SingTel

[CityFarmer]

Somehow, I have to agree with GG, than Singtel is behind the curve, with its HOOQ 

First of all, VPN service is made redundant, and paid-TV services are facing more competition...

Netflix coming to Singapore screens early next year

SINGAPORE (Sept 9): Internet televison network Netflix will expand into Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan in early 2016 as it moves to complete its global rollout by the end of next year.

Once launched, local Internet users will be able to subscribe to Netflix and instantly watch a curated selection of popular TV shows and movies in high-definition or even Ultra HD 4K on an Internet-connected screen.
...
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...-next-year

[greengiraffe]

‘Netflix effect’ is slowing the nation’s broadband internet speed

• THE AUSTRALIAN
  
• SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 12:00AM
  

50

Mitchell Bingemann
[Image: mitchell_bingemann.png]
Reporter
Sydney

[Image: 116360-20a7feb4-56dd-11e5-9f97-acb83e2be6e0.jpg]
Video dominates net traffic. Source: TheAustralian
[b]Australia’s insatiable appetite for on-demand video services such as Netflix is driving massive growth on the nation’s broadband networks that could slow internet speeds because of increased ­congestion.[/b]
Industry sources say the “Netflix effect” has seen a doubling of broadband traffic over the nat­ion’s fixed-line networks since the popular streaming service and local competitors such as Stan and Presto launched in March.
The Australian understands that since the US-streaming giant had its local launch, streaming traffic has exploded on Telstra’s network and now accounts for as much as 15 per cent of the telco giant’s total consumer traffic.
When other video appli­cations and services are added in, including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, more than 50 per cent of traffic flowing over Telstra’s network is now considered video content.
The spurt in video consumption means Telstra is on track to grow its total fixed-broadband traffic by as much as 80 per cent this year.
Yesterday, Bill Morrow, the head of the company building the government’s $49 billion Nat­ional Broadband Network, said the introduction of streaming video services was driving massive growth on its network.
Since the introduction of Netflix, the data consumption of an average NBN customer has ballooned from 78 gigabytes a month in March to 121GB in August.
That surge in data consumption represents an overall traffic increase of 55 per cent in six months.
“We see video consumption driving the bulk, if not all, of the growth of what we have to run over the network,” Mr Morrow told attendees at the ASTRA 2015 conference in Sydney yesterday. The insatiable consumption of video traffic is also threatening to slow download speeds as video-on-demand services consume huge amounts of data through the supply of constant streaming of high-definition videos to TVs, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
Earlier this year, scores of iiNet customers vented their frustration on social media as the launch of Netflix coincided with a drastic slowdown in their internet connection speeds. That slowdown came as iiNet’s internet traffic surged 25 per cent less than a month after the Netflix launch.
Telstra has also been the subject of complaints on social media, with customers complaining of slow internet speeds when using streaming video services.
The slowdowns occur as hundreds of thousands of internet users flick on streaming video services in peak evening periods.
The nation’s largest telcos, including Optus and Telstra, are closely monitoring consumption of their networks and investing in additional capacity to handle the increased flows of data.
“Video-on-demand is changing consumer behaviour. Since video streaming services launched in Australia, Optus customers are using more data and staying online for longer periods of time,” said an Optus spokeswoman.

[CityFarmer]

Singapore's NBN, is fiber-based, while Australia's iiNet is mainly ADSL. One of the Optus's initiative, is to push for nationwide fiber network in Australia, IIRC.

I really doubt, Neflix deployment in Singapore, will congest our fixed-line traffic.

(not vested)

[greengiraffe]

Singapore's NBN, is fiber-based, while Australia's iiNet is mainly ADSL. One of the Optus's initiative, is to push for nationwide fiber network in Australia, IIRC.

I really doubt, Neflix deployment in Singapore, will congest our fixed-line traffic.

(not vested)

http://www.nbnco.com.au/

Telstra is the Singtel downunder. Optus is #2 prior to latest TPG takeover of iiNet but its positioning is under threat... hence my comments that they are still fighting a band-aid warfare...

