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Tag: telecom

  • Nokia is trying to recover from a really bad decision it made about 5G chipsets

    Nokia is trying to recover from a really bad decision it made about 5G chipsets

    Last year when Nokia started planning its 5G networking equipment, it made a decision that came back to bite the company in the, uh, chipset. For Nokia’s line of “ReefShark” chips, used for its 5G radio, baseband and massive MIMO antennas, it decided to go with field-programmable gate array (FPGA) silicon. This type of chip can be programmed by the customer, thus giving Nokia an advantage in getting its 5G gear into the marketplace before the competition. But Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri had to admit that producing FPGA chips cost Nokia more money which reduced its profit margin for the component. As reported by FierceWireless, after reporting its Q3 numbers last week, Nokia lowered its full-year guidance

    Nokia wants to resume production of custom chipsets for its 5G products and to this end, it has hired 350 new employees in Finland to help it develop custom chips. Such development can take two years to complete. Nokia’s global head of Mobile Networks Marketing, Sandro Tavares, said that the company has been working on these SoCs for some time and has started shipping products with the SoCs replacing the FPGAs.

    Tavaras notes that the reasons that Nokia chose the programmable chip is because it can “put together the efficiency characteristics of an SoC but with the flexibility of being able to program via firmware. But it has the flip side of cost and power consumption. FPGAs do cost more in unit price, and they do use more power.” Additionally, Nokia at the time was working to integrate Alcatel Lucent and using FPGA, as previously noted, seemed like the best way to get to market quickly. Tavaras also points out that one supplier let them down. Nokia CEO Suri said that the company is not only designing its own custom SoCs, it also is working with a number of chipmakers including Intel. But the executive says that all of these actions won’t lower Nokia’s cost of building its 5G products until 2021.

    One analyst says that Nokia’s problems run deeper than just having to migrate from FPGA. Stefan Pongratz, senior director at Dell’Oro Group, says that 5G build-out is happening faster than expected and that competition is fierce. Pongratz says that “Nokia also has to deal with the consolidation of multiple platforms following the Alcatel Lucent merger.”

    Nokia has contracts with all four major U.S. carriers to deliver 5G networking equipment and the company was said to be responsible for Sprint’s delay in rolling out 5G service to four cities back in August. But this has been typical of the reputation that Nokia has when it comes to 5G. The company has been accused of lacking steady leadership and during a four-year period, it had three different people running the mobile networks division. That unit is now run by Tommi Uitto who earns nothing but praise from CEO Suri. “Tommi and his team have developed a comprehensive plan to ensure Nokia is competitive in 5G, and they are relentlessly executing against that plan,” Suri says. “Tommi is a strong leader, and he has my full support.” As for the 350 new employees being hired, Suri states, “We are repositioning our workforce to work on topics that are more critical for 5G development. We are hiring people in Finland and in other parts of the world and moving people from different programs to our 5G radio products.”

    Earlier this month, there was talk that the Trump administration had considered offering huge lines of credits to Nokia and its rival Ericsson. This would be done to help the two compete with the global leader in networking equipment, Huawei. The latter is considered a national security threat in the states and with funding from state-run Chinese banks, Huawei can offer generous financing terms to customers. Trump officials hoped to counter this advantage by arranging financing for Nokia and Ericsson, but outside of the initial rumors, there has been no word on whether the U.S. is still considering this option.

  • Viettel Global posts $67 mln profit

    Viettel Global posts $67 mln profit

    Viettel Global has posted pre-tax profits of VND1.55 trillion ($67.1 million) this year, after seeing losses in Jan-Sept last year.

    The turnaround has happened thanks to strong revenues in Southeast Asia. Half of the telecom giant’s VND12.4 trillion ($537.3 million) revenue in the first nine months came from Southeast Asia, which went up 24 percent year on year, followed by Africa and Latin America, according to the company’s Q3 financial report.

    Its Metfone network in Cambodia saw after-tax profits go up 91 percent to VND672 billion ($29.1 million), while that of its Natcom network in Haiti rose 28 percent to VND261 billion ($11.3 million).

