Singapore is well poised to benefit from a fast-expanding digital economy in the ASEAN region, and has set clear initiatives to drive digital transforma-tion and ensure the country stays com-petitive.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of ConnecTechAsia2018, Minister for Communications and Information, S. Iswaran, said recent announcements such as the InfoComm and Media (ICM) Industry Transformation Map (launched Oct 2017) and the Digital Economy (DE) Framework for Action reflect efforts to deepen Singapore’s capabilities and aspi-rations to becomes a global node.

Iswaran said the digital economy is likely to be underpinned by Southeast

Industries worldwide are having their traditional core businesses chal-lenged by disruption, and organiza-tions have little choice but to find new revenue streams and overhaul business models to stay relevant.

A panel discussion titled “Reshap-ing the Next-Gen Business Models and Ecosystem of Tomorrow with Digital Transformation” saw C-suite executives share how their organizations have in-

Asia’s growing middle class and popu-lation of 630 million people, more than half of whom are under 30. ASEAN to-day has 330 million internet users, with 70 million new users since 2015.

ASEAN’s digital economy could con-tribute an additional $1 trillion to the region’s GDP by 2025.

“These young, tech-savvy and con-nected citizens are ready to shift ASE-AN’s engine of growth to the next gear, and seize the opportunities that technol-ogy and the digital economy have to of-fer them.

“We see this in e-commerce, where online shopping in Southeast Asia’s six biggest economies is projected to reach $64.8 billion in 2021, compared to $37.7

novated to meet customer demands.The traditional telecommunica-

tions provider business has faced dis-ruption on several fronts, from voice to data roaming to competition with new entrants into the industry, shared CEO of Group Enterprise at Singtel Bill Chang. “Telcos therefore need to have their fingers in non-telco related busi-nesses,” said Chang, adding how 46% of Singtel’s revenue now stems from non

Singapore ready to ride on rising digital economy

Transform or be left behind

Continued on page 3 ...

S. Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister for Communications and Information

#2, Wednesday 27 June 2018

The Official

live update at www.telecomasia.net

A part of

MARINA BAY SANDS • SUNTEC SINGAPORE

Official Mobile AppsUse this app to view the full list of exhibitors / products, activity schedules and interactive floorplan! Scan the QR code below or search ‘ConnecTechAsia’ in the App Store or Google Play.

billion last year. The ride-hailing mar-ket has also grown four-fold since 2015 and is expected to be over $20 billion by 2025.”

Industry transformationUnder Singapore’s ITM, roadmaps

have been developed for 23 industries to address issues within each industry and deepen partnerships between Govern-ment, businesses and industry bodies.

The DE Framework for Action cent-ers around collaborating with partners and platform enablers to digitalize in-dustries, integrate ecosystems and cre-ate companies and capabilities for the future.

The ITM, for instance, aims to grow Singapore’s ICM industry’s value-add by around 6% annually. It is also expected to employ more than 210,000 workers and more than 13,000 new PMET jobs by 2020.

“Together with the Framework for Action, it will prepare Singapore to be a leading digital economy. These ini-tiatives will chart Singapore’s way for-ward towards the digital future. With these plans, we aim to remain nimble and continually adapt ourselves so as to turn challenges into opportunities for growth,” said Iswaran.

A Global Innovation Alliance was launched last year to broaden and deep-en Singapore’s network of overseas part-ners in major hubs and demand markets, such as San Francisco, Beijing, Bangkok and Jakarta, with a focus on technology and innovation.

This initiative will allow Singaporean workers and companies to gain overseas experience, build international networks and collaborate with their counterparts on innovation and new products and services.

“We have also proposed the establish-ment of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network as a collaborative platform where ASEAN cities such as Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Ma-nila and Yangon, will work together with Singapore towards the common goal of smart and sustainable urban develop-ment,” said Iswaran. 3

telco- related businesses such as cyber-security.

Disruption should be viewed as the best time for companies to innovate, says Parminder Singh, Chief Commer-cial and Digital Officer at Mediacorp. “It’s a good time to ask what business you are in, and try to be as broad as you can be while doing that,” said Singh. “We realized we were good at content and storytelling for news, business and lifestyle, so we focused on those.”

France-based Eutelsat decided to

disrupt the satellite services industry with the launch of a high throughput, satellite-based broadband service with no data cap for consumers, challeng-ing the commonly held notion about satellite-based connectivity being finite in nature. “But we tripled our sales and were ultimately successful,” shared CEO of Eutelsat Asia Jean-François Fenech.

A business that is clear about its di-rection can leverage partnerships to fill

Allan Tan

At ConnecTechAsia, one common reference connectivity – be it by land, air or sea, connectivity is a given, like the air we breathe.

Todd McDonell, vice president, market sectors and business development, global government, In-marsat, a global connectivity solutions provider via satellites, described connectivity as having evolved from nice-to-have option to one where it is a re-quirement for every aspect of living. “Connectivity is not an integral part of society,” he added.

Connectivity has also evolved from purely for person-to-person communication. “These days we have machines talking to machines or humans talking to machine. These days a lot of things happen in an automated way because the machines are com-municating over networks, in-cluding ours, to solve problems,” he explained.

How we connect to each other, as well as how we con-sume content, is dictating the extent to which a particular technology evolves.

McDonell described how In-marsat, itself, is redefining con-nectivity on land, at sea and in the air. At ConnecTechAsia, the company is demonstrating the latest L-band and Global Xpress (GX) technology, providing the connectivity essential to smart cities; maritime cyber security; sustainable fishing; and the con-nected cockpit to name a few.

Accelerating pace of everywhere connectivity

27 JUNE 2018

LATEST NEWS 3

“Transform or be left behind” from page 1...

Dtac confirms plans to participate in August auction

Thailand’s Dtac has finally committed to take part in the upcoming

replacement 850-MHz spectrum auction. The operator had, along with

its rivals AIS and True Move, declined to participate in the initial 1800-

MHz and 850-MHz auction despite facing a loss of spectrum under its

expiring 2G license, prompting the auction’s cancellation. Dtac initially

baulked at the terms of the replacement auction, but has now sent a

signed letter to regulator NBTC confirming its intention to participate.

Under the terms of the planed auction, which is planned for August 19,

the 1800-MHz spectrum will be divided into nine 10 MHz slots, while

there will be only one 850-MHz slot up for bid.

3 HK deploying all-cloud core network3 Hong Kong is deploying an all-cloud core network from Huawei

as part of its preparations towards evolving to 5G architecture. The

first phase of the telco cloud network, covering connectivity from the

mobile core network to the internet as well as cloudification of IPMS

is now live. The second phase will comprise management of radio

stations based on open cloudified network infrastructure built on

network function virtualization, and is expected to be ready by early

2019. 3 Hong Kong also announced plans to conduct all-outdoor 5G

trials in the 3.5-GHz, 26-GHz and 28-GHz bands in the third quarter

using 5G new radio equipment from Huawei.

Idea-Vodafone India merger may face roadblockThe planned merger between Idea Cellular and Vodafone India

may be facing a roadblock, with reports that the Department of

Telecom plans to demand dues of around 47 billion rupees from

Vodafone before approving the merger. The dues, which are related

to one-time spectrum charges, are likely to be demanded next week,

sources told the Press Trust of India. The department is expected to ask

Vodafone to either pay the dues or submit a bank guarantee before

allowing the merger to proceed, the sources said. The final amount

of the demand is still being worked out, and may include interest on

top of the allegedly unpaid charges. The merger had been expected to

close on June 30.

Tata Comm to support W-Locate’s APAC expansion

Tata Communications has secured a contract to support the

international growth of Singapore-based IoT startup W-Locate. Under

the agreement, W-Locate will expand its presence to South Korea,

Taiwan, Thailand and other Asian countries using Tata Communications’

MOVE platform and IZO Private Cloud. W-Locate provides SIM based

location based services as well as fleet intelligence dynamics services

integrating M2M telematics, big data and cloud computing with

location intelligence. The company will utilize Tata Communications’

relationships with more than 600 mobile operators worldwide to

eliminate the need to negotiate separate data connectivity agreements

with different local MNOs in each country.

OVERNIGHT WIRE

Provider of the Official Daily Newspaper and Online News Service

PUBLISHER Simon Yeung, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Allan Tan, ONLINE EDITOR Fiona Chau, DESIGN MANAGER Pauline Wong

© 2018 Questex Asia Ltd., a division of Questex LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The editorial content is not necessarily the opinion of the event’s organizer.

Organised by

operational gaps, said Singh, citing Mediacorp’s collaboration with transport platform Grab for delivery of the former’s content via in-car tab-lets. Eutelsat too, as a B2B business, formed a distribution partnership with Orange so its ser-vices could more effectively reach consumers.

Leaders play a key role in identifying key

trends that can take the business forward, Chang said, adding employees of a company need to fail fast, skill fast and learn fast.

