Network News

The Philippines’ only pure-play high-speed fixed broadband operator, Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc. ended 2Q2021 with 1,355,079 residential subscribers, 85% more than in 2Q2020 resulting in another record quarter for the Company. The completion of the initial phases of Converge’s domestic subsea cable network in the VisMin region in 2Q2020 resulted in the activation of an end-to-end nationwide backbone reaching from northern Luzon to Mindanao. This event represented another historic milestone in the mission of Converge to bring reliable and affordable, high-speed fiber internet to millions of households in the Philippines nationwide. As the fastest growing fixed broadband operator in the Philippines, the Converge deployed a record 565,848 new fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) ports during the quarter, more than twice the number of FTTH ports deployed during the same quarter the previous year. As of June 30, 2021, Converge’s nationwide network reached more than 8.3 million homes, on track to reach the company’s target to cover approximately 55% of households in the Philippines by 2025.

Leading messaging app Rakuten Viber and Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata PLC announced their recent official partnership. After years of fruitful cooperation on the international voice business, Rakuten Viber was chosen as an international Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging platform for the country's largest mobile network operator.

Tata Communications has announced its financial results for the quarter ended 30 June 2021. Consolidated revenue came in at INR 4,103 Crore (USD 556 Mn), growing 0.7% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), and decreasing 6.8% year-on-year (YoY). This YoY contraction is primarily due to reduction in Voice business and moderation of Collaboration traffic in the Data segment.

Telenor Group has entered into an agreement to sell 100 percent of its mobile operations in Myanmar to M1 Group for a total consideration of US$105 million USD, of which US$55 million is a deferred payment over five years. The transaction corresponds to an implied enterprise value of approximately US$600 million USD. M1 Group will acquire all the shares in Telenor Myanmar and continue the current operation.

M1 Limited (M1) has launched the True 5G network in an exclusive market trial, allowing both its existing and new mobile customers to enjoy the enhanced benefits of the most advanced 5G Standalone (SA) technology in Singapore.    

Nokia and TPG Telecom announced that they have switched on a live 5G standalone (SA) network in Australia on the 700MHz spectrum band – the first time this has happened in the world. Low band 5G coverage at 700MHz, which is the lowest 5G frequency band deployed in Australia with the largest range, will enable TPG Telecom to provide wide outdoor 5G services, as well as deep indoor 5G coverage in urban and suburban areas to its customers.

M1 Limited (M1) and Samsung achieved a significant milestone in advancing the world’s 5G ecosystem by making available Voice over 5G New Radio (VoNR) on  M1’s 5G Standalone (SA) network. 

CSG announced a new multi-year deal that expands its relationship with Maxis, Malaysia’s leading converged solutions provider. As Maxis’ cloud-based digital monetisation, CSG enabled the recent launch of Maxis TV 2.0, and is poised to help drive future growth of Maxis’ portfolio of anytime, anywhere digital lifestyle services through the launch of new experiences.

Mobile services, from voice to video streaming, are on the rise across Asia. To support this growth, Telenor selected Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, including Oracle Converged Charging to lay the groundwork for 5G and provide seamless charging and billing interactions for its 175 million subscribers in the region. This can range from an ongoing monthly subscription to a video on-demand service to mobile banking payments to large scale prepaid voice and data services.

Indosat Ooredoo, Indonesia’s leading digital telco, announced the first commercial deployment of Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) in Southeast Asia to support the development of its 5G services across the country. Partnered with Cisco, Indosat Ooredoo is transforming its Transport infrastructure into a state-of-the-art, programmable, 5G-ready transport network supported by IPv6 segment routing technology (SRv6) with Network Slicing, which enables a simple, scalable, agile, and reliable network to meet the needs of retail and business segment customers.