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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.

  • Macquarie Telecom signs $34 million exclusive deal with Optus

    Macquarie Telecom signs $34 million exclusive deal with Optus

    The decision follows a comprehensive, strategic review of mobile solutions, and will see Macquarie offer numerous key services to Australian enterprises as the need for greater connectivity continues, including:

    • 5G Connectivity and Speeds: Providing flexibility, faster speeds, and greater capacity across multiple devices, fully managed and supported in Australia by Macquarie’s dedicated customer and engineering teams.
    • Wi-Fi Calling: Extends full coverage and network access across all Wi-Fi areas.
    • Voice over LTE (VoLTE): A network standard enabling businesses to use high-speed 4G data and voice in tandem on devices at any time.
    • Coverage: New tools to enable customers to make coverage decisions.

    Due to the increasing emphasis on mobility and 5G, Macquarie plans to expand its mobile business and hire new staff over the next three years. This continues the company’s unwavering commitment to only provide service from and hire in Australia.

    “2020 changed the way Australians work forever. By providing 5G connectivity along with business-grade NBN, we can ensure Australian businesses can work from more places than ever before,” said Luke Clifton, Group Executive, Macquarie Telecom.

    “The fact is that 5G is here. It is fast becoming a necessity and complimentary service to nbn for Australian businesses. This agreement will ensure we can continue to compete in a market that is still underserved and overcharged. These new mobile offerings will also enable the right tools, technologies and customer service to manage a mobile workforce.”

    Optus currently has more than 1,000 live 5G sites covering more than 830,000 households across Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and Brisbane.

    With the agreement, Macquarie will end its wholesale mobile contract with Telstra. It chose Optus’ wholesale offering due to its focus on collaboration, rapidly evolving 5G network, and commitment to future technologies.

    “We’re backing a winner,” added Clifton. “This investment reflects our commitment to Australian businesses and providing the technologies they need today and into the future.

    “Based on our comprehensive review, Optus was the clear choice in terms of superior technology, flexibility to build the right solutions, and cooperation. It is leading Australia’s wholesale 5G market, offers incredibly fast 5G and continues to invest heavily in its 5G network. Crucially, it understands the value of partnership in Australia’s 5G future while others are actively inhibiting it.”

    “Macquarie has a great reputation for customer service and Optus is genuinely excited to be partnering with Macquarie to deliver mobility solutions that businesses need today more than ever.” says Ben White, Managing Director, Wholesale, Satellite and Strategy, Optus.

    The new agreement complements a series of partnerships and technology investments by Macquarie Telecom in recent months and years. This includes its mobile reseller agreement with Apple, a preferred networking agreement with the nbn, its first-to-market VeloCloud by VMware SD-WAN, and a complete core network upgrade and refresh with Juniper Networks.

    The mobile agreement is a multi-year agreement. Services will be available to all customers, with existing customers transitioning over the coming months. The process will be managed end-to-end by Macquarie’s dedicated and local mobile support team. 5G plans are available immediately to new and existing customers.

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  • Nokia partners QTnet to launch local 5G network in Kyushu

    Nokia partners QTnet to launch local 5G network in Kyushu

    QTnet, which provides broadband and related services to customers, will now be able to launch new services using Nokia’s local 5G technology, thus creating a sizeable business opportunity. The private wireless network will be based on the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, a high-performance, private wireless networking and edge computing platform that will power digital transformation across the Kyushu region.

    Together, Nokia and QTnet will also join forces with the Kyushu Institute of Technology to provide new local 5G-enabled services on the Institute’s university campus. This will be the first industry-academia collaboration in Japan to create a local 5G environment in a university campus setting. Services include self-operating stores, walking support for the visually impaired, cafeteria crowd monitoring, and new trials with partners and research labs.

    Sadao Mouri, Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer at QTnet, said: “Local 5G has the potential to enable new applications and business models while dramatically improving users’ quality of life. By deploying robust local 5G private wireless networks in Kyushu, we will enable anchor institutions like education, healthcare, and first responders to reach new levels of efficiency and productivity. Nokia’s track record in providing reliable local 5G networks will be an important milestone in creating new businesses.”

    Donny Janssens, Head of Nokia Enterprise Japan, said: “We are excited to work with QTnet on this 5G initiative, which is the first of its kind in Kyushu. With a high-performance 5G network, Kyushu institutions can take advantage of innovative new services and applications which will transform the way they operate. We look forward to expanding the local 5G private wireless ecosystem while delivering compelling 5G experiences.”

