TelecomAsia Dec2012 Jan2013

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Balancing act for digipreneurs TD-LTE at 1.4-GHz Another auction fizzle ICT services
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Telcos optimistic but realize they need to up their game
A Cold Dose of Reality
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Contents
Subscribe to Asias best daily telecom news service: Cover
Volume 23 Number 10 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013
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14 A cold dose of reality

Telecom Asias second yearend business outlook survey nds that CSPs are optimistic about 2013, but recognize that its crunch time for tech upgrades, and that they need to up their game Also covered: Unleashing the next wave of analytics Innovating under the gun
FEaTURES
Readers Choice Awards
20 Celebrating Asias top telecom vendors

This years big winners were Huawei and Amdocs both going home with three awards. Winners in 21 categories including four new awards for innovation were announced at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur last month
14
Country Focus: Pakistan
29 Mobile players in transition

Despite regulatory uncertainty, the overall telecom sector is still seen largely as investment-friendly
20
7
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34
29
Telecom Asia Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 4
Managing Director Jonathan Bigelow jbigelow@questexasia.com ColUmns Tanner Group Editor Joseph Waring jwaring@questexasia.com Global Technology Editor John C. Tanner jtanner@questexasia.com Online Editor Fiona Chau fchau@questexasia.com Art Director Dick Wong dwong@questexaisa.com Production & Web Manager Pauline Wong pwong@questexasia.com Group Publisher Gigi Chan gchan@questexasia.com Sales & Marketing Executive Michelle Tang mtang@questexasia.com HR & Admin Manager Janis Lam janislam@questexasia.comww Accounting Manager Nancy Chung nchung@questexasia.com Accountant Ivy Chu ichu@questexasia.com Accounting Assistant Cannis Wong cwong@questexasia.com Accounts Clerk Mavis Chan mchan@questexasia.com Circulation & Distribution Director John Lam jlam@questexasia.com Assistant Circulation Manager Allie Mok amok@questexasia.com Senior Circulation Assistant Shipman Kwok skwok@questexasia.com Contributors Canberra: Dylan Bushell-Embling London: Michael Carroll Tokyo: Mike Galbraith Bangkok: Don Sambandaraksa Editorial and publishing ofce Questex Asia Ltd 13/F, 88 Hing Fat Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2559 2772 Fax: +852 2559 7002 Website: www.telecomasia.net Subscription Hotline: +852 2589 1313 Subscription Fax: +852 2559 2015 E-mail: customer_service@telecomasia.net
7 Predictions for the new year

Google wont be a cellco, and the ITU is the least of your worries when it comes to internet regulation
Forum
30 Vendors see opportunities in ICT services

Carriers need help monetizing their network and retaining customers, not just deploying equipment
Poulos Points
34 The balancing act

As digital service providers mature, theyll nd that adopting strict processes is no longer an inhibitor but a means of survival
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
8 China may use 1.4-GHz band for TD-LTE 9 Bans and prohibitions in Pakistan 10 India 2G auction a bust
NEWs map
12 Asian telecoms this month
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6 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 Telecom Asia
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TANNER
l John C. Tanner
Heres your future: 2013 edition

s this months cover story no doubt has reminded you, its tradition at the end of the year for industry experts, analysts and pundits to make predictions about what the telecoms sector can expect in the next year. And why should this column be any different? So heres a few predictions about 2013 from me.
everyone, and in some cases has the potential to screw up the internet. Youll be seeing more of that in 2013. On the bright side, most of them will be as successful as previous efforts which is to say, not very.
As I type this, the ITUs World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) is in progress, with the goal of updating its International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs). Allegedly on the table is the ITU taking over regulation and management of the internet from ICANN, and the blogscape (to say nothing of the US House Of Representatives) is a-dither over the very idea. So far, Ive seen no indication that the ITU leadership even wants to be the new ICANN. And given that the ITU generally works on consensus, whatever changes are made to the ITRs when the WCIT concludes, Im reasonably sure internet governance will remain in ICANNs hands. If thats the case, of course, ICANN had better move quickly to ensure its opponents that its serious about addressing the shortcomings that drove some countries to propose an ITU takeover in the first place. My prediction on that: theyll probably get the ball rolling on a few things, but not enough to assuage their critics.
1. The ITU wont take over the Internet
To be honest, if its control of the internet that keeps you up at night, Id worry less about the ITRs and more about dumb legislative proposals, treaties and trade agreements from individual governments attempting to govern internet communications in some form or other. Even when such efforts are aimed at specific groups of lawbreakers (terrorists, cybercriminals, copyright infringers, etc), it seems every single bill or treaty that gets written to deal with such things is written in a way that casts too wide a net, reduces privacy rights for
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2. Governments will keep writing bad bills to regulate it
Its long been rumored that Google is hatching plans to break into the mobile broadband business. And last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google was in talks with US satellite TV player Dish Networks (which is sitting on some mobile spectrum) to do just that. Website 9to5Google went so far as to claim that the talks were further advanced than the WSJ let on, and that rollouts were planned for mid-late 2013, after which AT&T and Verizon would be decimated by OTT voice/SMS. Neither report has been confirmed by either Google or Dish. Which doesnt mean its not true, of course. But while Dish chief Charlie Ergen has said its looking for a partner to break into mobile broadband, it would prefer one that actually has towers and the experience to run them. That pretty much rules out Google, unless the two of them find an infrastructure partner. Either way, I have trouble seeing Google cracking the wireless business anytime soon at least not as an actual cellco. Google has spent several years chasing the idea of using unlicensed white-space spectrum for Super Wi-Fi services. But thats going to depend on regulatory approval both in terms of allocating leftover digital-dividend spectrum for such purposes, and keeping it unlicensed. At least for now, the UK seems the most likely market for that to happen, and even then not until at least the end of 2013. And in any case, white-space broadband services will be aimed initially at rural areas. So cellcos can probably sleep easy on that score.
3. Google still wont be a mobile operator
John C. Tanner is global technology editor jtanner@questexasia.com
Predictions for the new year: Google wont be a cellco, and the ITU is the least of your worries when it comes to internet regulation
I feel pretty confident about this one. Otherwise, this whole column would be pointless. TA
4. The world will still be here after December 21, 2012
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
China may use 1.4GHz band for TD-LTE
S TAT S N A P
Mobile subs hit 6.4b in Q3

