Reliance Comm to bid for mobile licences abroad
The Reliance-Dhirubhai Anil Ambani Group, has plans to bid for mobile licences abroad for providing high-end business process outsourcing services, reports Business Standard.
It has lined up a raft of initiatives to give its telecommunications business a global footprint.
Moreover, the company also plans to take Internet protocol television (IPTV) and other media services to consumers in foreign markets after it launches them in
India
.
In order to carry these services, the group will set up three broadband cable networks- one from India to China through Nepal, two, an undersea cable between Asia and the US, and three, an extension of its Falcon cable from the Maldives to East Africa. Industry analysts put a USD 1 billion price tag to these three cable systems.
The group is also eyeing mobile licences in
Kenya
,
Bhutan
and
Morocco
.
Source- http://www.myiris.com
RIM to add 10 mobile operators in APAC to promote BlackBerry
NEW DELHI
: The Research In Motion (RIM), designer of the BlackBerry wireless handheld device, targets to add 10 mobile operators in the Asia-Pacific region in the next 12 months.
Norm W.K.Lo, vice president, Asia Pacific, RIM said, there are currently around 28 carriers in the APAC region and 10 more operators will be added to launch the BlackBerry handsets. “There are around 10 mobile operators we are in talks with and in the next 12 months time we are targeting to offer our handsets through them,” Lo said.
However, the company aims to increase its mobile operator base from the current 200 to 300 in one year.
Currently, RIM offers its BlackBerry in
India
exclusively through Airtel and is not available in the open market. Among the targeted 10 mobile operators, there could be one more operator within a year, but Lo refused to divulge more information on it.
Denying partnering with any other operator Lo said that he is “not in a position to comment at the present stage.”
On the subscriber base, Gregory Wade, director, Asia Pacific, RIM, said that the current BlackBerry subscriber base stands at 5.5 million at the end of Q1 (
June 3, 2006
). The company has set a target of seven lakh subscriber base in the end of Q2.
The company today launched the BlackBerry 7130g handset in
India
with Airtel. Working on EDGE and GPRS networks, the new handset offers push-based e-mail, phone, text messaging, browser, organiser and other mobile applications.
“The new handset is an exciting addition to the BlackBerry portfolio in
India
. Together with the comprehensive and powerful platform, this new handset delivers an all-in-one solution with a unique experience,” Lo added.
Source- http://www.voicendata.com
Mobile user count goes up by 5.9 m
NEW DELHI
, SEPT 12:
India
added 5.9 million mobile subscribers in August, taking the total wireless subscriber base to 123.44 million, according to latest figures released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Another 0.04 million land line connections were added, taking the total landline connections to 40.87 million.
As of August end, total telecom subscriber base in the country stood at 164.31 million, as against 158.37 million in July, 2006.
The overall teledensity reached around 14.80 in August as compared to 14.40 at the end of July. The net addition of mobile and fixed line subscribers in the first five months of the fiscal stood at 23.99 million as against 10.51 million in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Source- http://www.financialexpress.com
Technorati : India, Mobile, Trai
Ice Rocket : India, Mobile, Trai
Mega telecom partnerships
In one of the biggest network management and rollout deals globally,
‘s largest GSM operator, Bharti Airtel, has awarded Swedish telecom equipment vendor, Ericsson, a $1 billion outsourcing contract for network management services. Deals such as this, along with the hyper growth, have propelled our telecom sector and operators into global limelight. High sunk costs, rapid technological advances, high obsolescence and intense competition are some reasons for these mega deals and consolidation in the industry.Market access is a prime motive for such partnerships. Vodafone acquired a 10% stake in Bharti for Rs 6,500 crore to get a foothold in the Indian market to expand its worldwide presence. Conversely, Indian companies are eyeing companies outside to expand their access. Tatas recently invested $60 million for a 26% stake in InfraCo, an emerging domestic and international fiber-optic carrier in
. VSNL acquired Teleglobe International, a provider of wholesale voice, data, internet and mobile signaling services for $239 mn, to get access to Teleglobe’s network spanning the globe and having capacity in more than 80 sub-sea and terrestrial cables.
