Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison IOH reported growth across its business in the first half of the year pointing to optimisation of operations, while revealing more AI use cases will come in the latter half of this year.

IOH highlighted in an earnings call, net profit in the first half of 2024 more than doubled year-on-year to IDR2.7 trillion (US$164 million) and total revenue grew 13.4% to IDR28 trillion (US$1.7 billion).

EBITDA is a metric the operator often highlights in its results, it grew YoY by 17.8% to IDR13.4 trillion (US$816 million). The operator announced at its 2023 Capital Markets Day ambition to double EBITDA over the next three to four years to US$20 million.

The operator added 900,000 new customers and its base now stands at 100.9 million subscribers at the end of the half. Data traffic grew 13.4% to 7,965 Petabytes and ARPU was up by 10.5% to US$2.3.

Around 22,000 4G base stations were added to its total portfolio which now amounts to approximately 188,000. It also added 103 5G base stations this year.

Building an AI large language model

IOH announced partnerships with Nvidia and Tech Mahindra at Mobile World Congress Barcelona this year, to expand its capabilities and tap into AI technologies.

The operator is currently working on building its own large language model (LLM) called ‘Garuda’ with the official Indonesian language Bahasa at the centre of it.

IOH CEO Vikram Sinha (pictured) said in the call: “We want the machine to speak in Bahasa and focus on citizen services, and you will see starting use cases from September.”

As well as its large scale technology partners, IOH will also work with universities to develop use cases centred around its Garuda. It will be integrated into the IOH app which has 40 million downloads, and there will be no extra charge to use the LLM, said Sinha.

Some government and R&E news plus a bit of FTTH vendor activity: … [visit site to read more]

Costa Rican company Radiografica Costarricense SA (RACSA, a Grupo ICE company) has claimed a 5G first in the country with the launch of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services on the market, supported, it says, by the country’s first and only network designed for this technology.

Using the 3.5GHz band, in which it apparently holds a 100MHz block, RACSA will target its solutions at companies, institutions and SMEs, and, it says, will place Costa Rica among the countries with cutting-edge connections. 

As RACSA explains, FWA services on the 5G network offer high speed – up to one gigabit per second – for commercial and corporate segments, from a tower to the customer location without the need for cables. They allow simultaneous connection of devices without interruptions or speed losses.

Marco Acuña, president of Grupo ICE, explains: “RACSA will use the frequency it has been given to deliver the country’s first 5G network, designed and built from scratch, to meet the high data demand needs of its customers.”

RACSA is promoting its 5G wireless internet services to interested organisations and companies on its website, where they are invited to enquire about the service.

BNamericas says that state-owned Costa Rica internet provider RACSA is a subsidiary of state telco ICE, and offers internet and voice services. It manages subscriber connections to ADSL internet while ICE provides connectivity via its frame-relay ATM network. RACSA was founded in 1964.

RACSA seems to have beaten mobile operators to a commercial 5G offering, albeit with a very specific form of 5G and spectrum. We reported in May that Claro had become the third operator to launch 5G in Costa Rica, though the country’s operators are highlighting trials and tests rather than commercial availability as they await delayed 5G spectrum auctions.

Two data center projects, some FTTx, and some regional subsea action: … [visit site to read more]

The mobile economy of the Asia Pacific was predicted to grow by US$130 billion by 2030 and hit US$1 trillion, due to faster adoption of 5G technologies in the region.

The GSMA said in a report, mobile technologies and services generated 5.3% of GDP across the region in 2023, this amounted to US$880 billion of economic value.

Manufacturing and fintech were highlighted have to been particularly enhanced by mobile technologies. The former is expected to see even greater advancements enabled by 5G applications such as smart factories, smart-grids and IoT-enabled devices. While, financial services and public administration are expected to benefit as they turn to 5G to digitally transform services and operations.

The GSMA forecast that the contribution of the mobile industry to the APAC economy will outpace the global average of 12%, with a rate of 15%. The number of mobile internet users will grow from 1.5 billion (51% penetration) to 1.8 billion (61%) in 2030. Data traffic will quadruple between 2023 and 2030.

Commercial standalone 5G networks are live in seven APAC nations: Australia, India, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. This will help in fuelling the predicted growth alongside 5G Advanced, RedCap and AI, creating opportunities to launch new 5G applications and kick start a fresh round in 5G investments for enterprises and consumers.  

Developing markets 

The bulk of growth from the mobile economy will stem from APAC’s developed markets such as Singapore, South Korea, Australia and Japan. Large portions of the region remain unconnected notably Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Key adoption barriers include lack of affordability, particularly for devices, and a lack of digital skills, particularly among older citizens. 

Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific at the GSMA, said: “Hundreds of millions of people are still missing out. Addressing this usage gap and building online trust are crucial to closing this digital divide and ensuring everyone can benefit from the life-enhancing applications mobile can provide in area such as finance, education, and health.”

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Matthias Gromman, Director of Business Line IT & Data Center Solutions at FNT Software

Telco companies and mobile network operators are at the forefront of a global movement towards sustainability. Recognizing their significant environmental impact, these organizations have set ambitious targets to reduce their carbon footprint. With goals to slash emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions between 2040–2050, telcos are undertaking monumental … [visit site to read more]

Keep up-to-date with all the latest news, articles, event and product updates posted on Developing Telecoms.
Subscribe to our FREE weekly email newsletters for the latest telecom info in developing and emerging markets globally.

