Conax Leading Philippines Pay-TV Market - New Contract with Cablelink

Partner for cost effective and flexible solutions for going digital and growing with future requirements PCTA Convention, Cebu City, Philippines, Mar 21, 2012 - (ACN Newswire) - Conax, a leading global provider of solutions for protecting multi-device digital content, announced it has recently signed a contract with cable operator, Cablelink, the 3rd largest MSO in the Philippines. Conax will deliver a Conax Contego(TM) Broadcast centralized security solution including Conax chipset pairing and fingerprinting. The company now provides content security to the three largest operations in the region. Conax solutions and experience will guide operators in the region in navigating a new digital landscape and generate fresh product offerings and revenue streams for secure distribution multi-device of premium content. Proven, secure and future proof Through the new Conax Contego(TM) Broadcast solution, Conax is providing Cablelink with a highly secure and future proof platform, based on decades of proven security technology. The solution's highly flexible architecture scales horizontally; meaning capacity and performance are easily increased by adding additional hardware for meeting future market demands and growth. Deployment of Conax chipset pairing and fingerprinting functionality will provide Cablelink content distribution platform with an additional level of security all the way through to the consumer device, reducing the risk of control-word sharing, illegal distribution or other forms of content revenue leakage. - "In an market displaying a host of challenges and opportunities, operators like Cablelink need secure content delivery in order to harness new and profitable business models, says Ruel Martin Mase, Head of IT and Broadband Services, Cablelink. Conax is guiding our operations in how good security solutions can promote healthy business." - "Conax is highly pleased to be chosen as security partner for Cablelink. With the launch of Conax Contego Broadcast, Conax is providing Cablelink with world-class content protection that is both easy to deploy and furnishes a flexible path for future upgrades and services, says AreMathisen, VP Asia Sales, Conax. Working closely with Cablelink and our valuable customer base in the Philippines, Mr. Nonie Lanes, Sales Director Philippines, is ready to provide guidance in the emergence of new services and business models and handle a new stream of business enabled by the growing needs of operators going digital." 20th PCTA Convention in Cebu City, March 21st 23rd This year at the annual PCTA Convention, Conax will showcase its advanced Conax Contego(TM) portfolio of content security solutions for enabling pay-tv operations to position for growing service offerings to end consumers, while eliminating risk of lost revenues due to content leakage. Capitalizing on 15 years proven digitization experience, Conax Contego(TM) solutions provide smooth transition from analogue to digital TV operations. - March 22nd, Roger Siow, Conax, Director Asia Sales speaking at the 20th PCTA Convention 2012 in Cebu City, Philippines "Why digital motivation to switch, benefits and CAS introduction" Meet Conax at PCTA Convention in Cebu City for multi-screen product demonstrations and preview of Conax Contego(TM) Broadcast security solution for any size operation. To arrange a meeting please contact Conax: apac@conax.com