The illiterate of the 21st century are not those who cannot read, shared Singh, but those who cannot learn, un-write and re-learn.3

The communications industry is undergoing a paradigm shift. On the one hand the need to provide seamless, continuous connections across platforms, media and devices means a growing mesh of connected devices and applications. At the same time, consumers are demanding for greater simplicity.

At the ConnecTechAsia Xperience Zone, Mc-Donell will be demonstrating how virtual and aug-mented reality can be used to bring operational scenarios to life. Inmarsat claims its iMPACT! suite is revolutionizing the way complex operational so-lutions are presented to end users, allowing them to conceptualize and plan communications re-quirements way before deployment.3

Booth: 1S2-01 (CommunicAsia)

Todd McDonell, vice president, market sectors and business develop-ment, global government of Inmarsat

Speaking with carriers, network vendors and communications regula-tors (even standards’ bodies), there is no greater excitement than the coming of 5G. The fifth generation of mobile net-works is going to be bigger, better, faster and wider than anything before. It will unite disparate network technologies, supporting all the G’s that came before while offering an alternative for wired broadband internet and Wi-Fi. At the same time, 5G will address the needs of the wide variety of “things” that will con-nect in their millions.

That’s the hype. From a technical perspective, 5G is undoubtedly exciting, offering fiber network speeds across the air with lower latency and the ability to ‘slice’ the network to support different workloads. However, the cost and com-plexity associated with the three areas of spectrum, speed and services are causing some carriers to don a shell and take on the role of the Tortoise in the race to next generation mobile networks. Others are racing toward the finish line, before the paint is dry on the 5G standard and even before devices are coming to market.

Tortoise vs hareThe first early movers were the Unit-

ed States carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile), announcing millimeter wave (mmWave) solutions in the lat-ter part of this year. Interestingly, these will be focused on delivery of a wireless based last mile broadband access solu-tion, allowing carriers who were exclud-ed from broadband markets to offer an alternative to fiber to the home.

Carriers in the Middle East were next to jump on the bandwagon. Hot on the heels of Qatari mobile network opera-tor Ooredoo claiming to have launched the world’s first commercial 5G network come announcements of 5G networks from two other Middle East telco’s: the UAE’s Etisalat and Saudi Arabia’s STC. Etisalat, whose announcement was made the same day as Ooredoo’s, claimed to have “the first commercial 5G wireless network in the UAE” and the first in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Though the network is avail-able, devices and services will be avail-able from September this year. STC said they will continue working on building

the network construction gradually in the cities of the kingdom until devices are available in 2019. Interestingly, STC described their 5G implementation as a “live network” as opposed to a commer-cial one, highlighting the importance of being first across the line.

In Australia, Telstra and Optus have announced services for 5G will be avail-able in the latter part of 2018, following the spectrum auction which is touted for a November timeframe. Australian op-erators have gone from the lower capacity 3.6-GHz bandwidth, giving coverage and increased capacity without going to the high bandwidth (26-GHz) used by the US carriers. The United Kingdom was the first to complete spectrum auctions, with all the carriers jumping in to the fray and grabbing chunks of 4G and 5G spectrum, with 5G capacity priced around 30% higher than similar 4G capacity.

Carriers in markets with a high level of 4G penetration and broad deploy-ment of fiber in urban areas have been more considered in their approach to

The two-speed arrival of 5G

27 JUNE 2018

OPINION4

5G. With 4G speeds approaching 2Gbps and fiber to the premises and the home offering up to 1Gbps, markets like Singa-pore find the need for additional speed a more elusive concept and are spending time looking closely at the use cases that justify high speed, low latency radio net-works. Though South Korea led the pack in terms of 5G trials (Winter Olympics 2018), spectrum auctions have been an-nounced and floor pricing set, but ser-vices will not come online till Q12019.

Use cases for 5GBeyond bragging rights, current

speeds and service levels seem to satisfy most of the use cases, especially those in the consumer segment. Prices continue to drop for mobile services, even as ca-pacity increases. Therefore, the lure of improved performance that drove the move from 3G to 4G will be less effective in the 5G world.

The investment in new infrastructure both in the core network and the base stations is significant. Carriers must ex-

STAT SNAP

The smartphone market is in a pre-5G slumpEstimated worldwide smartphone shipments and year-over-year shipment growth

Source: IDC

Hugh Ujhazy, IDC Asia/Pacific

amine which services they bring to mar-ket and when – a limited deployment network might be enough to claim win-ner’s rights in the race, but cooler heads will be looking closely at the revenue models around 5G before broad scale commitment takes place.

In the race to 5G, the Tortoise may well be the one who has the broadest smile. Regardless, 5G will be sprayed across slogans for the next few years, as consumers and businesses alike are lured to upgrade their network and device choices to get on board with the latest big thing in mobile. 3

Hugh Ujhazy is the Head of Research for Internet of Things and Tel-co Practice at IDC Asia/Pacific

27 JUNE 2018

LATEST NEWS 5

What is the single biggest trend you see in Satellite communications (SAT-COM) in 2018/2019?

Right now, one of the biggest trends is the “bring your own device” move-ment. The market is demanding reliable connections through personal mobile devices, regardless of location. Satel-lite communications operators need to adapt and deliver products that are state-of-the-art, easy to use, small in form fac-tor and most importantly, able to deliver reliable, 100-percent global connectivity.

What remains the biggest challenge for the SATCOM ecosystem?

As a satellite operator in low Earth orbit (LEO) we remain vigilant about keeping our space neighborhood safe and reducing space debris. New LEO entrants and the increase in proposed smallsat constellations means LEO could become crowded. We are urging all SATCOM operators, old and new, to meet minimum standards of operation that will not contribute to future prob-lems in LEO.

The U.S. Air Force’s Joint Space Op-erations Center (JSpOC) makes sure we know every time, and in real time, if there is debris approaching any of our satellites. Iridium has a facility solely dedicated to managing and maneuver-

ing our satellites that is manned 24/7 and is critical to the health of our own network, as well as respecting the space of our neighbors. We manage the “end of life” planning for each satellite and are currently in the process of de-orbiting our original constellation, as we replace it with new satellites.

As more satellites are launched in LEO, other operators must implement mechanisms to avoid collisions and not let their drive for lower cost satellites reduce redundancies and safety factors that would create uncontrolled “satellite rocks” in space. They need to commit to halt launching if they experience failures of newly launched satellites. This can be a difficult choice for the new LEO en-trants who will face investor pressure to complete their constellations, however the ramifications of pressing on could be far worse for future spaceflight.

How are you working with customers to meet new regulatory and compli-ance regulations?

Iridium works closely with our part-ners to ensure they have the information necessary to successfully meet new and pre-existing regulatory requirements, based on their countries of operation. As a global company, with a satellite network covering the planet, Iridium

takes the varying regulatory requirements of each coun-try seriously and know that each of our partners place an equal level of importance on ensuring compliance. We place a premium on choos-ing the right partners, and we know that they place the same level of importance on these and other issues.

How are new technologies like IoT impacting demand for SATCOM services? How is Iridium working with these and other tech-nologies with customers?

IoT applications started in the cellular world, but ex-panded into the SATCOM realm as enterprises wanted to extend the benefits into the nearly 90 percent of the world where terrestrial technologies don’t touch. Solutions are often “dual-mode”, meaning that they can smoothly transition between satel-lite and cellular connectivity, ensuring connectivity, but providing the most cost-effective solution based on location.

Iridium is working to develop satel-lite-IoT solutions that are flexible, easy to use and easy to implement. We have

Trends and opportunities in today’s satcoms world

introduced a satellite-IoT device, giving technology partners a “head start” in implementing satellite IoT, particularly when they’ve already deployed a cellular solution. Called Iridium Edge®, it’s a sat-ellite IoT transceiver, antenna and power supply, all-in-one, ready to quickly “plug and play” with existing terrestrial or cel-lular solutions.3

1Q2-01 (CommunicAsia)

Thailand-based satellite startup mu Space has launched a tender for a manufacturer to build its first satellite, which will be used to provide coverage spanning across Asia-Pacific.

The new satellite its expected to be launched in late 2020 using Blue Ori-gin’s New Glenn orbital rocket. It will be placed in a geostationary orbit at 50.5-degrees East, using an orbital slot provided by partner SES Networks.

The company plans to use the satellite to provide satellite-based services for governments, operators in businesses in Thailand, as well as potentially Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

“We’re searching a technology partner who is flexible and adaptable with our design ideas and long term business goals,” mu Space CTO Samathorn Teankingkaeo said.

“We’ll look at all sorts of proposals from bidders, and we’ll consider every-thing to make sure we award this project to the right satellite manufacturer.”3

Booth: 5K6-09 (NXTAsia)

Thailand’s mu Space launches tender for first satellite

Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium

immersive experiences demand much more bandwidth capacity,” Ayta noted.

