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  • Bengaluru’s Fastrack Music Run attracts 8,000 footfalls

    Bengaluru’s Fastrack Music Run attracts 8,000 footfalls

    BENGALURU: Braving torrential rain, 8,000 people came to the Bengaluru leg of the Fastrack Music Run on Saturday, 19 August 2017. The event creators Fresh Events Global, The Music Run™, managed to rope in a r of sponsors – these included Titan Company Limited’s funky brand Fastrack as the title sponsor. Other sponsors were ACT Fibernet, Harman, Nokia, United Colours of Benetton, Pringles, Sofit, Pepsi Black, Budweiser Experiences, Radio Indigo, Clarks Exotica, Vh1, INOX and Himalayan Water.

    The event promoters, Baseline Ventures, say that the Bengaluru event has been one of the best they’ve seen with the crowd really getting into The Music Run spirit. The event paid good dividend to the sponsors.

    A Fastrack spokesperson said through a press release, “We are really bowled over with the response The Music Run by Fastrack has received this year. A seamless blend of music and fitness, today’s event is truly what Fastrack stands for – energy, excitement and self-expression. We received huge waves of entries for Fastrack’s first of its kind service, #Bookmyshoulder where concert goers booked a shoulder to get a better view of the performances on stage. The adult ball pit and life size beer pong was just as much in demand, with the customised tunnel night club experience being the highlight on the soundtrack. The vibe today was infectious and we’re really thrilled to have delivered a full blown experience, like no other.”

    Baseline Ventures co-founder Vishal Jaison said, “We’ve had such a positive response since announcing that The Music Run by Fastrack was coming back to Bengaluru for the second time that we always knew this was going to be a great event – and the crowd today was fantastic. It was amazing to see people of all abilities running, dancing and partying together and enjoying great music every step of the way. People in Bengaluru have shown that they love this format and it represents the new generation of fun running events, where crowd sourcing and social media are used to enable people to actively shape and share the experience they have. The response we’ve seen to The Music Run, both here and overseas, demonstrates that there is a real appetite for it and we look forward to bringing an even bigger and better The Music Run by Fastrack event back to Bengaluru next year.”

    Launched in 2014 by Fresh Events Global, The Music Run™ is claimed to be the ultimate 5k running and music festival. The creators say that for music lovers, casual runners and fun seekers, The Music Run™ is more like a party than a run – it is the only 5km fun run that puts music at the heart. The Music Run™ empowers participants to control the soundtrack of the run by voting for their favourite songs in the build up to the Event. Voting is via a bespoke ‘Music Voting App’ and the songs with the most votes make the official run playlist

    Bengaluru is one of over 15 cities across three continents that The Music Run™ will be introduced to in 2017, making it one of the fastest growing fun run events of its kind worldwide. The Music Run™ was first held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014. The event creators claim that The Music Run™ has already been experienced by more than 185,000 participants across 22 events and 11 countries from Singapore to Shanghai. In 2017 The Music Run™ has inaugural events in Europe, Africa & the Middle East and expansion plans across Australasia, North & South America.

  • Mobile Congress: SK Telecom to discuss 5G commercialisation with Nokia & Ericsson

    MUMBAI: SK Telecom has announced that it will participate in the 2017 GSMA Mobile World Congress to be held from 27 February to 2 March, at Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain. The company has set this year’s theme as “Connect Everything” and will be showcasing a wide variety of innovative technologies and services that will transform people’s lives in the future.

    At its booth 3H10, SK Telecom will display ‘5G Connected Car,’ a vehicle with 5G connectivity and services; artificial intelligence (AI) platform NUGU and NUGU-powered devices; technologies and services for IoT-dedicated networks; and immersive media based on virtual reality technologies

    SK Telecom will display ‘T5,’ which is the world’s first 5G connected car the company has successfully demonstrated in Korea in November 2016. Connected car, realized through a combined set of key 5G technologies, dramatically enhances driving safety and provides immersive in-vehicle entertainment services via the 5G network that supports ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency transmission of massive data. In November 2016, SK Telecom has built the world’s largest 5G testbed at BMW driving center located in Yeongjong Island and demonstrated interworking between the end-to-end 5G system and the 5G Connected Car.

    Moreover, on 6 February, 2017, SK Telecom achieved 3.6Gbps transmission speed at 28GHz band for a connected vehicle moving at 170 kilometers per hour. The 3.6Gbps of data rate enhances the stability of connected car services by improving image recognition and V2X (Vehicle to Everything Communication) technologies. That is, a vehicle can communicate, in real time, with other vehicles, traffic lights and surveillance cameras to understand and respond to unexpected situations and obstacles in a much shorter time.