[greengiraffe]

• Sep 22 2015 at 12:01 AM 
   
  
  
• Updated 50 mins ago 
  

Optus launches bush broadband to take on Telstra

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NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/i/y/5/0/6/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gjq2qy.png/1442845411346.jpg[/img]Optus wants to establish a foothold so it can eat away at Telstra's market share once the NBN becomes the monopoly telco provider.
[Image: 1425254652922.png]

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by David Ramli
Singtel-Optus has launched a major push to win broadband customers in the bush off Telstra before the national broadband network is completed.
The phone and internet provider has focused on selling ADSL broadband to customers in largely city and suburban areas where there were enough users to justify installing dedicated equipment in the local telephone exchanges since 2007.
But Fairfax Media can reveal that Optus will ramp up the number of homes and businesses that can use its internet services from 4.5 million to around 8 million across the nation – a move that could threaten Telstra's dominant market position in the country Australia.
Optus wants to establish a foothold so it can eat away at Telstra's market share once the NBN becomes the monopoly telco provider and forces all players to compete on a level playing field.

Most of Telstra's rivals tend to avoid sparsely-populated rural and regional areas because they get better profits by installing equipment in urban telephone exchanges. This has left Telstra to be the main supplier of phone and internet services in the bush.
INCREASED RURAL PROFITS
But the NBN's rollout should make rural customers more profitable than ever before and open up competition. Optus mobile marketing vice-president Ben White also insisted his company would turn a profit in the process.
"We've stepped up coverage of our 4G networks into large parts of regional Australia," he said. "Bundling [mobile and fixed-line] presents a lot of opportunities for is.

"The products we're offering … are a little more expensive than the rest of our plans [and] that's reflective of the cost of us getting access to those from Telstra."
Ironically, this will be done by buying and reselling Telstra's own broadband service rather than installing new equipment.
The two new plans cost $115 and $135 per month over a two year period with both offering unlimited downloads. The more expensive service comes with unlimited phone calls to mobile phones.
Optus mobile marketing vice president Ben White said the company was fighting hard to win more broadband customers. It was Australia's second-biggest fixed-line internet provider until TPG Telecom completed its $1.56 billion takeover of iiNet.

NBN OPPORTUNITIES
"The NBN is a great opportunity for everyone in the market," he said. "It may not hurt having an existing relationship though I wouldn't see this as the be-all or end-all driver."
Ovum research director David Kennedy said Optus' new plans made perfect sense because they would help build a retail presence before the NBN rolled out.
"At this point Telstra has got an advantage in that market because it's got the biggest broadband footprint and it has a presence in market where the other competitors don't," he said. "That gives them a marketing advantage as the NBN rolls out.

"Telstra will have to form a judgement on how valuable that advantage is and respond accordingly."
Optus is fighting hard to gain more broadband customers after losing its place as Australia's second-biggest provider when TPG Telecom completed its $1.56 billion takeover of iiNet.

[greengiraffe]

Jelek liao... Singtel Optus being marginalised by hungrier Msian migrant down under...

http://www.smh.com.au/business/why-tpg-t...il299.html

Why TPG Telecom's David Teoh bought iiNet
Date
July 27, 2015

David Ramli
Reporter

When iiNet was born in the suburban Perth garage owned by Michael Malone's parents, the World Wide Web was in its infancy.

It was 1993 and the internet was but a glint in Telstra's eye. Paul Keating, in his victory speech after winning the unwinnable federal election that year, made no mention of our digital future and looked to car manufacturing to stem job losses.

From such depths did iiNet grow – a tiny battler based in distant Western Australia that took on the government-backed might of Telstra. It fought insolvency and naysayers to rise up and become a household name with 1 million subscribers, renowned for serving up the friendliest call centre staff.

The only photo of TPG Telecom's David Teoh we have on file.
The only photo of TPG Telecom's David Teoh we have on file. Photo: Nic Walker
But today its story as an independent player has ended with shareholders accepting a $1.56 billion buyout offer from TPG Telecom and its executive chair, David Teoh. If regulatory approval is provided as expected, iiNet will be little more than a subsidiary that feeds into the growing pool of TPG's profits.

Now that he's finally caught his quarry, what will the reclusive billionaire Teoh do with iiNet?

The most likely answer to the first question comes in three parts: one, using the new customers to help pay for investments in fibre-optic cabling across the nation and beneath the seas; two, preparing for the radical market shift that the $41 billion national broadband network will force on Australia and three, gearing up to make a mobile play – possibly through the acquisition of Vodafone Hutchison Australia.

Owning iiNet has been a long-term goal for Teoh, who has been a major shareholder for several years. He quietly crept up the share registry using a number of different accounts until 2011 when Malone as iiNet's then-CEO broadcast the move to all shareholders.

The merger of iiNet and TPG will give it 1.7 million broadband subscribers. This makes it Australia's second-biggest provider of fixed-line internet services behind Telstra's 3 million accounts and well ahead of Singtel-Optus's 1.03 million.

