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.

  • DiSa unveils integrated mobile warranty program

    DiSa unveils integrated mobile warranty program

    Singapore-based digital security company DiSa Limited aims to pioneer a new integrated mobile phone warranty program, and has signed up M1 as the first operator to offer the program to its mobile users.

    The new insurance offering, developed to tackle the rising global trend of e-wallet theft, will allow victims of theft of their e-wallets to make a claim for an amount up to the retail cot of the phone.

    Every phone covered under the warranty program will be tagged with DiSa’s encrypted 3S smart barcode, which is designed to prevent invalid returns.

    “DiSa is delighted to provide this unique Cyber Theft Warranty to M1 customers. With the proliferation of mobile payments, more and more phone users are finding themselves exposed to cybercrimes, some at very sophisticated levels,” DiSa group executive Eddie Chng said.

    He noted that the proliferation of e-wallets, the rising tide of mobile fraud and the  growing use of smartphones for two-factor identification exposers smartphone owners to significant risks if their device is stolen.

    “DiSa is confident that our solution will give peace of mind to smartphone users and add value to M1’s services.”

    Worldpay estimates that payment by e-wallets makes up 10% of e-commerce spending in Singapore.

    But research from the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore found that a wide majority of consumers are concerned about the risk of having their financial and personal information exposed through malware infected mobile devices.

  • Unitel introduces eSIMs to Laos market

    Unitel introduces eSIMs to Laos market

    Vietnamese military-owned operator Viettel has announced that its subsidiary in Laos Unitel has become the first mobile operator in the market to launch eSIM technology.

    The Unitel eSIM service was introduced at the beginning of March, and Unitel is aiming to encourage at least 10,000 customers to exchange their physical SIMs for eSIMs by the end of 2020.

    With the launch, Laos became the seventh of the 10 ASEAN member states to introduce eSIM technology.

    It is also the fourth market in Southeast Asia that Viettel has introduced eSIMs to. The company and its subsidiaries were the first mobile operators to offer the technology in Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.

    Meanwhile another Viettel mobile brand in Laos, Metfone, has become the first operator in the market to launch mobile credit top ups using QR code scanning rather than scratch cards.

    Viettel deputy general director Tao Duc Thang said the introduction of eSIM technology marks the beginning stages of Viettel’s goal of digitally transforming the global telecommunications landscape, and becoming a pioneer in IoT technologies.

    “Viettel has well-prepared platforms and infrastructure and has made digital transformations in its fields such as telecommunications and information technology,” he said.

    “This includes application of the latest technologies in the world for a more convenient life.”

  • ZTE swings back to black in Q1

    ZTE swings back to black in Q1

    ZTE expects to have swung back to profit in the first quarter, after reporting an annual loss in 2018 as a result of the temporary ban on its import of components from US vendors.

    The Chinese vendor estimates a net profit for the first quarter of 800 million yuan ($118.9 million) to 1.2 billion yuan, which compares to a profit of 1.69 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2018.

    The first quarter results are nevertheless an improvement on the 6.98 billion yuan ($1.04 billion) loss the company recorded for the full year 2018.

    ZTE blamed its performance on the impact of the ban on the import of components from US companies imposed by the US government due to ZTE allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran by conspiring to sell equipment with US components in the market, as well as the $1 billion settlement agreement ZTE reached to have this ban overturned.

    Revenue for the year  meanwhile fell 21.4% to 85.51 billion yuan despite signs of recovery in ZTE’s major businesses of wireless networks, wireline networks and mobile devices.

    ZET has meanwhile announced it has been intensifying its investment in 5G research and development.

    The company has so far submitted more than 7,000 5G standard proposals and 3,000 5G patent applications to international organizations, and has declared over 1,200 standards of 5G standard-essential patents to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

  • Thailand delays 700-MHz auction

    Thailand delays 700-MHz auction

    Thai telecom regulator NBTC has postponed plans to hold a 700-MHz auction for at least three months due to delays establishing details of the auction terms.

    The regulator no longer expects to be able to hold the 700-MHz auction in May as originally planned, citing comments from the NBTC’s secretary-general.

    Instead the earliest timeline for the auction date may be August or September, as related conditions of the auction, including the reserve price, will not be concluded until May.

