AMSOST poll results so far...

Based on the preliminary results

61% people believe that we will see a price of Rs 55 or more on Listing Day 

and 84% think MTS will list here before Jun 2011...

What is your view.......go ahead and vote...

http://amsost.blogspot.com

5 companies were ineligible for 2G license: CAG

Courtesy: Headlines Today

5 companies were ineligible for 2G license: CAG

Hinting troubles for Telecom Minister A. Raja, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said that most of the 126 licenses issued by the telecommunication ministry in 2008 were illegal. The second CAG report, submitted on September 15, states that licences in the 2G spectrum allocations were awarded to companies that did not meet even the basic criteria. The damning audit report says that all the five new companies which got 2G spectrum and licenses were ineligible at the time of application. While two companies -- Unitech and Allianz Infra -- specialised in real estate, another one -- Shipping Stop Dot Com -- was into shipping and yet another company -- Datacom -- was involved in software development. The audit report reveals that these companies' MoA and AoA never permitted them to enter telecom sector during the time of application. These companies did not have the required net worth stipulated in the guidelines of department of telecommunication. Raja has already been in the dock for causing losses to the tune of Rs 60,000 to the exchequer in the auction of 2G spectrum. But the CAG report now goes a step further and reveals that even basic due diligence was not adhered to by the DoT in the selection of companies. The CAG had filed its first report on 2G spectrum scam in July third week.

After 3G and Mobile Number Portability, what's next for telecom companies?

After 3G and Mobile Number Portability, what's next for telecom companies?
September 27, 2010 03:28 PM |
Yogesh Sapkale

Intense competition, falling revenues and incremental expenditure have affected the balance sheets of all telecom operators. Post 3G and MNP, they will have to either consolidate or diversify in order to survive
With the imminent launch of third generation (3G) network services and mobile number portability (MNP), Indian telecom companies are now gearing up for the next big move. In the first part (http://www.moneylife.in/article/4/9386.html), we saw how the government and telecom industry are preparing for the merger and acquisition games under the exit route policy.
While it is said that some new entrants are easy prey for bigger, cash-rich players like Bharti Airtel, there are incumbents who may be ready to sell their part or complete business. In order to reduce its debt burden, Reliance Communications (RCom) is already talking about a stake sale. Although its tower sale deal with GTL did not materialise, RCom for sure needs to scout for other buyers at the earliest.
Citing RCom management, Ambit Capital Pvt Ltd, in a note said, "The company intends to offload stake in the tower company, which may be followed by strategic stake sale in RCom. Though we believe that the stake sale will result in deleveraging the balance sheet, we prefer to wait until further clarity emerges on the same."
RCom's effort to sell its towers was nothing but an attempt to diversify part of its non-core business. Towers, unless rented out to other companies are nothing but dead assets for any company - especially for mobile operators, it is a huge burden in terms of revenues. In case of RCom, the hiving off of the tower business to another company and then selling it to other parties should be seen in this context only.
The best example of diversification among telecom operators is Bharti Airtel. Long before other companies could wake up to the reality of the tariff war and subsequent intense competition, Bharti started spreading its wings in overseas markets. Once upon a time, both RCom and Bharti were in the race to acquire South African Mobile Telephone Networks SA (MTN), which did not materialise due to various reasons, including last minute changes in regulations in India and South Africa.
While RCom decided to stay away from any acquisition, Bharti continued its search and grabbed the African operations of Kuwait-based Zain for $10.7 billion. The deal, however, led to a huge debt burden of about Rs50,000 crore for Bharti. At present, the company is burdened with a debt of around Rs65,000 crore due to the Zain acquisition and auction and launch of 3G services in India.
Bharti Airtel is planning to sell mobile phone towers of its African operations to its unit Bharti Infratel, in order to raise badly needed cash and taking a big step towards replicating the outsourced business model that has underpinned its growth in India. The value of the towers is expected to be around Rs12,000 crore to Rs15,000 crore.
Kisan Ratilal Choksey Shares and Securities Pvt Ltd, in a research note said, "The move is positive for Bharti considering that it will improve the cash position of the company, significantly reducing net debt position of the company. Debt position of the company is expected to reduce to Rs50,000 crore after repayment of money borrowed for Zain's acquisition. At the same time, by handing over the operation of its phone network, towers and information technology services, the company will be able to focus on its core mobile phone service business in Africa."

While hiving off its non-core business, Bharti is also venturing into the mobile handset business. The business is crowded, with a new company entering the market almost every other day. A number of these companies procure handsets from China and sell it in India using their own label or brand. Despite the stiff competition there is growing demand, especially for handsets in the price range of Rs2,000 to Rs6,000. India's annual shipments for mobile handsets are about 130 million units.
Bharti's group company Beetel has launched eight mobile handsets in the price range of Rs1,750 to Rs7,000. In the first phase, the company is targeting select regions like Delhi, Haryana, UP and Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Punjab and the seven north-eastern states through its 4,000 outlets.
The company plans to extend its services throughout India by FY11.
Consumer electronics giant Videocon has also entered mobile services as well as the handset business. Although the figures for its mobile handset volumes are not available, during August it added 3.7 million new subscribers.
Sistema Shyam, which operates under the brand name of MTS, has also come out with its own handsets in the CDMA category. Currently there are three operators, RCom, Tata Teleservices (Tata Indicom) and MTS, which offer CDMA mobile services in India. Often, CDMA handsets are sold in a 'locked' status; the same cannot be used with another operator. This may have prompted MTS to offer its own handsets.
Bharti and Videocon offer their direct-to-home (DTH) TV services under a similar brand as that of their mobile services, thus leveraging maximum brand value. RCom and Tata Indicom do not have that advantage as it's not their own brand but sister concerns that offer the DTH services, namely Reliance Big TV and Tata Sky. The DTH venture of Bharti also ratifies its diversification under one brand theory.
On the one hand, telecom players are seeking to de-leverage their balance sheet through sale of their non-core assets (evident from Idea and RCom seeking to sell stake in their tower business). On the other hand, looking at the intense competition in Indian markets, some players are also following the footsteps of Bharti Airtel in diversifying their presence in other regions outside India. Whether diversification of businesses would help the survival of telecom companies, only time can tell.

Fuel cells back-up for telecom towers

Fuel cells back-up for telecom towers

UK-based Intelligent Energy says such a scenario is not too far away..

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Typically fuel cells have efficiency of conversion of 50 per cent which will be much higher than the efficiency of a diesel generator whose efficiency ranges between 5 per cent and 20 per cent.