    Besides the 5G Connected Car, SK Telecom will also showcase federated network slicing, a technology the company has successfully demonstrated jointly with Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson, for the first time in the world, on February 14, 2017. In 5G, network slicing will allow the operator to configure an end-to-end network that provides the desired overall functionality and service parameters. Federated network slicing extends this concept to a visited network, meaning that customers will be able to enjoy the same quality service while travelling to a different country. At SK Telecom’s booth, visitors will be able to witness how federated network slices can be created, managed, and terminated in the form of NS-as-a-Service (Network Slice as a Service). The created slices can be used in various applications, including V2X and connected cars.

    Meanwhile, SK Telecom will also participate in the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) forum – to be held in Barcelona from February 21 to 23 – to engage in discussions on 5G-based autonomous driving services and platform.

    Furthermore, SK Telecom senior vice president and head of network technology R&D Center Park Jin-hyo will take part in the MWC Conference titled “5G Beyond the Hype: Value and Building Blocks.” Park will share SK Telecom’s vision and roadmap for 5G commercialization and talk about differentiated values 5G is expected to bring to customers. He will also discuss 5G cooperation with CTOs of global ICT companies including Nokia and Ericsson.

    At MWC 2017, SK Telecom will showcase NUGU, a voice-activated AI platform that understands and processes the Korean language, as well as intelligent devices powered by NUGU. The company will also demonstrate interworking between NUGU speaker and Aibril, a Watson-based AI service.
    In September 2016, SK Telecom has launched an intelligent personal assistant speaker based on NUGU. Since then, the company has been constantly upgrading the platform, while carrying out studies on the generation AI devices powered by NUGU.

    Visitors will be able to gain a first-hand experience of the NUGU speaker, including its ‘smart IoT hub’ feature that enables voice control of diverse smart home* devices such as IPTV, air purifier and gas valve.

    The company will showcase a desktop type AI device by adding image recognition and hand posture recognition technologies to voice recognition engine/technology. Unlike other AI devices, it has a head embedded with a camera and a screen, and can be easily controlled via hand/finger postures. Going forward, the device will be able to generate rich information and emotional expressions by utilizing head movements and screen graphics.

    Through the application of its own intelligent image recognition solution, SK Telecom plans to build a personalization system based on facial recognition. Once built, the system will offer a tailored service for each and every member of a family.

    SK Telecom will also display Toy Bot, a robot for kids. Applied with the Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) solution, Toy Bot offers a calling feature.

    Moreover, under cooperation with SK C&C, the information technology arm of the SK Group, SK Telecom will also demonstrate interworking between NUGU speaker and SK C&C’s Aibril, a Watson-based AI service, to enable the speaker to recognise English as well. Building on this, SK Telecom will continue to cooperate with SK C&C in the area of artificial intelligence to further strengthen its competitiveness.

    Going forward, SK Telecom will not only expand its NUGU-compatible smart home product line-up, but will also develop and offer an intelligent smart home service that automatically suggests/implements personalized service for each individual. This will be made possible through the application of machine learning technology, which conducts comprehensive analysis of a wide range of information including device use history, lifestyle pattern and indoor/outdoor environment.

    “While making aggressive efforts to develop innovative AI technologies, SK Telecom will continue to make efforts to expand the AI ecosystem by joining hands with diverse companies across the world,” said Park Myung-soon, Senior Vice President and Head of Future Technology R&D Center of SK Telecom.

    Meanwhile, on 27 February, 2017, SK Telecom’s CTO Alex Jinsung Choi will participate in the MWC’s AI-related conference titled “Artificial Intelligence – Chatbots and Virtual Assistants” to discuss the future of the AI industry with CTOs of global AI firms including Google and IBM. Choi will give a presentation on SK Telecom’s AI platform ‘NUGU’.

    At MWC 2017, SK Telecom will showcase LoRa gateway and module, and demonstrate various adaptable IoT services centered on metering, tracking and monitoring.
    proposing standards for LoRa roaming interworking

    SK Telecom is also playing an active role in the establishment of international standards for LoRa roaming. At MWC 2017, the company will demonstrate a location-tracking service enabled via LoRa roaming between Korea and Spain using candidate technologies for standardization currently being discussed within the LoRa Alliance.

    In addition, ThingPlug, an integrated IoT platform based on OneM2M standard will also be on the show. ThingPlug allows people to easily develop IoT services and apply them to their real lives. The strength of ThingPlug lies in its ability to establish connections with any device and application based on global IoT standards.