    The company’s VGI stock, listed on Vietnam’s Unlisted Public Companies Market (UPCoM), had risen 140 percent to VND32,400 ($1.4) from the beginning of the year as of Thursday, marking a market cap of over VND98.6 trillion ($4.27 billion).

    Viettel Global was established in 2006 to spread military-run Viettel Group’s presence in foreign markets. It currently operates in ten markets, namely Cambodia, Laos, Timor Leste, Mozambique, Burundi, Haiti, Peru, Cameroon, Tanzania and Myanmar.

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  • The Snapdragon 735 chipset could lead to lower prices for 5G phones

    The Snapdragon 735 chipset could lead to lower prices for 5G phones

    Everyone is awaiting Qualcomm’s introduction of its next-generation flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform. This could take place sometime next month. Meanwhile, you might recall that six months ago the chipmaker unveiled the Snapdragon 730 chipset and the Snapdragon 730G gaming-focused chip.

    The Snapdragon 735, while designed by Qualcomm, will apparently be manufactured by Samsung using its 7nm EUV LPP (Low Power Plus) process. The lower the process number, the higher the number of transistors that can fit inside an integrated circuit. By adding transistors, chips become more powerful and energy-efficient. By next year, both Samsung and rival TSMC should be rolling 5nm chips off of its assembly line (more on this later). The EUV stands for extreme-ultraviolet lithography, a technology that allows chip dies to be more precisely marked up for transistor placement; this will also allow more transistors to fit inside a chip. When you consider that Huawei’s Kirin 990 SoC with an embedded 5G modem contains about 10.3 billion transistors, you can understand how precise chip production must be.

    The Snapdragon 735 SoC is rumored to feature eight cores with a pair of Cortex-A76 cores to do the heavy lifting; the remaining six Cortex-A55 cores will be earmarked for general housekeeping. The latter will reportedly run at a clock speed of 1.73GHz, and the two high-performance cores at 2.26GHz and 2.32GHz. If the rumored specs are legit, the chipset will come with the Adreno 620 GPU and support up to 12GB of RAM and 4K video at 60fps. And there is good news for consumers; the Snapdragon 735 SoC is said to be 5G ready, which means that support for the next generation of wireless will be available on more mid-range (and less expensive) phones.

    It should be noted that Qualcomm has yet to introduce the component. The Snapdragon 735 SoC will replace the 730 which is produced using the 8nm process and ships with the Adreno 618 graphics processor. Some features of the current chip, such as support for the new Wi-Fi 6 standard and the multi-core Qualcomm AI Engine, will undoubtedly be found in the Snapdragon 735 chipset. Qualcomm said earlier this year that it would bring 5G support to its mid-range series 7xx and series 6xx Snapdragon chipsets.

    As for the eagerly awaited Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform, the other day Chinese luxury goods manufacturer, 8848 was the first to announce a phone that will be powered by Qualcomm’s new flagship chipset. The Titanium M6 5G will ship next year with the Snapdragon 865 SoC inside. While Qualcomm could introduce the chip next month, it won’t be found inside any consumer devices until next year.

    What we know about the Snapdragon 865 is that Samsung’s foundry unit will manufacture it using Samsung’s 7nm EUV process. The Snapdragon 855 and the overclocked Snapdragon 855+ chipsets were both produced by the world’s largest independent foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) using TSMC’s 7nm process. 2021’s Snapdragon 875 Mobile Platform will be produced by TSMC using its new 5nm process. At 5nm, integrated circuits are packed with as many as 171.3 million transistors per square millimeter.

    Both Samsung and TSMC have roadmaps taking production to 3nm. The latter is reportedly working on ways to keep increasing the number of transistors inside a chip to increase both power and energy consumption. Just to show you how far we’ve come, the Apple iPhone 4, released in 2010, featured Apple’s A4 SoC under the hood. That chip was designed by Apple, equipped with ARM’s Cortex-A8 CPU, and built by Samsung using its 45nm process.