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  • Singapore offers best mobile experience in South East Asia

    Singapore offers best mobile experience in South East Asia

    At a country-level, Singapore won in all metrics tested, with the most important win being the highest Excellent Consistent Quality in South East Asia, with 84.5% of connections having a network experience suitable for use-cases like 1080p video streaming, real-time mobile gaming and HD video calling. Singapore also had the highest Core Consistent Quality in the region at 94.4%.

    Consistent Quality is a set of metrics that Tutela has developed to objectively evaluate when connections are (or are not) enabling users to do the things they want to on their mobile devices. There are two sets of thresholds, Excellent and Core. A connection that hits the Excellent threshold is sufficient for use-cases like 1080p video streaming, HD video calling, and multiplayer gaming, while a Core connection should be sufficient to stream standard-definition video or handle day-to-day activities like web browsing or uploading photos to social media. The percentages seen in this report represent the percentage of tests for subscribers on a given operator that was above the Excellent or Core thresholds.

    Singapore also had the fastest download speed at 26.2 Mbps, the fastest upload speed at 14.7 Mbps, and the most responsive network with a latency result of 9.0 ms. However, Vietnam was always very close behind, with second-place winnings for both Excellent Consistent Quality (72.3%) and Core Consistent Quality (86.1%).

    The report was released by Tutela Technologies, a global crowdsourced mobile data company, and evaluated over 55 million speed and latency tests, conducted on the smartphones of real-world users of national mobile operators within Common Coverage Areas, between August 1st and January 31st, 2021.

    Per country findings were as follows:

    Singapore:

    • By operator in Singapore, StarHub dominated in four of the seven metrics tested, including the highest Excellent Consistent Quality with 87.3% of users having a network experience suitable for 1080p video streaming or HD group video calling.
    • StarHub also had the highest Core Consistent Quality, Tutela’s measure of whether a connection is good enough for everyday uses, like email, social media, and SD video streaming, the fastest download speeds, and the most responsive network in the country.

    Indonesia:

    • Telkomsel won six out of the seven metrics tested, with Indosat Ooredoo being the only other operator to make it onto the leaderboard in Indonesia with the fastest median upload speed.
    • Telkomsel was in first place for Excellent Consistent Quality with 65.0%, and also in first for Core Consistent Quality with 83.5%. However, there was only a 3% difference between the operator and second-place Indosat Ooredoo.

    Malaysia:

    • In Malaysia, the leaderboard was shared by at least four operators, with U Mobile offering its users the best mobile experience in the country. The operator won the highest Excellent and Core Consistent Quality, and fastest upload speed.
    • Digi had the fastest median download speed in Common Coverage Areas across Malaysia with 10.6 Mbps but came third in the upload speed test with 6.2 Mbps. Maxis had the most responsive network in the country, while Celcom had both the best 5G/4G coverage and total coverage.

    Thailand:

    • By operator in Thailand, AIS won in four of the seven categories tested, including the highest Excellent Consistent Quality and most responsive network. However, TrueMove was also on the leaderboard in three of the seven categories including the highest Core Consistent Quality and both the fastest download and upload speeds.
    • With only two operators in the Philippines to compare, Smart outperformed Globe in six out of the seven categories tested, with Globe taking out one category with the best total coverage.

    Vietnam:

    • Viettel Mobile in Vietnam offered the best mobile experience to its users, winning in five categories and tying for first place with Vinaphone for fastest median download speeds.
    • MobiFone was on the leaderboard in one category with the highest Core Consistent Quality.
  • Reliance Jio increases spectrum footprint by 55% in India

    Reliance Jio increases spectrum footprint by 55% in India

    Through this acquisition, RJIL’s total owned spectrum footprint has increased significantly, by 55%, to 1,717 MHz (uplink+ downlink). RJIL has the highest amount of sub-GHz spectrum with 2X10 MHz contiguous spectrum in most circles. It also has at least 2X10 MHz in 1800 MHz band and 40 MHz in 2300 MHz band in each of the 22 circles. RJIL has achieved complete spectrum derisking, with an average life of owned spectrum of 15.5 years. RJIL’s spectrum has been acquired in the most cost-efficient manner with an effective cost of Rs 60.8 crore per MHz.

    With the enhanced spectrum footprint, especially contiguous spectrum, and pan-India infrastructure deployed, RJIL has enhanced network capacity to service its existing users as well as hundreds of millions of more subscribers on its network.

