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November 18, 2019
21:57
Google Maps tests follow feature for local guides
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Google announced plans to trial a new feature for Maps which will allow users to follow posts from so-called local guides, in an apparent effort to make it easier to find relevant recommendations. Like Yelp, the company’s Local Guides programme relies on reviews of restaurants, shops and other local outlets from ordinary people. Google said the new Maps feature will allow users to quickly access recent reviews from their favourite local guides in the app’s For You tab. It added the idea is to inspire users with “ideas of things to do and places to go” as they search for new experiences. The company said it already has 120 million active local guides in 24,000 cities across the globe and will soon launch a pilot of features in nine of those: Bangkok, Delhi, London, Mexico City, New York, Osaka, San Francisco, São Paulo and Tokyo.
20:16
US makes Huawei trade extension official
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The US Department of Commerce (DoC) cemented another 90-day reprieve for Huawei, allowing it to continue trading with domestic companies through mid-February. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement the move will enable operators "to continue to service customers in some of the most remote areas of the United States who would otherwise be left in the dark”. He added the DoC will continue to “rigorously monitor sensitive technology exports to ensure that our innovations are not harnessed by those who would threaten our national security.” The extension marks the third such delay in implementing trade restrictions announced in May [1], which would block Huawei from buying components from US companies. The second reprieve was set to expire Monday (18 November). The new extension runs through 16 February 2020. Other government agencies, however, continue to move forward with separate blockade efforts. This week the US Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote on a measure which would designate Huawei and fellow Chinese vendor ZTE as national security threats and ban the use of government funds to buy their equipment [2]. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
20:09
FCC chief calls for public C-Band auction
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US Federal Communications (FCC) Commission chairman Ajit Pai outlined plans to hold a public auction of spectrum between 3.7GHz and 4.2GHz (C-Band), despite concerns a government-run process could delay the arrival of critical mid-band airwaves to market. A total of 280MHz of spectrum from 3.7GHz to 3.98GHz would be on offer, with an additional 200MHz from 4GHz to 4.2GHz preserved for incumbent satellite services. The FCC recently faced political pressure to hold a public auction despite repeated offers from a group of satellite service providers known as the C-Band Alliance (CBA) to hold a private sale as soon as Q1 2020 [1]. Senior FCC officials said on a call with journalists CBA was ultimately unable to demonstrate it would be able to conduct a fair and transparent auction, pointing to concerns about price transparency and smaller players' ability to compete in a private sale. Worries The FCC is expected to vote on the proposed plan early next year, with the goal of commencing the sale before the end of 2020, the officials said. However, telecom analysts at LightShed Partners expressed doubts about that timeline, arguing in a research note the decision to hold a public sale is “likely to complicate and materially delay the availability of spectrum that has been globally identified as a primary 5G spectrum band”. Specifically, they noted it took a “material amount of time” for the FCC to gain support and develop the auction process for its 2017 sale of 600MHz spectrum, which required it to relocate and compensate incumbent licensees as it would likely have to do in the C-Band. [1] [https:]
17:42
Promotions propel PayPay to latest target
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SoftBank mobile payment JV PayPay hit 20 million users in Japan, with plans in place to continue its frequent promotional campaigns to drive further growth in users and cashless transactions. The service, which is a joint venture between SoftBank and Yahoo Japan, launched in October 2018 and reached 15 million users within the first 12 months of operation [1]. Its latest 5 million users were added in 47 days, during which it undertook a thanksgiving campaign and offer related to its reward points scheme. The activity, PayPay noted, contributed to the increase of users on the system. PayPay will launch a number of promotional schemes over the next month including a reward boost, cashback initiative and lottery for users. Cash heavy Japan had been viewed as a tough market for mobile payment companies. On announcing the launch of PayPay, SoftBank estimated 80 per cent of transactions in the country were made using physical cash. However, authorities are keen to drastically decrease the use of physical currency and have set lofty national targets [2]. In addition to activities by brands including PayPay, several of the country’s providers banded together to form the Mobile Payment Alliance [3] to promote the use of the technology. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:]
17:25
“Intelligent Transport” Speeds up Xining’s Traffic
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PARTNER FEATURE: Nowadays car ownership generally reflects the consumption level of a city while the traffic situation is closely related to an intelligence level of city management. During recent years, Xining has sees rapid economy development and ever rising standards of living. However, its unique terrain of double-cross valley, expanding car ownership, low density of road nets, insufficient branch roads and high density of public transportation network together cause frequent traffic congestion. And each summer, tourists flood in, which adds a great pressure to the traffic. As traffic congestion brings problems such as traffic safety and environment pollution that are top concerns of people, relieving traffic pressure becomes a primary task for Xining Municipal Government. An intelligent transport platform was built based on Xining City Hyper Brain to reduce traffic congestion in an intelligent way. The platform effectively enhances traffic control, which makes the traffic more efficient and safer. As an important part of Xining City Hyper Brain, the intelligent transport platform speeds up traffic for Xining citizens. Till now, all subsystems including traffic command & dispatch, traffic surveillance, traffic information service and traffic analysis have been all rolled out. Traffic lights optimization, cabling, upgrade of magnetometer detection, and networking of 170 intersections controlled by traffic lights were all completed this year. Traffic congestion has been effectively reduced through optimized traffic system settings, making traffic more convenient and efficient for pedestrians and drivers. An intelligent traffic lights regulation subsystem can remotely control traffic flows, and traffic information displays let citizens know the latest traffic condition in time and adjust routes accordingly, which helps relieving traffic congestion. The intelligent traffic surveillance subsystem, based on the Police Geographic Information System (PGIS) and police positioning system, now integrates 2,200 security video surveillance points, 103 off-site illegal parking monitoring points, e-police devices at 42 intersections (totally 161 cameras) and 12 video surveillance subsystems. With video polling, the command center auto-detects traffic abnormalities such as traffic accidents, and the command center staff can dispatch the nearest police through intercom to settle the issues on site 50% faster, thus greatly improving traffic order. According to statistics, at main intersections of downtown areas in Xining, the average stop times is reduced by 25%, the average travel time is reduced by 15%, the congestion duration in rush hours is shortened by 13%, and the traffic efficiency is increased by more than 15%. The intelligent transport platform of Xining City Hyper Brain plays a prominent role in reducing traffic congestion and improving the travel environment for the citizens.
17:22
ZTE Smart Education to Promote Balanced Education Development
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PARTNER FEATURE: When it comes to Inner Mongolia in China, people immediately associate the region with endless prairie, herds of cows and sheep, surging horses, and emotional Mongolian dance. However, because the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has a vast territory and a sparse population and is inconvenient for transportation, it is very difficult for each region, city, and county to carry out exchanges. For example, the distance from the eastern city to the western city is 1500 kilometers, which is very inconvenient for communication and interaction. From 2015 onwards, to fully solve the unbalanced distribution of educational resources and the single traditional education mode, the Education Department of Inner Mongolia created the "Smart Education Cloud" teaching concept. The remote interactive education solution of ZTE is applied to deploying interactive teaching video terminals, the multi-device recording system, and the integrated education resource management platform. Through remote audio and video real-time teaching, multi-device tracking shooting, and live broadcast on demand. Build the unique remote interactive teaching concept in Inner Mongolia. The remote audio and video real-time interaction teaching method brings the distance between schools in the region closer, and the interaction between teachers and students in each school becomes closer. [1] Nowadays, when renowned teachers in urban areas give lectures, students in rural areas can in real time listen to the lectures and ask questions via Interactive Class system. Through real-time remote audio and video communication, the system deployed in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region solved the problem of unbalanced educational resources. Now students in areas lacking of high-end teaching resources can also enjoy high-end lectures. The Interactive Class system greatly improves the teaching level of the whole autonomous region, and is highly praised by students and parents. "Using informatization means to expand the coverage of high-quality education resources. This is a good attempt to promote education equality." said Mr. Bai Xiangqun, vice-chairman of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The education informatization level of the autonomous region has been rapidly improved in recent years. The Internet access rate of primary and secondary schools in the whole region has increased from 35.6% in 2012 to 96%, and 99.4% of schools have multimedia classrooms, which make informatization teaching popular in primary and secondary schools in the Region. In addition, the pattern of applying digital education resources frequently in and out of class has been formed. "The system is very fruitful and receives positive response," said Mr. Zhang Wei, the principal of a secondary school affiliated to Inner Mongolia Normal University. The school shares live lectures with 36 agricultural and pastoral schools located from Hulubel City in the east to Alashan League in the west of the Region, and the lectures received universal praises. As Mr. Zhang said, Interactive Class is an innovation in the Internet Plus era, and will become a new normal in school education. "This is an important step for us to use informatization to promote balanced education development." said Mr. Hou Yuan, director of the Education Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Inner Mongolia government will continuously expand the coverage of high-quality education resources through Interactive Class. Based on professional video teaching products and profound understanding of education field, ZTE has built the Interactive Class system for Education Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The system, covering all 102 counties of the Region, effectively solves the problems of poor education level and unbalanced education development, to promote education equity. [1] [https:]
17:16
Xining City Gets Smarter with A “Hyper Brain”
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PARTNER FEATURE: Xining City Hyper Brain is also called City Brain, and is actually the Xining City Operation Command Center. With trial operation completed in October 2018, it is the first city operation command center in the province. Why does Xining City need a Hyper Brain? Because it can effectively streamline government services, improve traffic efficiency and emergency response efficiency, which are the biggest concerns for citizens. Mobile government service makes people's livelihood more convenient: Accessing government services in Xining City used to be a complicated and time-consuming process involving many service windows. To make government services more easily accessible for the citizens, the Xining Municipal Government launched the “Xining Citizen Hotline” and “Mobile Xining Platform”. The platform consists of service modules including government service, city management and decision making, enabling the citizens to access government services and supervise city operation more easily. The average affair process time is reduced by 40%. Each citizen-reported issue is confirmed by the initiating citizen before being closed. With digital transformation of government services, the citizens become more satisfied with government services, and the efficiency in city management is remarkably improved. Artificial Intelligence makes city traffic more smooth: Xining is a famous tourist city in Northwest of China. From April to September every year, a large number of tourists from other provinces flood into Xining for sightseeing, summer vacation and self-driving tour. This poses a great challenge to the city operation and management of Xining. Xining City Hyper Brain converges the massive video resources of more than 30,000 cameras across the city. Through intelligent video analysis, it detects traffic violations of hundreds of thousands of self-driving tourist vehicles, monitors the density of people in key business circles, analyzes the traffic flow status, and implements precaution and rectification plans, such as traffic signal regulation, temporary closure of roads/areas, reducing traffic pressure and avoiding congestion. After deployment of Xining City Hyper Brain, the average stop times of vehicles in Xining city is reduced by 25%, and the average travel time reduced by 15%, which means smoother traffic and improved image of a tourist city. Intelligent emergency response to disasters more efficiently: Xining is located in the transition zone between the Loess Plateau and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China. It is one of the provincial capitals that are seriously threatened by geological hazards because of its unique natural environment and geographical conditions, which is prone to natural disasters such as landslides, mountain collapse and debris flows. Based on the net of high-spot video surveillance points and patrol through 5G drones, the Xining City Hyper Brain realizes continuous measurement and analysis of key mountain areas, detects suspicious situations and notifies the emergency department and relevant authorities in real time, so that they can take proactive measures such as hidden hazard removal and evacuation rather than after-even handling. The Intelligent Emergency Response Platform realizes full scene, full connection, full integration of field visualization, cross-departmental transparent command, and improves the efficiency of rescue work. In the future, Xining City Hyper Brain, powered by more cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G, will have a sounder architecture, enriched contents, and more intelligent city perceptive neural network to accelerate data convergence and make surveillance, analysis and proactive capability more intelligent. It will continue promoting the transformation from city governance to intelligent city management.
