Posts tagged ‘LTE Asia’
The Fine Art of Protecting Subscribers Including Our Kids – Network-based Solutions Anyone?
Benjamin Franklin said there were only two things certain in life: death and taxes. Well, I would like to add a third one: online threats.
Operators are facing the daunting task of keeping their subscribers (and their own networks!) safe from a slew of cyber threats that are getting more and more complex. Fraudsters use a combination of backdoor methods, engaging unwitting cooperation from innocent, targeted users.
NFV: What’s Good? Price/Performance for Starters
Guest post by 6Wind
TL;DR: NFV Promises To Alter The Value Proposition For Network Operators Of All Sizes
As we prepare for SDN Asia 2015 in Singapore this October, we look forward to discussing how executive telecom decision makers want to capitalize on the APAC market’s propensity for rapid technology adoption by providing an abundance of services at the lowest costs. NFV enables rapid service creation while lowering costs, but it is necessary to not sacrifice performance in the process.
Performance continues to drive the NFV discussion because without proper oversight, virtual machines and cloud infrastructure can be real headaches by demanding increasing requirements of hardware to accommodate an increasing software footprint. To achieve an abundance of services at the lowest costs, enabling performance in the initial design architecture will help further drive the costs down. There are two major areas of performance bottlenecks that organizations should evaluate to enable the full promise of NFV.
Exclusive Interview – Twitter and OTT partnerships with mobile operators
Arvinder Gujral, Director for Business Development APAC, Twitter
Our latest addition to the LTE Asia 2015 programme, keynote speaker Arvinder Gujral, Director for Business Development, APAC at Twitter will be joining us in Singapore next month to examine OTT/operator partnerships and how they are developing in Asia. I spoke to him ahead of his talk to get an insight into this evolving relationship;
“The biggest fundamental shift that has happened is that mobile operators have learned to evolve to the reality of Internet and Data superseding Voice and SMS, and have successfully adapted that to their business models and unit economics” he said “OTT providers on the other hand have also learned to work with the mobile operators, and at the same time added value to the operator’s core KPIs around Data and its new operating models. The apparent threat perception that was lingering for a while has been replaced with “lets-add-value” attitude to each other’s business, because at the end of the day it’s the end-user who needs to see benefit from both players, and not one over another.”
“The apparent threat perception… has been replaced with “lets-add-value” attitude”
“Twitter has always worked well with mobile operators; we have long-term relationships with over 500 operators globally. Over time our engagements have evolved from simple SMS connections and Twitter utilising an operator network, and more recently, with operators using the Twitter social graph and network to achieve their KPIs.
We tied up with 17 mobile operators globally for the FIFA World Cup last year, and five operators in South Asia alone for the this year’s Cricket World Cup. The aim was to take the best of Twitter for these events and make it available to the operators’ subscribers. The partnership worked beautifully as operators used their distribution and marketing effectively to show value of Data/Internet via a custom Twitter experience for these global sporting events. Of course, these successes are enabling us to evaluate bolder models to work with in the future.
Our recent partnership with Indosat (the first ever in APAC), where users of Indosat can now buy Voice, SMS, Data directly from Twitter, is another great example of how we are helping our operator partners add to their bottom line”.
But in this fast paced industry, where nothing ever stays the same – how will these partnerships evolve?
“As mobile operators look towards becoming digital operators in their own right, Twitter is in a great position to be ideal partners. We have announced Twitter Fabric, our suite of SDKs, that helps developers along the journey from idea to revenue. We have also started to work with mobile operators in their journey to explore this world of Mobile Apps and are sharing our insights, infrastructure and social graph to help them scale and eventually build additional revenue streams, all via our SDKs”.
“I believe LTE Asia will be a great hub where Twitter gets to learn from the mobile operators on what their concerns are and what they are doing about it. In that process, I can share my experience (in my previous career with a mobile operator) and partner with them through Twitter in their journey towards growing the digital mobile operator industry”.