Thai telco AIS and Malaysian telco Maxis signed MoUs with Singtel on Thursday to use its open API-based solutions suite that authenticates digital identities for consumer services – a day after the Bridge Alliance launched a new regional telco API exchange to facilitate such deals.

Under separate MoUs with Singtel, AIS and Maxis will use SingVerify to enable network-based authentication for mobile subscribers.

According to Singtel, SingVerify – which uses open APIs based on the GSMA Open Gateway framework – helps mitigate illegal account takeovers and unauthorised transactions that result from phishing and malware app scams. It also enables a smoother multi-factor authentication process as consumer’s digital identities are verified instantly and directly between the telco and service providers.

Singtel CEO Ng Tian Chong cited a recent report from LexisNexis Risk Solution, which found the overall attack rate for mobile apps in Asia Pacific is higher than the global average, with the majority being carried out by automated bots that target e-commerce payment transactions.

“The rise of ecommerce in the region has opened more avenues for digital fraud, significantly impacting consumers and businesses,” Ng said in a joint statement. “Together with AIS and Maxis, we can combat this rising digital fraud and protect our customers more effectively.”

The first two APIs to federated by AIS and Maxis include Device Location and Number Verify, the latter of which validates customers’ identities by matching their phone numbers with their registered account details on the service provider’s platform.

“The joint Number Verification API will provide businesses and platforms with a robust tool to domestically and regionally authenticate user identities through real-time phone number verification,” said Asnee Wipatawate, head of AIS’ Enterprise Telecom Technology Product Department. “By leveraging the combined strengths of those telcos, the API will offer a comprehensive and secure solution to protect against a wide range of fraudulent activities, including account takeovers, and phishing attacks.”

Wipatawate added that the Number Verification API will be made available to businesses across multiple industries, including financial services, e-commerce, and online gaming.

Singtel signed a similar MoU with rival telco M1 in March to combat digital fraud in Singapore, but this is the first time it has signed a federated telco API deal with overseas operators. Singtel also said the MoUs with AIS and Maxis mark “the first-ever international federation of Telco API in the world”.

Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific at the GSMA, said this is what the GSMA Open Gateway initiative was designed to facilitate, and is especially necessary when it comes to combating digital fraud and cyber attacks.

“Cybercriminals operate beyond national borders, so it’s vital that mobile operators and developers of digital services unify behind a common approach to fraud prevention wherever they are in the world,” he said.

Bridge Alliance launches BAEx API exchange

The API tie-up with Singtel, AIS and Maxis comes on the heels of the Bridge Alliance – of which all three are members – launching a regional telco API exchange for its 34 members on Wednesday.

The Bridge Alliance API Exchange (BAEx) leverages Singtel’s Paragon orchestration platform to aggregate its member operators’ APIs for network authentication, user verification and network quality. The Alliance says this allows enterprises and developers to streamline deployment of new services on member operator networks by accessing a common API framework that provides secure, consistent and on-demand access to telco network capabilities across multiple regions.

The BAEx also enables regional aggregation and standardisation of telco APIs utilising CAMARA APIs under the GSMA Open Gateway, said Bridge Alliance CEO Ong Geok Chwee.

“Bridge Alliance has been working closely with our member operators and industry partners to advance regional telco API federation, building on the momentum of the GSMA’s Open Gateway framework and CAMARA API standards,” Ong said. “With the newly-launched Bridge Alliance API exchange BAEx, our alliance has a timely opportunity now to lead the charge in serving the needs of enterprises in areas leveraging telco assets, such as network-based authentication.”

Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel has expressed its disappointment  at a recent decision by another government agency, the electricity-focused Aneel to, essentially, abandon plans discussed by the two regulators on the vexed topic of infrastructure sharing or, more accurately, pole sharing.

Aneel feels there should be a restart to the process of agreeing new regulations for the sharing of poles between the energy and telecommunications sectors, blaming discrepancies in the terms of the joint resolution that was presented to the regulators.

It’s hard to get a precise idea about what drove Aneel’s decision, but it appears to have been a response to a government decree – No. 12,068, of 2024 – which provided for the mandatory assignment of spaces on poles by energy distributors to third-party companies. Aneel was apparently against this measure.

Anatel has published a statement in which it points out that it approved, in October 2023, a proposed joint resolution on the subject, noting that this had been widely discussed with society through public consultation. Aneel’s response seems to have taken until this week to arrive.

Anatel calls the Aneel decision a setback that will have significant impacts on the expansion of the connectivity of Brazilians. It also refers to the poles as “essential infrastructure in the installation of cables used in various telecommunications services, especially internet access”.

Present infrastructure-sharing regulations between telecommunications and energy companies in Brazil have apparently not stopped ad hoc use of energy distribution poles by telecommunications operators – with all that this implies in terms of regulation and safety. 

That, it seems, is why Aneel and Anatel have been attempting to put together a workable system for the use of electricity poles, one that lays out conditions for infrastructure sharing between electricity and telecommunications companies and the price for the use of space on poles.

However, we now appear to be back to square one, as one news source puts it, with doubts about when the talks will actually resume.

In an announcement yesterday, T-Mobile and KKR announced a joint venture to acquire Metronet. The deal follows May’s announcement of a JV with EQT to buy Lumos, offering us a second data point on what seems to be the start of a residential fiber rollup by the ‘Uncarrier’. … [visit site to read more]