16:54
T-Mobile CEO Legere heads for the door
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John Legere (pictured, right), outspoken head of T-Mobile US, announced plans to step back from his role as CEO at the end of April and hand the reins to COO Mike Sievert (pictured, left), despite ongoing uncertainty about the fate of the operator's pending merger with Sprint. Sievert will take over as president and CEO on 1 May 2020. Legere will remain a member of the T-Mobile’s board. On a call with investors, Legere also announced the promotion of CTO Neville Ray to President of Technology, and the extension of CFO Braxton Carter’s contract to 1 July 2020. Carter was originally expected to leave at the end of 2019 [1]. Legere hailed Sievert as “absolutely the right choice to be the next CEO,” noting he was instrumental in building the operator’s Uncarrier turnaround strategy following his hire as CMO in 2012 and promotion to COO in 2015. “It’s Mike’s time. He’s ready. He’s at the perfect point, he’s done all the work. It’s time for him to lead.” He added the news “changes nothing” about T-Mobile’s pending plan to merge with Sprint, but will help the company answer questions about long-term leadership as it faces off in court next month with state attorney generals aiming to block the deal. Though surprising to some, Legere said the succession plan has been in the works since his appointment as CEO in 2012. He noted the timing of his departure was “always expected to be now, but we always expected for the New T-Mobile to exist about six months ago”. What’s next Legere explicitly denied recent reports he was in talks to take over as head of WeWork [2], but said he was unable to speak out about it last week because of the pending succession announcement. However, he stressed he has no plans to retire and said he’s eyeing other companies in need of a cultural transformation akin to what's been done at T-Mobile. While he’s barred from working for a direct competitor, Legere said there’s little other restriction on where he might go next. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
15:45
Huawei sells out foldable Mate X in China
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Huawei’s Mate X foldable smartphone reportedly sold out minutes after its launch on the Chinese market on 15 November, with the company now planning to release a second batch on 22 November. The device, priced at 16,999 yuan (£1,900), was on sale for a short time on Huawei’s online store and buyers were given a 50 per cent discount for screen repairing or replacing, according to a BBC report. The Chinese smartphone maker started taking domestic orders for its foldable phone on 23 October, despite initially targeting a mid-year launch. The phone release was delayed due to works aiming to improve the flexible display. With the Mate X release, Huawei follows in the steps of rival companies which have already marketed foldable mobile devices. Samsung won the race to be the first vendor to launch a foldable smartphone, with its Galaxy Fold hitting stores on 6 September [1]. Earlier this month, Motorola announced adding foldable display technology to its Razr flip phone [2], which is set to go on sale in the US in December priced $1,500. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
13:25
SoftBank and Line to form $30B company
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SoftBank subsidiary Z Holdings (formerly Yahoo Japan) is to merge with mobile messaging app Line (owned by Naver) in a deal designed to create a $30 billion company capable of competing with US and China tech powerhouses. In a statement, SoftBank said “there is currently a big difference between such overseas companies and those in Japan and other Asian countries, other than China.” A legally binding contract is targeted to be inked in December with the deal to be completed by October next year. Talks have concluded quickly after first reports leaked last week [1]. SoftBank and Naver will each hold a 50 per cent stake in Z Holdings, which will control Line and Yahoo Japan. The deal values Line at $11.5 billion. Line has over 82 million users in Japan according to figures from Statistia for Q3 this year. The app offers an array of services alongside instant messaging such as mobile payment, taxi hailing and music streaming. Yahoo records over 50 million active users, remaining a popular search engine in Japan, while its Western presence has diminished. Together, Line and Yahoo Japan will be able to share engineering resources, access broader sets of data and invest more in areas like artificial intelligence, chief executive officers said in a Tokyo press conference. [1] [https:]
12:53
Germany to seal mobile gaps with €1.1B investment
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The German government will reportedly invest €1.1 billion to close mobile coverage gaps in the country by 2024, with plans to build 5,000 masts through a public infrastructure company. Speaking to German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung, parliamentary state secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Steffen Bilger said the investment will be provided through the country’s digital infrastructure fund “to close almost all deadlocks in Germany”. The newspaper stated the government has also set aside €5 million to launch a public infrastructure company in Q3 2020, which will deploy masts in areas where private companies do not operate at the moment. Germany’s Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer has also reportedly pushed for faster approval procedures for the expansion of mobile infrastructure in the country, as approval procedures in 1,000 locations across the country are currently pending. The announcement comes a week after the three biggest operators in the country agreed to coordinate construction of 6,000 radio sites [1] across Germany. [1] [https:]
12:18
Bharti Airtel walks away from RCom asset sale
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Bharti Airtel accused creditors charged with selling-off assets from bankrupt rival Reliance Communications (RCom) of being extremely unfair and biased as it withdrew a bid to acquire spectrum from the defunct operator, Business Standard reported. In a letter to the committee conducting the sealed auction, Bharti Airtel finance director Harjeet Kohli slammed a decision to extend the bidding deadline by 10 days on request of another interested party, when its similar attempt had been turned down. The operator and infrastructure affiliate Bharti Infratel had already submitted its bids, alongside other parties, when the committee decided to extend the deadline by ten days to 25 November. Although Kohli did not specify which rival had successfully negotiated a later deadline, last week it was widely reported in India Reliance Jio had sought an extension. Prior to falling into the insolvency process [1] RCom had been on the verge of selling tower, fibre and spectrum assets to Reliance Jio as part of a plan to cut its huge debt pile. However, after lengthy wrangling with regulators the potential buyer walked away. As insolvency professionals continue the process of dismantling RCom's telecoms business, Economic Times reported its chairman Anil Ambani had formally resigned from his post. [1] [https:]
12:15
US set to grant Huawei another reprieve
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The US government is preparing to issue another 90-day extension on a licence which allows domestic companies to do business with Chinese vendor Huawei, Reuters reported. The move comes after Reuters reported on Friday (15 November) the government was only in a position to issue a two-week extension, coinciding with the expiration of a previous extension of 90 days which was issued in August and is due to expire today (18 November). [1] However, the situation appears to have changed over the weekend, and it will now grant another 90 day reprieve, said sources. The US government issued a licence which allowed Huawei to buy some US made goods in May, after it added the company to an economic blacklist [2] on national security grounds. The ban prevents the Chinese vendor from sourcing software and components from US companies. US President Donald Trump however indicated earlier this year he would be willing to ease restrictions, and the US Commerce Department is looking at issuing longer-term permits to companies wishing to do business with Huawei on a case-by-case basis. At the start of the month, commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said the government had received 260 applications [3] for these permits, and it would soon issue the first approvals. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:]
10:35
New Zealand’s Spark goes multi-vendor for 5G
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Spark New Zealand announced it shifted to a multi-vendor strategy for its 5G radio access network (RAN) and confirmed Nokia, Samsung and Huawei as preferred equipment suppliers. Rajesh Singh, Spark’s GM of value management, said the company withdrew its original Telecommunications Interception Capability and Security Act (TICSA) application, which proposed a single-vendor 5G RAN strategy, adding the company will work through the TICSA approval process with its other RAN vendors. The operator obtained approval from the government to use Nokia's 5G RAN equipment for its deployment in Alexandra and additional launches in five locations before Christmas. It will also continue to use Cisco and Ericsson for separate elements of its existing network core, which has already been upgraded to ensure it is non-standalone (NSA) 5G capable, it said. Singh added: “We’ve consistently said our approach to 5G will be multi-vendor. A key reason for this is that 5G technology is still emerging and is likely to develop significantly in the next few years, so a mix of vendors makes sense.” Next phase The operator, the second largest operator in the country by subscribers, also outlined the next phases of its 5G launch, committing to rolling out a broader range of 5G services into major centres from mid-2020, subject to spectrum being made available. Mark Beder, technology director at Spark, said: “Our 5G roll out approach is twofold. Firstly, we are advancing our network delivery plans so we can roll out quickly in major centres once the necessary spectrum becomes available. Secondly, we’re innovating by repurposing some of our existing spectrum to deliver 5G wireless broadband in places where it will make a real difference to customers.” In late September the operator turned on 5G service in Alexandra [1] for a limited number of enterprise and consumer customers, with plans to expand the network to an additional five towns by the year-end and other locations in early 2020. Earlier this month, the operator started a 5G trial [2] with the Emirates Team New Zealand sailing team, which it said was an extension of its interactive 5G test lab [3]which opened in November 2018 in Wynyard Quarter in downtown Auckland. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:]
10:28
China Mobile targets 70M 5G users in 2020
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China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator, set a target of signing up 70 million 5G users by the end of 2020, with a planned investment of CNY20 billion ($2.85 billion), China Daily reported. Yang Jie, the state-owned operator’s chairman, said during a conference in Guangzhou its 5G investment over the next five years will reach at least CNY100 billion, the newspaper wrote. Yang said the company will focus on deploying standalone 5G technology. The market leader registered more than 10 million 5G users even before officially launching 5G services [1] at the end of October in parts of 50 cities, along with rivals China Telecom and China Unicom. China Mobile aims to deploy 50,000 5G sites by end-December. GSMA Intelligence forecasts China will have 460 million 5G subscribers by 2025. [1] [https:]
10:21
Vodafone Idea losses soar on regulatory ruling
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Vodafone Idea reported a $7 billion quarterly loss in its fiscal Q2 after booking a huge provision for an adverse regulatory ruling, with the operator posting its fourth consecutive quarterly net loss. After setting aside INR257 billion ($3.59 billion) to cover an expected increase in fees following a high court ruling [1] regarding the definition of adjusted gross revenue (AGR), its net loss soared to INR509 billion. Ravinder Takkar, MD and CEO at India's largest operator, said: “We are in active discussions with the government seeking financial relief. At the same time, we remain highly focused on rapid network integration and 4G coverage and capacity expansion in our key markets.” Over the previous three quarters, the Indian operator had slightly narrowed its losses – in the three months to end-June 2019, it posted a loss of INR48.7 billion [2], down from an INR50 billion loss in its fiscal Q3 and INR48.8 billion in fiscal Q4. Rival Bharti Airtel also provisioned funds to pay the disputed fees and recorded a net loss [3] of INR230 billion in the July to September period. Vodafone Idea’s consolidated revenue in the July to September quarter fell 3.8 per cent sequentially to INR108 billion. Year-on-year comparisons for the quarter are not available, as the merger of Vodafone India with Idea cellular [4] was completed on August 31 2018. Integration progress In a statement, the operator said its merger integration is progressing well and is expected to be completed by fiscal Q1 2021, with opex synergies of INR84 billion targeted to be achieved two years earlier than the initial plan set at the time of the merger announcement in March 2017. The company’s fiscal 2020 capex guidance was cut to INR130 billion from INR170 billion, which was due to lower than expected capacity requirement during the year resulting in capex deferral to the next fiscal year. Capex in the July to September quarter was INR21.4 billion. Its subscriber base continued to decline, with the operator losing 9 million subs sequentially and 111 million year-on-year to end September with 311 million. It added 24.5 million LTE customers, taking its overall 4G subscriber base to 90.3 million. Blended ARPU increased slightly quarter-on-quarter and was up 21.6 per cent from a year ago at INR107 at end-September. Monthly data usage rose to 10.4GB from 8.1GB in the same period in 2018. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:] [4] [https:]
November 15, 2019
19:45
CBA makes fresh bid for C-band sale approval
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Satellite service provider coalition the C-Band Alliance (CBA) offered a cash incentive to the US government, its latest move to quell opposition to a proposed private auction of mid-band spectrum. In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the CBA stated the offer could “provide billions of dollars to the US Treasury”, while also covering satellite operators’ transition costs and ensuring mid-band spectrum considered critical for 5G is swiftly released to mobile operators. The group originally proposed a private sale of 180MHz of spectrum in the 3.7GHz to 4.2GHz band (C-Band), but upped this [1] to 280MHZ in late October in a bid to overcome objections from politicians seeking a public auction. In addition to offering to pay some of the cash raised to the government, CBA also pledged to conduct the auction in Q1 2020. It outlined a formula for contributions ranging from 30 per cent to 75 per cent of net proceeds from the sale. Analysts at New Street Research previously estimated a public C-Band auction could raise as much as $50 billion, given mid-band spectrum is both critical to operators' 5G plans and a limited resource in the US. CBA added it is working with members of Congress to develop a proposal to use some of the money earmarked for the Treasury to fund construction of an open access 5G network for rural broadband, to be deployed by a third party within five years of the sale. The FCC is expected to take action on the C-Band issue before the end of 2019. [1] [https:]
17:51
Orange Bank hails progress 2 years in
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Orange celebrated steady gains in its banking unit two years after its launch [1], and revealed it is poised to open its digital banking offer to the public in Spain. The company said Orange Bank now has more than half a million customers, with new users joining at a pace of more than 20,000 per month. Around 25 per cent of new customers are acquired through loan products, while the remainder sign up for standard bank accounts, it added. It said the services “most appreciated by customers” include mobile payments, SMS money transfers and real-time balance updates. It plans to add support for Google Pay into the mix “soon” for customers with Android devices. Paul de Leusse, CEO of Orange Bank, stated its progress to date “confirmed that we have the right strategy”. Orange Bank initially launched in France, but the company said it expects to rollout a digital banking offer in Spain [2] “in the very near future,” which will include bank accounts, Mastercard cards, Apple Pay and other “innovative functionalities”. It added it also plans to deploy a savings and loan offer in Africa sometime in 2020. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
17:20
Apple slates Germany over payment law
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Apple warned of a security risk to Apple Pay in Germany, after the nation agreed legislation which will require providers of mobile financial services to open access to rivals, Reuters reported. An update to money-laundering protections was agreed this week and is likely to come into force early in 2020, the news agency stated. It will require services including Apple Pay to offer competitors access to their mobile money infrastructure "for a reasonable fee". Apple was reportedly surprised by the speed with which the legistlation was approved, telling Reuters the move could pose a risk to its data protection and security systems. The news outlet noted the legislation was passed despite opposition from Chancellor Angela Merkel's office. Apple relies heavily on its digital wallet service and in October recorded a milestone of 3 billion transactions [1] in its fiscal fourth quarter. The company recently claimed Apple Pay was growing four-times faster than rival electronic payment service PayPal. [1] [https:]
14:25
BT demos remote 5G healthcare use cases
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BT provided an update to its 5G healthcare technology at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) in the UK, showcasing VR and AR technology used in an ambulance based two miles away. Adding to remote-controlled ultrasound [1] capabilities revealed in June, a clinician was equipped with a VR headset to remotely view a dummy patient, medical records and vital signs, to make a diagnosis. With these use cases, BT and clinicians argue patients are diagnosed faster and surgical theatres can be prepped in advance if needed. The techniques can also cut queues for emergency services and reduce outpatient attendance. UHB chief executive David Rosser said 5G offers "the potential to create more efficient use of healthcare resources, particularly with regards to easing the burden on Accident and Emergency services which are facing unprecedented demand". Wider potential Fotis Karonis, CTIO of BT Enterprise and the operator's 5G adviser (pictured, centre), said the service can be deployed in rural areas when standalone networks are widely available. He earmarked dynamic spectrum sharing [2], a technology enabling LTE and 5G NR to operate simultaneously, as a key driver. He said the UK has “a great head start” compared with other Western European countries in terms of employing 5G for healthcare, because other markets are still at the spectrum auction phase. Karonis added 2G spectrum will also be refarmed for 4G and 5G networks to improve data rates. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
12:40
Telecom Italia to sell part of Vodafone tower joint unit
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Telecom Italia CEO Luigi Gubitosi told an investor conference the operator would look to sell an unspecified stake in a mobile tower business being created with Vodafone Italy, to tap growing interest in the sector from financiers, Reuters reported. At the Morgan Stanley Tech, Media and Telecom conference, which took place in Barcelona this week, Gubitosi explained there is a “large pool” of investors moving to “alternative” sectors due to low returns on bonds, providing a substantial pot of money for infrastructure moves. Telecom Italia and Vodafone agreed a deal to merge their Italian towers [1] in July, a move tipped to boost deployment of 5G. The deal involves Vodafone transferring its assets into tower business Inwit, which is 60 per cent owned by Telecom Italia. The pair will hold equal, controlling stakes of 37.5 per cent, with the option to reduce their holdings to 25 per cent after three years. Reuters noted the move is yet to be cleared by the European Commission, adding Inwit CEO Giovanni Ferigo recently said completion is expected in H1 2020. [1] [https:]
11:45
Orange prepares for tower split
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Orange began preparing to separate its mobile tower assets into a separate entity, following a trend among fellow European operators to cash-in on investor interest in telecoms infrastructure, Financial Times (FT) reported. Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the French operator will update on its tower plan at an investor day on 4 December. Speaking to FT, Morgan Stanley analyst Emmet Kelly estimated Orange’s towers generate earnings of around €600 million per year and a potential spin-off would be valued at between €8 billion and €10.3 billion. Orange operates 59,000 towers across its footprint in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, including 15,000 in home market France. It also shares towers with Vodafone in Spain and Deutsche Telekom in Poland. A deal with Orange would likely interest Spain-based tower specialist Cellnex and a host of private equity and infrastructure funds, FT suggested. Both Vodafone Group [1] and Deutsche Telekom [2] have separated towers from their core businesses as a way to raise capital, while Telefonica also recently outlined plans [3] to raise cash from its assets. Orange’s domestic rival Altice raised €2.5 billion in 2018 by selling 49 per cent of its tower business to investment fund KKR. [4] [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:] [4] [https:]
11:30
Mobile Mix: RAN in the Dam
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This week Justin is in Amsterdam for Facebook's TIP Summit, as Vodafone outlined ambitions to shake-up the network vendor market. In London, Chris is with OnePlus, which showed off a novel approach to piano playing, and Yanitsa has the news.