    The acquired spectrum can be utilized for the transition to 5G services at the appropriate time, where Jio has developed its own 5G stack.

    Sh. Mukesh D Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries, said, “Jio has revolutionized the digital landscape of India with the country becoming the fastest adopter of Digital Life. We want to ensure that we keep on enhancing experiences, not only for our existing customers, but also for the next 300 million users that will move to digital services. With our increased spectrum footprint, we are ready to further expand the digital footprint in India as well as get ourselves ready for the imminent 5G rollout.”

  • Nokia chosen by Globe Telecom for 5G rollout in the Philippines

    Nokia chosen by Globe Telecom for 5G rollout in the Philippines

    Under the terms of the agreement, Nokia will provide equipment and services from its comprehensive 5G AirScale portfolio to build out the Radio Access Network (RAN), including base stations and other radio access products. Globe Telecom will also use Nokia’s high-capacity AirScale massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna solution, which utilizes the latest 64TR radios, to boost coverage and performance.

    Utilizing the new 3.5GHz spectrum band for dense urban coverage, Globe Telecom will be able to provide end-users with high peak speeds typical on 5G network. The deal will also see the expansion of the existing FDD/TDD LTE network infrastructure. These solutions will enable Globe Telecom to roll out 5G services across the two major islands of the Philippines and offer customers superior speeds, capacity, and lower latencies while reducing complexity.

    Nokia will provide its NetAct solution for network management and seamless daily network operations as well as deliver digital design and deployment and optimization and technical support services.

    Nokia is an existing partner of Globe Telecom and provides a wide range of solutions including wireless, IP, optical, and fixed network products, and services.

    Ernest Cu, President and CEO, Globe Telecom, said:“We’re pleased to continue our partnership with Nokia to deliver compelling 5G experiences to our customers. We are going full steam ahead in delivering 5G in more areas, as this technology brings us closer to our goal of providing #1stWorldNetwork in the Philippines.”

    Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks, Nokia, commented: “It’s exciting to be part of this project to deliver 5G services to citizens across the Philippines and see our industry-leading 5G RAN solutions underpin the network. The expanded and upgraded 5G network will deliver exciting new solutions to even more people and businesses and our technology will play a fundamental role in delivering these compelling connectivity experiences.”

  • Here is where cities worldwide are hiding 5G towers

    Here is where cities worldwide are hiding 5G towers

    If you’re driving through some cities in Arizona, you might have noticed some large cactuses (or cacti) approximately 2-feet tall, along the sides of the road. But these are not real plants. They were constructed in order to cover up 4G LTE antennas; inside the fake cactuses you’ll find radio equipment. The idea is to make the gear blend in by disguising them with regionally-based plants and structures. Many think that cell towers look ugly and ruin the look of the environment (frankly, yours truly likes the look of cell towers but that puts me in the minority).

    4G towers are disguised as palm trees down south, evergreens in the Northeast, and cactuses in the West. Some 4G sites are disguised as church bell towers, historic landmarks, and water towers. CNN says that with the use of 5G towers, cities have to find another method of subterfuge. That’s because high-band mmWave 5G signals, as you’ve often seen us write, are easily blocked by structures. Wooden objects, certain materials, and yes-even leaves (T-Mobile wasn’t kidding) can block the progress of high-band mmWave 5G signals. And since high-band 5G signals can only travel short distances (something else we’ve mentioned often), 5G towers must be placed a couple hundred feet apart and even closer. And the antennas have to be exposed for 5G signals to be accessed by the public. With this in mind, some of the illusions used, like the cactuses, won’t be as effective. So for 5G sites, some cities are hiding the gear in street lights. Keith Niederer, telecom policy coordinator for Scottsdale says, “Design will be just as important moving forward with the 5G installations, but we will have a greater focus on street lights than the cacti. In Scottsdale, aesthetics are pretty important. Every street has a different theme and streetlights vary. We want them to blend in as much as possible and not stand out.” With 5G, the technology needs to be out in the open as opposed to 4G LTE.

