TM Forum and World’s Largest Communications and IT Companies Take Major Leap to Ease Digital Services Delivery

TM Forum’s Open Digital Steering Group expands membership to include eleven of world’s largest communications, digital and IT companies; first of many intensive collaborative meetings brings leaders together to solve digital services challenges

Singapore — April 24, 2013: As the digital-based economy continues to grow and evolve rapidly, global industry body TM Forum announced that its newly formed Open Digital Steering Group has now expanded to include 11 of the world’s largest service and solution providers, including Accenture, China Mobile Communications Corp., France Telecom-Orange, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft Corp., Oracle, Telecom Italia, Telefónica Digital, Telstra and Vodafone. The group recently hosted an intensive session in London to set in motion an aggressive plan to deliver essential tools necessary for profitable digital service delivery.

TM Forum, the global industry association with over 900 member companies from across the digital services ecosystem, is focused on removing roadblocks to delivering and operating all types of digital services, and supporting a vibrant open digital economy. Its expanded steering group provides executive guidance and support, including strategic direction and consultation to help shape TM Forum’s Digital Services Initiative.

The steering group members also act as representatives for the initiative within their own company and the industry as a whole, encouraging broader engagement and support.

In London, TM Forum brought the group’s members and other industry leaders together for a rapid collaboration-style ‘Hot House’ meeting where 35 participants from more than 20 companies took part in intensive collaboration to solve some of the most pressing industry challenges related specifically to digital services delivery. Over two days, the group set in motion plans to deliver early versions of the following tools in time for TM Forum’s flagship conference and expo, Management World 2013 in Nice, France:

 A digital services reference architecture to enable the standardized design of the critical architectural elements for the enablement of digital services

 Outlines of critical Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) needed for the end to end management of key capabilities, such as identity, payment, balance checking, charging and billing and more

 Definitions of B2B2X business models and their impact on service provider IT and operations to facilitate building rapid partnerships in the digital ecosystem, both for communications and other types of digital service providers such as cloud, content and information providers

Based on the success of the first Hot House meeting, the Forum plans to expand its use of intensive collaborative process to solve other business and operational challenges in order to expedite their delivery, ultimately producing much quicker results for TM Forum’s members and the industry at large.

“As growth of the digital economy continue to accelerate, the Forum’s Digital Services Initiative is putting a stake in the ground to solve the challenges of a vibrant, open digital ecosystem, and giving our members the tools to thrive in the digital world,” said Nik Willetts, chief strategy officer, TM Forum.

“Based on the success of recent meetings, we plan to introduce a wide range of agile collaborative formats throughout the Forum’s R&D program to create a fast-paced development environment that can keep pace with the world’s largest digital services companies.”

Earlier this year TM Forum named former BT executive, Phil Dance, as chairman of the Open Digital Steering Group, responsible for guiding the group’s work, goals and output. Phil is a TM Forum Ambassador and one of its Distinguished Fellows. He is also a former member of TM Forum’s Board of Directors, and as chief information officer at BT he was a key player in the design and development of BT’s 21st Century Network.

Don’t miss TM Forum in action at Management World in May. TM Forum’s Management World conferences and expos stand apart by offering outstanding quality and insights through expert keynotes, sessions, unrivaled networking opportunities, and TM Forum’s renowned Training and Certification programs. Register now for Management World and receive maximum savings.

For additional information or to join TM Forum, please visit the Membership section of our Website or email memberservices@tmforum.org and a local representative will respond.

MALAYSIA TO HAVE SEA’S FIRST 4G EXPERIENCE CENTRE AND TEST LAB

HONG KONG, 15 November 2011 – The cutting-edge 4G technology is getting a timely boost with the setting up of a Southeast Asia’s first 4G LTE TDD* Technology Experience Centre and Test Lab in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This breakthrough is the result of the collaboration between Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (“P1”), P1’s consulting arm Packet One International Pte Ltd (“P1i”), and ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”). It also gains support from China Mobile Communications Co. Ltd Research Institute (“China Mobile”).

The 4G Experience Centre and Test Lab will be established in early 2012 at P1’s headquarters known as Packet Hub. Operators and vendors who want a taste of blazing wireless speeds of 120 Mbps and beyond are welcome to utilize the facility.

Malaysia is the choice location for the set-up because P1 is based in Kuala Lumpur and has, for over the last three years, been operating one of the largest 4G WiMAX networks in the world. P1 is very advanced in its preparations to progress from 4G WiMAX to a dual 4G WiMAX/LTE TDD network.

Michael Lai, CEO of P1 said, “The impact of 4G technology on our lives will be phenomenal. P1’s customers today utilize a whopping average of 17.5GB of data per month, an increase of two and a half times the amount of data utilization since our commercial launch in 2008. What’s even more mind-boggling, data utilization is growing by the day with the proliferation of high-definition screens and nifty handheld devices. Telco operators have no choice but to be ready for this mega trend of fibre optics in the air and the great paradigm shift from voice to data business model. P1 is ready and hence the 4G Experience Centre and Test Lab will hopefully fast-track 4G LTE TDD technology deployment in this region.”