Clearwire, layoffs and the future of 4G wireless service

Garet Martin is ahead of the curve. The Portland resident experienced the future of 4G wireless service last week, and it wasn't pretty. Martin gets wireless home broadband and phone service from Bellevue-based Clearwire. She's generally pleased with the $63-a-month package, even though she has to move her modem when a particular tree gets leafy in the summer and interferes with the signal coming across the Willamette River. It was all fine until earlier this month, when she lost access to her voice-mail box. She called me after she had been stuck for nearly two weeks, only getting a recorded message saying her voice mail "is temporarily unavailable." A series of calls to Clearwire's customer-service numbers went nowhere. Visits to a Clearwire outlet in Portland led to more dead-ends, but she did learn others were having the same problem with their voice mail. Martin's situation was a little unusual, but I'll bet customer service will be a growing challenge over the next year or two for wireless companies. A storm is brewing: Phone companies are rushing to build-out fourth-generation wireless networks better able to handle the crush of data from smartphones, tablets and other mobile-computing devices. Consumers have become dependent on wireless devices, and most are upgrading to smartphones that are more complex. To cover the cost of their network upgrades, phone companies are making some changes. They're moving toward more complicated pricing plans that meter data service. At the same time, phone companies are diverting resources away from customer service and toward network upgrades. As we've seen over the past month, this has led to huge layoffs at call centers. T-Mobile USA last week said it's closing seven centers, cutting 1,900 jobs so it can afford a $4 billion upgrade to 4G LTE technology. Verizon earlier said it's closing three centers, including one with 850 employees in Bellevue. These follow a string of layoffs at other companies, including Clearwire. In some ways Clearwire is a bellwether. It was the first company to offer true 4G wireless broadband, but the expensive network project led to sweeping layoffs and restructuring in 2010. Clearwire's shifting strategy led to the problems Martin encountered this month. But she didn't learn that from the company she's been supporting for several years. Customer-service reps were stumped with her problem, and her extended waits on the phone ended in frustration. "Frankly, all the people I reach in the Philippines and India ... they all say how sorry they are, but they can't really do anything -- they can't or won't give me a supervisor or tell me where I can call in the United States," she said. The reps told Martin "they know there's a problem and they told me there are a lot of people who are calling, but they just can't help me." Martin isn't your ordinary frustrated customer. She said she used to head the Better Business Bureau's complaint department in San Francisco. After moving to Portland, she became a community activist. "I love handling disputes," she said. It makes you wonder what a less-motivated customer would have done. I'd have thrown my Clearwire modem out the window after those calls. Instead, Martin drove to a Clearwire retailer in Portland. A person there gave her a number for a corporate office, which was always busy when she called, and for a regional office in Portland that turned out to have been vacated. The sales outlet had a Clearwire sign but stopped selling Clearwire service and now sells other plans. Still, an employee told her other Clearwire customers had come to complain about the voice-mail problem. Finally Martin began calling reporters. I contacted Clearwire last Tuesday and asked if there were any service problems in Portland or Seattle. The initial response was that there were no network problems, outages or service disruptions. Martin was still stuck, so I tried again with Clearwire, explaining that some customers were apparently unable to access voice mail. A spokesman then replied that Clearwire is shifting the operation of its home-phone service to a third-party vendor. Customers who try their voice-mail password repeatedly during this process could get locked out. Clearwire no longer sells this phone service to new customers. It's now mostly focused on providing wholesale service that larger companies use to supplement their networks. Still, it continues to support 1.3 million retail customers, including perhaps 100,000 using the home-phone service. "The service didn't really make sense as a long-term product for us," spokesman Mike DiGioia said. Most customers didn't notice the back-end provider changed, he said. But some were caught in the migration and had their mailbox PIN codes locked up. I guess that's understandable, but Clearwire dropped the ball by not informing its call centers of the issue. After our exchange, it set up a process for call centers to resolve it, DiGioia said. But after I passed this on to Martin and she tried again with customer service Thursday, it still didn't work. DiGioia noted the fix could take 24 to 36 hours to take effect, but offered to intervene. "We're sorry it happened, but we're working to make it right for them," he said. Martin opted to have me share her name with the company, rather than wait another day. That afternoon she was on the phone with Geoff Levy, Clearwire head of customer care, and a product manager, who immediately fixed the problem. "I'm getting two months of free service, but I still gave him hell," Martin said. "I told him I can't believe you treat your customers this way and you weren't more proactive." Even so, Martin will keep using the wireless service she's grown to depend upon. "I'll probably stick with them for quite a while, unless I have more problems," she said. "There really isn't anything competitive now."

Globe's $700-M upgrade kicks off in Davao City

Globe Telecom's $700 million nationwide network upgrade has formally kicked off in Davao City. Peter Bithos, head of consumer division at Globe Telecom, announced the start of the network upgrade in this city in the presence of Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and other local officials during a press conference at the Marco Polo hotel. Bithos said Globe's 4G mobile network rollout promises to deliver internet downloading speeds of about 6mbps (megabit per second) using broadband and mobile data on smartphone dongles. The executive likened the network upgrade to the railroad developments in the past connecting people via transportation to towns, cities, schools, homes and businesses. "We'll be rolling out 10,000 kilometers of fiber around the country. And that stretch is like from Manila to Australia," Bithos said. "Our goal is for each Filipino to have 3G." Bithos added that Globe's business is growing 20 percent faster in Davao City. Meanhwile, Duterte said that with the telecommunications development they expect the city to improve on its businesses, education and even employment since it can become an ideal destination of locators from the business process outsourcing sectors abroad. Only recently, no less than the Globe's president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu, assured that the network change-out to 4G will have no adverse impact on subscribers using older technology devices such as 2G mobile devices that uses mostly basic SMS and voice services.

PLDT abandons BPL project; group now boasts 65m mobile users

After three years of testing to assess the possibility of introducing broadband services over power lines (BPL), Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) has decided to put the project on the backburner Malaya Business Insight reports. The telco had been working with power utility Meralco since August 2009 concerning a joint project designed to bring broadband services directly to the homes of some 4.5 million of the latter’s customers. However, PLDT considers that ‘it is not technically feasible to roll out the new technology in the country,’ according to its president Napoleon Nazareno. ‘It looks like we may have to shelve the project for the meantime. Technically, it seems that its not optimal and efficient to use broadband over power lines in the present circumstances in the way the broadband and power are being consumed,’ he added. The two companies had been trialling BPL in specific geographic locations in parts of Metro Manila (including Malabon), and in some multi-dweller blocks in Makati, including PLDT’s main building. In a separate story concerning PLDT, the telco has confirmed that its mobile divisions have now signed up a combined 65 million subscribers, up a net 1.3 million from the 63.7 million figure reported at the end of December 2011. Of the total, some 50 million are signed up to either Smart Communications or Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprises Inc (branded Red Mobile), while the remaining 15 million are subscribers to Sun Cellular, the mobile brand of Digital Telecommunications Philippines (Digitel), which is now majority controlled by PLDT.

Sprint's 4G modem 'free' with 2-year contract, $50 monthly data

Offering this USB modem stick for free--if you factor out the 2-year contract and $50 mail-in-rebate--Sprint must be really trying to purge the 3G/4G Plug-in-Connect from its inventory. Perhaps it's because the modem likely only connects to the carrier's original WiMax 4G network and not its fancy LTE infrastructure in the works to enable 4G surfing. If Sprint really will light up a more modern LTE-based 4G network in June, archaic gizmos like WiMax modems running on Clearwire's network could be veritable dinosaurs come summer. Of course, once you're roped up in a plan, you'll be stuck with the device unless you want to cough up the full unsubsidized price of another modem or hot spot. Of course, Sprint may be cooking up another sweet deal to attract customers to its expanded network. After all, the company has expressed plans to become much more than a simple wireless pipe and handset hardware purveyor. It would like to have a hand in every aspect of your wireless digital lifestyle. The question is, do you want it to?

PLDT, Intel promise better mobile experience

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Intel Philippines said their newly-forged partnership aims to deliver a computing experience geared at satisfying the ever-changing mobile lifestyles in the country. The two companies earlier announced the merger with the launch of the new Intel Ultrabook, and WiFi Zone by PLDT. The partnership will combine Intel’s processor technology and computing innovation with PLDT’s expertise in broadband technology. Executives of Intel and PLDT said social media usage and content consumption has become an indispensible part of everyday life and the collaboration between their companies will expand opportunity for continued innovation in such areas by working towards increased computing performance and seamless wireless connections. Ricky Banaag, country manager of Intel Philippines, said Internet growth is driven largely by content, now done mostly by consumers who exchange photos, videos and tweets wherever they are. "In this day and age, there is a noticeable increase in the demand for internet access anytime, anywhere. People are now able to access the internet simultaneously across multiple devices, empowering them not just to download data, but to upload and share content as well," Banaag said. "Intel’s partnership with PLDT addresses a new era of computing experience that is underway, and ensures that the consumer’s expectations for a secure, mobile and powerful device are met through the Ultrabook." The Ultrabook is among the emerging new breed of computers. Among its features are the combinination of best-in-class performance, improved responsiveness and battery life. Intel’s vision for the Ultrabook entails a multi-year, industry-wide endeavor that will roll out in phases where new experiences and features will be added and volume of Ultrabook devices is expected to increase as system prices decrease over time. With its so-called "A New Breed of Wow" campaign, Intel aims to set the Ultrabook apart from mainstream computing devices. Meanwhile, as an answer to the rising demand for a more reliable, high-speed internet connectivity, PLDT is offering its premium WiFi service, the PLDT WiFi Zones, which uses a dedicated line for WiFi internet connection. Dan Ibarra, head of PLDT Retail Business Group, said that through the WiFi Zones, PLDT offers subscribers premium myDSL internet experience outside their homes. Ibarra said PLDT has currently established a base of over 2,500 WiFi Zones up and running all over the Metro, adding that similar launches were also conducted recently in the cities of Cebu and Baguio.

Globe shares insights on IT innovation to Pinoy CIOs

Local telco firm Globe Telecom recently shared some insights on IT innovation to Filipino IT executives or chief-information-officers (CIOs). Greg Romero, head of solutions delivery of Globe Telecom’s Information Systems Group (ISG), said the telecommunications company sustains growth by innovating, differentiating and delivering value to its customers. Romero also said Globe also continues to seek growth by pursuing various product and service advancements, such as the company’s recent core data network upgrade to ROADM (Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer), which supports the increasing bandwidth demand of enterprise customers. He added that this makes Globe the first carrier in the Philippines to deploy ROADM as well as 40G optical links over its Broadband Access Service Network (BAX). The executive also said Globe has recently upgraded its data center facilities, making it the first local telco to set up a terabit-level data center infrastructure for high-performance cloud services. "These advancements are made because of our company’s goal of enhancing customer experience and meeting the ever-growing needs of businesses," Romero said. "We are proud to say that being the first Philippine telco to implement these network technologies makes us globally competitive with world-class carriers. We ensure that through these constant innovations, Globe is well-prepared to deliver the capacity and service quality our customers require." Globe, through unit Globe Business, also reiterated its support to Philippines IT professionals, whose working environments are becoming more and more challenging. Such challenges, defined by sweeping changes and the need for gathering more customer or market intelligence, insight and visibility, has prompted Globe to assure the Association of SEIPI IT Executives and Professionals or ASITEP, the umbrella group of IT experts in the Philippines working under the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines (SEIPI), of its support to the industry. Globe said business executives and CIOs around the world and across industries agree that information technology is a valued investment in achieving an effective business strategy and vision. The company cited the 2011 Global CIO Study by IBM, which showed that CIOs from different-sized companies across the globe have become more aligned to business agendas and priorities of chief executive officers, and are using IT innovation to drive real business results. Globe Business, has been a long-standing partner of SEIPI and ASITEP. Together with these organizations, Globe Business aims to strengthen the semiconductor and electronics sector in the Philippines by providing information and communication technology (ICT) solutions relevant to the needs of the industry.