Reliance’s $211 mn acquisition of FLAG, VSNLs $136 mn acquisition of Tyco Global Network, and Bharti’s 8% acquisition in the $500 mn, 20,000 km, next generation undersea cable system SEA-ME-WE-4 project reflect the same intent.
The government-owned MTNL, after a successful foray into
, is actively looking at other markets, including
. Both Reliance and Bharti are in the race for the fifth mobile operator license in
. Since telecom requires large investment in developing networks, apart from market access, many companies try to achieve economies of scale and scope by buying networks from existing service providers. According to Stanley Sigman, the CEO of Cingular in the
, one of the main reasons for him taking over AT&T Wireless in 2004, in a whopping $41 bn deal, was to combine assets of these two companies to take advantage of economies of scale to be the best in the class. We witnessed Tata Teleservices buying Hughes.net to gain access to the basic services market in. Bharti acquired stakes in JT Mobile, Spice and Hexacom to get entry to the Andhra, Karnataka andcircles. In July last year, Essar scooped BPL Communications for Rs 4,400 cr to consolidate its market position in Mumbai,,,and
. Through its $66 mn acquisition of Escotel in January 2004, Idea not only gained the Haryana, Kerala and UP(W) networks of Escotel, but also acquired market access to Rajasthan and HP.
Similarly, VSNL acquired Dishnet in March 2004 for Rs 270 crore to get access to Dishnet’s subscriber base and nationwide network of cyber cafes. VSNL also acquired Tyco Global Network for $130 mn for supplementing its submarine cable-based bandwidth services.
The third major factor for the partnerships in telecom is for companies to have control over emerging technologies. Bharti’s mega deals, of outsourcing its entire network management and operations to Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens, are an example.
A reason is to transfer technology obsolescence and infrastructure upgrading risk to equipment manufacturers. Hutch followed with the outsourcing deal with Nokia. The motive behind the surprise acquisition of a 51% stake by Reliance Capital in Adlabs Films for Rs 360 cr is to use Reliance Infocomm’s nationwide fibre optic network for the digital distribution of movies produced by Adlabs.
Tech companies with niche specialisation such as Sasken Communications Technologies that builds mobile multimedia applications and codec engines, Subex Systems which specialise in advanced telecom fraud management products might well be targets for acquisitions in near future.
While we have been witnessing the above partnerships, the fourth dimension to the partnership is emerging.Technology-intensive companies are also pursuing partnerships with hedging as the main value objective. Companies are getting a stake in technologies unrelated to the core business promise. Notable ones being the recent acquisition of Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA, the global internet communications company, by the worlds largest online auction company, eBay, for approximately $2.6 bn.
eBay claims this brings into its e-auction business a powerful communication engine, capable of opening new lines of businesses, new monetisation models and geographies, among other things.
This euphoria over emerging technologies and associated businesses is similar to the ones witnessed over the dotcoms in the mid-90s. Whether this momentum will continue is anyone’s guess.
While telecom companies in
,
and theare vying to acquire companies outside their countries at astronomical prices, global giants such as Vodafone are divesting their stake in foreign telcos. Vodafone terminated its Japanese mobile telecom business by selling it to Softbank for $8.9 bn and is even planning to exit from the
operator, Verizon. The telecom bubble that burst and left big holes in the
telecom industry, notable ones being AOL-Time Warner, and MCI-WorldCom, is slowly gaining momentum again.
The Indian telecom scenario, as we have seen, is also abuzz with hyper growth, with associated consolidations and new partnerships. Let us hope this one,unlike the dotcom burst, is a sustainable bubble in the making!
Source- http://www.financialexpress.com
Technorati : Bharti Airtel, Ericsson, GSM, MTNL, Mobile, Reliance
Ice Rocket : Bharti Airtel, Ericsson, GSM, MTNL, Mobile, Reliance
Mobile connections reach 2.5 billion
Worldwide cellular connections have hit 2.5 billion after reaching the 2 billion mark only a year ago, according to estimates from Wireless Intelligence.