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  • Mavenir extends alliance with Vodafone Idea to fortify presence in India

    Mavenir extends alliance with Vodafone Idea to fortify presence in India

    This partnership will focus on three thrust areas. First, building a universal secured Cloud capable of hosting multiple tenants and third-party applications. Second, building a fully automated platform that enables self-provisioning of various workloads. Third and most importantly, setting up a joint innovation lab and a team that will consistently innovate on Chipset, Operating System, and work at the Application level to offer unique APIs and enables new use cases and delightful experience to VIL customers.

    “Vodafone Idea has the largest Edge Cloud deployment in India. Our partnership with Mavenir will enable continued innovation in optimizing data path algorithms for VOLTE. We look forward to setting up a joint lab and an agile team that will enable onboarding third-party applications on our distributed cloud”, said Vishant Vora, CTO, Vodafone Idea Limited whose team is spearheading this initiative.

    The partnership has led to the contextualization of software algorithms, leading to unprecedented efficiencies. VIL and Mavenir partnership has been extended to include collaboration with chipset manufacturers and Operating System providers. The stack being deployed is all open sourced and benefits from consistent innovation led by global open community.

    “Next frontier in our partnership will be to extend the platforms deployed to host new applications serving IOT and CDN use cases. We plan to build platforms that can host varied OS and varied workloads. We aim to automate deployment and assurance and thereby extend self-provisioning capability for VIL customers. We are excited to set up a joint lab and team, consistently innovate and work with VIL and its customers in an agile manner to turn around new solutions fast,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and CEO Mavenir.

    Mavenir has partnered with VIL in IMS-VOLTE deployments. In future, the partnership aims to extend the platform being deployed for IMS-VOLTE applications to host other Captive and third-party workloads. Mavenir will partner with VIL to extend its distributed Network cloud as secured platform to multiple retail, SME users and start-ups.

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  • Cinia and MegaFon to develop new Arctic telecom infrastructure

    Cinia and MegaFon to develop new Arctic telecom infrastructure

    The arctic is one of the most environmentally protected areas in the world, making permits for laying cables to be very difficult to obtain.

    Ari-Jussi Knaapila, CEO of Cinia, said, “The Arctic cable will contribute to the socio-economic development of the Arctic areas. The cale is an environmentally sustainable way to boost global, regional and local economies. At the same time, the cable will connect three continents, covering approximately 85 percent of the world’s population.”

    The new route will offer low latency, physical diversity and high network availability which will serve the markets of Europe, some parts of Russia, Japan and North America.

    CEO of MegaFon, Gevork Vermishyan said, “MegaFon is proud to join a major international infrastructure project that will not only connect several continents via the Arctic but also will benefit MEgaFon as a leader of digital opportunities by enabling the development of network infrastructure for customers in the Arctic region and the Far East.”

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  • South Korea discloses number of 5G subscribers

    South Korea discloses number of 5G subscribers

    Consumers have however filed some complaints related to the coverage and speed of 5G. The main problem was that mobile devices were displaying a 5G symbol when users on LTE were near base stations compatible with 5G. The Ministry confirmed that facing such issues is very normal given that operators are still building base stations and upgrading software.

    A total of 54,202 5G base stations have been deployed so far, an increase of 7 per cent from 22 April, however coverage in the country was still restricted to urban and more populous areas.

    Korea has been pioneering the journey to 5G deployment, being one of the first in the world to offer 5G to mobile consumers. Operators in the country had also launched commercial 5G services to businesses using mobile routers.

    Out of the 260,000 subscribers, KT, the country’s second largest operator, has announced it secured 100,000 subscribers so farm whereas SKT and LG Uplus are yet to reveal their figures.

  • ZTE, Ooredoo Myanmar alliance to display multiple 5G use cases

    ZTE, Ooredoo Myanmar alliance to display multiple 5G use cases

    This standard specifies the technical requirements of centralized control of shared air-conditioners, setting a benchmark for the centralized control operation of the shared economy in the home appliance industry. It is another breakthrough in the wake of the joint release of the industry’s first shared air-conditioning technology standard based on NB-IoT in September 2018 by ZTE, China Telecom Shanghai Research Institute, Haier AC and other partners.

