Is the current telecom bounce signalling bottoming out of the sector?

India's Stocks Advance to Three-Week High, Led by Bharti Airtel

Futuristic M commerce not so far away now......

Mobile phones become metro tickets for MTS subscribers in Russia.....sign of things to come here in India...

In autumn 2010 MTS subscribers will be able to use their mobile phones to pay for metro trips, according to a report in Vedomosti. To turn a usual mobile phone into a travel card will involve changing a SIM – card and installing a small internal aerial at the cost of around $10. The new – SIM card will have a special software – a virtual purse, where the money for future metro trips could be transferred from the subscriber’s personal account. The ticket cost will stay the same, with all discounts also remaining valid, and users will simply need to put their mobile phone against the ticketing machine at the entrance to the Metro. According to MTS, the Company intends to wire up to this service to several hundred thousand people during the year. According to Oksana Pankratova, a partner at AC&M – Consulting, MTS charges about 3-5% for goods and services provided through the mobile commerce service and can charge the same from the Metro.
Dmitry Gaev, the head of Moscow Metro, says that this will enable users to avoid Metro queues, and believes that it will boost passenger traffic, while MTS will gain on increased numbers.

3.1 Mbps capable CDMA smart phones getting launched....where is MTS ??

India's first CDMA Android smartphone at Rs 19,900.....MTS hurry up !!

Reliance Mobile and Samsung Mobile on Thursday announced the launch of India's [ Images ] first Android-powered CDMA handset, Samsung Galaxy i899.
Samsung Galaxy i899 will offer an enhanced experience of seamless speed data on the move, offering speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps to Reliance Mobile customers.
The phone is priced at Rs 19,900, Reliance Mobile customers upgrading to Samsung Galaxy i899 will also get free data usage on Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ - 10GB for 1 month for prepaid customers and 15 GB per month for 2 months for postpaid subscribers.
The new smartphone available only on Reliance Mobile network will also be the first CDMA device to be launched in India pre-installed with Android market, an online applications store developed by Google for Android devices.
The new Samsung Galaxy i899 on Reliance Mobile CDMA network offers:

• Display: 3.2" HVGA, 16M color, AMOLED  with touch screen panel.
• Camera: 3.2 Mega Pixel with Auto-focus and LED flash.
• Connectivity : Bluetooth 2.1(HSP/A2DP) / WiFi / USB 2.0.
• Data: Download Internet Speeds up to 3.1 Mbps; Upload Internet Speeds up to 1.8 Mbps.
• Browser : Mobile Safari [ Images ] web browser supported.
• Memory: 230 MB built-in memory, expandable up to 32GB through microSD slot.
• Battery:  1440 mAh battery capacity.
• DivX Video Playback Supported.
• Preloaded Apps : Android Market, Google Maps, Facebook, Gmail, Google Talk, MySpace, Orkut , YouTube.
• Users can download and install various apps from Android Market.

"The launch of Samsung Galaxy i899 Smartphone, is in line with our strategy to offer next-generation services with unmatched  voice clarity, hi-speed wireless data network access and ultra-fast application downloads on India's largest and only nationwide CDMA mobile service to Reliance Mobile customers," Vrajesh Shelat, head of handset & data services, Reliance Communications [ Get Quote ], said in a media release.
The touch-screen CDMA smartphone would also enable high-speed access to popular social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, et cetera.
The phone has a 3.2" AMOLED touch-screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, a media player and expandable memory up to 32GB. Samsung Galaxy i899 also comes with popular smartphone features including support for phone, email, text messaging, Wi-Fi, HTML web browser, etc.
Announcing the launch, Ranjit Yadav, director, mobile and IT, Samsung Electronics, said, "With this association we hope to target a large consumer base of Reliance Mobile subscribers by offering them the feature rich Galaxy i899, India's first CDMA Android Phone. Applications from the Android Market can be easily downloaded and installed on to the Galaxy  i899 very fast,  thereby opening up an entirely new world of applications for the mobile phone users , which they can further customize as per their preferences."

MTS now has 5 million voice subscribers and 100K broadband subsribers...!! Hip Hip Hurray!

http://press-releases.techwhack.com/55767-sistema-shyam-teleservices-limited

MTS subscriber addition far superior to Uninor

During month of May, SSTL has added upwards of 4 lacs subscribers while in the same period Uninor has witnessed a decrease in subscribers by 8000 ! The MTS subscriber tally is well above 4.6 million as of May 31st.

Going ahead, we expect SSTL to announce its 5 millionth customer in grand style and fanfare.

Keep watching...

Some users comments seen on various blogs.....slowly but surely the acceptance is building...

1. Webly
   Goa, June 2nd, 2010 at 15:06 | #1

   Reply | Quote

   Can be traced only in cities.
   