Arvinder will be discussing Twitter’s operator partnerships during the LTE Asia Keynotes on the 7th of October. If you haven’t registered to attend the show yet or applied for a free operator pass, you can do so now buy visiting our website – www.lteconference.com/asia
Exclusive Interview with Shavin Wijetunge, Assistant Manager at Mobitel Sri Lanka
Shavin Wijetunge, Assistant Manager at Mobitel Sri Lanka
Launching LTE requires a huge investment and successful monetization of the network is therefore key to ensure return of investment. To find out how operators across Asia are monetizing their LTE networks, I briefly spoke with LTE Asia speaker Shavin Wijetunge, Assistant Manager at Mobitel to find out how they are driving revenue from their LTE network.
LTE – beyond technology; a catalyst for value creation (Guest post by Wing K. Lee, CEO, YTL Communications)
Wing K. Lee is CEO at YTL Communications in Malaysia
The velocity in how the world creates value has hastened considerably. We spent millennia as an agrarian economy, then came the industrial age that refines these commodities into manufactured goods. We have since evolved into the service economy and most will agree that we are now onto the experiential economy.
To appreciate what that means to us in the telecommunications business, perhaps we can take a moment to follow the journey of the humble coffee beans.
Discover the Untapped LTE Markets of Asia
This blog was written as part of the LTE Asia 2015 content series
LTE adoption is exploding in Japan, Korea and other highly developed Asian countries; but in this “red ocean” competition is fierce – companies find themselves in a continuous arms race to deliver the most innovative solutions and keep their service offering one step ahead of the curve.
In the Emerging Markets of Asia (EMAP) development has, until now, been slower. But the opportunity for growth is huge.
Exclusive Interview with Jawad Arshad, Assistant Manager Strategic Partnerships, Verticals and Digital Services at China Mobile
Jawad Arshad, Assistant Manager Strategic Partnerships, Verticals and Digital Services at China Mobile
Ahead of the LTE Asia Summit, taking place in Singapore this October I interviewed Jawad Arshad, Assistant Manager Strategic Partnerships, Verticals and Digital Services at China Mobile. Jawad’s work is focussed on developing partnerships between OTT’s and operators. I wanted to find out what role he thinks operators can play in the OTT ecosystem.
Antenna Solutions Play a Crucial Role in Network Capacity Improvement
Kevin Linehan, VP and CTO, CommScope
This post is by Kevin Linehan, VP and CTO Antenna Systems, CommScope
According to a GSMA Intelligence study, global LTE connections will hit the 1-billion mark by 2017 and Asia will account for almost half, or 47 percent of that. The demand for high speed connections and rich media experience is keeping operators on their toes and constantly upgrading and building more efficient LTE networks. As operators work towards keeping high levels of subscriber satisfaction, network coverage and capacity becomes utmost concern.
I have been in the telecommunications industry for nearly three decades and these developments are extremely exciting. At the LTE Asia Conference, which took place from September 24-25 in Singapore, I was happy to share a presentation titled “Antennas Solutions for Capacity Improvement” in which I addressed concerns related to maximizing network capacity and developing unified industry standards for base-station antennas.
Helping Your LTE Network Fly to New Heights with Better Service Assurance
Sergio Zveibil, Product Marketing Manager, InfoVista
This post is by Sergio Zveibil, Product Marketing Manager, InfoVista
One of the greatest accomplishments of the golden age of aviation occurred on September 28, 1924, when the “Chicago” and the “New Orleans” completed the world’s first airborne circumnavigation. When the planes landed in Seattle, completing a 175-day journey, Major General Charles G. Norton said that the flight was, “brilliant proof of expert flying and mechanical ability.”