Managing Director of P1i Dr. Tang Pen San commented that in the last three years since P1’s commercial deployment, its headquarters has received over 70 telco operators and vendors from 60 countries to understand how a 4G network is being deployed and managed. “P1i’s role is to assist aspiring 4G operators to a smoother adoption of this cutting edge technology,” Dr. Tang added.

Dr. Wang ShouChen, President of the ZTE LTE TDD product line commented in the same event, “As the leader of LTE TDD technology and one of the major LTE TDD solution providers, ZTE is excited and proud to be part of this collaboration. We have established a strong partnership with P1 in last two years. This 4G Experience Centre and Test Lab allow us to extend this partnership and bring it to a higher level. The Centre helps to better promote the migration towards LTE TDD technology and demonstrate the values come with this transition.”

Huang Yuhong, Deputy General Manager of China Mobile Research Institute when attending the LTE TDD/FDD** International Summit held here commented, “LTE TDD is flexible in resource and spectrum configuration, therefore better meets the demand of mobile data traffic. LTE TDD benefits from the global roaming and global scale created by the convergence of LTE TDD and FDD. The commercialization of LTE TDD takes off in 2011, with early adopters including incumbent mobile operators, greenfield operators, and WiMAX operators. The 4G LTE TDD Experience Centre and Test Lab will provide a base for testing and investigating interoperability among LTE TDD, LTE FDD and WiMAX. It will promote the LTE deployment and WiMAX transition in Asia and Africa and build a global success.”

Lai said, “For any technology mass adoption, the eco-system must be in place. In this case, the DNA or Device, Network and Application have to evolve in tandem and coherently. The 4G Experience Centre and Test Lab is a clear and steady roadmap to encourage over 530 WiMAX operators in 150 countries towards a smooth and natural migration to LTE TDD technology. After all, WiMAX and LTE TDD are from the same Internet-Protocol family of technology. This will be achieved through sharing our experience and advice on multi-mode deployment, interworking with 2G, 3G and WiFi, WiMAX, LTE TDD/FDD network planning and optimization in the 2.3 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands.”

The Centre will initially utilize P1’s 2.6GHz spectrum for LTE TDD technology showcase and interoperability testing of the latest 4G devices. By the first half 2012, the network will also utilize P1’s 2.3GHz spectrum.

*Long Term Evolution Time Division Duplex
** Frequency Division Duplex
NB: LTE TDD and TD LTE essentially mean the same

Global mobile broadband subscribers up 84% to 186m but downturn

Mobile broadband booming but downturn will help delay LTE takeoff to 2013

Released: 19th March 2009
The mobile broadband market exploded in the last year, driving majorincreases in mobile operator data subscribers and revenues, and will play anincreasingly central role in the success of the mobile industry, accordingto Future Mobile Broadband: HSPA and EV-DO to LTE Networks, Devices andServices, a new strategic report from Informa Telecoms & Media.

“Mobile broadband has become one of the key growth engines for the mobileindustry, with 186 million mobile broadband subscribers worldwide at the endof 2008, up 84% from 101 million at end-2007,” says Mike Roberts, PrincipalAnalyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and lead author of the Future MobileBroadband report. “By 2013 mobile broadband subscribers will representalmost one-third of total mobile subscribers worldwide.”

The mobile broadband boom was triggered by the combination of widespreadmobile broadband network coverage, appealing devices such as USB modems andthe iPhone 3G, and competitive flat-rate tariffs. “Flat-rate mobilebroadband services with widespread coverage and new devices such as USBmodems and the iPhone 3G are a runaway success, and have made mobilebroadband one of the most significant strategic and commercial opportunitiesin the converging mobile and broadband markets,” Roberts says.

Future Mobile Broadband finds that at the end of 2008 there were more than400 commercial mobile broadband networks worldwide supporting thousands ofdifferent mobile and portable devices and generating billions of dollars inoperator revenues. “For many mobile operators, mobile broadband is drivingsustained increases in data ARPU. That in turn is key to increasing overallrevenues, given ongoing declines in voice ARPU.”

The mobile broadband markets in the US, Japan and Korea saw phenomenalgrowth in 2008, which led the three markets combined to account for themajority of global mobile broadband subscribers by the end of the year.“The US, Japan and Korea dominated the global market in 2008, but this ischanging fast as mobile broadband becomes a mass-market service worldwide,”Roberts says.

For example, all the pieces are falling into place for China Mobile’sTD-SCDMA mobile broadband service to gain traction by 2010, and thattogether with new HSPA, EV-DO and TD-LTE services will drive the country tobecome the second-largest mobile broadband market worldwide in 2013,according to Future Mobile Broadband forecasts. India will be thefourth-largest market in 2013, following BSNL’s launch of EV-DO mobilebroadband services in 2008 and BSNL’s and MTNL’s expected launch of HSDPAservices in late 2009.

However, mobile broadband will not be immune from the economic downturn,which will pile the pressure on beleaguered equipment vendors and force someoperators to scale back or delay major investments, particularly innext-generation systems such as LTE.

