Retail News CRM

Tag: asia

  • eCommerce slows down international retail expansion

    eCommerce slows down international retail expansion

    Retailers are still looking for growth across borders, with Asia a particular interest to many. Nevertheless, high eCommerce investments have slowed down the international expansion, according to real estate consultant CBRE‘s “How Global is the Business of Retail?”‘s report.

    Hong Kong most appealing

    The annual study, in its 9th edition, analyzes 334 international retailers’ activities in 61 countries. In their quest for expansion, retailers target “established” shopping cities, according to the study. In at least 90 % of the cities, at least 1 new retailer appeared in 2015 (compared to 85 % of cities in 2014). 30 % of all markets in the study welcomed at least 10 new retailers.

    The top 20 of most popular cities for new retailers did feature some new cities: Asia is still the most important region in the top 10, with four of the five most attractive markets. Hong Kong was the most appealing market in 2015, with 73 new retail brands. Singapore is second with 63 newcomers, followed by Tokyo (57), Taipei (47), Moscow (40), London (39), Dubai (38), Beijing (37), Bucharest (35) and Doha (29).

    London is still the most international shopping city in the world, followed by Dubai, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris and Tokyo.

    Safeguard the right mixture

    CBRE expects international retailers’ attention to shift to growing cities in Africa and Latin America, especially if the economic situation in the East changes. Established markets like Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the United States and China seems to get priority over others, with retailers choosing a certainty over a gamble.

    International expansion is also slowing down slightly, a trend CBRE attributes to the fact many retailers have invested more in eCommerce platforms and multichannel environments. Retailers are looking at their store portfolio more diligently and are safeguarding the right mixture of locations. They will consider new formulas, like airport stores or stores in train stations.

    Shopping centers are also key for retailers looking to enter new markets. These will have to reposition themselves, in order to shift their focus to food, leisure or lifestyle.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Apple explores charging stations for electric vehicles

    Apple explores charging stations for electric vehicles

    Apple is investigating how to charge electric cars, talking to charging station companies and hiring engineers with expertise in the area, according to people familiar with the matter and a review of LinkedIn profiles.

    For more than a year, Silicon Valley has been buzzing about Apple’s plan to build an electric car. Now the company appears to be laying the groundwork for the infrastructure and related software crucial to powering such a product.
    The moves show Apple responding to a key shortcoming of electric vehicles: “filling up” the batteries. A shortage of public charging stations, and the hours wasted in charging a car, could be an opportunity for Apple, whose simple designs have transformed consumer electronics.

    Apple, which has never publicly acknowledged a car project, declined to comment for this story. Neither the LinkedIn profiles nor sources said specifically that Apple was building charging stations for electric cars.
    But automotive sources last year told Reuters that Apple was studying a self-driving electric vehicle (EV), as the Silicon Valley icon looks for new sources of revenue amid a maturing market for its iPhone.

    Apple is now asking charging station companies about their underlying technology, one person with knowledge of the matter said. The talks, which have not been reported, do not concern charging for electric cars of Apple employees, a service the company already provides. They indicate that Apple is focused on a car, the person added.

    Charging firms are treading carefully, the person added, wary of sharing too much with a company they view as a potential rival.
    It is unclear whether Apple would want its own proprietary technology, such as Tesla Motors’ Supercharger network, or would design a system compatible with offerings from other market players.

    Several charging station suppliers contacted by Reuters declined to comment about any dealings with Apple, which typically requires potential partners to sign non-disclosure agreements.

    Arun Banskota, president of NRG Energy electric vehicle charging business, EVgo, did not respond directly to questions about Apple, but said repeatedly that his company was “in discussions with every manufacturer of today and every potential manufacturer of tomorrow.”

    Apple has hired at least four electric vehicle charging specialists, including former BMW employee Rónán Ó Braonáin, who worked on integrating charging infrastructure into home energy systems as well as communication between EVs, BMW and utilities, according to a LinkedIn review.

    As recently as January Apple hired Nan Liu, an engineer who researched a form of wireless charging for electric vehicles, for instance. Quartz earlier this month reported that Apple had hired former Google charging expert Kurt Adelberger.
    Electric vehicle charging stations are manufactured, installed and operated under varying business models. Players in the space include Car Charging Group and privately held ChargePoint, SemaConnect and ClipperCreek, infrastructure companies such as Black & Veatch and AECOM as well as General Electric, Siemens and Delta Electronics.
    The three largest utilities in California also have plans to install charging stations.