9:57
Google brings RCS to Android in the US
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Google expanded on earlier rollouts [1] of rich communication services (RCS) in the UK, France and Mexico with plans to offer the platform to users of its Messages app in the US. Android device users in the country will be prompted to enable the new chat feature in the coming weeks, with RCS expected to be broadly available in the country by the end of 2019, the company said. Google noted the move is part of a larger campaign to offer RCS to all Messages users around the world. However, the US launch is timely, coming as operators prepare to launch [2] their own messaging platform using the protocol in 2020. While the company didn’t mention the operator initiative by name, it said it is “committed to working with our partners, including carriers and device makers, to provide a consistent and interoperable experience” for RCS users on Android. RCS is a messaging platform forged by fusing the capabilities of SMS with OTT services. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
9:34
Sprint steps up carbon targets
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US operator Sprint set a trio of new sustainability targets aimed at slashing corporate and electronic waste, and neutralising its carbon footprint, in response to increasing concerns about the impacts of climate change. The operator committed to purchase all electricity used for operations across its retail stores, offices, call centres and network sites from renewable sources by 2025. It noted two renewable energy agreements already in place with Duke Energy Renewables and Apex Clean Energy’s White Mesa Wind farm will help offset 30 per cent of its carbon emissions by 2021, and said it will continue evaluating alternative energy investments and purchasing agreements to meet its goal. Sprint also outlined plans to divert 50 per cent of operational waste from landfill by 2025 by leveraging programmes such as composting and recycling, and reuse or recycle 100 per cent of electronic waste. The moves come as operators increasingly come face-to-face with the impacts of climate change [1]. With its new commitments, Sprint CEO Michel Combes stated the company is one of many taking “immediate and bold action” to address the situation. Other operators in the country previously unveiled similar goals, with T-Mobile US aiming to use 100 per cent renewable energy by 2021 and Verizon committing to go carbon neutral by 2035. In September, Sprint was among more than 50 leading operators which signed on to a GSMA-led climate action initiative [2], with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
9:19
True profit surges on one-off gains
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True Group booked a sharp increase in net profit for the third quarter on one-off items and pointed to the mobile sector as the growth driver, despite falling ARPU. Net profit jumped to THB2.88 billion ($95.2 million), compared with THB99 million in Q3 2018, due to an asset sale [1] to the Digital Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund and a one-off impairment charge. Excluding the non-recurring items, the company incurred a loss of THB500 million in the period. Consolidated service revenue rose 1 per cent year-on-year to THB26.6 billion, as gains in mobile were mostly offset by a double-digit decline in its IPTV business and flat fixed broadband revenue. Mobile strength Continued subscriber growth with higher mobile data revenue fuelled a 2.1 per cent increase in service revenue to THB19.3 billion. Product sales more than doubled to THB7.4 billion. In a statement, the operator said market competition on the post-paid side was quite stable as it focused on pre- to post-paid migration and pricing optimisation, while acknowledging the prepaid market remains challenging with rivals offering competitive unlimited and big volume plans to attract customers. To improve growth, True said it plans to introduce customised offers to better match consumers’ preferences and usage in each segment, while adding value through more popular content and pre- to post-paid upgrades. Its subscriber base increased 4.5 per cent to 30.1 million, on the back of 9.4 per cent growth in post-paid to 8.1 million customers. Prepaid ARPU slipped 1.7 per cent to THB117, while post-paid ARPU was down 1.3 per cent to THB468. [1] [https:]
9:06
Airtel posts $4B loss on AGR provision
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Bharti Airtel recorded a massive loss for its fiscal Q2 after making a near $4 billion provision to cover an expected increase in fees following a high court ruling regarding the definition of adjusted gross revenue (AGR). Last month, India's Supreme Court affirmed the Department of Telecommunications’ position that AGR should cover all revenue [1], including non-telecoms related activities. At the time, Airtel said the judgement would hurt the viability of the sector, which is burdened by huge debt. In a statement, Airtel said while it hopes the government will reconsider the decision given the fragile state of the industry, it had already set aside INR284.5 billion ($3.96 billion) for what it estimates it will owe in unpaid licence fees and spectrum usage charges. Gopal Vittal, Airtel’s MD and CEO for India and South Asia, said it continues to engage with the government and is evaluating various options available. The one-off charge resulted in a net loss of INR230 billion in the July to September period, with consolidated revenue rising 4.9 per cent year-on-year to INR211 billion. Vittal said in India it posted positive revenue growth on the back of various initiatives, and “we continue to witness strong data traffic growth of about 81 per cent year-on-year and added about 8 million 4G customers on our network during the quarter”. He noted the company will require significant additional financing to discharge its obligations under the judgement: “This represents a material uncertainty whereby, it may be unable to realise its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business, and accordingly may cast significant doubt on the group's ability to continue as a going concern.” Rebound The court decision followed the beginnings of a recovery in India, with revenue increasing 5.7 per cent to INR154 billion, driven by 7.4 per cent growth mobile turnover to INR108 billion. ARPU increased 28.4 per cent to INR128. Its mobile user base dropped 15 per cent from a year earlier to 279 million. Monthly data usage per customer jumped to 13.1GB from 9.22GB. Africa Revenue in Africa increased 12.6 per cent to $853 million, with data revenue growing 39.7 per cent to $229 million. Its subscriber base grew 10.4 per cent to 104 million, while ARPU rose 2.4 per cent to $2.80. Airtel Money revenue increased 50.9 per cent to $79 billion, with the number of active customers increasing 20 per cent to 15.5 million. [1] [https:]
8:32
Airtel stake delivers wrong kind of first for Singtel
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Singtel posted its first quarterly loss after being hit by a one-time charge recorded by Bharti Airtel, with the Singaporean operator's revenue in its fiscal Q2 also dipping due to continued mobile weakness in its key domestic and Australian markets. The operator recorded a net loss of SGD668 million ($490 million) in the July to September quarter after booking an exceptional loss of SGD1.93 billion for its share of a provision made by Airtel for an adverse regulatory ruling [1]. Singtel holds a 35 per cent interest in Airtel. The loss reversed a net profit of SGD667 million in the same period of 2018. Excluding the charge, Singtel’s profit was up 4 per cent year-on-year. Operating revenue dipped 3 per cent to SGD4.15 billion, which was due in part to a 6 per cent depreciation in the Australian dollar. In a statement, Singtel Group CEO Chua Sock Koong said: “Notwithstanding the court ruling, Airtel has made positive strides in the wake of the recent industry consolidation, gaining market share, and increasing mobile service revenue for a third straight quarter.” She added the weak global economic environment had affected the industry. “While we expect current challenging conditions to continue into 2020, we will invest to strengthen our market position, enhance our core networks and build strategic capabilities to capture growth, and be 5G-ready.” Its regional associates, particularly AIS in Thailand and Globe Telecom in the Philippines, recorded strong revenue growth in the quarter, with pre-tax profit contributions increasing 36 per cent to SGD414 million. Key markets Overall consumer revenue in Singapore rose 1.7 per cent to SGD563 million, with a 24 per cent increase in equipment sales to SGD162 million offsetting a 5.2 per cent decline in mobile service turnover to SGD244 million. Prepaid and post-paid ARPU fell 6.6 per cent and 11.9 per cent to SGD17 and SGD39 respectively. Its mobile subscriber base increased 3.1 per cent to 4.25 million. In Australia mobile revenue declined 3.7 per cent to AUD1.3 billion ($883 million) as service and equipment revenue fell 3.6 per cent and 11.3 per cent respectively. Data accounted for 84 per cent of service revenue, up from 79 per cent. The company said mobile price increases were introduced in August, so the full impact of the price uplift is expected only in the later quarters. It also noted an increase in the mix of SIM-only plans and data price competition continued to impact mobile service ARPU, which was down 6.8 per cent to AUD29. Optus' subscriber base inched up 1.2 per cent to 10.3 million. Revenue in Singtel's Digital Life unit decreased 7.6 per cent to SGD289 million, with lower spending by digital marketing arm Amobee’s clients in its managed media, social and email businesses. Amobee’s programmatic platform business continued to grow, while EBITDA improved due to cost reductions. The company expects consolidated revenue for the full fiscal year to be stable, while capex is forecast at SGD2.1 billion, the bulk of which associated with Optus. [1] [https:]
November 14, 2019
13:46
Google plots deeper financial service push
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Google opened talks with banks and credit providers in the US to offer current accounts to Google Pay users, further boosting the range of services it offers in the sector. In a statement, Google said it planned to partner to offer accounts it described as “smart", comprised of general bank services provided by finance providers and a range of money management tools. Its initial lead partners on the project are Citibank and Stanford Federal Credit Union. Details on the launch were sparse, though the company confirmed accounts would be provided within the Google Pay brand already used for its mobile payment and online wallet services. A Google representative said it was "exploring how we can partner with banks and credit unions in the US" on accounts, "helping their customers benefit from useful insights and budgeting tools, while keeping their money in an FDIC [Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation] or NCUA [National Credit Union Administration]-insured account”. The move would be a significant boost to Google’s consumer finance play, which it ramped across several markets [1] since bringing its various payment products [2] under one banner in early 2018. It is also a further sign of huge US tech and software companies increasing the scope of their financial services. Earlier this week Facebook unveiled a new payments brand [3] which will operate across its social media apps, while Apple brought a credit card to market in partnership with Goldman Sachs [4] in March. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:] [4] [https:]
13:21
Telefonica exec supports consolidation in Spain
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Telefonica Group COO Angel Vila backed mergers and acquisitions in the Spanish telecoms market, where takeover speculation had been prevalent, Reuters reported. The executive was speaking at the Morgan Stanley European Technology, Media and Telecoms conference in Barcelona. “We would be supportive of consolidation of the Spanish market if that scenario were to take place,” he reportedly said while making reference to recent media reports on rivals. Last month MasMovil and Vodafone Spain denied reports they were discussing a merger [1], buyout or joint venture. This was again refuted by Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read at a press conference discussing its fiscal H1 2020 earnings: “We are not in talks with anyone, we have never proposed any price for that business we’ve been very focused on turning around that business. This quarter’s results show the hard work we’ve done over the last 12 months.” The Spanish market proved difficult for operators: in July 2018, former Vodafone chief Vittorio Colao labelled it “challenging” due to increased competition. In August, Vodafone denied discussions it was looking to sell its fixed unit [2], despite previously detailing plans to cut up to 1,200 jobs [3], a fifth of its Spanish workforce. Telefonica also cut staff [4] this year by offering early retirement to employees over 53 years old as part of measures to slash its massive debt. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:] [4] [https:]
November 12, 2019
18:00
Google ups Singapore payment play with bank deals
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Singaporean financial services providers OCBC Bank and DBS Bank announced separate agreements with Google to integrate their payments systems with Google Pay in the city state. The deal with OCBC Bank is designed to pave the way to rollout of peer-to-peer payments direct from customer accounts using an upgraded version of Google Pay in January 2020. Currently the bank only offers compatibility to corporate customers. In its statement, OCBC said it would be the first in the country to allow direct account-to-account transfers using the Google app. The internet giant’s agreement with DBS Bank is expected to lead to integration of the bank’s PayLah! mobile wallet application with Google Pay. This, the two said, would enable cash transfer and payments at 80,000 merchants in the country. DBS Bank's business account, American Express and platinum debit card are already compatible with the service. Google Pay compatibility is available through several rivals in Singapore, but currently it require the registration of a debit or credit card to make payments online or in store. These new deals offer direct payments without the need for card registration with Google.