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M. Vedhan

Poweredby innovation. M. Ramesh
Rs 10,000 crore — that's how much telecom tower companies spend on buying diesel for their back-up gensets each year, according to one estimate. Today, there are about 3,00,000 towers and about 50,000 more would need to be added each year for the next five years — and most of them will come in far-flung locations. Since in India availability of grid power is a matter of luck, you need to provide all these iron giants sufficient back-up so that they stay energised round the clock. Towers consume not less than 120 units a day and you can do the math for costs.
Diesel gensets have been the obvious choice but diesel is dirty and costly; and any deregulation of diesel prices will only emaciate the wallet further.
Is there a viable alternative to diesel? Well, people have been trying to integrate diesel with solar panels, a kind of a double back-up, but it comes with a price, as you would have to invest in both systems and their maintenance.
One UK-based company, Intelligent Energy, is posing fuel-cells as an alternative. We've heard of fuel-cells in the context of automobiles — General Motors is doing this and Toyota is doing that — but this technology is sufficiently advanced for stationary applications — such as back-up for telecom towers.
Fuels cells are, conceptually, reverse electrolysis. In electrolysis, you pass electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. In fuel-cells you mix hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity.
In an interview to eWorld, Murali Arikara, Executive Vice-President - Emerging Markets, discusses the economics of fuel-cells under telecom towers.


Murali Arikara So, you see a big market in India?
Yes. Today, you are looking at 10-12 hours of power outages. Diesel prices going up and with deregulation of diesel prices, the fuel prices could go up by 30 per cent. There are 3,30,000 telecom towers in India, and 50,000 would need to be added year after year for the next five years.
What are the alternatives you are competing against?
Solar. Solar has pretty significant subsidies from the government and so they are able to look at solar from a different stand point. Some people have tried solar panels and micro-wind generator combinations. But we will be competitive against them, because what we are competing against is a solution that you don't have much control over. Unlike us, what they are doing is offsetting a few hours of diesel operation, but not eliminating it.
How expensive would the fuel-cell machines be?
If you look at the operating cost, we will be very competitive. Diesel power today costs anywhere between Rs 22 and Rs 75 a unit, because they run gensets at a range of efficiency levels depending on the requirement.
Typically fuel cells have efficiency of conversion of 50 per cent which will be much higher than the efficiency of a diesel generator whose efficiency ranges between 5 per cent and 20 per cent. Our biggest challenge is the price of hydrogen. We are negotiating with several people. If we get hydrogen at Rs 350 per kg, we will be competitive.
What does hydrogen cost today?
It is hard to tell because it varies from place to place and depends on what quantities you buy.
Diesel is available everywhere, but hydrogen?
The logistics chain will shift from delivering diesel to generators to delivering hydrogen for fuel cells. There are currently several chlor alkali plants that provide hydrogen as a by-product. In the initial stages we plan on utilising this existing source of hydrogen. As the market develops we will work on developing the hydrogen infrastructure through investments made along with partners in developing this infrastructure.
But how much would your machines cost, to the customers?
We are looking at providing the machines as a service. As part of that, we are trying to find partners in India whom we can work with — existing companies that are already providing services to cell tower industry. I can't give any names at this point.
Our plan right now is to have some initial system deployed to prove to the end user, and then over the next year have some more deployments and go in for full-gear implementation after that.
At this time all I can say is that we plan to be at the initial stage price competitive or on price parity with diesel generators. We will know more once we have deployed more systems in the field and account for all the costs, including those of delivering hydrogen to the sites.
If the market is as big as you describe it, does it make sense for you to produce the fuel cell systems here?
Yes, that is what we are working towards. We are talking to a few players in India. We will select one of them to set up a joint venture.
The fuel cell devices generate tremendous amount of heat. How would you address this issue?
In our case the fuel cell is proton exchange membrane (PEM)-based fuel cell operating at around 10 degree Centigrade above ambient so the heat rejection is at a temperature that is close to ambient.
There are some fuel cells such as Solid oxide fuel cells that operate at close to 1,000 degree Centigrade and the heat rejection there is at a higher temperature. We do not use this type of system.
mramesh@thehindu.co.in

Most 2G licences given by Raja illegal, says CAG

Josy Joseph, TNN, Sep 27, 2010, 12.18am IST

NEW DELHI: Adding a new twist to the 2G spectrum scam, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has in its latest communication told the department of telecom (DoT) that a vast majority of the 126 licences controversially issued by the government in 2008 are illegal.

The sensational audit finding will further complicate the situation for the UPA government as Supreme Court begins to monitor investigations into the allocation of 2G spectrum under the stewardship of telecom minister A Raja in January 2008.

According to sources, CAG wrote to DoT in the second week of September that more than 75 licences issued in the 2G spectrum allocations have violated several of the guidelines for granting Unified Access Services Licence in a Service Area. These guidelines were issued on December 14, 2005 by DoT.

The CAG's communication to DoT says these licences were awarded to companies that did not meet several of the basic criteria laid down under the licence conditions. The finding comes over and above CAG's draft report that has indicted Raja for personally approving many of the important decisions that finally resulted in nine companies -- five of them with no experience in the telecom sector -- pocketing precious spectrum at throwaway prices.

CAG has listed a host of violations of DoT guidelines by the five new entrants and their several newly-floated companies. Among those indicted by CAG in its latest communication are Unitech, Loop, Swan, Datacom and Allianz Infra. Through various companies floated by them, together they hold over 75 of the total 126 licences given by the government without an auction. Some estimates have calculated the loss to the exchequer because of this sale in the region of Rs 60,000 crore.

CAG has also found some cases of forgery. In many of the licences, the Memorandum of Association of the applicant companies did not specify that they were being set up for telecom business, many of them were for construction business. So to overcome the need to have new MoAs approved by the registrar of corporate affairs, some of them put up unsigned MoAs in their applications. Many companies did not have adequate paid-up capital, and in some cases, they had violated cross-holding rules in telecom sector.

In the case of eight companies of Unitech, all of them held the annual general meetings just a day or two before the application was to be submitted. Officially, the AGMs were all held over two days within hours of notices being given, showing the farcical nature of the entire exercise.

The CAG findings now go beyond the issue of auction, and highlight the fact that DoT did not ensure that the companies adhered to its own guidelines. Raja had recently managed a law ministry opinion that CAG cannot question government's policy decisions, but the latest findings show that his department did not even carry out basic due diligence.

The findings add further complications to the 2G spectrum scam. Earlier, in its draft report, CAG had pointed out that Raja personally approved the issue of the now infamous press release of January 10, 2008, insisting on first-come-first-serve basis for allocation of licences, and giving operators just an hour's window to deposit demand drafts. The press release also advanced the cutoff date for submission of applications to September 25, 2007.

