Idea Cellular cuts 3G tariffs by 70 percent (India)
Indian telecom operator Idea Cellular seems to be following Bharti Airtel’s footsteps by announcing a reduction of 70 percent in its 3G tariff plans. As per a company statement, Idea decided to cut 3G tariffs to widen the new-age offering by making it accessible to one and all.
The company said that under the new plan, Idea’s pre-paid and post-paid customers will pay $0.0005 for 10 kb of data, a reduction of 70 per cent from the earlier levels of $0.0018. Further, Idea said that 3G services are offered in 3,207 towns across the country and it has 2.7 million active users with an average usage of 330 MB per month.
Idea also said that it has introduced various packs such as sachet packs, regular packs and unlimited packs, priced in a way to accommodate users from different segments. The lowest of the sachets will be sold for $0.18 and offer 30 minutes of high speed internet surfing on 3G enabled handsets.
Nokia emerges as top brand for multi-SIM handsets (India)
A recent study by Nielson reveals that Nokia is the most preferred multi-SIM handset brand while Airtel is the top service provider, in India.
As per the report, in India almost one-third of 71 million subscribers are using Nokia”s dual-SIM phones with multiple-SIM cards. Further, India’s leading operator Bharti Airtel has come across as the most preferred operator among multiple-SIM users.
In the multi-SIM handset category, Nokia accounts for 30 percent of the market and is followed by Samsung at 17 percent and Micromax at 12 percent. In terms of service providers, Bharti Airtel emerged victorious with 25 percent and was followed by Idea Cellular at 15 percent.
Idea Cellular asks Supreme Court for clarification on licence cancellation (India)
Indian telecom operator Idea Cellular has asked for clarification regarding the Supreme Court’s order for cancellation of 122 licences auctioned in 2008, which impacts 13 licences held by Idea. According to reports, the operator has claimed that it had applied for the licence in June 2006, which should have been processed within 30 days but were delayed until 2008. Idea says that if the applications were processed on time, it would not be affected by the Supreme Court’s judgement.
As per sources, Idea has said that the clarificatory application has been filed, seeking further direction from the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Other telecom operators such as Telenor (operating in India through Uninor) and Bahrain Telecom (partnering with STel in India), have also been affected by the apex court’s decision.
Bahrain Telecom closed its operations in the country following this decision, while Telenor approached the Norwegian government to come to its aid and protect its investment.
The decision was taken in an attempt to root out corruption in the Indian telecom industry as the Supreme Court felt that the licences had not been obtained by legal means. However, this decision has not been received well by the affected operators who have been considering a legal retaliation in order to protect their investment.
Airtel, Vodafone and Idea threaten to pull out of 3G services (India)
India’s leading telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have reportedly threatened to pull out of 3G services following the government’s proposal to disallow 3G Intra Circle Roaming. According to reports, the firms have written a letter to the Prime Minister expressing their concern over such a decision which has been signed by Sunil Mittal, Chairman and CEO, Bharti Airtel; KM Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group and Vittorio Colao, Group CEO, Vodafone.
As per sources, the firms have said in the letter that by not allowing 3G Intra Circle Roaming, the government would be going back on what was promised during the pre-auction confirmations. Further, the telcos have asked the government to refund the amount spent by them during spectrum action along with interest as compensation for their expenditures.
Reports suggest that while the telecom firms claim that the government is going back on its technology-neutral stand, the Telecom Ministry along with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have said that the roaming agreement is illegal as it is equivalent to spectrum sharing.
Sources claim that after the 3G spectrum auction held last year, the operators had entered into roaming pacts with one another in an attempt to offer services in those circles where they could not win the bid. Further, reports also claim that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) may revoke 3G spectrum of five telecom service providers – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Teleservices, Aircel and Idea Cellular, for violation of licence agreement by offering 3G telecom services in states where they do not have spectrum.
Idea Cellular considers $1 bn tower assets sale (India)
Idea Cellular is mulling the sale of its portfolio of 7,500 towers that are not part of its tower owning joint-venture with Bharti Infratel and Vodafone Essar. The sale of the towers could be worth up to US$1 billion.
In 2007, Vodafone Essar, Bharti Infratel and Idea Cellular merged most of their tower assets into a single holding company, Indus Towers – which now has around 70,000 towers under management. Vodafone Essar and Bharti own approximately 42% each and Idea owns the remaining 16% stake. However, each of the companies kept a portion of their towers outside the holding company.
According to Himanshu Kapania, the newly designated chief executive of Idea Cellular, they have a portfolio of 7,500 towers that are outside IndusTowers. This portfolio covers some of their leading markets with significant value residing in them. They also see it as a strategic opportunity and not just a value unlocking option.
Banking sources noted though that Idea Cellular will only sell its towers to an investor who has no strategic interest in towers.
Govt to send show-cause notice to Idea Cellular (India)
The government has stated that it will be be sending show-cause notice to Idea Cellular asking the telecom operator why its licence of five circles should not be cancelled.
According to Department of Telecom (DoT) Secretary R Chandrashekhar, they will send Idea showcause notice in five circles for overlapping licences.
Idea Cellular in 2008 picked up 41.09% stake in Spice, resulting in an overlapping situation in which both the companies held licences in six circles.
The company had stated that it has not breached any condition of the licence agreement. It stated that it had written 20 letters to the DoT over the past 30 months but had failed to get any response from the government.
Bharti, Idea Cellular, Vodafone to sign 3G deal (India)
If the sources are to be believed, Bharti Airtel Ltd., Vodafone Essar Ltd. and Idea Cellular Ltd. are close to signing an agreement to share their 3G radio bandwidth.
According to sources, the agreement is almost in the final stages. Just the details need to be worked out.
Idea Cellular is scheduled to hold a media conference to announce the commercial launch of its 3G telecom services. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, the Indian unit of Vodafone Group PLC, have already launched similar services.
Bharti Airtel has licenses and radio bandwidth to offer 3G services in 13 service areas, Idea holds licenses for 11 service areas and Vodafone Essar can offer the services in 9 areas.
The agreement, if signed, will allow the companies to bring down their average cost of radio bandwidth by accessing each other’s networks in areas where they don’t own 3G licenses.
The companies had bought 3G licenses and bandwidth through a contested auction last year. Bharti paid US$2.77 billion for 3G spectrum, Vodafone Essar paid US$2.47 billion and Idea Cellular US$1.30 billion respectively.
The high cost of acquiring 3G bandwidth had led to concerns about the profitability of 3G operations. Telecom operators are expected to charge a premium for 3G services and hope for a boost to their revenue and profitability which have been hit in recent times due to extremely low tariffs for basic phone services amid intense competition.
The three companies had separately stated earlier that they were in talks with other 3G license owners for tie-ups to share networks in areas where they didn’t hold licenses.
The three companies already share their telecom towers and are the joint owners of Indus Towers Ltd., which has about 110,000 towers.
