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India’s mobile subscribers catch cold as Covid sneezes

TCN Bureau
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India’s mobile subscribers catch cold as Covid sneezes
  • India’s mobile subscribers decline 5.61m in May.
  • Private access service providers held 89.21% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL had a market share of only 10.79%.

Bengaluru:  India’s wireless subscribers (2G, 3G and 4G) decreased by 0.49 per cent in May as daily-wage workers and labourers migrated due to the nationwide lockdown.

According to TRAI stats, India had 1,143.91 million subscribers in May compared to 1,149.52 million in April.

However, wireless subscription in rural areas increased by 0.70 per cent from 520.08 million in April to 523.70 million in May while subscription in urban areas decreased by 1.47 per cent from 629.44 million in April to 620.21 million in May.

As of May, the private access service providers held 89.21 per cent market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 10.79 per cent.

In the month of May, 2.98 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP). With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 488.23 million at the end of April to 491.21 million at the end of May, since implementation of MNP.

Intra-service area Mobile number portability (MNP) was implemented first in Haryana service area in November 2010 and the rest of the country from 2011.

”All service areas showed decline except Kerala and Bihar in their wireless subscribers during the month of May. Kerala service area showed maximum growth of 0.39 per cent in their wireless subscriber during the month,” TRAI report said.

India’s broadband (wired and wireless) subscribers increased 1.13 per cent month on month in May, with Reliance Jio taking the lion’s share.

According to TRAI stats, India had 683.77 million broadband subscribers in May compared to 676.14 million in April.

The top five service providers constituted 98.93 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd had 393.72 million, followed by  Bharti Airtel with 145.96 million, Vodafone Idea with 113.06 million, BSNL with 22.07 million and Atria Convergence with 1.64 million.

HPE is back in black with $9m profit due to right-back of taxes

Mohammed Fahad
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HPE is back in black with $9m profit due to right-back of taxes
  • Operating profit stood at $12m in the third quarter compared to a loss of $76m a year ago.
  • Its revenues decline close to 6% to $6.8b.
  • Annualised revenue run-rate increases by 11% to $528m and reduces its second-quarter backlog by more than $500m through improved supply chain execution.
  • CEO sees edge as a significant opportunity over the long-term.

Bengaluru: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is back in black with a profit of $9 million in the third quarter of this year compared to a loss of $27 million a year ago, due to right-back of taxes.

The US-based company reported a $34 million loss before taxes but it got $43 million as benefit from taxes in the third quarter.

Its operating profit stood at $12 million in the third quarter compared to a loss of $76 million a year ago.

HPE revenues declined close to 6 per cent to $6.8 billion in the third quarter compared to $7.2 billion a year ago.

“We significantly improved operational and supply chain execution and advanced our innovation agenda with the introduction of HPE GreenLake cloud services solutions, our new HPE Ezmeral software portfolio, and our planned acquisition of SD-WAN leader Silver Peak,” Antonio Neri, President and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, said.

Moreover, he said that the company gained momentum in key areas of differentiation and accelerated our as-a-service pivot with strong annualised revenue run-rate (ARR) growth and a record number of HPE GreenLake services orders.

HPE’s ARR increased by 11 per cent to $528 million and reduced its second-quarter backlog by more than $500 million through improved supply chain execution.

“We expect to return to normalised level of backlog by the end of fourth quarter through continued improvements in both supply chain execution and customer acceptances.“ Neri said.

HPE GreenLake services orders grew a record 80 per cent from the prior-year period or 82 per cent when adjusted for currency.

Competitive differentiation

Neri believes that this is faster than the growth of the order of public cloud vendors and it is a validation of its hyper strategy and competitive differentiation.

“We are focused on delivering one seamless cloud experience for all applications and data, no matter where they exist; at the edge, in a data center, in a colocation, or in a public cloud estate. While others are publicly declaring plans to offer everything-as-a-service, we have been focused on this for several years and have made significant organic and inorganic investments to deliver a differentiated experience for our customers,” he said.

HPE chief continues to see the edge as a significant opportunity over the long-term and the explosion of data devices and application will drive demand for secure multi-protocol connectivity, analytics and cloud computing capabilities at the edge, especially in the post-Covid world.

“We are now entering the edge of insights, driven by the amount of data we are generating and the utilization of new analytic tools, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies. Customers are looking to power a new breed of applications and workloads that work in concert with the cloud, but analyze and process data at the edge,” he said.