17:23
Instagram takes on TikTok with new video feature
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Facebook debuted a new video editing tool for Instagram users in Brazil, TechCrunch reported, as the company looks for ways to better compete with short-form video app TikTok. Available on both iOS and Android, the so-called Reels tool mimics some of TikTok’s popular features, allowing users to add music to 15-second video clips. TechCrunch stated tunes can be sourced from a catalogue or other videos, "to create a remix". Clips can be posted in Instagram's existing Stories feature, in a message, or in a section of the Explore tab called Top Reels. The launch in Brazil comes nearly two months after independent researcher Jane Manchun Wong spotted the unreleased tool in the app’s code. She noted in a blog post Instagram appeared to have been working it since early July. Robby Stein, Instagram’s director of product management, told TechCrunch “sharing video with music is a pretty universal idea we think everyone might be interested in using”. The move comes as Facebook looks to battle TikTok’s rising popularity (data from Sensor Tower showed it had 1.27 billion worldwide downloads as of July), and as the app faces intense scrutiny from US officials [1] over data security concerns. [1] [https:]
17:05
Orange adds affordable 4G phone to MEA markets
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Orange unveiled plans to launch an affordable 4G feature phone in seven countries in Africa and the Middle East in December, in an attempt to expand its services and offer internet access to less well-connected regions. At the AfricaCom congress, taking place in South Africa this week, Orange stated it would first launch the Sanza XL in Botswana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Jordan, Mali and Senegal, with other countries to be added in 2020. The operator partnered with mobile phone brand itel and KaiOS Technologies to produce the phone, which is an updated version of a non-4G model named Sanza launched earlier this year. Priced at around $28, Sanza XL runs KaiOS and provides access to “over two hundred essential applications”, including WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Google Assistant and Boomplay. It also features the operator's Orange Money service, the company stated. It sports a 2.8-inch display (larger than the original), 2MP camera, 4GB of memory and “excellent battery life of up to seven days depending on usage”, the operator said. The announcement comes six months after KaiOS Technologies announced aggressive expansion plans [1] across the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, with the aim to take its user base to 150 million by the end of the year. [1] [https:]
14:24
EC clears Telia acquisition of Bonnier Broadcasting
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The European Commission (EC) green-lit Telia’s acquisition of Bonnier Broadcasting [1] for SEK9.2 billion ($947 million), after the Swedish operator offered concessions to placate competition concerns. In a statement, Telia said it will licence Bonnier Broadcasting’s free-to-air, basic channels and premium sports channels to TV distributors in Sweden and Finland; licence standalone OTT media services rights to other market players; fairly sell advertising space to rival operators, broadband providers and TV distributors; and licence the Liiga ice hockey channel package to Finnish distributors. Telia offered the concessions [2] two months ago, as it sought to assuage the EC's concerns. The body opened an investigation into the deal earlier this year, which competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said aimed to ensure the deal would not result in price rises and less TV channel choices for consumers. The acquisition is expected to generate a run-rate of SEK600 million in 2022 with all 1,200 Bonnier Broadcasting employees across Sweden, Finland and Denmark to be integrated by 2021. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
13:55
Telkom throws hat back in the ring for Cell C
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Telkom South Africa re-emerged as a contender to acquire debt-ridden rival Cell C, Bloomberg reported. Sources told the news agency the fresh bid comes as talks with fellow rival MTN are advanced, and another option is available from local investor group Buffet Consortium, which acquired a minority stake in Cell C from Blue Label Telecoms earlier this year. Cell C apparently made no comment about Telkom's renewed interest, telling Bloomberg only that it remained focused on a restructuring programme, "implementing a revised network strategy and improving overall liquidity". But, it added it would carefully evaluate options which would boost its "long-term viability". Telkom told the news service it is in talks with an acquisition target, but did not name the company involved. Bloomberg's sources said Telkom would assume all control of Cell C’s operations and prioritise a plan to reduce its massive ZAR9 billion ($607 million) debt, which it has laboured with. In October, MTN South Africa CEO Godfrey Motsa said the nation's economy could be damaged if Cell C folded, and expressed interest in acquiring the ailing operator [1]. A deal was also reportedly “imminent” with the world’s largest operator, China Mobile [2]. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
13:29
Apple bans Instagram tracking app
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Apple removed an app designed to notify users of other people’s activity on Instagram, stating it violated its App Store guidelines, CNET reported. The Like Patrol app was able to scrape public data from Instagram profiles, informing users of activity on accounts including likes and comments on posts. Like Patrol founder Sergio Luis Quintero told CNET the company plans a swift appeal of Apple’s decision, stating it "strongly" believes it is not in breach of App Store rules. He argued an activity tracking feture recently removed by Instagram [1] meant the social media platform itself would have "violated the exact same policies" between 2011 and 2019. Instagram reportedly also targeted Like Patrol, issuing a cease-and-desist order in October. [1] [https:]
13:14
MobiledgeX hails potential of edge technology
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INTERVIEW: Jason Hoffman, president and CEO of MobiledgeX (pictured), a Deutsche Telekom subsidiary, tipped commercial edge compute deployments to take off in 2020, giving operators access to new revenue streams. Hoffman told Mobile World Live the company serves application and device developers, using its relationships with operators to help them deploy new use cases at the network edge, covering multiple countries and operators. The company agreed partnerships with more than a dozen operators across the globe, opening “previously unexposed infrastructure assets” at the network edge including core, access and transport sites. So far, the company has enjoyed more success in Europe than the US, where a greater number of tower operating companies poses some challenges around "who actually owns" the sites and where responsibility for upgrading equipment lies. He explained the benefits of mobile edge computing apply equally to tower companies as operators which still control their own sites, noting the technology had enabled a fresh bout of innovation from third-party players, and brought in new devices (such as drones and industrial robotics), use cases and revenue streams to the network. The executive also discussed MobiledgeX's future plans, a major focus on converting trials into commercial launches. Click here [1] to view the full interview. [1] [https:]
13:09
Iliad boss commits €1.4B to share buyback
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French operator Iliad detailed a buyback offer worth €1.4 billion, a move fully financed by the company’s billionaire founder Xavier Niel (pictured), as he offered frustrated shareholders a way out following recent quarterly declines. In a statement issued alongside its Q3 results, Iliad said the buyback offer would involve around 11.7 million shares, amounting to 19.7 per cent of the company’s capital, at a price of €120 per share. The move gives “shareholders the opportunity of having cash returned to them, with a significant 38 per cent premium” on Iliad’s volume weighted average share price over the last three months, it stated. Niel, who shook up the French mobile market in 2012 with cut price offers through his Free Mobile venture, offered to finance the move rather than tender his own holding, with a share issue representing the same amount as the offer open to all Iliad shareholders used as a guarantee. His stake currently stands at 52.1 per cent and, in the absence of offers from new shareholders, Niel could up this to 72 per cent. In a call with analysts, Niel said he continued to back the company's strategy and was keen to increase his exposure to the group, while noting frustrations among certain shareholders, as an ongoing price war in France hit profitability and more than halved Iliad's share price over the past two years. Q3 numbers Consolidated group revenue in Q3 hit €1.3 billion, up 8.1 per cent year-on-year, with sales in home market France increasing 3.3 per cent to €1.2 billion. The company said the French market was “still fiercely competitive”, but less so than in 2018, as it benefitted from a successful repositioning of its commercial offerings and faster fibre rollouts. Revenue from Free’s mobile operations grew 6.3 per cent to €524 million. In Italy, revenue also improved, from €46 million to €109 million, with Iliad gaining further traction with its brand in the country following its launch in May 2018 [1]. Iliad does not provide quarterly profit figures. [1] [https:]
12:45
Vodafone chief vows to end India losses
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Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read (pictured) slammed the critical status of India's mobile industry, blaming the performance of its local joint venture and the result of a regulatory decision for continued losses in its fiscal H1 2020. On an analyst call, Read said the company had no obligation to fund further losses by India joint venture Vodafone Idea, and promised to stop putting group funds into the country, given a regulatory judgement on fees [1] which went against the industry last month. He described the situation for Vodafone Idea and the industry in the country as "critical", adding the JV had sought relief from the government, including requesting a waiver on interest and penalties related to the Supreme Court's decision on adjusted gross revenue fees. The potentially massive additional costs faced by the unit add to long-running price pressures in India. Vodafone Group's €1.9 billion net loss in the six months to end-September compared with a loss of €7.8 billion in fiscal H1 2019, although the latter figure included the cost of stripping Vodafone India out of its results, writing down the value of the unit and a number of other one-off charges. Group revenue was broadly flat at €21.9 billion. Outside of its liabilities in India, Read said the company had improved the “consistency of our commercial performance” in Europe and through Africa subsidiary Vodacom, which reported yesterday [2]. Savings The executive added the business was on track to meet its strategies of cutting costs through improved asset utilisation, including by signing network sharing deals, and was in the process of creating a new company [3] to house its towers in Europe. Following the completion of its acquisition of Liberty Global’s cable assets across five markets in August [4], Read said Vodafone had made a “fast start” on integrating the units into its core business. Vodafone expects to have begun rebranding the units within six months. The operator is targeting €563 million worth of annual cost and capex savings by the end of its 2025 financial year (to end-March 2025). [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:] [4] [https:]
10:54
Blog: Will T-Mobile keep its merger promises?