    ZTE, China Telecom and Haier AC carried out a comprehensive evaluation and pre-commercial verification of the shared air-conditioner centralized control model at University of Shanghai For Science and Technology. China Telecom and ZTE provided indoor and outdoor wireless network coverage to ensure stable and reliable signal quality, data transmission, and service applications in the centralized control area. The centralized control based on NB-IoT wireless network can effectively address the problems of traditional centralized control, such as difficult engineering, complex cabling, and overwhelming maintenance.

    With the release of the shared home appliance industry standard, the NB-IoT network can realize the centralized control of temperature, mode and switch of the shared air conditioners, hence the wide application in campus, apartment and hotel scenarios.

    ZTE has always been exploring continuous innovations in the field of IoT. Based on its self-developed IoT platform and its leading edge in the 5G field, ZTE has created a series of end-to-end 5G+ integrated industry solutions in various fields, including 5G+ Smart Campus, 5G+ Industrial Park, 5G+ Smart Water Control, 5G+XR Cloud Coordination, 5G+ Cloud Education, 5G+ Smart Stadium, Smart Home, and Internet of Vehicles. By integrating the cutting-edge technologies, such as big data and AI, with the IoT, ZTE is committed to promoting the incubation and deployment of innovative IoT solutions.

    “We have been exploring the opportunities in each industry with our industry partners to create values by virtue of our experience and capabilities in the ICT field,” said Mr. Yin Gang, vice president of ZTE Corporation. “We’re happy to join hands and connect closely to build a bright future together.”

    ZTE is a provider of advanced telecommunications systems, mobile devices, and enterprise technology solutions to consumers, carriers, companies and public sector customers. As part of ZTE’s strategy, the company is committed to providing customers with integrated end-to-end innovations to deliver excellence and value as the telecommunications and information technology sectors converge. Listed in the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and Shenzhen (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), ZTE sells its products and services in more than 160 countries.

    To date, ZTE has obtained 25 commercial 5G contracts in major 5G markets such as Europe, Asia Pacific, MEA (Middle East and Africa), etc. ZTE commits 10 percent of its annual revenue to research and development and has leadership roles in international standard-setting organizations.

  • Viettel Global reports profit surge

    Viettel Global reports profit surge

    Telecom giant Viettel Global Investment JSC has made VND1.17 trillion ($50.5 million) in pre-tax profits after reporting a loss last year. Viettel Global, which covers overseas investments by military-run Viettel Group, had made a VND15.77 billion ($681,000) loss in the same period last year, according to the company’s audited consolidated financial statements.

    Revenues in the first six months reached VND7.9 trillion ($341 million), down 1.5 percent year-on-year, but a sharp decrease in the cost of sales improved profits, the company’s management board said.

    In the first half of the year, the company focused more on its core business of telecommunications, raised its average revenue per user (ARPU) and cut down the sale of equipment with low-profit margins. This raised the company’s operating profit margin (excluding financial income) to 35.3 percent from 26.4 percent in the same period last year.

    Revenue in Southeast Asia, especially driven by growth in the Cambodian market, accounted for 53 percent of Viettel Global’s revenue in the first six months, followed by Africa with 33 percent and South America with 14 percent.

    Viettel Global was established in 2006 to spread Viettel Group’s presence in foreign markets. It currently operates in ten markets, namely Cambodia, Laos, Timor Leste, Mozambique, Burundi, Haiti, Peru, Cameroon Tanzania and entered Myanmar last year.

    Viettel Global said it has plans to enter new markets, mainly in ASEAN.

    Viettel Global is one of the largest enterprises on Vietnam’s Unlisted Public Companies Market (UPCoM) in terms of both asset size and market capitalization. As of June 30, the company’s total assets were VND59 trillion ($2.54 billion), of which equity accounted for VND25 trillion ($1.08 billion).

  • First 5G network broadcasts in Vietnam

    First 5G network broadcasts in Vietnam

    Telecom giant Viettel broadcast its first 5G network Saturday from its network of 5G base stations in Ho Chi Minh City.

