Airtel in talks with Qualcomm to buy out Indian unit (India)
Leading telecom operator in India, Bharti Airtel, is said to be moving forward in its talks to buy out the Indian partners of Qualcomm in a fourth-generation (4G) broadband venture in the country, according to a report by Reuters.
Qualcomm purchased 4G radio airwaves in a 2010 Indian state auction for $1 billion, and had sold a total 26 percent stake to Indian companies Global Holding Corp and Tulip Telecom for about $58 million to comply with the sector’s foreign holding rules.
As per the report, both sides are still negotiating valuations, but Bharti will likely pay some premium over what Global Holding and Tulip paid in 2010. Further, it is expected that Bharti will make further investments in the company in future and new shares will be issued to them. That automatically dilutes the Qualcomm holding.
The deal will give Bharti access to four telecoms zones, including the lucrative Delhi and Mumbai cities, where it does not have its own 4G airwaves. Bharti, which won 4G airwaves in just four of India’s 22 telecoms zones, has said it would like to have a nationwide 4G broadband network. The company recently launched commercial 4G networks in Kolkata and Bangalore cities.
Qualcomm, which was embroiled in a dispute with the Indian telecoms ministry, was granted the 4G airwaves this month, nearly two years after it won them in the auction. The ministry cut the usage period of the airwaves by 18 months.
Qualcomm, which is pushing for the deployment of LTE (long-term evolution) broadband technology in India, has previously said it is looking at one or more operator partners in the India broadband venture.
Airtel partners with Axis Bank for mobile banking services (India)
India’s leading telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, has entered into a partnership with Axis Bank, enabling customers to carry out basic transactions such as transfer money as well as deposit and withdraw cash via Airtel Money.
As per reports, Bharti Airtel chief executive, India and South Asia, Sanjay Kapoor said that following the recent pan-India launch of Airtel money, they are today excited to collaborate with Axis Bank to further strengthen their m-commerce proposition for customers.
He added that the services will first be offered in Delhi and Mumbai on the sending side, and Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh on the receiving side. Thereafter, these services may be extended to other remittance corridors in the country.
Kapoor also said that according to estimates, nearly 43 per cent of the country’s population does not have bank accounts-the ‘Airtel money Super Account powered by Axis Bank’ acts as a no-frills bank account that comes with remittance capabilities.
Axis Bank MD and CEO Shikha Sharma said that their alliance with Airtel will help the bank to reach out to excluded segments of their population, both in rural and urban centres, with reasonably priced banking and financial services.
Reliance Communications launches 3G services in Jharkhand (India)
Reliance Communications has launched the first 3G network in Jharkhand. In the first phase, the services will be available in 6 towns of Jharkhand including Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Hazaribagh and Jharia. Recently, Reliance Communications had launched 3G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chandigarh.
The network is capable of offering peak speeds up to 28 Mbps.
Reliance Communications will be launching Reliance 3G services across all 13 telecom circles, where it holds 3G licenses, by end of Fiscal 2010-11. The company is aiming to offer national 3G coverage through associations with other 3G licensees in the balance 9 telecom circles during the course of next year.
Reliance Communications holds 3G licenses in the telecom circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, North East, Jammu & Kashmir, Orissa and Assam.
Bharti set to acquire Qualcomm’s India BWA licences
If reports are to be believed, Bharti Airtel is set to buy Qualcomm’s broadband wireless licences in India for US$1.2billion. Previously, it was suggested that Qualcomm was looking for US$1.1 billion to sell its 74 percent stake in the business, having brought in local partners Global Holdings and Tulip Telecom during 2010 in a US$58 million deal.
Qualcomm was awarded one slot of 20MHz TDD BWA spectrum in the 2.3GHz band covering the key telecom circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala, spending more than US$1 billion in a 2010 auction process.
The sale of the licences has been long-anticipated, with the US wireless technology company stating that is has been very transparent†about the fact that it does not want to be an operator its reason for acquiring the business was to promote the use of TD-LTE technology in the country, over the potential rival WiMAX.
DoT issues notice to Idea, Etisalat DB for cancelling licenses (India)
The Indian government has issued notices to Aditya Birla group company Idea cellular for Punjab circle and new operator Etisalat DB for Delhi and Mumbai for cancelling their 2G licences for missing roll-out obligations respectively.
According to DoT Secretary R Chandrashekhar, a notice has been issued to Idea Cellular for Punjab circle.
