SK Telecom partners with Pokemon Go developer
South Korean operator SK Telecom (SKT) signed a partnership deal with Pokemon Go developer Niantic which will see the operator “transform” its 4,000 authorised retail stores into PokeStops or PokeGyms.

Pokemon Go, a location-based augmented reality game, surpassed 650 million downloads worldwide. It was released in the Korean market in January.

SKT said new and existing customers can get free and unlimited high-speed data for Pokemon Go gaming in Korea until the end of June.

Xiaomi joins GSMA
Chinese device vendor Xiaomi announced it joined global mobile operator trade association the GSMA as an associate member.

Xiaomi, founded in 2010, said in a statement its membership to the group will help drive the adoption and interoperability of new technologies.

The vendor, best known for its Mi and Redmi smatphones, diversfied its product mix over the past two years and now offers set-top boxes, routers, smart home products and its Mi line of wearables. It also launched a third-party mobile payment service last year.

Globe deploys LTE-A using 4CA
Globe Telecom, the largest operator in the Philippines with a 51 per cent market share, deployed LTE-Advanced using four-carrier aggregation on the 2.6GHz band.

The technology doubles LTE capacity, claimed Joel Agustin, SVP of Globe’s network technical Group. The operator rolled out the technology to 110 sites, mostly in Metro Manila, and is targeting more than 500 sites by the end of the year.

It is using spectrum acquired from its joint acquisition of San Miguel’s telecoms assets last May. The technology uses four separate blocks on the 2.6GHz band that is aggregated by LTE-Advanced eNode B equipment to deliver faster internet speeds.

StarHub opens innovation hub
Singapore’s second largest mobile operator StarHub opened an innovation and converged service operations centre showcasing its real-time data analytics and cyber security capabilities.

The centrepiece of the hub is the converged command centre, dubbed Hubtricity, where the operator monitors its networks to see how services are performing and understand how customers are using and responding to its service offerings through call centre metrics and social media analytics.

The operator said the 58,000-square-foot facility will also “act as a foundation to accelerate service innovation and co-creation with partners, startup companies and customers”.