary, to launch more UO-branded products – including UO Smart Beam 2 (pico projector) and UO Linkage (portable Hi-Fi audio) – in Indonesia.

    “Through the MOU, SK Telecom will work closely with Telkom to develop mutually-beneficial business opportunities in diverse areas including IoT, smart city and media,” said Lee Eung-sang, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Business Division of SK Telecom. “Building on this partnership, the two companies will continue to make joint efforts to expand their presence beyond the Indonesian market.”

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  • XL Axiata to form JV with Indosat Ooredoo

    XL Axiata to form JV with Indosat Ooredoo

    Indonesia’s XL Axiata has revealed it will enter a joint venture with Indosat Ooredoo to provide consultancy services in future network collaboration between the two operators.

    The JV, PT One Indonesia Synergy, will be 50-50 owned by the two companies.

    In a statement to the Bursa Malaysia, XL parent Axiata Group said it is expected that the joint venture will “provide consultancy services in future network collaboration. The transaction parties are in the process of jointly exploring the possibility of entering into such a collaboration.”

    XL Axiata and Indosat Ooredoo agreed in January to share 4G infrastructure in several cities as a possible first step towards the long-discussed plans to form such a network sharing agreement.

    Indonesia’s telecom ministry has also been pressuring the nation’s ten mobile operators to merge or jointly deploy networksto address crowding in the market, although this mainly applies to the smaller mobile operators struggling to compete with Indosat, XL and rival Telkomsel.

    The stock market statement adds that the forming of the JV is not expected to have a material impact on the group’s financial results for the current year.

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  • Singtel enhances Dash mobile wallet

    Singtel enhances Dash mobile wallet

    Singtel has added new functionality to its mobile wallet app Singtel Dash in a bid to claim a larger slice of the mobile payments pie.

    Singtel Dash was first launched in 2014 as a collaboration between Singtel and Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. The carrier-agnostic service is open to all users in Singapore with an iOS or Android mobile device.

    New features added to Singtel Dash include the addition of savings accounts from five additional banks (Citibank, DBS, OCBC, POSB and UOB) as Dash wallet funding sources. Previously, Dash wallets could only be funded via a Standard Chartered Bank savings account or through post-paid Singtel users’ carrier bills. This is a move aimed at expanding Dash’s existing user base.

    The telco has also added a foreign remittance service to Dash so funds from users’ Dash wallets can be remitted to four countries: China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. This function enables Dash users in Singapore to transfer funds to payees in these countries holding accounts from supported banks.

    This function was made possible through Singtel’s collaboration with remittance partners in the four countries, and may be viewed as an extension of Singtel’s current mRemit service.

    Dash users can also transfer funds to users of GCash in the Philippines. GCash is the mobile wallet product offered by the Philippines’ Globe Telecom, of which Singtel owns a controlling stake. Foreign remittance payees will be able to receive funds immediately.

    Singtel has meanwhile upgraded its backend system to better support the use of Dash for taxi ride payments. Previously, customers needed to enter a taxi’s license number in order to complete a payment transaction. A new cloud-based solution developed by Singtel has now automated this process.

  • Dyn Secures $50 Million in Funding to Expand Global Internet Performance

    Dyn Secures $50 Million in Funding to Expand Global Internet Performance

    Dyn, the worldwide leader in Internet Performance Management (IPM), announced today that it has secured $50 million in Series B equity funding from Pamplona Capital Management, a leading global private equity firm. This investment will strengthen Dyn’s global go-to-market growth strategy and enable accelerated product development. Additionally, Dyn also announced the public launch of its new platform that will help solve the significant challenges associated with operating critical business applications and infrastructure in the cloud.  