    CHARGER SHORTFALL

    The electric car industry has faced a chicken-and-egg paradox with the installation of charging stations. Property owners have been reluctant to install the stations before EVs hit the road en masse, and drivers are wary of buying EVs until charging stations are widely available.

    Apple’s home state of California by 2020 will need about 13 to 25 times the roughly 8,000 work and public chargers it currently has, to support a projected 1 million zero-emission vehicles on the road, according to an estimate by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

    Tesla recently goosed electric vehicle demand, unveiling its more affordable Model 3 sedan, generating hundreds of thousands of reservations from potential buyers and leading many experts to calculate the number of EVs will soon outstrip the charging station supply.

    Tesla has led the way with a proprietary network for customers, who also can use public chargers. Tesla’s more than 600 “Supercharger” stations juice up a car in about 30 minutes, more than twice as fast as the standard “fast charger,” called Level 2.
    One global engineering and construction firm already has reached out to Apple to offer its services, a person at the firm said.
    “It would be natural to assume if Apple is going to have a full battery electric vehicle that creates a seamless consumer experience the way Apple does, the charging infrastructure and its availability would be of paramount importance,” the source said.

    Lees ook:

  • China the promised land for South African winemakers

    China the promised land for South African winemakers

    South African tycoon Koos Bekker sells wine from his vineyard all over the world, but a small detail offers a clue as to where his priorities may lie – all the bottles are labeled in Mandarin.

    Other producers along the Stellenbosch wine routes where his

    Babylonstoren farm is located are doing the same, looking to tap into soaring demand in China led by a growing professional class as Asia’s economic powerhouse in turn ramps up its investments in South Africa.

    “Babylonstoren’s export strategy to China is to be visible in Beijing, not only the city, but also the province,” said Naspers chairman Bekker’s cellar master Charl Coetzee.

    “We only want to conquer Beijing and if we conquer Beijing we will be happy,” he said as a young Asian couple sampled his produce in a tasting room overlooking rows of young vines.

    South African wine exports to China rose almost 30 percent in 2015 alone, according to statistics from South African Wine Industry Information and Systems (SAWIS).

    Alan Winde, minister for economic opportunities in the Western Cape region, says the aim is to double them by 2025.

    During his time as chief executive, Bekker helped turn Naspers into one of the world’s top e-commerce and media companies and established links with China via a stake in Internet service portal Tencent.

    Now he is joining a race to supply the world’s most populous nation that also features producers from France – which controls around 50 percent of the wine export market to China – and ‘new world’ rivals Australia, Chile and New Zealand.

    China’s retail wine market was worth around $15 billion in 2015 compared to $10.3 billion in 2010, with imports accounting for just over half, according to wine data analytics firm IWSR.

    It forecast consumption of about 13.5 million hectolitres in 2020, up from 11.3 million in 2010.

    REDS, OR STRONG WHITES

    Tapping into a national wine tradition dating back hundreds of years, Babylonstoren grows 13 different grape varieties and its bottles retail between 80 rand ($5) for a chenin blanc and 500 rand ($32) for a champagne-style sparkling white.

    In Coetzee’s experience, Chinese drinkers tend to prefer red, though they also go for stronger whites including a chardonnay the farm matures in French oak for 12 months.

    In March, Babylonstoren sold its largest consignment of wines to China, a 20-foot container with around 13,000 bottles.

    “We want … one day to be exporting a container a month,” Coetzee told Reuters.

    La Motte wine farm, one of dozens in the verdant hills outside Cape Town, sold around 3 million bottles to China last year, double the amount shipped three years ago.

    “The past 12 months there was big growth of South African wine to China,” its chief executive Hein Koegelenberg told Reuters from a wine cellar in the Franschhoek Valley, where Huguenots from France first planted vines in 1695.

    “South Africa has not unlocked the potential of that market yet.”

    La Motte, which has partnered with China’s second largest online direct sales network, Perfect China, to buy wines under the brand name L’Huguenot, says its pinotage red ranks among its best sellers in China.

    South Africa’s wine industry is worth around 26.5 billion rand ($1.8 billion) a year and employs 300,000 people. China has grown to become its sixth largest export market.

