Airtel reveals 4G price plans (India)
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel launched 4G services in India yesterday, offering users in Kolkata the chance to surf the net at a speed ten times faster than 3G. According to reports, Sanjay Kapoor, CEO of Bharti Airtel India and south Asia, said at the launch that they expect 4G to deliver speeds of 10-15 Mbps, 10 times higher than those of 3G, which are 1.5-2 Mbps on average.
Kapoor also said that the speed will be the killer application. There is pent-up demand for such high-speed data services and they want to be an end-to-end broadband provider. He added that while 4G networks could theoretically offer download speeds as high as 100 Mbps, the actual delivered speed would always depend on the number of consumers and the kind of applications used at a time.
Group Chairman Sunil Mittal revealed that after Kolkata, the 4G service will be launched in Bengaluru next. He said that there should be more auctions coming soon and they are not going to be confined to four circles. The minister said that there will be more auctions coming through in BWA and broadband, they will be in one way or the other looking to expand their presence.
Airtel offer three price plans at a speed of 128 Kbps – the Breakfree plan priced at $ 20 with 6 GB free usage; the Breakfree max priced at $ 27 with 9 GB free usage and the Breakfree Ultra plan priced at $ 37 with 18 GB free usage.
Airtel indicates rise in tariffs if additional spectrum is charged (India)
India’s leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel, has hinted at an increase in the call rates in the event that the government decides to charge the operators for the additional spectrum allocated to them.
According to reports, Sunil Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel, has said that if the government decides in their wisdom that this industry needs to be taxed heavily in the form of high spectrum charges, whether it’s one time or recurring, that has to result in higher tariff regime.
As per sources, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has proposed a significant hike in the 2G spectrum price along with a charge for any additional spectrum to be allocated beyond the 6.2 MHz limit. Mittal said that if the government finally decides that they want higher charges both upfront and ongoing, the result of that should be higher tariffs.
He added that India already boasts of having the lowest telecom rates which have been affecting their profit margins, as cost of operations remains high. He said if there is going to be more load, that is going to put pressure on margins, which would mean the industry will have to force their hands to raise the tariffs to get the margins back.
Airtel may further hike mobile tariffs (India)
Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company, has hinted that mobile tariffs may rise significantly in the future, owing to higher operating costs. Bharti Group CEO and Managing Director Sunil Mittal, said that the correction in tariffs is required to compensate for the company’s rural operations, as the operators have to serve the rural markets, as well as low-end customers, who use only voice calls and SMS services.
With India accounting for one of the lowest telecom tariffs in the world, the revenues of most of the operators have come under pressure due to the high cost of operations and low tariffs along with increased competition. Leading operators, such as Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Tata DoCoMO and Reliance Communications, have already hiked tariffs in some plans. Following this, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had sent letters to all the companies that hiked tariffs, demanding explanation for the increase.
Bharti to rebrand Bangladesh operations
Bharti Airtel is planning to rebrand its Bangladesh operations – Warid Telecom International and also plans to launch 3G services in the country. Warid Telecom will turn into Airtel Bangladesh, structured as an offshore subsidiary of Bharti Airtel.
According to Airtel’s spokesperson, Bharti Airtel has made all necessary submissions to the statutory authorities in Bangladesh so as to rename Warid Telecom International to Airtel Bangladesh. The name change will be effective shortly. But the company cannot comment on whether the Warid name change will coincide with a brand change for the Bangladesh market.
Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel and entered Bangladesh this January when it acquired 70% ownership in Warid Telecom for $300 million from UAE-based Abu Dhabi Group.
Bharti Airtel plans to expand network in Nigeria
Bharti Airtel’s Group Chairman, Sunil Mittal, the new owners of Zain Nigeria has unveiled that new applications; lower tariffs and rural connections would identify the entrance of the company into the Nigerian market and Africa in general.
India’s largest network Bharti Airtel had taken over the African operations of Zain in a $10.7 billion deal earlier this year.
According to Mittal, the new owners are in Nigeria to do things differently from how they have been done. Bharti Airtel has been trying to enter the African market in the last 13 years, and the company understands the nuances of the market.
According to him, the company will take the network into the deepest parts of the country. They will take it to where networks had never been and will not compromise on quality while doing this, but will do things the way the communities want them to do.
As per the Chairman of Airtel Nigeria, Oba Otudeko, Airtel would make an initial investment of $2 billion into the Nigerian business in the next few years. Otudeko called on Nigerian to continue depending on the telecom provider assuring that the change from Zain to Airtel would be the last one that the company will witness.