    Other terms which still need to be established including the process for recalling 700-MHz spectrum to be auctioned and the compensation regime for companies affected by the recall. The regulator needs at least three months to complete related procedures.

    According to the report, the delay is also aimed at giving operators more time to arrange bank guarantees.

    The NBTC plans to push on with the auction regardless of the official outcome 2019 Thai general elections –  Thailand’s first general election since the 2014 coup – which was held on Sunday.

  • 3 seconds for mobile video to loadon Singapore’s 4G networks

    3 seconds for mobile video to loadon Singapore’s 4G networks

    In Opensignal’s recent State of Mobile Video report, we lauded Singapore’s high achievements in Video Experience. It was one of a handful of countries that earned a Very Good score on our 100-point Video Experience scale, and individually, all three of Singapore’s major operators met the same high standard in our operator breakdown of video quality. But what’s behind that “Very Good” score? We thought this would be a good opportunity to examine the particulars of operators’ high ratings in Singapore over LTE networks, which account for the vast majority of our video tests in the country. We focused on two major components of our Video Experience calculation: 4G Video Loading Time and 4G Video Stalling Occurrence.

    Our first metric, 4G Video Loading Time, is fairly self-explanatory. It’s the average period of time mobile users have to wait for a streamed video to begin playing over an LTE connection. Singapore consumers, quite frankly, don’t spend much time staring at loading icons as you can see in our first chart. The longest Video Load Time in our measurements was on Starhub’s networks, and that wait was only 2.7 seconds. Singtel and M1 were statistically tied at 2.4 seconds, making them incrementally faster in Video Load Time than StarHub, but the differences between the three were practically negligible.

    Our next metric 4G Video Stalling Occurrence measures the proportion of users that experience an interruption in playback after a video begins streaming. If a video halts to buffer or stutters due to a weak connection, then those moments when pictures aren’t moving are all factored into our Video Stalling Occurrence metric.

    While 10% 4G Video Stalling Occurrence isn’t uncommon even in countries with advanced 4G infrastructures, Singapore’s operators came in well under that mark. Starhub had the highest rate of stalling at 4.3% in our analysis, followed by Singtel at 2.9%, but the real star of the show was M1. Its 4G Video Stalling Occurrence score was just 1.6%, meaning interruptions in video playback were rare among our users.

    No single factor explains why mobile video quality is so good in Singapore. It’s true that Singapore is one of the fastest countries in the world when it comes to download, but while speed does have some impact on Video Experience, faster isn’t always better when it comes to video quality. Countries with higher download speed averages than Singapore actually often do much worse in Video Experience, according to our analysis. Latency has a bearing on Video Loading time, as the faster a video request traverses the network the sooner that content begins buffering and playback starts. And our analysis has shown Singapore’s operators are among the best in the world in maintaining nimble, low-latency networks.

    Finally, consistency of connection speed plays a major role in Video Experience. Last month, Opensignal published a report titled The 5G Opportunity, which highlighted the wild swings in 4G Download Speed over the course of a day we see on networks around the world.

    Video is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in speed. A video that plays without difficulty one moment may find itself suddenly starved for bandwidth in the next if download speeds suddenly drop due to congestion or other factors. In Singapore we found the same speed fluctuations as in other countries, but the difference was Singapore’s operators were able to maintain strong connections despite those fluctuations. According to our analysis, average 4G Download Speeds in Singapore never dropped below 41.4 Mbps no matter the hour of day. And a consistent 40 Mbps connection is more than enough to support all but the most demanding HD video streams.

    Singapore is preparing for the entrance of TPG, a fourth operator that aims to shake up competition in the Singapore mobile scene. While TPG will likely try to challenge Singapore’s three incumbents in pricing, it will be interesting to see if TPG can also be competitive from a mobile network experience perspective. The three incumbents have already set a very high bar in Video Experience as well as speed, availability and latency. It will be difficult for a network to match those standards right out of the gate.

  • Docomo trials drone-based tower inspection in Indonesia

    Docomo trials drone-based tower inspection in Indonesia

    Japan’s NTT Docomo and Indonesian tower provider PT Solusi Tunas Pratama (STP) have commenced a trial in Indonesia involving the use of drones to inspect telecom towers.

    During the pilot of the Docomo sky for Tower Inspection service, the companies will use drones to photograph base stations and telecom towers and transmit the information to a command center in real time.

