Du expects infrastructure sharing deal by 2011
As per the top official of the company, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, popularly known as du, is confident that the infrastructure sharing deal with fellow telecom giant Etisalat will be rolled out by the first quarter of 2011.
According to reports citing Chief Commercial Officer Farid Faraidooni during GITEX Technology Week 2010, the company would expect to start the actual commercial launch of fixed services over a shared infrastructure by the first quarter of 2011. The company is at very advanced stages at finalizing the deal with Etisalat, under the umbrella of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, and hopefully this will be concluded at the end of the year and will go commercially by the first quarter of 2011 after testing and quality assurance procedures.
The company believes that this scheme will help its revenues, specifically in the fixed-line segment — as it will be able to further reach out to consumers in the UAE. This will allow Du to expand the footprint to the rest of the country. There will be a progressive rollout all over the UAE in a phased approach. Du is showcasing its latest offerings for the telecommunication market, which are one of the most advanced globally.
According to Farid Faraidooni, today the company offers the highest mobile broadband rate in the region, and du is only few telcos that has it worldwide. Du’s HSPDA+ mobile broadband technology can reach as high as 42.2Mbps — the highest by industry standards — and it covers more than 98 per cent of the UAE population. Du is always very keen to deploy the latest technology. They don’t [just] talk about it, they implement it.
However, Faraidooni pointed out, the limitation on this high-end technology is that not many devices in the market are able to support this. According to him, the company hopes these devices that can support the high broadband rate will be available in the market soon. Du will continue to invest in the mobile network and enhance the broadband experience.
Faraidooni also added that Du is currently doing trials with several vendors for the Long-Term Evolution network — which is also known as 4G — but did not give further details.
Considering the recent US$207 million export credit facility du received to fund its expansion, most of this amount will go to investments in its mobile network, especially in 3G.
On the fixed-line segment, Du currently offers the latest and most advanced IPTV set up, which includes a very interactive online TV guide, and the ability to pause and rewind live TV programmes.
GITEX also provided the opportunity for du to launch its new Anayou Website, which is a portal for the social community to interact just like other popular social networks. It also allows users to send SMS, play games, store content and much more.
TATA and BSNL enter Network Sharing deal (India)
Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), India’s fastest-growing pan India telecom service provider, today announced the signing of a landmark ‘Master Services Agreement for Passive Infrastructure Sharing’ with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
Becoming the first Indian private telecom operator to enter into an agreement of this nature. The agreement which is valid for 15 years will be applicable to both Tata Teleservices Limited and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited in all of India’s 22 telecom Circles.
This is a moment of pride for us, as we have become the first private telecom operator to enter into such a strategically important agreement with BSNL, one that will allow us to expand our telecom footprint across the country much more quickly,†Mr Madhav Joshi, President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Tata Teleservices Limited, said.
The agreement comes at a very strategic time for Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML), as both companies have been aggressively expanding their network presence on the CDMA side with Tata Indicom, while also rolling out GSM services under the TATA DOCOMO brand name. In the short space of just three months, we have already rolled out our GSM services in nine Circles—Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh and Haryana,†Mr AG Rao, Chief Technology Officer, Tata Teleservices Limited, said. This agreement has the potential to not just speed up our network expansion and rollout process, but would also have a substantial impact in terms of reduced costs,†he added.
Under the terms of the agreement, TTSL and TTML will have access to thousands of BSNL towers all across the country.
GIL to set up 6700 cell sites across India
In a major expansion drive aimed at consolidating its business of providing cellular operators shared infrastructure, shared telecom infrastructure services provider GTL Infrastructure Limited (GIL) proposes to build, own, and operate shared passive telecom infrastructure for approx cell sites at an investment of over Rs2,030 crore.
GTL Infrastructure Limited (GIL) established by GTL Limited as an infrastructure company to provide shared infrastructure assets and services in the telecom sector, passive telecom infrastructure includes the tower, shelter, air-conditioning equipment, diesel generator, battery, etc. for cellular operators.
The fresh roll out in passive telecom infrastructure includes setting up of new greenfield sites will be based on cellular operator requirements who will be its anchor user. These sites will, however be capable of accommodating other operators for co-location and will be marketed by GIL to prospective telecom operators on a sharing basis. The sites would either be ground-based sites (GBS) or rooftop sites (RTS).
As part of its acquisition plans, GIL would acquire existing sites from various operators and refurbish them to suit sharing and co-location requirements.
Passive telecommunication infrastructure constitutes around 65 per cent of the total capital cost with active component making up the remaining 35 per cent. However, given the recent rise in property, steel and cement prices, the capital cost of passive infrastructure is going up while that of the active infrastructure is coming down with declining prices of electronic components.
While overall telecom infrastructure requires huge investment outlays, such investments often turn out to be risky propositions given the rapid introduction of successive generations of new technology. Operators are occasionally faced with a situation where even before recovering their investments in existing infrastructure they have to embark on further investments in new generation networks.
Shared Infrastructure will bring down the passive infrastructure cost of telecom operators by at least 35 per cent to 40 per cent, the company feels.
According to Prakash Ranjalkar, chief operating officer, GIL, “The objectives of infrastructure sharing is to maximise the use of existing infrastructure and provide cost effective infrastructure for coverage requirements and in low ARPU areas. GIL’s business model focuses on creating value through shared infrastructure for both the operators and the company. Indian telecom sector is witnessing a huge growth and GIL would like to act as catalyst to fuel this growth by bringing down the capital expenditure and operational costs for telecom companies and fuel growth”
India has the eighth largest telecom network in the world, growing at a rate of over 20 per cent per annum. The New Telecom Policy of 1999 facilitated major transformation in the telecommunication sector. The Indian mobile market is now one of the fastest growing markets in the world, adding around four million new subscribers every month.
The market has grown from less than 10 million in 2002 to 92 million subscribers in 2006 and is expected to reach 205 million by the end of FY08. The wireless operators are planning to spend $20 billion over a period of next three years expanding their networks. It is estimated that the number of towers would grow to 180,000 in FY08 from the 82,000 at present
Source- http://www.domain-b.com
