DiGiSPICE: Industry Monitoring 08 May 2019
- Priyanka Kanodia
- May 9, 2019
- 6 min read
DiGiSPICE
Competitors
Phone users ready to pay 20% premium for 5G: Ericsson
Publication- Business Standard
Edition- Online
Date- 08 May, 2019
Smartphone users are willing to pay a 20 per cent premium for 5G services, while half of early adopters would pay as much as 32 per cent more, says an Ericsson study on Tuesday. One in five smartphone users' data usage could reach more than 200GB per month on a 5G device by 2025, said the Ericsson "ConsumerLab" report. Average world smartphone data usage in 2018 stood at 5.6GB per month and is expected to increase to 21GB per month in 2024, an increase of roughly four times from today's usage.
The research revealed that consumers expect 5G to provide relief from urban network congestion in the near term -- especially in megacities, where six in 10 smartphone users report facing network issues in crowded areas. The respondents also anticipate more home broadband choices to be available with the launch of 5G.
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Industry News
Explained: The rise of India's new billionaires and the fall of the old
Publication- Business Standard
Edition- Online
Date- 08 May, 2019
India is going through one of the greatest periods of wealth creation -- and destruction -- all at the same time. A new breed of self-made entrepreneurs is vaulting into the ranks of the wealthy, offsetting billions lost by debt-burdened industrialists and members of the country’s old dynasties. The changes are set to help India’s ultra-rich population grow at the world’s fastest pace.
The Payment Guru:
Vijay Shekhar Sharma founded One97 Communications in 2000 when fewer than 10 million Indians were online. Business at his Paytm digital payment unit soared after the Indian government eliminated 500- and 1,000-rupee banknotes at the end of 2016. An August 2018 funding round valued One97 at more than $10 billion, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Sharma currently owns 15 percent of the company, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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Nazara Technologies invests Rs. 75 lakhs in social contests platform Bakbuck
Publication- Glaws
Edition- Online
Date- 08 May, 2019
Online games company Nazara Technologies Limited has announced that it has invested an undisclosed amount in Khichadi Technologies Private Limited, the company that runs social contest platform Bakbuck. However, as per Registrar of Companies (ROC) records, Nazara has invested around Rs. 75 lakhs (Rs. 75,00,500/-) in the company for 2143 compulsorily convertible preference shares.
Some other founders, individuals and corporate investors have also invested around Rs. 24.99 lakhs in the company, thus taking the total investment in the company in the seed funding round to around Rs. 1 crore.
Founded by Abhinay Jain, Shashank Kakrecha and Rohit Naidu in 2018, Bakbuck offers traditional Indian games like ‘Antakshari’, ‘Saanp Seedhi’ and ‘Tol mol ke Bol’ amongst others, in a contest format, that allows users to play anytime, with anyone. Currently available in Hindi, Bakbuck plans to expand to 10 more Indian languages soon.
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Wipro, R3 develop blockchain prototype to enable digital currency in Thailand
Publication- ET Tech
Edition- Online
Date- 08 May, 2019
Wipro said it has jointly with R3 developed a blockchain-based solution prototype to power digital currency in Thailand. R3 is an enterprise blockchain software firm. Wipro said the blockchain-based solution, aimed to enable digital currency for interbank settlements for a consortium consisting the Bank of Thailand and eight commercial banks in Thailand, would facilitate de-centralized inter-bank real-time gross settlement (RTGS) using wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
This is a part of the first phase of Project lnthanon, an initiative led by the Bank of Thailand and eight participating banks and will use blockchain technology to build a proof-of-concept prototype for domestic fund transfer within the country's interbanking system by issuing CBDC tokens. Wipro and R3 have co-developed a blockchain solution prototype on Corda, R3's open source blockchain platform, for the consortium, said the company in a press release.