‘The cellular industry took 20 years to reach one billion connections, three years to reach two billion connections and is on target to reach its third billion in a period of just over two years,’ said Martin Garner, director of Wireless Intelligence, a joint venture between analyst Ovum and the GSM Association.
‘Worldwide growth is currently running at over 40 million new connections per month – the highest volume of growth the market has ever seen,’ he added.
Over the four quarters to the end of September 2006 total net additions across the globe were 484 million.
Of these 41 per cent were in Asia Pacific.
Eastern Europe
and
Latin America
accounted for 30 per cent of the growth,
Africa
took 10 per cent of the growth and the more mature markets of
Western Europe
,
North America
and the
Middle East
took the remaining 20 per cent in approximately equal measure.
‘Most of the growth is coming from cellular markets with lower levels of market penetration than exists in
Europe
for example,’ said Garner.
He highlights that although most of the growth is coming from so called ‘emerging markets’ – many of them are now very large, well developed and sophisticated with market penetration quickly moving towards European levels.
Heading the list of the top ten countries for volume of new connections over the last year is
China
, followed by
India
. Together they account for a quarter of the growth in the world cellular market over the last twelve months.
Source- http://www.vnunet.com
Technorati : GSM, Mobile, Wireless
Ice Rocket : GSM, Mobile, Wireless
VSNL appeals against FLAG gateway ruling
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 9: Indian telecoms service provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) said on Friday it had appealed a ruling that Reliance Communication Ventures Ltd. could use its international communications gateway in Mumbai.VSNL, owned by the Tata group, on Thursday filed a writ petition in the Netherlands against a May 26 ruling of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Arbitration Tribunal in favour of Reliance Communication’s global bandwidth unit, FLAG Telecom.
“VSNL was, and remains, disappointed that the tribunal decided to reject what VSNL had understood to be the effect of the C&MA (construction and maintenance agreement),” a statement from VSNL said.
FLAG Telecom had petitioned the ICC in December 2004 seeking access to VSNL’s landing stations. VSNL said it would continue to comply with the terms of the award, until it may be set aside.
Shares in VSNL rose nearly 1 per cent to 424.70 rupees in a slightly firm Mumbai market, while shares in Reliance Communication were up 3.5 per cent at 312 rupees.
Reliance Communication,
India
‘s top CDMA-based mobile services provider, said on Friday it has sought the rival GSM spectrum from the government for future expansion
Source- http://www.financialexpress.com
Technorati : India, Mobile, VSNL
Ice Rocket : India, Mobile, VSNL
60 pc telecos fail in quality service test: TRAI
: As the mobile user base continues to grow by leaps and bounds, so does the customers’ disenchantment with the quality of service as a TRAI survey finds out that nearly 60 per cent of the operators do not meet the benchmark criteria for standard quality of services.
On an all
India
basis, 59.52 per cent of the operators do not meet the benchmark criteria for all the parameters taken together. In the mobile segment, TRAI said the customer perception of overall customer satisfaction level is poor in all the circles with only 10 cellular licensees out of a total of 105 surveyed meeting the benchmark of 95 per cent.
In the overall mobile customer satisfaction level, where TRAI has kept a benchmark of 95 per cent, the customer perception of overall services is poor in all the circles and only 10 licensees out of a total of 105 meet the specified standard.
In respect to metro circles, in
Delhi
only Bharti and Hutch have attained the overall customer satisfaction level. The lowest overall customer satisfaction level is with MTNL Delhi (88 per cent). In mumbai, only Tata has achieved the benchmark. The lowest is with Hutch (87 per cent). In Kolkata and Chennai, none of the operators meet the benchmark. In metro circles as a whole, the achievement level ranges from only 83-93 per cent, which is below the benchmark.