    “The nice thing is that China takes wine in (own-label) bottles and not in bulk, so we get jobs down the value chain,” minister Winde said.

    Demand is being driven by a booming number of young Chinese professionals who prefer buying over the Internet, rather than in stores. The rand’s 30 percent fall against the dollar in the last year has also helped.

    But the industry faces stiff competition if it is to take full advantage of new consumers in places like China.

    “We realize that the challenge is to keep getting trade and consumers to trial South African wines and more importantly to retain customers to ensure repeat sales,” said Michaela Stander, Asia marketing manager for Wines of South Africa.

    “If Chinese consumers are not well informed and not ready to accept our wines, the imports may soon die down again.”

     

     

    Lees ook:

  • Porsche launches digital business division for premium segment

    Porsche launches digital business division for premium segment

    Porsche AG, the sportscar unit of Volkswagen, launched Porsche Digital GmbH, a division dedicated to developing digital services for the premium segment.

    Porsche Digital GmbH will become a competence centre and an incubator to help find ideas which can be turned into businesses and services, the company said on Friday.

    The division will be based in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart, and have offices in Berlin, Silicon Valley and China.

    It will be headed by Thilo Koslowski, a former digital mobility analyst at consulting firm Gartner.

    Lees ook:

  • The smartphone boon and bane

    The smartphone boon and bane

    Feature phones are on their last days, if not their last breath. Consumers’ massive shift in preference for smartphones have decimated feature phone sales.

    The upward mobility of smartphones contrasted with the downward spiral of feature phones has been an intriguing trend to observe. After all, it was only a decade ago when feature phones were enjoying its peak in popularity.

    The upheaval of the mobile industry arrived when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world in 2007. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive back then, claimed it was the most expensive phone in the world.

    Nowadays, feature phones are not ubiquitous anymore as new players from China, led by Xiaomi, continue to enter the market. These new upstarts not only produce smartphones with industry standard software and applications, but also price them very affordably.

    Asia-Pacific smartphone prices are predicted to drop to an average of $215, making it the region with the lowest price. APAC will be the region with the largest increase in smartphone usage from 2013 to 2019 with approximately 2 billion new smartphone users, where Singapore ranks the highest globally in smartphone users penetration.

    According to a recent survey, 90% of respondents in Singapore say they have access to smartphones. Factors which help facilitate this rapid adoption are fast connectivity and the availability of real-time information access at users’ fingertips.

    As smartphones become increasingly affordable, businesses become more complex specifically the IT infrastructure. Apart from individual and personal use, businesses also encourage employees to use their own devices for work with initiatives such as “bring your own device” (BYOD).

    Enterprises have gained a significant advantage with the modern development of mobile, but these positives also come with new challenges.

    When it comes to devices for businesses, applications play a big role. More and more enterprises are deploying business applications on smartphones and adopting cloud-based business models.

    This enables increased mobility and productivity, making businesses more efficient than ever. Unfortunately, now with various applications installed on smartphones and critical data being so easily accessible, businesses are more prone to virtual threats.

    In 2014, 16 million mobile devices have been contaminated by scams, and hackers are increasingly targeting mobile applications. It has been said that mobile apps are considered “low-hanging fruit” since it is rather fast and easy to exploit the vulnerability of apps as apps exist in an unregulated ecosystem.

    In Singapore alone, mobile security threats have affected 70% of companies. The majority of organizations saying “yes” to employees using their mobile phones for business without giving proper education on BYOD policies also contributed to this number. This trend will cease any time soon as the hackers are expected to continue focusing on mobile devices.

    Given the changes of this behavior and the advancement of technology on smartphones, organizations and governments will need to be able to serve this increasing number of mobile customers and employees while delivering applications and services seamlessly and securely.

    Businesses have always demanded agility and availability without worrying about the security of critical data. That mindset must shift — application security needs to be a top priority for businesses.

    With the rise of smartphones and mobile devices usage for business, the risk of enterprises’ critical data is increasing as well. Business flexibility provided by smartphones comes with a greater responsibility that requires enterprises to step up to secure and manage the applications to keep preforming.

    This generation will see the end of “dumb” phones, and the next might even see them in museums. With such rapid changes in the technology scene, it will be no surprise if the next big thing comes faster than the shift of feature phones to smartphones.

    Asia Pacific holds the biggest stake for smartphones companies, and any respectable industry player must look to the East whenever there is a shift in the mobile telecom enterprise industry.

