tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-345663122010-04-07T10:26:44.596+05:30The Pioneers of Indian TelecomWebmasternoreply@blogger.comBlogger216125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-38517353423013554202010-04-07T10:19:00.002+05:302010-04-07T10:26:44.615+05:30

The number of telephone connections in India [Mobile + Landline] has crossed the 600mn mark with 90% of it coming from the Wireless Segment.Wireless Connections - 563mnLandline Phones - 37 mnHere is the breakup of Total Telephone Connections in India,Bharti Airtel 127.66 mnReliance Communications 100.58 mnVodafone Essar India 97.23 mnBSNL 94.658 mnIdea Cellular 62.14 mnTata Teleservices 51.7

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-67948610994288090132010-03-24T18:50:00.002+05:302010-03-25T18:53:20.258+05:30

Wireless operators reported 18.9m SIM additions in February 2010, down 5% from Jan (19.9m) despite 10% fewer days. Monthly net-adds of Tata Tele (TTSL) continue to ease and were down 30% from Sep-09 peak of 4 million. GSM leaders (Bharti/Voda) reported some up-tick in netadds in Feb (13%/2% mom), while figures reported by RCOM/Idea were practically unchanged vs. January. Notably, new entrants

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-25978179679031543332010-03-03T11:26:00.002+05:302010-03-04T11:31:56.672+05:30

The Department of Telecom (DOT) has increased spectrum usage charges (SUC) for GSM players by 1% for spectrum held up to 8.2MHz and by 2% beyond 8.2MHz, effective 1 April 2010. A similar hike has been levied on CDMA players with 7.5MHz as the threshold. The hike in SUC charges will hit companies across the industry.In addition to the DOT levy of higher SUC, the budget proposal to increase diesel

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-12173081424700454462010-02-19T08:52:00.002+05:302010-02-19T08:58:15.046+05:30

Tata Docomo continued to lead in the Net Adds in Jan-2010 by selling 2.98 mn SIM, however this has fallen consistently fallen since hitting a peak of 4m in Sep-09. Indian wireless subscriber base reached 540 million at the end of Jan-2010.Net-adds of major telcos (Bharti, RCOM, Vodafone and Tata) have converged over the last few months, with each one of them reporting 2.7-3.0m net-adds in Jan-10.

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-45676803399844207682010-01-28T15:32:00.001+05:302010-02-01T15:38:21.597+05:30

Here is what the Bharti Airtel Management Told us in Analyst Call,Bharti's long-term position for revenue growth remains strong and has 122 mn customers, as on December 31, 2009, across IndiaTRAI recommendations on 2G spectrum allocation and M&A regulations are likely to come out in the next few weeks.The sector is currently witnessing peak competitive intensity; industry growth to be more

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-30364571231612635142010-01-18T12:12:00.003+05:302010-01-18T12:17:08.819+05:30

RCOM's 95% subsidiary, RITL plans to raise money by diluting ~10% (postissue) equity. A successful IPO would help RCOM de-leverage its consolidated balance sheet, and may result in some valuation rerating. This is a significant development post valuation of Aircel's Tower Business taken over by GTL Infra at Rs 8,000 cr for 17,500 towers which will help RCom raise its sagging fortunes and command

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-60645219202755511652010-01-06T17:41:00.002+05:302010-01-06T17:50:41.285+05:30

In the recently held Road Ahead for Indian Telecom conference, operators are quite optimistic about the future of Growth in India. Here is what they have set their initial rollout plans on 3G WCDMA and HSPA.As the Drama over 3G continues far better than any Hindi serial, cut back in spectrum to be auctioned to three slots vs. four, if it occurs, would increase the pricing uncertainty around the

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-63345717141549472472009-12-24T11:38:00.002+05:302009-12-24T11:42:19.294+05:30

India registered the highest-ever net adds of 17.6mn subs in November 2009, up 6% month over month (MoM) and 71% year over year (YoY). We attribute this surge against average net adds of 14mn YTD to all operators launching innovative plans, especially the pay per second plan started by Tata and later launched by most operators at the end of October.Bharti's net adds rose 4% MoM to 2.8mn with

