• Field trial conducted with a 360 degree interactive live event streamed from Montreal with remote audiences participating on their 5G smartphones and VR devices in Singapore and Bangkok
• Bridge Alliance Federated Edge Hub (FEH) testbed is now ready and invites more partners for field trials

BANGKOK and LONDON and MONTREAL and SINGAPORE, Feb. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bridge Alliance, Advanced Info Service (AIS), Singtel, and Summit Tech have successfully conducted an edge-to-edge interconnection across telecom operators in Singapore and Thailand, validated through a 360 degree interactive livestreaming use case. With this achievement, a FEH testbed for this service is now ready for more trials with application partners to unlock new commercial use cases powered by multi-market MEC and 5G.

Leveraging AIS and Singtel 5G networks and tapping on AIS' 5GNEXTGen Platform and Singtel's Paragon Platform, a live music performance in Montreal was broadcast in 8K to audiences in Bangkok and Singapore in January 2023. This was achieved after both MEC platforms were interconnected via the Bridge Alliance Federated Edge Hub (FEH). Through their smartphones and headsets, they viewed the performance on Summit Tech's Odience immersive and interactive virtual reality (VR) 360 livestreaming platform, which leverages 5G and MEC to provide bandwidth-efficient streams to mobile devices and wearables. A poll conducted at the event found that the audience experience was extremely positive, with the majority finding it superior to traditional streaming.

The use case demonstrates the potential of low latency applications that leverage edge-to-edge interactions in multiple markets. FEH serves as a truly global collaboration platform for cross market 5G, MEC and web 3.0 applications like the metaverse, by allowing Bridge Alliance member operators to interconnect with other mobile operators worldwide. Meanwhile, application providers like Summit Tech can utilise the Bridge Alliance FEH simple discovery APIs from CAMARA, a joint initiative between GSMA and the Linux Foundation, to discover and order multi-market edge resources for field trials.

Applications of two-way interactive livestreaming

Unlike one-way streaming, features in real-time two-way video streaming add much more value and excitement to participants by enabling them to interact with the performance. They can appear on video walls at the venue, socialise by chatting and holding in-app video calls with others attending the event virtually and even make transactions. Ecommerce payments and supplementary information on the performance can be delivered via embedded QR codes and AI image recognition, while polls and gamification during the event further increase the engagement.

The success of this edge-to-edge interconnection and interactive livestreaming use case has significant real-world applications and commercial impact for not only consumers, but also businesses involved in concerts, livestream shopping, sports and eSports.

Dr Ong Geok Chwee, CEO of Bridge Alliance, said, "We're very honoured to be part of this successful trial. As a leading mobile alliance, Bridge Alliance is committed to enabling multi-market use cases and removing friction to enable application providers to seamlessly provision telco edge resources across many countries. We drive 5G initiatives such as the development of our FEH, a platform which helps remove barriers in accessing edge resources across markets. We continually collaborate with partners in accelerating immersive multi-market use cases and welcome more of you, including potential commercial customers to join us!"

Mr Tanapong Ittisakulchai, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, AIS, said, "As part of this successful trial, we are very honoured to partner with leading organisations like Bridge Alliance, Singtel, GSMA and Summit Tech to leverage our 5G NEXTGen Platform capability to unleash the limitation of live streaming across the region. This trial proves the readiness of AIS 5G network, digital infrastructure & platform which are now ready to serve the new emerging application market across a wide range of industries, including retail and property, manufacturing, transportation and logistics. We welcome application partners and value customers to cooperate in working together for your transformation and overcoming the digital disruption era together."

Mr Tay Yeow Lian, Managing Director, Networks, Consumer Singapore, Singtel, said, "Our Singtel Paragon Platform offers network slicing, low-latency, and edge cloud computing capabilities that provide users with high-speed and seamless streaming experiences at live events across devices and two-way interactions with instream capabilities for live concerts, conferences, shopping, and more. This trial is just the first step to driving more immersive use cases for different industry verticals and enabling enterprises to deploy 5G MEC use cases worldwide. Together with our partners - AIS, Bridge Alliance, and GSMA, we will develop new APIs to make the deployment of next-generation applications fast, easy, and automated locally and globally."

Mr Doug Makishima, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer (CSMO) of Summit Tech, said, "Edge computing represents the next phase of the digital transformation and is enabling key new applications that require maximum geographic reach. Our Odience 360 VR livestreaming platform is one such application where brands, artists, teams and enterprises want to reach their customers and audiences across different markets. We were very pleased to partner with Bridge Alliance, Singtel and AIS in this multi-edge trial using edge discovery APIs to successfully demonstrate cross-carrier MEC interoperability to extend the telco edge to a global footprint."