“There’s no doubt that the downturn will delay LTE deployments, with majoroperators already citing it as a key factor leading them to push LTE launchdates to 2011-12,” Roberts says. “Major operators such as Verizon Wirelessand NTT DoCoMo are still committed to launching LTE in 2010, but the economywill still be tough then, which could hit rollout schedules and takeup. Manyoperators are also realizing that HSPA and HSPA+ upgrades should meet theirneeds for the next few years, and will cost a lot less than LTE rollouts.The net result is that the LTE subscribers will not start taking off until2013.”

However, the overall outlook for the mobile broadband market is good.“Mobile broadband is already a must-have service for many consumers andbusinesses, which helps to explain why it will be one of the strongestmobile segments throughout the downturn,” Roberts says. “We’ve fullyrevised all our forecasts in light of the economic downturn, but we’restill expecting strong growth through 2013 in mobile broadband subscribers,device unit sales and operator data revenues.”

Mobile data revenues to exceed US$200 billion in 2008

Released: 23rd July 2008. Revenues from mobile data services are set to exceed US$200 billion this year for the first time, according to data sourced from Informa Telecoms & Media's latest World Cellular Data Metrics edition, which has just been published. Total mobile data revenues were approximately US$157 billion in 2007.

Research from the first quarter of 2008 reveals that mobile data service revenues exceeded US$49 billion, accounting for a 42.7% y-o-y increase. This figure means that mobile operators now generate approximately one fifth of their revenue from data services; this is significant given that a general slowdown in voice revenues is forcing the pace around the importance of data services for mobile operators. Informa Telecoms & Media estimates that non-SMS data contributed US$17.48 billion of revenue in Q108, accounting for 35.6% of total data revenues.

"Growth drivers for the increase in data revenues include the acceleration in deployment of advanced technologies, an increasingly competitive market, and of course, growing consumer demand for mobile data services driven by popular data-optimised devices such as Apple's iPhone", says Informa Principal Analyst, Nick Jotischky.

The Asia Pacific region comprises 40% of the world's data revenues (over US$20 billion in Q108), representing an above average y-o-y growth rate of 48%. The biggest regional riser, however, is the Middle East, which despite contributing just 2% of the world's data revenues in the first quarter of 2008, has seen a 91.7% y-o-y increase in this figure to US$927 million. Aiding this acceleration is the 321% y-o-y rise in the number of HSPA subscribers in the region, which reached 2.9 million by the end of March 2008.

Further next-generation deployment should also ensure rapid growth in Africa and the Americas, which accounted for just 2% and 5% of global data revenues at the end of Q1 2008. With the increased deployment of fixed wireless telephony, the popularity of EV-DO datacards continues to spread across Africa, now available in 18 markets. Similarly, in Latin America, operators are hopeful for increases in data revenues from WCDMA and HSDPA launches.

According to Informa Telecoms & Media's World Cellular Data Metrics, the operator to generate the highest non-voice revenues in the quarter is Japan's NTT DoCoMo (US$3.6 billion), having overtaken China Mobile (US$3.5 billion), which had been the largest generator of data revenues for the previous three quarters.

In terms of data as a percentage of overall revenue, Filipino mobile operator Smart Communications is the world's market leader and the only carrier to depend on non-voice revenues for more than 50% of its income, such is the high level of SMS usage in the country.

SYBASE DOES ITS PART TO RAISE FUNDS FOR EARTHQUAKE STRICKEN SICHUAN

Mobile Messaging Fees to be Donated to Help Humanitarian Efforts

Beijing, CHINA — May 26, 2008 — Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY), the largest enterprise software and services company exclusively focused on managing and mobilizing information, today announced that the company will donate all text messaging fees earned in Sichuan from China Mobile subscribers via the Sybase 365™ hub to aid organizations working in the earthquake stricken Sichuan Province in southwest China.

“We deeply empathize with the victims of the earthquake. Sybase has a huge family in Chengdu, and our hearts are with our employees and their families, and this extends to the larger population of Sichuan,” said John Chen, chairman, CEO, and president of Sybase. “In times of disaster, the communications infrastructure – in this case landlines - often gets compromised, and SMS becomes the next reliable communication medium, as it excels in situations that require the briefest of updates.”

From May 12 through June, all text messaging fees earned via the China Mobile network - using the Sybase 365 hub – to and from the Sichuan Province will be donated to help humanitarian activities, and assist families and friends to be in touch with one another. China Mobile connects to the Sybase 365 hub for international SMS connectivity to 50 countries and more than 200 operators.

Sybase has one of its three Chinese offices located in the Sichuan capital Chengdu, and 78 employees located in the affected area. Sybase is concerned for these employees, and the company has organized an emergency relief fund to assist employees with family members who were directly affected, to pay for temporary emergency housing, food, medicine, and clothing. In addition to the messaging fees to be donated, Sybase has also organized an emergency relief fund-matching drive, matching employee donations made to the American Red Cross, Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), Mercy Corps, and other aid organizations with established China earthquake relief funds.