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-55445223469576878562009-12-19T03:33:00.000+05:302009-12-19T03:33:00.928+05:30

Sistema Shyam (MTS) is one of the new operators at the forefront of the ongoing Telecom Tariff war. Recently the management interacted with the analysts and he is what they have to say about their strategy in India.On the State of the Wireless Business in India, Management said,Sistema Shyam has rolled out services in 8 circles. Network rollout is progressing according to plan and Mumbai and

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-3438791695876505272009-12-17T20:46:00.000+05:302009-12-17T20:46:00.256+05:30

With increasing broadband penetration and more enterprises [SMEs] being wired towards unified communications regime, Does India have enough backhaul to cater for data growth ? Yes, there are large trunk routes owned by BSNL, Bharti, Reliance, PowerGrid, RailTel, Tata, etc and the companies are constantly building more. Between the key cities, virtually every operator has their own pipes.So it

Webmasternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-82452834039843539242009-12-16T18:16:00.004+05:302009-12-16T18:32:19.927+05:30

There is political pressure against Chinese network equipment vendors which culminated this week in news of BSNL canceling an order to Huawei.Huawei had at first won a contract from BSNL last year for the Northern region totalling nine million GSM lines. Afterwards, they had won a second contract for the Southern region for similar number of GSM lines. Since most most government communications

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-667656296557161172009-12-07T10:54:00.003+05:302009-12-07T14:31:39.376+05:30

We are of the opinion that the Tata Group's telecom assets is needed to maximise synergies and enhance shareholder value. The group has all the pieces to create a single telecom entity - Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML) and Tata Teleservices in wireless [GSM + CDMA] and fixed-line telecom, Tata Sky in DTH, and Tata Communications in wholesale voice. Its fragmented approach makes it tough for

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-47693912428598508282009-12-01T11:49:00.003+05:302009-12-01T11:54:19.643+05:30

Reliance Communications has launched two add-on plans for SMS in both pre-paid and post-paid categories. One plan brings down the price of SMS (local/STD/roaming) to Rs0.01 per SMS for monthly rental of Rs11. The other plan allows unlimited SMS for Rs30/25 per month (Re 1 per day).RCOM derives less than 1.5% of its mobile revenues from SMS as compared to ~4-5% for Bharti and ~5% for Idea. We

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-33215762833903392412009-11-20T13:35:00.002+05:302009-11-20T13:47:03.918+05:30

Bharti Airtel appears to be under severe pressure to compete the new operators as well as the Mighty Reliance Mobile which is now being offered to customers on both GSM and CDMA Platform.Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of new plan called Airtel Turbo - Reduced Roaming Rates. Airtel had introduced per second billing with a Gimmick but had kept roaming rates unchanged. Unable to sustain the

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-29593122591823861762009-11-12T10:53:00.003+05:302009-11-12T11:14:42.104+05:30

GSM mobile subscribers net adds were 10.3Mn in Oct-09 vs. 8.6MM in Sep-09 (excluding RCOM, Tata DoCoMo), up 20% M/M. The net add numbers saw broad-based increase with ~50% increase in net adds for Vodafone and Aircel (except BSNL that declined ~50%).Vodafone India net adds increased 51% to 3Mn, a sharp rise after decreasing for seven months in a rowBharti Airtel's net adds in Oct were up 7% M/M

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-35400617942717517352009-11-11T11:37:00.003+05:302009-11-11T11:44:45.757+05:30

UBS hosted a 2 day event for the Executives of Indian Telecom Industry. Here are the key takeaways from the meet.The current tariff structure is likely to put pressure on revenue and profitability in the short term. Consolidation is likely to happen in the next 12-18 months New operators have no business case as they can not match incumbent scale with their limited quantity and quality of

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-26798107470209944542009-11-07T12:15:00.003+05:302009-11-07T12:58:07.919+05:30