Industry executives interviewed for the report, however, varied widely in their expectations for the impact of VR/AR on telco network traffic [see chart below ].

GlobalData noted that telcos are up-grading their networks and testing 5G systems to take advantage of the next generation of VR/AR gears and apps.

Ayta said telcos need to have a long-term vision in order to tap the growth opportunities and new revenue streams generated from AR/VR.3

27 JUNE 2018

6

Global demand for smartphones will continue to be slow until 2022, when 2.02 billion phones will be sold, CCS Insight predicts.

The telecoms industry is banking on 5G devices to reignite sales, but mo-mentum will only begin from 2021. CCS Insight expects over 600 million 5G-ena-bled mobile phones will be sold in 2022.

With new smartphones offering little more than an incremental update on pre-vious models, the research firm fears that demand is unlikely to grow significantly for the next few years.

Marina Koytcheva, CSS Insight VP adds, “Consumers in mature markets have been underwhelmed by the latest crop of flagship smartphones. Price hikes for top-end devices, with some of the lat-est and greatest devices hitting $1,000, have certainly not helped, and it’s little

surprise more customers have decided they might as well stick with the device they already own.”

Koytcheva notes that it’s not all doom and gloom [US and European markets]: “Although mature markets are suffering, there’s still growth potential in Africa, the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific, and India.

CCS Insight believes the balance be-tween developed and emerging markets will remain relatively stable, resulting in the global market for mobile phones edging up very slightly over the next five years, eventually delivering sales of more than 2 billion units in 2022.

Koytcheva says manufacturers are increasingly looking to 5G technology to reignite growth in mature markets, but cautions that phone-makers will have to be patient as they wait for this next wave

5G devices to save smartphone makers

The 3GPP has approved the completion of standalone Release 15 specifica-tions for 5G at the Technical Specifications Group’s 80th plenary meeting.

The meeting brought together more than 600 representatives of the world’s major operators and network, smartphone and chipset vendors to witness the his-toric freeze of standalone 5G new radio (5G NR) specifications.

It follows the release of the 5G NR specifications for non-standalone operation in December, and paves the way for the expected launch of the first 5G mobile broadband networks in the US later this year.

The new standard introduces a brand new end-to-end architecture for mobile networks and will facilitate the introduction of new business models and an era of unparalleled connectivity.3

A new IHS Markit study revealed that 75% of communication service provider (CSP) respondents say enhancing customer experience is their top digital trans-formation project, followed by automation (44%) and cloudification (38%).

The report assesses market trends, top telecoms service providers’ plans, driv-ers and challenges, and selection criteria for vendor partners. Service providers participating in the study account for one-third of the world’s telecoms revenue and capex.

Other findings: • Enhancing customer experience leads to major investment in network opera-

tions digital transformation with operations support systems (OSS), business support systems (BSS) and network management systems (NMS)

• The Internet of Things (IoT), video and enterprise IP virtual private networks (IP VPNs) top the list of new digital services that service providers plan to launch over their transformed networks

• Big data analytics, cloud, software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) are key digital transformation enablers that are already widely deployed across networks.3

3GPP freezes standalone 5G NR specifications

Customer experience is top driver of DX among telcos

of upgrade activity. “Although we expect the first 5G

smartphones will hit the market in 2019, really significant demand won’t start until 2021, eventually having a positive impact

in 2022, when we expect over 600 mil-lion 5G phones will be sold, accounting for 31% of the global market,” Koytcheva commented.3

Source: GlobalData

Total shipment of mobile phones, 2013-2022

Expected VR/AR impact on telco network traffic by 2025

Source: CCS Insight

BRIEFS

Telecoms operators are becoming interested in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), viewing VR/AR not only as a path to monetizing 5G systems but also growth opportuni-ties in connectivity, content innovation and service platforms, says research firm GlobalData.

“Telcos have a key role in enabling VR/AR services as providers of broad-band and mobile network services, but we see them beginning to explore revenue opportunities in VR/AR that are beyond 5G data and connectivity,” said Ozgur Ayta, director of research at GlobalData.

Already, a number of leading tel-cos have forayed into key segments of the VR/AR supply chain in the past two years, he said.

Verizon, for example, has made ac-quisitions in VR/AR content platforms, while SK Telecom is building its own. AT&T, meanwhile, is investing to devel-op VR experiences and AR apps and Or-ange is taking steps to increase its par-ticipation across the board in devices, platforms, services and original content.

But the research firm also indicates that the rising demand for VR/AR expe-riences will place “formidable pressure” on the capacity of telcos’ networks.

“While smartphone AR apps such as Pokémon Go can be handled by the ex-isting mobile broadband infrastructure,

Telcos seek AR/VR opportunities beyond 5G monetization

B2B CONTENT

MARKETING SOLUTION

BusinessInformation

Center

eReport

Webinar Microsite

Co-BrandedSurvey

ResearchReports

Targeted insight on the telco industry

For more information, please contact: Simon Yeung syeung@questexasia.com +852 2589 1370

A part of

MARINA BAY SANDS • SUNTEC SINGAPORE

Free Subscription, please visit us at booth# BW4-09

ContentMarketing_hsead_265x350.indd 1 06/19/2018 7:25 PM

data from previous workflows, the network, cus-tomer premises equipment and trouble tickets to find the optimal remediation of issues when sub-scribers contact agents with billing, subscription and network service issues.

She further explained that management dash-boards will ingest and report on data for the monitoring of agents (for example, performance, hard and soft skills, among others) and customer experience (feedback management tools ingest-ing data from surveys and other sources).

Beyond the customer engagement center, Patrick noted that a set of more operational use cases around areas such as call routing will be-come more prescriptive. For example, data from the network, which highlights real-time issues that may see a rise in calls, can be used to bet-ter contain the calls (diverting them to recorded messages, for example).

“Another channel offering good opportunities for new analytical solutions is digital. Predictive analytics will enable CSPs to improve personali-zation, next-best offer and content recommenda-tions and advert targeting. The digital nature of the channel also offers new types of data that can be analyzed to improve customer insights — for example, text or graphics,” she elaborated.

Other areas of opportunity include retail, sales, field services, and finance and fraud man-agement.

AI – not ready The artificial intelligence we see in movies like

the Terminator series is still a distant reality for most telcos today.

Patrick said AI is still very much hype today. “The fact that CSPs have a lot of data is a strong business driver. The three drivers that drive eve-rything a CSP does: more revenue, reduced costs and better customer experience,” she concluded.3

Charlotte Patrick, research director, Gartner

LATEST NEWS27 JUNE 2018

8

Allan Tan

The Gartner report “Market Trends: Top Five Disruptions for CSPs, Worldwide, 2018-2023” lists technologies like open-source software, vir-tualization, wireless edge computing and artificial intelligence as radically alter business relation-ships and competitive structures.

Gartner believes that many CSPs still struggle to become early adopters or fast followers of these technologies. Legacy mentality is making it chal-lenging for leadership at CSPs to develop the bold vision and agility required in order to capture market opportunities proffered by these trends.

What is real, however, is that the accelerat-ing pace of change demands ever more rapid decision-making process. And these decisions must be based on facts – much of which is bur-ied in considerable volumes of complex business data the organization may already have – it’s just that they don’t know what it looks like, where it is stored, how to access it, and what to do with it even it hits them in the face.

Gartner raises the proverbial question: How can substantial volumes of data from structured and unstructured sources be interpreted? The so-lution is to find patterns and relationships beyond the data and analytics acts as a driving force for this.

Evolving use of analytics Charlotte Patrick (pictured), research direc-

tor, Gartner, said marketing has always been a starting place for analytics – and then, with the advent of Hadoop, “customer experience analyt-ics” has been a big focus. “Our analysis of use cases shows that channels offer the most imme-diate opportunities. This is mostly centered on the provision of more personalized or proactive interactions between the CSP and their customer, requiring new predictive/prescriptive analytics.”

She cited the contact center as one of the higher opportunities for data/analytics to pro-vide value. It will use context mining from voice and text, real-time and predictive analytics that identify the reasons for calls and their likely reso-lution, as well as deliver prescriptive actions that the agent could take based on data about historic case resolutions. Interaction assistance tools bring real-time decision support for agents.

“CSPs have data from their operational sup-port systems about the network, devices and ser-vices being used by customers, and this can feed into these tools — along with others — that en-able issue resolution,” suggested Patrick.

There will also be more prescriptive analytics used to optimize assistance — for example, Nokia Motive’s Dynamic Intelligent Workflows analyzes

Practical scenarios for analytics use by CSPs

COMPANY NAME BOOTH NO.