Raja had approved and signed the approval notings for the allocation of 2G spectrum to all the nine companies. Raja personally decided on the various cut-off dates in 2007, and later in January 2008, which favoured select companies, CAG found. First-come-first-serve was never DoT policy for granting licences, contrary to Raja's claims. It had been the policy only for release of spectrum after licences were granted, the CAG draft report said.

3G will not take focus away from 2G VAS: OnMobile

VAS - 3G

By: Supriya Bhattacharjee| afaqs! Telecom Yatra | New Delhi, September 27, 2010

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OnMobile, one of the largest mobile value added services companies, says that even after the rollout of 3G services in India, it will continue to focus on 2G and 2.5G.
Speaking to Telecom Yatra, Kiran Anandampillai, vice president, products, OnMobile, says, "We will be providing both 2G and 2.5G services along with 3G services. This is because we feel that even after 3G is rolled out, about 85 per cent of customers will be on 2G and only 15 per cent will use 3G. 2G will continue to remain a large market."
Anandampillai says that most operators will be rolling out 3G services by January 2011 and even after one or two years, there will be only 15-20 per cent of penetration of these services.
"But it will still make a lot of difference to revenues of operators as well as VAS providers. There is a huge opportunity for VAS players in the industry, and as 3G gets rolled out, the adoption of VAS in India will increase," he adds.
Currently, only BSNL and MTNL offer 3G services in India, and private operators who recently won 3G spectrum are gearing up for the launch. In the auctions, Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Aircel, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices and S Tel, had bagged 3G spectrum.
Both the state owned telcos had launched these services in early 2009, and within a year of launch, BSNL is serving 14 lakh 3G subscribers, and aims to have more than 40 lakh by the end of the fiscal.
Anandampillai says, "The time of launch of 3G services by private operators will not be very different. Each operator wants to have some unique offerings around 3G, through which they can build their brand and market. We are in discussions with operators to offer innovative products that suit their demands and we will do our best on this front."
3G will enable high quality multimedia services such as video calling, high speed internet browsing and live TV on 3G enabled mobile phones.

DoT to consult FinMin on bailout package for new telcos

DoT to consult FinMin on bailout package for new telcos

Press Trust of India, September 26, 2010

Telecom Ministry has made it clear that a decision to bail out new telecom operators who want to surrender 2G licences along with spectrum will be taken in consultation with the Finance Ministry.

The Telecom Commission, a decision-making body of the Telecom Ministry, would first consider the issue and if found viable, the Department of Telecom (DoT) would approach the Finance Ministry with the options available, senior DoT officials said.

The government had issued new pan-India telecom licences bundled with start-up 2G spectrum to eight companies in January, 2008, for Rs. 1,651 crore each, but some of them have not been able to meet the roll-out obligations, which may prompt the government to either impose a penalty on them or cancel their licences.

There are apprehensions that in case no option was given to the struggling operators, they might take legal course and that may result in locking of precious spectrum. However, the officials made it clear that no decision would be taken without consulting the Finance Ministry.

Asked whether the issue may be referred to the Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, officials said although no such decision was taken, this cannot be ruled out. According to sources, at least two new telecom licencees, including Swan Telecom (which has tied up with UAE-based Etisalat), have approached the DoT for surrendering the licences and spectrum they bagged two years ago in lieu of a refund of the entry fee they had paid.

As many as eight players, including Swan, Uninor, Videocon-owned Datacom, Shyam-Sistema and Loop Telecom, had bagged spectrum in 2008 and several operators are yet to start their services.

The official said the matter would be taken up by the Telecom Commission. The Commission may consider several possibilities, including allowing new companies to merge with larger operators and shortening the three-year lock-in period during which the promoter of a new company is barred from selling out.

The current M&A norms restrict new telcos, who got pan-India licences and spectrum at Rs. 1,651 crore, from selling them. With 14 telecom players jostling in each circle, analysts feel that a shake-out is inevitable as the margins of telcos are under pressure due to a tariff war and falling average revenue per user.

When asked who were the new players that had approached the DoT for surrendering spectrum, officials declined to give names, but confirmed that at least three new players have sought a refund in lieu of exiting the space.

Among the new players, Shyam-Sistema has already rolled out services in several circles, while Uninor (a JV between Unitech and Telenor of Norway) has also started services in 13 circles and is in the process of covering other circles. Besides these two, S Tel has also almost covered its areas and the RCom and Tatas have also launched GSM services in most of the circles.

Read more at: http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/dot-to-consult-finmin-on-bailout-package-for-new-telcos-101434?cp

Losses push new telcos towards bailout: BS

Losses push new telcos towards bailout Katya B Naidu / Mumbai September 26, 2010, 0:28 IST A few years back, many foreign and domestic companies made a beeline to get spectrum licences in India. But since last year, after new players entered the market by offering reduced rates, they have fallen prey to their own strategy. Most of them are bleeding as profit margins reduced. “We believe tarriffs, which are already the lowest in the world, may not be sustainable for smaller players. It is evident that the fully-integrated players will continue to remain stronger,” Satish Seth, group managing director, Reliance Communications, said at an analyst conference call. BSE  |  NSE Price    Click here to visit SME Buzz   Also Read   Related Stories News Now - FIIs net sellers of Rs 1046 cr in F&O - Govt neutralises tax impact of 1st yr of DTC regime - Opposition to Jaitapur plant out of 'misplaced fear': Chavan - India, Japan, Brazil, Germany push for early UNSC reform - Nafed posts loss of Rs 50.05 cr; turnover rises 26% More The telecom ministry is now mulling a bailout package, wherein companies can return the spectrum and take back the licence fees. Some analysts said this could be one of the last options left for companies that had not launched operations despite holding a spectrum. Companies that recently launched operations have made no dent in terms of market share. Such companies as Loop, Videocon, Stel, HFCL and Sistema Shyam have a market share of less than one per cent. Ten-month-old Uninor has garnered 1.05 per cent share, while Etisalat has the lowest share of 0.005 per cent. “If they have to quickly increase their market share, newer companies will have to practically go free, which is not possible. Companies will struggle more if they have to compete with Idea, Airtel and Vodafone,” said Vaibhav Agarwal, vice-president, research, Angel Broking. While new companies are struggling, losses are mounting. In the second quarter, Sistema Shyam posted a net loss of Rs 493 crore, which is more than three times its last year loss of Rs 106 crore. Also, Uninor reported a net loss of Rs 850 crore. These companies are yet to achieve breakeven, which is years away. Reeling under losses, these companies have a few options to sustain their businesses. “There has been a lot of equity-value destruction in the Indian telecom market. Vodafone has written-off the value of its Indian assets and Telenor shareholders are asking it to quit India. There is very less foreign interest in India,” said Alok Shende, principal analyst, Ascentius Consulting. Under the present regulations, spectrum cannot be transferred as an asset in an acquisition. And, as these newer companies have not built a huge subscriber base, there are no assets to buy even if domestic companies were interested. However, Mrityunjay Kapoor, country-head, Protiviti India, said mobile number portability (MNP) could give an opportunity for newer companies to get a substantial market share. “There will be a churn among most people – who are high-value customers – to operators that can promise better service. If new operators can differentiate themselves in terms of service quality, MNP will provide an attraction to switch,” he added.

