www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Reliance Communications and China Telecom have today announced the opening of the first direct terrestrial cable link between the Chinese and Indian domestic markets.
The Reliance Communications and China Telecom constructed cable was the first cross border terrestrial connectivity project to be planned between India and China, and was completed earlier this month. The cable passes through the inhospitable terrain of the Nathula Pass, linking Yadong in China to Siliguri in India. The cable will provide direct, enterprise class connectivity between all major Indian and Chinese locations as well as expanding high-bandwidth coverage to more rural regions and cities in both countries. Neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and even Pakistan and Bangladesh will also benefit in the longer term, through increased bandwidth availability and global termination options. (more…)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Reliance Communication, the India’s second largest mobile operator, has reportedly raised 12.25 billion rupees ($253 million) via short-term debt, industry sources unveil. The company sold one-month commercial paper at a yield of 3.40 percent. The paper matures on Sept. 29, 2009.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: As reported yesterday, Zain is in talks with three foreign telcos for Celtel sale which includes an Indian telco, which is Reliance Communications (RCom). The sales will not include the Moroccan and Sudanese operations.
RCom shows interest in Zain’s African operations as its Indian rival Bharti Airtel is in talks with MTN South Africa for a possible merger.
The African operations are being seen as lucrative for the telcos due to its low penetration and reasonably well ARPUs.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Reliance Communications (RCOM) has reported its financial results for the three months ended 30 June 2009, unveiled a rise of 8.3% in net profit. RCOM posted net profit of INR16.37 billion (USD342 million) for its first quarter of the 2009-10 fiscal year, in comparison to INR15.12 billion a year ago. Revenue for this quarter mounted 15.5% y-o-y to INR61.45 billion, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to INR24.52 billion, up 8.9% against the same period a year earlier.
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, RCOM’s Chairman, said, ‘Successful commercial launch of nationwide GSM services and other new initiatives across all our businesses helped to drive profitable and sustainable growth at RCOM.’
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Indian GSM mobile operators gained 8.89 million subscribers in June, taking its total base to 315.8 million, as per the data from the Cellular Operators’ Association of India.
In June, Bharti made an addition of 2.82 million, whereas Vodafone experienced a dip in net addition. Vodafone has added 2.37 million from 2.54 million in May. Idea Cellular accelerated additions to 1.61 million in June from 1.3 million in May.
The figures submitted by COAI do not include the additions recorded by Reliance Communications in the month under review. Bharat Sanchar Nigam also reported a slight rise in the monthly additions, getting 0.8 million (eight lakh) new subscribers in June in comparison to 0.45 million additions in May.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Reliance Communications, India’s leading telecom player, has partnered with UK based mobile marketing company, 3rd Space Services Limited, to launch advertising funded videos on its Reliance Mobile platform. Under the agreement 3rd Space will supply mobile video content to Reliance Communications. It will also offer premium content such as ”Who wants to be a Millionaire”, Bollywood Songs and Films alongside the world’s leading sporting content, available on every data enabled handset within the Reliance network.
Customers will have access to the best free content in exchange for watching an advert embedded within the video. Both companies will focus on bringing in Indian & International advertisers. It is a win-win situation for everyone. (more…)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: India’s Supreme Court has reportedly admitted appeals from both state-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) against a ruling allowing mobile operator Reliance Communications (RCOM) to use dual technology to offer mobile voice services. The move is the result of the Telecoms Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) in March 2009 upheld an earlier government ruling allowing the telco to use both GSM and CDMA technology to offer mobile service nationwide.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reportedly unveiled that in the first three months of 2009 congestion on the country’s mobile networks had increased. The regulator claimed that Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Idea Cellular had the most congested networks of the private operators, with Tata Teleservices (TTSL) ranked as having the least congested.
The TRAI said that Idea faced congestion problems at 18 points of interconnection (POI), while RCOM had issues in 16 POI; the most congested circle was Bihar, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Calcutta.
Further more, TRAI announced that congestion levels were above permissible limits in more than 76 locations, compared to 66 locations in the previous quarter; at December 2008 the regulator said that congestion levels had fallen to an all time low.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Alcatel-Lucent Managed Solutions India (ALMSI), a JV between French telecom solution provider and Reliance Communication, the Indian mobile operator are close to inking 2-3 deals in as many months.
“The JV was formed initially to cater to the network operations need of Reliance Communications (RCom) alone. Now, we also plan to focus on business development opportunities in India and abroad,” Alcatel-Lucent India Head Vivek Mohan said.
Mohan added that the company was close to strike two-three deals in the network operation space, which might be announced in the next two-three months.
Though the details of the deal remain undisclosed, the source close to the development revealed that an agreement with Telecom New Zealand is round the corner.
Alcatel holds a 67% share in the JV whereas RCom holds the rest of 33%.
Sandip Biswas, Head of Managed Services, RCom said that the joint venture, at the time of its inception exactly one-year ago, had targeted to clock $500 million revenue over a period of five years.
“Now, we have increased it to $750 million and hope to even go past that target during the remaining period of five years,” Biswas added.
In its first year of operation, Biswas revealed that the JV has registered just over $100 million revenue which is likely to rise in the current year given that Reliance Communication was expanding its operations. Revenue from other prospective clients were also expected.
“The JV had started with CDMA and GSM operations and maintenance of five circles. Subsequently, we expanded the base to all 23 circles where RCom has operations,” he said.