Global mobile subscriptions climbed to 6.4 billion in the third quarter, Ericsson estimates, for a penetration rate of 91%. The vendor estimates that mobile subscriptions grew 9% year-on-year by the end of the quarter. Total mobile subscribers, excluding duplicate accounts, reached an estimated 4.3 billion. In a report based on global trafc measurements, Ericsson predicts that total mobile subscriptions will reach 6.6 billion by the end of the year and 9.3 billion by 2018, well exceeding the projected global population. Mobile broadband subscriptions are meanwhile expected to reach 1.5 billion by end-2012 and 6.5 billion in 2018, with mobile phones continuing to account for the majority of devices. Mobile penetration in APAC excluding China and India hit 96% by the end of Q3. While China is behind at 81%, it is catching up fast the country accounted for 34% of global net subscriber adds in the third quarter. Indias mobile penetration was 72% at the time of the snapshot. The number of subscribers on operators books decreased due to the practice of operators discounting and removing inactive subscriptions. Asias mobile subscription growth is largely driven by new subscribers. In more mature and saturated markets like North America, gains are largely coming from existing customers adding new devices such as tablets to existing plans. In terms of population coverage, GSM networks reached over 85% of APACs populous in 2011, and this is expected to grow to over 90% by 2017. WCDMA/HSPA population coverage in APAC exceeds the global average at over 50%, and should hit 90% by the end of the forecast period. While it remains early days for LTE with just 1.5% coverage by the end of 2011, Ericsson expects LTE networks to reach 60% of APACs population by 2017.
hinas embryonic TD-LTE market got a double shot in the arm in November, with regulators considering allocating more spectrum for the standard to promote wider deployment, and China Mobile launching a tender for devices to support its 2013 trials. Chinas telecom regulator the Ministry of Industry and IT (MIIT) revealed it may allocate spectrum on the 1.4-GHz band for the Beijing-backed TD-LTE technology. Kan Runtian, deputy director of the MIITs State Radio Regulation department, told mainland media the regulator may allocate the frequency between 1427-MHz and 1515MHz for TD-LTE deployments. Kan said the radio regulation department is actively exploring the possibility of deploying TD-LTE on this frequency band as either a public network or a private network. The MIIT has already allocated a hefty 190 MHz of spectrum on the 2.5-2.6-GHz frequency bands for the 4G technology. The regulator has also set aside 2 x 60 MHz spectrum on the 1800-2100-MHz frequency band not allocated for FDD/LTE technology. The MIIT is rumored to be planning to accelerate its 4G timetable by issuing 4G licenses next year, instead of waiting another two or three years as originally planned. Separately, China Mobile selected 16 vendors to supply nearly 35,000 TD-LTE terminal devices for its ongoing 4G trials in the country. The Chinese mobile giant, which launched the procurement tender in September, purchased 34,700 devices for its TD-LTE network tests in 13 cities across the nation. Seven vendors including Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell and Qingdao-based HiSense are providing 12,400 units of TD-LTE data cards. Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, together with ZTE and seven other vendors, will also supply 11,600 MiFi wireless Wi-Fi modems. Huawei, ZTE and Samsung will supply 300 dual-mode TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA handsets. Seven vendors including ZTE and Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell will also provide CPE modules for China Mobile. The scope of the procurement tender originally included tablets, but China Mobile has reportedly excluded TD-LTE tablets due to the immaturity of the technology. The tender is the first phase of China Mobiles 4G device procurement. China Mobile is also expected to soon commence the second phase of its TD-LTE terminal procurement for 2013 in over 100 cities, with plans to order more than 200,000 TD-LTE devices, including data cards and mobile phones. TA Fiona Chau
Asia adds 5/m subs
Source: Ericsson
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Bans and prohibitions in Pakistan
INSIGHT
ONE MONTHS TELECOM RESEARCH
ts been a tumultuous month for Pakistans telecom sector, with lawmakers and regulators imposing multiple bans and prohibitions including a brief suspension on mobile services in the nations most populous city, in a failed attempt to avert a terrorist attack. (see related story on page 27.) The government on November 17 ordered mobile services suspended and imposed a ban on motorbikes in the city of Karachi, reportedly in reaction to intelligence indicating a threat of a bomb attack. The motorcycle ban was attributed to the use of bombs mounted on motorbikes in previous incidents, sometimes triggered by mobile phones. The order meant mobile services were briefly unavailable in a city with a population of nearly 20 million people. But the Sindh High Court overturned the ban on the same day, declaring it illegal. Pakistani media separately reported that regulator PTA had imposed a ban on both mobile number portability and direct retail SIM sales, in response to reports that number porting is making it difcult to trace mobile phone using terrorists. Operators were instead told to mail SIMs to the address on customers Computerized National Identity Cards, to ensure that subscribers have an address on file. But this ban too proved short-lived. The prime minister reportedly withdrew the directive after operators agreed to deploy biometric verication systems at retail outlets and service centers instead. Also during the month, the PTA directed operators to stop offering promotions involving discounted late night calls, on the grounds that the offers promote vulgarity. The regulator claims to have received multiple complaints that the packages promote vulgarity among the youth. The opening days of December, meanwhile, brought a reminder to international observers that YouTube remains inaccessible in Pakistan, two months after Pakistani authorities blocked the site and around 20,000 others for hosting objectionable material. The PTA was forced to deny speculation it had ordered YouTube unblocked, following reports the site was available for a brief period on some service providers and in some locations. The YouTube ban had been imposed in early October, during the height of the furore over the controversial video Innocence of Muslims, due to the site hosting clips from the film. TA Dylan Bushnell-Embling
>> OTT biggest threat to mobile revenues OTT communications services currently represent the single largest threat to mobile operator revenues, ARCchart warns. The research rm predicts that OTT services will account for a substantial 8% of voice trafc carried over the worlds mobile networks by 2016. The large and ever-growing smartphone installed base in particular the iOS and Android ecosystems served as a fertile breeding ground for OTT services such as Skype and WhatsApp on mobile devices. With global smartphone penetration pegged to reach 51% of total handset sales by end-2016 up from 31% this year this is only going to become more of a headache for operators. Over-the-top communications: Threats and opportunities for mobile operators www.arcchart.com >> APAC IT spending to climb 7.9% IT spending in APAC will reach a projected $743 billion in 2013, up 7.9% from this year. The forecast from Gartner would be a further improvement on the 7.6% growth expected for 2012. All ve major IT segments are poised to grow, according to the rm, but the market for telecom services is expected to be the worst performer. Gartner is predicting a 4.8% growth in telecom service revenue over the year to $359.4 billion. By contrast, the devices segment is expected to climb 12.3% over the year to $229.7 billion. Spending on data center systems will grow a predicted 9.5%; software sales will increase 9.5%; and IT services revenues will grow 7.5%. Gartner Symposium/ITxpo www.gartner.com >> Devices dominate travellers ight time Airline passengers who use personal devices on ights spend an average of 40% of ights longer than an hour absorbed in their devices. A US survey from IMS Research shows that more than 70% of respondents use personal electronics devices on ights. Around 8% report spending more than 80% of their ight time on at least one electronic device. MP3 players are the most popular devices, followed by laptops. Despite the growing penetration of tablets, fewer than 20% of passengers currently make use of them during ights. The amount of time spent varies little whether or not in-ight Wi-Fi is offered, as passengers have become accustomed to preparing enough ofine content to keep themselves occupied. A key challenge for airlines and in-ight Wi-Fi providers is delivering a service passengers are willing to pay for, in light of the ready availability of this ofine content. Passenger survey In-ight connectivity usage and experience 2012 edition www.imsresearch.com >> MS extends IPTV middleware lead Microsoft has extended its lead in the IPTV middleware market to 23%, thanks to the traction behind its Mediaroom IPTV platform. But according to ABI Research, ZTE and Huawei also play strongly in the market, with healthy and growing IPTV platforms within China. The rm has identied a strong split in the IPTV middleware market between system integrators providing an entire solution and specialist companies concentrating on applications and customer experience. Most system integrators roles in customer experience will likely decline over the next few years, with client-centric middleware companies taking up the slack. Video SW middleware and DRM www.abiresearch.com
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indUsTRy analysis
India 2G auction zzles
ndias well-publicized auction of recently-vacated 1800-MHz 2G spectrum ended with a fizzle in November, with the government raising less than a quarter of its revenue target. The auction raised just 94.07 billion rupees ($1.72 billion), with the Department of Telecom selling just 42.4% of the spectrum that had been put up for sale. The auction drew the interest of only five participants for the GSM portion of the auction. A planned concurrent auction of CDMA frequencies had to be cancelled after the only two interested parties dropped out of the race. None of the five participants submitted bids for the major circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka or Rajasthan. The spectrum had been vacated by the cancellation of the 122 2G licenses held by eight operators S Tel, Videocon, Uninor, Sistema Shyam, Loop, Idea, Tata Teleservices and Etisalat DB in a February court decision. The court held that former telecom minister A Raja acted improperly by awarding the licenses on a first-comefirst-serve basis, while giving preferential treatment to favored companies. Of the affected operators, only Idea, Videocon and Telewings the successor to Uninor as Telenors joint venture in India participated in the auction. Videocon and Telewings each won back their 2G licenses in six telecom circles. Telenor was the auctions biggest spender, with bids of 40.18 billion rupees, while Videocon will pay 22.22 billion rupees.
Videocon has subsequently revealed plans to use the licenses in the six circles to roll out LTE, with a goal of launching services by mid-2013. Idea Cellular got back spectrum in seven circles, as well as a block of spectrum in an additional region, for a bid of 20.3 billion rupees. Vodafone India meanwhile paid 11.29 billion rupees for 1.25 MHz of additional spectrum in 14 circles. Finally, incumbent Bharti Airtel bid a mere 86.7 million rupees for additional spectrum in just one circle. In the wake of the fizzled auction COAI the lobby for Indias GSM operators claimed the results vindicated its contention that the Indian government had set reserve prices far too high. The government had set a base price of 140 billion rupees four times the reserve price of the 2010 3G auctions. The government has revealed plans to hold another auction for the unsold airwaves by the end of March.
The exclusion of the remaining operators affected by the license cancellations does not mean they have all given up on the market. Vsevolod Rozanov, CEO of Russias Sistema, told Indian media in November that the company is relying on its legal challenges to get back the spectrum that JV Sistema Shyam will need to operate. Sistema has previously threatened to pursue international arbitration against the government unless the courts agree to hear its plea to have its licenses restored. But the auction result provides another indication that the shine is wearing off the Indian telecom market. The halcyon days of even as recently as 2010, when seven private operators bid a cumulative $15 billion for 3G licenses in a hotly-contested auction, are over. Overbearing regulation and intense competition appear to have squeezed the golden goose too hard in the intervening years. TA Dylan Bushnell-Embling
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asian telecoms this month