MBLAZE runs with REEBOK

MTS partners with Reebok

India Infoline News Service / 19:08 , Sep 23, 2010

The initiative is being rolled out in all 84 towns under the MBlaze network across India.

MTS, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL) has announced its association with Reebok to offer a FREE pair of specially designed sport shoes on purchase of MBlaze. Additionally customer will also get data usage advantage of 1500 MB, all for just `2999/-. The initiative is being rolled out in all 84 towns under the MBlaze network across India. With festive season round the corner, Speed Ka Double Dose has been specially designed to provide huge savings to the customers. On purchase of MBlaze, customer to get a pair of Reebok shoes worth `3499/- and data usage of 1500 MB worth `1188/-. Instead of paying `6986/- new MBlaze customer would be required to pay just `2999/-. The entire proposition thus provides a saving of more than 50%. Sameera Reddy, Bollywood actor and Yuvraj Singh, renowned cricketer added a glamorous twist to the launch event of Speed Ka Double Dose. According to Leonid Musatov, Chief Marketing Officer, SSTL, “MTS and Reebok are two like-minded entities sharing the same passion i.e. Speed. After arming our customer with lightening fast 3G speed with our flagship product MBlaze, MTS has now teamed up with Reebok this festive season to provide an ultra high-speed experience through the Speed Ka Double Dose initiative. I am confident that customer will find this proposition extremely unique and alluring.” Availing the Speed Ka Double Dose advantage A customer just needs to pay `2999/- and buy the MBlaze service through any MTS branded retail outlet. The customer would be given a scratch card with a unique code. The customer then needs to log on to www.mtsindia.in/MBlaze and key in the code along with personal details including his/her shoe size. After the successful submission and validation, Reebok will courier the free pair of shoes to the customer within 10 working days.  Speaking about the partnership Sajid Shamim, Director – Sales & Marketing, Reebok India, said, “We are glad to be associated with brand MTS, though we cater different business segment but we share the common USP offering best of speed. Be it fast internet connectivity by MTS or technology oriented sporty shoes by Reebok that enable athletes to train longer and faster, the common synergy reflects our commitment of speed and hence the association is a move to benefit the customer with single window for a double dose.” According to Sameera, “Launch of Speed Ka Double Dose is truly in sync with the spirit of the MTS-Reebok alliance. I am really excited to use MBlaze and experience internet browsing at such a fast speed. I am sure it will give me the luxury of more time which is most sought after by Gen X.” At the launch event Yuvraj said, “The alliance between MTS and Reebok truly represents the spirit of youth and their craving for speed. Propositions like any time internet from MTS, not only makes life for youth convenient but also more exciting and easy.”

Data networks to boom by 2015 says UN"s telecom agency

Superfast mobile 3G networks boom: UN telecoms agency

(AFP) – 17 hours ago

GENEVA — Superfast third generation (3G) mobile phone networks have expanded nearly tenfold in four years, outstripping fixed line broadband, the UN's telecoms agency said on Wednesday.
The International Telecommunications Union predicted that 3G -- which allows users to watch TV and access the Internet from their phones -- would exceed 900 million subscriptions worldwide by the end of this year as the pace of expansion continued to accelerate.
At the beginning of 2010, 3G capacity could accomodate 667 million subscriptions worldwide, compared to 73 million four years earlier, the ITU said in a statistics survey.
"While these aren't all necessarily active subscriptions, the growing number highlights the vast potential wireless technologies hold," it added.
"ITU has set a clear target by recommending that at least half the world's people have access to broadband by 2015."
Over the same period, global fixed line broadband subscriptions rose from 216 million to 479 million.
Third generation now accounts for 14 percent of all mobile telecoms subscriptions compared to three percent in 2006.
But poor nations appear to be left out, as penetration rates for fixed or mobile broadband remain very low in developing countries, just above three percent of inhabitants, according to the ITU.
The fixed broadband figure is barely higher than the agency's estimate three years ago.
"Tremendous achievements have been made over the past five years in bringing broadband access to millions of people around the world -- but much more needs to be done," the ITU said.

MTS Deploys Elitecore's EliteAAA

MTS Deploys Elitecore's EliteAAA

By Jai C.S., TMCnet Contributor

Elitecore Technologies, a provider of Telecom Software, said that the company has rolled out MTS Wireless broadband service over CDMA Network on its Platform.

As per the terms of this agreement with Elitecore, MTS (News - Alert) has been supplied with EliteAAA to support 12 million subscribers in a Centralized SPR for prepaid/postpaid with geo-redundant deployment architecture. The deployment is said to have helped MTS greatly reduce Capex and Opex for MTS.
MTS is well recognized in India and worldwide for its innovative telecom solutions. The Company has been serving around 6 million subscribers in the telecom circles of Kolkata, West Bengal and Sikkim, Rajasthan, Chennai and Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar and Jharkhand, Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa, Delhi and NCR, Haryana, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. MBlaze is the data service of MTS.
“MTS experiences a significant potential for High Speed Data Services in India, hence offering High Speed Data services to our customers in more than 80 towns in India at affordable price and seeing a huge growth in our subscriber base. We have selected Elitecore’s EliteAAA for its robustness and scalability to support a large subscriber base and are very satisfied with the support extended by Elitecore’s team during deployment and operations of the AAA solution in our data network” Jens Kirchner, chief technical officer at MTS, said in a press release.
EliteAAA is a AAA supporting voice, video and data services, as well as VAS applications. It is said to be in compliance with 3GPP2 standards. It authenticates subscribers at the packet data level and is integrated with BREW Gateway (News - Alert), WAP Gateway, IN platform and PDSN.
“MTS is among the fastest growing operator in the country, Our EliteAAA is robust and scalable to handle growing data traffic. It offers carrier grade reliability, security, scalability and flexibility needed for 3G/4G Networks.” says Dhaval Vora for AVP Presales and Solution Group.
More about Elitecore Technologies (News - Alert) can be found in an interview regarding Elitecore’s IMS-based Charging Solution.