    Lees ook:

  • Five major banks lined up to support Apple Pay launch in Singapore

    Five major banks lined up to support Apple Pay launch in Singapore

    Five major banks, representing 80% of Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards issued in Singapore, have signed up to Apple Pay, extending the use of the mobile wallet beyond a limited earlier release for AmEx cardholders.

    MasterCard says it is working with DBS, OCBC, POSB, Standard Chartered and UOB, to enable iPhone and Apple watch users to make purchases in stores equipped with contactless readers.Recent figures from MasterCard indicate that consumers in Singapore are supportive of the idea of adopting contactless payments. Singaporeans are among Asia’s top three adopters of digital wallets and interest has been climbing steadily with one in four likely to use a digital wallet compared to just one in 20 three years ago.

    Apple Pay’s launch comes just a month after Samsung announced plans to roll out its rival mobile wallet with the support of DBS/POSB, OCBC Bank and Standard Chartered. Previously, Apple Pay had only been available for American Express cardholders in Singapore.

  • OCBC Singapore launches voice biometrics, speech recognition in contact center

    OCBC Singapore launches voice biometrics, speech recognition in contact center

    OCBC Bank in Singapore has launched voice metrics and speech recognition in its contact center to improve the retail customer experience.

    According to the bank’s head of consumer financial services Dennis Tan, the solutions launched reduce the time taken for customer verification, giving customers quicker access to services required. The voice biometric authentication replaces PINs, one-time passwords and security questions at the bank’s contact centre. Customers can use their voices as vocal passwords for authentication.

    Voice biometrics was launched by OCBC in September last year to a targeted group of retail customers. With the technology, customers could use their voiceprints to authenticate requests for account balances, latest transactions and the status of deposited cheques.

    Voice biometrics will be available to the bank’s retail customers in the fourth quarter of this year, with customers expected to be able to use their voiceprints to authenticate a majority of banking transactions.

    To enrol their voiceprint, customers are asked to say a specific phrase, called a passphrase, three times. A passphrase is an explicit sentence crafted by OCBC Bank to be spoken by the customer into the system to capture the customer’s voice. The voiceprint is created using the spoken passphrase and stored in the system’s database. A voiceprint is not a recording of a voice but a digital representation of a person’s vocal characteristics, so it cannot be disguised and is not affected by emotion or a blocked nose.

    To authenticate a banking transaction, the customer will be asked to say the passphrase that was used to enroll his or her voiceprint. If further verification is needed to confirm the customer’s initial vocal password is valid and is not a voice recording, the system will then ask the customer to say a different sentence from the enrolled passphrase. The customer’s voice is captured and is compared with the relevant stored voiceprint on the database. A verification result is then provided by the system. The authentication process is hassle-free and can be done in 15 seconds.

    Speech recognition

    OCBC Bank launched speech recognition at its contact center in April this year to all personal banking customers.

    While voice biometrics enhances customer experience by replacing PINs, passwords and security questions, speech recognition replaces the need to select service options via the phone keypad. The deployment also reduces the number of steps needed to enter the options sequentially on the keypad to access a particular service. Speech recognition technology recognizes and understands a customer’s spoken request, thereby enabling the customer to access the required service faster and more accurately.

    According to OCBC Bank, the top customer enquiries received via speech recognition are checking recent transactions and account balances, requests for fee waivers, and Internet Banking and statement enquiries. These requests amount to 30.4 per cent of all requests to the Contact Centre. The success rate of the speech recognition service has been extremely high, says OCBC Bank, with 90 per cent of customers having their spoken requests recognised by the system.

  • In-flight connectivity wants to be free

    In-flight connectivity wants to be free

    In-flight connectivity (IFC) is in high demand from consumers, but depending on where you are in the value chain, it won’t be easy to monetize that demand, especially when many passengers expect it to be free.

    “Right now the satellite operators are the ones making the profit on in-flight connectivity,” says Todd Hill, senior director of GCS Satellite Services at Panasonic.

    Part of the problem has to do with the cost of aircraft antennas, which are hard to install, “although the technology is improving.” Hill says.

    The other issue is the cost of the actually connectivity itself. While HTS satellites and Ka-band are touted for their ability to bring the cost per megabit down, the problem is that Ka-band isn’t an all-purpose solution that will be available everywhere.