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'Blockchain Fatigue' to hit 90% supply chain initiatives
Publication- Business Standard
Edition- Online
Date- 08 May, 2019
Ninety per cent of Blockchain-based supply chain initiatives will suffer "Blockchain fatigue" by 2023 due to a lack of strong use cases. Blockchain remains a popular topic, but supply chain leaders are failing to find suitable use cases, a new report by Gartner said on Tuesday. "Supply chain blockchain projects have mostly focused on verifying authenticity, improving traceability and visibility, and improving transactional trust.
"However, most have remained pilot projects due to a combination of technology immaturity, lack of standards, overly ambitious scope and a misunderstanding of how blockchain could, or should, actually help the supply chain. Inevitably, this is causing the market to experience blockchain fatigue," Alex Pradhan, Senior Principal Research Analyst at Gartner, said in a statement.
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Pundi X to launch an Open Platform for blockchain developers
Publication- BW CIO World
Edition- Online
Date- 08 May, 2019
Pundi X, a blockchain payment service provider, has announced that it will soon open up its platform called Open Platform for developers and companies to list digital tokens within XPOS, XWallet, and XPASS. The platform will also allow the creation of customized XPASS cards within the same ecosystem. said Zac Cheah, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pundi X.
Blockchain payment ecosystem: XPOS, XPASS, and the virtual XWallet
The first product which Pundi X created was the XPOS. It is the world’s first blockchain-powered wireless point-of-sale (POS) solution that enables merchants and consumers to easily buy, sell and transact using digital assets in physical stores. The XPOS is designed to be virtual currency neutral and currently, popular coins and tokens such as BTC, ETH and NPXS are listed and accepted within the Pundi X payment ecosystem.
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Accenture enters the Guinness World Records for Longest line of photographs
Publication- Consultancy
Edition- Online
Date- 08 May, 2019
Alongside the overall recognition it has received for its unique approach to talent management across organisations, Accenture India’s myPassion programme has now been recognised for the documentation of its progress through photographs by the Guiness World Records.
Nurturing and developing talent has become an increasingly crucial aspect of business operations recently. Digitalisation is bringing a degree of uniformity to a number of large organisations, leaving the human touch offered by employees in the firm as the only differentiating factor.
In such a competitive market, innovative human resources (HR) policies and initiatives are of the essence. Accenture’s myPassion initiative has been one of the most lauded initiatives in this domain. The programme allows the employees to display their range of talents in the workplace, allowing them to be themselves.
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Microsoft’s Own Blockchain Is Powered By JP Morgan; Starbucks Will Use It For Tracking Coffee!
Publication- Tark.in
Edition- Online
Date- 08 May, 2019
Blockchain is a breakthrough technology that is sparking innovation and absolute necessity across industries. In a rapidly globalizing world, great sums are spent managing workflows that cross trust boundaries. As digital transformation expands beyond the walls of one company and into processes shared with suppliers, partners and customers, the importance of trust grows with it. This is where blockchain technology steps in.
This week, the tech giant Microsoft has partnered with the banking heavyweight, JP Morgan to accelerate the adoption of enterprise blockchain. Microsoft has launched its fully-managed Azure Blockchain Service that is created to ward off complexities in operating blockchain technologies. It is built specifically to manage related activities, like adding members, giving them permissions and checking the system on the whole. Instead of supporting cryptocurrency transactions, Azure will let businesses develop their applications on its Cloud-based platform.
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SEC to Hold Blockchain, Crypto Forum on May 31
Publication- Crypto News
Edition- Online
Date- 08 May, 2019
In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it is all set to organize a forum on May 31 at its official headquarters. A press release put out by the federal body said, “The forum is being organized by the agency’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) and was announced in connection with the launch of FinHub last year. FinHub is committed to active engagement with market participants on new financial technologies. The forum is the second such forum to be hosted by the agency, will feature panelists from industry and academia, and is designed to foster greater communication and understanding around issues involving DLT and digital assets.”
The SEC mentioned that this was the second such forum, but did not mention when the first forum was held. It further stated that the panel would touch on topics such as initial coin offerings (ICOs), digital asset platforms, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) innovations, and how these technologies impact investors and the markets.
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