Indian telecom outshined global in 2009

Telecommunications, especially mobile, has been a key sector driving growth for several economies in the world, with the number of mobile connections having reached 5 billion globally in July. India and China have been leading this growth, with about 652 million and 720 million subscribers respectively as of July.
However, according to a recent report by Ovum research, the year 2009 saw the worst telecom growth rate in a decade as global telecom operator revenues grew only by 2.2 per cent year on year. The study said slow growth could be attributed to the global economic downturn.
However, even though 2009 might have been a bad year for telecom globally, it had a mixed impact on the Indian telecom sector.
RN Prabhakar, former member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, says, "There has not been much impact on Indian telecom sector in 2009, unlike globally where recession led to a decrease in demand for telecom services as people started cutting their expenses. There was also low demand for high quality value added services in these markets."
The year 2009 marked the beginning of an intense tariff war amongst operators in India, with each vying for a greater hold of the mobile subscriptions market. This led to a substantial increase in the number of mobile subscribers. In 2009, about 180 million new subscribers were added, as compared to only 83 million additions in 2008.
According to industry magazine even the Indian telecom equipment industry reported a 20per cent growth in revenues during FY 2008-09 compared to a 24 per cent growth recorded in the previous financial year 2007-08.
Jaideep Ghosh, executive director, KPMG, says, "From government's perspective, 2009 was good as tariffs were low and more people were getting covered by telecom. Even in rural areas, the teledensity increased last year."
The huge increase in subscriber numbers also led to a rise in demand for value added services, with operators treating these services as a major revenue generator in coming times since voice average revenue per user (ARPU) have been falling.
Moreover, prices of handsets also came down with several new entrants, both local and international, in the mobile handset industry. This was responsible for an increase in handset sales, which led to growth in overall industry revenue, with about 100 to 125 million handsets sold every year.
SC Khanna, secretary general, Association of Unified Service Providers of India, is of the view, "From 2008 to 2009, there has been a growth of about 23-30 per cent in the telecom sector. Telecom market in India is different from any other telecom market in the world. India and China are doing very good in telecom. In fact, India is expanding at a faster rate than China now."
The year 2009 also saw several negatives such as delays in 3G and BWA auctions and mobile number portability. These delays impacted the industry as a whole as operators were not able to place orders with equipment vendors, and were uncertain as to when auctions would take place. There was a lot of financial pressure on telecom companies.
The delay in auctions also prevented telcos from launching advanced revenue generating services such as mobile TV and mobile commerce.
Anil Prakash, secretary general, ITU-APT Foundation of India, says, "We can say that 2009 was somewhat a mixed year for Indian telecom. 3G and BWA auctions could not happen, and with no new services getting launched, the customers were deprived."
Moreover, newer operators that received 2G spectrum in 2008 such as Uninor, MTS, Etisalat etc, were also unable to roll out services due to the financial crunch, mainly arising of their headquarters being deep in recession. Also some operators, such as Videocon, could not roll out services as they were looking for partners and were not able to rope in any.
Gross revenues of the Indian telecom sector in 2009 were fluctuating. In the quarter that ended in March 2009, the telecom sector's revenue was about Rs 40, 400 crore. In the next quarter (June) it fell to Rs 39,000 crore, followed by a drop of about Rs 253 crore to reach close to Rs 39,000 crore in the September quarter. Gross revenue again surged to reach close to Rs 40,000 crore for the quarter ending December 2009.
Despite fluctuations, overall revenue grew marginally. However, individual revenues of telecom operators were dwindling.
Gross revenue of major operators at the end of March 2009 was about Rs 14,200 crore. It went up to almost Rs 15,000 crore in the quarter that ended in June 2009, followed by a huge drop to almost reach Rs 14,000 crore in September, and remained about Rs 14,000 crore in December 2009.
Prakash says, "Business-wise, the year 2009 was good. However, price war that started last year led to a drop in revenues of major telecom operators."
Echoing Prakash's views, Ghosh says, "The year 2009 was quite bad for operators and other stakeholders in the ecosystem. Their financial position was shaky and EBITDA kept falling."
Kunal Bajaj, partner, director of India division of research firm Analysys Mason is of the view, "2009 was definitely a tough year for Indian telecom. It was the first time we saw a quarter on quarter decline in revenues of operators."
Speaking about the future of the industry, Bajaj says, "We are already seeing a major improvement. While some operators have stabilised their revenues, some have in fact seen a marginal increase in their revenues. Lot of analysts are of the view that the tariff war is still not over and we will see tariff wars in the ILD segment. Moreover, with the roll out of 3G services proving expensive for operators, we can say that we will see challenging times ahead."
He added, "In the long run, consolidation will happen in the industry in a big way, and that will lead to robust growth and a bright future."
In its report, Ovum also says that global telecom revenue will bounce back in 2010 owing to a strong rally in the mobile sector. Total revenues, as reported by service providers, will grow by 6 per cent in 2010, with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 5 per cent by 2014.
The report also says that in 2010, China and India alone will add 329 million new mobile phone connections, equivalent to more than the combined total population of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Telecom newbies taste success

Telecom newbies taste success

JAYATI GHOSE

New Delhi, Sept. 22: New telecom operators have witnessed an average growth of 23 per cent in subscriber base in August even as the government is considering a “bailout” for them. STel, Videocon Telecom, Uninor, Loop Mobile, Etisalat DB and Sistema-Shyam are the new players who got licences in 2008. According to the Cellular Operators Association of India that represents GSM companies, Uninor added 22 lakh subscribers in August, Videocon got 8.8 lakh, while STel, Loop and Etisalat together got 1.2 lakh new subscribers in the last one month. Most of these players started operations in the last two to nine months. The new players have lined up huge investments. Uninor has planned a capex of Rs 12,000 crore over three years for pan-India operations; Videocon will spend Rs 14,000 crore in three years. “We want to emerge as a third category of companies who are serious players with a long-term vision and staying capacity,” said a senior executive of one of the new entities. Telecom minister A. Raja had recently said the department of telecom was discussing a “bailout” for new operators that received the 2G licences in 2008 as some of them wanted to return the start-up spectrum. “At the last operators’ meeting, bailout provisions were highlighted. It will be discussed in the Telecom Commission,” Raja had said. Companies such as Uninor and Sistema-Shyam, however, say they are long-term participants who are “committed to India”. Uninor is 67 per cent owned by Norway’s Telenor, while Russia’s Sistema owns 74 per cent in Sistema-Shyam. Bid to retain share The operators are introducing innovative plans to retain their foothold in the highly competitive market. Uninor is betting big on its pricing plan — it gives up to 60 per cent discount on calls. “Uninor’s target is to secure an 8 per cent market share by 2018,” said Glenn Mandelid, communications director with Telenor Group. CDMA player Sistema-Shyam, which has launched the MTS brand, is keen on the mobile data segment to generate higher revenues.

