VIEWPOINT

Globally, enterprises are managing businesses in a highly challenging world with increased volatility, uncertainty and complexity. As a result, enterprises need to leverage the latest technologies to enhance their capabilities to address the new-age market challenges.

In this regard, 5G, with its ability to provide ultra-high-speed and extremely low latency, is helping businesses unlock new capabilities to maximize the available market opportunities. However, since 5G is different from previous communications standards and enables several new and innovative use cases it demands, the service providers must transform their own operations and processes to be able to provide relevant 5G-powered use cases to enterprises.

This is all the more crucial as 5G allows telcos to offer new use cases to enterprises, thus opening new revenue streams for them. The 5G enterprise market size was valued at $1,682 million in 2020 and is projected to reach $16,846 Million by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 33.9% from 2021 to 2028, according to Valuates Research.

Transforming from CSP into a Cognitive Tech-co 

Thailand’s AIS, the country’s leading digital service provider, is moving away from being a traditional Communications Service Provider (CSP) and transforming itself into a Cognitive Tech-Co, so it is able to leverage technologies like data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide improved and truly differentiated service and solutions to its enterprise customers.

“This will help us to drive towards the mission that we want to achieve in terms of the way how we can accelerate the digital transformation for Thailand businesses,” says Tanapong Ittisakulchai, Chief Enterprise Business Officer at AIS, who recently attended The 2nd Business Executives Roundtable at the 13th Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), and also joined Win Win Live in Bangkok for a dialogue on Thailand’s digital transformation.

AIS is Thailand’s biggest service provider and was the first operator to launch 5G in 2020. Now it boasts of around 45 million subscribers, more than 70% of which are active data users. AIS’ 5G covers more than 80% of the country’s population.

AIS believes that 5G also allows it to contribute to the Government’s Thailand 4.0 vision, which was launched recently. The Thailand 4.0 policy is designed to promote and support innovation, creativity, research and development, higher technologies and green technologies.

“As a trusted, smart digital partner, serving Thai organizations to accelerate their digital transformation with a comprehensive suite of digital technology and delivering services with trusted professionals,” says Tanapong Ittisakulchai. The service provider is aiding the digital transformation of Thai enterprises in different verticals like manufacturing, healthcare and energy.

“Our key strategy is to focus on investment, you know, in the intelligence networks, building 5G ecosystem partners with the cloud convergence and AI. You know, we can provide a better data-driven business solution for the customers and more importantly, we partner and build a platform to focus on the vertical industries as well,” explains Tanapong Ittisakulchai.

In this context, the importance of collaboration in building an ecosystem can hardly be exaggerated. However, service providers typically work in silos. As a result, their processes are traditionally not designed to collaborate with other players. To address this problem, AIS is building a “partnership framework that integrates the technology side with the customers, which is more of a vertical solution requirement and then co-creates a sustainable business model.”

Further, AIS is also enabling the digital transformation experience of its enterprise customers by leveraging its own experience. It provides AIS with a unique perspective on the problems enterprises face in digitally transforming their operations.

“At the same time, we learn from the customers as well as about their vertical industries, their requirements, and their challenges, and co-create the solution which is more sustained and builds the proper sustainable solution for the future,” says Tanapong Ittisakulchai. This way, AIS is better able to address the changing requirement of enterprises.

AIS is at the forefront of transforming its operations and has set an example for other service providers to reimagine their processes to better serve the changing needs of the enterprise segment.

 

 

The post AIS: Adopting Cognitive Tech-Co Strategy to Accelerate Digital Transformation of Thai Businesses first appeared on Total Telecom.

STARTUP STORIES

Magdeburg based startup, Embever, believes IoT should be fun and has interesting case studies including trains, forests and living walls. But they also seek to reduce the risk and cost of bringing IoT to your organisation with its 100-Days Program

Tell us about your start up
Embever is a deep-tech company and provides its mainly European customers with a communication platform for upgrading and retrofitting electronic systems with cloud connectivity in the Internet of Things (IoT). With Cloud as a Module, Embever has a product that allows customers to integrate the entire communication path from the device to the enterprise IT in a hybrid module of hardware, cloud systems and connectivity services into their products. Furthermore, Embever offers selected customers development partnerships in the field of Internet of Things and digital product development.