BEIJING China Unicoms HK listed arm agrees to pay around $1.95b to buy its fixed lined assets in 21 provinces and cities from its mainland parent company. Chinas telecom regulator reveals it is considering allocating 98 MHz of 1.4-GHz spectrum for TD-LTE use, to help promote wider adoption of the state-backed 4G standard. Apple conrms it will formally launch the iPhone 5 in China this month, after receiving regulatory approval. China Mobile reportedly picks 16 vendors to supply it 34,700 TD-LTE terminals for its ongoing large-scale 4G trials.
SINGAPORE Japans NTT DoCoMo sets up a local subsidiary, to provide services to the markets Japanese-language customers in collaboration with StarHub. BANGKOK Thailands obmudsman loses a court bid trying to declare the nations recent 3G auction invalidated, with a court dismissing the suit on the grounds the ombudsman lacks the authority to challenge regulator NBTC. AIS, True and Dtac call on the Senate speaker to investigate a senator for improper conduct for lodging a separate lawsuit trying to halt the auction. TrueMove reveals it is considering expanding into Myanmar as soon as operating licenses are offered, and is looking at investing in cable TV and in ber-optic networks in the country.
TAIPEI Regulator NCC sets a tentative deadline of December 2013 for the allocation of the islands first LTE licenses.
DELHI India raises just $1.7b from an auction of 2G spectrum freed up by the cancellation of 122 licenses less than a quarter than the government planned. Operator groups blame the reserve prices being set too high.
Rumors circulate that Tata Teleservices and Telenors Indian joint venture Telewings may merge, to become the nations fourth largest mobile operator by subscribers.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board Airtels tower unit Bharti Infratel prepares to float agrees to convene to determine whether Indias rules governing foreign investment and the around 10% of itself in an IPO to raise around use of foreign telecom equipment need to be $830m. changed, in light of Octobers US security report into Huawei and ZTE.
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movements
SYdNEY Telstra launches a Network Contact Center service for enterprise customers, offering the solution either on the cloud or co-hosted on users premises. Vodafone Hutchison Australias parents Vodafone Group and Hutchison Whampoa agree to commit a further $2.1b to support the struggling operators turnaround plan. Telstra is forced to refund a $28k charge to a subscribers credit card, after he goes public with a complaint that the calls were made after he reported his phone lost overseas and requested calls be blocked. z Ericsson takes Samsung to court in the US, accusing the vendor of failing to agree to a fair licensing deal for Ericsson wireless patents despite two years of negotiations. z Within the same week, Nokia sues RIM in the US, UK and Canada, seeking injunctions on BlackBerry sales until it agrees to royalty arrangements covering Nokias WLAN patents. z Syria briefly becomes completely disconnected from the global internet, leading to speculation the government was experimenting with an Egyptstyle internet kill switch. z Researchers predict cumulative mobile app market revenues are due to reach $30 billion by the end of the year. z Nokia Siemens divests its optical networking business, and then its BSS unit a few days later, as part of a sell off of its non-core assets. z Nokia meanwhile reaches a $220m deal to sell its Finnish HQ to a retail investment company, and then lease back the premises. z Japan is named APACs most cloud-ready economy, followed by South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, in an annual ranking by the Asia Cloud Computing Association. z Cisco goes on an acquisition spree, picking up cloud-networking start-up Meraki for $1.2b and automation software developer Cloupia for $125m. z UK regulator Ofcom starts setting the stage for 5G, eyeing the 700MHz band for new connection technologies in anticipation of 4G being inadequate to meet future capacity demands. z Credit ratings firm Moodys puts Alcatel-Lucent on review for a possible downgrade of its B2 rating, citing concerns over cash burn and declining revenue. z Juniper Research publishes a report alleging that Apples snubbing of NFC in the iPhone 5 has set the technology back two years in the US and Western Europe. z IHS predicts that demand for smartphones and tablets will be enough to ensure the overall market for mobile equipment grows 13% in 2012. z Apple lays out plans to launch the iPhone 5 in more than 50 new markets during December, including South Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. z Bharti Airtel completes an ambitious upgrade of its African mobile networks in 16 countries. HONG KONG Pacnet connects to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX), giving it peering access to over 500 European networks. Pacnet also lays ground on a new data center in Tianjin in Northern China, to be built in partnership with the Tianjin Wuqing government. z Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao warns EU regulators that the regions former fixed-line monopolies view fiber rollouts as a means of secretly reinstating their market dominance. z Iraqi operator Asiacell lays the groundwork for an IPO early next year, which would be the first public float for an Iraqi company since the ousting of Saddam Hussein. z Qualcomm commits to a $20m investment in struggling Japanese electronics giant Sharp. z A Mexican court awards two companies suing Yahoo $2.7b in a non-final decision. The suit accuses Yahoo of breach of contract in a deal to create a Latin American print business directory. z The US Department of Commerce renews VeriSigns authorization to oversee the .com domain through to 2018, but instructs the company to seek approval before raising registration prices.
MANILA Regulators accuse mobile operators of failing to pass on a mandated cut in SMS interconnection rates to consumers, imposing penalties, daily nes and orders to refund customers.
Globe acquires around 92% of BayanTels outstanding debt, in a roundabout effort to secure the use of a block of valuable mobile spectrum.
KARACHI A bomb attached to a motorbike and triggered by a mobile phone kills three people, days after a temporary city-wide ban on motorcycles and mobile services is imposed by the government but then lifted by a court order. Regulator NTC separately instructs operators to stop offering promotional packages with discounted late-night calls, on the grounds that the offers promote vulgarity. KUALA LUmPUR Maxis posts a 17% decline in Q3 prot to $145m, blaming rising sales costs and a slight decline in revenue.
Axiata lifts its net prot for the rst nine months of the year by 7% to around $722m, attributing strong data growth in Malaysia and Indonesia.
BT announces plans to open an outsourcing hub in Malaysia, in collaboration with the Multimedia Development Corp.
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covERsToRy
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A cold dose of reality