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T-Mobile US made a lot of promises lately. In an effort to win over state and federal regulators to secure approval for its proposed merger with Sprint the operator has made a tonne of commitments. To date, these include a series of coverage and pricing pledges [1] to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); asset divestiture promises to the Department of Justice (DoJ) [2]; and individual 5G coverage plans for Mississippi and Colorado [3]. Facing a continued challenge from state legal officials opposed to the deal, the operator last week made a trio of fresh pledges [4], outlining plans to offer new low-cost mobile tariffs, ten years of free access for emergency services, and five years of free home broadband for 10 million underprivileged children, provided of course the merger goes through. But is it actually possible for T-Mobile to keep these commitments? And, more importantly, will it? Promises, promises The answer to the first appears to be yes. On a call announcing the latest initiatives, T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray explained the addition of Sprint’s deep mid-band spectrum assets to its portfolio will provide a 14-times increase in capacity and 10-times uplift in network speeds, providing more than enough room on the network for it to serve everyone it made promises to. COO Mike Sievert added the newly announced initiatives, including the low-cost price plans, were already factored into the company’s post-merger guidance and will have no impact on the $43 billion in expected synergies from the deal. Some expressed scepticism the so-called New T-Mobile will follow through. For instance, technology journalist Karl Bode warned on Twitter “pre-merger promises are almost always empty” and predicted the latest pledges would “evaporate in about two years, just as pink slips arrive”. However, CEO John Legere (pictured, left) noted on the call the company’s commitments to government entities come with “serious penalties” if it doesn’t perform. He added the operator is willing to acquiesce to such penalties “because we’re not fooling around”. Indeed, T-Mobile is on the hook for $2.4 billion should it fail to meet its obligations to the FCC, and another $80 million if it falls short of coverage commitments in Colorado. It could also face additional fines and other enforcement action from the DoJ and state of Mississippi if it doesn’t follow through. William Ho, an analyst at 556 Ventures, told Mobile World Live he doesn’t see much “wiggle room” for T-Mobile to retract or scale back what he called a “very bold and public set of moves”. In any event, he added T-Mobile has a history of meeting its previous commitments and Uncarrier promises. GlobalData principal analyst Lynette Luna acknowledged merger promises don't always come to fruition, but said she would be surprised if New T-Mobile doesn't follow through, if only because "offering free service and yanking it away would result in some pretty bad publicity" for the new company. However, she cautioned "the devil is always in the details," adding the operator could implement "fine-print restrictions that weren’t initially revealed that could limit the scope of some of these promises". Self interest But Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics, argued the operator has another, much more compelling incentive to stick to its word, namely the moves announced are in its own best interest. Entner explained building the planned high-capacity network will allow T-Mobile to slash the cost per gigabyte, letting it launch aggressive offers to beat the competition without digging a hole for itself. For example, he noted the operator’s low-cost tariff offering 2GB of data for $15 per month “messes with MVNOs, it messes with Dish [Network] and it messes with cable” since such rivals have to pay for network access by the gigabyte and can’t compete without eating into their financials. Similarly, he added T-Mobile’s offer of free mobile access for emergency services will likely hurt AT&T and Verizon’s business in the segment, regardless of how quickly it scales the operation. “We don’t know how many people they will on-board, it might be a lot or it might be a little. But we know that all of them will go and ask Verizon and AT&T for a cut and that hurts them, especially AT&T where Elliott [Management] is breathing down their neck [5] about profitability.” Entner said for him, the most recent announcements raise a different question: “It’s a very, very smart move but it’s so much. You have to wonder why do they feel that they have to sweeten the pot so much.” The editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:] [4] [https:] [5] [https:]
10:36
Google reveals gaming line up
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Google fleshed out plans for its new Stadia gaming platform [1], announcing a dozen titles will be available when the service launches on 19 November. The company said in a blog the platform, which will allow users to play across their laptops, TVs, tablets and smartphones, will initially include 12 “carefully-chosen games on day one”. The goal is to offer “something for everyone," with “titles spanning multiple genres and age ratings”. Fighter games Mortal Kombat 11 and Samurai Shodown made the cut, as did dance rhythm title Just Dance 2020, spooky puzzle game Gylt, big name action title Assasin’s Creed Odyssey and a trio of Tomb Raider offerings, among others. An additional 14 games will be released before the end of the year, it added. Along with third-party titles, Google also plans to make some of its own games, last month announcing the creation of a new Stadia Gaming and Entertainment studio in Montreal. [1] [https:]
10:03
WeWork considers T-Mobile CEO Legere for top job
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T-Mobile US CEO John Legere (pictured) was mooted as one of several contenders to take over shared workspace company WeWork, as it seeks to rebuild following a messy departure of former co-founder and chief Adam Neumann in September. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported WeWork, now majority-owned by Sprint parent SoftBank, opened discussions with Legere and aims to install a new CEO as soon as January 2020. CNBC and The New York Times reported Legere is one of a number of executives being considered for the position. Neumann resigned after coming under pressure following a failed attempt to list the company on the US stock exchange. SoftBank subsequently agreed a $9.5 billion bailout of the struggling company, in return for an 80 per cent stake and the installation of its COO (and former Sprint CEO) Marcelo Claure on the board. WSJ noted Legere's successful turnaround of Deutsche Telekom's US operation as a factor in his potential candidacy with WeWork. The executive was originally expected to lead the combined T-Mobile and Sprint, but this has been delayed by more than a year: his current contract expires in April 2020. Legere was recently asked about his long-term plans, but offered no clear answer, instead highlighting the steady leadership of COO and president Mike Sievert, who is regarded as heir apparent [1]. [1] [https:]
9:36
Thai operators keep 2G alive
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Operators in Thailand backtracked on a plan to decommission their 2G networks, telling the nation’s regulator they would continue to deliver services to avoid potential problems for customers, Bangkok Post reported. AIS, True Move and dtac had petitioned the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) in 2018 to allow them to terminate the networks to use the spectrum for other services. A mandate to do so was issued in January with the shutdown scheduled for October. But the trio had a change of heart, prompting the NBTC to scrap the move. NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith told Bangkok Post the operators are likely to revisit the plan in a few years, noting they would have to prepare to migrate customers to their 3G and 4G networks. GSMA Intelligence figures showed AIS had 864,000 2G subscribers at end-September (2 per cent of its total base), True Move 510,000 and dtac 325,000. Pisut Ngamvijitwong, a senior analyst of Kasikorn Securities, told the newspaper he was surprised by the reversal, noting 2G services generate only about THB100 ($3.29) per subscriber per month. AIS runs 2G service on the 900MHz band, while True Move and dtac use the 1800MHz band. The urgency for refarming those bands diminished since all three operators acquired 2x10MHz blocks in the 700MHz band [1] in June. [1] [https:]
8:40
Vivo dominates nascent China 5G market
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Shipments of 5G smartphones in China reached nearly half a million units in the third quarter, despite the country’s three major mobile operators not officially launching 5G services [1] until the end of October, IDC reported. The operators started signing up 5G customers in September, and by early October reportedly registered more than 10 million users [2]. They received their commercial licences [3] from the government in June. IDC placed 5G device shipments at 485,000 units, the majority of which were high-end flagship models (see chart below, click to enlarge), though the company also noted activity in lower price bands. [4]Vivo gained an early lead after releasing a high-end model for more than $700 and a lower-priced device in the $450 to $550 range. It garnered a 54.3 per cent share of 5G shipments in the July to September period, following by Samsung (29 per cent), Huawei (9.5 per cent), Xiaomi (4.6 per cent), ZTE (1.5 per cent) and China Mobile (1.1 per cent). Huawei and Samsung focused on the high-end segment, while ZTE and China Mobile offered devices in the $600 to $650 range. Growing demand Following the commercial launch, demand for 5G devices is expected to accelerate rapidly. GSMA Intelligence forecasts China will have 460 million 5G subscribers by 2025, accounting for 36 per cent of the worldwide total. Last week, Vivo Telecom Research Institute GM Qin Fei said it plans to release at least five 5G models [5] in 2020 with a heavy focus on the mid-tier and the goal of launching devices in China priced from CNY2,000 ($286). [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:] [4] [https:] [5] [https:]
November 11, 2019
18:54
Apple edges toward AR hardware launch
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Apple could make a long-anticipated move into the AR device segment in 2022, at least two years later than dates mooted recently by analysts, The Information reported. The news outlet stated Apple chiefs discussed its plans at a closed-door meeting with staff last month. The vendor plans to launch an AR headset in 2022, followed by glasses in 2023, it stated, noting the timings are somewhat behind recent predictions for the move. In a related report, CNBC cited a tip by prominent Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in October that the vendor would enter the AR hardware market in 2020 as an example of the slide in its timeline. However, the timing of the prediction is unclear, meaning it may have come before the internal meeting. The vendor stoked the rumour mill in February when Bloomberg reported it named long-time executive Frank Casanova as its first ever head of marketing [1] for AR products. Apple's headset, codenamed N301, is expected to be similar in size to Facebook’s Oculus Quest VR unit, and will not require a computer to be used. The glasses (N421) are tipped to be smaller. Both are likely to feature cameras to scan surrounding environments, with overlays of objects or information. In August, analyst company CCS Insight forecast VR and AR headset shipments will hit 14.7 million units in 2019, a 76 per cent year-on-year rise. Senior analyst Leo Gebbie said “We believe the time is right for standalone devices such as the Oculus Go and Oculus Quest to take the market by storm.” [1] [https:]
18:16
Regulator to probe Apple Card discrimination claims
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A US financial regulator vowed to investigate claims from prominent technology industry figures that Apple’s branded credit card offered women a lower credit limit than men. In a blog, superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services Linda Lacewell said the regulator would probe “what may have gone wrong, and if the algorithm used by Apple Card did indeed promote unlawful discrimination we will take appropriate action”. Her comments follow a social media storm where David Heinemeier Hansson, co-founder of online software development company Basecamp, slated Apple and its partner on the credit card project [1] Goldman Sachs, for running a “sexist programme” after discovering he was being offered “20-times the credit limit” of his wife. This discrepancy, he added, was despite filing joint tax returns and her having a better credit record. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was among the other names to admit his wife was also being offered a significantly lower credit limit. Responding to claims, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson said: “As with any other credit card, your application is evaluated independently. We look at an individual’s income and an individual’s credit worthiness, which includes factors like credit scores, how much debt you have and how that debt has been managed.” “Based on these factors, it is possible for two family members to receive significantly different credit decisions. In all cases we have not and will not make decisions made on factors like gender.” Apple Card launched in August [2] and is part of the company’s push into services, building on the success in the consumer financial sector reported by its mobile wallet brand Apple Pay. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
18:01
Realme wins big in India
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Chinese vendor Realme made the greatest gains in a growing Indian smartphone market, with a 400 per cent year-on-year spike in shipments in Q3 2019, data from IDC showed. The company took a 14.3 per cent share of shipments in the period, on 6.7 million units, albeit the annual comparison is somewhat skewed by the fact Realme only entered the Indian market in May 2018 and so was still building its presence in Q3 2018. Domestic rival Xiaomi also grew, maintaining its leading position with 12.6 million units shipped, up 8.5 per cent. However, the vendor's market share slipped marginally, from 27.3 per cent to 27.1 per cent. Second-placed Samsung's shipments fell 8.5 per cent to 8.8 million, with an associated decline in market share from 22.6 per cent to 18.9 per cent. Vivo ranked in third on shipments of 7.1 million units, up 58.7 per cent, with Oppo fifth on 5.5 million units, a 92.3 per cent increase. Total shipments grew 9.3 per cent to 46.6 million units, which IDC declared a "record". It stated the increase was driven by “multiple online sale festivals, new model launches, and price corrections on a few key models by various brands”. But research director Navkendar Singh predicted shipments for the full year would register "only mid-to-high single-digit" growth, due to “passive consumer sentiment and muted shipments in the last quarter”.