    “Internet Performance Management is a requirement for global Enterprises as companies leverage the Internet for mission-critical delivery of their business,” said Dyn CEO and co-founder Jeremy Hitchcock. “We have developed the capabilities to provide unique insights and ability to optimize Internet performance through managing the digital supply chain of information flows. Pamplona’s investment demonstrates a strong commitment to executing on the multi-billion-dollar opportunity and driving an aggressive, industry-leading go-to-market strategy and set of platform capabilities.”

    Dyn’s Platform for IPM offers IT professionals unparalleled transparency across the Internet, as well as traffic management tools that allow them to reroute their Internet-based assets as necessary, optimizing costs and improving response time and availability.

    Dyn helps leading global businesses, like Pfizer, Visa, Netflix, Twitter and many more, address their Internet Performance needs. Samir Jafferali, Edge Performance Site Reliability Engineer, LinkedIn, said, “Dyn’s IPM solutions are the first network service every single one of our members use when visiting our site. These solutions have made them a trusted partner as we continue to improve and optimize performance across our global networks.”

    Dyn also continues to add new Enterprise customers each quarter. In fact, eight of the top 10 Internet Services / Retail companies and six of the top 10 Entertainment companies in the Fortune 500 use Dyn. These customers recognize the economic benefits that come with embracing the cloud and the need for mitigating the myriad of risks that come with it. Dyn’s Platform delivers the one-stop visibility, analytics and control enterprises need to reliably make the Internet a competitive asset for their business.

    Supporting enterprise migration to the cloud has allowed Dyn to grow its revenue by more than 70 percent in the last two years and the Internet Performance Management company expects to surpass $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue later this year. Yet, there is still much room to grow. IDC identifies Dyn’s market opportunity within the System Infrastructure Software as a Service market, which they estimate will reach more than $10B next year growing at a CAGR of 28 percent through 2019.

    Robert Mahowald, Group VP, Applications and Cloud Business Models at IDC, recently stated that, “The dynamics leading to Enterprise multi-cloud adoption and diversification present challenges for edge performance and governance, and strong opportunities for companies with Internet Performance Management solutions. The platform approach Dyn is taking gives its customers a plug-and-play solution to make the most of their cloud configurations. It has tremendous potential for any Enterprise CIO, which is why I think Internet Performance Management is an exciting evolution in how Enterprises will secure and mobilize their important cloud applications and data.”

    Pamplona’s investment in Dyn represents its inaugural investment for a new $1 billion U.S.-based Growth Equity fund focused on technology, media and telecommunications investments. As part of Pamplona’s investment, Justin Perreault, a partner, has joined Dyn’s Board of Directors.

    “Dyn has built a strong franchise based on running the fundamental and critical Internet infrastructure needs for its brand name customers,” said Perreault. “With a track record of substantial growth, a burgeoning IPM market opportunity and a strong results-orientated management team, Dyn provides a unique and exciting investment opportunity for Pamplona as we grow our U.S. investment presence.”

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  • Telenor and Vodafone debut five-service IPX

    Telenor and Vodafone debut five-service IPX

    Telenor and Vodafone have set a new global IPX benchmark by running five separate services over a single IPX interconnect.

    The operators expanded their existing 4G signaling service to include 2G/3G signaling, direct voice, data roaming services and SMS traffic.

    With the expansion Telenor and Vodafone have become among the first operator groups to implement live multi-service IPX.

    Telenor and Vodafone will use the IPX interconnect to provide VoLTE interworking and roaming between each others’ networks. Combined the two operator group have more than 660 million subscribers worldwide.

    Telenor and Vodafone said their IPX platforms have been developed in full compliance with GSMA and i3Forum guidelines to ensure full interoperability on current and future services.

    “Both Telenor and Vodafone are leading players in rolling out 4G in their local markets. This direct IPX interconnect between our mobile groups secures a high service quality with a roam like home customer experience for all Telenor and Vodafone subscribers,” Telenor CMO of global wholesale Ronny Johnsen said.

    “We are constantly challenged by changes in our industry and such partnerships enable mobile groups to adopt new technologies and services.”

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