    A company named Valmont Industries is one of the leading firms in the business of hiding 4G and 5G equipment. It recently finished delivering street lights to San Antonia, Texas that contain 5G gear. The outfit’s general manager of communication concealment, Mark Schmidt, said, “There’s no form factor we won’t consider using. Our goal is to bridge the gap between the aesthetics in a community, what a jurisdiction would like to see and what the wireless carrier requires as a form factor. … But the most natural fit here will be traffic lights and street lights.” With street lights sporting access to a power supply, and with a decent elevation, they can be used to house multiple technologies. Besides trying to hide the looks of a 5G tower, there is a security factor as well. You might recall that last April, thugs believing a conspiracy theory that 5G towers were the cause of coronavirus tried to knock down these towers in the U.K. and China.

    Tom Kuklo, a global product manager for Radio Frequency Systems (RFS), a firm that makes components for smart street lights, says that these lights are already rolling out in some areas. He states, “We’re already seeing this in China and some other locations where smart poles are very predominant. They’re becoming part of the landscaping; you walk right past them and don’t even know that’s what’s giving you a 5G signal unless you’re looking for it.”

    5G is expected to bring $17 trillion to economic growth by 2035 based on data from ABI Research. Eventually, data speeds will be 10 to 100 times 4G data speeds bringing a number of new technologies like self-driving cars to the public. Remote operations performed with the surgeon hundreds of miles away from the patient will be performed. Right now though, we are very early in the 5G era and many more towers need to be constructed throughout the world.

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  • Future Nokia smartphones could adopt a new naming scheme

    Future Nokia smartphones could adopt a new naming scheme

    A numerical branding scheme has been used for Nokia smartphones ever since the brand re-entered the market in 2017. This worked well in the early years but has become quite confusing in recent times, and soon it could be replaced.

    According to a trusted source starting this year HMD Global will shift Nokia smartphones over to a revised branding scheme that involves both letters and numbers.

    The end result should be similar to what Samsung and Motorola do with their devices. In fact, a leaked retail listing from Russia indicates that the first new model could be the Nokia G10, not to be confused with Motorola’s Moto G10.

    With subsequent model generations, HMD Global has two clear options. The most obvious one involves increasing the number, starting with Nokia G11 in 2022 and continuing that pattern for the rest of the decade.

    However, the source of this info seems to suggest that HMD might instead follow the branding pattern used by Nokia between 2009 and 2011. That could lead to models like the Nokia G10-01 in 2022 and Nokia G10-02 in 2023.

    Whether Nokia’s new branding scheme is going to be clearer than the current one will remain to be seen, but it certainly won’t be hard to achieve.

    At the moment, the latest model is known as the Nokia 5.4 But at the same time, the company is selling the Nokia 8.3 5G and Nokia 7.2, in addition to carrier variants like the Nokia C2 Tava and Nokia 2 V Tella, making it quite hard to determine when each model was launched.

  • Nokia partners University of Technology Sydney for 5G innovation facility

    Nokia partners University of Technology Sydney for 5G innovation facility

    The 5G Innovation Lab will enable Nokia, UTS and their partners to push the boundaries of 5G technology by testing exciting new 5G use cases with real world applications, including Industry 4.0, IoT and smart cities. While providing a live 5G test bed for commercial partners, the 5G Innovation Lab will also serve as an environment for new research opportunities within the ICT sector.

    This multi-year, multi-million-dollar investment by Nokia reflects the company’s commitment to Australian innovation and the essential role telecommunication plays in both securing critical infrastructure and fostering economic growth.

    Researchers and commercial partners will undertake projects to explore the capabilities of 5G and 6G technologies for Industry 4.0 applications such as industrial automation, agriculture and human-robot interactions, as well as ‘Internet of Things’ capabilities for Internet of Energy applications in smart grid, energy storage and management and wireless power transfer.

    The facility will include a 5G lab and a 5G use case demonstration area, with campus-wide 5G coverage planned to allow for the development & testing of potential 5G use cases in both the lab and the field. The new lab will also connect directly into the university’s anechoic radio frequency test chamber – the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere – allowing researchers to test the potential of Nokia’s Massive MIMO and other innovative antenna technologies.

    Nokia and UTS are very excited to be partnering together to lead the way for 5G innovation in Australia.

    Ray Kirby, Associate Professor, Director of UTS Tech Lab said: “UTS Tech Lab is a unique facility that supports collaboration with industry on research and development projects, such as this partnership with Nokia, which will drive innovation and growth in 5G and 6G network infrastructure. Our cutting-edge equipment and world-class research talent combined with Nokia’s commitment to innovation and technology leadership, is a strong partnership to facilitate the development of new applications to unlock the huge potential of 5G and 6G.”

