Bharti Airtel to Launch 3G Services by End of this year (India)
Bharti Airtel Ltd. will launch 3G wireless data services before the end of 2010. Bharti, which won rights to offer 3G services in 13 of India’s 22 telecoms zones. These 13 telecom circles also constitute 68% of Airtel’s revenue market share. This includes key metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, which account for 21% of all data traffic in the country and are expected to have the strongest uptake of 3G services
According to the company, Airtel is also in advanced discussions with other quality operators to offer 3G services to its customers across the country.
The launch of 3G operations is expected to increase Bharti’s revenue amid falling call tariffs for basic services.
According to Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel 3G services will mark the beginning of the next phase of India’s telecom growth story and elevate India’s telecom sector at par with most advanced telecom markets in the world. 3G services have the potential to transform the lives of millions of Indians by taking a variety of life enhancing services on high speed broadband to the remotest corners and bridge the digital divide.
Bharti will be deploying high speed HSPA networks provided by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei.
Public sector telcos BSNL and MTNL are already offering the 3G services.
Nokia Siemens Networks to Acquire IRIS Telecom
Nokia Siemens Networks is buying Turkey based IRIS Telecom, for an undisclosed sum to boost its network planning and optimization business across the region. According to the company, subject to regulatory approval, the deal should be completed during the first quarter 2011.
According to Nokia Siemens, IRIS, which has around 630 employees, will continue to operate independently under its own name, with its head office in Istanbul.
According to Mete Gokdemir, CEO, IRIS Telecom, 3G and mobile broadband are driving the need to manage end-user experience while improving network efficiency. While a fair portion of the region’s operators are still managing their networks in-house, the company is seeing a growing trend toward outsourcing, given the higher complexities and competence requirements of managing IP networks. In this evolving scenario, Nokia Siemens Networks’ proven business model and the acquired local capabilities of IRIS Telecom will create a winning proposition for operators.
According to Geert Buijk, regional head of Services, Nokia Siemens Networks, the company will use IRIS Telecom’s localized operations and strong position in NPO to improve the service delivery model in Turkey, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The company aims to deliver unmatched competitive advantages for customers across a region where network data traffic is increasing rapidly as 3G and mobile broadband are starting to take off.
The current CEO, Mete Gokdemir will continue in his role, and Johan Bruce, currently chairman of IRIS Telecom’s Board, will be nominated Executive Director of the company. After closing of the deal, Nokia Siemens Networks will honor all existing commitments made by IRIS Telecom, including those to other equipment vendors. Future multi-vendor services opportunities will be evaluated on a case by case basis in line with Nokia Siemens Networks’ strategy.
CVC recommends probe into BSNL GSM tender (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A probe has been recommended by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) into BSNL’s decision to reduce its tender for GSM from 45 million lines to merely 14 million lines in 2007. India telecom minister A Raja’s first decision after taking charge was to get BSNL to reduce this tender size by 50% to 23 million lines and the recommendation will put further scrutiny on him.
Failure of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to supply 40% of the contract further reduced the tender to 14 million lines and since then, it has hit the BSNL’s expansion plan badly. A series of controversies also surrounded the state-owned telco’s subsequent tender for 93 million lines leading to a CVC probe and the agency had earlier this year recommended this contract be cancelled.
The CVC report was endorsed by a committee led by Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister on public information, infrastructure and innovation. This resulted in the BSNL board cancelling the 93 million lines contract in March 2010 and the CVC also sought a probe into the earlier tender.
According to the agency, reasons for the reduction in quantity from 45 million to 14 million lines, while placing orders for Phase V (this tender was referred to phase V, while the one for 93 million lines was phase VI) on the pretext that the actual number of subscriber addition per quarter has been one million only during 2007-08, whereas the actual addition of subscribers is about 8.7 million, and need to be investigated.
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fter A Raja’s intervention, BSNL was forced to halve its contract size to 223 million and also negotiate fresh prices of $91 per line with Ericsson. The tender condition made it mandatory for NSN to match the price at which BSNL has awarded the contract to Ericsson and should supply 9.63 million lines (40% of the contract) at $91 per line.