    SK Telecom will unveil its 360-degree live broadcast platform named ‘360 Adaptive VR Live Streaming Platform (or 360 VR Live)’ at the MWC.

    360 VR Live is an innovative end-to-end broadcast system that enables users to produce and livestream ultra-high-definition (UHD) 360-degree virtual reality (VR) video with low latency using a 360-degree camera. The platform produces UHD VR content through its differentiated stitching technology. When it comes to creating 360-degree visuals, it is important to seamlessly stitch multiple videos or images taken by the 360 camera. Based on multi-band blending algorithm, the platform stitches images in multi layers to produce a seamless 360 VR content without any distortion. In terms of frame rate, it supports 60 frames per second (FPS), which is translated into two times higher image quality than that of its competitors.

    Moreover, 360 Live VR has significantly reduced the bandwidth required for transmitting 360 video data. Generally, live streaming of 360 VR video requires up to six times greater bandwidth than traditional broadcasting. However with the platform, the size of the 360 VR video file is reduced by 35 percent, while not compromising the image quality thanks to dynamic tiling.

    In addition, applied with ‘T Live Streaming,’ an innovative real-time streaming technology developed by SK Telecom, 360 VR Live creates a better environment for live broadcasting of 360-degree VR video by dramatically reducing latency from over 20 seconds to less than five seconds.

    SK Telecom brings T.um Mobile, a travelling ICT museum, to Barcelona to provide Spanish children with the chance to experience cutting-edge technologies.

    T.um Mobile will be opened as part of the Youth Mobile Festival (YoMo) Barcelona at Fira Montjuic, from February 27 to March 2, 2017. The GSMA and Mobile World Capital Barcelona launched YoMo as part of Mobile World Congress to inspire young people to pursue education and careers in science, technology, engineering, art/design, and math (STEAM) disciplines.

    T.um Mobile will offer smart robot-based coding classes at different levels of difficulty. Moreover, it will feature three different ICT experience zones designed to enable children to easily understand technologies that will become mainstream in the upcoming era of 5G such as virtual reality, augmented reality and holograms.

  • Airtel 4G to reach nine circles via US$ 230-mn deal with Nokia as latter expands global PON

    Airtel 4G to reach nine circles via US$ 230-mn deal with Nokia as latter expands global PON

    MUMBAI: Finnish telecommunication network company and gear maker Nokia has pocketed a 4G network deal from Bharti Airtel in nine telecom service areas. Nokia meantime is also extending its fiber solution for universal next-gen passive optical networks (PON) to help operators more effectively scale, deploy and automate their networks as the demand for data grows.

    Nokia will deploy its available 4G technologies across Airtel regions of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Rest of Bengal, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Odisha, Kerala and UP East. The coverage expansion will include major cities such as Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Patna and Siliguri.

    According to sources cited by Financial Express, the deal between the two telecoms is estimated to be worth around US$ 230 million.

    Nokia’s head of India market Sanjay Malik said, with the latest agreement, they had become the largest supplier of 4G for Airtel. The network expansion would provide the speed, capacity, coverage Airtel needs to meet the next wave of data demand in India, he added.

    The new agreement with Nokia will see Airtel expand the deployment of 4G technology in three new circles in addition to six circles it already serves, enabling launch of new services that started in September.

    Agreement between Nokia and Bharti Airtel will enhance coverage and access in urban, suburban and rural areas within nine circles in India, it added.

    Nokia’s universal PON solution launched in 2015 leverages existing fiber platforms and infrastructure to help operators evolve networks in a gradual way, adding wavelengths in line with demand.

    The solution offers various next generation PON technologies including XGS-PON and TWDM-PON on a single platform and line card. Operators can connect subscribers with any type of optical network terminal (ONTs) regardless of whether it’s XGPON1, XGS-PON or TWDM-PON, eliminating the risk of technology and platform lock-in, the New Indian Express reported.

    Now, Nokia is enhancing its universal solution to provide operators with a higher density option that can reduce costs. Increasing deployment flexibility, the enhancements include new SDN/NFV-based capabilities that automate and simplify the deployment, maintenance and evolution of traditional fiber networks. This provides a smooth evolution path to 10G symmetrical or asymmetrical speeds with cost-efficient non-tunable XGS-PON optics and to TWDM-PON with tunable optics.

