India’s 3 telecom biggies to join 3G race
India’s Telecoms majors including names like Bharti, Reliance and Vodafone have confirmed that they are all set to bid for 3G licenses.
According to the reports, Idea Cellular is also expected to submit its application for 3G spectrum very soon.
While Bharti and Reliance are seeking spectrum in each of India’s 22 telecom zones, Telenor-backed Uninor might also bid for 2100 MHz in the metro circles apart from other lucrative regions in the country.
9 applications for 3G & 11 for BWA auction received by Indian govt
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Eleven applications for the BWA spectrum auction along with nine applications for the upcoming 3G spectrum auction has been received by the Indian government.
Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Etisalat, Idea Cellular, Reliance Telecom, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone Essar, and Videocon Telecommunications are included in the list of the bidders for 3G spectrum.
The list of applicants for BWA spectrum include Aircel, Augere, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Infotel Broadband Services, Qualcomm, Reliance WiMax, Spice Internet Service Provider, Tata Communications Internet Services, Tikona Digital Networks, and Vodafone Essar.
April 5 and 6 has been planned as the dates for mock auctions while on April 9, actual bidding process will take place. Two days after the completion of the 3G spectrum auction, auctions for BWA license will be conducted.
Tata DoCoMo enters Gujarat (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Indian state Gujarat would now receive Tata DoCoMo. GSM mobile service after the company launched the services across the state barring Ahmedabad, Baroda (Vadodara) and Jamnagar. Though the official announcement is yet to be made, all the information regarding list of circles, tariff and other details for future consumers of Tata Docomo across the state have been posted on the website.
The plans include the Tata DoCoMo life time prepaid card priced at Rs. 49 and the “pay as you go” scheme, with a pulse of one second, and a charge of 1 paisa per second. There is no difference in the tariff plan when compared to other circles in which the company operates
DoCoMo joins other big players already operating in the state including BSNL, Reliance (GSM and CDMA), Airtel, Tata Indicom (CDMA), Idea Cellular, and Vodafone.
India’s mobile subscribers’ base increases by 50% in 3Q
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The constant opportunities for expansion and incessant increase in cellular subscribers have become major reasons in evolving India into a hot destination of mobile marketing. According to a latest research, 49.6 per cent year on year increase in the customer base has been recorded in the Indian telecoms industry.
Telecom operators like Idea cellular achieved 69.4 per cent expansion in the sub continent. However, even this staggering subscription rate is far from taking the market to its saturation point, thus indicating better and greater opportunities for mobile marketing in future.
Between July and September 2009, the cellular penetration rate in India was just 39.2 per cent while according to another report, 67 per cent of the world’s population now has a mobile subscription.
Idea Cellular offers free mobile tickets for films & travel (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Citizens of Mumbai and Delhi can now become a part of the save paper campaign started by the pan-India network provider, Idea Cellular, by using their mobile phones instead of paper tickets to travel and watch movies.
People can participate in an SMS-based radio contest which would entitle them to a code (sent to them via SMS), which will be valid as a ‘mobile ticket’ to travel free of cost on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai, and the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) toll bridge, as well as watch a movie at PVR Cinemas in these cities.
The first 4,000 people in Mumbai, who SMS ‘Idea Sealink’ to a short code, will receive an SMS which will enable them to travel free of cost and ticket-less on a single journey while the first 200 people who SMS ‘Idea movie’ will win free tickets to the screening of movie ‘Karthik calling Karthik’ at PVR Cinemas on the same day.
Bharti Airtel added 2.85m GSM users; Vodafone adds 2.28 million users
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 2.85 million GSM subscribers have been added by India’s largest telecom services company by users, Bharti Airtel while 2.74 million users have been added by Vodafone Essar, the country’s third-largest mobile phone operator by subscribers in the month of January.
About 2.28 million subscribers have been added by Idea Cellular while Aircel added 2.01 million users during the month.
Among the state-run telecom companies, 2.23 million users have been added by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. in January while Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. added 45,067 users.
Indian telco Bharti Airtel adds 2.85 mln users in Jan
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 2.85 million mobile subscribers have been added by India’s top mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, in the month of January, thus taking the total subscribers numbers to 121.7 million.
2.74 million mobile users in January have been signed up by third-ranked Vodafone Essar, to boost its total to 94.1 million.
Even the fifth-ranked Idea Cellular gained 2.28 million mobile subscribers, taking its total to 59.9 million.
Indian telco Idea to sell stake in Indus Towers
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 16% stake in Indus Towers valued at USD 600-800 million might be partially or wholly sold off by Indian telco Idea Cellular.
The stock of the company reached an all day high of Rs 58 and an all day low of Rs 56.60. In late 2007, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular pooled in their resources into an independent firm, Indus Towers which became the world’s largest tower company with 1,25,00 towers.
Before this joint venture, 42% stake was held by Vodafone and Bharti and 16% held by Idea.
Bharti Airtel to float one of their Tower subsidiaries (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A stock market floatation of tower holding subsidiaries, the wholly owned Bharti Infratel and its smaller joint-venture with Vodafone and Idea Cellular, Indus Towers, has been mulled by India’s Bharti Airtel.
Around 100,000 towers are owned by Bharti Infratel while Indus has around 70,000 towers. 42% in Indus Towers is owned by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone each while remaining 16% is owned by Idea Cellular. Looking at the financial conditions of Infratel or Indus, Bharti may issue initial public offering in the next fiscal.
In 2007, Reliance Communications too sold a 5 percent stake in it towers business with an equity valuation of US$6.75 billion. A merged GSM tower business with 70,000 towers of RTIl could be worth around US$33 billion. However, it has to be kept in mind that RTIL is a whole operations business, whereas the Indus Towers is solely based on the passive infrastructure and does not include any of the RAN or antenna facilities.
Vivendi eyes stake in Datacom Solutions
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In a bid to expand its network in India, Idea Cellular launched its commercial in Jammu & Kashmir. Nearly 300 base stations has been added by Idea covering Srinagar City, Badgam, Anantnag, Mattan, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Ganderbal, Patan and Sumbalin the Valley, along with its recently launched network in Jammu City, Bari Brahmana, Bishnah, Katra, Udhampur and the Jammu-Katra Highway.
Idea’s EDGE-enabled infrastructure covers twelve districts across J&K. According to Anish Roy, Idea’s chief operating officer for Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and J&K, Idea understood the mobile communication needs of the people, and the unique geography of the region and designed a network that covers large population areas, and a product portfolio suiting the needs and affordability of the local populace