CSPs are optimistic about 2013, but recognize that its crunch time for tech upgrades, and that they need to up their game
ith 2012 now fading in the rearview mirror and the world unsullied by apocalyptic doom, the telecom sector is already looking ahead to 2013 as are we. And while theres much optimism about the year ahead, its going to require a lot of innovation, a lot of change and a cold dose of reality regarding the ability of telecoms players to accomplish both. So says our second annual survey of telecom players in Asia Pacic that asks that perennial year-end question: whats in your crystal ball for next year? Last month, we asked telecom players in the region to tell us in an online survey what they were optimistic about, where the big growth drivers will be, the internal and external pressures theyll face, and the biggest changes they expect to see. We asked top industry analysts to tell us the top trends theyre predicting for APAC next year. We even polled delegates of our Telecom Asia 2013 Insight Summit at the end of November in Kuala Lumpur.
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John C. Tanner
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Changes expected in next 12 months
Figure 1
Source: Telecom Asia
The results are below, but heres the upshot: There is general optimism about the coming 12 months, data is the biggest deal and OTT players are the biggest competitive force. But there were also more concerns about managerial strengths particularly in regards to planning and skill sets. Also, 2013 looks like it will be the year that telecom operators will knuckle down on upgrading their networks, both inside and out provided they can do it without spending any more money than they have to as market pressures force them to either innovate, cooperate or get out of the way. Oh, and Big Data? Its going to be well, big.
Go for growth
Similar to last year, our survey this year finds telecom players expressing a reasonable amount of optimism about the near future.
Almost half of respondents (48.4%) expressed some level of optimism in the growth prospects for their corner of the telecoms sector compared to the previous quarter, though most of that optimism was considerably (and perhaps wisely) reserved. Less than 13% said they were very optimistic. Close to 26% said they expected no change in industry growth from the previous quarter. In any case, respondents with growth expectations outnumbered the pessimists 22.6% said they were less optimistic about sector growth, and just over 3% expressed no optimism whatsoever. Also similar to last years survey, if the telecom industry is cautiously optimistic about sector growth, its even more optimistic about financial growth. Over 61% expressed some level of optimism about their nancial prospects, with almost 20% very optimistic. And while 22.6% were less optimis-
tic compared to the previous quarter, no one went so far as to say they had zero optimism about their nancial prospects going forward. In other words, telecoms companies arent expecting fabulous sector growth in 2013, but the majority of them do expect things to be better for their bottom line. As for the biggest driver behind that growth, its still all about data. Well over two-thirds of respondents named data as the key sector driving growth in 2013, with value added services a distant second (16%), followed closely by content, and not so closely by managed enterprise services (3.2%). Perhaps tellingly, voice and SMS didnt even make the chart. For that matter, neither did M2M, which suggests that for all the talk about smart meters, smart fleets and the Internet of Things, its still early days. Thats not to say operators are staying away from M2M a number of them have
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already launched M2M services, and others have plans to do so. But our survey results indicate that operators dont yet expect it to be a significant growth driver for at least the next year.
Upgrading on a budget
in their capex/opex spend in the next 12 months, and another 32% expect those expenditures to go down. An even bigger number of respondents (60%) say their R&D spending will stay frozen in 2013, with just 30% expecting an increase.
Telecom players are expecting big changes in 2013, much of it in the form of technology upgrades. Our survey asked participants what sorts of changes they expect in the next 12 months (in terms of increases or decreases). Most respondents (over 77%) said that they expect to see more network and IT upgrades in 2013 unsurprising as cellcos evolve to LTE and fixed line operators look to flatten their networks and milk more efficiencies from them. Interestingly, however, they wont necessarily be spending more to achieve those upgrades. Almost 39% of respondents said they expect no change
More money (sort of)
The aforementioned optimism about the industry is reflected in financial expectations for in 2013. Over twothirds of those surveyed are expecting an increase in sales/turnover in the next 12 months, despite predictions from most respondents (well over 80%) that prices will either stay flat or go down in the same time frame. That said, a somewhat lower percentage (almost 55%) also expect an increase in earnings over a quarter of respondents are expecting earnings to go down. Either way, expectations of higher
sales and earnings wont mean a payoff for employees. Close to 65% of respondents say they expect no change in salaries and wages next year (though less than 10% say they expect salaries to drop). But fully half of them say they expect the number of employees at their firm to drop. A little over 23% say theyll be hiring more people. If anything will see an increase in 2013, its regulation 55% of respondents are anticipating increased regulation next year. However, most of the remainder expect the regulatory landscape to remain unchanged. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, no one is expecting less regulation.)
Pressure inside and out
We asked telecoms companies to rank the three most serious external and internal issues they expect to face in the next 12 months. Of the 11 external issues we listed,
Keeping it real
At last months inaugural Telecom Asia 2013 Insight Summit in which CSPs, analysts and vendors brainstormed to map out a game plan for next year we took a series of ash polls to gauge delegates viewpoints on the year ahead. What we learned is this: telcos are ready for 2013, but also realistic about the changes the industry is undergoing, the challenges they face and the technologies that will help them with both (particularly Big Data). Heres what we asked, and what they said.
future is also a potentially scary place for the 32% who said they were not all that well prepared.
unanimous. So theres no room for argument here.
What will be the best earner What do you think is most for CSPs two years from now? disruptive to CSP business? Similar to our online survey, data usPerhaps discouragingly, a little over half (56%) declined to credit OTT for disrupting the telecoms space and instead put the nger on themselves, citing lack of foresight and innovation as the biggest disruptor. Transformation projects and poor management decisions each rated 13%. Ouch. On the bright side, only 4.3% blamed external consultants for derailing their gravy train.
age was voted as the big earner (47.4%), but voice and apps/content each rated 15.8%, and OTT partnerships and M2M cracked 10%. Cloud services big fat zero. Cloud may be the future, but if youre a CSP, its not going to generate most of your income for some time. As theres a lot of hype around Big Data, we though wed ask delegates to tell us what they make of it. A little over half of them (55%) saw through the hype machine, describing Big Data as a fancy buzzword for data warehousing and BI. That said, over a third (35%) rated it as a genuine new science. TA John C Tanner
How would you describe Big Data?
How ready are CSPs for the How should CSPs respond to future? perceived OTT threats?
Almost 64% said they were kind of ready for the future, which suggests a realistic attitude towards the challenges involved (only 4.5% said they were well positioned for the future). That said, the If OTT players arent to blame for disruption, theyre still a force to be reckoned with. And the appropriate response to that force? Ignore them? Fight them? Buy them? No work with them. The vote was
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Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 17
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Unleashing the next wave of data analytics
How optimistic are you about the growth prospects of the telecom sector? Figure 2
t is now a number of years since telecoms operators began using data analytics to improve business economics. Data analytics can be used in three major ways: optimize tariffs and prevent churn; upsell additional services; and monetize information with third parties.
Traditionally operators have used data analytics to predict customer churn and suggest churn prevention actions, as well as to tailor tariff plans to optimize ARPU. This category of data analytics is now evolving in two key areas: Managing the transition of customers to data plans, by driving adoption of data plans and migrating users from unlimited to tiered data plans. SK Telecom in Korea is a good example of encouraging user migration to tiered data plans to improve data protability Managing multi-SIM user accounts rather than individual SIMs. The development of multi-SIM account plans is being driven by the increasing multiple device ownership among users or shared bundles of minutes/data (Verizon now reports average revenue per account). In both cases, operators are trading off the benets of lower customer churn against potential loss of revenues from multi-SIM discounts. Internet companies, like Amazon, were the rst to demonstrate the capability of product recommendations based on social network analysis. Telecoms operators Oi Brazil and Telefnica Czech Republic are now using social network analysis as a basis for focusing marketing campaigns on specic customer groups that could inuence other buyers. In Asia, StarHub Singapore is planning to use its new SmartHub research center to develop analytics for upselling. European and US operators have already established advanced approaches for data analytics to monetize customer information mainly for mobile advertising by selling it to external partners. To protect customer privacy, only aggregated customer information is sold. Mobile advertising is an extremely competitive area with Google, Facebook and Apple all vying for a share of revenues. Mobile operators are making their data relevant in new ways. For example, Verizons Precision Market Insights provide insights into aggregated customer presence for media owners, advertisers, venue owners, sponsors and retailers. AT&T and Telefnica have similar initiatives. The key challenge for operators is asking the right questions in order to do the most relevant analyses and we expect Asian operators to begin adopting these practices in 2013, with benecial results. TA Amrish Kacker, Analysys Mason
How optimistic are you about the nancial prospects for your own company? Figure 3
What sectors of the business do you think will be the key drivers for growth? Figure 4
Source: Telecom Asia
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competition from non-traditional players made the top of most lists. Also at the top of the pile was consumer demand. Those results reflect the changing nature of the telecoms game, in terms of the competitive landscape and the reality that the consumer segment has more power than ever to shape the direction of the industry. Also notable is the inevitable government regulation, which didnt top very many lists, but did make the Top 3 of the majority of them. That doesnt extend to things like tax policies, which only a handful of respondents named as a serious external pressure point (and even then, not the biggest one). Meanwhile, its worth noting that things like currency risk, equipment costs and inflation made frequent appearances in the No. 3 slot. As for internal issues to deal with in 2013, the three concerns making the top of many lists were the abilities to do scenario planning and analysis, business intelligence, and attracting and retaining qualified employees. Concerns over scenario planning reflect apparent unease in the telecoms space over the fact that its hard to plan for scenarios when theyre changing at faster rates than ever. OTT services are rolling out fast, and innovation is measured in weeks rather than quarters. Similarly, business intelligence is becoming more complex as we enter the age of Big Data, and acquiring and retaining the right skill sets will be crucial to making sense of all this and keeping pace. Another internal issue that ranked fairly high internal control management, risk mitigation and other risk management issues. Telcos have a reputation for being risk-averse thats a luxury they may not be able to afford for much longer.
Innovating under the gun
he mobile industry will come under continued pressure to innovate in 2013. This innovation will see efforts to improve network economics with LTE and small cell deployments, and continued efforts to drive new revenue streams from digital services.
Strategic focus
Finally, we asked participants in our survey to tell us the top three strategic areas theyll be focusing on next year. As it happens, telecom players will be covering a lot of bases in 2013, the most popular of which will be expanding into new market segments and geographical markets, as well as focusing on sales and marketing. Quite a bit of that strategic focus will be directed inwards as well many respondents said they intend to strengthen managerial and operational capabilities in 2013, as well as reduce overall costs, as well continue network upgrades to reduce their cost per bit. TA
In 2013 we expect that more than 100 LTE networks will be deployed, driven by the availability of radio spectrum (including re-farmed 1800 MHz) and LTE devices. As operators commercialize LTE services, the packaging and most pricing plans will continue to parallel those for 3G, with some experimentation, particularly in terms of service bundling. The mobile industry will see continued consolidation in 2013, with major M&A occurring in each region (North America, Latin America, Western Europe and EMEA). This activity will be impacted by global macro-market dynamics and driven by domestic market competition and investments on the part of multinational players in emerging markets. Small cell technology has seen increased focus as network trafc continues to grow at an astonishing rate. Market progress to date has been hindered by operators focus toward macro-cell LTE deployments, the need for automated network operations (such as self-organizing network [SON] technology), and low cost small-cell deployment and backhaul capabilities. With large operators like AT&T embracing SON and small-cells we expect to see robust adoption in 2013. The market will continue be buoyed by a motivated vendor community that will come under pressure to reduce small cell deployment costs and address interference challenges that will occur in large scale smallcell implementations. Under the shadow of disruptions from over-the-top players, operators are establishing strategies to transform their service offers. For many, this has culminated in digital service strategies that incorporate services such as mobile payments, premium content and machine-to-machine. Large Tier 1 players like Telefonica, Vodafone and Telecom Italia have made large bets with portal strategies for their digital services. We believe that other Tier 1 and Tier 2 operators will follow suit in 2013, with the ultimate aim of bringing their digital services under a signal platform umbrella. Even though more than 600 mobile payment initiatives have been launched, there are still tremendous growth opportunities for operators, particularly in markets where smartphones are proliferating among the unbanked. While the number of initiatives will remain relatively stable at 600, we believe that the operator involvement will accelerate in 2013. The M2M market will see accelerated growth in 2013, with operators continuing to focus primarily on energy, healthcare, automotive and transportation. While the M2M opportunities for operators are still in their formative stages, we believe that operators will see rapid growth in B2B2C solutions which will drive the need for changes to existing platform and B/OSS strategies. The 12-month outlook for the mobile industry will be less certain at the end of 2013 than it is today. This underpins the need for continuous innovation and transformation for the foreseeable future. TA Phil Marshall, Tolaga Research
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November 29, 2012 l Kuala Lumpur
Nomination Criteria:
Overall quality of innovation and contribution to technology advancement (50%) Market acceptance market share growth, market share and new customer acquisition (15%) Revenue growth and contribution to overall industry leadership (20%) Vision and industry leadership (15%) Based on performance in 12 months prior to September 1, 2012 nominated products/ services should have been available by June 30, 2012
he big winners of this years annual Readers Choice Awards were Huawei Technologies and Amdocs both going home with three awards. Winners in 21 categories were announced at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur last month and trophies presented to 15 companies by executives from AT&T, BT Global Services, Maxis, NTT Communications, Pacnet, Telstra Global, Time.com, U Mobile, YTL Communications and Value Partners. With the judging criteria heavily weighted toward innovation and leadership, four new innovation awards were introduced this year. SAP won the Business Analytics Innovation of the Year award for its HANA in-memory computing. Amdocs grabbed the CEM Innovation of the Year for its Smart Agent Desktop. The Bandwidth Optimization Innovation of the Year price went to Dialogic for its I-Gate 4000 while Best Enabling Technology for Mobile Devices was awarded to Samsung for its NFC TecTiles. Huaweis prizes were for Wireless Broadband Network Vendor of the Year, Core Network Vendor of the Year and LTE Innovation of the Year for its No Edge Networks. Amdocs was voted as BSS Vendor of the Year, Managed Support Services Vendor of the Year as well as CEM Innovation of the Year.
Celebrating Asias top telecom vendors