Source- http://www.mumbaimirror.com
Technorati : Bharti, Hutch, India, MTNL, Mobile, Trai
Ice Rocket : Bharti, Hutch, India, MTNL, Mobile, Trai
Simoco Telecom launches GSM phones
Kolkata-headquartered Simoco Telecommunications (
South Asia
) Ltd has launched a range of GSM mobile phones in the Indian market. The company has launched eight different models that would be positioned in direct competition with global majors such as Nokia, LG and Samsung, among others.
The models include entry-level monochrome handsets with FM radio to camera phone models with high picture resolution and high-quality video recording facilities.
The phones are assembled at the company’s factory located at the Salt Lake Electronics Complex here and the components are outsourced from countries such as
China
and
Taiwan
. The GSM technology that has been adopted has been developed by Simoco’s development centre in
China
.
According to Mr Sanjay Ghose, Managing Director, the company would target markets in urban and rural
West Bengal
to begin with before venturing out to other states in eastern
India
.
Source- http://news.moneycontrol.com
Technorati : Eastern India, Mobile, Simoco
Ice Rocket : Eastern India, Mobile, Simoco
Why Anil Ambani wants to ride two horses in telecom
: It happened almost simultaneously. Just when Reliance Communications applied to the government for a pan-India GSM spectrum, it announced a mega deal with Nokia for two million CDMA handsets.
The two parallel developments have sent out mixed signals to the industry on whether Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications, which is the leading CDMA player with around 23 million subscribers, is interested in GSM or CDMA or both.
A few months ago, the company had applied for spectrum in six circles to operate GSM (global system for mobile communications) service. But it has now upped the ante by applying for a pan-India GSM presence, except in two circles (north-east and
).
Reliance maintains that it is “committed to pursue the world’s leading mobile technologies, whether CDMA or GSM, to provide the best and competitive services to our many million customers”. Reliance Communications runs GSM services through a subsidiary, Reliance Telecom.
Will Reliance then ride two horses at the same time? A source in the GSM camp said that Reliance may progressively tone down the CDMA focus. The company may target additional growth in GSM, he said.
Over a period of time, it may even look at shifting its CDMA subscriber base to the GSM platform, the source added.
Subsequently, introduction of dual mode world-phones (common for GSM and CDMA) in
will make things easier, he claimed. Another industry insider, however, argued that Reliance would not leave CDMA, where it has such a strong subscriber base.
“A dealer who sells all kinds of products is the best dealer,” he said. The company’s aim seems to be to multiply faster than others so that it becomes the top player in the country.
There are four reasons for Reliance’s strategy shift. One, thanks to handset limitations, higher-end users tend to prefer GSM, especially since international roaming is better on GSM.
Two, GSM operators continue to bill about 40% more than CDMA subscribers, indicating that they have better pricing power.
Three, by offering both CDMA and GSM, Reliance can design different schemes targeting different segments of the market.
And for, GSM is by far the dominant technology worldwide and in
, outnumbering CDMA 2.5:1 in
.
The evidence from circles where Reliance offers both CDMA and GSM suggests that one does not cannibalise the other. In the six circles where both are available (MP,
, Kolkata,, Orissa and Himachal), Reliance has 3.5 million subscribers and 2.1 million GSM ones.
The GSM subscriber base is much higher, both in
and globally, thereby making it logical for Reliance Communications to focus on GSM technology, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ associate director Arpita Pal Agrawal.
“The economies of scale are much better in the case of GSM,” she said. She also pointed out that while CDMA is very effective for high-speed data applications, the current Reliance base includes a large number of low-cost customers.
As for government policy, a senior official in the department of telecommunications (DoT) told DNA Money that “licences are technology neutral”.
He gave this reply when asked whether Reliance required to surrender some of its CDMA spectrum to expand in the GSM space. However, there are concerns within the government and the industry over the additional spectrum allocation sought, as spectrum is considered a scarce resource.
Also, a senior representative of DoT recently told the media, “the government policy is not to shut doors (on any player)”. He added that BSNL and MTNL also offered both GSM and CDMA in some common circles.