Navigating through the pandemic and planning for a post-Covid world have increased customers’ needs for as-a-service offerings, secure connectivity, remote work capabilities and analytics to unlock insights from data that are aligned to its strategy, he said.

Board of Directors have declared a regular cash dividend of $0.12 per share on the company’s common stock. This dividend, the fourth in Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s fiscal year 2020, is payable on October 7, 2020, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on September 9, 2020.

TVS ASL to create digital ecosystem via Google Cloud

TCN Bureau
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TVS ASL to create digital ecosystem via Google Cloud
  • Aims to bring vehicle owners, retailers, garages and insurance companies from a fragmented market place into one seamless digital technology architecture.

Bengaluru: TVS Automobile Solutions that deal with thousands of small entrepreneurs across automotive retailers and garages is ramping up its digital presence in an effort to create a seamless aftermarket landscape and has picked Google Cloud as its technology partner to do so.

The new digital transformation strategy means that TVS ASL will advance its goal of creating a ‘Digital Ecosystem’ to bring vehicle owners, retailers, garages and insurance companies from a fragmented market place into one seamless digital technology architecture to provide service, parts, roadside assistance and insurance.

The Indian Independent Automotive Aftermarket is estimated around $10 billion and growing at an annual growth rate of 7-10 per cent over the past five years. The market is highly fragmented with over 40,000 retailers, 100,000 garages and thousands of small distributors across the country.

The move comes as more and more companies are moving digital amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

Digital transfornation

According to Gartner, the pandemic has influenced the emergence of the distance economy, or business activities that don’t rely on face-to-face activity.

Organisations with operating models that depend on first-party or hosted events have switched quickly to virtual alternatives. And those who are not present are rushing to do so.

TVS ASL has already migrated its on-premises data centre infrastructure and existing public cloud deployments onto Google Cloud to develop the ‘platform of platforms’ tailored to the needs of the automotive industry.

“The range of solutions include Connected Vehicle (passenger cars, two wheelers and commercial vehicles), Diagnostics & Predictive Service Management on Cloud, Mobility solutions for all stakeholders to address their requirements and real time integration with all stakeholders for fulfilment,” G. Srinivasa Raghavan, Managing Director, TVS Automobile Solutions said.

“We selected Google Cloud for its superior tech stack across Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Big Data, Marketing & Marketplace solutions that will enable us to scale globally with shorter time to market,” he added.

Karan Bajwa, Managing Director, Google Cloud India said, “They are unlocking the potential of their business data at scale using machine learning to automate and optimise their supply chain, and leveraging managed services so they can focus their engineering effort on IT-led business initiatives that will pave the path for a strong digital future.”

Mobile gaming revenues increase 26% to $36.8b in first half

TCN Bureau
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Mobile gaming revenues increase 26% to $36.8b in first half
  • Apple store generates $22.2b and Google store generates $14.6b in first half.
  • Apple store generates more gaming revenues while Google Play dominates number of downloads.

Bengaluru: Mobile gaming revenues in the first half of this year increased by 26 per cent year on year to $36.8 billion, driven by the boosted user engagement amid the Covid-19 lockdowns.

According to statistics by Sensor Tower and Statista, iPhone users generated 60% of that value. In the first quarter of this year, the App Store revenue amounted to $10.6 billion, an 18% increase year-on-year and in the second quarter of the year; it rose to $11.6 billion.

However, Google Play store generated $14.6 billion in mobile gaming revenue in the first half of the year, $6.9 billion in the first quarter and $7.7 billion in the second quarter.

Although the App Store generated more gaming revenues during the first half of the year, the Sensor Tower data revealed Google Play dominates in the number of downloads.

In the first quarter of 2020, Google Play hit 10.4 billion mobile games downloads, a 39 per cent jump year-on-year. The number of downloads continued rising and jumped to 12.4 billion in the second quarter of the year. Statistics show the total number of downloads in Google Play store during the first half of 2020 amounted to 22.8 billion, a 52 per cent increase year-on-year.

The Sensor Tower data show the number of mobile game downloads in the App Store reached 5.7 billion during the first half of the year, four times less than Google Play.

Fitbit’s new Sense watch announced with world’s most advanced sensor

TCN Bureau
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Fitbit’s new Sense watch announced with world’s most advanced sensor
  • It is equipped with an advanced heart rate tracking technology, new ECG app and an on-wrist skin temperature sensor.
  • Along with Sense, Fitbit also introduced Versa 3 and Inspire 2.

Bengaluru: Fitbit unveiled three new devices – one of which can measure your stress levels thanks to the world’s first electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor on a smartwatch.