2. santu
   kolkata, June 2nd, 2010 at 15:23 | #2

   Reply | Quote

   well done, mts. you are the best right now. you guys have guts to promote cdma in this congested gsm arena. the network coverage, signal strength as well as tariffs are excellent. keep doing good work. MTS ROCKS.
   
3. TURKEE
   June 2nd, 2010 at 15:33 | #3

   Reply | Quote

   Ab Goa aur Konkan Khayega MTS ka Anda, Sunday ho ya Monday, Roz khawao MTS ke Ande. He He He!! Good show MTS, Ande Khilao, Subscriber Badao!!
   
4. rajiev
   June 2nd, 2010 at 16:05 | #4

   Reply | Quote

   comparison to tata and reliance , mts is bit bakwas ha ha h,
   
5. ANIRBAN
   Balurghat_West Bengal, June 2nd, 2010 at 16:08 | #5

   Reply | Quote

   Really they have the guts to challenge other so called service provider both in terms of exelent network and cheapest call rates.
   
6. Kapil
   June 2nd, 2010 at 16:24 | #6

   Reply | Quote

   When will u come in Gujarat???
   

Sistema Shyam to invest $1 bn in India this year

Sistema Shyam to invest $1 bn in India

June 2nd, 2010 - 6:14 pm ICT by IANS -

Panaji, June 2 (IANS) Sistema Shyam Teleservices, promoter of the MTS mobile service brand, will invest around $1 billion in its India operations over the next one year, a company official said Wednesday.
“We have already invested $1.5 billion in India and will be investing $2.5 billion in all within the next one year,” V.K. Cherian, director, corporate communications, told reporters here.
Sistema Shyam, a joint venture between Russia-based Sistema and India’s Shyam group, has a license to provide mobile telephony services in 22 circles across the country.
Cherian, who was here to announce the launch of MTS telecom services in Goa, said the company would soon cover all the major telecom circles.
“MTS has a subscriber base of nearly 4.5 million in India as of May 2010, despite being a late entrant into the sector,” he said.
Stating that MTS was aiming at a 20 per cent market share as far as data service was concerned, the firm’s chief information officer Rajeev Batra said the services now provided by MTS matched those which would be offered on the 3G platform and that the CDMA-oriented MTS had no intention of switching over to GSM technology.
“We are already offering high quality services like live TV streaming. At the current bandwidth we are providing, we are comfortable with CDMA. We do not see the need to switch to GSM,” Batra said.

100th Branded store opened in Gurgaon

Gurgaon, May 28, 2010: MTS, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) in Delhi and NCR telecom circle celebrated a milestone today by unveiling its 100th MTS Branded Retail store in Gurgaon. The store was inaugurated by Mr. Atul Joshi, Chief Sales Officer, SSTL and Mr. Sanjay Bahl, Chief Operating Officer, Delhi NCR & Haryana, SSTL. MTS now possesses an impressive chain of 450 Branded Retail Stores in India.
Located at Old Railway Road in Gurgaon, the store aims at catering to the needs of customers while enhancing convenience and making their experience with MTS enjoyable. Displaying rich world of Value Added Services, the store will allow customers to explore best-in class range of superior products and services of MTS.
Inaugurating the 100th mono-branded store in Gurgaon, Mr. Atul Joshi, Chief Sales Officer, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL) said, “We are delighted to announce the launch of our MTS 100th Branded Retail Store in Gurgaon. We have always strived towards enhanced customer satisfaction. With the launch of this store, our services would be more accessible to our customers in Haryana. Offering a relaxing and interactive environment for customers, this store is aimed at inspiring and educating them on the benefits of MTS services. Spread over 150 sq feet, furnished with a sales desk and a help desk, it will staff 4 to 5 customer care executives”.
Mr. Sanjay Bahl, Chief Operating Officer, Delhi NCR & Haryana, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL) said “Inauguration of MTS 100th Branded Retail Store in Gurgaon is our sincere endeavor to empower more and more customers to experience the benefits of our entire range of superior products, services and VAS (value-added service) offerings. This new store is aimed at addressing the service needs of MTS customers”.
Catering to the world’s fastest growing-mobile market, MTS is expanding its presence across India by offering value-for-money tariff plans, quality service and investing significantly in network expansion. With the launch of MTS services in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra recently, MTS is now present in 12 telecom circles and aims to have a national footprint in all 22 telecom circles across India. In a very short time, MTS has already acquired a strong base of over 4.5 million subscribers in India.
Being the fastest growing data operator in India, MTS has also been a front runner in introducing world-class, cutting-edge technologies in India to enhance customer experience.

