Macau’s CTM launches 4G service
Macau’s largest operator CTM said it launched 4G service just eight months after receiving its licence from the government, along with its three rivals.

The LTE network, which was deployed by Huawei using its SingleRAN gear, supports theoretical data speeds of up to 112 Mb/s.

CTM, which has a 45 per cent market share, said it plans to move to dual-carrier aggregation in the near future to maximise use of its TDD and FDD spectrum.

M2M market is $8B opportunity in Asia
Strong growth in mobile M2M is expected to help operators in Asia Pacifc offset a $17.4 million decline in mobile and fixed-line voice, messaging and narrowband services between 2013 and 2019.

Analysys Mason, which estimates that the M2M market will grow by $8 billion during the period, said the segment is an attractive option for operators aiming to develop new revenue streams from the digital economy.

The number of cellular M2M device connections in developed Asia Pacific is forecast to increase from 18.3 million in 2014 to 59.2 million in 2019, growing at a CAGR of 26.4 per cent. The strong adoption of M2M is partly driven by the high cost of labour in developed Asia, where the average wage is about 4.5 times higher than in emerging Asia.

China is fasting growing IoT market
China’s Internet of Things (IoT) market is forecast to be the fastest growing in the world, expanding more than fivefold over the next five years and surpassing $41 billion by 2020.

IoT services in the mainland will be driven mainly by smart metering, according to ABI Research. The segment is expected to lead all the others in both connections and revenues by a ratio of 10 to 1.

In addition to smart meters, other growth areas will be home security and automation, OEM telematics, video surveillance, home appliances, aftermarket telematics and home monitoring.

Home monitoring is expected to become an important market in China as it moves to care for its aging population, with nearly 340 million people aged 55 and older forecast by 2020.

ABI’s research covers IoT revenues across six service segments including connections, connection management, security, data analytics, platform and professional services.

ZTE, HP, China Unicom test NFV VoLTE technology
China’s ZTE, partnering with HP and China Unicom, demonstrated the feasibility of using network function virtualisation (NFV) to provide voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) services.

The proof-of-concept project tested end-to-end VoLTE services in a virtualised environment.

The project was completed using HP’s C7000 Blade server, and a virtualised infrastructure manager provided by ZTE and HP. It was also implemented using ZTE’s vEPC, vIMS, VNF manager and element management system solutions, in addition to a NFV orchestrator provided by HP and ZTE.

Globe partners with 7-Eleven on GCash
Globe Telecom’s e-cash unit, G-Xchange, signed a deal with the local licensee of 7-Eleven to allow its GCash customers to top up their accounts through cash-in transactions.

7-Eleven is the largest convenience store network in the Philippines, with more than 1,000 retail shops. The partnership makes 7-Eleven one of over 10,000 accredited GCash outlets nationwide,

GCash is a micro-payment service that transforms a mobile phone into a virtual wallet for secure and convenient mobile money transactions. It can be used to buy prepaid loads, pay bills, send money, make donations, online shopping and even purchase goods without the need to bring any cash.