Apart from measuring the user’s stress levels, the new $330 smartwatch is also equipped with an advanced heart rate tracking technology, new ECG app, and an on-wrist skin temperature sensor.

It also features GPS, a speaker for voice assistant and phone calls, over 6 days of battery life and a magnetic snap-on charger.

Users can opt for a premium membership – free for the first six-months – to access some of the key metrics such as heart rate variability (HRV), breathing rate, and SpO2, through the new Health Metrics dashboard.

Along with Sense, Fitbit also introduced Versa 3 and Inspire 2. Versa 3 comes with new health, fitness, and convenience features, including GPS and the addition of Google Assistant.7, while Inspire 2 gets up to 10 days of battery life.

Fitbit breaks new ground

“We are breaking new ground with our wearables, helping you better understand and manage your stress and heart health,” James Park, co-founder and CEO, Fitbit said.

“It will pull your key health metrics together in a simple and digestible way to track things like skin temperature, heart rate variability, and SpO2 so you can see how it’s all connected,” he added.

The new EDA sensor on Fitbit Sense measures electrodermal activity responses. Using the EDA Scan app, place your palm over the face of the device to detect small electrical changes in the sweat level of your skin.

Fitbit’s new Stress Management Score calculates how your body is responding to stress based on your heart rate, sleep and activity data. Available with Fitbit Sense, it can be found in the new stress management tile in the Fitbit app.

Fitbit Premium members will get a detailed breakdown on how the score is calculated, which consists of over 10 biometric inputs, including exertion balance (impact of activity), responsiveness (heart rate, heart rate variability and electrodermal activity from the EDA Scan app), and sleep patterns (sleep quality).

Both Fitbit Versa 3 and Fitbit Sense will utilize the same magnetic charger. With an already long battery life of 6+ days on each device.

Fitbit Sense will start retailing in India from October and is priced at Rs33,999 while, the Versa 3 is priced at Rs25,999. Inspire 2 is priced at Rs10,999.

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Salesforce second-quarter profit skyrockets on one-off income tax benefits

TCN Bureau
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Salesforce second-quarter profit skyrockets on one-off income tax benefits
  • Revenues increase by 29% to $5.15b compared to $3.99b a year ago.
  • Company to replace ExxonMobil in 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average on August 31.
  • Company recorded approximately $2b of benefit from income taxes due to a one-time discrete tax item from the recognition of deferred tax assets related to an intra-entity transfer of intangible property.

Bengaluru: Salesforce registered one of the best quarters for an enterprise cloud firm with profit skyrocketing 2,785 per cent to $2.6 billion in the second quarter compared to $91 million a year ago due to one-off income tax benefits.

During the three months ended July 31, 2020, the company recorded approximately $2 billion of benefit from income taxes due to a one-time discrete tax item from the recognition of deferred tax assets related to an intra-entity transfer of intangible property. 

 “It’s humbling to have had one of the best quarters in Salesforce’s history against the backdrop of multiple crises seriously affecting our communities around the world,” Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO of Salesforce, said.

The American cloud-based software company that specialises in customer relationship management (CRM) is to replace ExxonMobil in the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average on August 31.

Its shares are trading at $273.52, up more than 26.6% on Wednesday. It is just shy of a 52-week high of $277.97.

The company’s revenues rose by 29% to $5.15 billion compared to $3.99 billion a year ago.

Subscription and support revenues for the quarter were $4.84 billion, an increase of 29% year-over-year. Professional services and other revenues for the quarter were $0.31 billion, an increase of 23% year-over-year.

Victory for stakeholder capitalism

The revenue from its cloud businesses stood at $1.28 billion, growing 13% on an annualised basis.

“This has been a challenging time for so many of us,” Benioff said during an interview to CNBC TV.

“We made key changes to our business so that we could go forward and go faster and that is why I’m so excited about this quarter. And also, this is a victory for stakeholder capitalism. We did a great job for our shareholders this quarter, but we did a great job for our stakeholders as well. This is a moment when we need to be thinking about not just how to serve all of our customers, but also how to take care of our communities.”

 “In response to Covid-19, service leaders in every industry had to quickly adapt and find new ways to support employees while still delivering quality service to their customers,” said Mark Cattini, SVP of Field Service Management at Salesforce.

“This is one of the areas where Field Service Lightning shines, with AI-powered scheduling and resource optimisation that ensure technicians arrive at the right time, with the knowledge to successfully complete tasks the first time. This helps keep both the technician and customer safe.”

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