Tata DoCoMo considering buying other Indian Telcos
As per Mutso Yamamoto, executive director and head of strategic alliances of NTT DoCoMo, NTT DoCoMo, along with its partner Tata Teleservices, will buy other Indian telecom operators for their assets, not subscribers, once regulatory framework becomes conducive to telecom consolidation.
According to reports, they have the ability to increase subscribers. So, assets like spectrum will be more important in my opinion.
India currently has 14 telecom operators compared with three or four elsewhere in the world. Late entrants in the global system for mobile communications, or GSM, operators like Tata DoCoMo have merely 4.4 Mhz of radio bandwidth.
As per Mr Yamamoto, in Japan, they have 45 MHz of spectrum. Most industry participants agree consolidation is imperative in the sector, but acquirers await final regulations on the fees the government will charge in transactions.
As per the proposal by the TRAI, it will charge fair value for all spectrum acquired in a transaction.
Mr. Yamamoto noted that current recommendations are against consolidation. The Japanese company is committed to the Indian market. So much so that if circumstances force it to exit Tata Teleservices, it will consider investing in another Indian telecom company. At present, however, there is no reason to believe that will happen. TTSL have exceeded all expectations in adding subscribers and base stations.
NTT DoCoMo bought 26% in Tata Teleservices in 2008 for US$2.7 billion. The Japanese company specializes in 3G services which it anticipated would come to India soon at the time it bought stake.
According to Mr Yamamoto, presently, the quality of network and improving the range of data services are the two key targets NTT DoCoMo sees for Tata Teleservices. The company would like to see Tatas do better, relative to the competitors. DoCoMo’s investment in India is to leverage the move of Japanese business to the country. Business flow between Japan and India is quickly getting stronger. NTT DoCoMo can now support communications between Japan and India through Tata. If Japanese businesses are entering India, NTT can help them with their enterprise solutions. The company is getting more such kind of opportunities.
As per Mr Yamamoto, for more such opportunities, DoCoMo is expanding in Asia Pacific, but does not have other emerging markets like Africa on its agenda. In the US, too, its investments will be limited to scant venture capital. The company is keen to make an entry into China, but there would be regulatory barriers. Meanwhile, they are doing business around the mobile business, and if there is an opportunity to strengthen our relations with a carrier in China, they will do that. But its time has not come yet. India presents the next big population advantage in the Asia-Pacific region. Tata Tele may be the first off the mark offering 3G services, with close technology and knowledge transfer from DoCoMo.
TTSL to launch 3G services on Diwali (India)
Tata Teleservices has announced to launch 3G services on Diwali day next month in all the nine circles. With this move the company will become first private sector Telcom Company to launch 3G services. State-owned BSNL and MTNL already provide 3G services.
TTSL is one of those companies who operate both on CDMA and GSM technologies to offer telecom services throughout the country. The company has over 70 million subscribers.
Tata Tele’s 3G services would be in partnership with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo which has 26% stake in the company and was the first company to have created 3G network in the world.
The company had recently awarded the equipment deal to Nokia Siemens and Huawei to roll out 3G services.
According to company officials, NTT DoCoMo has provided technical inputs to make TTSL’s 3G network world-class. The various 3G services provided elsewhere by the company like i-mode, location-based services and mobile payments will all be provided in India.
3G services enables subscribers to download full length movies, make video calls and watch live television programs.
India’s TTSL denied Reports of Further Investment with Japan’s DoCoMo
India’s TTSL has denied media reports that said NTT DoCoMo was expected to invest an additional $1 billion in Tata Teleservices.
Earlier The Economic Times, quoting unnamed sources, had reported that the Japanese company was looking to increase its holding by between 10%-15%. The newspaper further said that the deal was expected to close in a few months, although the funds could go either to the mobile network operator as a capital addition for the expansion of the network, or will go to the Tata group if it chose to reduce its stake in the company.
DoCoMo holds a 26% stake in TTSL for US$2.7 billion since November 2008.
Indian telco Airtel paid highest revenue in Q3
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Highest revenue, both in terms of spectrum charges and license fees has been paid by the country’s largest private telecom operator, Bharti Airtel to the government for the quarter ending December 2009.
Bharti paid Rs 570.17 crore as license fees and Rs 301.49 crore as the spectrum charge for the third quarter ended December 2009. The data has been compiled by telecom regulator TRAI. 2.85 million new user has been added by Bharti in December.
It has been always debated that GSM operators (like Bharti and Vodafone) have been paying hefty spectrum charges compared with CDMA players (like Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices). It has been claimed by the GSM operators that they are being charged much higher for every unit of spectrum usage.
According to the TRAI figures, Bharti paid Rs 871.66 crore as license fees and spectrum charges together for the Q3 while RCom and TTSL together paid only Rs 401.81 crore for the October -December period.
Launch of Tata Teleservices’ in Gujarat delayed to January
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The launch of GSM-based services in Gujarat under Tata DoCoMo banner of Indian mobile network operator Tata Teleservices (TTSL) will be delayed to January, the company revealed.
According to COO of TTSL Naveen Bhasin, the company has not been able to launch the services in the state because the government did not release the spectrum allocated to them.
Earlier the company had planed of launching DoCoMo by 15 December.
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.