NSN catching up with Huawei & Ericsson in vendor’s race
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Its not the operators world which is reverberating with intense competition, but the mobile network equipment market too, that is turning into a three-horse race. With all the equipment vendors engaged in a heated business rivalry, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) seems to be catching up with leaders Ericsson and Huawei. Change of executive at the senior level is cited as major factor behind this welcome change at Nokia.
Simon Beresford-Wylie had been replaced by Rajeev Suri as the CEO of the company in September 2009. Before this change, kit maker saw net sales decline 21% to €2.8 billion in the quarter that ended September 30, 2009 from €3.5 billion a year earlier. In a bid to save €500 million a year until 2011, Nokia Siemens Network underwent restructuring at the beginning of November of that year. The company announced that reversing the loss in the market share will be its top priority.
Analysts predicted another round of vendor consolidation at the end of the last year. It also suggested that big companies like ZTE, Alcatel- Lucent and NSN will have to have to face a tough fight to secure the third position for them in the world market. Improvement in NSN condition has only spiced up the entire competition scenario which earlier was the race between Huawei and Ericsson and has done nothing to ease up the situation.
Its not that the operators maintaining relatively consistent CAPEX are not investing less in their equipments but it’s the prices of the equipment that is declining and the equipment market does not allow any regional players as there is only place for two to three big players. The unsustainable state of this industry will not be realized until later in the year and it is only then that a clear picture of Q3 and Q4 could be derived from a financial point of view.
VHA contracts NSN replacing Ericsson (Australia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) has signed a seven year deal with Nokia Siemens Networks as per which the latter will supply managed services and an integrated core network to the operator.
Existing VHA network vendor Ericsson has been pipped by NSN to clinch the 2G/3G deal and it also over taken over Chinese vendor Huawei, to win the contract. Flexi NG core platform will be supplied by NSN as per the contract and it will also provide service management for the core, transmission and radio networks.
Integration of networks and operations of Vodafone Australia and Hutchison 3G Australia is also required by the contract. The decision comes as huge blow to Ericsson which has been the major network supplier in Australia, as well as Vodafone’s 2G and regional 3G network vendor. Besides, it is also the sole vendor for Telstra’s 800MHz 3G network.
MTS Russia & NSN sign outsourcing deal
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The new deal signed between Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has made the former the first Russian operator to outsource its network operations. The aim of the deal is also to reduce its overall costs while increasing organizational flexibility, transparency and the predictability of operational expenses.
The daily operation and maintenance of its entire mobile network will be outsourced by MTS across central Russia to NSN as part of a five-year managed services deal. Around 250 employees of MTS will be transferred to NSN under the terms of the contract.
The deal signed between the two companies is the first full operation and maintenance managed services contract signed in Russia. However, the deal is not new for NSN which currently serves more than 300 million subscribers and has over 240 managed services contracts in mobile and fixed networks.
Qatar telecom contracts NSN for 3G overhaul
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Qatar Telecom has appointed Nokia Siemens Networks to modernize and upgrade its third-generation networks. Base stations and backhaul technology will be supplied by Nokia Siemens to increase Qatar Telecom’s third-generation network capacity.
This will also enable a smooth transition to the faster technologies HSPA+ and Long Term Evolution. Management system has also been provided by Nokia Siemens to optimize Qatar Telecom’s network. Besides, the vendor continues to operate it under an existing managed services contract.
The order value has not been disclosed by either of the company.
MBNL & NSN ink USD614.2m contract (UK)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A contract worth GBP400 million (USD614.2 million) has been signed between Nokia Siemens Network and Mobile Broadband Network Ltd (MBNL), the joint venture between British mobile network operators T-Mobile UK and H3G UK (3).
The contract covers the provision of 3G radio network infrastructure and mobile network planning along with implementation, optimisation and maintenance of the network.
According to Graham Payne, MBNL’s managing director, smartphone and mobile laptop data traffic growth in the UK has been unprecedented, and every sign is, it will continue growing fast. With NSN, the company is confident of providing the UK’s most smartphone friendly, high speed 3G network to more people in the UK than any other operator, delivering exceptional services to both T-Mobile UK and 3 subscribers.
A Multi-operator Radio Access Network (MORAN) platform has also been implemented by NSN offering flexibility while merging two networks and enabling the re-use of existing infrastructure besides allowing a reduction in the number of sites.