Interestingly, Reliance Communications is learnt to have told DoT recently that its decision to expand in GSM is linked to government’s teledensity target.
The company indicated that it aimed to have the largest marketshare in the Indian telecom sector by 2010 end, and that it must opt for GSM expansion to reach there, according to sources.
While communications minister Dayanidhi Maran has set a target of 250 million phone connections by the end of 2007 and 500 million by the end of 2010, Reliance Communications is understood to be eyeing anything between 110 million and 125 million subscribers by then, representing a marketshare of around 25%.
Even as the CDMA growth has been robust, in terms of absolute numbers it is nowhere near GSM. As against 1,820 million GSM users across the world as of March, 2006, CDMA had only 250 million subscribers, excluding the 3G user base.
If 3G users are taken into account, the GSM base has crossed 2 billion and CDMA 318 million.
In
, GSM is way ahead with 86.6 million users, while CDMA has managed over 35 million, including its wireline and fixed wireless subscribers.
GSM players in
include Bharti, Hutch, Idea and BSNL, while Reliance Telecom has over 2 million GSM users in eight circles. CDMA is represented mainly by Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.
From December, 2001, to December, 2002, the CDMA base in
grew 125%, against 92.5% in GSM during the corresponding period. From December, 2002, to December, 2003, CDMA recorded a growth of 800% against 110.5% in GSM.
(It was in December, 2002, that Reliance launched its CDMA service). From December, 2003, to 2004, the CDMA growth rate was 75.3%, against 70.3% in GSM. From December, 2004, to 2005, CDMA showed a growth of 76%, against 56.8% in GSM. However, from December, 2005, to May, 2006, the CDMA growth rate has been lower at 26% against 28.5 per cent in GSM.
Global numbers also indicate a better growth trajectory for CDMA, as opposed to GSM.
From the fourth quarter of 2001 to the corresponding period in 2002, CDMA growth rate was 819.4% against 46.3% in GSM. From Q4 of 2002 to Q4 of 2003, CDMA recorded a growth rate of 158%, against 25% in GSM.
From Q4 of 2003 to Q4 of 2004, the global CDMA user base grew 70.9% against 28% in GSM. From Q4 of 2004 to Q4 of 2005, the CDMA growth rate was 54.1% against 31.8% in GSM.
From the fourth quarter of 2005 to the end of first quarter of 2006, the CDMA growth rate was 11.2% against 6.4% in GSM. The 3G figures have not been taken into account for calculating the global growth rate in GSM and CDMA.
Source- http://www.dnaindia.com
Technorati : Airtel, CDMA, GSM, Hutch, Idea, India, Mobile, Reliance Telecom
Ice Rocket : Airtel, CDMA, GSM, Hutch, Idea, India, Mobile, Reliance Telecom
India adds 4.2 mln GSM mobile users in August
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India, the world’s fastest growing wireless services market, added more than 4.2 million new GSM users in August, the highest ever monthly additions figure, boosting the total mobile base to beyond 112 million.
The Cellular Operators’ Association — which represents nine GSM carriers — said on Thursday its user base had surged to 86.619 million customers. The additions in August exceeded 3.93 million that joined the market in July.
More than three quarters of mobile customers in
India
use the GSM platform. The remainder use mobile services based on CDMA technology. Four CDMA carriers are yet to report their monthly additions.
The world’s lowest call rates of as little as 2 U.S. cents a minute are pulling in customers.
India
‘s top mobile services firm by users, Bharti Airtel Ltd., 30.8 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., added 1.31 million GSM users, boosting its customer base to 25.648 million.
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.’s user base grew to 20.06 million as it added 1.032 million new GSM users. Hutchison Essar Ltd., majority owned by Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd., added 981,195 users to take its user base to 19.38 million customers.
Source- http://in.today.reuters.com
Technorati : Bharti Airtel, Essar, GSM, Hutchison, India, Mobile
Ice Rocket : Bharti Airtel, Essar, GSM, Hutchison, India, Mobile