Ericsson once again won the Best Infrastructure Management Vendor of the Year a well as the Wireless Network Vendor of the Year while Cisco claimed the Metro Network Vendor of the Year and Carrier Ethernet Vendor of the Year awards. The new category, Data Center Facility Vendor of the Year, went to IBM. Awards also went to first-time winner FiberHome (FTTx Vendor of the Year), HP (Cloud Innovation of the Year), Alcatel-Lucent (Broadband Innovation of the Year), Ciena (Optical Vendor of the Year), Juniper Networks (Mobile Security Vendor of the Year), ZTE (Broadband Year of the Year) and Oracle (OSS Vendor of the Year). Each year Telecom Asia gathers to celebrate with its industry peers and recognize the advancements and contributions of the industrys top vendors from around the region. This year was Telecom Asias fth Readers Choice Awards. In the first round, analysts and services providers nominated the top vendors of the year in each of 21 categories. Telecom Asias editorial team with support from a panel of analysts narrowed the field to a shortlist before voting among service providers was open in early October. A total of 48 technology suppliers were nominated in 21 categories. TA
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Congratulations to all winners

Wireless Network Vendor of the Year
Ericsson Amdocs ZTE Amdocs
BSS Vendor of the Year
Broadband Vendor of the Year
Managed Support Services Vendor of the Year
Wireless Broadband Network Vendor of the Year
Huawei Technologies IBM

Core Network Vendor of the Year
Data Center Facility Vendor of the Year
Huawei Technologies Huawei Technologies No Edge Networks Best Infrastructure Management Vendor Ericsson Alcatel-Lucent FTTx Vendor of the Year Zero Touch Vectoring FiberHome Cloud Innovation of the Year Telecommunications HP Converged Cloud Technologies
Metro Network Vendor of the Year of the Year Broadband Innovation of the Year
LTE Innovation of the Year
SAP HANA in-memory Cisco Systems computing

CEM Innovation of the Year
Business Analytics Innovation of the Year
Optical Network Vendor of the Year
Ciena Amdocs Carrier Ethernet Vendor of the Year Smart Agent Desktop Cisco Systems Bandwidth Optimization Innovation
Mobile Security Vendor of the Year
Juniper Networks Dialogic I-Gate 4000

OSS Vendor of the Year
of the Year
Oracle Samsung NFC TecTiles
Best Enabling Technology Mobile Devices
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LTE Innovation of the Year, Wireless Broadband Network Vendor of the Year, Core Network Vendor of the Year: Huawei Technologies
End-to-end commitment
uawei was recognized this year for its No-Edge Networks concept, which draws on various LTE, LTE-Advanced and future-oriented technologies, such as coordinated multipoint, adaptive inter cell interference coordination and turbo equalizer. The company has deployed 47 commercial LTE networks and 36 commercial evolved packet core (EPC) networks and is working with 110 operators that have announced LTE launches or are committed to LTE. Commercial LTE services supported by Huawei include: Bharti, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat (including Mobily in Saudi Arabia) SoftBank, STC, Telefnica, Telenor, TeliaSonera and Vodafone. The company worked with Vodafone to conduct worlds first inter-band LTEA carrier aggregation (CA), with peak DL rates over 225 Mbps. Its also demonstrated the worlds first LTE-A CA based on LTE TDD with peak DL rates over 520
Paul Scanlan, Huawei
Mbps. In addition, it helped Vodafone implement a LTE-A HetNet solution on an LTE network in Spain that featured small base station products, cell radius virtual extensions and co-channel interference suppression. Huawei introduced two new wireless broadband products to boost the capacity of mobile networks: the Adaptive Radio Unit and the AtomCell, which are part of its GigaSite suite of network equipment. The Adaptive Radio Unit integrates
Why they won

Huawei Technologies gets the nod for its No Edge Networks concept, which combines LTE, LTA-Advanced and future innovative technologies such as Coordinated Multipoint to ensure a seamless user experience. And its already trialed the technology on several commercial LTE networks. Huawei also is a repeat winner for Wireless Broadband Network Vendor of the Year, thanks not only to the success of its SingleRAN solution, but also to new innovations such as its AtomCell small cell solution and its Adaptive Radio Unit, which helps operators to balance data trafc distribution in high-trafc areas. In the core network category, the company impressed readers with its SingleCore core network solution, including modules for IMS, NGN and mobile softswitches, with a particular focus on its IMS solutions for PSTN migration and voice over broadband.
an adaptive antenna system and RF unit to simultaneously support beamforming and multi-sector networks, using the same space and antenna. This helps operators balance data trafc distribution in high-traffic or dense areas, without adding macro sites. The companys AtomCell is a compact, flexible and highly integrated small cell that functions as a complete base station. At the core of the AtomCell is the Atom, which combines power amplifier, radio frequency and baseband functionality. Huawei also has a strategy to strengthen and broaden operators core business by providing future-proof convergent core network solutions. The end-to-end solutions are based on a unied ATCA platform and unified network operation management to help operators prepare for network transformation and bring down costs. According to Infonetics, Huawei was the IMS CSCF market leader in Q2, with a 23.3% market share. It has signed more than 139 commercial and trial IMS contracts with telcos. Its equipment also supported 2.9 billion mobile softswitch subscribers (end of Q2) at 165 carriers in more than 100 countries. TA
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Wireless Network Vendor of the Year, Best Infrastructure Management Vendor of the Year:
Ericsson
A matter of scale
ricsson is increasingly focused on supporting operators transition to new business models to improve mobile data profitability. Stephanie Huf, Ericssons VP for marketing and communications for Ericsson Southeast Asia and Oceania, noted that the sheer size of the organization enables scale beyond what operators could achieve on their own. This allows us to replicate success for customers around the world. Also, by using common tools, methods and processes, we can develop and industrialize new ideas rapidly while achieving greater efficiency in network operations, service platforms and associated operations and business support systems. To date, we have invested more than $1 billion in these tools, methods and processes, Huf said. In managed services, Ericsson optimizes its local presence with four global
service centers, enabling 40% remote delivery to support operators in 100 countries. The companys global services business has a worldwide workforce of more than 59,000 service professionals. Its latest managed services contracts include: U Mobile (Malaysia), Maersk (Denmark), Idea (India), MTN (Ghana), Bharti Airtel (India), Slovak Telekom (Slovakia), Augere (India), Telefnica (Brazil), Omea Telecom/Virgin Mobile (France), Vodafone (Italy), NBN (Australia), Telenor (Sweden), Clearwire (US), Versatel (Germany), Datora (Brazil) and Zain (Iraq). Ericssons acquisition of Telcordia in early 2012 consolidated its position in the operations support systems/business support systems (OSS/BSS) market, particularly in the areas of service fullment, assurance, network optimization and real-time charging. In Asia this year, the company has sup-
ported eight LTE network launches and invested more in its Nanjing R&D Center to enhance its capabilities in 3G and LTE. Ericssons most recent LTE wins in Asia were with SmarTone in Hong Kong and with SingTel, which was first to launch commercial LTE services in Singapore. Ericsson holds a 40% market share for evolved packet core. To speed up deployment of commercial LTE networks, its self-organizing networks (SON) solution offers customers standardized plug and play networks with a high degree of automation, saving time and improving performance. This year it also demonstrated what it calls two firsts: the worlds first voice handover between LTE and W-CDMA with operators in Korea and the US and the first microwave connection between LTE main and remote radio units. Each day the company installs more than 1,000 base stations. TA
Steven Tai, Ericsson
Why they won