The company began operation in Nigeria in 2001 as Econet Nigeria. It is one of the four telecom companies that won the GSM license auction by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC). The company has since its entry into Nigeria witnessed change of name for five times.
Bharti Airtel completes $9Bn Zain Africa Acquistion
(Wireless Federation) Sunil Bharti Mittal has announced that Zain Africa is now a 100% subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises.
Salient points:
- Airtel is the World’s fifth largest mobile operator with 180 million customers.
- Airtel brand will replace Zain in October 2010.
- Dispute with Broad Comm resolved.
- MTN was the first opportunity, not the first choice†– Mittal
Zain brings with it, 42 million customers, $3.6Bn revenue and $1.2B EBITDA, taking the total of the combined entity to over 180 million customers, $12.4 billion revenue and $4.7 billion EBIDTA, making it the world’s fifth largest mobile operator. Airtel had raised $8bn to finance this deal.
African Targets for Airtel
Manoj Kohli will lead Airtel Africa from Nairobi. He set out some targets for Airtel Africa by 2012-13:
- 100 million customers (up from the current 42 million)
- $5 Billion in revenue (up from the current $3.6 Bn)
- $2 Billion EBITDA (up from the current $1.2 Billion EBITDA)
Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, Mittal said that they hope their Vendor partners will follow them to Africa.
The Airtel Brand will be launched in October across the 15 countries. Kohli is flying out to Nairobi later this week and they seem to have a huge leadership workshop planned. He said that around 40-50 people will shift to Africa from Airtel India and around half that will come into India from Africa to cross-polinate learnings from both sides.
Airtel is currently number 1 in 10 countries in Africa, and there are, on an average 2-3 telecom operators in a country. In the continent, Airtel is number 2 after MTN, and covers a population of 450 million.
Airtel Nigeria
Bharti also announced that the issues that the company was facing in Nigeria have now been partially resolved. In a statement, Bharti said: The long standing litigation on multiple fronts by our main local partner, Broad Communications Group and it’s affiliates, owned, controlled and managed by Mr. Oba Otudeko and his family has been satisfactorily settled. Broad Communications will withdraw all its court cases in this regard. Mr. Otudeko is being appointed as the Chairman of our company in Nigeriaâ€.
According to Mittal, Nigeria is one of the largest growing markets in the world.
No additional money was paid to Broad. It is in his (Otudeko) interest and ours to make this company grow,†Mittal said. Broad is the largest shareholder in Zain Nigeria. Mittal said he was stunned by the pace of growth in the Nigerian market it is buzzing and ready for higher usage of minutes. The distribution of phones and SIM cards is higher than in India there are people there selling SIM cards at the roadside. Zain is number 2 in that market.â€
Mittal said that they had not had any contact with Econet Wireless, but were told that Airtel is within its rights to take over Zain, and that they are satisfied. Besides, Airtel is fully indemnified.
MTN Vs Airtel in Africa
MTN was the first opportunity, not the first choice†– Mittal said. He added that Zain is a better deal because they have full management control, whereas in the MTN deal they had board control nad not management control. Managment control will be extremely crucial to replicate the minute factory model.
Support From the Indian Government
He also added that the company received overwhelming support from the Indian government, which supported and pushed Airtel to go to Africa Manoj Kohli was in regular touch with High Commissioners in the countries where Zain operates.
Bharti Airtel hails $10.7-billion deal with Zain Africa
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The cat is out of the bag. The most talked about deal of the season has been consummated. And India is truly established as the first post-Independence multinational. The highly developed telecom sector of India has now come to the forefront of the world business model.
By signing the final $10.7-billion deal with Zain Africa for all its African assets, Bharti Airtel has finally got the big ticket global acquisition. According to Bharti Airtel CEO, Sunil Bharti Mittal, as soon as the regulatory approvals fall in place, $8.3 billion will get transferred and the remaining $700 million will be transferred after one year.
It has also been revealed by Sunil Mittal that Airtel will rebrand Zain in Africa within months of closing the deal. The company made it clear that there is no need of strategy for the turnaround for Zain. The company has been really doing well occupying the top slot in 10 countries, second in four countries and fourth in just one country i.e. Ghana. Besides, the company has $4 billion of top line and $1.2-billion EBIDTA.
Zain has also been making investments year on year and has invested $600-700 million and even $800 million in capex at times.
Manoj Kohli who has been heading the international operations outside South Asia will take the charge of the new operations in Africa as CEO. Operations of the firm will be led by the Africans and supported by key members of the Indian team who will move from India to Africa.