    Robert Joyce, Chief Technology Officer at Nokia Oceania, said: “We are pleased to collaborate with UTS on this exciting 5G adventure. This partnership builds upon the existing innovative facilities at the university’s Tech Lab and will enable researchers to develop, test and demonstrate innovative uses of 5G here in Australia. We are already exploring some exciting 5G use cases unique to Australia and look forward to demonstrating these soon.”

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  • Vodafone Idea acquires spectrums in five telecom circles to enhance 4G capacity

    Vodafone Idea acquires spectrums in five telecom circles to enhance 4G capacity

    Being India’s third-largest telecom operator in the 4G spectrum auctions, Vodafone Idea entered with the largest quantum of spectrum with a very small fraction. “This was administratively allocated and used for GSM services, coming up for renewal,” the company said.

    With the telecom industry gearing up for the 5G revolution, VI hopes that a large quantum of spectrum would be made available for all operators in the future at fair prices. The operator had reportedly submitted an earnest money deposit of Rs 475 crore. Yet, the company did not disclose the exact quantity of spectrum bought.

    In line with the government’s effort to innovate the country’s telecom sector, Vodafone Idea claimed that the Indian telecom segment is well-positioned to drive the Digital India agenda, as long as sufficient spectrum availability and an adequate number of market players are involved.

    Broadly speaking, India has 22 telecom circles. All major telecom operators — Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, and Vodafone Idea — participated in the auction. According to the department of telecommunication (DoT), they put on the block 2,308.8MHz of spectrum at a base price of ₹3.92 trillion in the auction. Moreover, spectrum in the 700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1,800MHz, 2,100MHz, 2,300MHz, and 2,500MHz bands were put up for sale.

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  • Optimizing Potential of Digital Advertising, Indosat Ooredoo Launches iAds Service Based on Augmented Reality

    Optimizing Potential of Digital Advertising, Indosat Ooredoo Launches iAds Service Based on Augmented Reality

    The COVID-19 pandemic, which has been going on for over a year, has increased our reliance on digital in our daily lives. This has an impact on the business sector, where enterprises are “forced” to adapt to focus on digital marketing strategies as consumer behavior shifts to digital and online. Therefore, the strategy of running promotions through digital advertising is becoming attractive to enterprise in order to increase brand and product awareness, targeting the right consumers, and increase sales of product.

    As an experienced trusted digital partner, Indosat Ooredoo Business presents an innovative service “iAds” at the 4th Connex Webinar today to answer the promotional needs of these enterprise. iAds is a digital ad platform that is designed by utilizing Augmented Reality (AR), interactive messaging, and mobile video. iAds offers the excitement of advertising and the convenience of using innovative telecommunication media.

    Chief Business Officer of Indosat Ooredoo, Bayu Hanantasena said, “Indosat Ooredoo Business is committed to support the growth of Indonesia’s business sector by utilizing digital technology. Today we launched iAds to support the promotional needs of enterprise to be more innovative through social media and relevant to the current situation. We hope that through the 3 iAds services that we launched today, it will help enterprise not only survive, but also growing rapidly so that they can compete in both local and global markets, as well as supports Indonesia’s digital economy.”

    Through iAds, promotional activities can be more varied and attractive because Indosat Ooredoo Business offers several choices of digital promotion mediums, namely iAds, iAds Biz, and iAds MGram.

    • iAds

    Augmented Reality (AR) technology.

    • iAds Biz

    A broadcast and interactive SMS service solution that responds more precisely to promotional needs for target customers and is easily controlled through a dashboard by enterprise. Regular SMS, Premium SMS, and Interactive SMS are all promotional options provided by iAds Biz.

    • Ads MGram

    Consumers can engage with interactive promotion and digital transformation solutions through images and videos that can be viewed on a variety of mobile phones, feature phone or smartphone. The other benefit of iAds MGram is that it does not require a specific application and can be accessed without internet connection or data packages. Thus, it unlocks vast reach, customer engagement and business possibilities.

    iAds can target more than hundreds of thousands of large and medium-sized companies in Indonesia to inform their products to millions of mobile users as potential targeted consumers. This service is also in line with Indosat Ooredoo’s vision as the Indonesia’s leading digital telecommunication company that encourages a more rapid and effective growth of the digital economy.