14:06
German operators agree rural network pact
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Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica Deutschland and Vodafone Germany unveiled a proposal to coordinate construction of 6,000 radio sites across the country, in a bid to slash the cost of meeting controversial rural coverage targets [1]. In a statement, the parties confirmed a letter of intent on network sharing in rural areas and along transport routes had been signed, with newcomer 1&1 Drillisch invited to participate on the same terms. Under the scheme the three will jointly construct radio masts and share the responsibility of running them, a move the operators said would save time and money compared to building out separate networks. Each company will build and run the same number of sites with the others able to provision their own antennas at every location under equal terms. The operators plan to contractually agree the full conditions of the collaboration early in 2020 and have already informed competition authority the Bundeskartellamt of the scheme. German telecoms regulator Bundesnetzagentur is said to be broadly in favour of rural network sharing. Telefonica Deutschland CEO Markus Haas said: “To put Germany in the best possible position, we are pooling our resources. This collaboration is an excellent example of intelligent cooperation and the next logical step.” Dirk Wossner, CEO of Deutsche Telekom Germany, added the planned move was a “milestone for network expansion" in the country. In the terms of Germany’s 5G auction, held earlier this year [2], operators were obliged to meet strict coverage targets on transport routes and rural areas. The conditions were severely criticised by operators [3], and legal cases fighting the terms are still being pursued even in light of this new collaboration and an agreement signed with authorities in September. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:]
13:36
Ericsson secures Zain Bahrain 5G deal
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Ericsson won the rights to build Zain Bahrain's 5G network, with the operator aiming to launch the technology by the year-end to advance a goal of delivering a digital society in the nation. In a statement, Ericsson said the deal covers provision of 3GPP standards-based 5G hardware and software, including massive MIMO solutions. Also included is its Cloud Packet Core and VoLTE products. Zain Bahrain chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Ali Al Khalifa (pictured, front, right) said the deal is a “major milestone” for both companies: “5G is expected to be the connectivity infrastructure that will foster industrial and societal transformation", he said, citing opportunities in the automotive, health and energy sectors. In October, Zain Group staked a claim to the largest 5G deployment [1] in the region when it lit a network in Saudi Arabia, its second market after Kuwait where the technology is live. Ericsson stated the Zain Bahrain deal adds to more than 70 commercial 5G contracts inked with global operators, of which 23 are live. [1] [https:]
13:02
Data uptake, international growth boosts Vodacom
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Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub (pictured) hailed an increase in data usage in South Africa and improved revenue from international operations, as the company booked profit growth in its fiscal H1. During the six months to end-September net profit jumped 19 per cent year-on-year to ZAR8.2 billion ($550.4 million), though this growth rate was flattered by the company taking a ZAR1.5 billion hit during its fiscal H1 2018 to partly fund a massive share sale scheme [1]. Revenue increased 3.9 per cent to ZAR44.4 billion, attributed to increased data usage in South Africa, improved earnings in international markets and positive foreign exchange movements. Its reported figures also reflect a change in accounting standards effective from April. In a statement, Joosub said data usage at the unit accelerated during its fiscal Q2, offsetting a decline in service revenue in fiscal Q1 despite “ongoing economic pressures” and new regulations taking effect in the country. The growth in data services follows a period where Vodacom regularly cut the cost of its data packages [2] and implemented several promotions. Financial services Joosub also pointed to the success of its strategy of diversifying revenue streams by selling additional services, stating the initiative was “quickly gathering momentum”. In H1 its South Africa financial services unit, which covers Mastercard-powered digital wallet VodaPay, airtime loans and insurance services booked a revenue boost of 37 per cent to ZAR972 million. Revenue from mobile money services under the m-Pesa brand in its international markets, excluding Kenya, increased 29 per cent to ZAR1.9 billion. In these markets, 39 per cent of its mobile customers used the service with 14.3 million users on the platform by end-September. Its Kenya-based Safaricom operation booked an 18 per cent increase in revenue from its mobile money unit, with 23.6 million customers by the end of the period, a 12.4 per cent increase. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
12:45
La FCC donne sa bénédiction à l’union entre T-Mobile et Sprint
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Après une étude qui a duré plus d’un an, la Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a donné formellement son feu vert à la fusion de T-Mobile US avec Sprint, en dépit de l’opposition de deux de ses cinq membres. Dans un communiqué, Ajit Pai, le président de la FCC, explique que le régulateur a conclu que le mariage offre des avantages sérieux, en particulier un renforcement du leadership américain dans la 5G, la perspective de couvrir en totalité les zones rurales et une concurrence accrue. M.Pai note que les modifications structurelles mises en place par la FCC apaiseront les inquiétudes liées aux prix et à un affaiblissement de la concurrence entre opérateurs. L’annonce de cette approbation formelle suit le vote du mois dernier au cours duquel les commissaires Jessica Rosenworcel et Geoffrey Starks ont indiqué leur opposition au mariage. Dans un communiqué récent, Jessica Rosenworcel a répété ses arguments, qualifiant la fusion d’ « ouvertement anticoncurrentielle » et affirmant qu’elle met « fin à l’âge d’or du sans fil qui a apporté au marché des prix bas et des services innovants ». Jessica Rosenworcel et Geoffrey Starks font partie d’un groupe de politiciens et d’autres critiques qui ont demandé un report du vote de la FCC, le temps de donner au public la possibilité de commenter les conditions imposées par le régulateur et le Département de la Justice en échange de leur approbation. Sprint et T-Mobile font par ailleurs toujours l’objet d’un procès intenté par 16 avocats généraux décidés à bloquer la fusion. Les audiences doivent débuter le 9 décembre.
12:43
La Roumanie mène la charge d’Orange dans la 5G
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C’est à Bucarest, Cluj-Napoca et Iasi que le groupe français Orange vient d’ouvrir en grandes pompes son premier réseau commercial 5 G, avant extension à d’autres villes roumaines en 2020. Lors de la grande conférence de lancement organisée pour l’occasion, Ramon Fernandez, directeur général Finance, Performance et Europe, a expliqué que la Roumanie était un choix naturel pour mener la charge de l’opérateur sur le terrain de la 5G, le pays constituant un pilier du groupe depuis 1997. « Nous avons beaucoup innové dans ce pays depuis que nous sommes arrivés », a insisté M.Fernandez, notant que l’opérateur a investi « plus de 3,5 milliards d’euros » en Roumanie sur les 22 dernières années. « Notre ambition est de continuer à croître et d’investir en Roumanie », a ajouté Ramon Fernandez, le pays constituant une sorte de banc d’essai pour les « innovations comme l’eSIM et le number sharing. » Le directeur général a expliqué qu’Orange a mobilisé 115 MHz de spectre sur les bandes de 3,4 à 3,6GHz, « plus du double » de ce dont bénéficie la concurrence. L’opérateur affirme que le réseau autorise une vitesse de téléchargement allant jusqu’à 1,2 Gb/s, avec une moyenne de 600Mb/s. Orange est le premier opérateur de Roumanie avec 10,3 millions d’abonnés (devant Vodafone avec 10 millions), selon GSMA Intelligence. A noter que Vodafone et le n°4 du marché, Digi, ont déjà lancé des services 5G cette année. Pas de limites En Roumanie, le service est disponible par le truchement du smartphone Galaxy S10 5G de Samsung, Orange développant des offres haut de gamme destinées à améliorer l’expérience de ses clients. Ramon Fernandez a expliqué que la gamme d’abonnements proposée inclut les données illimitées, contenu spécial et montre connectée. Parallèlement au lancement en Roumanie, Orange continue à tester la 5G en France. L’Arcep, le régulateur de l’Hexagone, n’a pas encore organisé la vente de spectre aux enchères, ce qui repousse le lancement commercial de la 5G à l’année prochaine au plus tôt.
12:41
Les demandes de licences Huawei surprennent Washington
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Le gouvernement américain a reçu 260 demandes d’entreprises désireuses de faire des affaires avec Huawei, a indiqué Wilbur Ross, le secrétaire (ministre) au commerce, dans une interview accordée à Bloomberg. Wilbur Ross a admis que le gouvernement était surpris par le nombre des demandes et prévoyait d’en « satisfaire un bon nombre », avec les licences « accordées très prochainement ». « Ça fait beaucoup de demandes. C’est franchement plus que je n’aurais cru », a confessé M.Ross. L’équipementier chinois a été placé en mai sur une liste noire interdisant aux entreprises américaines de lui fournir logiciels et composants. Mais Donald Trump a expliqué plus tard que le pays pourrait assouplir les restrictions en offrant des permis spéciaux pour les biens ne posant pas de problèmes de sécurité nationale. En août, Reuters avait mentionné que le gouvernement avait reçu 130 demandes de licences. En octobre, l’agence de presse a indiqué, en citant un article du New York Times, que les premières licences seraient accordées « prochainement ». Huawei a pu continuer à commercer avec des entreprises américaines grâce à l’octroi d’un permis spécial temporaire. Il devait courir sur les 90 jours suivant l’embargo mais il a par la suite prolongé jusqu’au 19 novembre. Dans son entretien avec Bloomberg, Wilbur Ross a également indiqué qu’un accord commercial entre Chine et États-Unis pourrait être signé dans le courant du mois.
12:39
Huawei demande à l’Australie revoir son embargo
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Huawei accentue ses pressions en vue d’inverser la décision prise par les autorités australienne de lui interdire le marché de la 5G. Huawei met en garde sur le fait que le pays est déjà en retard dans la course mondiale au déploiement de la technologie. Huawei a ainsi envoyé une requête à la chambre des députés australienne dans le cadre d’une enquête parlementaire sur l’adoption de la 5G, expliquant qu’en Europe et en Asie certains pays « ont déjà mis en place une couverture au niveau national », alors que nombre de grandes villes australienne ne disposent encore d’aucun accès. Huawei souligne en outre que l’embargo, implémenté en 2018 pour des raisons de sécurité, porte atteinte à la libre concurrence, renchérit les prix et accroît la possibilité que les abonnés hors des grandes villes ne reçoivent que des services limités – voire pas de services du tout. Selon le constructeur chinois, l’embargo aboutit à un surcoût de 20 à 40 % pour les opérateurs, ce qui les rend moins enclins à offrir leurs services dans les zones rurales. Made in China La requête d’Huawei reprend par ailleurs les termes du communiqué publié immédiatement après la décision de fermeture du marché australien, dans lequel l’équipementier dénonçait des motivations politiques : « Si l’influence potentielle du gouvernement chinois est la raison qui justifie d’interdire à Huawei toute participation à la construction du réseau 5G australien, alors l’interdiction devrait s’appliquer à nos concurrents ». « Avec ou sans Huawei, la technologie 5G adoptée par l’Australie sera fabriquée en Chine dans des usines appartenant pour moitié au gouvernement », ajoute la requête.
12:33
Altice USA mise sur les ventes en ligne pour relancer ses activités mobiles
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Dexter Goei, pdg d’Altice USA, espère qu’une réforme du système de distribution va relancer dans les mois qui viennent les nouvelles activités mobiles du câblo-opérateur. Les premiers chiffres sur les abonnements indiquent en effet que les objectifs attendus lors du lancement en septembre n’ont pas été atteints. Dans le cadre d’une conférence téléphonique organisée à l’occasion des résultats du 3e trimestre, Dexter Goei a indiqué qu’Altice Mobile avait enregistré 15 000 abonnements entre le 5 septembre, jour du lancement officiel, et le 30 septembre. Le chiffre d’affaires de l’acitivité a presque atteint 3,2 millions de dollars, mais contre une perte nette de 10,5 millions. La modestie de ce résultat incombe selon Dexter Goei au système de distribution adopté. Le service a démarré avec une option permettant aux clients d’apporter leur propre téléphone ou d’acheter de nouveaux mobiles dans des boutiques, ce qui apparemment n’a pas fonctionné. Le pdg a donc expliqué qu’Altice USA allait lancer un service de vente en ligne « dans les deux à trois semaines », ce qui devrait relancer les abonnements au 4e trimestre et en 2020. Au niveau du groupe, les profits nets à redistribuer aux actionnaires ont plus que doublé d’une année à l’autre, passant de 33 à 77 millions de dollars, bien que le CA stagne à 2,4 milliards (soit une hausse inférieure à 1 %).
12:25
LG sues TCL over LTE patents
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LG Electronics filed two lawsuits against TCL Communication, alleging the China-based manufacturer had wrongfully used its standards-essential LTE patents in its handsets. In a statement, LG said it filed the suits in the German district courts of Mannheim and Dusseldorf after "numerous attempts" to address its concerns. It alleges TCL Communication violated three patents covering minimising the loss of packet transmission; control timers for uplink synchronisation; and interference reduction in the uplink synchronising process. “LG has long invested heavily in LTE innovation and when it becomes necessary, we take action to protect these important assets”, said Jeon Saeng-gyu, EVP of LG’s Intellectual Property Centre. The South Korean vendor noted it had a long history of defending its LTE technology in the courts, citing a dispute with US-based smartphone manufacturer BLU Products in 2017, which ultimately resulted in a licensing deal being agreed. It also pointed to three cases against Wiko, the French subsidiary of China-based Tinno Mobile.
12:13
ZTE MEC Helps Operators Sail through Unchartered Waters
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PARTNER FEATURE: Smart Edge Platform built with MEC As an open virtualized platform, MEC (multi-access edge computing) is deployed at the edge of the mobile network, between base stations and core network, to integrate local networks, computing and storage. Thus, MEC is becoming a key node to provide lower-latency services with capabilities of: Multi-access: Different devices can be connected through MEC, over different kinds of wireless technologies, like 4G, 5G, WiFi and so on. Traffic offloading: Traffic to local servers can be offloaded directly from the edge of network through MEC. Then the backhaul load is relieved and the transport path is shortened. It benefits the experience of local application visiting; Processing offloading: Application processing can be distributed from end-user devices to MEC, so that the processing load of devices can be shared with higher performance, and the battery life is prolonged at the same time. And it will greatly reduce costs of devices and help to promote VR/AR applications; Local data storage: Critical data close to users is stored in MEC. It will make faster response to meet localized requirement. Local data analysis: Real-time or near-real-time data analysis is closer to users, which makes local decisions faster and gets more precise user behavior patterns. With MEC, operators make local in-depth cooperation with their partners and get more revenue opportunities. To build edge customer-oriented traffic branch based on MEC Based on MEC, an edge enabling platform, a variety of devices are expected to be converged at the edge of the network, and data traffic can be offloaded at the same time. Therefore it is easy for operators to make new cooperation with local service and content providers. For instance, they can build an express tunnel between local mobile devices and local application servers as required. This helps operators to explore new business models for the local tunnel, and be capable of transforming from pipeline providers. Since 2017, ZTE has been devoting to work together with operators to build edge business. Tianjin Smart Port is one of successful cases. Based on ZTE MEC platform, applications over 4G or 5G network can be integrated simultaneously, including: The virtualized private network for customs inspection and cargo information collection, which guarantees the data transmission over a reliable network; Real-time mobile video uploading to reduce the backhaul traffic of the network; Remote control of quayside cranes and UAV over the 5G network; With more applications deployed in Tianjin port, a new-style comprehensive smart port is forming. In another success case, edge cloud rental model is being considered, while vCDN is pre-commercially deployed on the ZTE MEC platform in Shenzhen. By using the resource of computing and storage of the platform, vCDN provider can serve local customers with lower latency. Thus operators are expecting to get a new kind of revenue from hardware resource sharing of MEC. Now, ZTE MEC solution is gradually playing a key role in media & entertainment, manufacturing and so forth, absorbing more and more operators and vertical industries partners to join in. To enhance mobile user experience with higher performance based on MEC MEC is not only serving for local applications and ecosystem forming, but also helping operators enhance user experience and provide value-added mobile services. In the traditional network architecture, internet applications are deployed far away from the mobile network. It is hard to optimize data transmission strategy according to characteristics of the radio network, so further improvement of user experience is often limited. ZTE edge TCP solution was rolled out firstly in the industry to enhance QoE of customers. Edge TCP, one of ZTE MEC features, can accelerate TCP services efficiently for all the customers in high-value area. With it, the visit path for mobile user can be shortened by caching a temporary content, which is required from an internet application; in the meantime, it transmits data packets with the best capability according to the radio environment. All these improve single user data rate in uplink and downlink significantly. ZTE edge TCP has been verified and deployed in commercial networks, such as Roma and Shenzhen. The data rate of single user was improved by 40% in downlink and 15% in uplink, helping operators enhance their customers’ experience in file uploading/downloading, live video playing and web surfing, etc. And this service can accelerate user experience for value users only, like VIP. With ZTE MEC solution, operators can optimize network architecture with micro rebuilding in S1 backhaul transmission network. It is easy for them to get a way to enhance network performance, and provide customer-oriented services for different vertical industries at the edge of the network. So far, ZTE MEC solution has been widely applied in different scenarios, including wireless network capability exposure, video entertainment, V2X, smart manufacturing and power network, etc. Working with operators and more industry partners, ZTE is committed to exploring the edge cooperation to build a prosperous edge ecosystem.