Milking profits
TPG under Teoh has been a firm believer in infrastructure assets – much to the benefit of its share price and market capitalisation. Australian investors 'get' infrastructure and have lauded the telco's moves to buy rivals with extensive fibre-optic networks including Pipe Networks and AAPT.

But cable networks are sunk assets that must be milked for profitability and the best way to do that is to load them up with paying customers. This partly explains why the company's market cap rose by $1 billion when its iiNet takeover bid was announced.

Telstra still owns and rents out the phone line and internet connection in the vast majority of homes. It's up to telcos to pay for the data carried between Telstra's telephone exchanges and the rest of the world.

iiNet's customers pay a pretty penny for high levels of service and profit margins will improve once their services are delivered over TPG's own fibre cables linked between Telstra exchanges. The same dynamic comes to light with TPG's PPC-1 cable linking Australia to Guam and the United States.

The NBN
The NBN is also an agent of change amongst Australia's telco providers. It has forced Australia's internet market to rapidly shrink as companies with larger balance sheets snap up rivals to survive the rollout.

Simply put, the NBN will be a monopoly player that forces all Australians onto its own services and off Telstra's copper phone-line network. It will also be a wholesale provider that provides a level playing field.

This means the player with the most customers wins. Telcos with more customers can also successfully cross-sell more products such as mobile phone plans, credit cards or even household items like glasses, appliances or healthcare.

And every player wants to have customers locked in when the switch to the NBN comes around to help boost revenues. The takeover also leaves rival M2 Group, which owns Dodo and iPrimus, a distant fourth-placed player in the broadband market.

Buying iiNet also makes TPG a fearsome force the NBN desperately needs in order to turn a profit. TPG can choose to offer low-cost plans over Telstra's older network if it chooses to do so – a move that would have a direct impact on the NBN's earnings.

It will also be able to offer iiNet customers access to a growing network of apartment buildings and offices with fibre-to-the-basement services that use TPG's own networks. This takes high-value customers away from the NBN and hands the profits to TPG and its shareholders.

The mobile play
Finally, the acquisition of iiNet will also make it far more profitable for TPG to buy a mobile service provider with Vodafone Australia the most likely candidate.

TPG would finally become a fully-fledged telco if it owned a mobile network with the ability to offer customers a lucrative bundle package. It already sells mobile products but it only resells services using the Optus network.

TPG has already experimented with 'small cell' technologies that act as small mobile base stations and it was the only non-mobile carrier to buy spectrum in 2013.

Vodafone Australia is not actively looking for buyers and its chief executive Inaki Berroeta has not held discussions with TPG. However, one of its parent companies Vodafone Group has mooted the possibility of selling its Australian operations, which are deemed to be non-core assets.

But a play for Vodafone Australia has one main problem – TPG's inability to get the money required to make an offer.

Neither Vodafone Group nor Hutchison Telecommunications Australia are desperate sellers in need of cash. Vodafone Australia is still losing subscribers but it is on the bounce with revenue and users set to rise over the coming financial periods.

This means TPG will have to either bide its time to generate the cash required to swing a deal or work out a more creative plan. Joint venture partnerships with the parent companies or the introduction of private equity money could all be possibilities.

Legacy
But one way or another, Teoh has established a firm legacy for both himself and TPG with the purchase of iiNet. The all-powerful duopoly of Telstra and Optus in providing broadband to homes across Australia has been broken.

And within a decade there's a high possibility that much of Australia's digital future - the dreams and dollars we transmit around the world across the internet - will be carried over cables owned by TPG or its subsidiaries.

• Sep 28 2015 at 8:42 AM 
  

Vocus to merge with M2 to create $3 billion telecommunications titan

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NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/g/u/w/y/s/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gjw4jg.png/1443402385436.jpg[/img]The merger will create Australia's fourth-largest telecommunications company Louise Kennerley
[Image: 1425254652922.png]

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by David Ramli

M2 Group, one of Australia's leading low-cost phone and internet providers, is attempting to merge with Vocus Communications to create a $3 billion company that can buy up its smaller rivals while taking on rivals including Telstra, Singtel-Optus and TPG Telecom.
Both companies on their own are relatively small telcos that target different markets and compete against much larger rivals.
M2 is the Australia's fourth-biggest provider of fixed-line broadband services for consumers and is the owner of Dodo and iPrimus while Vocus focuses on the corporate broadband market and was worth just $500 million 12 months ago before it bought Amcom Telecommunications earlier this year.

