Indian telcos withdraw plea with India telecom arbitrator

By Editor on May 26, 2010 · Leave a Comment

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The plea filed by three India telcos- Bharti Airtel Ltd., Idea Cellular Ltd. and Vodafone-Essar Ltd- with the telecom disputes arbitrator challenging recommendations on second-generation bandwidth and a fee on excess bandwidth has been withdrawn.

The telecom operators were upset for proposed one-time fee by the Indian government for holding bandwidth beyond 6.2 megahertz for operators offering 2G services on the global system for mobile communications platform. A move to cap the maximum bandwidth an operator can hold has also been protested by the firms.

It was after the three-judge bench of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, chaired by Justice S. B. Sinha made it clear to the operators that the proposals by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or TRAI, was recommendations and not final decisions, that the appeal was withdrawn.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with 2G, ASIA, Bharti Airtel, Global System for mobile, Idea Cellular, India, Mobile, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

Indian telco Bharti adds 3 million mobile users in April

By Editor on May 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 3 million mobile users have been signed by Bharti Airtel, India’s top mobile operator in the month of April taking its total to 130.6 million. Vodafone’s Indian unit gained 2.9 million new users in April to have a total of 103.8 million. Telenor’s India unit, which started operations in December, gained 757,615 users in April to cross 5 million total users.

In the world’s fastest-growing mobile market, operators recorded their highest-ever additions of 20.3 million in March. New users have signed up at a monthly average of 16 million over 12 months to March. April’s subscriber data for each firm and total sign-ups will be released by the sector regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

According to Cellular Operators Association of India, COAI’s April data, sixth-ranked Idea Cellular added 1.5 million users to reach 65.3 million while Aircel, ranked No. 7 and majority-owned by Malaysia’s Maxis Communications, added 1.6 million to 38.5 million subscribers.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with ASIA, Cellular Operators Association of India, Idea Cellular, India, Malaysia, Maxis Communications, Mobile, operator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Telenor, Vodafone

Indian telcos allowed sharing 3G network

By Editor on May 11, 2010 · Leave a Comment

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Spectrum sharing between operators on commercial terms has been allowed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) which is expected to deeply impact the 3G spectrum auction even in its concluding stages and hold serious implications for the world’s fastest-growing telecom market, India.

A comprehensive spectrum-sharing guideline will be introduced by the telecom regulator including spectrum-sharing charges. The regulations will be introduced in its much-awaited recommendations on overall spectrum management and review of license terms and conditions but will not give permission to spectrum trading between telcos.

Spectrum sharing will not only improve utilization efficiency nationally, it will also allow new entries like Telenor, Etisalat, Datacom and Loop Telecom to undertake initial rollouts cheaply. Revenue opportunities will come up for the old players. High-end services by sharing the 3G airwaves bagged by the winners can be launched by the one who lose out in the auction.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with 3G, 3G spectrum, ASIA, Etisalat, India, Loop Telecom, operator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Telenor

4G auction not on India cards

By Editor on April 29, 2010 · Leave a Comment

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Indian government has announced that auctions for 4G spectrum in India is not on the cards shortly. The use of 700 MHz (4G) spectrum (for the public) is still under the process of research and depending upon the need, actions will be taken by the government.

4G spectrum was currently controlled by the information and broadcasting ministry and was being used by state broadcaster Doordarshan. TRAI is analyzing various stakeholders’ views/comments at the pre-consultation stage

According to Communications Minister A. Raja, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has issued a pre-consultation paper to identify the issues involved in the introduction of 4G services such as allocation and pricing of spectrum for such services and issues related to licensing.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with 4G, ASIA, Doordarshan, India, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Trai

Comments on 4G mobile services seeked by Indian regulator

By Editor on February 11, 2010 · Leave a Comment

www.WirelessFederation.com/news:? Comments have been invited by India’s telecom regulator on fourth generation, or 4G, mobile technology. Wireless broadband services can be offered at a much faster speed than the third generation, or 3G, technology.

Discussions on issues such as allocation and pricing of bandwidth for such services and matters related to licensing have been seeked by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Comments can be submitted by March 15, after which it will put out a consultation paper on 4G services. The consultation paper is part of a process to formulate recommendations for the Indian government to decide on the modalities for introducing 4G in the country.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with 3G, 4G, ASIA, India, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

World’s largest Mobile Number Portability project launch delayed again.