ASSOFT - PORTUGUESE DELEGATION 5G2-11

DURA-MINE SDN BHD BN1-03

EXPEREO SINGAPORE PTE LTD 5B6-07

FINGERFAST LABORATORY BR2-01

KEEVES TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD 5F2-01

MARS ANTENNAS & RF SYSTEMS LTD 1B4-12

MICRO UNITED TELECOM - HAPPY2CALL 5D1-02

MU SPACE AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CO LTD 5K6-09

PT. GLOBAL MITRA TEKNOLOGI BR2-07

RAAMTEL SOLUTIONS BF2-05

SAKA BR2-01

SHOP 5K6-37

SLEEK TECH PTE LTD 5K6-05

SMASH.ID BR2-07

SINGAPORE TOURISM BOARD BM4-07

NOCOLA BR2-01

EXHIBITORS UPDATE

ST Engineering establishes in-flight connectivity JV

Shure showcases conference audio solutions

Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering) and mo-dem and antenna company SatixFy have established a new joint venture targeting the high growth in-flight connectivity market.

The new subsidiary, Jet-Talk, is based in the UK. It has been established with a share capital of just over $20 million.

JetTalk will develop a cutting-edge satellite antenna system for the delivery of enhanced in-flight connectivity for the commercial aviation sector.

The new system will use digital beamforming technology based on SatixFy UK’s chip technology to enable simultaneous commu-nications with multiple satellites at higher performance as well as lower power and cost as existing solutions.

This is expected to allow airline operators to deliver improved in-flight connectivity and reduce capital expenditure. 3

Booth: IN3-01 (CommunicAsia)

Shure has returned to CommunicAsia to showcase its portfolio of integrated audio solutions for corporate, government and educa-tion users.

On display Microflex Complete Wireless (MXCW) and Micro-flex Complete Wired, which combine microphone, loudspeaker, and controls in one system for a fully-featured discussion system

The Microflex Advance (MXA) Array Microphones meanwhile allow clear conversations between remote participants without re-quiring the user to adjust the technology, while the new IntelliMix P300 Audio Conferencing Processor provides a conferencing audio DSP platform to ensure echo- and noise-free meetings.

“Over the past several years, we have increased our focus on corporate, government and education users and have addressed the growing need for integrated, easy-to-use, and secure audio tools,” Shure regional sales director for integrated systems and enterprise Andy Wan said. 3

Booth: 5F5-01 (CommunicAsia)

Quah Mei Lee, Frost & Sullivan

This year the Asia-Pacific wide trend towards going cashless and achieving “Cashless Societies” seemed closer to reality than ever before. Over the past two years, momentum in the market had driven industry regulators to take posi-tive steps in the right direction resulting in progress.

Government drivers and initiatives have been put into place. An increasing number of companies are going cash-less. The pace is quickening but worry-ingly, there seems to be imbalance and misalignment. What we have is a host of companies cramming the market place with local first “me too” payment solu-tions but not a lot of companies working towards enabling 100% cashless.

Indeed, our much needed trump card has yet to arrive. There is still potential to disrupt the payments landscape and so much more that we as representatives of industry can achieve even with just a few minor tweaks.

I reiterate that if the end goal is to achieve “cashless societies”, which by definition means 100% cashless, indus-try focus needs to shift from e-money/credit/debit cards to mobile payments as an enabling solution. I concede only that it may take a while longer if enabling solutions need connectivity to become faster and cheaper, locally and globally.

Until now, key drivers have been the cost effective use of app solutions and developments in digital identities in a fragmented region developing at differ-ent paces. Indeed, if cash were one day completely removed from circulation, smartphones could be the common de-nominator across Asia-Pacific but only if connected (globally when required) and paired with solutions incorporating tokenization, biometrics and use of digi-tal identities. The exception would be in countries where cards are mandated to replace cash but even the simple act of going cashless with cards will act as a catalyst for mobile payments.

Payment providers must think bigger

The real challenge we are facing to-day is the fact that cash is seen as a per-manent payment option and that solu-tion providers aren’t developing mobile payments solutions that truly disrupt the payments ecosystem. Most companies

embark on local first campaigns taking solo approaches with few industry part-nerships.

Payment solutions need a local fla-vor and presence with global accept-ance (if required) in a similar manner to how banks have operated their cards business for over 20 years. There is not enough emphasis today on solutions that offer global acceptance while focus-ing on addressing local behavior, needs and preferences. The closest that we have is Alipay, which has global acceptance pinned down and has partnered for local presence. Unless we are in less developed markets where people are more home bound and travel less, this will continue to be a bottleneck for the payments in-dustry. We need companies to think big-ger, to think global.

There is also not enough of an em-phasis on getting the fundamentals right. The one failing of the payments industry lies in getting the fundamentals right. After all, what would life be like today if cards were not limited to only a subset of the population? A critical success factor for a payment solution is product strat-egy. It is not just about having a ready convertible base. Getting the product strategy right would be key to achiev-ing scale and achieving scale is critical to ensuring viability of a payments business model. Successful seamless, comprehen-sive solutions did not start from scratch, addressed a gap in the market, offered more than just payments, offered a clear value proposition and had the support of regulations for cross-border regional and global growth. It also incentivizes users in addition to making their life easier. This is where today’s “me too” payments solutions are not adequately addressing market needs.

Finding the right strategyThe right product strategy as well

as regulatory and industry alignment, across Asia-Pacific and globally, will be critical for mobile payments to hit mainstream adoption. Today, there isn’t a universal, global alternative payment method accessible to all that can replace cash. Lessening dependence on cash can be expedited but drastic measures to replace cash can only take place if there were a universal, global alternative pay-ment method accessible to all that can replace cash.

To achieve this, we need more global

first solution providers and we need lo-cal first solutions providers to partner locally, regionally and globally with in-teroperability as a central theme while at the same time catering to local behavior, needs and preferences.

An interesting concept would be Ali-pay as a global merchant acquirer for a global e-money scheme. Indeed, some semblance of this concept is already alive in the form of TNG’s global e-wallet alli-ance - albeit with single partners in each market and through use of a common currency i.e. bitcoin, to reduce exchange risk for its users.

The use of mobile biometrics and addressing data protection will address inhibitions to use of mobile payments. Global drivers namely the implementa-tion of General Data Protection Regu-lation (GDPR), the mandate to use stronger customer authentication via the revised payment system directive (PSD2) in Europe and Mastercard’s im-plementation of biometrics identifica-tion including fingerprint and facial rec-ognition, by April 2019 for its customers

will give Asia Pacific mobile payments the much needed boost.

Likewise, local drivers need to align globally. For example, Malaysia’s newly minted minimum standard for mobile payments needs to quickly align globally for it to be effective in replacing cash. With 5G all set to transform industry, our future ecosystem will become more and more intelligent and very much connected. There is tremendous poten-tial for growth in the payments industry, particularly alongside the rapid growth of connected devices in Internet of Things but the solutions have to be cash-less and mobile.

In summing up, the future mobile payments needs to be global first, inter-operable and secure. Intentional or not, cash and cards are global solutions. Mul-tiple global e-money schemes might be what the industry needs but for sure, we need to think bigger from now and start thinking global. It is not just the solutions that need to be global, connectivity too.3

Quah Mei Lee is an Industry Princi-pal at Frost & Sullivan

Cashless societies closer to a reality in APAC

27 JUNE 2018

ANALYSTVIEW 9

ST Engineering establishes in-flight connectivity JV

27 JUNE 2018

PRODUCT SHOWCASE10

On-board connectivity for maritime services

n intent-driven network solution designed for campus networks, Huawei

Software-Defined Campus (SD-Campus) makes optimal use of SDN and

cloud technologies. It helps customers to reduce 80% opex by creating

virtual networks through plug-and-play, navigation-like operations,

automation as well as implementing user and application-oriented automatic policy

management.

The SD-Campus solution is also able to address several

challenges including: simplify network deployment and O&M

complexity, shorten the deployment period of new network

nodes, improve the utilization of network resources, and

reduce the complexity of network policies. 3

For more information, visit www.huawei.com

utelsat satellites deliver

reliable connectivity

solutions for vessels,

from private yachts to commercial shipping. Instant Link is Eutelsat’s

easy-to-deploy solution enabling cost-controlled broadband services for short-term

requirements, with powerful, extensive coverage and total bandwidth flexibility.

Supported by Eutelsat’s maritime satellite coverage from the Americas to Asia, in Ku

and C-band, Instant Link is particularly suited for luxury yachts, cruise ships and mobile

Oil & Gas platforms, whose

requirements vary seasonally.

Quick and simple to set up and

operate, Instant Link is available

via Eutelsat’s 24/7 Sales and

Reservation Centre. 3

For more information,

visit www.eutelsat.com/maritime

RBCOMM’s GT 1100 enables complete visibility and control of fixed and

mobile assets. As part of a comprehensive solution that includes sensor

technology, web and mobile applications and reliable cellular and satellite

connectivity options, the device helps businesses optimize operational

efficiencies and reduce costs.

