Nokia has announced that it has been chosen by Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) to expand the operator’s 5G network in Taiwan. The deal aims to support CHT’s objective of achieving 80 percent population coverage as well as boost 5G subscriptions to over 20 percent of its current subscriber base. The expansion will leverage products from Nokia’s AirScale portfolio to deliver enhanced connectivity for people and businesses in the southern and central areas of the country.
Category: Telecom
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Australia More Telecom acquires Powercom Pacific
More Telecom announced its acquisition of national internet and phone provider, Powercom Pacific, substantially increasing the company’s SME customer base. More Telecom is one of Australia’s most successful and longest-running NBN providers with a sister retail business, Tangerine Telecom.
Powercom Pacific owns several brands including Powercom, Montimedia and QTelecom and all customers will be migrating to More Telecom.
All Powercor Pacific staff will be moving with the business and maintain ongoing employment with More.
More Telecom General Manager, Andrew Branson, said the acquisition strengthens the More business which is expanding in both customer numbers and product offers.
“The More business consistently seeks exciting expansion opportunities and with Powercom, we identified a business with complementary cultural and business models.
“The Powercom customer base consists of long term, loyal, small business owners who want excellent service and we are confident we can deliver on this front,” said Branson.
More Telecom has also expanded its SME reach via the launch of other business services such as More Payments and More Bookkeeping.
More Telecom has also invested in building a strong business offering a full white label solution to other telcos and IT firms and has become Australia’s top white label NBN provider.
The More Telecom and Tangerine Telecom business model works on a B2B/B2C business model delivering more efficiency and faster speeds due to the balanced bandwidth loading between the business peak hours during the day and the consumer peak hours during the evening.
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Cisco unveils digitalization program for South Korea’s digital transformation
South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, and Cisco, a worldwide leader in technology, announced the launch of a collaborative framework under Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program to accelerate digitization across the country and power an inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The framework was introduced at a virtual event attended by Fran Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer at Cisco, Guy Diedrich, Vice President and Global Innovation Officer at Cisco, and Bum-Coo Cho, President at Cisco Korea, with opening remarks from South Korea’s Prime Minister, Sye-Kyun Chung, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee, Won-Wook Lee, and the People Power Party’s floor spokesperson Hyung-Du Choi. The event was also joined by ecosystem partners Naver Cloud, Samsung Electronics, and Kwangwoon University, who outlined the scope of their collaboration on major CDA projects in South Korea.
The CDA program in Korea is strategically aligned with the government’s Digital New Deal strategy which is designed to propel recovery measures from the pandemic and help prepare for future growth through advanced digital capacity. The program also follows the government’s I-Korea 4.0, a policy brand that aims to prepare the Fourth Industrial Revolution with intelligent technologies.
“Cisco has helped the digital transformation in education by offering free video conferencing solutions to education institutions during these difficult times. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Cisco for its support and commitment to making the future bright through social investment in various areas such as IT talent cultivation. I expect IT companies like Cisco to closely work with public institutions and universities, creating synergy in fostering people-centered digital infrastructure. The government will spare no effort to provide support for it,” said Prime Minister Chung.
“Our CDA programs help power an inclusive future for all through innovative technology initiatives like our 5G and cloud infrastructure solutions. We are very pleased to introduce the program in South Korea and support the government and businesses in achieving their economic and digitization goals as we recover from the global pandemic together,” said Fran Katsoudas, EVP and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer at Cisco.
The CDA program in South Korea will drive various initiatives, with specific focus on the following areas:
- 5G B2B:Cisco will drive 5G B2B technology innovation by working closely with Kwangwoon University. Cisco will help develop and test new 5G network solutions to bring more value to enterprises and enhanced network experiences to customers.
- Cloud:Cisco will integrate its cloud solutions with the largest Korean cloud vendor ‘Naver Cloud’ to run on the cloud market. Cisco will provide convenient and reliable services to customers and will be able to promote cloud market activation. Cisco will strengthen the hybrid-cloud enablement in Korea.
- Smart factory: Cisco will contribute to South Korea’s social-economic development with its industry-leading security and cloud technologies. Cisco will collaborate with POSCO ICT, a global IT & OT solutions provider, to develop advanced security solutions for smart factories by integrating Cisco Stealthwatch with POSCO ICT’s Poshield solution.
