Loop to end operations in India (India)
Following the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to cancel 122 2G licences awarded in 2008, Loop telecom is planning to shut down its operations in the country. Loop is the third telecom to take this decision after Etisalat and STel. According to reports, the operator has said that they will close their operations by June 1. This is what they have conveyed to their subscribers.
Further, reports reveal that the operator has sought refund of around $292 million as damages from the government. They have not replied to the letter yet in this regard. The operator has requested its customers to switch services by April 30 as it plans to completely stop operations by May 15.
M-Tel launches new tariff plans for Loop along with smartphone (Europe)
M-Tel owned Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Loop has reportedly launched two new tariff plans named Cool and Extreme, along with its first branded smartphone. According to reports, the Loop Cool tariff plan offers customers 100 minutes of national calls, 100 MB of mobile internet and 2,000 on-net minutes every month for US$ 3.4. Further, customers on the Loop Cool tariff plan are given a 50 percent discount per month for the first three month of the contract.
For users subscribing to the Loop Extreme tariff plan, the operator offers 200 minutes of national calls, 100 SMS and 2,000 on-net minutes for under US$ 7. Further, M-Tel also offers its users a Loop smartphone – Loop HTC Wildfire along with these tariffs for US$ 9 per month in combination with a two year subscription or at an off-contract price of US$ 19.
Bharti, Idea back TRAI report on active mobile users
Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular said that the telecom regulator’s report on active mobile users nails the canards and lies spread by a particular set of telecom operators falsely alleging that established and performing GSM operators have been reporting inflated customer numbers.
The TRAI report exposes the double standards of these operators. Paradoxically, they are the ones who have inflated their own numbers as evidenced in the report of their VLR records establishing a very low active customer base both for their long established CDMA operations and the relatively new GSM operations.
With close to 90 per cent active customers for Bharti and 88 per cent for Idea, we have maintained high reporting standards to serve genuine information needs, rather than spurious propaganda needs. We welcome this new initiative of the TRAI to capture the real active telecom user base in the country,†said the joint statement.
Last week, TRAI had released a report which stated that there were only 482 million active mobile subscribers in the country as on September 30.
Regular users
While the mobile operators have reported a total of 687.7 million subscribers at the end of September, TRAI said that only 70 per cent of the total wireless subscribers were found to be regular users.
This is the first time that TRAI has revealed the active number of subscriber base using the Visitor Location Register (VLR). This system of calculating subscribers shows only those subscribers who make calls or send text messages regularly.
According to the TRAI report released on Thursday, Bharti Airtel had the highest number of active subscribers on its network at 89 per cent, while new GSM player STel has the lowest with just 24 per cent of its user base active.
Other new operators including Uninor, Loop and Sistema Shyam have less than 50 per cent active subscribers.
MNP to start from Jan 20: Sibal (India)
The new Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has announced that the much-awaited mobile number portability (MNP) will be available to more than 700 million Indian subscribers from January 20, 2011.
MNP is a service that allows subscribers to change service providers while keeping the same number.
According to Kapil Sibal, mobile number portability that they have introduced in Haryana will be available on January 20 across the country next year . As per Telecom department officials, BSNL customers had switched to Idea Cellular and used their examples to demonstrate this facility during the launch.
Mobile phone users in Haryana will be able to switch among nine operators — Airtel, Idea Cellular, BSNL, Aircel, Loop, Vodafone, Etisalat, Sistema and Videocon. The customer has to pay a maximum of Rs 19, the lowest in the world, to migrate to a new mobile phone company.
Idea to Launch MNP (India)
The Department of Telecom (DoT) had ordered the mobile operators to launch MNP by November 25. The Idea has taken lead by releasing its ‘Switch to Idea’ commercials debuting on TV channels.
MNP enables a subscriber switch from his cellular operator to any other operator, and retain his mobile number. It is being rolled out on 25 November in Haryana circle where subscribers can switch in between any of the operators. The Haryana has eight cellular operators Airtel, Idea, BSNL, Aircel, Loop, Vodafone, Etisalat DB, and Videocon.
According to figures from Cellular Operators Association of India, the circle has 11.68 million subscribers as on Oct 31, 2010. India’s total cellular subscriber base stands at around 700 million.
According to Rajat Mukharjee, the official spokesperson for Idea Cellular, implementation of MNP in India will definitely come as a boon for the established players as they have the better service capability and the networks in comparison to the small operators who are yet to offer better service and networks.
IndiaMobile 2009: India’s largest Mobile Usage study results to be announced shortly.
Wireless Federation will shortly be announcing the availability of the results of India’s largest primary research project undertaken to study Mobile usage in India. The project is titled IndiaMobile 2009.
The survey is one of the most representative, independent enumeration of mobile phone usage in India. Close to 285,000 urban and rural Indians, covering all states and union territories574 districts, 3,175 towns and over 2,800 villages were interviewed. With at least 30 plus sample each from 323 districts and 419 towns, and 100 plus sample each from 184 districts and 155 towns, the study could actually be the World’s largest mobile (telecom) usage study carried out in a single country. The survey was carried out by a reputed local research agency under the guidance of Wireless Federation.
With the Mobile sector in India seeing close to 20% of its market capitalisation knocked off in the last few days and increased momentum in the price war in India, the results from this survey will help the sector understand its customers better in order to re-gain some of its strength back.
Airtel, Aircel, Tata Indicom, Tata DoCoMo, Etisalat, MTS India, Loop Mobile, Reliance Mobile, Idea Cellular, Vodafone, BSNL, MTNL, Telenor, Virgin can all now compare data from each and every circle and each live operator to understand demographic spread, handset usage and analysis as well as detailed psychographic analysis of the Indian mobile consumer.
The Indian mobile industry will be able to plan better based on the results from this study, which is now planned to occur each year. A large majority of mobile operators have expressed keen interest in the results of the study.
By using the IndiaMobile 2009 results, Mobile Operators will be able to further mould the study to better suit their needs from 2010 onwards.
This study will be the de-facto benchmark for Mobile Usage in India, given the thorough nature of the research, the sheer size of the sample and the level of interest from the Mobile Eco-System in utilising the results from this study.
For More information, please write to Audrey [at] WirelessFederation.com for your free copy of the headline results.
