Globe adds capacity at MRT stations
The Philippines’ Globe Telecom secured the support of the department of transportation to deploy infrastructure at train stations in Manila to improve mobile connectivity for commuters.

The operator signed an agreement with the Metro Railway Transit allowing it to install macro sites and small cells in all MRT Line 3 stations along EDSA Boulevard.

In addition to expanding the network capacity, Globe will also provide free Wi-Fi services in all Line 3 stations, which is expected to benefit about 350,000 people daily.

Docomo, Ericsson demo network slicing
Japanese operator NTT Docomo and Swedish vendor Ericsson completed a joint proof of concept (PoC) of dynamic network slicing technology for 5G core networks.

Network slicing technology virtually partitions a physical network into multiple co-existing logical networks to provide the most suitable resources and network topology to different types of services.

In the PoC, a slice-management function and network slices based on service requirements were autonomously created, enabling widely varying services to be delivered simultaneously via multiple logical networks. The PoC showed how 5G services could be connected flexibly between networks according to set policies to meet specific service requirements for latency, security or capacity.

Docomo designed the network slice creation and selection functions, and Ericsson developed technologies to perform network slice lifecycle and service management.

SKT launches real-time mobile streaming platform
South Korea’s SK Telecom developed a real-time mobile streaming technology, called ‘T Live Streaming’, by customising the MPEG Media Transport (MMT) standard to the mobile network environment.

MMT was developed by the Moving Picture Expert Group (MPEG).

The operator used the technology, which reduces latency from 15 to 3 seconds, to launch ‘SPOTV,’ a live sports streaming channel on SK Broadband’s mobile media platform called ‘oksusu’.

SKT said that it will use the technology for other oksusu channels as well as its multi-channel networks platform, which offers individual broadcasting and game broadcasting with real-time feedback from viewers.

Baidu pushes into insurance sector
China’s internet search giant Baidu is partnering with China Pacific Property Insurance to expand its nascent online insurance business in China.

The two companies recently announced they set up an online car insurance company that will use big data resources in its operations.

PLDT, Globe mull expanding stake
The two largest mobile operators in the Philippines – PLDT and Globe Telecom – are considering buying out the minority shareholders of Liberty Telecoms after they acquired San Miguel Corp’s telecoms business just over a week ago.

The two operators last month each acquired 50 per cent of Vega Telecoms, an unlisted subsidiary of SMC, in a $1.5 billion transaction. Liberty Telecoms is a listed subsidiary of Vega Telecoms.