    “The official broadcast of 5G in Ho Chi Minh City is an important milestone in Viettel’s strategy to make Vietnam one of the first countries in the world to commercialize 5G services,” Viettel deputy director Tao Duc Thang said in a statement.

    The 10 stations will be used by Viettel, the nation’s largest telecom firm, to comprehensively check and assess its 5G service before launching it commercially next year.

    Military-run Viettel installed the first 5G station in Hanoi early this year and made the first 5G phone call in May. It was the first firm in the country to receive permission to trial 5G services in January, followed by MobiFone.

    Last November, Information and Communication Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said at a conference that Vietnam should test 5G in 2019 and ensure nationwide coverage by 2020.

    “Vietnam should be one of the first countries to launch the network, at least in Hanoi and HCMC,” he had said. The country had been one of the last in Southeast Asia to roll out 4G services.

    5G is said to offer speeds 100 times faster than 4G, primarily used for smartphones and other similar devices. 5G is also expected to support new applications like remote medical procedures and autonomous driving.

  • Google Fi announces its first Unlimited Plan

    Google Fi announces its first Unlimited Plan

    Google Fi is getting its first Unlimited Plan, which should offer subscribers everything in unlimited quantities. Well, that’s not how it really works in the United States, at least when it comes to data.

    Since the carrier’s launch in 2015, only one plan was available for customers, the Fi Flexible plan. Starting today, Fi is adding a second plan, a Google Fi Unlimited Plan. It will be available for $70 for a single line, but the more people you’re sharing it with, the less it will cost. So, for two lines, the Unlimited Plan is priced at $60, while three lines cost just $50 per line. Finally, if you add between four and six lines, you’ll be paying $45 per individual user (taxes excluded)

    Google Fi’s Unlimited Plan offers 22GB of unthrottled data per line, after which your data speed will be limited. Also, Google mentions that it “may optimize video streaming quality to 480p to extend customers access to high-speed data before they hit 22GB.”

    Besides data, you’ll get unlimited calls and texts, including international calls. Google says that the plan covers free international calls from the US to 50 countries and territories, as well as unlimited data and texting abroad in 200 destinations at no extra charge.

    To make things even more appealing, the Unlimited Plan comes with a Google One membership with 100GB of cloud storage and extra benefits such as expert support across Google, discounts on Google products, and much more.

  • How 5G will revolutionize our retail industry as a great enabler

    How 5G will revolutionize our retail industry as a great enabler

    Mobile communication is about to experience its greatest revolution in the 12 years since Apple invented the smartphone. This time, however, it is not handsets that will drive the change, rather the network technology we have come to know as 5G. 5G technology offers data speeds 20-times faster than existing 4G long-term evolution (LTE) networks, promotes mass adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) by enhancing information exchange across different appliances, and better supports artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) thanks to the low latency. In some cases, 5G will offer speeds 100-times faster.

    South Korea became the first country in the world to launch fully-fledged 5G commercial services in April. By June of this year, 5G subscribers in the country had surpassed the 1 million mark, encouraged by aggressive network promotional campaigns, along with Samsung’s new 5G-enabled Galaxy S10 smartphone. Next year, networks will be established in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, initially in dense city environs before moving into smaller population centers. The worldwide rollout is inevitable. An Apple executive has confirmed that some of its next-generation iPhones scheduled for release next year will be 5G enabled.

    “The next chapter of IoT is just beginning,” wrote Carrie MacGillivray, vice-president for IoT and mobility at research house IDC, in a recent report. “We see a shift from digitally enabling the physical to automating and augmenting the human experience with a connected world.” Not surprisingly, that massive increase in speed and response time is delighting gamers, news services, and entertainment broadcasters: graphics or video imagery will be able to be streamed seamlessly in high definition.

    But are retailers ready? How many even understand the potential of the new-generation technology which is set to change our daily lives, let alone are making plans to ride the wave. To imagine the impact 5G will have on retail business, think of every single function of a retail store that becomes digital: the in-store AR experience, the product(s) presented to customers through Omni-channels, the seamless payment gateways, and the logistics required to fulfill customers’ order. Now think of them functioning at 20 times the current speed. That’s 20 times the data transfer rate. Now think of it happening at 100 times the current speed. That is 5G.