    The system is based on an operational drone-based tower inspection system developed by Docomo for use in its own network across Japan. It is designed to support the Docomo sky ground control station app for assistance in inspection tasks and remotely piloting the drones.

    For the trial, Docomo will provide its cloud-based platform for operational support and data analysis for faster and more accurate tower inspections.

    According to the companies, the trial service is well suited to markets including Indonesia, where rapid urban development is resulting in the construction of tall buildings and transport infrastructure that can interfere with radio propagation from telecom towers.

    The two companies hope to test the technology in other locations and facilities before launching a full-scale commercial service later in the first half of the year.

  • Fujitsu wins upgrade contract in US

    Fujitsu wins upgrade contract in US

    Three wins for three vendors plus some quantum security worth a look:

    Fujitsu Network Communications is helping US-based Midwest Fiber Network with a network upgrade. MFN, which is a consortium of nine RLECs in Iowa, is deploying 200GbE based on Fujitsu’s 1FINITY S100 layer 2 switch and Virtuora Network Control Solution. The upgrade will boost capacity for MFN’s member companies, both in an immediate sense and in terms of future expansion.

    Nokia has won a deal down in East Africa. Liquid Telecom’s Kenya subsidiary has announced a two year deal with Nokia that will see it deploy a 100G DWDM regional network. Initially that will mean 500Gbps connectivity to data centers and landing stations in not just Kenya but also inland to Rwanda, Uganda, and DR-Congo. The upgrade will be powered by Nokia’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch.

    Juniper Networks has announced an expansion of its relationship with LINE Corporation, making it the company’s networking vendor of choice. LINE’s instant messaging application has some 164M active monthly users around the Far East. The infrastructure supporting that app now includes Juniper’s MX960 routers in Tokyo, Osaka, and another unspecified overseas location.

    And on Tuesday ADVA said its FSP 3000 is part of the UKQNtel transport network.  Along with BT, ID Quantique, and the universities of Cambridge and York, the company has put together a quantum key distribution link over a 120km route between BT’s Adastral Park hub and Cambridge.  ADVA’s Ensemble Controller is managing the infrastructure as well.

  • HKBN, TVB extend partnership to enterprise segment

    HKBN, TVB extend partnership to enterprise segment

    Hong Kong fixed line operator HKBN and broadcaster TVB have expanded their strategic partnership to the enterprise market, offering business customers coupons offering discounts on each other’s services bundled with a contract.

    Under the collaboration, business customers of both companies will be eligible for discounts worth up to 50% of their total service contract for digital marketing and telecommunications services respectively.

    For example, enterprises subscribing to dedicated HKBN solutions with a contract sum of HK$100,000 ($12,739) will receive a coupon worth up to HK$50,000 for settling advertising fees on the myTV SUPER and Big Big Channel marketing channels.

    Likewise, subscribers to the marketing and advertising plans will be granted a coupon worth up to 50% of the value towards newly subscribed HKBN enterprise solution services.

    The myTV SUPER OTT platform is the largest in Hong Kong with over 7.3 million registered users. TVB’s ad booking manager allows businesses to advertise on the channel for a fee as low as HK$1,000.

    Big Big Channel meanwhile provides on-stop video marketing solutions, ranging from video planning and production to delivering contents to the Big Big Channel app.

  • SP Telecom offers direct connection to Google Cloud

    SP Telecom offers direct connection to Google Cloud

    SP Telecom, a joint venture between ST Engineering and Singapore Power group, has become the first network service provider in Singapore to announce support for Google Cloud Partner Interconnect.

    With the agreement SP Telecom, a fiber network provider which builds its network using the passive infrastructure of Singapore’s national power grid, will allow customers to connect to Google Cloud Platform globally.

    The connectivity will be enabled by SP Telecom’s Cloud Interconnection Service to enable direct connectivity to Google Cloud, while taking advantage of SP Telecom’s network infrastructure.

    SP Telecom will provide direct connectivity from customers’ facility to Google Cloud’s points of presence at the Equinix SG3 or Global Switch Singapore data centers.

    SP Telecom VP of product management and business line IT Tan Choon Chai said SP Telecom’s network infrastructure being built on diverse paths that run along the Singapore power grid provides  a reduced risk of network interruption from a power outage or active equipment failure.