Ericsson leads in LTE market share globally, with 88 LTE contracts in 38 countries. Its networks support 305 million of 455 million people globally covered by LTE networks. Its strong R&D investment has enabled it to hold almost 25% of all essential patents in LTE. The company is the worlds largest network operations provider and currently manages networks with more than 950 million subscribers. It has delivered on over 300 managed services commitments. In Q2 of this year, it signed 17 new managed services contracts (of which ve were extensions/ expansions).
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BSS Vendor of the Year, Managed Support Services Vendor of the Year, CEM Innovation of the Year: Amdocs
Preparing telcos for rapid change
he year 2012 has been a busy year for Amdocs, which released its Connected Home, M2M and Mobile Payments solutions in the spring. It also announced the first full integration of convergent charging, policy management and the Amdocs service platform. The platform allows service providers to orchestrate, manage and control rich communication services with an end-toend solution, covering the full rollout of new services, by defining the relevant policy management rules and correlating charging offers using any payment channel. The company signed a seven-year agreement with Globe Telecom in the Philippines for the transformation and upgrade of the telcos business support systems. The objective is to modernize and consolidate Globes BSS and data warehouse systems as well as business processes across prepaid and postpaid wireless, wireline and broadband operations. This will enable Globe to manage its customer relationships better across various product offerings within the organization, and provide a new level of personalized customer experience. Amdocs is delivering multiple products from its CES 8.1 portfolio and will provide upgrades across both Amdocs and related third-party systems. Amdocs solutions
include convergent charging and billing, customer management, ordering and enterprise-wide product catalog. Amdocs also is accelerating its managed services business in Asia Pacific. In the region, Amdocs manages nearly 200 million subscribers through its managed services centers in Melbourne, India (multiple centers), Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Its Global Strategic Sourcing (GSS) group is a strategic partner for leading service providers, enabling them to accelerate business growth, reduce costs and enhance their customers experience. The group provides IT optimization and enhancement services that enable service providers to adapt their systems and processes to changing business and operational needs. Erwann Thomassain, sales & business leader for APAC for Amdocs Customer Management Division, says its agile and tailored outsourcing solutions include support for IT infrastructure management and hosting, application management and business process operations (operational and IT-oriented). GSS group provides a wide range of managed services to support business and operational support systems (BSS/OSS), service delivery platforms (SDPs) and directory publishing for the communications, media and entertainment industry. TA Abhay Kumar, Amdocs
Why they won

Amdocs smart guidance capabilities deliver contextsensitive advice to call-center agents. Its streamlined user interface has enabled operators to cut an estimated 17 seconds off their average handling time while improving the customer experience. The company won the CEM category for its Smart Agent Desktop. It manages nearly 200 million subscribers through its managed services centers in Asia Pacic. Its IT optimization and enhancement services have attracted increased attention from telcos looking to adapt their systems and processes to their rapidly changing business and operational needs. The company continues to deliver cost-efcient business and operational management services by combining exible nancial and delivery models with industryspecic expertise. Its new M2M and cloud-based connected home solutions help telcos quickly move into the connected devices market.
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Cloud Innovation of the Year:
HP
Faster, cheaper, better
ll service providers, from telcos to IT hosting firms, are trying to keep pace with the double-digit market growth for cloud services particularly to support early-adopter SMB customers. IDC predicts service providers spending this year will grow over 30% for IT hardware, software and services to deliver cloud services. Service providers are looking for strong partnerships to help them prioritize and accelerate the delivery of the right services. In the cloud services arena HP has once again excelled, coming out on top in the Cloud Innovation category for its Converged Cloud, which it says is the industrys rst hybrid delivery approach and portfolio based on a common architecture spanning traditional IT, private, managed and public clouds. Engineered for the enterprise, the company says Converged Cloud extends the power of the cloud across infrastructure, applications and data sources. HPs Converged Cloud portfolio helps customers do three fundamental things: build, manage and secure cloud environments across all models (public, private, managed, traditional), consume off-premise cloud services and provide professional services to guide customers on the journey to the converged cloud. To compete with rivals communications service providers must use new technologies like cloud to build new businesses, said David Sliter, VP and GM of Communications, Media and Entertainment Solutions at HP Enterprise Services. Our CloudSystem Service Provider enables CSPs to expand their enterprise businesses with as-a-service offerings that help customers operate more efficiently. CloudSystem Service Provider (CSSP) is one of HPs Converged Cloud solutions. Sliter says the solutions can help telcos scale-up or scale-out service offerings in
Charlotte Yap, HP minutes compared to weeks. Solutions such as our CSSP and Cloud Services Enablement offer new cloud infrastructure and services to get to market quickly without disturbing the data center. Key customers for its cloud offerings include TelstraClear in New Zealand, Bharti Airtel and TurkCell. TelstraClear wanted to provide managed IT services to business customers from the cloud and develop innovative offerings with a roadmap to higher-value services. HPs CSSP allows the telco to speed up the launch of new cloud services by avoiding time consuming internal change control processes. CSSP also allowed TelstraClear to create a pure as a service commercial model while overcoming budget constraints by moving to a pay-per-use model. Bharti chose HPs Cloud Enablement Platform to introduce a marketplace portal that provides SaaS and IaaS services to business customers. The platform gives Bharti the ability to monetize many cloud services simultaneously through a single platform investment as well as optimize its IT costs and organizational agility via on-demand capacity upgrades. HP manages the entire cloud solution deployed in Bhartis data center. The tier 1 operator in Turkey deployed CSSP to lower its risks and capex requirements to move into IaaS and CaaS. TA
Why they won

This innovation is about exibility and reducing complexity. Based on a single architecture, HPs Converged Cloud offers companies a seamless path to future hybrid cloud operations. For the second year HP has demonstrated leadership in cloud innovation and gets extra credit for its open approach.
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Metro Network Vendor of the Year, Carrier Ethernet Vendor of the Year:
Cisco Systems
Five for five

isco Systems is ve for ve in our Carrier Ethernet Vendor category since we launched the Readers Choice Awards in 2008. And thats no surprise, given its general dominance of the Carrier Ethernet switch segment. However, Cisco has also established itself as a key player in the metro space this also marked the second year in a row Cisco has taken the Metro Network Vendor prize. And thats arguably no surprise either, as the Metro Network story is also a Carrier Ethernet story in many respects. Thats partly due to the growing importance of mobile backhaul (where CE is seeing fast growth), but also because of the pressure that mobile broadband, video, and the cloud are putting on operator edge networks, which is driving a fundamental shift in the architecture of the IP network edge. Thats where Carrier Ethernet switches come in (as well as IP edge routers) and Cisco leads the market in both categories. TA
C
Ciena
Sanjay Sivam, Cisco
Why they won

With its large installed customer base, innovations in 100-Gigabit Ethernet and a strong Carrier Ethernet portfolio, to include its ASR9000 router and MPLS-TP Carrier Packer Transport suite, Cisco remains the king of the Carrier Ethernet hill. Cisco continues to demonstrate considerable innovation in the network edge, by supplying carriers not only with high-capacity edge routers, but also a way to build simplied, virtualized next-generation architecture designed to handle the biggest upcoming trafc drivers, such as video, cloud and smart devices.
Optical Network Vendor of the Year:

This company has had a busy year on the optical innovation front, from the industrys rst software-programmable coherent technology that scales to 400G per wavelength, to intelligent control plane software offering distributed software intelligence, mesh network resiliency and optical VPN service delivery.
Broadband Vendor of the Year:
ZTE
Anup Changaroth, Ciena
This years winner not only ranks as one the biggest ber-access players in the region, but leads the worldwide market for major fixed broadband CPE. It also marked 2012 by releasing the commercial version of its multi-service access network systems using system-level VDSL 2 vectoring.
Eric Wang Xiaodong, ZTE
FTTx Vendor of the Year:
FiberHome Telecommunications Technologies

This company only first entered the global market two years ago, but with close to four decades of optical R&D behind it, it has quickly become one of the fastestgrowing companies in the FTTx space, thanks to key PON deals in its home market of China.
Mobile Security Vendor of the Year:
Juniper Networks
Fan Zhiqiang, FiberHome
Juniper Networks has built a reputation in the security space for its long-term commitment to innovation and its ability to pick the right partners to deliver end-to-end mobile security. Its device management capabilities for enterprise users also address concerns over BYOD and other hot security issues.
Abdul Aziz Ali, Juniper Networks

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OSS Vendor of the Year:
Oracle
Data Center Facility Vendor of the Year:
IBM
Once again featuring in Gartners Leaders Quadrant last month, Oracle has a traffic record of success in providing flexible and integrated solutions to support streamlined back-office operations. It has also adapted to the shift toward highly congurable platforms supporting multiple network technologies.
Mark Koops, Oracle
IBMs approach to modular data center design is about using smaller increments of standardized components, making it possible to add capacity when needed, helping to more closely align IT with business requirements. This approach allows telcos to pay as they grow.
Rama Sathiamutty, IBM
Broadband Innovation of the Year:
Alcatel-Lucent
Business Analytics Innovation of the Year:
SAP
Alcatel-Lucent gets high marks for updating its VDSL2 vectoring solution with Zero Touch Vectoring, which tackles the hurdle of CPE compatibility. The ability to deploy VDSL2 vectoring with existing CPE makes deployments easier for operators without having to spend extra time and money upgrading CPE beforehand.
Fazlin Mohd, Alcatel-Lucent
This innovation can transform businesses by streamlining applications, analytics, planning, predictive analysis and sentiment analysis on a single platform. By operating in real-time, it gives telcos everything they need to build a personalized customer experience. SAP wins for its HANA in-memory computing.
Nazeroll Kasim, SAP
Bandwidth Optimization Innovation of the Year:
Dialogic
Best Enabling Technology Mobile Devices:
Samsung
Dialogics line of Session Bandwidth Optimizers allows service providers to optimize their network performance, service performance and user experience, and quickly and costeffectively double their mobile backhaul bandwidth and all while leveraging their existing network infrastructure.
www.telecomasia.net
Eamonn Kearns, Dialogic
As NFC struggles to find mainstream acceptance in the mobile payments space, Samsung has found an innovative use for it programmable NFC stickers that enable users with NFCenabled phones to automatically check in at a caf on Facebook or FourSquare, connect to Wi-Fi hotspots or download content.
Wong Fatt Weng, Samsung