    “We’re building a global network, so one size is not going to fit all,” Hill says. “Ka-band doesn’t fit every need. HTS can bring the cost down, but you also get these spikes in supply whenever a new gigabit satellite goes up that affects pricing.”

    Erwin Hudson, VP/GM at ViaSat, says that everyone in the IFC value chain – satellite players, the service providers and the airlines – can make money, but that for the airlines, it’s as much about value creation as literally earning money from in-flight broadband. “For example, enhancing customer satisfaction – there’s great value there for the airlines.”

    Which is as well, because if airlines have learned anything about IFC, it’s that customers generally aren’t willing to pay for it, especially as they become accustomed to Wi-Fi as a complimentary service in hotels, airports and coffee shops.

    “Customers do expect this for free, which is to say they expect it to be included in the ticket price, and that’s the way we’d rather see it go,” Hudson says. “There are different business models out there, such as pay-as-you-go, freemium or free, and we’ll see all three in play. But when you charge money for it, your take-up rate is around 10% to 15%, whereas when it’s free the take-up rate is as high as 100% or even 105%, because we count devices, not people, and many people have more than one device. So we think free is where it’s ultimately going to go.”

    Hudson adds that IFC is a segmented market – commercial airlines, private jets, military/government, etc – with different requirements and business models for each, “so there’s a substantial opportunity there.”

    Lees ook:

  • Singapore to lead the way in tropical data centers

    Singapore to lead the way in tropical data centers

    Launching the Infocomm Media Business Exchange’s Ministerial Forum on ICT on Monday ahead of the official kickoff of CommunicAsia2016, Singapore Minister for Communications and Information Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (pictured) spoke of the progress that the country had made in becoming the world’s first Smart Nation – to include the world’s first data centers designed specifically for tropical climates.

    Dr Ibrahim explained how he has partnered with industry and academia to launch testbeds for green data centers and is now looking at whether it is possible to design and operate data centers at temperature and humidity levels that are double the current norm.

    The tests for these so-called Tropical Data Centers (TDCs) will target an ambient temperature of 38 degrees Celsius and humidity exceeding 90%. The trial will test how data servers react under various “live” situations, such as peak surges or transferring of data, and in diverse conditions, such as with no temperature or humidity controls. TDCs could reduce energy consumption by data centers by up to 40%.

    This would not only expand the geographical limitations of locating data centers, but also cut back on existing energy requirements of the running of such centers – all of which is part of the Singapore Smart Nation Vision.

    Data centers accounted for 7% of Singapore’s total energy demand in 2012 and is projected to reach 12% by 2030.

    On the cyber security front, Dr. Ibrahim said that Singapore has signed a number of bilateral agreements with France, the UK and India in the area of cyber security. It is also supporting the annual ASEAN computer emergency response team incident drill exercises.

    Earlier, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore successfully completed a multi-sector exercise a few months ago to strengthen the ability of agencies to cooperate in handling cyber attacks. In October, Singapore will hold its inaugural International Cyber Week, which will also see the unveiling of the country’s national cybersecurity strategy document by the Prime Minister.

    Dr Ibrahim also stated that Singapore will complete its switchover to digital TV by the end of 2017, freeing up spectrum for mobile and mobile broadband services, and will be one of the first countries in the world to impose minimum standards for 4G QoS.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Lalamove Attracts Thai Investor Confidence

    Lalamove Attracts Thai Investor Confidence

    Hong Kong based on-demand delivery app Lalamove has successfully secured USD 10 million with the help of a new Thai investor, along with the company’s existing investors.

    Thai financial and investment services company, Asia Plus Group Holdings has invested in Lalamove to drive the app delivery company to profitability and to complete Lalamove’s third-round funding within the last 18 months.  The latest cash injection brings Lalamove’s total funding up to USD 30 million.

    The latest round of funding, attracting Thai investor Asia Plus Group Holdings, was led by existing investor MindWorks with participation from other existing investors including China’s Crystal Stream, Taiwan’s AppWorks and Hong Kong’s Aria Group.

    Following Lalamove’ s recent partnership with LINE to launch LINE Man app, the funding success reveals the speed at which Lalamove is growing, as CEO Shing Chow expressed.

    “We began as a small start-up in Hong Kong working out of my apartment and have grown to 21 cities across Asia in the last two years.   When we began, we targeted lots of small businesses, but since then we have developed enterprise solutions to allow companies like Google, IKEA, and now LINE to make their delivery much faster and simpler”, said Chow. 