Where’s The Money? Top Telecom Circles In India By Revenue – March-June 2010

Where’s The Money? Top Telecom Circles In India By Revenue – March-June 2010

By Nikhil Pahwa on September 21st, 2010  | Comments (1)

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The Andhra Pradesh circle generated the maximum revenue for Telecom Operators, for the three months ended June 20th 2010. According to gross revenue information provided by Indian telecom operators to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (used for determining the license fees paid by each operator to the Indian Government), the Andhra Pradesh circle generated Rs. 2368.39 crore, with Bharti Airtel accounting for 40.43% of this money. Andhra Pradesh was followed by Delhi (Rs. 2357.8 crore), Maharashtra (2161.36 crore) and Karnataka (Rs. 2103.25 crore).

Among telecom operators, Bharti Airtel accounted for the most gross revenue at Rs. 9319.59 crore, up 6.6% quarter on quarter, with a 32.63% revenue marketshare. Given India’s multi-SIM environment, Indian telecom operators have been pointing analysts towards the revenue marketshare figures, instead of subscriber/connection marketshare.
Note that a few quarters ago, Reliance Communications had clarified to investors on its earnings conference call that the difference between their reported revenues and the amount reported to the TRAI, is on account of handset revenues not being included in its gross revenue reporting to TRAI. Reliance Communications also retails handsets to its CDMA customers.
Operator Results:

• Bharti Airtel had the most gross revenue for the quarter ended June 30th, 2010, at Rs. 9,319.59 crore, a 6.6% increase QoQ. Airtel’s revenue marketshare was 32.63%
• Vodafone held 21.47% share of the total revenue at Rs. 6,133.18 crore, a QoQ rise of 21.47%.
• Idea Cellular ranked third in terms of revenue, with a total of Rs. 3,740.42 crore, 6.83% rise QoQ and a market share of 13.10%
• Etisalat had the least amount of revenue for the quarter at Rs. 0.17 crore, with a drastic decline of 99.17% QoQ, with its revenue covering a negligible amount of the total gross revenue of all the operators.
• S-tel had a gross revenue of Rs. 11.81 crore, which was 48.74% more than in the last quarter, Rs. 7.94 crore, engaging 0.04% of the total revenue.
• Tata Teleservices and BSNL also saw a decline in the gross revenue for the quarter, with Rs. 2,324.07 crore, 3.2% decline QoQ and Rs. 2,111.13 crore, 10.87% decline QoQ, respectively.

Circle Results:

• Andhra Pradesh: generated the maximum amount of gross revenue, at Rs. 2,368.39 crore, 5.46% more than last quarter, claiming a 8.29% of total gross revenue.
• Delhi: ran in at the second rank in terms of gross revenue, producing a revenue of Rs. 2.357.80 crore in Q111, against Rs. 2265.43 crore in the previous quarter, seeing a 4.08% rise QoQ, it amounted to 8.25% of the market share.
• Maharashtra saw a fall in the gross revenue in this quarter at Rs. 2,161.36 crore as against 2,165.35 in the previous quarter, a decline of 0.18% QoQ and secures a market share of 7.57%.
• Himachal Pradesh contributed the least to the gross revenue output, 0.74%, adding only Rs. 211.44 crores this quarter, a 3.19% rise QoQ, from Rs. 204.91 crore in the previous quarter.
• The North Eastern circles together amounted to 1% of the total revenue, at Rs. 286.9 crore from Rs. 274.37 crore in the previous quarter, a QoQ rise of 4.57%.
• Jammu & Kashmir: Going in accord with the decline in the number of telecom subscriber in J&K, the quarter saw a significant fall in the gross revenue from that part of the country, at Rs. 327.08 crore as against Rs. 405.3 crore in the previous quarter, a decline of 19.30% QoQ, engaging 1.15% of the total gross revenue from all the circles.
• Mumbai: saw a fall in the gross revenue over the quarter as compared to the previous quarter, from Rs 1,992.25 crore to Rs. 1,920.85 crore, a 3.58% decline QoQ and contributing to amount 6.73% of the total gross revenue.

Top 3 revenue generating circles for Telecom Operators:

• Aircel: Tamilnadu, Rs. 453.48 crore, 34.03% of the total revenue generated by the operator, Chennai, Rs. 146.05 crore, 10.96% and Assam, Rs. 115.18 crore, 8.65%.
• Bharti Airtel Group: Karnataka, Rs. 1062.56 crore, 11.40% , Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 957.48 crore, 10.27% and Delhi, Rs. 915.97 crore, 9.83%.
• BSNL: U.P. East, Rs. 221.88 crore, 10.51% , Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 200.58 crore, 9.5% and Kerala, Rs. 177.86 crore, 8.42%.
• Etisalat: Mumbai, Rs. 0.03 crore, 17.65 , Delhi, Rs. 0.03 crore, 17.65% and Rs. 0.01 crore in all others except Kerala and Bihar, no revenue.
• HFCL Infotel: Punjab, Rs. 32.92 crore, only circle.
• Idea Group: Maharashtra, Rs. 646.53 crore, 17.28% , Madhya Pradesh, Rs. 390.44 crore, 10.44% and Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 387.03 crore, 10.35%.
• Loop Mobile: Mumbai, Rs. 165.5 crore, only circle.
• Reliance: Mumbai, Rs. 322.91 crore, 10.03% , Delhi, Rs. 320.16 crore, 9.95% and Maharashtra, Rs. 223.79 crore, 6.95%.
• S Tel: Bihar, Rs. 4.14 crore, 35.06% , Himachal Pradesh, Rs. 3.87 crore, 32.77% and Orissa, Rs. 3.8 crore, 32.18%.
• MTS Group: Rajasthan, Rs. 32.66 crore, 29.94% , West Bengal, Rs. 17.82 crore, 16.34% and Karnataka, Rs. 12.90 crore, 11.83%.
• Tata Teleservices: Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 303.99 crore, 13.08% , Delhi, Rs. 241.37 crore, 10.39% and Karnataka, Rs. 238.79 crore, 10.27%.
• Uninor: U.P. East, Rs. 18.75 crore, 29.26% , Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 10.57 crore, 16.5% and U.P. West, Rs. 10.27 crore, 16.03%.
• Vodafone Essar: Gujarat, Rs. 670.47 crore, 10.93% , Mumbai, Rs. 662.52 crore, 10.8% and Delhi, Rs. 585.77 crore, 9.55%.