Inside the Event
Awards Ceremony Video Highlights
www.telecomasia.net
CoUnTRy FocUs: PaKisTan
Ajay Sunder, Frost & Sullivan
Mobile players in transition

akistans mobile market has shown healthy growth with the number of mobile subscribers expected to hit 130 million this year. The market is in transition from being a stateowned monopoly to a competitive market backed by international players and has undergone a lot of systematic changes over the past few years. Regulatory uncertainties have had a detrimental effect on the overall market. The biggest obstacle this year was the inability to nalize the terms for the auction of 3G mobile licenses. Although efforts have been on since 2007, there have been signicant delays in the process. In May it was reported that 3G licenses would only be awarded in 2013. Early this year, in a major crackdown on multi-SIMs, the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) revised the limit on the number of SIMs per person to five. There was initially some confusion around this as operators were still working with the earlier number of 10. Also, there is no clarity yet on the
status of MNP (mobile number portability). Last year the government decided to ban MNP, but subsequently no action has been taken. All the leading operators still report MNP statistics on a monthly and quarterly basis. Foreign investment has been a significant trend in encouraging growth in Pakistans telecom sector. Despite the political and regulatory uncertainty, the telecom market is perceived as attractive by international players, with the likes of SingTel and Telenor entering in the last few years. The telecom sector received close to $2 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in fiscal 2005-06. Another $5 billion of FDI has been pumped into the telecom sector since then, but the global nancial crisis, regulatory uncertainty over 3G and the lack of a future roadmap has led to a decline. Despite this, the overall telecom sector is still seen largely as investment-friendly. The countrys fixed-line market is still plagued by slow growth, but in the last decade has increased its fixed
subscriber base by fourfold. But in the last few years, fixed teledensity has remained stagnant at 4%. The majority of working lines are in urban areas, and penetration in rural areas, where more than 75% of the population lives, is dismally low.
Giving up on fixed
Despite regulatory uncertainty, the overall telecom sector is still seen largely as investment-friendly
www.telecomasia.net
The government seems to have given up on fixed-line and is expecting mobile to drive the overall telecom penetration. Realizing that mobile infrastructure will be a key bottleneck, PTA started pushing for infrastructure sharing among the leading five mobile players. The agreements are in place until 2013 for network sharing (including towers) and this is expected to greatly reduce the capex burden on the operators as operators learn to collaborate and improve the overall network coverage at a national level. PTA needs to set a clear timeline on 3G licenses as well as put the overall roadmap in place. Despite the imminent challenges around regulation, Pakistans mobile has plenty of room for growth as mobile operators push into the rural areas. TA Ajay Sunder is senior director of Frost & Sullivans ICT Practice, Asia Pacic. For more info please contact djeremiah@frost.com orJessie.loh@frost.com
FoRUm
l Matt Walker, Ovum
Vendors see opportunities in ICT services
elcos capex budgets have been tight lately, due mainly to the weak revenue climate. Network infrastructure spending has been especially weak in India and parts of Southeast Asia; China also threatens to moderate and there are signs across Asia and the globe that LTE upgrades are not bringing much of a capex bump. This weak capex climate is hurting vendors. Service providers opex budgets are on average triple their capex budgets. In recent years network infrastructure vendors have developed services better able to tap telco opex budgets. As a result, an increasing proportion of opex items are now addressable by vendors. The biggest target for vendors is the network & IT operations segment of telcos opex, which Ovum estimates was worth roughly $212 billion in 2011, dominated by the network piece. Despite increased outsourcing over the last decade, most network operations spending are still internal. While telco revenues should recover from the current economic downturn, Ovum expects growth rates to stay low. Capex budgets will remain constrained. Operators will continue looking carefully at their operational budgets in search of efficiencies. Some operators, such as Telenor and Vodafone, are also looking at their global procurement process, across capital and operating budgets, in search of improvements. Heres where vendors come in. Operators have the potential to gain greater economies of scale through their global vendors in terms of network rollout, network operations, network optimization, customer experience and service quality management, and other areas. Relying on vendors for such operational tasks also transfers risk, lowering headcount and limiting the cost of mistakes. Operators may also capitalize some of their services spending, rather than expensing it, bringing an added benefit for some. This is not a new phenomenon. In 2011 the global market for telco infrastructure services accounted for over $65 billion in vendor revenues. Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, T-Systems, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei take the top six spots. Telcos spend on average 60-65% of rev-
enues on operating expenses. Network/IT operations accounts for 18% of the opex pie, a significant expense. New technologies, network evolution and smart partnerships can help improve the efciency of operating network and IT facilities. This has been happening already, but the pace seems likely to accelerate. The carrier industry hasnt really consolidated that much across country lines we still have hundreds of small carriers struggling to survive which may limit some scale economies. Global technology vendors can help here, especially for smaller carriers. This certainly isnt guaranteed, though. Every outsourcing project comes with risks related to security, training, cost overruns and other threats. Further, the services market is still evolving. For instance, network rollout outsourcing has been popular, but vendors recently have struggled to make money on these projects. Certain kinds of network rollout probably always need to be done internally. Studying carefully what services projects are worth doing, and why, is essential before diving in. Its also important to hedge bets, just as with equipment procurement: overreliance on one service partner could be a big commercial mistake. If youre a vendor selling services, further outsourcing of network/IT operations is an opportunity. Roughly 60% of telco network/IT operations spending is for internal network operations costs. That amounted to roughly $126 billion in 2011. While services projects dont come with guarantees of protability, there is clearly some upside for vendors as carriers look to outsource more of their operations. As telcos explore this, vendors need to be creative and aggressive about winning the business but not forget to protect themselves. Vendors and carriers are still figuring out who does what best. In this kind of market you will sometimes have to walk away from business. Youll also have to develop far more complex solutions for carriers than in the past. Carriers need help monetizing their network and retaining customers, not just deploying the equipment. TA
Evolving market
Matt Walker is a principal analyst for telecom network infrastructure at Ovum
Carriers need help monetizing their network and retaining customers, not just deploying equipment
www.telecomasia.net
Maxis appoints two executives to board

Malaysian operator Maxis has appointed Dr. Ibrahim Abdulrahman H. Kadi and Krishnan Ravi Kumar as non-executive directors to the companys board. Kadi now serves as an independent member of the board risk management board committee at the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). Kumar is currently group CFO at Saudi Telecom.
of global sales at GE, where he focused on energy storage for the telecom, grid and UPS segments.
Ericsson names SVP

Ericsson has promoted Mats Olsson to the role of SVP for Asia Pacic, to lead the companys three regional operations in Northeast Asia, India and Southeast Mats H Olsson Asia & Oceania. He will continue to report to president and CEO Hans Vestberg and be a member of the companys executive leadership team. Olsson is currently head of region North East Asia, a position he has held since 2010.
radio access products and technologies, including LTE and the lightRadio family. Geary will assume his new role in January 1 and will report to Philippe Keryer, president of the newly-formed networks and platforms business group. Keryer was previously president of the wireline division, which will be headed by Federico Guillen starting January 1.
TElEcomcaREER
HTC appoints CMO

Benjamin Ho will take up the role as CMO at HTC in January. His first assignment will be to lead a project, dubbed internally as Marketing 2.0, refocusing HTCs efforts around holistic marketing and mass-market brand outreach. Ho was previously VP of business strategy and marketing at Taiwan mobile carrier, Far EasTone Telecommunications. Jason Mackenzie, currently serving as president of global sales and marketing, will focus on HTCs global sales strategies, partner collaboration and field execution. John Wang, who has been driving brand marketing, will leave the company.
Telstras new consumer MD

Telstra has named Karsten Wildberger group MD to lead its consumer business. The unit encompasses the Australian incumbent Karsten carriers Telstra stores, onshore consumer and Wildberger business contact centers, retailers and partners. Wildberger will report to chief customer officer Gordon Ballantyne. Wildberger was most recently partner and MD of The Boston Consulting Group in Germany and a core member of the rms telecom, media and high tech practice.
Juniper strengthens Apac team

Juniper Networks has announced a number of senior appointments for Asia Pacic, as the company enhance its focus on key markets. Kevin Ackhurst, previously VP of partner sales, will now lead Junipers newly formed Asia division. Mark Ablett, former senior director of Junipers commercial business in APAC, has been promoted to VP for Australia and New Zealand. Joseph Green, former WW Systems Engineering (SE) director, moves from Juniper HQ to APAC to become head of systems engineering. Wendy Koh, previously ASEAN area leader, has been promoted to VP of the APAC service provider unit. Jeffery Brown has joined the company as VP and representative director of Japan, and Cecilia Loh as VP of marketing for Asia Pacific.
Intel CEO to retire

Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini will retire in May, after serving the company for nearly 40 years. The board is looking for Otellinis successor. The company also Paul Otellini has promoted three senior leaders to the position of EVP: Renee James, head of Intels software business; Brian Krzanich, COO and head of worldwide manufacturing; and Stacy Smith, CFO and director of corporate strategy.
Pacnet hires chief HR ofcer

Pacnet has appointed Syed Ali Abbas to the newly created position of chief human resources officer. He replaces Anne Adam, SVP of HR, who will leave the company in January after serving Pacnet for 11 years. Abbas will assume his new role on January 2 and will be based in Singapore. He comes to Pacnet from AT&T where he worked in various human resources capacities for 11 years.
Acisions SVP and GM for Apac

Michael Frausing has joined Acision as SVP and GM to lead the companys business operations in Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Acision, Frausing was the head
www.telecomasia.net
Alcatel-Lucent taps wireless head

Alcatel-Lucent has appointed David Geary as president of its wireless division. Geary will be responsible for the development and introduction of Alcatel-Lucents portfolio of mobile
Contacting Telecom Career

Advertising: Gigi Chan Tel: 852 2589 1338 Fax: 852 2559 7002 E-mail: gchan@telecomasia.net Editorial: Fiona Chau Tel: 852 2589 1333 Fax: 852 2559 7002 E-mail: fchau@telecomasia.net
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PoUlosPoinTs
l Tony Poulos
The digital services balancing act
wrote in last months column, At the Crossroads, that the telecom industry is reaching a junction where a direction has to be taken and that decision could be critical to its survival. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the move into digital services is the key signpost at the crossroads, but is it a viable, let alone safe, direction to follow? Key industry bodies such as the GSMA, CTIA and TM Forum clearly believe it is. But do they really believe that and can they offer guidance, or are they merely following the trend themselves? After all, dont they have the same DNA structure as their predominantly telco members or are they changing with the times? For organizations such as the TM Forum and 3GPP that develop and manage standards, it is no easy task taking on digital services, which are often unstructured and apply relevant processes, business or technical, in a structured fashion. The new services are also a moving target. Unfettered by any legacy thinking, they change constantly to optimize the latest technology and customer demands. All these bodies have established some form of digital services division that tries to attract the new digital economy players, with varying levels of success. Unless the digital service provider (DSP) sees value in being part of the CSP community, and many dont, why should they bother? I would hazard to guess that in due course they may have to, whether they like it or not. Just as the CSPs are trying to move closer to them, they will have to reciprocate, when they grow up a bit. You see, digital services are still young, just coming out of infancy and moving into the troubled juvenile years. But when they mature, they will see that process is no longer an inhibitor but a means of survival. Let me explain. Coming up with a great idea is the key element to any new digital service, and whether it comes as a web-based service or a device app, it needs investment, know-how, viral take-up and lots of luck. The competition for mind-share is erce, as it is for market share, which comes later. With success comes growth, and with growth comes the need for more investment in developers, hosting and marketing. Unless revenue from organic growth, assuming there is
revenue, is adequate, then growth stalls and death follows. Many, if not most, digipreneurs seem to be on an ego trip to come up with something unique and socially popular. Getting numbers of users or followers is the name of the game revenues are often an after-thought. Of course, when growth comes into play and investment is required, the dynamic changes investors expect returns. As the emphasis moves away from numbers of people to numbers of dollars a very delicate balancing act starts. What attracted many to the fledgling free app or social media changes as they become laced with advertisements, purchase options and marketing, many of which detract from the original experience. What is even worse is that investors start to exert their own influencing by inputting their own experienced managers, accountants and marketeers to steer the DSP into the world of profitability and increased market value, usually to sell it off before its popularity, and resale value, start to wane. In any case, growth and expansion require (even demand) process adoption of some form. No DSP can hope to survive massive growth without it. Look at the maturity path of almost all social networks and name one that has not had to adopt strict processes to maintain customer expectations and their own operational viability. Any failure of service from Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. immediately attracts massive press coverage and annoyed customers. Adopting processes and standards is part of growing up and the more mature they become, the more they depend on them. Im not saying that all DSPs are immature, just that some lessons previously learnt by CSPs could come in handy for them as they grow up. While many may fear that the chasm of age and maturity between CSPs and DSPs is too wide, those DSPs that understand the value of what has been learnt by CSPs may be more open to an ecosystem that includes both, rather than shunning them as dinosaurs heading for extinction. As I mentioned earlier, its going to be quite a balancing act for everyone. TA
Size vs profit
Tony is market strategist for the TM Forum and a regular contributor to Telecom Asia
Many may fear that the chasm of age and maturity between CSPs and DSPs is too wide
www.telecomasia.net
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Return of the oppy
Those of us of a certain age will remember floppy discs, but now it looks like were in line for the next evolution floppy phones. Samsung is hotly tipped to be the rst vendor likely to launch a device that can be rolled up, squashed into a pocket, or even bounced off the ground without any damage. The manufacturer could launch its rst commercial product in 2013, reports state. However, Samsung is unlikely to have things its own way for long a host of other vendors including Sharp, Sony, Nokia, LG Electronics and Philips are also working on flexible phones. TA
Finnish anti-piracy authorities have fined the father of a nine-year-old girl who visited file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, even though she didnt download anything. Authorities issued a warrant to seize the childs laptop after the father refused to pay an initial ne of 600 ($783) when it was found his ISP had connected with the site, which is blocked in the country. The litigation was dropped after the father agreed to pay a 300 ne to settle the matter, despite having bought the track by performer Chisu legitimately a day after the Pirate Bay visit and the fact Chisu herself pointed out her tunes are available free on streaming service Spotify. TA
Busted for browsing
Russias communications watchdog was left red faced after Googles video site YouTube was incorrectly blocked as part of efforts to fight child pornography. The video site appeared on a newly created register of websites containing banned content, resulting in access to the site being blocked. Officials said the incident was caused by a technical glitch, and quickly reestablished access to the site, noting they have no reason to block access to the Google service. TA
Russia bans YouTube
Try password
Hacktivist group Anonymous may have hit the headlines for its attacks on the websites of major companies, but a handy byproduct of its work is the revelation that password remains the top, well, password used by many people in their login details. A list of the top 25 most commonly leaked passwords published by the group and other hackers also reveals that 123456 and 12345678 remain the second and third most used passwords respectively, and that abc123 has overtaken qwerty in fourth place. TA
Foxy smartphone
Foxes have learned how to use smartphones, with one clever Norwegian animal answering calls and even sending text messages. The fox began communicating on a smartphone it stole from a teenager, first answering a call he made to the stricken device, then sending one of his friends an unintelligible SMS a couple of days later. The tale Fantastic Mr (or Mrs) Fox is one of an elaborate ruse gone wrong the teenager had lured the animal to his yard by playing rabbit sounds on the device to see what would happen. Get ready for a (bushy) tale of bill shock soon. TA
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Seeking Asias top telecom carriers

Telcos optimistic but realize they need to up their game

A Cold Dose of Reality

Readers Choice Awards

Country focus Pakistan

Awards Ceremony Video Highlights

CONNECT YOUR BUILDING TO THE FUTURE.

TE Connectivity is connecting the world, one building at a time.

Volume 23 Number 10 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013

14 A cold dose of reality

Readers Choice Awards

20 Celebrating Asias top telecom vendors

Country Focus: Pakistan

29 Mobile players in transition

7 Predictions for the new year

30 Vendors see opportunities in ICT services

34 The balancing act

12 Asian telecoms this month

9 Insight 31 Telecom Career

32 Events Calendar 36 Backpage Brieng

Total circulation: 13,959

Our broad coverage of Asian and global telecom news www.telecomasia.net/news

Telecom Asia China edition

Telecom Asia China edition

6 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 Telecom Asia

Heres your future: 2013 edition

1. The ITU wont take over the Internet

2. Governments will keep writing bad bills to regulate it

3. Google still wont be a mobile operator

John C. Tanner is global technology editor jtanner@questexasia.com

4. The world will still be here after December 21, 2012

Telecom Asia Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 7

China may use 1.4GHz band for TD-LTE

Mobile subs hit 6.4b in Q3

Asia adds 5/m subs

8 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 Telecom Asia

Bans and prohibitions in Pakistan

ONE MONTHS TELECOM RESEARCH

India 2G auction zzles

10 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 Telecom Asia

asian telecoms this month

12 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 Telecom Asia

Telecom Asia Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 13

14 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 Telecom Asia

A cold dose of reality

Changes expected in next 12 months

Source: Telecom Asia

16 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 Telecom Asia

More money (sort of)

Pressure inside and out

unanimous. So theres no room for argument here.

How would you describe Big Data?

Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 17

Unleashing the next wave of data analytics

Source: Telecom Asia

18 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 Telecom Asia

Innovating under the gun

November 29, 2012 l Kuala Lumpur

Celebrating Asias top telecom vendors

20 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 Telecom Asia

Congratulations to all winners

Ericsson Amdocs ZTE Amdocs