- Education: Cisco will support digital transformation in education by offering free solutions and equipment to educational institutions across the country. Cisco will continue its commitment to digitization in education by expanding its support for building connected smart campuses and offering more Cisco Networking Academy programs. As part of these efforts, Cisco will integrate its collaboration solutions with Learning Management Systems (LMSs) of universities and support students and IT workforce with next generation IT skills and knowledge.
“The launch of CDA in Korea will be a significant step towards turning the country’s digital agenda into a reality. Cisco Korea will do its best to accelerate the digital and economic growth of the country by leading development of technologies and infrastructure, adoption and use of technologies both in the public and privates, and cultivating the next generation IT talents,” said Bum-Coo Cho, President at Cisco Korea.
Cisco’s CDA program aims to stimulate global digitization. Currently, Cisco is working with national, state, and local governments in 40 countries around the world to accelerate their national digitization agendas, co-develop cutting-edge solutions, and deliver beneficial services to their citizens more effectively. Cisco CDA programs have supported the creation of net-new jobs, GDP growth, and helped nurture innovation ecosystems.
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Accenture to digitally transform Bharat Petroleum sales and distribution network
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Accenture are collaborating to transform India’s second-largest oil and gas company by digitally reimagining its extensive sales and distribution network. Accenture will use its capabilities in data, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud technologies to build, design and implement a digital platform, called IRIS.
This platform will integrate real-time data from across BPCL’s countrywide network, including more than 18,000 fuel retail outlets, 25,000 tank trucks, 75 oil installations and depots, 52 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottling plants, and 250 additional industrial and commercial locations, to provide a consolidated view of its extensive operations.
Driven by analytics based on AI and machine learning technologies, the IRIS platform will subsequently trigger automated alerts and actions, including rapid response to equipment failures or hazardous situations. It will also empower the BPCL workforce of more than 100,000 across the country to make faster and more accurate decisions, including preventative maintenance. This can help increase sales at fuel retail outlets by minimizing infrastructure downtime and ensuring consistent fuel quality, as well as improve the experience for customers.
By embedding intelligence in BPCL’s sales and distribution network, Accenture is helping BPCL optimize its operational performance and efficiency, enhance security and safety and deliver a superior experience for its retail and commercial customers across the country.
Arun Kumar Singh, director (marketing and refineries), BPCL, said, “Digital transformation opens up new opportunities for the oil and gas industry. As an organization passionate about embracing change and leading the charge, we look forward to leveraging technology to unlock tremendous value, sustainable growth, and improved efficiency.”
“With the deployment of this highly automated command and control platform called IRIS, we will not only bolster our digital capabilities significantly but also improve customer experience and transform operations at scale. It will further ensure consistent and uniform delivery of BPCL’s brand promises of innovation, care and reliability to our customers,” said Rahul Tandon, head, digital transformation, BPCL.
The new platform will be capable of accepting more than three million inputs per second from automated sensors, cameras, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices deployed at all key locations, tracking performance based on key parameters such as fuel stock, safety, compliance, equipment health and boosting asset uptime. BPCL’s field workforce and partner network will have a seamless experience thanks to supporting from a portal, mobile app and call centers in Noida and Chennai.
The digital sales and distribution platform will use BPCL’s cloud infrastructure, making it more agile and scalable.“The future will belong to companies that purposefully combine advanced digital technologies with human skills and creativity,” said Piyush N. Singh, India market unit lead at Accenture. “We believe our industry expertise and extensive digital capabilities can help BPCL drive the next wave of growth and gain a distinct advantage in the market. The powerful combination of human and applied intelligence will facilitate transformative change to ensure BPCL’s operations are safer, more secure and more efficient.”
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Digital Reality opens third and largest data centre in Singapore
Digital Reality, a leading global provider of carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions, announced the official opening of its third data centre in Singapore. The multi-story, 50-megawatt facility, known as Digital Loyang II or SIN12, is Digital Realty’s largest data centre in the country and will bring the company’s total committed investment to date in Singapore to over US$1 billion. This significant expansion will enable local and multinational enterprises to deploy critical infrastructure and scale their digital business at the heart of a connected data community on PlatformDIGITAL.
