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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Tata Teleservices'

Koor eyes stake in Tata TeleServices

  • April 19th, 2008
  • 9:03 am

Israeli company Koor Industries has expressed interest in acquiring a minority stake in CDMA network operator Tata Teleservices. According to a statement by Koor filed with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, it has sent a non-binding letter of intent expressing its interest in investing USD577 million in Tata Teleservices. It acknowledged, however, that there was ‘no certainty’ a deal would be reached. Tata is reported to be aiming to raise over USD1 billion by selling up to 30% of the company to private equity firms and other investors. Tata had over 22.4 million wireless customers at the end of 2007.

   

 

Virgin’s Indian Mobile Deal May Be Declared Void

  • March 6th, 2008
  • 1:54 pm

A deal between Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile and Tata Teleservices Ltd. to sell wireless services in India may be declared void by the Indian government, the London-based.

The Indian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has requested details about the agreement after the Cellular Operators’ Association of India argued the deal is illegal.

The Cellular Operators’ Association says Virgin is buying mobile capacity wholesale from Tata and then selling it under its own brand, an arrangement not allowed in India.

Though no decision has been made by the ministry, an unidentified ministry spokesman said it’s possible Virgin will not be allowed to operate.

An unidentified Virgin Mobile India spokesman said the agreement, which was announced on March 2, doesn’t involve selling bulk airtime, the newspaper reported. Virgin and Tata insist they have a legal franchise agreement.

   

 

Tata Indicom, Samsung unveil dual-SIM smartphone

  • August 6th, 2007
  • 2:32 pm

India’s Tata Teleservices and Samsung Telecommunications have unveiled a touch screen, dual-SIM smartphone, the Samsung Duo. The phone contain two SIM slots. The features of the golden handset include a large 2.2 inch TFT touch screen, 1.3 megapixel camera, micro SD card slot and MP3/AAC+ player with A2DP bluetooth support. On the software front, the handset has handwriting recognition, file viewer, sketch memo, advanced organiser capability with functional screen and applications of the Indian calendar, hinglish, mobile prayer, panchang and cricket scorer. The handset supports data speeds of up to 153 Kbps on the Tata Indicom network and can be connected to the laptop through bluetooth. The handset is priced at INR 11,999.

   

Tata Tele to sell 20% stake for $500mn

  • March 8th, 2007
  • 4:24 pm

Tata Teleservices Ltd, the CDMA services provider of the Tata group, is set to offload 20 % stake to a
clutch of investors, including state-owned private equity fund Temasek of Singapore and C Sivasankaran,
by February 15. The sale is expected to fetch Tata Teleservices over $500mn. Sivasankaran, the promoter
of the Sterling group, recently sold telecom service provider Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis for $1.08bn.
Various Tata group companies promote TTSL, an unlisted company, including Tata Sons, Videsh
Sanchar Nigam Ltd and certain other Tata firms. Tata Teleservices had made an attempt to sale one-third
stake to South Korean Telecom (SKT). But the deal did not materialize because of differences over
valuation. Tata Teleservices had over 8mn subscribers in January 2006 and had operations in 20 circles.

 

 

BPL Mobile ramps up capex to Rs 200 crore for 2007

  • January 16th, 2007
  • 8:21 am

EconomicTimes writes…BPL Mobile Communications has increased the capex for this year to Rs 200 crore. The telco, in which the Essar group owns 9.9%, will also refinance loan of Rs 700 crore in the next two months. “We are working on re-financing our Rs 700-crore debt. It should happen in the next two months.

Part of the expansion will be funded from this debt and the rest from internal accruals,� BPL Mumbai CEO S Subramaniam told ET. The refinancing could be done by the current bankers, which are IDBI, ICICI and IDFC.

However, Mr Subramaniam refused to comment on details. The company had announced a capex of Rs 100 crore in August last year. “We are doubling it up because we have to invest more to keep pace with the growth,� he said.

The increase in investment is significant as it is being viewed as yet another attempt at building value in the circle ahead of a possible sale. According to sources, the proposed merger of BPL Mobile with Hutchison Essar (HEL) has been called off and the Ruias will continue to manage the circle as of now.

With the new investment, BPL will nearly double the number of base stations from 600 to over 1,100 by September this year. BPL Mobile has roped in Motorola for providing telecom equipment.

The telco, with around 11 million users, is also replacing the existing IN networks. Comverse, an Israel-based mobile communications software maker, is providing the new IN networks. Also in the pipeline are new value-added services, upgradation of call centre and a branding exercise for BPL.

Mr Subramaniam said BPL Mobile reported Rs 106-crore revenue in the quarter ended September ‘06. “We expect to be at Rs 121 crore in the October-December quarter,� he added.