What is your USP?
Cloud as a Module is a product that transparently maps the entire communication path from the device to the customer application. It includes the communication hardware, connectivity performance in the mobile network, channel encryption via closed user groups and VPN, all necessary protocols as well as data brokers and integration adapters including an open web API.

We offer industrial customers the opportunity to realize an initial proof of concept in our 100-day program. Our platform has been specially developed for customers who want to quickly access the Internet of Things market with their products without having their own IoT expertise and who want to outsource the entire communication path.

What is your relationship with the telecom sector?
So far, the telecoms industry has been more of a provider for us. But we have already had some talks with MVNOs and would like to have a strong partner from the sector on our side

How have you got to your current stage of development?
We participated in the Accelerator Programme of Deutsche Bahn in 2019. This programme has made us very familiar with the rail sector and we have also found other customers there who love our solutions.

Why did you establish the business?
I wanted to set up my own business after university. I never imagined that Embever would be in the market for 5 years now and that the opportunities are promising.

Who inspired you?
We have the unique opportunity to try out really innovative approaches with some partners. It motivates me from day to day to see how the Embever team takes on the challenges, solves things and the use cases continue to grow. It is simply a real joy when you move something forward together.

What does the future hold for your business
IoT is a future market that is currently receiving a lot of attention. I think there is a lot for us to do in the coming years. Maybe we can help to democratise IoT and make it easily accessible to smaller companies. Our slogan is IoT is fun! And that is the most important thing, also in cooperation with our partners. The work must be fun

COMPANY CV
HEADQUARTERS: Magdeburg, Germany
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 10
LAST FUNDING TYPE: Bootstrapped
URL: https://www.embever.com/
FOUNDERS:
Richard Abendroth (Director Customer Innovation)
Sascha Thiergart (Director Technology)
Henry Schlag (Managing Director)

You can meet Embever at Connected Germany, 6 – 7 December 2022 at the Mainz Congress, Germany. Book your place at www.totaltele.com/connectedgermany

The post Making a commodity out of IoT first appeared on Total Telecom.

News

The duo will collaborate to jointly develop technologies and services related to the metaverse and 6G, as well as content creation

Today, two of the largest telecoms operators in South Korea and Japan are joining forces with a far-reaching strategic partnership, encompassing both their telecoms and media interests.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see SK Telecom (SKT) and NTT Docomo work together to jointly produce original content for their respective video distribution platforms, as well as working together for global expansion.

Perhaps more interesting, however, are the pair’s plans to collaborate on the metaverse.

SKT already has its own metaverse platform – Ifland – which it has been enhancing through various acquisitions over the last year, including 3D modelling and video specialists. SKT has also been very clear that it views Ifland as an international opportunity, having already struck a deal with Deutsche Telekom to offer the service in Germany.

Docomo, on the other hand, also offers a growing range of metaverse services, though for now these are fairly limited. Nonetheless, the company’s commitment to this emerging market has been plain to see this year, with the company making a formal push into the metaverse space back in March, setting up an industrial metaverse development company with about 150 engineers.

More recently, the Japanese operator created a new business unit called Qonoq, backed by roughly $412 million and specialising on hardware and software for extended reality. Qonoq is set to build on the work already conducted by Docomo’s NTT XR unit, which was set up back in March.

Now, Docomo and SKT say they will work together to co-create metaverse content, focussing on 3D models, volumetric videos, and virtual cities. In the long-term, the duo could even look to link their respective metaverse platforms, theoretically allowing customers to move seamlessly from one to the other.

Beyond the metaverse, the partnership also expands to both companies’ more traditional stomping grounds in the telecoms space, most notably the development of 5G and 6G technologies. Areas of focus reportedly include 5G stand alone, the use of millimetre-wave, Open RAN/vRAN, and network energy efficiency.

“By combining our technological capabilities and the know-how we have cultivated across years of experience, we hope to create new services that will allow customers around the world to experience new forms of excitement. We look forward to working with SK Telecom to develop the businesses of both companies,” explained NTT Docomo CEO Motoyuki Ii.

“The MOU has a significant meaning as it is a cooperation between the representative mobile operators of Korea and Japan. By working together with NTT DOCOMO in the area of future ICT, we will generate tangible results that drive global ICT innovation,” added SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang.

While the metaverse remains largely intangible for the time being, telcos’ hunt for new revenue streams is very much real. Whether through industrial metaverse offerings or consumer streaming content, telcos need to find new ways of monetising their networks, and SKT and Docomo are looking to be at the forefront of that innovation.