    Massive benefits for retailers

    Retailers will discover massive benefits using 5G. To customers, at the start of the process when consumers are researching and purchasing products during the delivery process, the incorporation of 5G and other technologies will, without doubt, uplift their experience. Despite the frustration faced by the early adopters of VR and AR technologies, both consumers and marketers, because of the latency, dropouts and limitations on the imagery definition; the arrival of 5G will eventually enable a seamless, free-moving experience outside a fixed, usually indoor environment.

    The high network speeds will allow a vastly more complex level of engagement between retailers and shoppers. It will allow high-quality imagery, seamless streaming 3D video and personalized product matching, including previews of how a product will look alongside a previous purchase; or for homewares or furniture, for example, inside a living space or office.

    5G also brings transparency. Put simply, faster data means it will soon be easier for your customers to compare your offer with those of your competitors. There won’t be secrets anymore on pricing, product specification, determining suitability for purpose, and more importantly, a store’s credibility – making the reviews from customers after checking out the shopping basket all the more important.

    Price, once a bedrock of customer decision, is being overtaken by value as a leading consideration. Consumers who connect through 5G devices will be able to access as much information as they want online faster than ever before: that includes price comparison sites, product review blog posts, unboxing videos by KOLs. Such content has been available in the past, and more are coming along with the rise of micro-influencers, which has accelerated since 2017. “The advent of 5G is going to be a make-or-break moment for retailers,” says Corey Pierson, co-founder, and CEO of US advanced customer analytics consultancy Custora. “And those that can effectively leverage the data at their disposal only stand to gain.”

    Research by Mintel found consumers lack trust in the online shopping process, a major barrier to online shopping; not just trust in data protection issues, but also the high chance of buying counterfeit products – more than 70 percent of them are sold online, and whether an unbranded product is true to the online description is sometimes also questionable.

    Improved consumer confidence and trust will remove a pain point for shoppers, potentially reducing return rates as well. But to make the most of this opportunity, retailers will have to embrace technologies like AR, VR, chatbots, and video streaming to replicate the in-store shopping experience for customers in a digital environment.

    A synonym of agility

    5G will be a synonym of agility, allowing changes of actions and vast amounts of information to be transmittable in an instant. An order could be canceled while the product is en route to the recipient: warehousing management tools could simultaneously update the inventory records and if there is another order waiting, redirect the product to another customer, sending all relevant details to the delivery driver in a heartbeat.

    With connectivity everywhere, technology like autonomous vehicles that are currently in limited testing in several countries such as Singapore and the US, will soon be commonplace in the major cities worldwide.

    On the other hand, imagine customers being able to see their shipments in real-time via AR through their smartphones, a service more than just the tracking of location thanks to the improved IoT; and logistics companies being able to increase the automation of sorting and delivery of packages, resulting in higher accuracy and speed to reaching the customers. 5G is a key to realizing the future of e-commerce fulfillment.

    5G is an enabler

    As new 5G networks are rolled out in more and more cities, it is imperative that companies embrace technologies based on 5G connectivity to remain competitive and responsive to consumer needs. As more and more consumers purchase and experience 5G devices, their expectations will rise: they will demand the brands and suppliers they deal with are keeping up with them, whether selling products, providing services such as delivery or providing content.

    5G is as much a cornerstone of customer engagement and connectivity in the next decade as smartphones and social media were in the last.

    But it is critical to remember that 5G is an enabler, not a solution in itself.

  • Google shuts down service that helped carriers provide better coverage

    Google shuts down service that helped carriers provide better coverage

    Google has shut down a service that was aimed at helping carriers around the world improve their coverage, by providing them with aggregated data from Android devices. The closure comes at a time of heightened concerns about data privacy across the industry.

    Google’s Mobile Network Insights service was launched in 2017 as a free tool for wireless providers around the world that allowed them to see weak spots in their network coverage. The service was “essentially a map showing carriers signal strengths and connection speeds they were delivering in each area.”