Top revenue generating operators in each circle, and circle market-share:

• Andhra Pradesh: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 957.48 crore, 40.43% of the total revenue generated in the circle.
• Delhi: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 915.97 crore, 38.85% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Maharashtra: Idea Cellular, Rs. 646.53 crore, 29.91% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Mumbai: Vodafone, Rs. 662.52 crore, 34.49% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Tamil Nadu: Aircel, Rs. 453.38 crore, 37.93% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Karnataka: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 1,062.56 crore, 50.52% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Chennai: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 852.58 crore, 62.51% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Assam: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 155.39 crore, 33.82% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Bihar: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 645.09 crore, 46.83% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Haryana: Vodafone, Rs. 155.45 crore, 25.89% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Himachal Pradesh: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 91.38 crore, 43.22% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Jammu & Kashmir: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 128.43 crore, 39.27% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• North East: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 104.12 crore, 36.29% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Orissa: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 230.58 crore, 39.29% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• U.P. East: Vodafone, Rs. 552.58 crore, 31.32% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• U.P. West: Idea Cellular, Rs. 346.73 crore, 27.77% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Kerala: Idea Cellular, Rs. 365.67 crore, 29.42% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• West Bengal: Vodafone, Rs. 323.25 crore, 37.05% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Kolkata: Vodafone, Rs. 230.4 crore, 30.83% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Gujarat: Vodafone, Rs. 670.47 crore, 40.98% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Madhya Pradesh: Idea Cellular, Rs. 390.44 crore, 31.24% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Punjab: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 430.44 crore, 37.22% of the total revenue generated in the circle
• Rajasthan: Bharti Airtel, Rs. 610.41 crore, 46.09% of the total revenue generated in the circle

SSTL AGM will approve rights issue on Sept 30 2010

AGM NOTICE CAN BE READ AT

http://www.mtsindia.in/corporate/downloads/Notice%20of%2015th%20Annual%20General%20Meeting%20of%2030%20Sepetmber,2010.pdf

DOT bail out plan thrashed.....

Audit DG raps DoT on plan to bail out new telcos

Mansi Taneja & Surajeet Das Gupta / New Delhi September 21, 2010, 1:31 IST

Says those with excess spectrum may benefit at public expense.

The Director General of Audit (Post and Telecommunications) has lambasted the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on the proposed bailout plan for new mobile operators. The objection is that the latter might be holding excess spectrum and allowing an exit route for them will mean hoarding of spectrum without any revenue share for the exchequer.

The DG of Audit is part of the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. In its communication to DoT, the DGA said the department had granted new unified access service licences (UASL) to certain companies without proper verification of their eligibility and other credentials.



DoT had issued eight new 2G licences in 2008 to, among others, Uninor, Sistema Shyam, Etisalat DB, Stel and Loop Mobile. Some who have merged or are going to after completing the mandatory three year wait could be holding more spectrum than stipulated in the guidelines, it said.



The development came when DoT was contemplating permitting new operators to return 2G spectrum and return the Rs 1,650 crore they paid to the government for a pan-India licence. Currently, the licence conditions do not have any such provision but stipulate a three-year lock-in period for mergers and acquisitions.



The national interest should be accorded supreme priority from all angles, including the financial one, the communication stated. Adding, “Allowing operators to exit the sector after allotment of spectrum but before achieving the roll out obligations will mean that the players were hoarding valuable national resource (spectrum) without paying any revenue share to the national exchequer.”



At least three new operators had requested surrendering of 4.4 MHz start-up spectrum and return the Rs 1,650 crore of licence fee paid for a pan-India licence, as they were struggling to cope with low rates and increased competition.



Communication minister A Raja had said the government was working on a bailout package for the new operators and it would be discussed in the Telecom Commission, the highest policy making body of DoT.



The DG further said any decision on the proposed exit route for some telecom licensees and allotment of spectrum to be merged should be in consonance with the terms and conditions of the licence agreement and on the lines of the policy on mergers and acquisitions.

MTS - a viable alternative says chief strategy officer

‘Our strategy is data, data and data'

Sistema Shyam Teleservices is confident of calling the shots..

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We want to offer cloud services ourselves at some point in time.

