www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Indian telco Aircel and handset maker INQ Mobile will launch the INQ Mini 3G and the INQ Chat 3G phones in India.
INQ Chat 3G is a Qwerty device while INQ Mini 3G is a slim-line mobile and both allow users to multi-task and to switch between applications such as Facebook and a camera. Over 5,000 outlets will make the phone available.
A campaign fronted by Indian cricketer and company ambassador MS Dhoni has been used by Aircel to support the launch.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to raise up to $8.5 billion in offshore loans to fund its $9 billion deal to buy African mobile operations of Kuwait’s Zain, Indian telco Bharti Airtel has issued a term sheet to banks.
Earlier, $9 billion facility was looked by Bharti which also included an onshore rupee tranche. According to the bankers familiar with the deal, all-in pricing is below all expectations, which ranged from 200 bps to 250 bps above Libor while Bharti opted to drop the onshore tranche of its loan due to the strong response from offshore lenders.
India’s largest telecom operator Bharti and Zain are in talks with each other to buy latter’s operations in 15 African countries and the exclusive negotiations are scheduled to lapse on March 25.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Letters have been issued to all the telecom companies by the Department of Telecom (DoT) for an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone, among others have been issued the notice for the CAG audit for the three financial years beginning 2006-07.
According to Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General, CAG is not in the process of immediately looking at the books but it is in the business of looking on telecom providers and operators etc. CAG is also auditing PPPs now and if there is a company which is participating with the public body and is using the government assets, CAG will be auditing them also
The move is considered to be significant as it comes after the special independent audit of telecom companies. It has been reported that Vodafone might submit the reports in a day or two.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: India’s leading telecom operator, Bharti Airtel has announced its entry into the digital media business. Under the new business, contents to a range of users, including producers and media companies would be distributed by the telco.
The contents would not only be produced but would also be marketed and catered to a number of users like animation and gaming firms, news channels, cinemas and banking institutions.
According to CEO Sanjay Kapoor, there is a clear demand for secure digital distribution capability across multiple platforms and Airtel Digital Media Business will help establish India as an innovation hub for global content and format delivery.
Way for 16,000 cinema screens across the country would also be paved by the move to potentially offer high-quality international viewing experience for consumers in India.
Content gathering and distribution services would be offered to television channels including complete content management services such as playout, archival, collocation and storage besides offering content producers with an integrated delivery and aggregation platform that can repackage content for all formats.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Reliance communications has announced its interest in acquisitions in India as a part of its strategy to grow its presence in the domestic market. It has also been announced that the company is just waiting for the right time.
The announcement was made after the company attained the landmark of 100-million mobile subscribers after which the company also expressed its desire to explore both organic and inorganic opportunities to strengthen its foothold in the domestic market.
However, no immediate plans to expand operations in overseas markets have been divulged by the telco, as it prefer more to focus on consolidating its position in the domestic market.
According to Reliance Communications’ President, Mahesh Prasad, the Indian market is very vast and dynamic and there are huge opportunities here and as of now, Reliance is not thinking much about overseas plans but it is not averse to any opportunities either.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Financial support from the Russian government for Indian mobile operator SSTL has been announced by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. SSTL operates under the brand name MTS India. He made the announcement while on a visit to India.
20 percent stake in SSTL is also planned to be purchased by the Russian government for USD 676 million.
SSTL is a joint venture of Russian telecommunications holding company Sistema and India’s Shyan group.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: $102 million has been raised by Orascom Telecom Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, through Bangladesh’s biggest corporate bond deal, thus smashing the previous record of Grameenphone, just after four months. Orascom’s biggest rival in Bangladesh sold shares for $71m in the country’s largest initial public offering.
The deal though small in global terms is still another sign that the country’s capital markets are flickering back into life. Investor’s confidence in Bangladesh is also reflected through the deal. According to Shams Zaman, of Citi Bangladesh, which arranged the deal, investor confidence is coming back and Orascom bond shows that it’s possible to raise sizable amounts of financing from the local market.
Bangladesh is undergoing a heated competition as in January, Bharti Airtel, the Indian telecoms group, bought 70 per cent of Bangladesh’s Warid Telecom for an initial investment of $300m. Grameenphone, Bangladesh’s biggest telecoms company also raised $71m from local retail investors and a further $70m from selling shares to local institutions.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: It has been announced by telecom operator Telenor that the operators are not generating enough profit per phone user to have five mobile groups in Pakistan. The operators would have to consider mergers or acquisitions to see significant growth.
Telenor made its entry into Pakistan exactly five years ago and currently it is the second largest cellular phone operator after Mobilink, a subsidiary of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom.Pakistan’s. The other mobile operators include Ufone, Warid Telecom and Zong.
Telenor is considering a broader expansion in Pakistan along with India, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh. 26 per cent of revenues in 2008 by the company were generated in Asia. The rest of the income came from eastern and central Europe and the Nordic region.
Telenor’s has been concentrating its attention on its 67.3 per cent investment in Unitech Wireless of India but big potential is also seen in Pakistan, which has seen a phenomenal increase in the number of mobile phone users over the past decade.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The findings of the government-appointed special auditor have been welcomed by Bharti Airtel. According to the operator, the audit showed that the license fees and spectrum charges paid by the company conform to the license conditions and rulings of the regulator.
However, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has got an option to claim Rs 98 crore from the company as additional license fee and spectrum charges because of the reports. The amount is the likely license fee impact on distributor margin.
However, it has not been specified in the 306-page audit report, which was submitted last week to the government whether Bharti is liable to pay this amount and has left it to DoT to take a final view on the issue.
However, it has been categorized that Bharti will not need to make any additional payment. According to company spokesman, based on specific request from DoT, the auditors have done their own estimates of the likely license fee impact on distributor margin and there is no liability whatsoever on this account as the company has paid license fees on actual realized revenues.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Three communication networks is under the process of construction by Indian state owned telco, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, at a cost of INR2.85 billion for the October Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
INR1.82 billion will be provided by the Ministry of Sports to the telco for setting up the networks. According to junior minister for telecommunications, Gurudas Kamat, MTNL is further negotiating to receive INR300 million from the Ministry of Home Affairs and INR730 million from the organizing committee.
Besides, MTNL is setting up networks for games data, security data and video broadcast.