CDMA 3G auction expected in 6 months

After GSM, it’s turn of CDMA

SHASHWAT GUPTA RAY

Friday, May 28, 2010 AT 11:11 AM (IST)

 

PUNE: Following the auction of spectrum for GSM mobile service providers, government of India is likely to undertake a similar exercise for releasing spectrum to CDMA service providers.

Recently, the country witnessed first 3G spectrum auction for GSM service providers. The availability of spectrum will enable mobile operators to provide new services like TV on mobile, games, and music, while also improving voice quality and reducing call drops.

“Currently, we are offering second generation (2G) services, which are on par with 3G service. But like GSM operators, we too are looking at further upgrading our services, for which we have to migrate to next generation technology, which is 3G. We are in talks with the government. We expect that a similar auction of spectrum for CDMA operators will happen in next six months to one year,” Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Sistema Shyam Tele Services Limited (SSTL) T Narasimhan told Sakal Times.

SSTL, a joint venture between Sistema of Russia and the Shyam Group of India owns the CDMA mobile telephony brand MTS.

The government has earned Rs 67,719 crore as its share of the revenue from the spectrum bid. In all, 71 3G slots were allocated over 22 telecom divisions in the country. However, Narasimhan said that for CDMA spectrum auction, the government may not earn such high amount.

“The CDMA players are much lesser in number than GSM players, the number of bidders will be very less. This in turn may result in lesser revenues for the government. However, everything depends upon the spectrum available. We will go for very high speed services up to 7 mbps,” he said.

The availability of more spectrum for CDMA players not only means enhanced services, but also saving more capital expenditure.

“CDMA by its definition is better spectrum efficient technology. In case of data card, 2G GSM can't give more than 200 kbps speed, hence the user will not get broadband experience. CDMA 2G speed is 3.1 mbps. After availability of spectrum, GSM downloading speed can go up to 5 mbps. CDMA speed can reach up to 7 mbps. So the CDMA players will always have an upper edge over GSM service providers,” Chief Operating Officer of Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa, SSTL, Suubodh Kumar Srivastava said.

MTS enters Pune for telephony services

Pune, 25 May, 2010: MTS, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam Tele Services Ltd (SSTL) today launched its voice services in the city of Pune covering the western Maharashtra. The company already has a presence in the data services and with the launch ofvoice services MTS has completed its roll out in the city and the region. MBlaze service will now be available in the regional towns of Solapur, Kolhapur, Sangli, Jalgoan and Ahmdnagar and a total of 17 cities in the State.
MTS also made an inaugural promotional offer of half a paisa per second call charges, promising the best value proposition for its subscribers among the existing operators and competition. MTS subscribers can connect between MTS to MTS network at just one paisa for four seconds with lifetime validity.
Mr. Vsevolod Rozanov, CEO and President of SSTL said, “Launch of MTS voice services in Pune heralds the presence of the voice and high speed data services across the State of Maharashtra and our entry into the Western region of India in a big way. Having completed our launch in South India, we will now strongly affirm our presence in western India this year”.
Mr. Suubodh Kumar Srivastava, Chief Operating Officer of Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, SSTL, said “MTS will have its network presence across the State from the first day of the launch, giving the subscribers the benefit of our special offers of half a paisa per second for all local calls in Maharashtra, Goa & Mumbai; one fourth a paisa per second for MTS to MTS calls, bundled with complete range of value added services. With our presence across State, we hope to reach subscribers through our Branded stores, mass retail outlets & direct sales force with an aggressive strategy for tapping the mass market as well as corporate customers.”
MTS services are available in 984 towns of the State.MTS has a large, seamless high-speed mobile data services network in India offering speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps in 74 cities across India. MBlaze service offers 24 hours of free download as part of the inaugural offer with no roaming surcharges while using the MTS network across India. Free internet browsing to certain websites like Make MyTrip, Wikipedia, Yahoo India will allow subscribers to stay abreast with the latest in news, sports and fashion.

SSTL clocks 427000 users in April 2010 !

Picking up the broken pace, SSTL has added 427000 subscribers in Apr 2010, an increase of 11% over March 2010.

The lowest cost plans of the company are getting traction and combined with the recent burst of local TV advertising, the company seems to be on track to achieving 10 million customers by end of the financial year...!!

Hooray  !!

Merger loophole for CDMA players in TRAI recommendations ?

Whilst merger of two GSM licenses as per the current TRAI recommendations would invite huge payments to the govt for one part of 6.2Hz or more held at difference of spectrum price and that paid, which will thus ruin the business case of the merger totally. .....

However it seems at first instance that IF A CDMA PLAYER MERGES WITH A GSM PLAYER, this payment to the government will not be mandated. This means that if SSTL merges with any of the GSM players, the outgo to the govt will be negligible whilst the other synergies ( GSM players' focus on voice and SSTL focus on data) of the two companies merging would benefit the shareholders as full valuation may be realized......