SIN12 is substantially pre-leased to a thriving community of leading global cloud service providers, local as well as global financial services providers and leading Southeast Asian enterprises. In addition, the new facility will introduce next-generation colocation services for regional customers in Singapore and will further expand PlatformDIGITAL, the company’s global data centre platform. It will offer customers in APAC new avenues to connect, extend their reach and uncover new business opportunities. SIN12 will offer enterprises the full spectrum of colocation services and will enable them to scale their critical infrastructure on-demand within a connected data community with optimal proximity to carriers, networks and cloud service providers. Productized solutions for network, control and data hub footprints offered on PlatformDIGITAL will help accelerate customers’ ability to rapidly scale their digital business.
SIN12 builds upon Digital Realty’s track record of delivering sustainable data centre developments across the globe and has already achieved a Platinum certification under Singapore’s BCA Green Mark building assessment system. The Green Mark certification scheme is designed to evaluate a building’s overall environmental impact and performance and provides a comprehensive framework for assessing new and existing buildings to promote sustainable design and best practices in construction and operations.
“Singapore is a well-established financial and business hub, and consistently ranks among the top data centre markets globally,” said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein. “The opening of our third data centre is a major milestone on our PlatformDIGITAL roadmap and underscores our long-term commitment to support the country’s digital economy. The transition to the digital economy has impacted the way companies across all industries create and deliver value. There’s a growing need for a combination of open interconnection and next-generation colocation that will reduce the complexity of digital transformation. Expanding our footprint in Singapore will enable us to better help our customers enhance their digital transformation efforts and scale their digital business models regionally as well as globally.”
Singapore is ranked fifth among the top 10 data centre markets globally, according to Cushman & Wakefield. These findings coincide with Digital Realty’s Data Gravity Index™, a recently published study that measured, quantified, and determined the implications of the explosion of enterprise data. Data gravity is expected to more than double annually from 2020-2024, with Asia Pacific expected to generate the fastest growth across all regions. Singapore is expected to be the second-fastest-growing market across the 53 global metros analyzed, driven by growth in the intensity of data within the banking, financial services and high-tech manufacturing industries.
“Digital Realty’s continued investment in Singapore builds upon the strong existing business and investment ties between the United States and Singapore. Both countries rank highly in terms of digital competitiveness and are committed to building a robust digital economy at a global level,” said Christian Koschil, Digital Attaché, Embassy of the United States of America. “We believe Digital Realty’s expansion in Singapore will further strengthen the Republic’s standing as a global connectivity gateway. We also applaud Digital Realty’s commitment to sustainability in their operations, as tackling climate change requires a collective response from all stakeholders – in government and the private sector.”
Sustainability was a guiding principle for the design and construction of SIN12. It will be among the most sustainable data centres in the region, with a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.25. The facility will feature efficient cooling system design and controls to help minimize evaporation losses and improve water-use efficiency. It will be equipped with turbine generators rather than diesel engines and a combination of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and lithium-ion batteries will facilitate sustainable management. The building management system (BMS) will monitor thousands of data points to ensure the data centre is running efficiently and providing optimal energy performance for customers.
“Balancing digital growth with sustainability remains a key priority for the industry,” said Mark Smith, Managing Director, Asia Pacific for Digital Realty. “We’re proud that our new facility will help customers meet their digital and sustainability goals, with energy-efficient design and operational features. We’re encouraged by the recently unveiled Singapore Green Plan 2030 and the new edition of the Green Building Masterplan. Sustainable growth will be critical for the country to remain competitive as a leading global data centre hub.”
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Huawei launches SME Support Program to support economic recovery in APAC
Global leading ICT provider Huawei launched its SME Support Program with trusted ecosystem partners in Asia Pacific, aiming to deliver further technical support for economic recovery amid the fight against the pandemic in the region.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the engines of growth and innovation in the APEC region. They account for over 97 percent of all businesses and employ over half of the workforce across APEC economies. They contribute significantly to economic growth, with their share of GDP ranging from 40 percent to 60 percent in most APEC economies, according to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
The pandemic has forced businesses to accelerate their digital transformation and move to the cloud one to three years ahead of schedule. HUAWEI CLOUD is currently working with over 19,000 partners and 1.6 million developers and is committed to strengthening the digital economy to support a sustainable economic recovery.