11:34
Network investments pay off for Globe, Smart
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The Philippines' mobile sector showed signs of a strong recovery in the third quarter, with data usage soaring and the two major players adding more than 45 million new subscribers over the close of Q3 2018. Ahead of the entry of the third major operator [1], Dito Telecommunity, in 2020, the operators recorded double-digit increases in mobile service revenue: Globe Telecom’s rose 13 per cent [2] year-on-year to PHP28.4 billion ($558 million) while Smart Communication’s grew 12 per cent [3] to PHP22.2 billion (see chart, below, click to enlarge). [4]The period marked a continued recovery for Smart Communications, which recorded its third consecutive quarter of mobile revenue growth. Mobile data revenue grew 44 per cent at Globe Telecom and 41 per cent at Smart Communications. On the down side, both experienced sizeable declines in prepaid and post-paid ARPU. Capex boost A major driver of the overall service revenue growth was substantial improvements in network quality and coverage, following sharp increases in capex over the past two years. Globe Telecom earmarked a full-year budget of PHP62 billion for 2019, up from PHP43.3 billion in 2018, while Smart Communications parent PLDT plans to spend an additional PHP20 billion compared with PHP58.8 billion. Fitch Ratings stated in a research note the operators are competing at higher price points of more than PHP50 plans (up from PHP30 previously) to boost 4G income, driving data usage through video streaming and mobile games. The ratings agency, which has a negative outlook on the Philippines telecoms sector, forecast average capex intensity for the sector to stabilise at 35 per cent to 37 per cent of revenue in 2020, down from the low 40 per cent level in 2019, and to be debt-funded. It expects competition to intensify in the medium term with Dito Telecommunity's entry (the company is targeting 37 per cent population coverage after its first year) and 5G capex to be limited over the next 18 months, with the incumbents depending on their expanded 4G networks to provide sufficient speeds to cater for rising data demand in the next three years. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:] [4] [https:]
11:11
Sprint bigs up 5G business benefits
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INTERVIEW: Jan Geldmacher, president of Sprint Business (pictured), argued headline-grabbing consumer 5G services have obscured the potential benefits the technology offers enterprises, making education a key element in the operator’s future plans. Speaking during MWC19 Los Angeles, the executive noted while many of the operator’s customers are aware of 5G, there is work to do in terms of communicating the real benefits it offers to business users beyond the higher speeds associated with consumer services. The lower latency of 5G, for example, “opens up very many new opportunities for new disruptive business models”. He cited the potential to employ the low-latency to effectively make robots intelligent by enabling swift communication with a cloud-based AI “brain” as one possible application. “Now all of a sudden you overcome the problem of the robot not being intelligent because you can connect them in real time”, which opens “new opportunities to work between robots and humans”. Once the operator communicates the benefits to businesses “you see a great engagement and excitement”, he said. During the interview, Geldmacher noted consumer 5G services are a great driver of deployments, helping the operator to swiftly meet its initial coverage goals, and provided an update on Sprint's IoT testbeds. Click here [1] for more. [1] [https:]
10:32
Cuestionan la estrategia de Amazon con Sidewalk
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Joe Tobolski, director de tecnología de la consultora digital Nerdery, advierte de que Amazon ha entrado en un terreno difícil con la promoción de Sidewalk, un nuevo protocolo inalámbrico que aspira a cerrar las brechas de conectividad en los dispositivos de Internet de las Cosas al aire libre. El protocolo Sidewalk, anunciado en un reciente acto de presentación de hardware celebrado por Amazon, recurre a la banda de espectro de 900 MHz y tiene como objetivo ampliar la gama de dispositivos conectados en zonas fuera del hogar. Según Amazon, ofrecerá una alternativa a las conexiones Bluetooth y Wi-Fi, de alcance limitado, y a las de 5G, que según la empresa son fiables, pero complejas. La empresa afirma que hará públicas las especificaciones de Sidewalk para que todo el mundo las pueda usar. Según Tobolski, es una buena señal, porque la participación de otros fabricantes será clave para el éxito. Señala, con todo, que Amazon está entrando en un mercado ya saturado de opciones tecnológicas para Internet de las Cosas, desde Zigbee hasta Sigfox y LoRa, que coexisten con las tecnologías de bajo consumo y área extensa aprobadas por el 3GPP –NB-IoT, EC-GSM-IoT y LTE-M– que se sirven de espectro móvil con licencia. El consultor propone que Amazon ceda el control sobre el protocolo a un comité de gobernanza constituido por terceros “para que no se considere que beneficia exclusivamente a Amazon”. Entiende que así captaría con mayor facilidad a fabricantes de dispositivos. “Si se busca un buen despegue, no entorpecido por las aspiraciones y objetivos específicos de la firma, tienen que establecer algún tipo de gobernanza que elimine cualquier apariencia de que Amazon dispone de derecho de veto, o voto de control.” Tobolski añade que Amazon también debería buscar el favor de los consumidores. “Tienen que generar muchos más casos de uso para que resulte atractivo en el mercado de masas… no basta con que los objetos sean inteligentes y hablen entre sí.”
October 14, 2019
18:04
App Store users outspent Play Store in Q3
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Apple’s App Store generated almost twice the revenue of Google’s Play Store during Q3, despite the latter holding the upper hand in terms of first time app installations, data from Sensor Tower showed. Revenue generated from in-app purchases, subscriptions and premium apps totalled $21.9 billion during the quarter, up 22.9 per cent year-on-year. App Store users spent $14.2 billion, up from $11.6 billion in Q3 2018, with Google Play reaping $7.7 billion, up 24 per cent. However, Google’s storefront accounted for the lion’s share of first-time app installations in the recent period, with 21.6 billion compared with roughly 8 billion on App Store. The total 29.6 billion downloads were up 9.7 per cent on Q3 2018. Sensor Tower noted installations in China slipped 6 per cent to just under 2.2 billion in the recent quarter, suggesting this is related to a hangover from a block on mobile game approvals [1] during 2018. However, revenue grew 26.9 per cent to $4.1 billion, despite this reduction. In the non-gaming app category, dating service Tinder held on to its top spot [2] in terms of user-generated revenue, with the figure up 7 per cent to $233 million. Netflix, YouTube, iQIYI and Tencent Video rounded out the top five. The installation picture was dominated by Facebook titles, with WhatsApp on top, Messenger third, the company’s main app fourth and Instagram fifth. The social media giant’s grip was only broken by ByteDance’s TikTok in second place. Gaming titles generated $16.3 billion in revenue, up 20 per cent year-on-year, with total downloads across both stores up 17.6 per cent to 11.1 billion. By revenue, Tencent’s PUBG Mobile topped the charts on $496 million, while installations were dominated by Fun Race 3D from Good Job Games, at 123 million. [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
18:01
Hong Kong raises $128M in 3.5GHz sale
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Major mobile operators in Hong Kong each acquired 50MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum in the first of three 5G auctions in the territory, raising a total of HKD1.006 billion ($128 million), figures from the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) showed. China Mobile Hong Kong splashed out HKD300 million, HKT and SmarTone each spent HKD252 million, while Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong paid HKD202 million. OFCA said the successful bidders are required to pay spectrum utilisation fees and submit performance bonds by 14 January 2020, to guarantee compliance with the network and service rollout requirement. The assignment of the spectrum will take effect on 1 April 2020 and be valid for 15 years. In a statement, HKT welcomed the government’s decision to set modest reserve prices for the auction to boost the development of 5G in Hong Kong: “We are pleased that, as a result of rational biddings, HKT is able to obtain 50MHz of contiguous spectrum at a price that is beneficial to the industry as well as the mobile users”. The market leader said it will offer 5G services in Q2 2020 “when the necessary ecosystem is in place”, while fourth-ranked SmarTone said it will launch services soon after the 3.5GHz frequency band is made available. With the 3.5GHz band sale complete, the next steps will be auctions covering the 4.9GHz and 3.3GHz bands [1], with the reserve price per MHz set at HKD3 million and HKD2 million respectively. [1] [https:]
17:37
Facebook loses key Libra backers
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Five companies including Mastercard and Visa withdraw their backing for Facebook’s blockchain-based Libra payments play, throwing the project into further doubt. Along with the two financial giants, payments companies Stripe and Mercado Pago, and e-commerce company eBay also quit the Libra Association [1], the group set up to run the project. The companies followed PayPal, which quit the association earlier this month. The withdrawals of Mastercard, Visa and Stripe, in particular, are significant as it leaves Facebook without a major financial payments company backing Libra. Remaining members of the association are companies in venture capital, technology, blockchain, telecoms and not-for-profit groups. Hurdles Libra was due to launch in 2020 but has faced a number of hurdles since being unveiled, with regulators across the globe expressing concerns about Facebook’s move into the sector. Mastercard, Visa and Stripe came under pressure from the US government [2], with politicians warning they should rethink their particpation or face greater regulatory scrutiny. In a statement confirming its exit, Visa said it "decided not to join the Libra Association at this time", but did not rule out a future move: "We will continue to evaluate and our ultimate decision will be determined by a number of factors, including the association’s ability to fully satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations.” Dante Disparte, head of policy and communication at Facebook said it will move forward with plans to formally charter the association this week, despite the exodus. “Although the make-up of the Association members may grow and change over time, the design principle of Libra’s governance and technology, along with the open nature of this project ensures that Libra payment network will remain resilient." [1] [https:] [2] [https:]
14:01
Germany to maintain level field for 5G vendors
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Germany was tipped to be on the brink of allowing Huawei to supply equipment for 5G networks in the country, ignoring calls from the US to ban the under-fire Chinese vendor, Reuters reported A senior government source told the publication the country is set to publish a “security catalogue” this week, which had been finalised by the national network regulator and cybersecurity watchdog. The rulebook will outline Germany’s intentions to maintain a level playing field for vendors in building 5G networks, imposing no bans and thus allowing Huawei to work with operators in the country. “Germany’s approach did not, and does not, foresee any clause that would exclude any one company,” said the government official. The nation's decision does not come as a huge surprise. Despite pressure from Washington [1] to ban the Chinese company, both Germany and the UK have indicated Huawei would play some part in the rollout of 5G. Last week, the European Commission also declined to single Huawei out following a risk assessment of 5G networks, although it did warn against state-backed threats [2] to the technology, along with a heightened risk associated with infrastructure deals involving single suppliers. Europe’s approach contrasts greatly from the US, which imposed export sanctions on Huawei in May, [3] resulting in severe ramifications on its network and smartphone business. Added security Reuters said Germany’s network operators have opposed calls to ban the company, which the US alleges uses backdoors in its equipment for spying. Huawei is considered to be a leading vendor in 5G equipment and there were fears among domestic operators, which all work with the company, that a ban could delay the rollout of the technology by years and add billions to deployment costs. The security rulebook will, however, require Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Germany and Telefonica Deutschland to identify and apply enhanced security standards to critical network elements, Handelsblatt reported. It will also require vendors to agree to pay damages to customers if proof is found that equipment has been used for spying. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:]
12:46
Telefonica moves ahead with tower plan
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Telefonica pushed forward with its goal to raise funds from its tower assets, as it reportedly hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to explore a sale through its O2 UK unit. Spanish newspaper Expansion reported Goldman Sachs will assist the operator with its aims to monetise its 50,000 telecoms towers, which fall outside of those operated by dedicated tower subsidiary Telxius. Telefonica’s board first outlined [1] its future plans for towers last month, forecasting the 50,000 towers had the potential to generate €830 million in revenue depending on lease agreements signed. Contracted through its UK subsidiary O2, Expansion said Goldman Sachs will advise the Spanish group on the sale of its stake in CTIL, a joint venture it runs with Vodafone which controls Telefonica’s UK tower assets, as well as sites in Spain, Germany and Brazil. The newspaper added Goldman Sachs' mandate goes beyond towers to also encompass a review of the operator’s entire wireless infrastructure assets. Telefonica operates a total of 130,000 mobile towers, including 18,000 which are run by subsidiary Telxius. The 50,000 towers could yet be bundled into Telxius, depending on what strategy it pursues. It expects to begin generating a return on the assets within 12 months. [1] [https:]
12:38
India eases stance on spectrum fees