But both companies combined will create Australia's fourth-largest telecommunications company and the third-largest in New Zealand with $1.8 billion in annual revenues and a market capitalisation of over $3 billion. M2 shareholders will vote on the deal in early 2016 and it's contingent on approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
"This is the dream team of telcos," Vocus chief executive James Spenceley told Fairfax Media. "I'm incredibly excited to be gearing up with these guys - preparing to go into battle and win the war with these guys."
M2 chief executive Geoff Horth said both companies combined would have the strength to grow its business through acquisitions and organically. The company aims to generate around $40 million in annual synergies by using its market power to get better supply deals.
"This is a business that is going to have great growth potential both organically and some very interesting transactional growth or mergers and acquisition growth opportunities," he said. "Bringing these two businesses together also brings some very unique talents together as well."


Vocus chief executive James Spenceley will become executive director alongside M2 founder Vaughan Bowen while M2 chief executive Geoff Horth will become CEO of the combined business. 
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims made it clear earlier this year that he was unlikely to approve any further consolidation of the broadband market after the merger of iiNet and TPG Telecom was approved and the deal will need the regulator's approval to go ahead.
Australia's fixed-line broadband market has shrunk from five major providers to four with the ACCC loath to see it become an even tighter three player market.
But Mr Sims told Fairfax Media he did not believe this merger fit into the same category and would fare a much better chance of succeeding.

"The comment around reluctance about more mergers was certainly about a four to three [player shrinking] and therefore is not relevant to this transaction," he said. "So obviously if it was Telstra, Optus or TPG acquiring M2 I would say that it fits straight under what I was talking about and would be something we would have strong concerns about.
"Having said that, I'm going to be neutral and say we're going to look at it ... with an open mind."
M2 and Vocus will hope that the different market segments that both companies target will allow its deal to be swiftly approved.
Questions are likely to arise from M2 shareholders about whether the deal fairly values their holdings and position in the market. M2 had a market capitalisation of almost $2 billion in mid-August and has experienced sharp declines over the past month that saw its share price fall by 20 per cent.

The latest deal will see M2 shareholders getting 1.625 Vocus shares in exchange for one of theirs. With Vocus trading at $6.49 per share this values each M2 share at $10.54, which is near the price it hit in August.
Both companies will get equal board representation, however, with Vocus chairman David Spence continuing in his leadership over the merged telco. M2 will be struck from the Australian Securities Exchange and cease to exist.
The move comes after M2's failed bid to buy out iiNet, which was eventually purchased by TPG Telecom for $1.56 billion.
TPG had also unsuccessfully opposed Vocus' acquisition of corporate telecoms rival Amcom.
More to come

[greengiraffe]

Msian borned Aussie owned TPG is growing from strength to strength... posing real threats to Optus...

Vodafone, TPG forge $1bn partnership

• THE AUSTRALIAN
  
• SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 9:38AM
  

Supratim Adhikari
[Image: supratim_adhikari.png]
Technology Editor
Melbourne

[Image: 217901-9d181d2a-6700-11e5-80b2-c23ead0b75ad.jpg]
Vodafone CEO Inaki Berroeta.Source: News Corp Australia
[b]Vodafone Hutchison Australia and TPG Telecom have forged a billion dollar partnership, which will see TPG’s mobile customer base move to Vodafone’s network and the mobile operator gain access to fixed infrastructure.[/b]
Under the terms of the two commercial agreements, TPG will provide dark fibre and network services to more than 3000 Vodafone Australia sites over a 15-year term.
The process will see TPG extend its current fibre infrastructure by constructing about 4000km of new fibre to Vodafone cell sites across the country.
Meanwhile, TPG will also migrate its mobile wholesale customer base to the Vodafone network, with the migration touted as one of the largest-ever Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) arrangements in the local industry.
The partnership is a significant step for both companies at a time when the industry is undergoing another bout of consolidation, with M2 Group and Vocus Communications announcing a $3 billion merger this week.
Vodafone chief executive officer, Inaki Berroeta, said that the transmission deal was a game changer for the operator’s mobile network that has been steadily bulking up its reach and capacity.
“Dark fibre is about preparing Vodafone for the future,” he said.
“It is the next step in our network evolution and builds on our multi-billion dollar network investment in recent years to further enhance the customer experience.”
For TPG Telecom, which has started the process of absorbing it latest acquisition iiNet, the partnership provides a vital boost to its ambitions of becoming a full-fledged integrated telco, especially when it comes to mobile services. The partner could potentially be seen as a precursor for an official merger of the two telcos.
This dark fibre agreement extends the existing relationship between the two companies, with TPG having already delivered 900km of fibre for VHA sites between FY11 and FY13.
“The companies are already working extremely well together, and the end result will be a network that will enable Vodafone to continue to deliver a premium service long into the future, without the capacity limitations of legacy technologies,” TPG Telecom chief executive officer David Teoh said.
“This is an exciting opportunity to apply our proven capability in delivering dark fibre services to Vodafone using our own fibre infrastructure across the country.”