    Chow continued, “There is so much potential in making delivery more efficient as mobile internet is changing the way mobile assets are utilized.  This funding will be used to accelerate our leadership position and expansion efforts throughout China and other SEA countries.  It’s really a vote of confidence from our existing investors in our model and team.  It is our goal to be profitable this year, and it’s quite rare that you see a startup growing at our speed achieving that in less than three years. We are on track to deliver that.”

    The investment of Asia PlusGroup Holdings is the first time the Thai company has invested in a tech company, demonstrating the company’s belief in Lalamove. 

    Asia Plus Group Holdings’ CEO Dr. Kongkiat Opaswongkarn is positive about the investment. “The fact that we are investing in an app company for the first time really demonstrates how much we believe in the success of Lalamove and the e-logistics market in Thailand and within Southeast Asia. We have followed the expansion, strategy and successes of Lalamove and we like what we see and the great potential for profitability. We are excited to be helping to make that happen and to be part of that success story.”

    Santit Jirawongkraisorn, Co-founder and Managing Director of Lalamove Thailand states that the investment from Asia Plus Group Holdings reveals great confidence in Lalamove. “We are involved in a fast-moving company in an expanding market with huge potential. The recent funding reveals investor confidence in our business plans, including Thai investor confidence. The app, logistics and mobile markets in the region are booming and Lalamove is at the forefront of that drive. Investors like Asia Plus Group Holdings are helping us steer where we want to go in the future, which is ultimately towards profitability.”

    With the largest footprint across Asia, Lalamove is well positioned to capitalize on the growing trend of businesses looking to out-source their delivery needs.  Additionally, with more and more consumers looking to have their items delivered faster, Lalamove’ s average delivery time of 46 minutes is changing the landscape of intra-city delivery in Asia.

    Lalamove can be downloaded for free from Google Play store and Apple Store.

  • Mercedes puts up fight in China

    Mercedes puts up fight in China

     

    BMW and Mercedes — China’s No. 2 and No. 3 luxury brands — were virtually dead-even in that market last month, selling roughly 35,000 vehicles apiece.

    But Mercedes sales jumped 32 percent year on year, while BMW deliveries fell more than 7 percent. Audi, China’s top-selling luxury brand, boosted sales 9 percent to 49,576 vehicles.

    Mercedes has been on a tear in China since 2013, when it shook up management and consolidated its two warring distribution channels.

    BMW is feeling the heat. In April, the company replaced its China sales chief, and now it’s hustling to introduce new models. BMW is introducing a long-wheelbase X1 in China to compete with the Audi Q3 and Mercedes GLA.

    Those three models are battling for share in China’s red-hot market for compact crossovers.

    For the first four months, Audi remained on top, with sales of 189,611 vehicles, while BMW delivered 162,221 units. Mercedes is still No. 3, with sales of 142,266, but it is steadily closing the gap.

    We suspect BMW realizes that objects in its rearview mirror are closer than they appear.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • New Zealand’s Woosh Wireless enters administration

    New Zealand’s Woosh Wireless enters administration

    New Zealand wireless broadband provider Woosh Wireless has entered voluntary administration after burning through more than NZ$100 million ($67.7 million) in cash since it was founded.

    The operator has appointed local advisory and investment firm KordaMentha as administrators for the proceedings. The first meeting of creditors will be held early next month.

    Woosh was founded in 1999 and bought out by California-based Craig Wireless for $5 million in 2011.

    The company sold its fixed line network to rival Slingshot last year, and sold one of its three spectrum blocks – a 70 MHz lot of 2300-MHz spectrum – to Spark New Zealand for NZ$9 million in April.

    A KordaMentha partner said the company will be mindful of customers who rely on Woosh Wireless for their broadband services, particularly in remote areas in rural parts of Southland, where there is a strong concentration of subscribers.

    Lees ook:

  • San Miguel selling telco assets to PLDT & Globe

    San Miguel selling telco assets to PLDT & Globe

    Philippine conglomerate San Miguel corporation is selling its telecom business to incumbent operators PLDT and Globe following the collapse of its JV negotiations with Telstra.