    “Today’s rapidly digitizing environment has called for businesses to turn to cloud platforms to support their business needs. SP Telecom is pleased to partner with Google Cloud to bring more flexible and convenient connectivity options to help enhance business operations,” he said.

    “Coupled with our in-built network diversity capabilities, customers can be assured of a network infrastructure which provides resilient network connectivity capable of withstanding risks of network interruption.”

  • Docomo to expand overseas 5G trials

    Docomo to expand overseas 5G trials

    Japan’s NTT Docomo has arranged with partners in the US, Israel and Japan to collaborate on 5G trials in Guam, with the aim of verifying 5G-compatible systems and equipment for business solutions.

    Under the collaboration, NTT Docomo will provide the 5G test network, while solution partners will provide 5G-based products and services for use by testing by local field partners.

    These field partners comprise the electricity utility Guam Power Authority, the University of Guam, local wedding services provider ARLUIS Wedding Guam and United Airlines Guam.

    The Guam Power Authority will test 5G VR training solutions provided by Israel’s Humaneyes Technologies, as well as 5G monitoring with AI technology developed by Aegis Systems.

    The University of Guam office of IT will test a 5G AI-based robot system for identifying examinees from PLEN Robotic, and 5G monitoring with AI technology from US-based Smart Home Sentry.

    ARLUIS Wedding Guam will test a 5G multi-screen video live streaming solution from AMATELUS, while the United Airlines Guam Marathon Organizer will test a series of 5G drones, tourism, sports photo upload and 5G robotics solutions.

    Docomo also announced that it has opened a new 5G Open Lab in Guam, its first center outside of Japan for testing and verifying 5G technologies.

    A number of Japanese and overseas companies have already announced an intention use the facility to collaborate on cross-border 5G testing in partnership with Docomo.

  • LTE device ecosystem grew 26% in the last year

    LTE device ecosystem grew 26% in the last year

    The LTE device ecosystem has expanded by 26% over the past year to reach 13,700 devices, according to the Global Mobile Suppliers’ Association (GSA).

    The LTE Ecosystem report published by the industry body found that devices have been launched by 705 manufacturers, including devices supporting the FDD LTE and TD-LTE standards and the LTE-related cellular IoT standards LTE Cat-M1 and narrowband IoT.

    Meanwhile the nascent 5G device ecosystem is taking shape. As of mid-March, the GSA had identified 34 announced devices – including regional variants, including 11 smartphones.

    This is an improvement on the 22 5G devices identified by mobile industry consultancy Hadden Telecoms in a report issued earlier in the month

    According to the GSA, devices have been announced across seven form factors – phones, hotspots, indoor customer premises equipment, outdoor customer premises equipment, modules, dongles or adapters, and USB terminals.

    The industry body said it expects the global 5G device ecosystem to grow rapidly as more commercial 5G services are launched.

  • Singtel targets Millennials with all-digital mobile plan

    Singtel targets Millennials with all-digital mobile plan

    Singtel has announced the launch of an all-digital mobile service plan targeted at technology-savvy Millennial customers.

    The new product, GOMO Mobile, offers functionality including immediate online sign up and same-day SIM card delivery, 24/7 live chat for customer service inquiries and a dedicated customer care app.

    The S$20 GOMO Mobile plan includes 20GB of data, 200 minutes of talktime and 200 SMS. The no-contract plan is based on a 30-day payment cycle, and additional allocations can be instantly purchased using a debit or credit card.

    As part of its strategy of targeting Millennials, Singtel is also offering lifestyle rewards such as discounts at selected hipster restaurants and cafes, and plans to expand these rewards to include ride hailing, entertainment events and activities and travel promotions.

    Singtel is also offering a GOMO Travel SIM that provides 3GB of data for 10 days across eight overseas destinations – Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines.

  • 211 operators globally investing in 5G

    211 operators globally investing in 5G

    At least 211 operators across 87 countries are investing in 5G, according to statistics compiled by consultancy company Hadden Telecoms.

    Operators investing in 5G are at a variety of stages, ranging from network deployments, to technology testing, demonstrations and pilot trials.

    To date, 15 operators have commercially launched 5G services, including Telstra and Optus in Australia, which are offering fixed wireless 5G services on the 3.6-GHz band. Vodafone Australia and the market’s national broadband network operator NBN Co are also investing in 5G.