    Indosat Ooredoo Connex: Maximizing the Potential of Digital Advertising and Innovation Augmented Reality

    This time, Indosat Ooredoo Company conducted a Connex Webinar with the theme “Maximizing the Potential of Digital Ads and Innovation in Augmented Reality,” continuing the previous series of Connex (Creating Innovation with Expert)

    In addition to presented Bayu Hanantasena (Chief Business Officer Indosat Ooredoo) and Linggajaya Budiman (SVP-Head of Marketing & Channel Management), this webinar also featured a Digital Marketing Specialist who has successfully elevated brand-it’s to the forefront of every industry field, including Levita Ginting (Chair of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce’s Standing Committee on Franchising, Licensing, & Partnerships), R. Andi Kartiko Utomo (Digital Specialist, former Vice President of QNB Indonesia), and Irawan Soemardjo (Senior Partner of PINC Group).

    The speakers offered insight and addressed the effect of the pandemic on the business sector, shifts in consumer behavior, how Digital Advertising can optimize marketing strategies, the potential for Virtual Reality to improve consumer interaction, and iAds solutions to address consumer needs of promotion for enterprise and marketers during the panel discussion.

    “Hopefully today‘s Connex Webinar can provide a lot of positive information so that we all remain optimistic to survive and grow together in the future even in difficult situations,” Bayu concluded.

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  • Chinese Telecoms Firm ZTE Preparing Electric Vehicle Product Line

    Chinese Telecoms Firm ZTE Preparing Electric Vehicle Product Line

    Telecoms equipment maker ZTE Corp is joining a number of Chinese technology companies entering the electric vehicle market as it looks to build a team for a new product line, a company spokeswoman told Reuters.

    The Shenzhen-based company did not say whether the product line will supply parts for partner companies, or whether the company would be producing its own branded vehicles.

    Chinese technology firms have been stepping up their focus on electric vehicles (EVs) in the world’s biggest car market, as Beijing promotes greener vehicles as a means of reducing air pollution.

    Earlier this month Reuters reported that ZTE’s rival Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is planning to make EVs under its own brand and could launch some models this year.

    A Huawei spokesman denied it had EV ambitions of its own, beyond supplying technology to partners.

    Asian technology companies, including Baidu, have announced plans to make their own cars, while Shenzhen-based dronemaker DJI is building an engineering team to work on self-driving technologies.

    Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs), including pure battery electric vehicles as well as plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, are expected to make up 20% of China’s overall annual auto sales by 2025.

    Industry forecasts put China’s NEV sales at 1.8 million units this year, up from about 1.3 million in 2020.

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  • Huawei AppGallery is rising fast, attracting millions of developers

    Huawei AppGallery is rising fast, attracting millions of developers

    Huawei’s AppGallery seems to have done quite well for itself this past year despite everything, according to recently released numbers. In a press release this week, Huawei revealed that the platform boasts 2.3 million registered developers today—nearly 80% more than last year. Globally, 530 million users are using the platform on a monthly basis, spread over 42 countries compared to 25 in 2019.

    Huawei’s fast-growing mobile ecosystem has been particularly attractive to Chinese developers, who have released over 10,000 apps to the world, many of which are known titles such as Clash of Kings, Game of Thrones, and Asphalt 9.

    In fact, gaming has been at the forefront of Huawei’s expansion initiatives, with the AppGallery boasting five times more games than last year. App downloads in total reached 384.4 billion in 2020, nearly doubling the previous year’s numbers.

    “We continue to see strong growth across markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa.” -Mr. Zhang Zhe

    Having established itself solidly in the top three app marketplaces in the world, Huawei has developed its own HMS Core mobile service framework to provide basic infrastructure services such as HUAWEI ID and in-app purchases, allowing for smooth app integration across different devices. Now, Huawei has announced that it offers 120,000 apps integrated with HMS Core on the AppGallery: a 118% increase from last year. One of Huawei’s main objectives is to maximize the relevant apps it offers in every area of news, entertainment, social media, and productivity.

    They have also spoken out about their 1+8+N strategy—а vision for developing a full-fledged mobile ecosystem consisting of the smartphone (1), Huawei-developed peripherals (8) and third-party IoT devices that are connected using Huawei HiLink and Huawei Share technologies. Huawei is essentially striving to be able to offer an all-in-one package to equal what Samsung and Apple can provide, and its exponential growth this past year has at least proved it can stand on its own two feet.