[CityFarmer]

The Australia telco market competition, is heating up. This will definitely put pressure on SingTel-Optus biz. One of the reasons to push SingTel share price down?

(not vested)

[greengiraffe]

• Sep 29 2015 at 11:50 AM 
   
  
  
•  Updated Sep 29 2015 at 5:23 PM 
  

Dodo founder Larry Kestelman says M2, Vocus merger a matter of survival

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NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/h/b/x/z/1/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gjx2cx.png/1443511395958.jpg[/img]Dodo founder Larry Kestelman, who sold his business to M2, said the merger of M2 and Vocus was a matter of survival. Wayne Taylor
by David Ramli
Dodo founder Larry Kestelman says Vocus Communications and M2 Group must merge to become more like newly bulked-up larger rival TPG Telecom in order to survive.
M2 and Vocus announced on Monday they would merge to become a $3 billion telco titan that would buy up rivals and take on bigger players like Telstra, Optus and TPG.
It was Mr Kestelman's 2013 sale of Dodo to M2 that helped cement the latter's position as one of Australia's biggest providers of broadband services. Both companies worked by reselling the internet services of other telcos.
The news has received a tough reception from Vocus shareholders, who have sent its shares down 11.7 per cent since Friday.

But Mr Kestelman told Fairfax Media that the days of resellers thriving were over thanks to the $56 billion national broadband network as well as the rise of much larger consolidated telcos like TPG, which recently bought its rival iiNet for $1.56 billion.
"You probably need to have a combination of infrastructure and sales experience," he said. "The days of the pure and absolute MVNO [mobile virtual network operator] are probably gone.
"That's why I think this was an important deal for them to do. They now make another version of TPG and you've seen the success that TPG has had."
He described the merger as "a great deal" and said it was vital because both parties now had more control over the prices they paid for services as well as how they reached out to customers.


One example of this in action the plan by Vocus to explore the expansion of its fibre optic footprint to give M2 customers access to fibre to the basement services. These would offer NBN-like internet services at potentially lower prices.
"This certainly gives them the option of doing that now and without each other it wouldn't have been," Mr Kestelman said. "For Vocus to be doing that, it's not their core because they don't have the customers and vice-versa without the fibre network M2 wouldn't be able to do it.
"They can act as TPG does and have their fate in their own hands while watching what happens with NBN and the government."
But Vocus shareholders continued to punish the company in a sign they are yet to be convinced about the deal's merits. Its share price fell a further 4.66 per cent to $5.73 a share during Tuesday's trading, compared with a 3.45 per cent fall across the S&P/ASX200.

Vocus shares have fallen by 11.7 per cent between close of trading on Friday, before the deal was announced, and Tuesday afternoon. The deal is entirely based on share swaps rather than cash, which means any fall in Vocus' price has a direct impact on the value of the offer.
Analysts have largely backed the deal on its strategic merits since its announcement.
UBS analyst Eric Choi said the rationale for a merger was clear and pointed to NextGen Networks as the next potential acquisition. This would provide the newly merged pair with fibre optic cabling across the country and further cut costs.
"We believe it unlikely a third player will trump the terms of the proposed merger," he told clients. "TPG prima facie appears [to be] a potential candidate.

"However, TPG seems already aggressively geared at around 3 times net debt to earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation post the iiNet acquisition and in our view the ACCC would be reluctant to rule in favour of a TPG/M2 merger given TPG's strong market position."
He added that New Zealand mobile provider 2Degrees was another potential acquisition for the pair, which both own substantial assets across the Tasman.
Citi Research analyst Ross Barrows said combining the companies could see them generating savings that were higher than the $40 million a year currently forecast.
"We do not anticipate any ACCC issues considering that this is a vertical integration play given Vocus' fixed infrastructure focus and M2's retail focus," he told clients in a note. "We think $40 million in cost synergies can be exceeded given that it represents only [about] 4 per cent of the combined entities' operating cost base and the potential to use Vocus' fixed infrastructure assets to on-sell M2's services."

[CityFarmer]

A dispute of SingTel's subsidiary AIS in Thailand, with claim of 70 billion baht, or S$2.7 billion. It is not a small dispute, even to SingTel.

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/NR-20151...eID=371546