Also in the news:
Vestager: Restricting “high-risk” vendors a “matter of urgency” for EU
UKRI selects BT consortium for intelligent drone project
IRIS cable set to link Iceland and Ireland

The post New SKT and NTT Docomo partnership to focus on content, 6G, and the metaverse first appeared on Total Telecom.

Blackburn-based network operator IX Wireless, which is building a new fixed wireless broadband network for UK ISP 6G Internet (not related to 6G mobile technology), has been hit with a small fine in the Greater Manchester market town of Bury (specifically the suburb of Brandlesholme) after they built unauthorised digital infrastructure. IX Wireless has previously […]

News

The chip designer has told shareholders the issuance of an initial public offering (IPO) will take place later in 2023 than initially planned

According to reports today, Arm has written to private shareholders to inform them that plans to issue an IPO have been delayed, citing the unfavourable global economic climate.

Previously, Arm had been targeting the IPO for Q1 of next year, though this delay should not come as too great a surprise; earlier this month, with Arm’s parent company, Softbank Group, hinted at delaying the IPO during their own investor call.

Analysts have previously suggested that an IPO could value Arm up to $40 billion, with Softbank loath to begin the sale when investor appetite is muted by the strained global economy.

The exact length of the delay to the IPO process is unclear, but Arm told investors that it was “unlikely” to take place in Q1 2023 as hoped.

“Clearly, we want to IPO as soon as is possible. But given the current global economic uncertainty, given the state of financial markets, that’s probably now unlikely to happen before the end of March 2023,” explained Ian Thornton, Arm’s head of investor relations, in the letter to investors. “However, preparations for the IPO are going very well. They’re advanced. And we are fully committed to floating sometime in 2023.”

Softbank, itself struggling under the weight of a number of poor investments exacerbated in recent years by the pandemic, has been mulling its options with Arm for some time.

A controversial deal was struck in 2020 to sell Arm to its US rival Nvidia for $40 billion, but the deal was ultimately scrapped in February 2022, with Softbank claiming that the strict regulatory hurdles were too hard to surmount.

An IPO has been the preferred alternative ever since, with the UK government notably lobbying for the move to make the London Stock Exchange more competitive with its international rivals.

Also in the news:
Vestager: Restricting “high-risk” vendors a “matter of urgency” for EU
UKRI selects BT consortium for intelligent drone project
IRIS cable set to link Iceland and Ireland

The post Arm puts brakes on IPO first appeared on Total Telecom.

Data traffic flowing through the London Internet Exchange (LINX) has today hit another record level – peaking at 7.424Tbps (Terabits per second) at 3:10pm – on the back of England’s first FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 match against Iran, which saw the three lions walk away with a 6-1 win. The fact the match took […]

Lincolnshire-based network operator and UK ISP LightSpeed Broadband, which rolling out a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to 200,000 premises across the East of England by the end of 2022 (rising to 1 million by the end of 2025), has for a limited time begun offering all new customers six months of free service. At present […]

The Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) project in England has received a further £250,000 of funding in order to extend their Mobile Boost Scheme, which works to improve rural 4G mobile (mobile broadband and voice) availability by offering vouchers (up to £1,200) to help deploy indoor mobile signal boosters. The programme, which is being funded […]

News

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will use the map as the foundation for allocating over $42 billion in broadband infrastructure subsidies

Back in November 2021, the long-awaited Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was written into law, provisioning roughly $1.2 trillion in government funding for infrastructure projects across the US, spanning highway maintenance to power grid updates.

In May, as part of the IIJA, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program was formally announced, setting aside $42.45 billion to provide high-speed ‘Internet for All’ across the country. These funds were set to be allocated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to the areas in the US with the poorest broadband access.

Identifying these areas, however, is no easy task, not only given the nation’s scale but also its federated nature, which often obfuscates cross-state data gathering processes.

As such, the IIJA required the FCC create a National Broadband Map (NBM), collating data from across the country to both identify underserved areas and serve as a benchmark from which to assess grant requests.

This week, the FCC have unveiled their first draft of the NBM, including nationwide data on the availability of both mobile and fixed internet services.

The map is devised primarily through the meshing together of two data sets: a ‘broadband serviceable location fabric’, essentially listing all physical structures (such as homes and businesses) where broadband could be required, as well as coverage data provided by the ISPs themselves.