    South Korea’s KT, LG U+ and SK Telecom meanwhile switched on their 3.5-GHz 5G networks last year, initially for enterprise customers only, and are planning to simultaneously launch commercial services for consumers shortly.

    The list of operators investing in 5G in Asia Pacific also includes China’s big three operators China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, Hong Kong’s 3 Hong Kong, China Mobile Hong Kong, HKT and SmarTone, and India’s Bharti Airtel, BSNL and Reliance Jio Infocomm.

    In Japan, KDDI, NTT Docomo, Rakuten Mobile and Softbank are spending heavily on 5G, while Malaysia’s Celcom, DiGi, Maxis, Telekom Malaysia and U Mobile and the Philippines’ Globe and PLDT are also trialing the technology.

    Singapore’s M1, Singtel and StarHub, Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata and Mobitel, Taiwan’s APT, Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone and Taiwan Mobile, Thailand’s AIS, Dtac, TOT and TrueMove and Vietnam’s Viettel are also at various stages of 5G development.

    “Operators globally are preparing for the large-scale introduction of 5G, the first services have launched, and the devices ecosystem is rapidly building and poised for the imminent scale availability of a range of smartphone models,” Hadden Telecoms director Alan Hadden said.

    “Dozens more operators are expected to launch their respective 5G services in the coming 12 months.”

  • 5G crucial to Vietnam’s development

    5G crucial to Vietnam’s development

    Vietnam’s deputy prime minister Vu Duc Dam has thrown his support behind the adoption of 5G in the nation, stating that 5G will be crucial to Vietnam’s development.

    During the recent ASEAN Conference on 5G, the deputy prime minister acknowledged that the government will need to proactively support businesses to ensure they are more confident in investing in 5G, the official newsletter of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

    During the conference, Dam said the technology will not only provide major speeds improvements but involve changes in global production methods. He suggested that participants use the Vietnam-organized conference to discuss the pathway to 5G development in the ASEAN region.

    Vietnam aims to become one of the world’s early adopters of 5G. Several Vietnamese operators have been allocated licenses to trial the technology in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City ahead of a commercial launch.

    Also at the event, Vietnam’s ICT minister Nguyen Manh Hung also stated that 5G will be the most vital part of the infrastructure required for the future digital economy.

  • Broadband access equipment revenue hits $3.4b in Q4

    Broadband access equipment revenue hits $3.4b in Q4

    The market was bullish in last year’s fourth quarter for broadband access equipment revenue, according to a report, but Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) spending declined.

    Dell’Oro Group announced on Monday that broadband access equipment revenue hit $3.4 billion, growing 8% year over year in last year’s fourth quarter compared to the same quarter in 2017.

    Increased shipments of GPON optical line terminals (OLTs) and DOCSIS 3.1 customer premises equipment (CPE) counteracted a decline in CCAP spending.

    “FTTH deployments globally continue to show strength,” said Dell’Oro’s Jeff Heynen, research director, broadband access and home networking, in a prepared statement.  “Both 2.5 Gbps GPON and 10 Gbps EPON equipment marked year over year increases, particularly in China. The gains on the telco side helped to offset surprising weakness in cable CCAP spending, as MSOs delay new capacity purchases while they determine how to move forward with distributed access architectures (DAA).”

    Among other capabilities, DAA will give the cable industry a better starting point for virtualized networks and software-defined networking. At last year’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, SCTE President and CEO Mark Dzuban said during a panel discussion that the cable industry needed to do a better job of defining DAA in order to launch it at scale.

    Total cable access concentrator revenue was down 18% year over year, mainly due to a slowdown in CCAP license purchases in North America. Cisco, Arris, Casa Systems and Harmonic are among the leading CCAP vendors.

    The total number of DSL port shipments grew 16% year over year with VDSL ports increasing 13% and G.fast ports increasing by a whopping 232%, according to Dell’Oro.

    PON OTL shipments grew 6% over the same timeframe, driven by strong demand for 2.5 Gbps GPON units in China and across the entire Asia-Pacific region.

    Overall, Dell’Oro’s fourth-quarter 2018 Broadband Access Quarterly report said that 2.5 Gbps GPON, 10 Gbps EPON and Gfast equipment all saw increased spending in the quarter.