On the failure of the deal with the Africa’s top mobile operator MTN, Sunil Bharti opined that the deal with Zain is a bigger one as it provides Bharti Airtel to have its own brand, its own management, its own low-cost model and its outsourcing model. If the deal with MTN would have materialized, the company would have only got participation rights and co-management rights in the company.
Bharti Airtel considering bid for Millicom SL
Bharti Airtel CEO, Manoj Kohli told reporters in India that Airtel may bid for Millicom’s Sri Lankan operation. Bharti already operates in SL.
Wireless Federation had earlier reported that Millicom/Tigo Laos has been sold to Russia’s Vimpelcom.
Bharti is actively considering acquisitions in Africa and the world over after the talks with MTN collapsed.
Bharti group CEO Sunil Mittal has said that the company won’t engage in dialogue with MTN for a third time, after inconclusive talks twice.
Nasdaq-listed Millicom provides prepaid cellular telephony services to over 30 million customers in 16 emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Asked if Bharti Airtel was also interested in Kuwait’s Zain Telecom, Kohli said they will continue to explore international acquisitions. (Airtel-Zain, See Here)
Price war & the Indian regulator cause mobile stocks to tumble
The Indian mobile sector, a darling of the Indian stock markets has just fallen from grace. Fears that a renewed tariff war may bring its dream run of profit growth to an end and could force smaller players to sell out or shut shop has caused the leader, Bharti Airtel to lose 17% in two trading sessions. Reliance Communications has fallen 11% and Idea Cellular fell 8%.
Mobile tariffs in India are already the lowest in the world. On Monday, Reliance (RCOM) announced the slashing of tariffs across the board for local, roaming and long-distance calls to 50 paise, i.e under a cent per minute.
In addition to this, the Indian Telecom regulator suggested on Monday that telecom operators shift to per-second pricing as opposed to per-minute. After the Indian stock market got jittery with this announcement and telecom stocks started tumbling, the regulator (TRAI) was seen as diluting their position on this statement, stating that proposal on per-second billing was at an initial stage and too much was being read into the issue.
TRAI chairman J.S. Sarma also said that mobile operators were free to oppose the scheme and the regulator would consider their opinion during the consultation process.
Sunil Mittal, the chief of Bharti Airtel said tariffs were best left to market forces.
Industry Leaders To Gather at 3GSM World Congress Asia 2006
ASIA : The 3GSM World Congress Asia – the fastest growing mobile communications event in the region – will bring together a host of industry leaders and personalities from across Asia’s booming mobile industry.
The mobile operator CEOs speaking at the 2006 event, which will be held in Singapore between October 16th and October 20th, include Sunil Mittal from Bharti Televentures, Dr Young-Chu Cho from KTF, Naguib Sawiris from Orascom, Lee Hsien Yang from SingTel Group, Dato Abdul Wahid Omar from Telekom Malaysia, Arve Johansen from Telenor, Sol Trujillo from Telstra and Alexander Izosimov from VimpelCom. Produced by the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for the mobile industry, the 3GSM World Congress Asia will also feature top executives from other mobile-related industries, such as Alejandro Zubillaga, Executive Vice President Digital Strategy and Business Development at Warner Music Group, and Dr Sachio Semmoto, Founder and CEO of eAccess.
“For this year’s 3GSM Congress in Asia, we have assembled a top-class, yet diverse, line-up of speakers that will pinpoint the key trends in the region’s dynamic and complex market for mobile communications,” said Bill Gajda, the chief marketing officer of the GSM Association. “The Congress is the only event in Asia to attract the top ranking executives from the region’s operator community.”
The Congress presentations, revolving around the central theme of ‘Risk and Reward’, will cover topics ranging from new business models for mobile operators, to the role of China, universal access in emerging markets, the mobile boom in India, mobile virtual network operators and infotainment and content. The 2006 event will also host the GSMA Members Forum – the only annual meeting open to the entire GSMA membership.
This year’s Congress also sees the introduction of the GSMA’s “Asia Mobile Innovation Awards.” These awards are designed to support innovation in the Asian mobile industry by bringing together start-up companies, industry investors, mobile operators and vendors
Source- http://www.3g.co.uk
Technorati : 3 GSM, Asia, Bharti Televentures, China, KTF, Orascom, Singtel, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, Telestra, Warner Music Group, eAccess, operator
Ice Rocket : 3 GSM, Asia, Bharti Televentures, China, KTF, Orascom, Singtel, Telekom Malaysia, Telenor, Telestra, eAccess, operator
