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| Tuesday, March 31, 2009 |
| Internet Telephony - TRAI Gives a Strong Reply to DoT |
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 In a strong reply to the delaying tactics of DoT, TRAI re-affirmed its stand on opening the VoIP / Internet Telephony within India. We have obtained a copy of the letter written by TRAI which said - The liberalization of Internet telephony would bring in more competition in the domestic and long distance market.
Here is more on TRAI Vs DoT on other issues raised by the latter.
- Level Playing Field - TRAI is of the opinion that Any direct comparison of access service providers and ISPs, due to vast difference in privileges, services, and resources given to them under their respective licenses does not seem to be desirable. TRAI's recommendation will not disturb level playing field. The Authority proposes no change in existing entry fee for ISP to provide Internet Telephony services with facility to terminate Internet Telephony calls on PSTN / PLMN through Internet cloud.
- Allocation of Numbering Resources - TRAI is of the view that number resources must be utilized efficiently. Therefore, DoT may consider to prescribe charges for number allocation to ISPs, if any, to ensure efficient utilization.
- Emergency Number Calling - Internet telephony service providers may be encouraged to facilitate access to emergency number calls; however they may not be mandated to provide such services. The Authority is conscious of future development and likely need to
mandate emergency number dialing in future.
DoT must go ahead and open the domestic VoIP market with immediate effect. |
Published on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 12:59 PM  |
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| Thursday, March 26, 2009 |
| Telcos say no to new license for NGN |
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In a reply to TRAI's consultation paper, most Telecom operators have said that there was no need for new licenses for next generation networks and there should be no change in current set-up in this regard. Telcos contend that current licenses were technology neutral and therefore should serve the purpose even when the industry move to next generation networks (NGN).
NGN refers to key architectural evolutions in telecommunication core and access networks that are expected to be deployed over the next 5-10 years. The general idea behind NGN is that one network transports all information and services (voice, data, and all sorts of media such as video) by encapsulating these into packets, like it is on the Internet. NGNs are commonly built around the Internet Protocol, and therefore the term 'all-IP' is also sometimes used to describe the transformation towards NGN
India's biggest mobile operator Bharti Airtel said in its reply to the regulator that the existing licenses were inclusive and permit operators to offer all types of access services. Operators could, based on their evolution plans and strategies, evolve from current technologies to next generation technologies and networks.
Similar views were expressed by Reliance Communications, the biggest CDMA player, which believes that the need for a new license was not relevant for deployment of NGN as it represented just another generation of technological evolution and all presently licensed operators in the sector were free to adopt and deploy the technologies in their network. |
| Published on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 10:32 AM |
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| Tuesday, March 24, 2009 |
| USO Reduction + Spectrum Charge Increase to be Delayed |
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Media reports indicate that the DoT's decision to reduce the USO levy by 2% for operators reaching 95% coverage (effective April-09) has been delayed due to elections. However, this also means that the final notification for the increase in spectrum charges is likely to be delayed on similar grounds. Net-net status quo remains with the final decision to be taken by the new government formed.
Just to refresh, TRAI, in Dec-08, had toed DoT's line for increasing spectrum charges by 1-2% of AGR across the various bands. It had, however, recommended that the higher % of AGR be based on only the 2G spectrum held even for those holding 2G+3G (post auction).
While having an impact on GSM incumbents’ margins by ~1.5%, it largely will be offset by the DoT's decision to reduce the USO levy by 2% for operators reaching 95% coverage. Bharti, with the widest coverage, will benefit almost immediately once
approved. |
| Published on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 9:37 AM |
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| Monday, March 09, 2009 |
| Telenor Unitech Strategy for GSM Rollout |
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 Telenor is essentially targeting the churn market (currently ~50% per annum) and is focusing more on the urban market. Management believes that the large portion of the price decline has been taken out of the India market and anticipates ARPU's to remain largely stable.
Reliance GSM is also looking forward to get the churn customers on board and have been really successful in Jan-09. Another way at looking at this is, grab the second chunk of spectrum upto 6.2 MHz from the initially allotted 4.4MHz.
Telnor further expects to benefit from the spectrum crunch of other operators and increasing proportion of data services revenues. In terms of distribution it plans to have 1m retailers in 3 years time.
Telenor plans to have 60% population coverage with 40,000 cell sites by Sep-10 - As per the tower sharing agreement with Tata- Quippo it would have 22,000/40,000 towers by April-09/10. Telenor would use inter/intra circle roaming agreements to build the network. Longer-term, Telenor expects to have 8% of the gross subscriber market share in 10 years (~75 mn subscribers by 2019). |
| Published on Monday, March 09, 2009 at 9:31 AM |
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