Earlier, a similar notice had been issued to Etisalat DB for cancellation of its licence in Delhi and Mumbai circles.
In Idea’s case, the notice has been issued for not meeting launched obligations and for other violations of licence conditions.
DoT issued Letters of Intent (LoIs) to Idea Cellular for providing Unified Access Services in nine service areas– Kolkata, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Orissa, North East, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Tamil Nadu (including Chennai) on January 10,2008.
3G connections to reach 400 mn mark in four years (India)
A new study has revealed that the number of 3G subscriber connections in India are predicted to reach 400 million mark within four years, representing almost 30% of the country’s total mobile connections.
According to the study, 3G connections are set to grow three-fold between 2011 and 2015 as operators ramp-up launch of new 3G networks.
It added that Indian operators spent a combined $15 billion in acquiring Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) 3G spectrum at an auction last year and are forecast to jointly invest a further $2.5 billion in building the new networks and launching 3G services in 2011. More than 80% of 3G connections would be based on WCDMA in five years, with the remaining 20% on CDMA-based 3G networks. Competition in the Indian 3G space is likely to be intense as most operators have set ambitious targets.
The study notes that India’s Circle A and Circle B service areas would account for 75% of the country’s 3G connections by 2015. Even though initial 3G launches are concentrated in the so-called metro areas (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata), they will soon be outstripped by fast-growing demand for 3G in more populous regions such as Punjab, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.
According to the study, by 2015, 3G market shares will more closely resemble the overall national picture: Bharti — India’s largest operator — is forecast to command the largest 3G share (18 per cent), followed by Reliance (15 per cent) and BSNL (13 per cent).
Airtel launches 3G services in Mumbai (India)
Bharti Airtel has launched its 3G services in Mumbai. The company has formally announced 3G services in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa circles.
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Airtel signs up 500,000 3G customers (India)
Bharti Airtel has claimed that it has signed up half a million customers to its 3G network – which it launched a little over a month ago. The announcement was made as the company launched its 3G service in the capital city, Delhi and the regions, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida.
According to Atul Bindal, President-Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel, as the undisputed leader in the Indian telecom industry, they are truly driving the mobile data revolution in the country. Today, with just over a month since their rollout began, their 3G network covers around half a Million customers, has 4500 sites and is available across 7 cities. The company is definitely witnessing the tipping point of non-voice and data explosion in this country and will bring the Airtel 3G advantage pan-India soon as promised.
Airtel’s 3G network is currently available in the 7 cities of Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mysore, Manipal, Udipi and Jaipur and some level of coverage will be available in all 13 3G-license circles that Airtel holds licenses for by the end of the month.
Airtel launches 3G service in Delhi (India)
Bharti Airtel has launched 3G service in Delhi today enabling subscribers to access high speed internet and video telephony.
The company launched its 3G Mobile services on the back of a strong network powered by over 1,800 3G sites in the National Capital Region spanning Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida.
Bharti Airtel is the third private operator after Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications to launch 3G services in the country. State-run BSNL and MTNL are also offering these high speed services.
According to Bharti Airtel President (Mobile Services) Atul Bindal, with just over a month since the launch, their 3G network covers around half a million customers and has 4,500 sites which is available across seven cities. The company is definitely witnessing the tipping point of non-voice and data explosion in this country and will be bringing the Airtel 3G advantage pan-India soon as promised.
Airtel 3G will allow customers to enjoy a variety of exciting service offerings including Mobile TV, Video Calls, high-speed internet and video capabilities on social networks. Further, a wide range of live and on-demand TV channels as well as shows would be available on Airtel 3G Mobile TV at an affordable price of US$0.88 for 20 minutes per week.
India renews plans to merge BSNL and MTNL
If reports are to be believed, India’s government has revived plans to merge its two state-owned telecoms networks, BSNL and MTNL. Plans to merge the two companies were mooted about three-years ago by the former Telecoms Minister, A Raja.
Previous attempts to privatize BSNL foundered following union pressures,and even a substantial head-start in deploying 3G networks in the country has not turned around the fortunes of the two companies.
MTNL, which is partly privatized, operates only in Delhi and Mumbai, while BSNL operates in rest of the country, so a merger would create a genuine national network.
It can also be presumed that a merged company would have to surrender some of their overlapping 3G and WiMAX licenses, which could then be resold by the government to the private operators.