To an experienced aviator, Norton’s assessment would ring true. But, to the average American in 1924, it would seem as though it took more than just “expert flying and mechanical ability” for those pilots to travel around the world safely. Some might have said it took a little bit of magic. That sentiment was later echoed by science-fiction write Arthur C. Clarke when he said: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Modernizing Mobile Networks to Tackle LTE Challenges in Asia Pacific
This post is by Philip Sorrells, Vice President, Site Solutions, CommScope
This post is by Philip Sorrells, Vice President of Strategic Marketing, Wireless, CommScope
Asia Pacific users lead in mobile traffic consumption. With the popularity of streaming via apps from YouTube, Youku and PPStream, users in the region on average download 1.1 GB of data per month.– According to a GSMA study, by 2015 this number will only increase and there will be more than 120 million LTE subscribers in the Asia Pacific region.
Between the leading-edge Asian Tigers of Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the emerging markets of Southeast Asia, China and South Asia, a number of challenges have surfaced for mobile networks in the region.
This leads to issues like spectrum and cell-site scarcity as well as the speed of network modernization.
Interview: VP for Consumer Broadband Products, Globe Telecom, Philippines: “We don’t really market the technology per se, but rather the experience.”
Francisco Claravall, VP Consumer Broadband Products, Globe Telecom, Philippines
Globe Telecom, in the Philippines is currently transitioning from WiMAX to LTE. In this interview Francisco Claravall, VP for Consumer Broadband Products tells us about the challenges it faces of doing so and how the company is looking to innovate as it does so.
You can hear more from Claravall when he takes part of a keynote panel session, and gives a presentation on Day One of the 9th annual LTE Asia conference, taking place on the 23rd-25th September 2014 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
What are the major challenges that you believe you will face over the next couple of years?
The Philippines has a lot of potential, not just in the area of broadband but as a nation. With economic growth still moving at a higher pace than most of our neighbours, the Philippines is a good growth story.
Recently we’ve had a major typhoon that hit us, and who knows how the environment will fair in the years to come. One challenge we need to address is disaster-preparedness, how quickly can we respond and reduce customer downtime.
The other challenge we see is how strategically can we evolve as a company to be at the centre of the digital life of our customers? This is all about moving beyond dumb pipes and becoming more relevant to our customers’ day-to-day activities.
The importance of trust in creating a digital society
This post is by Caroline Guillaume (Vice President, Solution Sales, Asia Pacific, Gemalto)
The advancements in technology over the last decade or so are having a profound impact on the lives of many people around the world. Every day, digital technologies are creating new ways for people to work, play, transact and communicate with each other. These developments are making people’s lives more convenient. On a larger scale, they are ushering in the dawn of a digital society.
A digital society can be defined as a community where the creation, distribution, uses and integration of information is able to create significant social, economic and cultural value. We are seeing many digital societies emerging, especially in areas with high-tech clusters such as Singapore, as well as around the Silicon Valley area.
Interview: EVP BSS and ESS Applications, PTCL – “BSS/OSS has to be agile, lean, nimble, customizable, adaptable, configurable, and plug and play.”
Ahsan Aziz Khan, EVP BSS and ESS Applications, PTCL
What is the real importance of BSS/OSS to operators in a world of LTE data? In this interview we get the views of Ahsan Aziz Khan, EVP BSS and ESS Applications, PTCL, who is speaking on the subject of BSS/OSS on Day One of the LTE Asia conference, taking place on the 23rd-25th September 2014 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore —and taking part in the Operator Mindshare in the morning of Day Two.
What kind of business model changes do you expect with LTE?
The promise of LTE is high-speed data and even voice over data (VoLTE). There is a tremendous growth already happening in the use of data and more is expected over the coming days as LTE adoption increases. According to research, video will generate the most traffic in the future. As we already know and have observed, there is not much revenue growth for Telcos vis-à-vis the growth in data usage and the demand for bandwidth. This essentially means Telcos need to find new ways of earning money and monetizing data.
Lots of changes are already happening on various fronts related to our industry that can be summed as a SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) stack and the growing demand of digital services in the form of IoT and M2M. These changes are also affecting customer behavior and expectations.