The GT 1100 is available as a cellular or dual-mode satellite-cellular version. It is

powered by solar rechargeable batteries for low power consumption and long service

life in the field. The device operates autonomously and requires minimum maintenance

and no battery changes.3

For more information, visit www.orbcomm.com

E A

Booth: 1M3–01 Booth: 5C4-01

Huawei SD-Campus solution

O

Booth: 1R3-07

Solar-powered, hassle-free asset tracking

Image source: iStock

Booth: 5H2-01

Darktrace Enterprise uses machine learning and AI technologies to detect,

classify and visualize cyber-threats that evade other defenses, from within

the enterprise.

Unlike rules and signature based approaches, Darktrace Enterprise

does not rely on historical attacks to predict tomorrow’s. Instead, it builds its own,

unique understanding of what ‘normal’ behavior looks like within an enterprise, and

can detect emerging threats in real time – including insider threat, low-and-slow attacks

and automated viruses like ransomware.

Darktrace Enterprise rapidly identifies anomalous activity, and alerts one to threats

early, so they have time to act. 3

For more information, visit www.darktrace.com

Enterprise immune system

agara’s OpenTV Signature Edition enables service monetization and help

pay TV operators build a better video business.

Powered by the latest OpenTV technologies, it is designed to reportedly

maximize content value, while optimizing the experience – not just for the

end-user but also in deployment and operations, and delivers a unified user experience

across all screens through the brand-

new OpenTV Ion UI.

OpenTV Signature Edition also

integrates an Android TV Operator

Tier solution allowing providers to on-

board SVOD services. 3

For more information,

visit www.nagara.org

N

Booth: Hospitality Suite, Lotus 4 A&B, Level 4

OpenTV Signature Edition

owered by Android 8.1 Oreo,

RugGear’s RG850 takes the form of

a more conventional device. It is a

rugged device with the IP68 standard

and a military-standard MIL-STD 810G rating,

making it resistant to liquid, dust, mist and shocks.

The smartphone packs a 5.99-inch display with

an 18:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1,440 x 720. It’s powered by the Qualcomm

Snapdragon 430 chipset coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board memory

expandable by up to 128GB. It also has dual nano-SIM capabilities and sports a

12-megapixel main camera coupled with an 8-megapixel front-facing sensor. 3

For more information, visit https://ruggear.com

P

Booth: 5K6-22/5K6-23

Outdoor smartphone powered by Android 8.1

Organised by: Held in:

Join in the conversation:

#ConnecTechAsia#BroadcastAsia

w w w . C o n n e c T e c h A s i a . c o m 1 8 - 2 0 J u n e 2 0 1 9 . M a r i n a B a y S a n d s & S u n t e c S i n g a p o r e

Asia’s mega technology platform covering the entire spectrum of communication, broadcast, and enterprise technology and services.

ExperienceT h e F u t u r e

#CommunicAsia#NXTAsia

CTA19_Ad_CMMAShowDaily245x160_FA.indd 1 31/5/18 10:47 AM

Victorian pavilion aims to reinforce Australia’s technology leadership

For more than 12 years, the Victorian Government has lead Victorian IT com-panies by showcasing their capabilities to attendees of what is now ConnecT-echAsia 2018.

This year, the pavilion has 22 compa-nies exhibiting as well as a further group of more than 30 companies visiting from Australia.

Victoria’s 2018 CommunicAsia del-egation is 50-strong and demonstrates the wide range of digital skills and talent we have to offer, including expertise in shipping and logistics, IoT, M2M learn-ing, language products, laser technol-ogy, sports technology, AI and health software. This year’s group of attendees include a mix of new participants and industry veterans who have offered sup-port and mentor them.

Victoria’s reputation as a leading global innovation ecosystem is growing, with a long list of leading tech companies including Dialog, Alibaba, Hired, Cyber-gym, Square and Slack recently investing in the state. The capital city of Melbourne has a thriving economy that is home to some of the largest companies in Aus-tralia, across sectors that are increasingly adopting cutting edge technology includ-ing utilities, agriculture, energy, mining, infrastructure, telecommunication, retail and wealth management.

In a further sign of support, the Vic-torian Commissioner for South East Asia will host a number of regional Gov-ernments’ ICT and trade teams from around South East Asia for a tour of the pavilion on Tuesday as well as holding meetings with companies from Singa-

pore’s tech sector.The pavilion will also be hosting net-

working and idea exchanges with other country pavilions including the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. The goal for the Victorian Pavilion is to forge new business oppor-

27 JUNE 2018

LATEST NEWS 11

tunities and increase technology exports; create new partnerships and collabora-tions; launch new products into the mar-ket and reinforce Australia’s leadership in developing innovative technology. 3

5F4-01 (NXTAsia)

27 JUNE 2018

PHOTOS PAGE12

Russia joins ConnecTechAsia for the first time

Digital experts discuss the impact of disruption

Satellite-based IoT is ready to take off

Look at how expansive the digital future is!

Minister S. Iswaran tours the show floor

27 JUNE 2018

PHOTOS PAGE 13

Alibaba Cloud’s Derek Wang says retail will never be the same

Singtel’s Group Enterprise CEO Bill Chang brings up a key

point at the CXO panel

Rapt with attention

Minister S. Iswaran shares the stage with business leaders

Telenor Connexion showcases IIoT in action

“We’re having a great time at ConnecTechAsia!”

Wearables that monitor your heart rate

Telcos can help companies embrace the IIoT

Mutiara Smart taps Hughes for managed network services

As the global number of IoT devices is forecast to rise from 27 billion to 73 billion in 2025, the understanding of how IoT is adopted is significant. And as with previ-ous waves of technological and industrial advancement, there is interest in how IoT can be applied for consumer and commer-cial and government purposes.

To help companies get a head start, Singapore-based KaHa provides propri-etary, customizable, end-to-end global smart wearable IoT solutions and is intro-ducing at ConnecTechAsia 2018 a range of smart apparels with body- and wellness-monitoring features including maximum heart rate monitoring and notification, electrocardiography (ECG or EKG), RR-intervals (the period between successive

Amid all the hype over the trans-formative potential of the Industrial In-ternet of Things, many Asian enterprises are looking to get in on the act and tran-sition from a product to a product-as-a-service provider.

There are significant benefits to be had by transforming from a “dumb” product to a “smart” product sold as a service. But Telenor Connexion VP of APAC Seth Ryding noted that it is com-mon for enterprises to underestimate

Malaysian telecom and IT services provider Mutiara Smart has contracted Hughes Network Systems to support its provision of enterprise-grade, managed network services to the Malaysian gov-ernment and defense agencies.

Mutiara Smart has deployed Hughes’ JUPITER broadband satellite system, in-cluding the HG220 JUPITER gateway, remote terminals, and a network man-agement system to deliver both C- and Ku-band capacity from two satellites across the country.

The system features enhanced net-working technology for increased effi-ciencies as well as a 5IF interface capable of supporting multiple bands and tran-sponders across up to five satellites, en-suring future scalability.

Announcing the partnership yester-day at ConnecTechAsia, Richard Alwani,

heartbeats), and VO2 Max (maximal aero-bic capacity).

The smart apparel range includes mili-tary uniform, children wear, sportswear (compression and sports bra) and casual wear. These are printed with Flexible Hy-brid Electronics which captures and shares the body vitals with KaHa’s proprietary COVE IoT platform.

COVE utilizes inbuilt AI and Machine Learning algorithms to provide actionable suggestions for the user, creating a positive feedback loop and opening up opportuni-ties in preventive healthcare, sports and wellness, and work condition optimiza-tion. 3

Booth: 5C2-09 (NXTAsia)

the complexity of such a transition.For example, it can be difficult to

transition from a business model involv-ing onetime sales to one involving a sub-scription-like ongoing relationship.

“It can also be more complex then an-ticipated to add the smart part to the origi-nal product and getting the ecosystem that is needed [up and running], and finally it usually needs a new or changed offering in the market where the product as a service is going to be launched,” he said.

chief business officer at Mutiara Smart said initial order includes a hub and 200 remote terminals that will be used by their customers for both critical commu-nication and non-critical communica-tion.

“We’re testing the equipment in house and expected to launch them in the fourth quarter of this year,” Alwani said.

Mutiara Smart, a government owned company under the Ministry of Finance, offer various ICT infrastructures, prod-ucts, services and solutions targeting government agencies, healthcare and schools.

Alwani said the company is cur-rently restructuring and the partnership with Hughes Network Systems will “en-able them to bring innovation and digital transformation to its customers. 3

Booth: Melati 4001B (CommunicAsia)

The companies that have had the shortest time from idea to launch of IoT-enabled services are those that have started small and with a clear customer benefit in mind, Ryding said.

Telecoms operators are in the ideal position to help enterprises with this transition, by providing a standardized connectivity solution that works no mat-ter where devices are deployed and that makes maintaining ongoing relation-ships with the customer easier.