We hope the management is keeping its options open ...!!!

MTS India Wins National Telecom Award for the Fastest Growing Data Operator

MTS India, the CDMA mobile telephony brand of Sistema-Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) has been conferred National Telecom Award for being the fastest growing data operator in India.

Mr.Vsevolod Rozanov, CEO, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. received the award on behalf of the company from Mr J S Sharma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and Mr P J Thomas, Secretary, Department of Telecom, Government of India. The award is recognition of MTS establishing itself as a fastest growing data operator in the market.

MTS India has close to one lakh mobile broadband subscribers in less than six months, for its high speed mobile broadband service, MBlaze. Within a short span time, the company has launched its services in 12 telecom circles across the country and has already achieved a overall subscriber base of 4.5 million customers.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr.Vsevolod Rozanov, CEO, SSTL, said, “We are proud to receive the National Telecom Award for fastest growing data operator in India. This award comes as recognition of our focus on mobile data service. MBlaze, our high speed mobile data service is in over 74 cities as of now and will extend itself to over 100 cities by the end of the year.”

The National Telecom Awards are instituted by the renowned industry body CMAI Association of India, established with a vision to facilitate inclusive growth of communication sectors in India.

SSTL to be ready for listing at end of year : CEO

'Telecom consolidation will leave just 4-6 players in the fray'


KV Ramana / DNASaturday, May 15, 2010 4:25 IST Email


Mumbai: The new entrant in the telephony segment, Sistema Shyam TeleServices, which operates under the MTS brand, is gearing up to penetrate the overcrowded market by offering lowest-ever tariffs and promoting data services. Though the tariffs seem to have stabilised for now, a major consolidation is inevitable leaving about six players in the Indian telephony sector, Vsevolod Rozanov, president and CEO of Sistema Shyam, tells DNA. Excerpts from the interview:



Being a late entrant, how do you see the market for your telephony services?

Though we are a late entrant, we have already rolled out our services in 12 circles with Andhra Pradesh being the latest. With this, we have covered all the four southern states. With the current rollout we cover almost half of the country’s market. We currently have about 4.5 million subscribers. Now, we are focusing on pan-India coverage. We are hopeful of covering the entire country by rolling out services in the remaining 10 circles as well.

How much are you investing?


Typically, each circle requires about Rs 500 crore. For the 22 circles the investment should be over Rs11,000 crore. But investment was never an issue since we came to market determined to provide the best service to the customer and stay put to gain the market.



Do you see the current tariff justifying this kind of investment and when do you think you will break even?

Tariffs are stabilising in the market. We are offering service at half paisa per second. For MTS to MTS subscriber, the tariff would be one paisa for four seconds. We are looking at more usage as a key here. But in general, with the tariffs stabilising it does not look like there will be significant erosion in tariff going forward. We are hopeful of breaking even by 2013.



You have been saying that the data services remain a focus area. How much does data contribute?

Data is going to be a big differentiator for us. We have a robust network in place to offer mobile broadband services. We have already started offering data services in several key markets in the country. I think by 2012 voice will contribute two-thirds of our revenue and the remaining would come in from data. Interestingly, compared to voice the Arpu (average revenue per user) in data is higher. Though there are other players too, the data opportunity in India is huge and there is room for multiple players.



How are you gearing up for the listing?

As per the Rajasthan High Court’s order, we have to list the company. The listing process is currently on. We are talking to the merchant bankers to decide on the timing of the listing. We will be fully ready for listing by the year-end. Importantly, we should also consider the market conditions for listing.



What is your view on the 3G auctions?

We have not participated in the auctions. But we are using CDMA technology and the kind of technology that we are offering to the customers is far superior. Even for the GSM operators participating in the auction, it would take more than a year to get ready for launching the services on 3G platform. We are already capable of offering such a service with the existing technology. I think there is a huge gap between us and the prospective 3G winners in terms of rolling out the services.



Do you see the telephony market moving towards a consolidation phase?

For any market, having 12-13 players is too much. There is every reason to believe that there will be consolidation and at this stage it looks like consolidation is inevitable.



What would be the ideal number of players in a market like India?

More than that, I think the consolidation will leave just four, five or six players in the market.



Are you planning to participate in the consolidation exercise?

We are open. We don’t mind participating in the process.

TRAI guidelines big positive for the company ?

The recently announced TRAI guidelines for spectrum allocation and pricing seem to be a big positive for the company provided the DOT approves them.

The CDMA operators have been allowed to hold upto 5 Mhz of spectrum value for which in 800-900 Mhz band will be 1.5 times the discovered 3G pricing. Going by a conservative estimate this itself will value the spectrum that the company can hold to approximately 20000 cr. or roughly 80 rs per share!!

We shall be keenly watching developments on this front and updating you.