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GSM rivals in India joining hands (India)

  • August 21st, 2008
  • 10:58 am

Chairman of TRAI, Nripendra Misra will be going to meet all GSM players to find a final solution to them offering interconnect agreements to Reliance Communication’s new GSM lines. According to a local media report, all leading GSM players including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular and BSNL have understood to have agreed to link their networks with Reliance Communications’ GSM network. Sources said that RCOM executives too would be part of meet. “TRAI will play facilitator — both sides will meet and hold talks. They will settle the commercial terms to interconnection of the networks,” a source added.

Report also said that the development comes a day before the expiry of TRAI’s directive asking all GSM players to offer interconnections to RCOM. It is also learnt that the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the body representing all GSM players will not approach the courts or the telecom tribunal over this issue. Some members of COAI were keen on exploring legal avenues, but the industry body finally decided against the move after having talks with Mr Misra on this issue, source further added.

Five mobile operators have agreed to provide interconnectivity to RCOM GSM (India)

  • August 20th, 2008
  • 10:39 am

As per the direction given by TRAI to provide interconnectivity to RCom GSM network, five mobile operators, including Idea Cellular, MTNL and Tata Communication have agreed to provide link of their network to RCOM group. Idea Cellular has agreed to provide interconnection to RCom thereby not becoming a part of COAI’s likely petition against TRAI’s directive on the same sources revealed. Aircel and Spice Communication are the other operators to give interconnection to RCom GSM network.

BSNL is in dialogue with RCOM (India)

  • August 20th, 2008
  • 6:57 am

As directed by TRAI, BSNL is in conversation with Reliance Communication  (RCOM) to work on an agrreable interconnection arrangement for RCOM’s GSM network.
“We are in a dialogue with them. There has been no conclusion yet on the outcome of our talks on a agreeable interconnection arrangement,” BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal said.

Will BSNL going to challenge the TRAI’s directive, On that note Goyal said, “Whether we will challenge the TRAI directive on providing interconnection to RCOM or not depends on the outcome of these talks. Let us see what happens before August 21. ”
Industry sources revealed that Idea Cellular is understood to have also worked out a similar interconnection pact with RCOM. Although, it could not be confirmed as Idea Cellular Chairman Sanjiv Aga refuses to comment. Company official, however, said Idea was negotiating with RCOM on the interconnection. But refuses to give any statement on the outcome. T V Ramachandran Director General of COAI, the GSM operators’ body, said he had no idea about Idea Cellular’s interconnection pact with RCOM. “But if Idea agrees to interconnect with RCOM it does not become a part of our proposed petition to TDSAT. However, our position to challenge TRAI directive stands,” Ramachandran added.

COAI to challenge TRAI’s directive (India)

  • August 19th, 2008
  • 2:08 pm

GSM players may approach TDSAT to challenge TRAI’s directive, which asked them to give interconnection to Reliance Communication GSM network. “We are certainly examining legal option and will take a call on this today,” GSM operators association COAI Director General T V Ramachandran said. As reported earlier in our report  “TRAI directed GSM players for interconnection with RCOM”
http://wirelessfederation.com/news/trai-directed-gsm-players-for-interconnection-with-rcom-india/ 

RCOM to sign new agreements - GSM Operator (India)

  • August 7th, 2008
  • 2:00 pm

Speaking over a controversy between GSM operators and RCOM (Reliance Communication) the GSM operators’ body has stated that RCom needs to sign new agreements with the operators.The Cellular Operators’ Association of India has stated that the present agreement between RCom and GSM players dates back to 2003, and this does not include the new GSM operations that the company is planning to enter. The reason for the lack of inter-connectivity agreements is the lack of a commercial agreement between RCom and the GSM operators. Moreover, RCom is completely unwilling to re-negotiate the terms of interconnection and this was hindering the interconnect issues, COAI said in a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). However, there arises a need to ‘mutually establish the technical and commercial terms of interconnection for RCom’s new GSM network, and consequently establish the physical interconnectivity for the same,’ it said. ‘Based on this, Mobile Switching Code (MSC) could be tested and opened,’ it added.

The evergrowing Indian mobile market (India)

  • August 4th, 2008
  • 5:00 am

India is on a storming Economic growth path & a major constituent of Asian Tigers. With a population of over 1 billion it is a market not many of the organizations can afford to ignore. Mobile market in India is amongst the fastest growing markets in the world with mobile phone subscriptions growing at about 8 million a month.
India has one of the lowest mobile phone tariffs (as low as 2-3 US cents/minute) in the world resulting in low Average Revenue per User (ARPU). Enhancing APRU is one of the biggest challenges in front of Indian Mobile Operators. Mobile Operators are constantly making effort through innovative services & implementing strategies to retain customer while taking the ARPU north. Factors adding to the problem for mobile operators are the price sensitive market of India & virtual price war amongst the mobile operators. As a result the ARPU & tariffs will decrease further in future.

The scenario forces operators with the option to find other unexplored revenue sources VAS (Value added services) & mobile advertisement are feasible solutions for the operators in case implemented efficiently & effectively. Bharti-Airtel has recently launched Advertisement funded model in this arena. A price sensitive market, more than 100 million people armed with mobiles – operators are truly sitting on the gold mine to be explored, but the execution would surely need a Midas touch. COAI has projected that VAS will contribute up to 20% of total telecom revenue within next two years. While VAS will entice customers with innovative offerings, Mobile Advertisement will provide the price sensitive mass a reason to cherish.

Few Popular VAS applications are (some already implemented):

• Mobile Music
• Mobile Videos & Animation clips
• Mobile Gaming
• Mobile Contests/Voting
• Mobile Email
• News Alert/Match

Mobile TV is another service to watch for, that could change the whole geometry that presently exists.

The growth story of India is here to stay with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%, the country’s cellular services market is projected to surpass $37 billion by 2012, while exceeding 737 million connections at the same time (source : Gartner/Business World).