A new eco-system of technologies and services is evolving. The situation is demanding a serious change of thoughts for the Telcos in terms of business model. These new business models are all about embracing digital services and partnerships with OTT players and other industry verticals. Telcos have to transform everything from soup to nuts, be it the network, be it the IT, be it the organization structure, or be it the business processes. They also have to react quickly otherwise you get the ‘boiling frog’ phenomena, which has started to happen.
Juggling multiple bands – why choosing the right antenna is important
The Andrew Six Sector Solution converts a traditional three sector site into a higher capacity, six sector site with the use of only three antennas.
This post is by Brendan Millard, Director-Wireless, Southeast Asia, at CommScope
Wireless operator networks are facing unprecedented demands for more and more capacity every day, driven by the services available on smartphones, tablets and laptops. In order to meet these demands they are looking to newer technologies in both existing and new frequency bands such as refarming 1800MHz GSM spectrum to be used for LTE or implementing new LTE networks in 700MHz. These days, it seems there are two things a wireless operator cannot get enough of: spectrum and tower space to hang the antennas required for these new services.
Sizing up SON – Self-Organising Networks revealed
This post is by Avijit Ghosh, assistant vice president of technology, Aricent
The ‘Self-organizing Networks’ (SON) concept is a ‘hot’ topic for today’s wireless networks, especially with the expected proliferation of small cells and heterogeneous networks.
The idea is that the network should, while minimising cost and staying within constraints that may be applicable, automatically and continually adjust itself to maximise its own key performance indicators: generally coverage, capacity & quality of experience.
It is also expected that such a system should generate information, analysis and visualisation to assist effective forward planning of the service provider’s business.
Interview: CTO, PT. Bakrie Telecom: “I believe small cells will play an important and key role in the LTE access network.”
Thatha Rao, CTO, PT. Bakrie Telecom, Indonesia
Thatha Rao, CTO, PT. Bakrie Telecom, Indonesia is speaking in the Network Optimisation track on Day One of the LTE Asia conference is taking place on the 18th-19th September 2013 at the Suntec, Singapore. Ahead of the show we speak to him about his the various challenges of deploying LTE in a developing country.
What have been the main developments and major milestones for you over the last 12 months with regards to LTE?
Currently we are preparing various 4G deployment options as the Indonesian government has not yet decided on the exact spectrum and license mechanism for LTE deployment. It is expected to announce this during 2014.
How much of a challenge do you feel monetising LTE will be?
It’s definitely going to be a big challenge, especially in Indonesia. This is a key developing country in the region but on the positive side it has lots of growth prospects over the next few years. The traditional model of deploying LTE for high spending customers and later extending the service to other segments may not work this time, simply because the revenues generated by this niche segment can’t justify what we need to spend for CAPEX and OPEX. However, if we choose the mass subscriber approach, price becomes the predominant factor compared to service quality and high speed.
The LTE Asia conference is taking place on the 18th-19th September 2013 at the Suntec, Singapore. Click here to download a brochure for the event.
Tell me about the fresh challenges that LTE brings with regard to backhaul?
I believe small cells will play an important and key role in the LTE access network in order to create better coverage and speeds. To reach these small cells with optical fibre though is definitely not an economical option and would also be very tedious, so we need a strategy that uses point-to multi-point radio backhaul technologies using short wave, which offers high bandwidth within short distances.
Where is LTE Advanced on your roadmap? Will you implementing it all at once or gradually introducing key features?
We preferred to take a gradual approach, based on demand and customer needs.
Why is attending the LTE Asia conference such an important date in your diary?
Frankly, I don’t want do make many mistakes in my LTE deployment, so learning from the struggles and success stories of other LTE operators is the prime reason for me to attend this conference.
Interview: Member, board of directors, Chunghwa Telecom & SVP, NCTU, Taiwan: “As the leading telecommunications operator in Taiwan, we are well prepared to develop LTE commercial services.”