    Under the agreement, San Miguel will sell its telecom unit Vega Telecom for 69.1 billion pesos ($1.48 billion) inclusive of 17.02 billion pesos worth of liabilities. PLDT and Globe will each acquire half of the business.

    Vega Telecom owns controlling stakes in multiple telecom-related units. These are BellTel, Eastern Telecommunications, Cobaltpoint Telecommunication (formerly Extelcom), Tori Spectrum Telecommunication (formerly Wi-Tribe) and Hi-Frequency Telecommunication.

    The acquisition will finally grant PLDT and Globe access to radio spectrum in the coveted 700-MHz band, which San Miguel currently holds a monopoly on.

    PLDT and Globe have been petitioning the government for years for access to this spectrum, but the regulator had so far declined to act to recall the spectrum.

    In addition to the 700-MHz spectrum the acquisition also covers frequencies in the 900-MHz and 1800-MHz bands, PLDT said in a stock market filing.

    But as part of the deal, PLDT and Globe have agreed to relinquish part of the 700-MHz, as well as 850-MHz, 2500-MHz and 3500-MHz bands to regulator NTC to allow the potential entry of a third operator into the market.

    “This transaction offers a breakthrough opportunity, not only for the companies involved but also for the industry and the country. This will enable existing operators to provide significantly improved Internet and data services to the public and to our customers in the shortest possible time,” PLDT CEO Manuel V Pangilinan said in a statement.

    “ At the same time, it leaves the door open for new entrants into the industry. Taken together, thiswill enable the industry to better support the country’s development efforts – especially significant with the onset of a new government.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Airtel Digital TV powers HD offerings with Harmonic solution

    Airtel Digital TV powers HD offerings with Harmonic solution

    Airtel Digital TV has deployed a compression headend solution from Harmonic in an effort to substantially improve the HD viewing experience for its customers.

    The high-density, scalable and HEVC-upgradeable video infrastructure solutions from Harmonic is expected to help Airtel Digital TV increase bandwidth efficiencies and significantly improve video quality while lowering operating expenses.

    The deployment is also expected to enable Airtel Digital TV to expand its DTH HD portfolio to over 50 premium channels, making it one of the largest HD offerings in India today.

    “Harmonic’s compression solution allows Airtel Digital TV to deliver superior video quality at low bit rates while adapting to next-generation video compression standards such as HEVC,” said Dan Taylor, general manager in India at Harmonic.

    “Our video infrastructure solutions help customers like Airtel Digital TV reduce OPEX and drive new business growth by simplifying the launch of additional HD channels,” said Taylor.

    At the heart of the headend solution is Harmonic’s Electra X2 advanced media processor, which promises high-quality, low-bandwidth MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 encoding of SD and HD video content for live DTH services.

    The Electra X2 media processors support a wide range of video formats and codecs for satellite delivery, including HEVC, simplifying operations and future upgrades for Bharti Airtel.

    At Airtel Digital TV, the Electra X2 media processors will be integrated with Harmonic’s ProStream 9100 stream processor and ProView 7100 integrated receiver-decoder (IRD), and controlled by Harmonic’s NMX video network management solution.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Cignal TV deploys Actus monitoring platform in the Philippines

    Cignal TV deploys Actus monitoring platform in the Philippines

    Cignal TV in the Philippines has deployed Actus broadcast monitoring and media intelligent platform for TOA recording of MCR TV channels.

    Actus provides Cignal TV a broadcast recording solution as well as a system to support the marketing requirements. The recorded TV contents are available for simultaneous users, for clips viewing, clips creation and quality assurance.

    “With Actus recording and logging system, time consuming processes became immediate and efficient for all concerned teams,” said Gilbert D. Tan, TOC supervisor of Cignal TV. “The recorded contents are readily available 24×7 for review, clip creation and can be exported immediately when needed by our Channels and Marketing Team.”

    Actus View enables users with permissions to easily access recorded content with a user-friendly interface using web browsers. This aims to build trust and confidence with advertisers that Cignal TV is only delivering competitive and high-quality broadcast contents to its viewers.

    “Actus View is not only a reliable and cost-effective solution for recording TV channels, but also provides other integrated added values such as exporting clips, competitive monitoring and more,” said Raphael Renous, Actus CTO.

    Cignal TV awarded TechTwist the contract to deploy the Actus View solution for broadcast recording and media monitoring. The Actus team worked closely with TechTwist to design a winning workflow.

    Lees ook: