WCA January 2017

Telecom news

themselves with a whole wireless macro layer. Now fibre nodes, cable, and small cells will become one in the same location, which means one field force, one backhaul, one powering. Q: With the wireless playing field now more level, what could hybrid (cable-wireless) access mean for network infrastructure investment as a whole? A: It provides more options, because it means that telco and cable architecture are both compatible with future wireless. So now, whoever you are, you will have the option of working with a partner who can help you deploy highly distributed nodes and cells, whereas before you had no such option but to build it yourself. The Silicon Valley electronic commerce giant Amazon may be starting up in broadband in Europe For another example of sidling into a separate but related area, according to The Information (19 th October), Amazon.com is believed to be considering offering Internet service directly to European consumers. This would allow Seattle-based Amazon to bundle Internet access with its Prime streaming video offering, making it more competitive with cable operators which already offer a similar broadband-video package. The tech news site noted that Amazon is already a strong competitor in streaming video, selling both its own Prime service and subscriptions to cable channels. Adding Internet service could help it gain more video customers and would make it the latest tech company to try its hand at providing broadband access, not just the services that run on top of it. “Google has tried both with cellular and wired broadband networks,” said Amir Efrati and Martin Peers of The Information . “So far without showing signs of much success.” Cara McGoogan of the Telegraph pointed out that a launch in Britain and Germany, rather than the USA, would hold attraction for Amazon because both countries have rules that make it easier for newcomers to offer broadband. In Britain, BT is compelled to offer rival companies

Samsung Electronics, which makes nearly a third of its smartphones in Vietnam, has estimated that the stop-work order on its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 model will produce losses of more than $1.78 billion in the last quarter of 2016, followed by half that in the first months of this year. The Southeast Asian country would seem positioned to take a significant hit as Samsung retrenches. But according to Ralph Jennings of Forbes , Vietnam – with GDP growth of more than six per cent a year on the back of exports – is expected to be hurt, but not very badly nor for very long. Mr Jennings reported that Hanoi-based SSI Research foresees a decrease through March of only $924 million, or 0.6 per cent, in overall exports from Vietnam due to the stoppage of Note 7s. Samsung has pledged $12 billion in factory investment in Vietnam and the Korean electronics giant accounts for a fifth of Vietnam’s smartphone shipments. But not all of these were Note 7s, and SSI Research said Samsung is expected to promote sales of “other flagship models.” This means that any “negative impact will be likely balanced,” SSI said. (“How Samsung-Reliant Vietnam Will Survive The Note 7 Stoppage,” 19 th October) Because Samsung smartphones are only assembled, not designed, in Vietnam, analysts also see little risk to the country’s good name from the overheating of Note 7s – apparently a design flaw. Adam McCarty, chief economist with Mekong Economics in Hanoi, told Forbes that, in his view, because Samsung is having trouble with one product “is not going to tarnish the reputation of Vietnam as a most attractive country for export-oriented FDI [foreign direct investment] manufacturing.” Since 2010, Vietnam has rivalled China as an export manufacturing hub anchored by cheap labour, friendly investment rules, and tariff-cutting trade pacts with major export markets. Samsung’s troubles with the Galaxy Note 7 will probably deal Vietnam only a glancing blow

BigStockPhoto.com • Photographer: Krishnacreations

Nokia’s chief of technology supplies a rationale for cable companies doubling as wireless service providers Noting that cable companies previously have tried offering wireless, without success, Ben Munson of FierceCable wondered why cable telecoms such as Comcast and Charter, both of the USA, would express intentions of becoming wireless service providers. During Cable-Tec Expo 2016, held in Philadelphia in September, he put the question to event keynoter Marcus Weldon, CTO of the Finnish multinational communications and IT company Nokia. These few excerpts from the interview suggest what might prompt a cable company to consider taking even tentative steps into the wireless ecosystem: (“Marcus Weldon Says Cable Could Win at Wireless This Time”)

Q: What do you see that’s different this time? A: What we’re seeing is that wireless small cells and wireline nodes are moving to the same location in the network. Whether that node is telco or cable, and the cell is a Wi-Fi access point or a licensed spectrum cell, they’re all moving to the same point, about 100 to 200 metres away from the end user. When that happens, those who own fibre going to that location, who own power at that location, naturally are the best ones to provide that set of services across different wireless and wired technologies. Q: So the move toward small cell architecture gives cable an advantage this time around? A: Advantage in the sense of its architectural commonality. It doesn’t mean that [cable companies] will be better than the telco segment but it means they are now legitimately deploying an architecture that can be turned into a wireless architecture, as opposed to trying to overbuild

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Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2017