Yi-Bing Lin, member, board of directors, Chungwha Telecom & SVP, NCTU, Taiwan
Yi-Bing Lin, member, board of directors, Chungwha Telecom & SVP, NCTU, Taiwan, is speaking on the subject of Taiwan’s mobile broadband on Day One of the LTE Asia conference, taking place on the 18th-19th September 2013 at the Suntec, Singapore. Ahead of the show we speak to him about the challenges of deploying LTE in Taiwan.
What have been the main developments and major milestones for you over the last 12 months with regards to LTE?
As the leading telecommunications operator in Taiwan, we are well prepared to develop LTE commercial services once the license is awarded. Over the last 12 months, we have aggressively conducted LTE network and service planning. The Taiwan regulator announced that it will issue new mobile broadband licenses services by end of 2013 with the auction process starting on 3 September 2013. We are confident of getting new licenses to deploy LTE commercial services.
How much of a challenge do you feel monetising LTE will be?
Pricing and base station installations are the key challenges for LTE development in Taiwan. Users in Taiwan used to pay a flat-rate tariff for accessing Internet services via 3G. They enjoy mobile broadband to access Internet applications on a daily basis, but on the other hand, protest at base station installation frequently. Resolving these two issues will be one of the key challenges for monetising LTE.
Interview: CEO, Fring: “One of the remaining challenges of IP telephony is the quality of the “last mile” connection.”
Roy Timor-Rousso, CEO, Fring
Roy Timor-Rousso, CEO, Fring is taking part in a debate on Ecosystem-Wide Service Innovation on Day Two of the LTE Asia conference, taking place on the The LTE Asia conference is taking place on the 18th-19th September 2013 at the Suntec, Singapore. Ahead of the show we find out more of his thoughts on the relationship between app developers and operators.
Collaborate or compete? What should the relationship with operators be from the OTT perspective?
The issue of cooperate vs. compete between operators and OTT has begun to settle, as an ever growing number of operators have chosen to launch a “Telco OTT” solution. Services like Libon by Orange, Tu Go and Tu Me by Telefonica and World & YOu by Bouygues, offer users the best of OTT and telephony worlds. Telco OTT communication services that work with any IP connection, the capability to call or message any phone number (without having to make sure that their counterpart uses the same application) and the simplicity of bundling the calls and messages with their existing mobile plan.
LTE Asia Event Speaker Interview – Denny Kim, Director of KT
The industry-leading LTE Asia event is approaching fast and as preparations continue for Singapore on 18-19 September, we speak to Denny Kim, Director of KT, the second largest operator in Korea, who is presenting on Day Two. We get his views on the importance of small cells and how he envisions monetising LTE…
What have been the main developments and major milestones for you over the last 12 months with regards to LTE?
KT has launched LTE commercial service in January 2012 and has provided nationwide LTE coverage. The brand name of the KT LTE service is LTE WARP, a name designed to demonstrate how KT offers the best and most efficient data throughput performance. KT was able to achieve this level of performance through the LTE virtualization network technology, which was developed jointly by KT and Samsung.
What impact will technology such as IMS and Joyn have for you?
OTT players are expanding their influence via smartphone services. RCS services such as Joyn could be the substantial and powerful alternative for telcos to increase the value of their services. To leverage the greatest value from RCS services, interoperability between telcos will be important.
How important are small cells to your network roll-out plans?
In high density areas LTE sites must be deployed extremely closely together so in that environment inter-cell interference will be a big issue to tackle. KT has deployed the LTE virtualization network technology to control the inter-cell interference in high density areas. Small cells for LTE could be the key to achieve the expected throughput performance.
What business models would you say are best for monetising LTE?
Mobile networks offering enhanced performance such as from LTE could accelerate the virtual goods market place. The digital content and application market and the related value chain could be the one of the best opportunities for monetising LTE.
The LTE Asia 2012 conference is taking place on the 18-19 September 2012 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. To find out more about Denny’s presentation, please download the brochure by clicking here
To find out more about the LTE Asia event, click here
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