LATEST NEWS27 JUNE 2018

14

COVE technology utilizes Al and machine learning

[From left to right] Vaibhav Magow, associate vice president at Hughes, Himanshu Agarwal, sales director at Hughes, Richard Alwani, chief business office of Mutiara Smart, and Ramesh Ramaswamy, senior vice president and general manager international division at Hughes.

“It is very important for major tel-cos to continue to show the benefits of smart connected devices in the continu-ous development as well as standardize technology to make major rolluts across the globe easy and efficient,” Ryding said.

“Something that also is important is se-curity which continuously has been an im-portant part within mobile networks”. 3

Mutiara Smart taps Hughes for managed network services

The Asian satellite industry is under significant pressure to transform due to the proliferation of broadband delays and technological disruptions such as OTT, according to Thaicom chief commer-cial officer Patompob (Nile) Suwansiri.

“We are at the very beginning of the next wave of satellite network applications – the 5G ecosys-tem.. Satellite will help ensure that the networks are ready to turn 5G use cases into reality by way of backhaul services,” Suwansiri said.

“As consumers begin to incorporate many new data-intensive applications into their daily lives – Internet of Things (IoT) technology, link-ing dozens of personal devices simultaneously, and autonomous vehicles that demand constant connection with infrastructure, other vehicles, and drivers themselves – we will need a much more robust network than exists today.”

Like many satellite operators, Thaicom is seeking to stay ahead of the curve and respond to these challenges, Suwansiri said.

“In essence we are moving closer downstream to the end-user with cost-effective solutions to answer the ever-increasing data demand in order to offset the declining satellite wholesale market.”

At CommunicAsia, Thaicom is showcasing its latest porfolio of products aimed industry verti-cals with new and enhanced solutions, including its new Nava maritime service.

Pakistan-based converged communications service provider Wateen Telecom has partnered with satellite operator SES Networks to provide cel-lular backhaul services to local mobile operators.

The agreement will see SES provide C-band capacity on its NSS-12 satellite to provide back-haul services across Pakistan.

Wateen Telecom will support the delivery of both 2G and 3G backhaul services to Pakistan’s leading mobile operators using the satellite ca-pacity, and will provide system integration capa-bilities for these customers.

Mobile operators will be able to use the ca-pacity to address coverage gaps including remote mountainous areas in the north and inaccessible southern regions of the nation.

SES Networks VP of fixed data for APAC Im-ran Malik said the arrangement will allow Paki-stan’s operators to improve internet speeds for mobile users throughout the nation, in both ur-ban and rural areas.

“While Pakistan has had success deploying quality telecommunications services within its city centres, existing gaps in coverage and infra-structure in the outer parts of the country will

pose challenges to its growth,” he said.“Satellite-based backhaul, within a standards-

driven industry ecosystem, will certainly support countries such as Pakistan that are hampered by limited infrastructure to bridge the connectivity gap, achieve 4G capabilities, and eventually 5G rollouts.”

Meanwhile Solomon Telekom Company in the Solomon Islands has expanded its partner-ship with SES Networks to enhance connectivity between the nation’s capital Honiara and remote provinces of the archipelago.

Solomon Telecom Company, which operates under the brand Our Telekom, has contracted ca-pacity on SES’ Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite fleet to deliver improved connectivity to communities scattered throughout the nation’s more than 900 islands.

Our Telekom launched 4G services in the Solomon Islands in November using SES’ O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) constellation. The companies first signed a 2G connectivity agree-ment four years ago.3

Booth: 1R2-01 (CommunicAsia)

Nava is Thaicom’s flagship mobile broadband service, and the maritime solution is expected to enable a broadband experience previously una-vailable to the maritime industry.

Meanwhile in the broadcast sector, Thaicom’s Hybrid Video Platform is designed to help broad-casters deliver content to viewers on demand.

The end-to-end hybrid video distribution platform for both DTH and OTT content distri-bution can help broadcasters deliver video to any device, anywhere at any time.3

Booth: 1P2-07 (CommunicAsia)

Thaicom responding to satellite industry disruption

Pakistan’s Wateen Telecom taps SES for cellular backhaul

27 JUNE 2018

LATEST NEWS 15

Epsilon enters peering partnership with Softbank’s BBIX

Global cloud-centric network service provider Epsilon has teamed

up with SoftBank’s internet exchange business BBIX to provide on-

demand connectivity to internet exchange points across Japan. Epsilon

will provide service providers with access to the BBIX IX service in

Tokyo via the Infiny by Epsilon on-demand connectivity platform.

Epsilon’s Global Interconnect Fabric includes over 600 service

providers as well as cloud service providers and IXs, allowing

customers to remotely peer at IXs globally from a single platform.

BBIX provides eight points of presence in Japan, as well as IX services

in Hong Kong and Singapore. The company offers direct peering for

global operators, ISPs, cloud service providers, data center operators

and content providers at locations including SoftBank’s Maruyama

cable landing station.

5G to have key role to play in autonomous vehicles

5G networks will have a critical role to play in the safety design of

autonomous vehicles, according to Gartner. Operators will be able to

secure future market opportunities with manufacturers of autonomous

vehicles in the fields of driver safety and data processing and

management. Autonomous vehicle systems and sensors will generate

unprecedented amounts of data, that will need to be transmitted and

processed in real time.

By 2025 Gartner predicts that the vehicles will be uploading over

1TB of vehicle and sensor data per month to the cloud, up from 30GB

today. The biggest chances for operators are ensuring 5G is included

in the design of future vehicles in the field of safety and connectivity.

Eutelsat considering bid for InmarsatFrench satellite company Eutelsat has confirmed it is considering

bidding for rival Inmarsat, potentially laying the groundwork for a

bidding war for the company. Inmarsat has this month already rejected

a takeover offer from US-based EchoStar, and EchoStar has until July 6

to make a firm offer. Analysts also expect that ViaSat could consider an

offer for the company. Inmarsat has a market capitalization of around

$3.8 billion and earned revenue of around $1.4 billion in 2017.

Xiaomi launches IPO in Hong KongChinese smartphone market Xiaomi has launched an IPO on the

Hong Kong stock exchange, and is reportedly seeking to raise up to

$8.3 billion in what could be the biggest tech sector IPO since 2014. A

total of 109 million Xiaomi shares are being offered to retail investors

over four days.

Preliminary reports suggest that the IPO has attracted a cool initial

reception from retail investors due to concerns over the money-losing

vendor’s valuation. But tech billionaire Li Ka-shing has reportedly

subscribed to $30 million worth of shares in the vendor, while Tencent

founder and Chairman Pony Ma has also subscribed to Xiaomi shares.

OVERNIGHT WIRE

Patompob (Nile) Suwansiri

curity functionality like single sign-on. The cloud-first enterprise can no longer afford to forego cloud-first security solu-tions.” 3

27 JUNE 2018

LATEST NEWS 16

Stephanie

Asia’s cloud adoption hits 90% but security gaps persist

The flexibility, productivity and cost savings benefits of cloud apps have fueled widespread adoption in every in-dustry across APAC, according to a new report from Bitglass. However, the adop-tion of cloud security technologies lags cloud adoption, leaving many at risk of a data breach.

The analysis of more than 135,000 organizations indicates that global cloud adoption has topped 81% – up 37% since 2016 and 238% since 2014. In Asia, cloud adoption has reached 90%.

Just under a quarter of organizations in Asia (22%) now use SSO solutions, far fewer than are using the cloud. This dis-parity suggests that two third of compa-nies in the region will suffer from breach-es related to improper authentication.

By industry, technology is the lead-ing adopter of SSO at 26.05%, while re-

tail (8.08%) has one of the lowest SSO adoption rates in Asia.

In addition to revealing adoption metrics for single sign-on, the report uncovers deployment rates for a host of different cloud-based tools, including Office 365, G Suite, AWS, Slack, Box, and Salesforce. Office 365 now boasts more than twice as many deployments as G Suite worldwide. In Asia, G Suite usage stands at 39%, while Office 365 adoption has reached 51%.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has emerged as the go-to infrastructure as a service (IaaS) solution. While 13.8% of companies worldwide are using AWS, adoption in Asia is ahead of the curve at 18%, with the technology industry lead-ing the way at 57.49% adoption.

“Cloud adoption is showing no signs of slowing down in Asia, with SaaS pro-

ductivity platforms like Office 365 now deployed in a majority of organizations in region,” said David Shephard, Vice President of Sales for Asia Pacific. “Un-fortunately, businesses still lack basic se-

27 JUNE 2018

SUMMIT 17

Morning Plenary Location: Orchid Ballroom - Level 4, Marina Bay Sands8.00 Conference Registration 8.50 Organiser’s Welcome Note8.55 Chairman’s Welcome Address – Andy Haire, Founder and Chairman, AJH Communications9.00 Opening Address: When Machines Fight Machines: Cyber Battles & the New

Frontier of Artificial Intelligence The cyber-threat landscape is changing. In addition to high-speed attacks, today’s

most sophisticated threat-actors are playing a longer game – one that is silent and stealthy. Their objective is to disrupt operations, undermine trust, or simply learn trade secrets by going undetected inside networks.