Tata DoCoMo and Aircel set on fire the Per Second Billing Tariff in July-09, which will go in History as one of them most disruptive Telecom Tariffs. Since then, operators were reducing tariffs halfheartedly. However, as consumers started to shift to Per Second Billing ditching incumbent services, the telecom tariff war deepened in October with RCom introducing Simply Reliance Tariff.Here is a

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-24509240285598879512009-11-04T11:16:00.000+05:302009-11-04T11:17:54.724+05:30

A. Raja, Indian Telecom Minister met with the heads of 17 Telecom companies in New Delhi to get feeling of the sector ahead of 3G auction.A Raja has said thatthere may be a reduction in termination charges among operators, which would result in lowering of mobile tariffs. The termination charge is a levy payable by an operator to another on whose network the call ends.The minister is upbeat on

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-23260700785090098562009-10-26T11:13:00.002+05:302009-10-27T11:21:37.387+05:30

Per Second Calling Tariff Plans by DoCoMo and Aircel has dent into the bottom line of most Telcos. Idea Cellular the flip flop story in Indian GSM Wireless Space reported earnings for Sept quarter.ARPU down QoQ from 232 to 209MOU down from 399 to 375The management has said,MOU drop was driven by: (1) increased multi-SIM ownership due to competition - company estimates ~20% of all India subs are

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-2769047303777296352009-10-17T06:30:00.000+05:302009-10-17T18:34:09.329+05:30

TRAI has released a paper seeking industry's views on the following issues, Licensing issues - Uniform license fee, extending license period to perpetuity, delinking license from spectrum, cap on number of operators per circle, cap on spectrum held by an operator Mergers & Acquisition - need to ease existing norms including spectrum caps, spectrum transfer charge in M&A Spectrum - methodology of

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-70737216918744987262009-10-07T12:53:00.002+05:302009-10-07T13:57:37.706+05:30

RCom's move of introducing the simplest All India Voice tariff was no surprise to us. This rapid rebasing in pricing by an incumbent (as announced on Monday) will seriously affect and threaten smaller, regional and startup operators, perhaps shortening the period before which industry consolidation inevitably takes place.Price cuts and promotions are not new in Indian wireless - what is new

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-49930832688070267762009-09-30T11:07:00.003+05:302009-10-03T11:17:31.943+05:30

The All Indian Telecom Subscriber base has reached 494 mn at the end of August-2009. This includes, Wireless [CDMA + GSM], Wireline, Fixed Wireless Phone etc connections. We spend lot of time and other resources to collect this data. Here is the compilation of subscribers [in million] from all the Telecom Operators in India.Bharti Airtel 110.89BSNL 85.810Reliance Communications 85.258Vodafone

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-87602296191757498232009-09-16T19:20:00.004+05:302009-09-16T19:26:58.124+05:30

Tata Communications have thrown open the competition on International front as well to compete with Airtel Call Home and Reliance India Call.TrueRoots has unveiled an exclusive offer to Double the Talk Time by simply purchasing a Calling Card from US, Canada or UK to call India. Effective rate will be as low as 2.9 cents / minute. Promo Code is SHTRU73200173 - More details available here. ILD

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-75185705325250683912009-09-07T11:14:00.000+05:302009-09-08T11:16:09.064+05:30

Late Friday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued an amendment to its original ruling dated 27 April 2009 on the provision of value-added services (VAS) to customers. The new ruling no longer requires an explicit customer originated call, SMS, fax or email to subscribe to VAS. While a double confirmation still has to be obtained, the customer can do this by pressing a few keys

Webmasternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34566312.post-12423042825085933762009-08-30T17:41:00.000+05:302009-08-31T17:43:08.051+05:30

RCOM announced an infrastructure sharing agreement with S Tel that includes sharing of Telecom Infrastructure (TI), transmission BTS and fiber backbone. S Tel is one of new operators in India with licenses in 6 C circles - Orissa, Bihar, HP, Northeast, Assam and J&K. S Tel plans to launch wireless services before end 09. The deal gives S Telaccess to 10,000 towers of Reliance Infratel in these

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