    Thee data shared by Google were aggregated and anonymized, meaning that carriers didn’t get information about individual users, but it was still a valuable tool for providers, as they could see stats about the performance of their network in different regions. The platform also displayed stats relating to competitor services, which were not identified by name.

    The data for Google’s Mobile Network Insights was sourced from devices running Android, which totals to about 75% of the world’s smartphones, but was limited only to users who had “Location History Sharing” and usage and diagnostics enabled on their Google accounts. Despite this, Google opted to discontinue the service in April, without citing any formal reasoning behind the decision. Carriers around the world were simply notified of the closure.

    A Google spokeswoman has confirmed for Reuters that the service is now, indeed, discontinued and that changing “product priorities” was the main driving factor behind the decision. However, people with knowledge of the decision claim that Google’s move was motivated by “concerns about data privacy,” and possibly to avoid further scrutiny from lawmakers.

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  • Vodafone named ‘national retailer of the year’

    Vodafone named ‘national retailer of the year’

    Vodafone was crowned ‘national retailer of the year’ at the Australian Retailers’ Association’s annual awards in Melbourne on Thursday.

    The telecommunications company said it had made significant improvements to its business and customer experience since a low point a few years ago by making common sense decisions and backing its people.

    This was a fitting result, given this year’s theme, ‘Retail Morphosis’, which is all about how retailers adapt to change in order to succeed.

    “Although the retail landscape will continue to be disrupted by emerging technology and international competitors, it is truly gratifying to see the industry filled with hardworking retailers who continue to power retail through innovation and adaption,” Russell Zimmerman, executive director of the ARA, said.

    Retailers including Petstock, Bakers Delight, Birdsnest, Coles Group and Biome were recognised for their achievements in innovation, marketing, customer experience and more. The winners in all 12 categories are listed below.

    The awards took place at Myer Mural Hall on Thursday morning, and featured fashion parade capturing the history of Australian retail from the 1920s to the 1990s, with outfits curated by Myer and hair and make-up created by Chiseled Hair.

    Consumer futurist Amanda Stevens delivered a keynote speech on what the latest consumer research insights reveal about the opportunities for growth in the sector, and host Steve Plarre, CEO of Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses, entertained the audience with a rendition of ‘Uptown Funk’.

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  • AT&T launches 5G service in New York City

    AT&T launches 5G service in New York City

    After Sprint and Verizon, it’s AT&T’s turn to bring 5G to another US city. The carrier has just announced that starting today, customers in New York City will be able to use its 5G service if they own a compatible device.

    However, AT&T’s 5G network won’t cover the entire city and it will be available in limited areas initially. Sadly, unlike other US carriers, AT&T wouldn’t list areas in New York City where customers will be able to access its so-called 5G+ network.

    While our initial availability in NYC is a limited introduction at launch, we’re committed to working closely with the City to extend coverage to more neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs.
    For the time being, select customers in NYC can access AT&T’s 5G+ network using the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G on the carrier’s AT&T Business Unlimited Preferred plan. As such, the AT&T 5G service is only for business customers, at list initially.

    NYC is the 21st city in the US with AT&T 5G, but the carrier announced plans to offer nationwide 5G in the first half of 2020, so there’s more to come.

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  • JD takes stake in Beijing Digital Telecom

    JD takes stake in Beijing Digital Telecom

    Chinese online retail platform JD is acquiring 9 percent of Beijing Digital Telecom.

    The consumer electronics retailer, which operates from around 3000 physical stores throughout China selling predominantly phones and computers, will expand JD’s offline presence within the market, including lower-tier cities.

    The transaction value has not been disclosed, as it falls below the amount that requires public notification under US Securities and Exchanges Commission regulations.

    At the same time, Beijing Digital Telecom is entering a joint venture with a network-technologies developer and provider Suqian Jiashi, which is wholly owned by JD. The firm is investing RMB191 million (US$28.5 million) for a 49 percent stake, while Suqian Jiashi is putting in RMB 204 million ($29.6 million).

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