Mr Henry Calvert, Head of Networks, GSMA, said, "We're very excited to complete this GSMA Foundry Telco Edge Cloud trial with Bridge Alliance, Singtel, AIS and Summit Tech and bring the edge-to-edge interconnection project to life. The GSMA Foundry is all about our members and industry players working together on real-world solutions to industry challenges – nurturing new ideas through initial commercial trials – or scaling proven solutions at a regional and global level. In this instance, the project has highlighted that interactive 360-degree livestreaming can now be extended across countries for events such as concerts or sporting events."

Call for application partners and interested business owners

The edge-to-edge interconnection is a step forward following from the hub-to-hub interconnection between two heterogeneous MECs that was announced in February 2022.

The FEH testbed for the interactive livestreaming service is now ready for more trials. Bridge Alliance invites both application partners and business owners keen on developing immersive experiences to collaborate and unlock new use cases leveraging on multi-market telco edge cloud and 5G networks.

For more information, visit https://www.gsma.com/foundry/bridge-alliance-federated-edge-hub/. To view a showcase of the use case, please visit the GSMA Pavilion (Hall 4, Stand 4F30) at MWC Barcelona.  

About Bridge Alliance

Bridge Alliance is the leading mobile alliance for premier operators and their customers in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Our alliance covers 34 members who serve over 1 billion customers collectively across these regions. Our goal is to build group capabilities and create value for our members by enabling compelling roaming services and experience, offering multi-market enterprise and IoT solutions, and delivering savings and benefits through leveraging group economies.

Bridge Alliance's members and partners include: Airtel (India, Sri Lanka and the Airtel subsidiaries in Africa: Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia), AIS (Thailand), China Telecom (China), China Unicom (China), CSL Mobile (Hong Kong), CTM (Macau), Globe Telecom (Philippines), Maxis (Malaysia), Metfone (Cambodia), MobiFone (Vietnam), Optus (Australia), Singtel (Singapore), SK Telecom (South Korea), stc (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait), SoftBank Corp. (Japan), Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan), and Telkomsel (Indonesia).

For more information, visit www.bridgealliance.com.

About AIS

Advanced Info Service Public Company Limited (AIS) is the 5G Digital Service Provider with the most spectra to provide service, totalling 1420MHz . The company has the most subscribers in Thailand, counting over 45.7 million in September 2022. AIS is ready to power Thailand with 5G technology which currently covers 77 provinces through 3 core businesses: mobile phones, high-speed home broadband through AIS Fibre, and Digital Services in 5 aspects of video, the Cloud, digital payments, the Internet of Things (IoT) and services provided jointly with partners. The company is also expanding into AIS eSports and AIS Insurance Service. AIS will proceed with its vision of becoming a Cognitive Tech-Co, to support a robust digital infrastructure for the country, boost the industrial sector's competitive potential and upgrade quality of life for all Thais. Find us at www.ais.th

About Singtel

Singtel is Asia's leading communications technology group, providing a portfolio of services from next-generation communication, 5G and technology services to infotainment to both consumers and businesses. The Group has presence in Asia, Australia and Africa and reaches over 770 million mobile customers in 21 countries. Its infrastructure and technology services for businesses span 21 countries, with more than 428 direct points of presence in 362 cities.

For consumers, Singtel delivers a complete and integrated suite of services, including mobile, broadband and TV. For businesses, Singtel offers a complementary array of workforce mobility solutions, data hosting, cloud, network infrastructure, analytics and cyber security capabilities.

Singtel is dedicated to continuous innovation, harnessing technology to create new and exciting customer experiences and shape a more sustainable, digital future.

For more information, visit www.singtel.com. For more information on Singtel's Paragon, visit www.singtel.com/business/products-services/5g/paragon.

Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SingtelNews.

About Summit Tech

Summit Tech provides best-in-class, readily monetizable 5G, Mobile Edge (MEC), VR 360 livestreaming, IMS & RCS solutions to the mobile industry. With an impressive track record of innovation and large-scale deployments with top-tier operators and OEMs, we provide a broad range of solutions including mobile client software for devices such as mobile apps and native SDKs, Cloud Native IMS virtual infrastructure elements for the core network, and our award-wining Odience 360 VR livestreaming platform with integrated ecommerce and two-way interactivity. As members of GSMA and MEF, Summit Tech is an active contributor to IMS/RCS and 5G MEC standards, and was the first to achieve GSMA RCS Universal Profile 2.x accreditation for both client device and network. www.summit-tech.ca / www.odience.ca

About GSMA

The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, tackling today's biggest societal challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability that make mobile work, and providing the world's largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.

We invite you to find out more at gsma.com.

Source: Bridge Alliance