Digital environments are changing too. Increasing digitization, the surge of IoT devices, and the cloud mean that network boundaries are more porous than ever. Securing the perimeter simply isn’t possible.

To defend against threats that are continually evolving, tomorrow’s cyber security must go beyond looking for yesterday’s attacker – it must find what it doesn’t know to look for. AI technologies have led to the emergence of self-learning, self-defending networks that achieve this – detecting and autonomously responding to in-progress attacks in real time. These cyber immune systems enable the secu-rity team to focus on high-value tasks, can counter even machine-speed threats, and work in all environments, including the cloud.

In this session, learn about: • Navigating new types of cyber-threats, including weaponized AI • Overcoming the limitations of the legacy approaches to information security • Adopting an ‘immune system’ model for cyber security, powered by machine

learning • The power of AI to fight back autonomously against in-progress attacks • Real-world cyber-threats thwarted by machine learning, including IoT hacks

and stealthy insider threats Sanjay Aurora, Managing Director - Asia Pacific, Darktrace9.20 The Stakeholder’s Agenda – Where Should We Travel To? Description: Panelists, representing the market’s stakeholders, will discuss:

• What are the immediate industry challenges for each stakeholder, and how can they be addressed? Where should focus be placed?

• Some argue that industry policy is no longer fit-for-purpose; why has it fallen so far behind marketplace changes? Will it ever catch up?

• Where cooperative efforts between various stakeholders should be placed? In a converged industry, where are the cross-sectoral hurdles?

Panellists: Aileen Chia, Deputy Chief Executive (Policy, Regulation & Competition Develop-

ment) & Director-General (Telecoms & Post), Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)

Dr. Robert M. Pepper, Head - Global Connectivity Policy and Planning, Facebook Leah Camilla R. Besa-Jimenez, Chief Data Privacy Officer, PLDT Paul Marriott, Senior Vice President of Digital Core Solutions , SAP Tim Goodchild, SVP - Government & Strategic Affairs, StarHub Moderator: Andy Haire, Founder and Chairman, AJH Communications10.00 Keynote Presentation: Celcom on Digital Servicing Using Artificial Intelligence Celcom puts great emphasis on delivering a superior digital experience across

all its products and services by moving at the innovation front in digital servic-ing leading to millions of savings through reduced calls to the contact centre, improvements in customer satisfaction and leadership in social engagement among the telco competitors in Malaysia. During 2018, Celcom will extend the use of artificial intelligence further across a broad pipeline of digital initiatives to automate processes, deepen insights and create automated interactions.

René Werner, Chief Customer Service and Customer Experience Officer, Celcom Axiata Berhad

NETWORKCOMMS TRACKLocation: B2, Back of Hall E, Marina Bays Sands11.00 Chairman’s Welcome Address Manesh Pratap Singh, Managing Consultant & Director, BYG Advantage

New Business Models and Monetisation11.10 Disrupting a Trillion Industry through Digitized Personalization

• What does personalization in a telco look like• Why personlization is the only way forward for your business• Digitization = Automation • Results: How digitization has created best in class experiences for Circles.Life

customers Abhishek Gupta, Co-Founder & Director, Circles.Life11.40 Panel Discussion: Growing the Digital Business Pie CSPs are faced with network consolidation in the times of “mass digital clutter”.

Carriers are gravely challenged to stay afloat and remain relevant due to the heavy capex outlay amidst high churn rates. What’s the differentiation strategy to play? How are operators growing their digital business from its legacy models? Why you should take position now and help clients see what’s coming next?

Highlights for Day Two: Wednesday, 27 JUNECOMMUNICASIA2018 SUMMIT

Panellists: Rene Werner, Chief Customer Service & Customer Experience Officer, Celcom

Axiata Berhad Glenn Mohammed, CEO, Zero Mobile Kairat Akhmetov, CTO, Nommi Mahesh Subramanian, CTO, ONE Championship Moderator: Andrew Milroy, Head of Consulting – APAC, Ovum12.20 Is It Time to Regulate or Outlaw Zero Rating Practices? The telco is poised to transform into a hugely compressed infrastructure with

the integration of new services to form the IoT. Its main challenges are vast but will need some serous muscle – i.e. to develop a converged platform that is suf-ficiently functional to support the full weight of the edge. This session will share new business monetisation opportunities from adjacent verticals, and strategic positioning to handle sophisticated networking applications.

Glenn Mohammed, CEO, Zero Mobile | Zero Technologies1.50 LTE WAN Services for Enterprises: Extending the WAN beyond the Traditional

Office In this session, get your questions answered on these questions:

• What are the new commercial opportunities presented by LTE WAN access? • How to overcome infrastructure and resources issues when deploying LTE

access?• How do you create a service value proposition for connecting people, places

and things? Ivan Landen, Chief Executive Officer, BlueWireless2.20 Fireside Chat: How Can Telcos Become the Digital Convergence Point? In smartphone-dominant emerging markets, consumers go online through telco

channels but the digital mindshare is elsewhere. Telcos have the tools to change this, by making digital merchants dependent on them for mindshare and rev-enue. This session will share what the main technical and legal challenges are for telcos in partnering up with merchants from these new segments and how to overcome them. As a result, telcos will gain a better understanding on how to leverage technologies they currently use to sell their own services and expand with them into new segments to expand customer revenue and loyalty.

Panellists: Anson Tan, General Manager, Digital Media, Singapore, PCCW OTT Ltd (Viu) Carl Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer, Epsilon Telecommunications Konesh Kochhal, Director - Industry Ecosystem Engagements, Huawei South

Pacific Region Marcus Soh, Head of Product, HOOQ Sudheer Chawla, Head of VAS & Digital Services, PT. Hutchison 3 Indonesia Moderator: Martin Koppel, CEO & Co-Founder, Fortumo

Cloud and Network Agility3.30 How DevOps is Shaping Enterprises and Evolving the Digital Landscape Many organisations today are looking to adopt DevOps for a more reliable, agile

delivery of IT to meet their business goals. Heavily disrupted industries such as financial services, utilities and government agencies are embracing DevOps, which is critical to their success in the digital economy. However, the CEO & Co-Founder implementation of DevOps is beyond just buying the right tools. The challenges today include the enterprise’s IT culture, legacy infrastructure and skillsets of the IT team.

Panellists: Charlie Dai, Principal Analyst, Forrester Chang Sau Sheong, Managing Director (Digital Technology), SP Group Sabu Singh Bhatia, Head of Consumer and Core Engines Architecture, DBS Bank Moderator: Lionel Lim, Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Japan, Pivotal4.10 Leading New ICT, Reinventing Business with Industry Cloud So far, most cloud services have been general standard services, available

to businesses in all industries. This is not enough anymore as the demands shifts instead towards providing cloud services that can meet specific industry requirements in a more comprehensive way. We call these the Industry Com-munity Clouds.

Patrick Low Beng Chee, Senior Director - Industry Cloud Solutions, Huawei4.40 Taking SD-WAN to the Next Level: When Will Adoption Start to Bring ROI? The traditional WAN infrastructure is disrupted. With SD-WAN, this emerg-

ing solution for networking is aimed at building an agile, scalable and secure platform for service differentiation and it is clear that this extensible strategy is create invaluable future long term benefits. During this session you will learn key considerations and when choosing an SD-WAN solution for your enterprise, new iterations to expect, and security challenges when managing this new technology.

Tim Sullivan, Co-Founder and CEO, Coevolve5.10 Trailblazing with Virtualisation: Real Challenges with Enterprise NFV Adoption Reports show that only less than 15% of enterprises have deployed NFV in their

production environment, whereas another 50% are still taking the wait-and-see approach (exploration with vendors). The next questions to ask how we can ac-cumulate operational know-how, refine programmability, flexibility and deploy automation to prepare for the new ear of 5G?

Sundarum Arumugam, Regional Head of Solutions - Asia-Pacific Presales, Verizon

SUMMIT1827 JUNE 2018

Highlights for Day Two: Wednesday, 27 JUNECOMMUNICASIA2018 SUMMIT

5.40 IMS Service Innovation through Open, Cloud-Native VNFs An increasing number of users are count on mobile phones as their primary de-

vice, while at the same time businesses are seeking to improve communications and collaboration among the mobile workforces. At the same time, most CSPs are moving to virtualised networks in order to improve agility. Unfortunately, simply deploying NFV solutions does not necessarily allow CSPs to innovate and take advantage of the growing enterprise opportunities.