  • Airtel 4G to reach nine circles via US$ 230-mn deal with Nokia as latter expands global PON

    Airtel 4G to reach nine circles via US$ 230-mn deal with Nokia as latter expands global PON

    MUMBAI: Finnish telecommunication network company and gear maker Nokia has pocketed a 4G network deal from Bharti Airtel in nine telecom service areas. Nokia meantime is also extending its fiber solution for universal next-gen passive optical networks (PON) to help operators more effectively scale, deploy and automate their networks as the demand for data grows.

    Nokia will deploy its available 4G technologies across Airtel regions of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Rest of Bengal, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Odisha, Kerala and UP East. The coverage expansion will include major cities such as Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Patna and Siliguri.

    According to sources cited by Financial Express, the deal between the two telecoms is estimated to be worth around US$ 230 million.

    Nokia’s head of India market Sanjay Malik said, with the latest agreement, they had become the largest supplier of 4G for Airtel. The network expansion would provide the speed, capacity, coverage Airtel needs to meet the next wave of data demand in India, he added.

    The new agreement with Nokia will see Airtel expand the deployment of 4G technology in three new circles in addition to six circles it already serves, enabling launch of new services that started in September.

    Agreement between Nokia and Bharti Airtel will enhance coverage and access in urban, suburban and rural areas within nine circles in India, it added.

    Nokia’s universal PON solution launched in 2015 leverages existing fiber platforms and infrastructure to help operators evolve networks in a gradual way, adding wavelengths in line with demand.

    The solution offers various next generation PON technologies including XGS-PON and TWDM-PON on a single platform and line card. Operators can connect subscribers with any type of optical network terminal (ONTs) regardless of whether it’s XGPON1, XGS-PON or TWDM-PON, eliminating the risk of technology and platform lock-in, the New Indian Express reported.

    Now, Nokia is enhancing its universal solution to provide operators with a higher density option that can reduce costs. Increasing deployment flexibility, the enhancements include new SDN/NFV-based capabilities that automate and simplify the deployment, maintenance and evolution of traditional fiber networks. This provides a smooth evolution path to 10G symmetrical or asymmetrical speeds with cost-efficient non-tunable XGS-PON optics and to TWDM-PON with tunable optics.

  • Tejinder Kalra is COO at Indus Towers

    Tejinder Kalra is COO at Indus Towers

    MUMBAI: Indian Telecom tower company Indus Towers announced the appointment of Tejinder Kalra as the chief operating officer (COO), as on 1 July 2016. With over 26 years of experience in the telecom and telecom services industry, Tejinder holds an extensive experience in strategy development, implementation and service delivery across geographies  says an Indus Towers release

    Indus Towers CEO Bimal Dayal said, “In line with Indus’ pursuit of building a strong leadership team for the future, I would like to announce appointment of Tejinder Kalra. His passion, strategic clarity and disciplined execution will help ensure that Indus Towers’ continues to deliver our best to our customers.”

    Tejinder joins Indus Towers from Nokia, where he was the Global Head for Bharti Business in his most recent role. He has worked with Nokia for over 13 years, and has been a pivotal part of their growth story. In his last role, he managed the end to end P&L ownership for Bharti Telecom business globally. He was also the Sub-Region Head for Central, East and Western Africa in an earlier role where he helped set-up Nokia’s Airtel operations in Africa.

    Tejinder has been associated with Reliance Infocomm, Satyam Infoway, Sprint RPG India amongst other organizations in the past. He has done his engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology and Executive Diploma in International Business from IIFT.

  • Tejinder Kalra is COO at Indus Towers

    Tejinder Kalra is COO at Indus Towers

    MUMBAI: Indian Telecom tower company Indus Towers announced the appointment of Tejinder Kalra as the chief operating officer (COO), as on 1 July 2016. With over 26 years of experience in the telecom and telecom services industry, Tejinder holds an extensive experience in strategy development, implementation and service delivery across geographies  says an Indus Towers release

    Indus Towers CEO Bimal Dayal said, “In line with Indus’ pursuit of building a strong leadership team for the future, I would like to announce appointment of Tejinder Kalra. His passion, strategic clarity and disciplined execution will help ensure that Indus Towers’ continues to deliver our best to our customers.”

    Tejinder joins Indus Towers from Nokia, where he was the Global Head for Bharti Business in his most recent role. He has worked with Nokia for over 13 years, and has been a pivotal part of their growth story. In his last role, he managed the end to end P&L ownership for Bharti Telecom business globally. He was also the Sub-Region Head for Central, East and Western Africa in an earlier role where he helped set-up Nokia’s Airtel operations in Africa.

