Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Mobile Serves 88% of India Internet Access Accounts

As of 29th February, 2016, the top five fixed network high speed access service providers were BSNL (9.91 million), Bharti Airtel (1.71 million), MTNL (1.11 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (0.91 million) and YOU Broadband (0.52 million), according to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

But most consumers buy from mobile providers.  As of 29th February, 2016, the top five mobile Internet access providers were Bharti Airtel (35.22 million), Vodafone (26.44 million), Idea Cellular (22.20 million), Reliance Communications Group (15.52 million) and BSNL (10.00 million).

In other words, fixed networks supported about 11.5 percent of Internet access accounts. Fixed wireless served about four tenths of one percent. Mobile accounted for 88 percent of the accounts.



Monday, April 25, 2016

AT&T, Globecomm to Offer IoT Connectivity Bridging Mobile and Satellite

Globecomm will be AT&T’s IoT partner for satellite connectivity services, enabling AT&T to leverage DirecTV’s satellite portfolio to connect Internet of Things (IoT) devices,  machines and sensors to the Internet.

The new service will allow IoT devices to operate on mobile networks  when a signal is available, and then automatically switch to satellite when mobile service is unavailable, including tractors on farms, generators in the desert or oil pipelines in remote regions, AT&T says.

In 2015, AT&T signed more than 300 deals with companies to connect devices across multiple industries, including manufacturing, energy, automotive, shipping, healthcare, home security and smart city sectors, AT&T says.

The company has been particularly aggressive in the automotive area, signing deals with major manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe.

93% of Indonesian Inrternet Users Get Online Using Smartphones

Fully 93 percent of Indonesia’s 88 million internet users access the internet from smartphones, according to researchers at GfK.

A GfK survey found that besides smartphones, 11 percent  of Indonesia’s users go online with desktops and five percent  use tablets.

“Our study reveals that Indonesia has a very active online population who spend an average of 5.5 hours a day accessing an average of 46 apps and web domains with their mobile device each day,” said Guntur Sanjoyo, managing director of GfK in Indonesia.

Indonesians spend an average of 32 hours per month each using apps. That’s compared to 27 hours by Brazilians, 20 by Germans and 17 by the Dutch.

Of the 32 hours that Indonesians spend using apps, 19 are spent using communication and messaging apps. This is roughly the same amount of time that German and Dutch people spend each month using all of their apps.

In other words, Indonesian smartphone users spend about 60 percent of their app time on messaging,

Three apps – all messaging apps – used by Indonesians are BBM, WhatsApp and the Korean/Japanese Service Line.

The top three app categories in terms of time spent using them for all countries are messaging, social and then gaming.

Apps that offer ways to overcome traffic jams, a huge problem for commuters in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, are also very popular in the region.

Motorcycle taxi app GO-JEK is among the top 15 of apps in terms of time spent. And GO-JEK was only launched in January 2015. Shopping, financial and banking apps are rather less used.

source: GfK  

Vodafone M-Pesa Mobile Money Has 25 Million Active Users

Vodafone’s M-Pesa mobile money business has exceeded 25 million active users across Africa, Asia and Europe, Vodafone says.

Across markets in Africa, Asia and Europe, active customers of M-Pesa increased by 27.1 percent in the year ended 31 March 2016, boosted by market launches in Albania and Ghana and supported by a network of more than 261,000 agents in 11 M-Pesa countries.

In India, M-Pesa enables Indian customers to pay for goods on Ebay, for taxis with TabCab and to book train tickets on India’s national railways.  Enterprises including Walmart are using M-Pesa in India to improve cash management and business efficiency, Vodafone says.

Can Telcos Become Platforms?

Telcos can become “Integrated Digital Service Providers” (IDSPs) that function as platforms, Accenture argues, essentially getting out of the “communications” business.

In yet one more iteration of the “moving up the stack” strategy, Accenture suggests telcos can become “platform companies” that use social, mobile, analytics and Internet of Things tools  to build a business architecture and set of services that enables other businesses to rapidly develop and deploy the products and solutions needed to drive their digital strategies.

That probably sounds like “middleware” to some; “operating system” to others.

Time will tell whether any firms actually will be able to become “digital platforms,” or whether, in the end, the effort will fail.

For more than a decade, we all have heard, seen and read commentaries suggesting that “digital disruption” somehow can be turned to a traditional telco’s advantage. Not all of the advice is wishful thinking, but let us be honest: nothing has really worked all that well.

Accenture consultants argue that  “transformation begins when operators update core technologies to digital and leverage existing assets—strong and trusted brands, unique locality, established billing relationships, robust networks, and a large quantity of unique customer and usage data—to compete more effectively.”

Let us be honest: we have been saying that, in different ways, for more than a decade. One might argue that telcos simply have not had time to make the full transformation.

Others might argue the transformation is growing exceedingly unlikely, based in part on the ability of many other entities--device, app, commerce, transaction providers--to bundle their own “access” as part of their services and features. In the end, it always will be difficult to compete with “free.”

source: Accenture

Orange to Launch Mobile-Only Bank

French telecom operator Orange is acquiring a majority stake in Groupama Banque, allowing Orange to create the mobile-only Orange Bank in France at the beginning of 2017.

Orange will own 65 percent of Orange Bank, while Groupama retains a 35 percent ownership.

Through Orange Bank, Orange and Groupama will offer all essential banking services over a mobile platform, including current accounts, savings, loans and insurance services, as well as payment.

The combined ambition for the two groups is to attract over two million customers in France. Plans call for expansion to Spain and Belgium as well.

“This agreement is a major step forward in our ambition to diversify into mobile financial services as we outlined in our Essentials 2020 strategy,” said Stéphane Richard, Orange chairman and CEO.

Orange's investment is part of its ambition to diversify its business, perhaps part of a potential trend: mobile operators becoming banks. That, in turn, is part of a larger effort by European and other mobile operators to avoid becoming dumb pipes.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Sometimes You Need the Big Picture

“Sometimes you need the big picture big picture, and it is often hard to find”, says Peter Stanforth, Spectrum Bridge CTO and Co-founder.

Hear more from Peter and other executives and regulators from across the region, discuss their thoughts on what will drive Internet adoption at Spectrum Futures 2016, 19–21 October 2016 at the Marina Mandarin Singapore.

Join the conversation at Spectrum Futures 2016.



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