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Indian authorities showed willingness to compromise on the price of spectrum ahead of the country’s first auction in three years, addressing a major complaint of cash-strapped operators in the country, The Economic Times (ET) reported. Speaking at the India Mobile Congress, communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar explained the government is aware of operators’ concerns that the cost of spectrum is too high, but noted a procedural review around fees and the amount to be sold is ongoing. He said an auction would take place by the close of the current financial year, which runs to end-March 2020, with precise details on the timing to be announced soon, ET reported. The auction will be India’s first since October 2016 and was originally scheduled to take place by the end of the current calendar year. Government proposals could see up to 3,000MHz of spectrum offered across eight bands, two of which would be for 5G. In August, ET reported the review would likely cause the timeline to slip [1] into early calendar 2020. Fees Shankar’s comments came as Bharti Enterprises vice-chairman Rakesh Bharti Mittal levelled further criticism on the government’s pricing during the same industry event. LiveMint reported the executive also highlighted planning permission for new mobile sites as an ongoing issue, urging regional authorities to streamline the process for 5G services in particular. Operators are not alone in calling for India’s government to take action over the high cost of spectrum: in August the Confederation of Indian Industry reportedly warned a high reserve price [2] on 5G bands would put further pressure on operators’ earnings and slow the overall growth of the sector. A fierce price war in India has strained operators’ earnings potential since Reliance Jio entered the market in 2016, resulting in a wave of consolidation [3] and exits. The Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India recently released figures showing ARPU had begun to rebound [4], growing 6.43 per cent year-on-year to INR74.30 ($1.04) at end-June. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:] [4] [https:]
9:18
China Mobile CEO retires
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Li Yue, CEO of China Mobile, stepped down with immediate effect after reaching the mandatory retirement age, leaving the world's largest operator seeking a replacement. China Mobile announced Li's departure on 11 October, but offered no word on a replacement for the former CEO, who had reached the age of 60 years. Li also served as executive director at the company. The government is known to periodically reshuffle management at all three state-owned operators, making it unlikely China Mobile will look further afield for its new CEO. In early March, China Telecom’s chairman Yang Jie replaced Shang Bing [1] as head of China Mobile. [1] [https:]
8:53
Top vendors brewing energy efficient 5G kit
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An executive at semiconductor maker GaN Systems tipped global equipment vendors to begin production of more power efficient 5G kit in 2020, a move which could potentially save operators millions on energy costs. Paul Wiener, GaN Systems' VP of strategic marketing, told Mobile World Live two of the world's top-four vendors are preparing to deploy equipment sporting gallium nitride (GaN) transistors rather than traditional silicon components. He explained the move would improve energy efficiency, with the initial deployments in macro cell equipment coming a year before small cells. By 2021, all of the top four vendors are expected to use GaN transistors in their network equipment, he said. While transistors may not get a lot of attention, Wiener said the shift has the potential to save operators a “staggering” amount of money. He explained GaN transistors can function much faster and are more power efficient than their silicon counterparts. Where silicon transistors offer around 90 per cent efficiency, GaN products yield 96 per cent or more. Adding up Though the gap seems small, he said the impact of saving even a few cents can be huge given the millions of kilowatt hours and tens of thousands of cell sites involved. “This is a huge opportunity for these companies to make these systems more efficient…on a very modest rollout with one of our customers, they have the opportunity to save $17 million of energy costs by converting to GaN versus the legacy designs they’re using now”. Wiener added GaN transistors require less cooling than silicon, allowing vendors to shrink the size of their kit, potentially offering further savings on installation costs and site rental fees. The ability to cut energy costs will become even more important as 5G rollouts continue: experts previously noted 5G networks are expected to consume at least twice the amount of energy [1] as today’s networks. [1] [https:]
8:16
CommScope takes on Fractus antenna tech
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CommScope agreed a technology transfer deal covering base station antennas with Spain-based Fractus, as part of a deal to settle a patent dispute. Terms of the agreement involve Fractus transferring its entire portfolio of base station antenna patents to CommScope, and dropping a lawsuit filed in April accusing the US-based company of using its technology without a licence. Hearings in the case began earlier this month. The Marshall News Messenger, a local newspaper in Texas, reported Fractus sought as much as $500 million in damages. However, an expert hired by CommScope argued in court the figure should instead fall between $5.7 million and $22.4 million. Farid Firouzbakht, SVP of RF products for CommScope’s Mobility Solutions, said in a statement the purchase would “enable us to offer new and innovative features that will provide significant value to our base station antenna customers”.
October 11, 2019
12:16
HMD, Gigaset back Google in EC court battle
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Google received a boost in its fight against a €4.3 billion fine levied by the European Commission (EC), as a court gave permission for phone makers Gigaset and HMD Global to defend the search giant in the upcoming lawsuit. The US company is appealing both the penalty and an order to drop anti-competitive business practices, which the EC levied in July 2018 [1] after ruling the company had abused the dominant position of its operating system. It said Google pre-installed the Chrome browser and search app on devices running Android, helping it cement its position in general internet search. Reuters reported Gigaset and HMD Global had been cleared to participate in the legal fight by the EU's General Court in Luxembourg. The court case is due to take place in 2020. Google will also be backed by tech lobby group the Application Developers Alliance, along with browser company Opera Software, and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, of which the search giant is a member. The EC, meanwhile, will be supported by lobby group Fairsearch (which first complained about Google’s practices), European search engines Seznam and Qwant, and two German publishing companies. [1] [https:]
11:58
BT Mobile launches 5G in 20 towns and cities
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BT commenced the sale of 5G contracts to consumers and businesses through its MVNO BT Mobile in 20 locations across the UK. Piggybacking on EE’s 5G network [1], BT Mobile will offer 5G in large towns and cities including: London; Birmingham; Cardiff; Manchester; Edinburgh; Belfast; Coventry; Leicester; and Bristol to name a few. A further 25 locations will be offered access to 5G data rates of between 100Mb/s and 150Mb/s by the end of the year. BT stated the capacity of 5G means users will not lose signal or experience massive drops in download speeds in highly populated areas. Prices For consumers BT will sell four 5G plans offering 12GB, 30GB, 60GB or 200GB data, with a choice of five smartphones: Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, Oppo Reno 5G and the Huawei Mate 20 X. Prices start from £45 per month. Business customers can choose from three plans: 6GB, 30GB or 60GB. Prices start from £35 per month with a handset, or £15 per month on a SIM-only plan. All 5G plans include unlimited minutes and text: an unlimited data contract will be launched in November as part of new convergence plan Halo from BT [2]. The launch makes good on a pledge BT made in July to offer 5G to its MVNO [3] users. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:]
11:17
Mobile Mix: The 5G Russian Revolution
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We’re in Moscow for this week’s Mobile Mix, as Chris gives us a lowdown on the hot topics at this year’s Mobile 360 Eurasia event. In London, Manny was with BT, which introduced convergence play Halo, while Michael has all the headlines.
10:23
China Telecom, ZTE demo 5G slicing in factory
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China Telecom conducted 5G standalone (SA) trials at a manufacturing facility in Zhenjiang using network gear from ZTE, to demonstrate smart factory capabilities. In a statement, the vendor said it worked with electronics maker Bluetron and China Telecom to develop an integrated manufacturing platform using 5G network slicing and edge computing technologies. ZTE said the demo, commissioned by Bluetron to prepare for the construction of a smart factory, was the first use of end-to-end 5G network slicing in China in a manufacturing environment. The trial used industrial cameras to record video of the production line and stream data to a mobile edge computing system through a dedicated 5G uplink slice. After analysing the images, the system automatically notified workers and raised alarms in case of abnormalities. End-to-end network slicing, ZTE said, can reduce the latency, jitter and packet-loss rate of video data transmission; guarantee the quality of video transmission; and improve the accuracy and real-time performance of video analysis. ZTE said it had signed 25 commercial 5G contracts with operators in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
10:14
Vodafone AU plots job cuts
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Vodafone Australia revealed up to 130 positions could be cut from a customer care centre in Hobart, capital city of the island state of Tasmania. In a statement, the operator said in an increasingly competitive market, it has faced several regulatory obstacles which continue to impact its business, adding it is also preparing for 5G and planning to appoint a new network vendor following government security guidance, all of which “has placed significant financial pressure on our business”. These pressures, the operator continued, “means we can no longer support the current number of roles in our Hobart contact centre”. Vodafone, the third-largest operator in Australia with an 18 per cent market share by subscribers, said it started consulting with employees about a restructure and associated reduction in positions.
10:06
MBBF19 gears up for 5G showcase
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PARTNER CONTENT: Huawei’s annual Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), held for the first time in Zurich, Switzerland, brings industry players together to highlight the latest 5G developments and success stories, and explore new ways to promote sustainable growth across the mobile ecosystem. The event, running from 15 to 16 October, is themed “5G, Gear Up,” and again is expected to attract industry leaders from across the world to facilitate debate and exchanges among global mobile network operators, vertical industry leaders and other key partners. Last year's event pulled together 2,200 visitors with 2,700-square-metres of exhibition space devoted to technology demos and this year’s event builds on that success. [1]MBBF has witnessed rapid development and technological evolution in the mobile industry since the first gathering in Oslo in 2010. This year marks the tenth anniversary of MBBF following events across the globe (including London, Shanghai and Tokyo). Commercial 5G adoption in 2019 has exceeded all expectations, with Huawei announcing more than 50 commercial contracts worldwide. Deployments by 35 mobile players have kicked off across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. The event’s theme (“5G, Gear Up”) truly reflects this progress. New chapter The world's 5G pioneers and leaders will gather in Zurich to jointly promote the accelerating development and start a new chapter in mobile communications. Some of the questions that are sure to be top of mind include: How can industry evolve and develop in the 5G era? How can competitive commercial 5G networks be built? How can 5G business success be ensured? The conference agenda was developed with these concerns in mind and offers a comprehensive lineup of mobile experts from across all industry segments. Meanwhile, the expo will give attendees a first-hand look at leading operators’ 5G commercial success stories and allow them to explore new business opportunities in line with global commercial developments. [2]Keynote speakers this year include Huawei Deputy Chairman Ken Hu, GSMA CTO Alex Sinclair, China Mobile EVP Zhao Dachun, Sunrise CEO Olaf Swantee (pictured left), Orange Group SVP for radio networks Arnaud Vamparys and Zain Group CTO Hisham Allam, ETSI Director-General Luis Jorge Romero, Elisa CTO Kalle Lehtinen, and Hatch Entertainment Founder & CEO Juhani Honkala. Sunrise 5G progress As one of the earliest mobile players to commercialise 5G (its network launched in March 2019), the operator will show off a variety of use cases as well as share its 5G business strategy. A number of other first-round 5G commercial adopters will also be on hand to discuss their 5G deployment experiences. Four exhibition areas will be set up at Zurich Exhibition Hall to demonstrate the force and scale of 5G development across the world. More than ten 5G use cases will be on display, including 5G 8K live streaming, AR/VR and smart manufacturing. Attendees also will be taken on an interactive journey which includes premium immersive experiences. The Cool Tech exhibition will showcase Huawei’s end-to-end technology innovations, which include more than ten hardware technologies in chips and materials as well as software breakthroughs. A series of end-to-end 5G solutions shows the power of the company’s ultra-lean networks. These innovations highlight the company’s continuous investments in fundamental R&D. The Digital Indoor Solution (DIS) exhibition will showcase simplified networks and the 5G indoor premium experience, highlighting the development trends of the DIS industry and the main drivers behind the flourishing ecosystem. The Autonomous 5G exhibition will provide visitors with an opportunity to experience cutting-edge wireless network applications, such as flexible business support, acute visual recognition, intelligent football games, adaptive precise network planning, and level 3 and 4 self-driving powered by autonomous networks. The LTE exhibition will display the latest innovations enabling cost-efficient coverage in full-scenario, 5G-like capacity experiences, as well as collaboration with New Radio and high-value services such as NB-IoT and WTTx. The microwave backhaul exhibition is to unveil the next generation of "new" microwave at the event, with a demonstration focusing on the changes in topologies and RF technologies that are applied for the first time to microwave. For more information, visit here [3]. [1] [https:] [2] [https:] [3] [https:]

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