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Bijoy Ghosh

Cheenu Seshadri M. Ramesh
Hard to tell if it is innate or a rub-off of his company's aggressive culture, but talking to Cheenu Seshadri leaves you feeling as though you have just interacted with a pugilist on the prowl. The Chief Strategy Officer at Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) has no compunctions about giving his competitors a jab between the ribs as he talks about either the superiority of his company's technology or its business strategy.
 MTS, the brand under which SSTL offers its telecom services, will be “ready as a viable alternative” when the “GSM guys” roll out their networks, says Seshadri. “Ready” is perhaps the key word because the company needs to be that, to indeed ready the capital market for its impending IPO.
 With 6 million voice and 2,00,000 data card subscribers under its belt, SSTL, the Russian company that strode into the Indian market with a $2-billion expenditure budget, believes it has the foundation to build a “data-centric” business on.
 In an interview to eWorld, Seshadri explains how the company intends to do it. Seshadri is a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT-Madras and holds an MS in Industrial Engineering from the State University of New York. Prior to joining SSTL, Seshadri served as Vice-President, Strategy Office at Motorola, and earlier, with Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm based in Atlanta. Excerpts:
You recently launched three smart phones and have promised you will bring your services on Blackberry and Android devices. What is the idea?
 India is predominantly a GSM market. On the CDMA side, there are only a dozen of phones on the ‘open market'— phones that you can buy in the market and put a CDMA SIM card. On the GSM side, there are hundreds of models. Qualcomm, which works with all the vendors, has said that there would be more than 40 (CDMA compatible) models in the open market by December. But until it happens, we have to (bring in phones for our subscribers.)
 CDMA is superior in terms of spectrum use and download speeds. We want to be ready in the market when the GSM players launch their 3G operations. Especially, when MNP (mobile number portability) comes, we want to be a viable alternative. That is why we are launching these phones.
  What is your strategy?
 Our strategy is data, data and data.
 In September of last year, we shifted ourstrategy, going from ‘carpet bombing' to being ‘data centric'. We decided that our CDMA technology's advantage is in data, India is a spectrum-starved market, India does not have 3G — in September 2009, 3G was at least a year or year-and-a-half away. Voice tariffs were going down — in 2009, voice tariffs were down 35 per cent. By August 2009, we had launched our services in five circles — Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kolkata, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and Bihar. We knew the quality of our subscribers and the ARPUs.
 Unfortunately we cannot call this 3G, we don't have 3G licence, but worldover, EV-DO REV A is 3G. (EVDO stands for ‘Evolution Data Optimised' and is a mobile broadband technology. Rev A is the latest version that allows high-speed data downloads, upto 3.1 mbps). We are at 800 MHz and that affords us the ability to roll it out far beyond anyone with 3G spectrum with 2100 MHz now, or a year from now, or even two years from now, just because of the sheer number of BTSs they have to provide. When the GSM guys roll-out their 3G networks, none of them will be able to launch nation-wide coverage. We can offer our services in all 23 circles. Of course, we are not present in all of them yet, but will be in more cities than our competitors — GSM or CDMA.
 But the technology advantage is one that you share with other CDMA operators, right?
 Of course. However, the others (Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications) are two-technology players. The amount of investments they have to make on the GSM side, and now on the 3G side are immense. One of them has 3G licence for 11 circles and the other one in nine. Though we started nine months behind them, we have gone far beyond them in terms of coverage.
  You say your strategy is data-centric. But ‘data' would presumably ride on ‘voice'. Is it correct to say that you should first have voice customers to sell data to them?
 That may be true for incumbent players. For players such as Bharti Airtel, with 5-7 per cent of total subscribers as high ARPU post-paid subscribers, voice may be bread-and-butter business, but not for greenfield operators such as ourselves. We can bundle the two. We are not abandoning voice, we can't abandon voice, but a vast majority of our profits, 100 per cent of our EBIDTA margins, even three years hence, will come from data. For 3G operators, voice is not a super-profitable business.
 With there being no profits in voice, data-centricity will be the strategy of all players in the market. What would be your USP?
 We already have high-speed data coverage in more cities than anyone else. We provide the service in 52 cities. Tata is in 37, Reliance in 40. In the last six years, we have invested more in terms of geographical coverage than both of them combined. And we will double that by the end of the year, now that the informal ban on Chinese equipment has been removed. (MTS uses ZTE and Huawei equipment).
 We have devised an ‘attack plan'. I can't give you the details now, but in broad terms, we believe other players are not going to be able to go after data card business in a big way, because of spectrum crunch. They only have 5 MHz spare spectrum on 2100 Mhz which is the 3G spectrum that they won, so they cannot load up hundreds of thousands of data subscribers, because these subscribers use a lot of data. Our subscribers use 5-6 GB per month.
 They (GSM players) have to relieve congestion on their 2G spectrum. What we believe, and time will tell, is that they will move a lot of higher ARPU subscribers over the 3G on the smart phones — that is going to be their focus. That is why we are launching these smart phones now, so as to be ready.
 Our USP is the largest high speed data coverage in the country. The 3G players on 2100 MHz cannot go to city number 150 — they will have to put three times the number of base stations (as CDMA players).
 The GSM players say they will address the data market through GPRS.
 Aircel and Airtel are the biggest players in GPRS and EDGE. Their VAS and data revenues is roughly 11-12 per cent of their total revenues on the smart phones. On data cards, it is not even a viable option now that EVDO REV A has come. So, the best performer in the market has been able to get 10-11 per cent of revenues. If the other players are able to replicate the success of the market leaders, they will get 10-11 per cent from data.
  But even in your case the contribution of data to total revenues is 12 per cent, is it not?
 Yes, but it is growing at 4-5 times rate of voice revenue growth. And, the 12 per cent is only from data cards business. Our total data contribution is 18 per cent — 10 per cent from data cards and 8 per cent from VAS, which is what is counted as data by TRAI.
  A few months ago, your company opened a data centre in Chennai. Could you not have opted to take ‘cloud services' rather than invest your own money in data centres?
 We want to offer cloud services ourselves, at some point in time we will do that. We will make that a standalone business model.
  But to offer ‘cloud services' would you not need a much bigger server farm than the one you have now?
 If the business warrants it, we will build it. See, who are the people who build cloud services? Global (telco) operators, and to a small degree Microsoft and Google. Basically, people who have a need to manage a lot of data. For any operator who is data-centric, going towards ‘cloud' is a natural evolution. When we will get there, what kind of investments we will have to do, is too early to say, but it is very much in our minds.
mramesh@thehindu.co.in
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Russia earmarks over $670 m for 20% stake in Sistema Shyam

TRAI survey puts MTS on the top.....superb performance. !!

TRAI survey puts MTS on the top.....superb performance. !!

All''s well with mobile phone services, says telecom survey

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Telecom regulator TRAI may have pulled up mobile operators for poor call quality, but a survey commissioned by it has found that more than 90 per cent of subscribers are satisfied with quality of network availability and call drops were few and far between.
According to the audit survey carried out by an independent agency for TRAI, Shyam-Sistema, which offers mobile services under brand name MTS, has the highest number of satisfied subscribers at 96.4 per cent in terms of network availability. But Shyam-Sistema being a new player is counted among the smallest of operators.
The TRAI statement also also did not give out the size sampled for the survey.
The list puts Tata CDMA as having the second highest number of satisfied customers with 95.3 per cent users expressing happiness, while state-owned BSNL with nearly 100 million users finished at the bottom with a score of 91.9 per cent.
TRAI''s benchmark is more than 90 per cent and all operators -- Airtel, Vodafone, Tata CDMA, Idea, BSNL, RCom and MTS are above the benchmark.
For another important parameters of quality of services, the regulator said all mobile operators had less than two per cent (TRAI''s benchmark) rate of call drop.
Surprisingly, BSNL was found lacking in most of the parameters vis-a-vis private operators.
In metering and billing, Airtel has topped the list with 95 per cent of subscribers expressing satisfaction with billing performance in the post-paid segment. In these parameters, RCom (CDMA) has only 83.2 per cent satisfied subscribers against TRAI''s benchmark of over 95 per cent.
The survey was done for the period July-December 2009, TRAI said in a statement.
Similarly in case of basic wireline telecom services, TRAI said private operators -- Airtel, RCom and TTSL have 100 per cent satisfied customers in terms of network availability while BSNL''s score is 75 per cent against regulator''s benchmark of more than 90 per cent.
TRAI, however, found that service providers need to take effective steps for grievance Redressal mechanism as the awareness of subscribers was found at low levels in all types of telecom services -- Basic, Cellular and Broadband.