For the SME Support Program, which will be available until December 31, 2021, each eligible SME applicant could receive coupons worth up to $3,000 USD and free professional consulting service including cutting-edge cloud solutions for a variety of industry scenarios including Financial Service, Education, E-commerce, Gaming, IoT, Application Development, and Enterprise Applications.
SMEs that have an account on the HUAWEI CLOUD official website but have never used any paid service could apply on the SME Support Program page and receive consultation from cloud experts. Applications will be reviewed based on the company’s cloud needs and the readiness of workloads for cloud deployment.
“We are still very small, but we have the ambition to grow into a big business. Therefore, choosing a reliable partner is our priority, this translates into reliable technology and reliable service and support. HUAWEI did a great job. I believe we get the same prompt responses any big client of yours,” Yongyan Liu, Co-Founder and VP of Strategy and Development at SYMBIONAT HEALTH, expressed confidence in the cooperation with HUAWEI CLOUD.
Currently, HUAWEI CLOUD offers over 220 services in categories such as compute, storage, network, security, big data, AI, and IoT, plus over 210 solutions for full coverage of industries. Enterprises can rely on Huawei’s robust ecosystem to accelerate innovation by joining efforts with other eco-partners.
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Etisalat to deliver first Open RAN implementation in Central Asia
Etisalat partners with Parallel Wireless, Intel, and Supermicro in deploying the world’s first cloud-native Open RAN solutions in Afghanistan — the first Open RAN implementation in Central Asia.
Hatem Bamatraf, Chief Technology Officer-International, Etisalat Group, said: “The combination of Open RAN, virtualization, and automation will enable Etisalat to meet the needs of our customers most cost-effectively in Central Asia. Being able to use an Open RAN system will help us not only extend our initial investment but also bring new services much faster. Parallel Wireless together with Intel and Supermicro have become true strategic partners and key enablers in undertaking this Open RAN implementation.”
Mobile network operators in Central Asia are facing strong pressure to evolve their businesses and operations to drive profitability. Addressing these challenges requires industry innovation focused on reducing traditional hardware-defined 2G, 3G, or 4G networks that require expensive and bulky equipment to deploy, operate or upgrade.
Open RAN solutions are now ready for prime time as Parallel Wireless leads with innovation in Open RAN, including the world’s first network architecture that unifies all mobile connectivity standards – 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G– under the same software and cloud-native umbrella.
In Afghanistan, the Open RAN radio hardware ecosystem of Parallel Wireless shall provide Remote Radio Units (RRUs) that will allow Etisalat to replace legacy 2G/3G/4G systems with white box solutions that can be upgraded to 5G in the future.
Amrit Heer, Director of Sales, Parallel Wireless, said, “We believe it is the ideal time to align and collaborate to solve the key challenges to deliver innovative RAN solutions that are ready for commercial deployment. Implementing our world’s leading O-RAN compliant software platform will allow Etisalat to enable new services to be deployed quickly, seamlessly, and more reliably.”
Etisalat’s strategic goal is to build and grow wireless networks to provide next-generation digital services to its customers in the region. Working in collaboration with Parallel Wireless, Intel, and Supermicro, this can be achieved by assembling viable solutions that build on an open and modular architecture; improving service agility through cloudification; and reducing operational costs across geographically distributed sites with automation.
Jeff Sharpe, Director Edge/5G Solutions, Supermicro, commented on this collaboration: “We are pleased to be working with Etisalat, Parallel Wireless, and Intel to enable an open ecosystem of disaggregated RAN solutions using vendor-neutral RAN hardware and software-defined technology based on open interfaces and community-developed standards.”
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Nepal to debut Internet and telecom services on international airlines
The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), an autonomous telecommunications regulatory body, together with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has approved international airlines to use Nepal’s Internet and telecom services for its passengers.
Airlines would need to apply to NTA, on top of obtaining permission from the International Civil Aviation Organisation to tap into internet and telecom services above 10,000 feet in Nepal.
Nepal is the latest country in South Asia to allow such services to passengers, following the footsteps of India and Afghanistan. Last September, Vistara was India’s first airline to offer in-flight Wi-Fi Internet connectivity onboard international flights.
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Nokia demonstrates record Optus’ 5G mmWave capabilities
Nokia and Optus announced that they achieved a record-breaking aggregate site throughput of 10 Gbps during a downlink speed demonstration using 800 MHz of millimeter Wave (mmWave) spectrum at a live 5G site in Brisbane. Powered by Nokia AirScale Radio, the site demonstrates the huge potential of 5G as it is introduced across future spectrum bands. Once deployed, the speed and a capacity boost from the 5G mmWave layer will unleash lightning-fast speeds for consumers and enterprises alike to support a range of new low-latency, high-bandwidth services.
The recent demonstration showcased the capabilities of Nokia’s 5G mmWave technology and the benefits of adding it on top of an existing 5G/4G site. The demonstration showed how Nokia’s 5G mmWave technology delivers on the promise of super-fast data rates by boosting the site capacity to 10 Gbps and beyond.
Nokia’s 5G mmWave technology will allow Optus to focus on scalability, automation, and performance by supporting services that utilize the full capability of 5G. Leveraging Nokia’s solutions, Optus can also harness 5G mmWave to serve the enterprise market and explore new use cases in healthcare, mining, port operations, and smart manufacturing, among other industries.
The decision to select this mixed commercial and industrial area of Brisbane was made keeping these new use cases in mind as they sought to showcase the many real-world benefits of mmWave to the enterprise; thereby gaining early insights into this new exciting technology before wider rollout in the future.
This achievement further strengthens the long-standing and collaborative partnership between Nokia and Optus. In early 2019, Optus became the first operator globally to deploy Nokia’s FastMile 5G indoor gateway in a live 5G network. Recently, the two companies also successfully launched 5G services at the Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia.
Lambo Kanagaratnam, Managing Director of Networks at Optus, said: “We’re committed to keeping Australia connected and at the forefront of 5G. By partnering with global technology leaders like Nokia, we’ve taken an exciting step towards unlocking the massive potential that 5G mmWave will bring to the consumers, enterprises and industries in Australia. Reaching 10 Gbps per site is a crucial step in our 5G development and validates the progress we’ve made with the technology together with Nokia.”
Anna Wills, Head of Oceania at Nokia, said: “This is another milestone in the development of 5G services and demonstrates the confidence operators have in our 5G solutions. Today’s achievement with Optus shows the potential of mmWave deployments, particularly at a time when connectivity and capacity are so crucial. We’re proud of our long-standing relationship with Optus and the great strides we continue to make together in this new era of connectivity.”
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Nokia debuts innovative public cloud charging for CSPs on AWS
Nokia has today announced the deployment of its cloud-native convergent charging solution on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate communications service providers (CSPs) migration of business-critical, high-frequency charging applications to the public cloud, and to deliver the benefits of the cloud for 5G.
This announcement, which builds on an existing relationship with AWS, enables CSPs to efficiently run workloads on AWS and pioneer new monetization schemas as part of their journey towards deploying business support systems (BSS) in the public cloud.
As a containerized network function (CNF) on AWS, Nokia Converged Charging (NCC) provides true continuous availability, supporting the high frequency, low latency demands of an always-on, real-time convergent charging system built for the needs of the 5G economy. This enables CSPs to tap new revenue streams from 5G capabilities, including differentiated pricing, network slicing, and flexible product offerings, such as IoT and B2B2X.
According to Analysys Mason, “SaaS and public cloud will make inroads into the market for monetization platforms by growing more than 6.5X from 2019 to 2025 and increase its share to over 14% of the total spend.” NCC’s architecture can support CSPs at every step of their public cloud journey, from the deployment of greenfield sub-brands as a first step towards hosting testing environments to full production workloads of the main brand on the public cloud.
Fabio Cerone, EMEA Telco Managing Director at AWS, said: “We are pleased that Nokia is expanding its relationship with AWS by offering its cloud-native convergent charging system on AWS and connecting it to various services, such as with analytics to pioneer new monetization schemas. As the world becomes increasingly cloud-centric, it’s important that our customers can leverage cloud-native solutions to unleash the potential benefits of the cloud and 5G.”
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China’s Geely sets sights on aerospace
China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Groups, a global mobility technology group has plans to set up a commercial aerospace company, as announced by the local government.
The company will develop and advance satellite and communications technologies in Guangzhou, by building low-orbit satellites to deliver high-speed connectivity. Geely will also be partnering with other rocket companies in Guangzhou.
Geely owns Volvo Cars and 9.7 percent of Daimler AG. Last month, Geely posted a profit of US$850 million in 2020, representing a 32 percent drop in net profit as compared to the previous year as auto sales took a hit amid the pandemic.
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Huawei and China Mobile support one-of-a-kind 5G smart port in China
Ningbo is a time-honored international port city in east China’s Zhejiang province. Its port, the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, is the largest port in the world. Recently, the port worked with China Mobile Ningbo and Huawei to showcase the hybrid platooning of 5G smart and traditional container trucks. The platooning is a stride towards realizing the goal of becoming a world-class port. With this solution, in berth 8 of its busy Meishan container terminal, 13 5G smart container trucks run automatically and smoothly, greatly improving automation and safety in the port.
Due to the collaboration of Zhejiang Seaport Group, China Mobile Zhejiang, Huawei, and other leading players, the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port has been transformed into a smart 5G port. To date, the port has reached a number of milestones, becoming the first in the industry to integrate 5G automated rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes into routine operation and implement 5G network slicing and 5G Super Uplink in port businesses.
Smart container trucks represent a new breakthrough in the smart port transformation. Their scaled application offers an effective solution to driver shortage and fatigue while improving efficiency and reducing safety risks. They will play an important role in replacing intensive labor in the port with unmanned, automated, and intelligent operations.
Smart container trucks require real-time 5G smart sensing, truck-road and truck-truck synergy, and video transmission. One container truck requires an uplink bandwidth of 20 to 30 Mbps and a low latency of below 20 ms. During peak hours, more than 40 container trucks will be working at the same time. This requires the network to ensure an uplink bandwidth of 1,200 Mbps.
5G can provide better network support for these applications. Based on 3GPP Release 16, China Mobile and Huawei have developed a 5GtoB solution for port applications. Ample verification tests have been conducted, with results showing that the solution meets the requirements of smart container trucks on both network performance and stability. With CPEs deployed to support dual feeding and selective receiving solution, the network further improves the quality and latency stability of smart container trucks’ signal transmission. As such, 5G has become a preferred network solution for full-function applications of smart container trucks.
In the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, container trucks no longer have drivers — an important indicator of the automated logistics of 5G smart trucks in modern ports. Powered by 5G and AI, upon detecting that containers unloaded from bridge cranes are properly loaded, container trucks automatically power on to move the containers to their destinations. During this process, they automatically identify nearby objects, machinery, and lighthouses and respond intelligently, such as decelerating, braking, steering, bypassing, and parking. They can also accurately move to the RTG-specified positions along optimal routes provided by the smart dispatching system, meeting the demand for horizontal transfer in closed areas.
Looking to the future, the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port will continue to work with China Mobile Ningbo and Huawei as well as other industrial partners to further integrate upstream and downstream resources and promote the pilot and promotion of remote device control, smart tallying, unmanned driving, online AI port monitoring, and trunking communication based on 5G networks so as to build a comprehensive benchmark of 5G smart port.
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South Korea to release low-cost 5G through MVNO mobile data plans
South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT has announced plans to release low-cost 5G mobile data plans to raise the competitiveness of the country’s 5G market.
The ministry reported that tariffs will be announced, with mobile data rates offered by mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) priced below those offered by the country’s major carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus.
According to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT, 5G subscribers in South Korea totaled at 13.66 million in February, nearly doubling from just 792,118 subscribers from the previous month. The top carrier, SK Telecom, had 6.35 million 5G subscribers.
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PCCW Global selects Telco Systems to expand managed SD-WAN services
Telco Systems, a leading provider of innovative Network Edge solutions for communications infrastructure and service management, announced that PCCW Global has selected Telco Systems’ NFVTime uCPE solution to enrich its managed SD-WAN service portfolio and VNF-based service offerings.