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  • Huawei launches 5GtoB solution to facilitate industry digitalisation

    Huawei launches 5GtoB solution to facilitate industry digitalisation

    The 5G industry has been developing faster than expected, with operators already seeing commercial returns from the first wave of 5G rollouts. The 5G user base and the number of 5G devices in commercial use have exploded since 2019. By the end of 2020, 380 5G devices had hit the market, 8 times more than there were the year before. The mobile 5G user base had also reached 220 million and wireless home broadband connections reached 1.05 million, a 17 and 21 times YoY increase, respectively. Ding claims these numbers will triple in 2021.

    The prices of 5G phones are also dropping rapidly. There are already multiple units on the market priced at under US$150 and about 30 mid-range and low-end phones priced below US$300. According to Ding, the 5G mobile phone ecosystem will become as mature as 4G over the next one to two years as network rollouts continue and the user base keeps growing.

    In the markets that deployed 5G first, operators have already begun reaping commercial returns. In China and South Korea, operator revenue continued to increase as their 5G user base grew faster than in other countries. Finnish operator DNA and Saudi operator Zain also achieved impressive financial results in the early phases of their commercial 5G deployment.

    At the event, Huawei also officially released its 5GtoB solution which is aimed at creating new value for every player across the industry value chain. Ding stated that building on its experience in connectivity, computing, and industry digitalization, Huawei has worked with operators and other industry partners to develop a one-stop solution that covers sales, operations, and services – the 5GtoB solution. This solution will simplify transactions for enterprise users, help operators monetize their network capabilities, and allow partners to innovate more efficiently, creating new value for every player involved.

    The Huawei 5GtoB Solution includes four parts: 5GtoB Network, 5GtoB NaaS, 5GtoB App Engine, and 5GtoB Marketplace. With 5GtoB Network serving as the infrastructure of the 5G solution, Huawei will continue building its capabilities in providing scenario-based 5GtoB services, including network planning, construction, maintenance, and optimization.

    With 5GtoB NaaS, network capabilities can be orchestrated into offerings before they are released, making it easier for enterprise users and application developers to use 5G networks and enabling enterprise users to manage 5G campus networks themselves.

    The 5GtoB App Engine is an application innovation center, where application developers and system integrators can access operators’ 5G network capabilities. It makes 5GtoB application development more efficient and application integration easier. It also serves as a bridge between 5G network capabilities and 5GtoB applications, enabling agile service development and launch.

    The 5GtoB Marketplace is an all-in-one digital supermarket on the cloud, where enterprise users can purchase the industrial 5G solutions they need.

    Ding said that Huawei has worked with operators, partners, and enterprise users to apply the 5GtoB solution first in the steel industry. With their capabilities and experience embedded into this platform, industrial 5G solutions like automated billet rotation, AR-assisted remote assembly, and steel surface quality inspection, can be standardized and rapidly replicated.

    At the end of his speech, Ding emphasized that industry digitalization will be a huge market, but that digital infrastructure developments vary greatly across industries and application scenarios also vary. In addition, related digital standards are not in place yet. As such, he called on all industry players to work together to establish comprehensive 5GtoB standards and ecosystem to drive further industry digitalization. He closed his speech by reiterating Huawei’s commitment to investing in the ecosystem and standards and supporting industry digitalization.

  • Indosat Ooredoo earns 11.6% cellular revenue growth in 2020

    Indosat Ooredoo earns 11.6% cellular revenue growth in 2020

    President Director and CEO Indosat Ooredoo, Ahmad Al-Neama said: “Despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and pricing pressure, Indosat Ooredoo has continued to deliver on our three-year strategy and maintained growth momentum. We are grateful for the on-going support of our loyal subscribers that have encourage us to continue to invest in our 4G network and launch innovative new digital offerings to ensure that our customers have the best mobile experience possible.

    Our commitment to our customers and to provide simple and relevant products has contributed to an increase in our subscriber base and data traffic volume. This growth has translated into an above market increase in cellular revenue and a significant and accelerating gain in market share.”

    “Looking ahead, we anticipate that the shift to online lifestyles and remote working and learning, which have increased sharply by the pandemic, are here to stay. Indosat Ooredoo is fully committed to supporting our cellular and business customers adapt to the new normal by continuing to improve network performance to meet growing demand for data. We believe our new digital solutions will enrich and enable our customer’s digital lives. Through these initiatives we will support Indonesia’s digital transformation agenda and create value for all our stakeholders.”

    Indosat Ooredoo has recorded solid performance for the full year ended 31 December 2020, with total revenue increasing by 6.9% YoY to IDR 27.9 trillion, cellular revenue increasing by 11.6% YoY to IDR 23.1 trillion.