He said. BPL’s current subscriber capacity is around 14 lakh and it plans to have 18 lakh lines in place by December ‘07. Other operators in Mumbai market are Hutchison Essar, Bharti Airtel, MTNL, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.

 

Virgin Mobile plans entry to India

  • January 16th, 2007
  • 6:19 am

TelecomAsia writes…Ratan Tata of the Tata Group and Richard Branson of the Virgin empire are planning to form an alliance to introduce the Virgin Mobile brand in India, a source familiar with the matter said.

The source said the Virgin Group is in talks with Tata Teleservices for the possibility of Virgin Mobile acting as a MVNO which will buy bulk space from an existing wireless company and resell it under the Virgin brand.
However, this model is not yet allowed in India.

Instead, Virgin is planning to become an exclusive franchisee of Tata Teleservices which is permitted in India.

For this, a new entity largely owned by Tata Teleservices will be formed, the source said. The products and services will be bundled under the Virgin name, supported by the services provided by Tata Teleservices.

The source added that discussions so far has been good and if all goes well with the regulatory approvals in place, Virgin Mobile would be launched in April this year. When contacted, a Tata group spokesperson declined to comment.

This comes at a crucial time when Dayanidhi Maran, Union minister of communications and IT, is pushing to promote passive and active infrastructure sharing, which would help companies to reduce its cost of rolling out services.

Wireless subscribers in India have already crossed the 100-million mark making India one of the top five markets in the world. However, more than 50% of the population still has no access to mobile services.

 

 

India next for Virgin Mobile?

  • January 15th, 2007
  • 12:48 pm

Telegeography writes…According to the Times of India, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is in talks with Indian wireless operator Tata Teleservices with a view to introducing the Virgin Mobile brand to India. Because MVNOs are not yet permitted on the sub-continent, the newspaper reports that Virgin is planning to become an exclusive franchisee of Tata Teleservices. For this, a new company, likely majority owned by Tata Teleservices will be formed. Products and services will then be bundled under the Virgin name, but will be supported by Tata Teleservices. If the pair can reach agreement on terms and gain the necessary regulatory approvals, Virgin Mobile could be launched as soon as April this year.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, this is not the first time that Virgin has been in discussions with potential Indian partners. In April 2005 Branson was reported to be negotiating with Bharti, Idea and MTNL, though no deal was then struck.

 
 

Virgin Mobile plans India entry

  • January 15th, 2007
  • 9:17 am

TimesofIndia writes…When the entire nation is engrossed in the unfolding Hutch drama, another landmark deal is in the works. Two of the world’s most admired business leaders — Ratan Tata of the Tata Group and Richard Branson of the Virgin empire — are coming together for an alliance in India’s telecom landscape.

A source familiar with the development said the Virgin Group is in talks with Tata Teleservices to introduce Virgin Mobile brand in India. Globally, Virgin Mobile’s business strategy is to act as a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) which buys bulk space from an existing wireless company and resell it under the Virgin brand. However, this model is not yet allowed in India.(For instance: Virgin Mobile has a tie-up with Bell in Canada, while it has an alliance with Sprint in the US).

Instead, Virgin is planning to become an exclusive franchisee of Tata Teleservices which is permitted in India. For this, a new entity largely owned by Tata Teleservices will be formed. The products and services will be bundled under Virgin name, supported by the services provided by Tata Teleservices. The source added that discussions so far has been good and if all goes well with the regulatory approvals in place, Virgin Mobile would be launched in April this year. When contacted, a Tata group spokesperson declined to comment.

In simple words, there would be two brands__Tata Indicomm and Virgin. Tata Indicomm positioned as a mass market brand, while Virgin would be positioned as a youth brand pitted against brands like Hutch. This is been done as Tata Indicomm does not appeal to everyone in terms of popularity and appeal. Tata Indicomm has already established itself in the mass market category while Richard Branson’s touch could bring in more subscribers.

This comes at a crucial time when Dayanidhi Maran, Union minister of communications and IT, is pushing to promote passive (mobile tower sites) and active infrastructure (branding, service alliances) sharing, which would help companies to reduce its cost of rolling out services. Though wireless subscribers in India have already crossed the 100-million mark, making India one of the top five markets in the world, still more than 50% of the population is to be covered by mobile services.

For the British billionaire, this is part of his strategy to expand his businesses__telecom, radio, food and beverages, financial services__in India. In 2005, Branson launched his airline Virgin Atlantic’s flight services in India.

Tata Teleservices pioneered the CDMA technology platform in India and it serves 13 million customers in over 2,500 towns. Its customer base increased thanks to its hugely successful schemes like ‘non-stop’ and ‘don’t stop’.

Recently, Tata Teleservices saw a change in ownership structure with NRI businessman C Sivasankaran’s Sterling Infotech group and Singapore government’s private equity arm Temasek acquiring stakes in the company.

 

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