“[The National Broadband Map is an] important milestone in our effort to help everyone, everywhere get specific information about what broadband options are available for their homes, and pinpointing places in the country where communities do not have the service they need,” said FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel.

As part of the NBM’s release, the FCC are inviting comments from the general public, allowing them to submit data about broadband availability in their own area. In this way, the FCC hopes to keep iterating on the NBM, making it increasingly accurate over time.

There are fears, however, that this process of gradual improvement will take too long. The NTIA is expected to announce BEAD funding in June of next year, hence the organisation recommends that challenges to the current map are submitting January 13, 2023, if they are to be considered during subsidy allocations.

Thus, even though the NBM will be gradually improved over the coming years, for many states it could in fact be too late for them to benefit from it in the form of BEAD funding.

Want to learn more about the US broadband landscape? Join the experts in discussion at the Connected America conference – book now and save 80% off your ticket!

Also in the news:
Vestager: Restricting “high-risk” vendors a “matter of urgency” for EU
UKRI selects BT consortium for intelligent drone project
IRIS cable set to link Iceland and Ireland

The post FCC unveils National Broadband Map first appeared on Total Telecom.

VIEWPOINT

Any major event puts immense pressure on the communications network as fans share updates as they happen. It demands network planning and effective management to ensure that quality is maintained even as a growing number of people use the network at the same time. Typically, it also leads to an exponential increase in bandwidth demand as fans share videos on social media and with their friends.

Ooredoo and Huawei have signed a Key Event Assurance Agreement to provide a best-in-class user experience during the upcoming world-famous football event, FIFA World Cup 2022, in Qatar starting November 20. Over 1.2 million international visitors will likely visit Qatar to watch the 32-team tournament. In addition, several Government representatives, journalists and global football leaders will be visiting Qatar to watch the games and billions of fans will be watching on television.

“This strategic partnership between Ooredoo and Huawei looks set to be a winning team as the largest single-sport competition in the world comes to Qatar. Ooredoo continues to be committed to upgrading our customers’ world, and with 1.2 million fans expected to convene over the 29 days of the event, our common goal is to deliver transformational digital experiences for all, as well as to the billions watching on TV around the world,” says Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulla Al Thani, Deputy Group CEO and CEO of Ooredoo Qatar.

“Huawei has rich experience in various international sporting events. Huawei will use multiple leading technologies in partnership with Ooredoo to contribute to the success of this exceptional sports feast taking place in Qatar,” says Li Peng, President of Carrier BG Group, Huawei.

Preparing the networks for the mega event

As part of the agreement, the two companies will be working as one team to provide the best possible network experience to international visitors as well as domestic football fans as they get ready to enjoy the event held once every four years.

More than 100 Huawei experts from across various domains will be working round the clock at Ooredoo Qatar’s Operations Center to ensure the success of the assurance program. Further, global Huawei expert support is also ready to provide a service guarantee.

The two companies, Ooredoo and Huawei, are undertaking several measures to ensure a best-in-class experience during the event. As part of the preparations for the event, the latest network equipment is being deployed in seven stadiums. Further, they are also fine-tuning the network and identifying and addressing any network-related issues before the event. Ooredoo and Huawei are also conducting comprehensive resilience tests in all stadiums as part of preparing the networks for this major event.

In addition, augmented Reality (AR) assisted operations will be used across stadiums and broadcast networks to provide quality and an error-free experience.

Boosting Broadcast Experience

Ooredoo and Huawei have also deployed state-of-the-art international broadcast network solutions that will carry live broadcasting traffic of the event globally. In addition, three 24×7 operations centres have been set up for seamless handling of the broadcast traffic to the world.

The two companies have also launched next-generation TV services through their fixed broadband network in the lead-up to the major football event. This will provide an immersive experience for viewers in Qatar who decide to enjoy matches from their homes. Ooredoo and Huawei experts will work round the clock to ensure that any network glitch does not mar the viewers’ experience.

As part of the preparations, Ooredoo and Huawei will also work to upgrade the Voice over LTE (VoLTE) network to ensure a superior experience even as the number of users increases significantly. The two companies will also work together to ensure the platform remains agile and robust and they are able to offer customized packages to the end user.

The domestic and international football fans can be assured of world-class voice, data and broadcast experience during the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022 with the two industry leaders.

The post Ooredoo and Huawei Collaborate to Ensure World-Class User Experience During Upcoming Mega Football Event first appeared on Total Telecom.