    EBITDA reaching IDR 11.4 trillion, an increase of 16% YoY due to resilient revenue growth and a focus on operational efficiencies. EBITDA margin increased by 3.2 ppt to 40.9%.

    Cellular subscriber numbers grew by 1.7% to 60.3 million by end of 2020, and Average Revenue per User (ARPU) increased to IDR 31.9 thousand from previously IDR 27.9 thousand, driven mainly by a substantial data traffic increase of 52.8% YoY.

    Indosat Ooredoo also delivered strong operational performance, including improving our video experienced by 55.8% YoY, doubling our 4G download speed, and significantly improving our upload speed by 88.4% YoY.

    During the year Indosat Ooredoo has successfully partnered with global digital players like Facebook, Google, Cisco and Ericsson to bring advanced technologies and capabilities to fast-track digitalization of the customer experience and deliver network improvements to Indonesia.

    We have continued to introduce new innovative products to help customers stay connected as well as business and education to continue to operate during the pandemic. Through IM3 Ooredoo we launched a new IMPreneur package, a business package specially designed for SMEs and through Indosat Ooredoo Business, we recently introduced the “iDo Voice” solution, which consists of 3 new voice services for corporate customers.

    Indosat Ooredoo’s investment in 4G network infrastructure and commitment to our customers continued to be recognized by prestigious international business awards. At the Opensignal Global Mobile Network Experience Awards 2020, we received the “Global Rising Star” award in Video Experience. We have also recently won the Corporate Excellence category in Telecommunications & ICT Industry at the Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards (APEA) 2020 Regional Edition.

    In 2021, Indosat Ooredoo will continue the upgrade and expansion of our network, focusing on 4G/LTE and the Video Grade Network capable of providing improved internet services to customers. Our networks enhancement is part of our effort to enable digital transformation of Indonesia, in-line with the digital economy plan of Indonesian government and to accelerate national economy recovery.

    “We are confident for our growth momentum to continue in 2021. However, due to uncertainties associated with the economic recovery from the pandemic, we are cautiously optimistic in guiding revenue growth to be in-line with the industry, EBITDA margin to be in the low 40s, and Capex at approximately IDR 8 trillion.”

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  • ZTE launches i5GC to support private 5G networks for vertical industries

    ZTE launches i5GC to support private 5G networks for vertical industries

    The solution introduces 5G capabilities such as large bandwidth, low latency, high reliability and multiple connections into various industries, and integrates technologies such as AI, IoT, cloud computing, big data and MEC to enable the digitalisation of whole industries and build fully-connected intelligent private 5G networks for vertical industries.

    At present, public 5GC is oriented to consumer applications, so it cannot meet industry users’ ultra-high requirements for security, latency, reliability, network control rights, energy consumption and usage environment. ZTE i5GC addresses this by deeply integrating and optimising 5GC functions. It uses 2U general servers to achieve the integration of multiple network functions (NF) and a plug-and-play one-stop deployment mode to achieve minimal space, minimal energy consumption and minimal operation and maintenance (O&M).

    This solution provides non-professional industry users with rapid and accurate 5G network access deployment and excellent service experience. In addition, ZTE i5GC can be flexibly customised according to a user’s diversified requirements for security, traffic processing and autonomy, and provide different function combinations and deployment forms for different scenarios. For instance, the user plane function (UPF) is deployed to the edge, traffic is forwarded nearby, and user data is locally managed. In addition, ZTE i5GC employs a 3GPP service-based architecture (SBA) to seamlessly interconnect with a 5G public network. It can integrate third-party multi-access edge-computing (MEC) applications through open interfaces to achieve flexible expansion and rapid iteration of edge applications, so as to explore and breed 5G killer applications in the vertical field.

    Towards the construction of business-grade 5G networks, ZTE has implemented in-depth 5G applications for use in vertical fields such as mines, medical treatments and ports. For example, for a 5G smart mine project, ZTE uses i5GC to deploy a complete set of 5G networks underground, meeting the mine’s compact space and explosion-proofing requirements, and achieving full coverage from key 5G networks. ZTE i5GC will continue to focus on industry projects, promote the understanding of industry requirements, work with enterprises and operators to build a 5G application ecosystem, help expand the ‘blue ocean market’ opportunity for 5G for business, and drive 5G large-scale commercial use and value monetisation.

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