Singapore’s Infocomms Development Authority (IDA) issued the final rules for the upcoming 4G spectrum auction and set a 1 September deadline for new entrants to submit applications, with proof they have sufficient funding. IDA also issued clarifications to queries relating to the 700MHz, 900MHz, 2.3GHz and 2.5GHz auction scheduled for early October.
A new Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1) subsea cable system has been launched by telecom company Ooredoo, linking the major internet hubs of the three continents to Qatar. The 25,000km submarine cable is the third longest and one of the highest capacity systems under deployment on a global scale, according to The Peninsula.
Datacenter Knowledge — (Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group agreed to buy ARM Holdings for 24.3 billion pounds ($32 billion), securing a slice of virtually every mobile computing gadget on the planet and future connected devices in the home.
Straits Times — A Singaporean start-up is betting US$1.7 billion (S$2.3 billion) on becoming the digital landlord for tech giants building cloud services across Asia and Australia. AirTrunk plans to build data centres in Australia’s biggest cities of Sydney and Melbourne, with an anchor tenant already signed up as it targets undercutting rivals with lower prices. In the coming months, it will sign deals to expand into Singapore and Hong Kong.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/spore-firm-bets-23b-on-asia-pac-data-centres
Variety — China’s media regulator Monday called for the country to accelerate the growth of competitive media conglomerates. The State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television said that the integration of different media “falls short of central authorities’ requirement and public expectation,” and set a target of 2020 for improvement, reported state news agency Xinhua.
http://variety.com/2016/biz/asia/china-wants-more-media-giants-1201816245/
News 18 — Washington: An undersea cable backed by Google and Asian companies aimed at boosting trans-Pacific broadband was put into service this week, the consortium announced. The 5,600-mile (9,000-kilometer) FASTER Cable System is aimed at meeting the growing demand for broadband Internet connections between North America and Asia.
Mobile World Live — Sigfox announced a strategic partnership with power company Engie and IoT specialist UnaBiz to deploy its Internet of Things network in Singapore. In a statement, the companies said they will use Sigfox’s “cost-effective, energy efficient connectivity to find receptive markets”, as Singapore implements its Smart Nation initiative, a government led vision to step up connectivity in the country.
Datacenter News — Alibaba Cloud announced last month that its data center operations will be expanding, with a second availability zone in Singapore. The company’s Singapore data center opened in 2015 to serve the Asia Pacific region’s growing need for cloud and big data requirements.
Cloud News Asia