TelecomLive April-2020

www.telecomlive.com [ News Bytes ] 58 Telecom LIVE April 2020 from classrooms to inter- active digital glass rooms. The TCS iON Digital Glass Room is a mobile and web education plat- form for schools and colleges. The platform is available to educational institutes of all types, i r r e s p e c t i v e o f t h e medium of instruction, Board / University affilia- tion, or size. Interested schools and higher educa- tion organisations can r e g i s t e r a t https://learning.tcsionh ub.in/hub/glass-room. SoftBank to buy back $41 bn in assets to trim debt The Japanese technol- ogy and telecoms com- pany SoftBank said it plans to buy back up to 4.5 tn yen ($41 bn) of its assets as it seeks to trim its gigantic debt burden. Tokyo-based SoftBank will buy up to 2 tn yen ($18.1 bn) of its shares. E a r l i e r , S o f t B a n k announced a 500 bn yen ($4.5 bn) share repur- chase. Acting at a time when the coronavirus outbreak has ramped up uncer- tainty for many indus- tries, the company said it will spend the remaining 2 . 5 t n y e n o n d e b t p r o d u c t o f f e r i n g s , Omdia, an independent consultancy and analyst firm said. The SDS mar- ket comprises hyper- converged infrastructure (HCI) and standalone SDS products. The report says that HCI shipments are esti- mated to have grown 24 pc yoy in 2019, achieving a 56 pc, five year CAGR in 2 0 2 3 . M e a n w h i l e , standalone SDS (non- HCI) shipments grew 12 pc in 2019, to achieve a 21 pc five-year CAGR in 2023. Furthermore, HCI is forecasted to reach $43 bn by 2023, rising at five- year CAGR of 47 pc. Whereas, the standalone SDS can be predicted to reach $42 bn by 2023 for five-year CAGRof 18pc. In terms of revenue, t h e H C I r e v e n u e amounted to $1.9 bn, in the second quarter of 2019, up 27 pc yoy and s t a n d a l o n e S D S amounted to $4.3 bn, down 12 pc yoy. Cloud service provid- ers contributed 43 pc of total SDS revenue in 2 0 1 9 , i n c o n t r a s t , telecom service provid- ers contributed a meagre 4 pc. TCS iON offers free access to virtual learning platform to educational institutes In the wake of nation- w i d e l o c k d o wn s o f schools and colleges, TCS has offered access to Digital Glass Room, a virtual learning plat- form, free of cost to edu- cational institutes across the country. Using this, educators and students can connect in a safe, secure virtual environ- ment, moving lessons redemptions, bond buybacks and increasing its cash reserves. The company said it believes its shares are undervalued by 73 pc to their "intrinsic value." The total 5 tn yen ($45.5 bn) in shares that will be repurchased over a year's time account for 45 pc of the company's total shares and are to be retired. SoftBank's profit dropped to 55 bn yen ($500mn) in the last quarter after it posted losses of 700 bn yen ($6.4 bn) in the July-September quarter. The damage came largely from its Vision Fund, created to invest in startups like the shared office space venture WeWork and ride-hailing companyUber. Sterlite approves buyback of shares Sterlite Technologies said its board of directors has approved buyback of equity shares with a face value of Rs 2 from the open market for a total amount not exceeding Rs 145 cr. This will exclude all kinds of transactional and other related costs at a price not exceedingRs 150per equity share. The maximum buyback size represents 9.95 pc and 9.32 pc of aggregate of total paid-up equity share capi- tal and free reserves of the company based on the audited standalone and consolidated financial state- ments as onMarch 31, 2019. Post buyback, promoters' stake in the company will increase to 54.95 pc against 53.63 pc.