PCCW Global is a leading global telecommunications carrier, providing scalable, reliable and cost-effective software-defined networking solutions to multinational enterprises and communication service providers.PCCW Global will use Telco Systems’ NFVTime uCPE solution to offer managed SD-WAN, router, and firewall services through its global network of nearly 200 wholesale partners operating in over 160 countries. NFVTime will provide PCCW Global with a complete environment for quick service deployments, centralized management and ongoing orchestration of virtualized network functions (VNFs) running on a diverse range of white-box devices.NFVTime features zero-touch provisioning that ensures all new white box devices and third-party VNFs are configured, up-to-date and fully operational within minutes. With a rapid BYOD onboarding process for any white box, PCCW Global will be able to select devices based on the local availability, reducing the time to activation. For PCCW Global, this will ensure diversity in sourcing, lowering overall costs and improving performance over time. “We are proud to welcome PCCW Global as a new customer and provide the technology innovation for its ambitious strategic plans for rolling out NFV services across its international operations,” explained Ariel Efrati, CEO at Telco Systems. “We are confident that as we continue to develop industry-leading virtualized edge solutions, we will further enable PCCW Global to deliver additional innovative services for connectivity, edge computing and 5G applications.”
“We are excited about the expansion of our SD-WAN services to include uCPE and NFV technologies and the benefits they will bring to our users,” said Jordick Wong, Senior Vice President of Innovation, Planning and Procurement at PCCW Global. “Our service already brings a true end-to-end managed global SD-WAN solution that is fully supported by our international network.”
In addition, Telco Systems reports that the analyst firm STL Partners recently recognized the company as one of the top Edge computing companies to watch in 2021. Telco Systems was recognized by STL Partners for its NFVTime uCPE solution for allowing service providers to rapidly deploy scalable and customized VNF services from the Network Edge.
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Ooredoo Group Announces USD750 million Deal for Sale of More Than 4,200 Telecoms Towers in Indonesia
Ooredoo today announced that its Indonesian operating company, PT Indosat Tbk. (“Indosat Ooredoo”), has signed a sale and leaseback agreement with PT EPID Menara AssetCo (“Edge Point Indonesia”) for more than 4,200 telecommunications towers.
PT EPID Menara AssetCo is an Indonesian subsidiary of Edge Point Singapore, which is wholly owned by Digital Colony, a leading global digital infrastructure investor with extensive experience owning and operating cellular towers.
Indosat Ooredoo has agreed to sell this portfolio of towers in a transaction valued at USD 750 million, including a supplementary offer, making it one of the largest deals of its kind in Asia. The sale will unlock capital to create value for shareholders and continue to build Indosat Ooredoo’s strong growth momentum through improvements to network performance and the launch of innovative new digital solutions to enhance the customer experience.
The sale is part of Ooredoo Group’s strategy to move to a more efficient and flexible asset light model and unlock the trapped value of its infrastructure portfolio. Prior to this deal, Ooredoo had a global portfolio of approximately 27,000 owned towers, representing an infrastructure portfolio of significant value for the Group. Monetising these assets to create more value for both shareholders and customers is a key focus of Ooredoo’s current strategy.
Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Managing Director of Ooredoo Group, said: “Congratulations to Indosat Ooredoo on this sale and leaseback agreement with Edge Point Indonesia, which aligns perfectly with our new strategy and its focus on creating more value for shareholders and customers. This strategy incorporates a shift towards an asset-light model that will help us unlock significant capital and enable us to focus on our core mission of delivering outstanding digital and enterprise services to our customer base. I extend our gratitude to the Government of Indonesia for its progressive policies that leave a positive impact on the industry, its operators and its people.”
Edge Point Indonesia was declared the winning bidder of a competitive tender process conducted by Indosat Ooredoo. The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2021 subject to customary conditions, including shareholder approval by Indosat Ooredoo at an EGM, which is planned to be held on May 6th. Indosat Ooredoo will lease back space on the towers for a period of 10-years to meet its ongoing requirements.
President Director and Chief Executive Officer of Indosat Ooredoo, Ahmad Al Neama, added: “I am delighted that Indosat Ooredoo has agreed this deal, which furthers our strategy to create more value from our infrastructure assets. The deal marks the third and final sale of assets from our high-quality tower portfolio and continues our transition into a leading digital telecoms company. We are confident the leaseback agreement, with its attractive terms, will continue to meet our ongoing tower needs, while the capital that we have unlocked will provide further fuel to power our growth momentum. Indosat Ooredoo and Edge Point Indonesia will work closely together going forward and build a strong and long-lasting strategic partnership.”