    Tejinder has been associated with Reliance Infocomm, Satyam Infoway, Sprint RPG India amongst other organizations in the past. He has done his engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology and Executive Diploma in International Business from IIFT.

  • PepsiCo India ropes in Poonam Kaul as new VP Communications

    PepsiCo India ropes in Poonam Kaul as new VP Communications

    MUMBAI: PepsiCo India, the food and beverage giant, has appointed Poonam Kaul as the new vice president of communications. Kaul will be a part of their India Region Executive Committee.

     

    Poonam will develop and lead the work to sustain PepsiCo India’s corporate image and reputation among internal and external stakeholders including the media. She will oversee internal and external communications, leadership communications, and crisis management and consumer relations in PepsiCo’s India region.

     

    Poonam has over two decades of leadership experience in driving integrated communications to build brands, influence policy, shape perceptions and manage crisis. Prior to her appointment with PepsiCo India, she was the director communications, Nokia for India, Middle East and Africa and was heading 90 markets.

     

    Kaul has also been with Microsoft India where she was heading advertising and public relations for all business units of Microsoft in India.

  • Flipkart’s Ravneet Singh Phokela joins Ather Energy as business head

    Flipkart’s Ravneet Singh Phokela joins Ather Energy as business head

    MUMBAI: Flipkart former vice president and practice head of strategic brands groups Ravneet Singh Phokela has joined a Bangalore based start-up Ather Energy as chief business officer.

     

    At Ather Energy, Phokela will oversee marketing, sales and customer experience.

     

    Ather Energy CEO and co-founder Tarun Mehta said, “Ravneet brings valuable experience to Ather and will be an asset to the Management team. His knowledge in driving brand and customer experiences is significant and strategic, as we near the launch of our vehicle. We look forward to benefitting immensely from his expertise in building memorable brands.”

     

    Phokela added, “Ather is poised to drive serious disruption, not just through an innovative product, but the way we plan to take it to market and engage with our consumers. It promises to be an exciting journey for the organisation as it unlocks new market opportunities, and I am looking forward to being a part of it.”

     

    Phokela started his career at Lowe Lintas and moved on to join Whirlpool, where he headed marketing services for the home appliances brand. He later joined Nokia in London as global marketing director. Phokela also worked at Payback India as chief marketing officer and head of e-commerce.

  • Nokia gets EU nod for Alcatel-Lucent acquisition

    Nokia gets EU nod for Alcatel-Lucent acquisition

    MUMBAI: Nokia has received approval from the European Commission (EU) for its pending acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. The proposed transaction was notified to the European Commission on 19 June, 2015 and was cleared today (24 July) without conditions following a Phase 1 review. 

     

    Approval by the European Commission follows previously disclosed antitrust clearances in Brazil and Serbia and the expiration of the antitrust review period in the United States. In addition, the parties confirmed that they have received further antitrust clearances from Albania, Canada, Colombia and Russia. Both companies will continue to cooperate with the remaining authorities to close their reviews as quickly as possible. 

     

    The transaction remains subject to approval by Nokia shareholders, Nokia holding over 50 per cent of the share capital of Alcatel-Lucent on a fully diluted basis upon completion of the public exchange offer, receipt of other regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2016.

     

    As was previously reported by Indiantelevision.com, Nokia had acquired Alcatel-Lucent in April this year for a sum of $16.6 billion. The new company will be known as Nokia Corporation.

  • Carat India rated number one on vitality scores: RECMA

    Carat India rated number one on vitality scores: RECMA

    MUMBAI: After a flurry of account wins over the last 12 months including brands like General Motors, Microsoft, Sony, Nokia, MasterCard, British Airways, JSW Steel & Cement, Popees and Ruosh to name a few, Carat has also shown the maximum growth on the Qualitative Ranking of RECMA moving from the number 11 spot in August 2013 to number four in the latest report, making it the fastest growing media agency in India.

     

    To top it all, on Vitality scores of the research, Carat has jumped to the number one position with a perfect score of 10.

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and CEO South Asia Ashish Bhasin said, “This is an absolutely fantastic achievement by Carat to become the fastest growing agency in India. From being a one-in-a-crowd agency in the market, in a short time, they are at the top-end of the table. As the lead media agency of the Denstu Aegis Network, Carat continues to make its mark in the Industry and will very soon be amongst the top three on all parameters.”

     

    Carat India managing director Kartik Iyer opined, “This is a great testimony for the fantastic work the teams have put over the past few years to strengthen the Carat brand in India. This is also a result of the key investments made by group in great people and processes which have delivered outstanding solutions to our clients.”