By Editor on September 23, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The Indian Mobile Number Portability project is the world’s largest since mobile number portability was introduced into the US and is likely to be the largest for some time, as China is moving slowly.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) awarded Mobile Number Portability (MNP) contracts to US Based Telcordia and Syniverse in March 2009. MNP was meant to launch in August initially, which was later delayed to September and now the TRAI has revealed that it will be a phased launch – Main Metropolitan & Key Areas on December 31 and Rest of India on March 20, 2010.

“It was a little too aggressive a schedule” commented Tony Holcombe, CEO of Syniverse. Similar delays happened with mobile number portability projects in other countries, including the US and Singapore, he added.

Each of the two companies will run a database covering users in half the country: Syniverse handles operators in the north and west and Telcordia will take the south and east. The two databases will be connected.

According to the regulator, India has over 456 Million customers at the end of Aug 2009.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with China, India, Launch, MNP, Singapore, Syniverse, Telcordia, Telecom Regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Tony Holcombe, Trai, U.S

India’s Mobile Market Subscribers to Top 350 Million by 2010, Says The Diffusion Group

By Editor on August 14, 2006 · Leave a Comment

The number of mobile subscribers in India is expected to grow from just over 100 million today to more than 350 million by 2010, an addition of 250 million subscribers in just four years, according to The Diffusion Group. The analysts predict that the evolving mobile markets in China and India will reshape the global telecommunications and technology landscape and realign market share among today’s mobile market leaders.

According to The Diffusion Group, China market is widely heralded as the most immediate and largest market opportunity for mobile vendors. India’s growth rate will be equally explosive. When combined, China and India — what TDG calls “New Asia” — have a population of approximately 2.5 billion people and comprise the single largest opportunity for mobile vendors in the history of mobile telecom.”While India’s mobile market growth will in many ways follow China, the reasons for its growth are very different,” noted Michael Greeson, founder of The Diffusion Group. “India continues to experience a level of poverty far deeper than China and has little in the way of fixed-line infrastructure to support telecommunications. More than half of India’s 700 million rural inhabitants have no access to residential electricity and must rely on community pay phones. It is because of this unique confluence of factors that mobile technologies make so much sense to both India’s government and to operators.”

As Greeson notes, modern mobile telecommunications technology offers developing nations a way to cover expansive ‘greenfield’ territories — in this case, areas bereft of home or personal telecommunications — in a faster and less expensive way than traditional fixed telecom infrastructure. Combined with the world’s lowest per-minute charges, inexpensive handsets, and the social status of mobile phone ownership, India’s mobile operators are preparing to exploit this opportunity.

Other key findings from TDG’s study of India’s mobile markets include the following:

Despite 12 years of deregulation, the number of fixed-line telecom subscribers has increased less than 15% in the last three years: from 41.5 million to 47.5 million, most of which has been confined to urban areas.
In India, the cost of installing new fixed lines is roughly three times the price of installing a mobile line.
As of early 2006, about half of all the towns and villages in India could receive a mobile signal. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has set a goal to reach 90% coverage by the end of 2006 – a very ambitious goal, but one that could be within reach given the steps that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Indian government have taken to enable competition and increase foreign investment.
Despite the fact that government taxes on mobile phone revenues are amongst the highest in the world, TDG expects that taxes, levies, and spectrum fees will be reduced to cover only the Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund and administrative costs.
Given the rapid pace of growth, upgrading current infrastructure has taken a backseat to network expansion and quality of service in most areas is extremely poor.
Total mobile service revenue will increase over 170% from 2006 through 2010, which translates to a compound annual growth rate of 22.1%.

While India offers tremendous opportunity for mobile telecom vendors, exploiting these opportunities requires understanding India’s regulatory and business environment, as well as comprehending India’s unique social and demographic landscape.

About the market research report

TDG’s 65-page report, “India’s Mobile Markets – Analysis & Forecasts” (July 2006) by Thomas Wolf and Kambam Deepak with Michael Greeson, presents an in-depth analysis of the social, political, technological, and market forces that are shaping India’s telecom evolution and pushing mobile subscriptions to record levels. The report provides forecasts for total subscriber demand, an analysis of 3G subscriber growth, market share analysis among India’s mobile operators, and forecasts for mobile ARPU through 2010.

Source- http://www.tekrati.com

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