This session discusses how cloud-native IMS Core and open TAS can lever-age the power of IMS to introduce ground breaking, revenue generating new services. The talk aims to show how innovation in Unified Communications combined with the intuitive ‘native dialler’ experience can enable businesses to improve productivity across its mobile-native workforce.

Ray Tseng, VP Sales APAC, Metaswitch

EMERGINGTECH TRACKLocation: Melati 4102, Level 4, Marina Bays Sands10.55 Chairman’s Welcome Address Moderator: Malikkhan Kotadia, CEO, Finnovation Labs

Blockchain Stage: Enterprise Opportunities and Industrial Applications11.00 Fireside Chat: 10 Key Challenges to Blockchain Adoption Blockchain is still a black box for many; therefore a holistic and coordinated ef-

fort is necessary. Despite its promising potential opportunities and benefits, blockchain technol-

ogy is not a universal solution on how we should be conducting business. In this session, find out if your business can embrace it, what kind of experiment is necessary, and its long term implications for your business’ growth.

Panellists: Alex Medana, Co-founder & CEO, FinFabrik Dr Tan Jit Seng, Chief Medical Officer, LotusElderCare Frankie Tam, International Tech Lawyer, Osborne Clarke / VP of HK Internet

Finance Association Nicole Nguyen, Head of APAC, Infinity Blockchain Ventures Ton Chirathivat, Head of Customer Strategy, Central Group Moderator: Malikkhan Kotadia, CEO, Finnovation Labs11.45 The Blockchain Ecosystem: Emerging Regulatory and Government Perspectives

in a Decentralized Model Panellists: Andy Bruce, Managing Director, Thailand Fintech Association Bettina Quimson, Senior Digital Leader and Evangelist, Philippines Government Sebastian Resano, Argentina Central Bank Blockchain Advisor & Investor Rela-

tions at Crypto Capital Simon Wilson, Director, Decentralize Jeff Frey, Community Director, Alethena.com Moderator: Moderator: Malikkhan Kotadia, CEO, Finnovation Labs1.20 Panel Discussion: Opportunities and Threats of Blockchain Technology Blockchain technology is now fast gaining ground in the enterprise front. What

are the setbacks and potential opportunities of this technology? What about data governance and transparency? How do we manage disruption and resistance as businesses evolve around this application? Hear from incumbents and industry players’ debate on the future direction blockchain for the future.

Panellists: Ben Flint, Chief Operating Officer, Vuulr Dr. Cédric Jeannot, Founder and CEO, APrivacy Steve Tan, Partner Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Rajah & Tann

Singapore LLP Andrew Milroy, Head of Consulting – APAC, Ovum Ken Nguyen, Chief Architect, Asia Research and Development, Oracle Moderator: Ray Ferguson, Founder & Managing Partner, Caber Partners

Data Science and Data Lakes2.00 Making Cents Out Of Bytes – The Analytics and Intelligence Recipe Data science is a new trans-disciplinary field that aims to translate data into

insight and intelligence for decision making. So the question to all business executives is what is your biggest BI challenge? Learn from this session on how you can monetise your data by:1. Looking internally and beyond the business and decide which data to use 2. Secure the right capabilities to handle analytics 3. Generating Value from Analytics

Samira Emmerson, Director of Data Science and Analytics, The Center of Ap-plied Data Science (CADS)

2.30 The Future of Big Data: Leveraging on Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics Big data is a powerful component/capability that, if exploded correctly, can

revolutionize businesses, delivering results around the 360-degree spectrum. Financial Institutions are far more scientific when it comes to exploding the potential of data when executing strategies, and this needs to be supported by the right architecture, operations framework and mindset.

Roberto Ramirez Pinson, Retail Risk Regulatory Reporting Global Lead and Data Strategy Expert, Citi

Smart Cities and Connected Industries3.20 Paving the Way for Smart Cities: The Smart Sensor Platform Network The Internet of Things (IoT) technology has heralded a new wave of digitisation

for Smart Cities with a world of smart connected sensors. As cities all over the world move towards the progressive adoption of LED outdoor lights to reduce energy cost, there is a wider potential for such smart lighting infrastructure to be used as a smart sensor network platform, integrating with different data collection sensors and devices, to host a wide range of applications in the areas of environmental monitoring, traffic management and parking, Public Safety monitoring, digital signage, and provision of public WIFI hotspots etc.

Yao Shih Jih, EVP & General Manager, ST Electronics3.50 Smart Cities Panel: Getting There – Building Intelligent, Sustainable Ecosystems

and Digitalising Cities Many cities around the world have yet to build a sustainable ecosystem sur-

rounding cities to meet the demands of the present and future generations. But how are stakeholders moving alongside governments’ initiatives? Where are we and how do we get better at this? Amongst these, the session will dwell upon:• Cost and Benefit Analysis of Digitalisation• Climate Change, Ecology Sustainability • Community Connectivity and Liveability

This invigorating session will gather experts to further explore the following pertaining this people-centric long term agenda.

Panellists: Franklin Tang, Chief Executive Officer, Habitap Jonathan Tan, Managing Director, UnaBiz Mathias Steck, EVP - Digital Consulting & Smart Cities, DNV GL Neo Teck Guan, Director of Strategy Marketing Department, Huawei Southern

Pacific Kenny Tan, Country Manager of Malaysia and Thailand, Alibaba Cloud Interna-

tional Yeong Chuan Lim, ASEAN Strategy Director, Honeywell Moderator: Scott Dunn, Vice President APAC, AECOM4.30 The Integrated Approach towards a Smart Campus Current IoT technologies for Smart Campuses tend to be silo solutions, whereby

users do not enjoy the full synergies and the maximum benefits a properly integrated ecosystem can provide.

This topic explores the solutions that can fully leverage the ecosystem of IoT and platform technologies for Smart Campuses, allowing the benefits to scale from the office, to the building and all the way up to the campus level.

Neo Teck Guan, Director of Strategy Marketing Department, Huawei Southern Pacific

5.00 Keys Challenges of Operating IoT Networks: Smart Metering Case Study Smart meters, in particular water meters are one of IOT devices the most

deployed worldwide. Through this presentation, you will hear about the ex-perience and challenges of deploying and operating such technology. Among others, the challenge of finding the right balance between : battery life of the sensors, data rate, bandwidth, product readiness, sustainability of the technol-ogy, licences of the chip and frequencies, network ownership, radio coverage and performance, data quality and availability, all for a competitive cost, in particular for networks to be maintained most often for 10 to 20 years.

Thomas Perianu, SVP - International Business Development, SUEZ Smart Solu-tions

5.30 From China to Canada: Case Studies of Citizen-led Smart City Shaping Smart city technology applications strive to make cities better for citizens, yet

they remain essentially supply driven - despite the growing personal-potential of the technology. Can we resolve general citizen disengagement in city activi-ties by unleashing this potential so people take control of the technology designed to serve them? Case studies from China, Canada and elsewhere will reveal how our future cities can be transformed with citizen created innovations that smart governments and businesses can build on.

Joint Presenters: Mark Thomas, Managing Director, Serviceworks Group Andy Zheng, Managing Director, Aspiring Citizens Cleantech

For complete programme, visit www.communicasia.com

Connected to Asia’s Telcos

PUBLICATIONS

www.telecomasia.net

In-depth analysis and insight into Asia’s telco industry from Telecom Asia’s targeted media channels

ONLINE • WEBINAR • VIDEO • EVENT • RESEARCH • CUSTOM CONTENT

NEWSLETTERS*Telecom Asia Daily *Weekly Highlights

*Tuesday Takeaways *5G Asia *IoT Asia

Asian Telecoms Business and Technology l www.telecomasia.net l December 2017 / January 2018

Four trends to watch in 2018

Published By

Inside:

10th Readers’ Choice & Innovation Awards17 winners in 21 categoriesHuawei tops distinguished list

New paradigm for the edgeCompute resources: centralized, or decentralized?

iPhone X breaks new ground—including priceChina App Store a hit, but lack of Wi-Fi causes anxiety

Four trends to watch in 2018

Smart Cities Insights

Sponosr

TELECOM ASIA SUPPLEMENT | APRIL / MAY 2017

Published by

ZTEBrought to you by

Smart Cities

The next generation

SponosrPublished by

IoT:Utopia or anarchy?

SECURITYINSIGHTSTELECOM ASIA SUPPLEMENT

JULY / AUGUST 2017

Brought to you by

Readying for 5G: the realities

beyond the hype

TELECOM ASIA SUPPLEMENTJUNE 2018 5GINSIGHTS

Published by

EVENTS• Client event • Conference • Road show

For more information, please contact: Simon Yeung syeung@questexasia.com +852 2589 1370

A part of

MARINA BAY SANDS • SUNTEC SINGAPORE

Free Subscription, please visit us at booth# BW4-09

DigitalNewsletters_265x350.indd 1 06/19/2018 7:50 PM