PLDT reports 7% drop in 2011 core net income to P39B

Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company on Monday said its consolidated core net income dipped by 7 percent to P39 billion last year from P40.2 billion a year earlier. “The decline in core net income was a result of lower services revenues and higher operating expenses,” the country’s largest telco said in a statement. The company’s consolidated net income further sank to P31.7 billion, down 21 percent from P40.2 billion. The declines reflect a consolidation of PLDT’s merger with Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel), the company said, noting the acquisition of Digitel was consummated last Oct. 26. Digitel’s full integration is underway, according to the company. Still, shareholders will receive a 100 percent dividend payout at P189 per share. “This is the fifth year in a row that we have paid out 100 percent core earnings per share, a significant achievement when taken in the context of our increased investment levels and heightened competition,” PLDT chairman Manuel “Manny” Pangilinan said in the same statement. The company’s combined cellular subscriber base increased by 3.4 million to 63.7 million last year. The broadband subscriber base posted a 45 percent increase in 2011 having 2.9 million subscribers. Fixed line subscribers also increased to 2.2 million at the end of 2011 from 1.8 million. The statement noted the increase reflected 47,000 new PLDT subscribers and 296,000 from Digitel. "The Home business of the Group continues its aggressive growth performance with broadband leading the way and voice services maintaining its leading position in the market,” Napoleon L. Nazareno, president and chief executive officer of PLDT and wholly owned subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. The inclusion of Digitel in our product portfolio will enable us to expand our subscriber base in the regional mainstream market," he added. Combined revenues from broadband and internet services amounted to P18.8 billion, up 18 percent. Similarly, wireless broadband revenues —including mobile internet — went up 13 percent to P8.1 billion from P7.2 billion. Smart’s mobile internet revenues skyrocketed by 91 percent to P1.6 billion from P900 million. The up tick in revenues from mobile internet services were brought by the affordability of smartphones, said Orlando Vea, chief wireless adviser at Smart. “As smartphones become more pervasive and more affordable, more Filipinos are able to access the Internet and social media. Clearly, we have built the most advanced network in the country. This translates to an enhanced experience and mobile lifestyle for our subscribers, most especially so for mobile Internet users,” Vea added. Under PLDT’s SPi Global Solutions Inc., revenues from business process outsourcing gained 6 percent to P8.6 billion. SPi Global handles knowledge process and customer interaction solutions.

Ericsson to support Super Broadband offer at Philippines wireless provider Smart Communications

Smart Communications, Philippine's leading wireless service provider, announced partnership with Ericsson to offer the fastest and most reliable broadband service in the country, with the widest coverage and most innovative plan features. Ericsson will develop the "SpeedLab," which will focus on creating Smart's "Super Broadband" offer. The partnership will first embark on quantifying the subscriber benefits of Ericsson and Akamai's Mobile Cloud Accelerator (MCA) on Smart's network. MCA allows web pages to load three-times faster, thereby providing a better and more consistent user experience. It also creates opportunities for mobile network operators to monetize network assets, such as Quality of Service for over-the-top content. MCA also helps operators monetize over-the-top (OTT) traffic. It gives content providers a way of improving quality of experience, conversion rates and brand perception. Content providers have shown great interest in MCA since quality of experience is a decisive factor for their businesses. "We believe that a solution such as the MCA allows for greater productivity "“ it's less time spent waiting for Internet sites to load," according to Orlando Vea, Smart chief wireless advisor. "It will provide a richer and better mobile experience for our subscribers. We already have the fastest broadband network in the country yet we continue to innovate," Vea said. According to Elie Hanna, Ericsson president and country manager for Philippines and Pacific Islands, delays in page load time led directly to a decrease in conversions, fewer page views and a decrease in customer satisfaction. The MCA is a unique solution that addresses end-to-end quality of experience for mobile content delivery across the internet and mobile networks, according to Hanna. Recently Ericsson also announced partnership with mobile operator MobiFone to consolidate its six regional network operations centers (RNOC) in Vietnam into one centralized NOC in Hanoi. Vietnam has some 140 million mobile subscriptions in a market of 90 million people. Ericsson will, through its consulting and systems integration expertise, consolidate MobiFone's network operations organization and implement a unified network management system.